With all this added together, it made this look like a scene out of a fairy tale.
And in truth, there was something supernatural about this scene
The giant mystical tree, and the entire hill for that matter, was actually part of a dragon!
Well, it would be more accurate to say it used to be part of the dragon.
The dragon it had been had long been dead.
Lucius remembered the interesting details about this strange place that Landon had uncovered in the novel
This was the resting place of a dragon and not just any old dragon, it was an Ancient Earth dragon!gt
See, Dragons were a type of creature that grew stronger with age.
Contrary to most other beings that hit their peak strength around middle age and gradually weaken from then on dragons only got stronger with age meaning that the actual strongest point of a dragon's life was ,literally the moment right before they died
An ancient dragon was the oldest type of dragon and as such also the strongest stage of a dragon as well
An Earth dragon was not like the normal five colour dragons .
It was a special type of dragon in the sense that it was a half-elemental type creature.
Dragons were creatures naturally close to the elements but as a half -elemental creature the ancient earth dragon took it to another level.
This granted strength that was at least a Heroic Saint or Demon King level Threat!
This was the absolute ceiling of strength in this world
Yet even despite having such power and strength, there was one thing that this creature still couldn't beat and that was time.
Even such a overwhelmingly powerful creature that was fully capable of dominating the mainland when nearing the end of its life span grew powerless and weak and could only helplessly bury itself in this distant cave
...or did it?
The Earth dragon was an extremely powerful creature it was unknown if this was a mutated Earth dragon, but unlike other dragons that willingly accepted the end of their lifespan, this dragon wa s desperate to find a way to extend it's life and live forever
That's when this ancient dragon came to the conclusion for all the asnwers it had been searching for,
reincarnation.
Fortunately, in this regard, the Earth dragon was better off than most.
Using the philosophy of all elements being linked together and one element giving birth to another the Earth dragon planned to reincarnate itself
And what element was born from the Earth? Plants of course!
Using its own body and soul as nutrients the Earth dragon had transformed itself into a place that would eventually give birth to a new body and reincarnate itself.
Although this time it wouldn't be reborn as an Earth dragon, but instead a plant dragon.
It slowly gathered and formed an area secluded and hidden away, where it wouldn't be disturbed by the oustide world and started building a wonderful garden conducive to its reincarnation.
This beautiful garden full of treants was as much part of it's elaborate magical circle as it was a defence mechanism.
In all honesty, it wasn't that bad of an idea.
It wasn't even evil either.
This obsessed dragon would have also probably gotten its wish if it wasn't for that meddling protagonist
Whilst the protagonist may be the son of luck for others to the unfortunate few this guy was no different from the star of disaster.
After falling off a cliff and miraculously stumbling into this dragon's cave.
Landon single handedly ruined a plan that had been thousands of years in the making.
In a way, Lucius almost felt bad for this dragon.
It was one thing to have your lifelong plan destroyed by a vindicated enemy with a deep seated hatred but there was just something so pitifully tragic to have everything you worked for accidentally destroyed by a lucky yet brainless protagonist.
Yet this was what happened to this poor Ancient dragon.
After single handedly defeating the army of treants with his magic and swordsmanship.
Landon set his eyes on the tree and using the freakish instinct any protagonist would have, Landon walked up to the magical tree and it's emerald fruit and instinctively knew that this fruit would be of great benefit to him
In the novel, the protagonist had consumed the fruit hanging off the tree and acquiring the soul of an ancient dragon.
But there was a problem. Even if it was half-dead and greatly weakened after trying to reincarnate, how could a weak Sanctuary student be a match for a soul that could rival the demon kings?
In reality such an action should have caused him to simply hand over his perfect meat suit over to this dragon that was desperate to reincarnate.
But you wouldn't be considered a qualified shounen protagonist if you couldn't pull something out of your ass to save your life.
And that's exactly what Landon did.
Remember the [Amulet of the High King]. The object containing the pure blood of the High King. One of the mortals that had basically reached god status?
In the moment of life or death, with his life hanging by a thread, Landon did something crazy and yet at the same time the only thing that could save his life.
He swallowed it!
But Instead of exploding on the spot or being turned into a mindless berserker by the overwhelming blood of the Barbarian High King. The powerful blood and divinity inside it could actually restrain the weakened soul of the Ancient Earth Dragon.
The two powerful forces restrained each other equally and under the blessing Landon had from the [Saint of Light] talent, they combined to form a completely new talent, and this had been Lucius's goal from the very start.
It was also why he had to get the amulet of the high king before the protagonist otherwise, even if he came to the cave before the Landon it would be meaningless.