Chapter 383 The Power Of Levels

POV The Draconic Knight:

The earth-shattering shrieks and growls pierced through the night, and black and dark shadows descended upon the city from the sky. Dozens of golden eyes shone in the sky.

With a mountain-cutting force, two blades collided, and the entire square exploded with the tiles torn from the ground and the decorative trees uprooted. The glass panes in the windows of the nearby houses shattered and the walls cracked.

Amidst the dust clouds from the impact stood the two knights, their shiny armor without a scratch.

One was tall and monstrous, looking like a bipedal reptilian with wide wings and a long tail on his back. His heavy black armor glowed with the dozens of glowing red runes.

Opposite of him stood the tall player in his armor, which looked forged out of the galaxies with its dark background and shifting patterns of colors that formed colorful spirals of stars, stellar shrouds, and light-devouring darkness.

His eagle wings were fully spread, with winds howling around their feathers.

"Good, you have some strength monster! Now, let's end this farce!" The mana and lifeforce sped through the eagle player knight's body and conciliated on the tip of his sword.

The blade moved with an immense speed, making it looks like a fan of blades slashed through the air.

The dragon knight blinked, and pain pierced through his armor all over his body. He collapsed to the ground, blood pouring out of the holes littering his armor as the strength left his legs.

His armor still rang and vibrated from the impact, and the ground cracked and shattered below his feet.

He wanted to cry in pain but refused to destroy his reputation at the last moment, 'What? The difference in the levels is so large? I thought that with my powerful bloodline, I could still stand a chance. I am not even taken seriously.'

As if reading his thoughts, the player knight snickered under his helmet, "Ph, monster, you monsters always think you are superior and more powerful!"

The tall silhouette of the player leaned above the kneeling and bleeding draconic knight.

"However, your powerful bloodlines are nothing to my sheer dedication, level, and gear. To think you, a mere boss below level one hundred thought you could stand a chance against me."

The player raised his sword above his head like an executioner preparing to enact justice.

'I thought I was strong... I was a fool.' Johan stared at the blade that loomed above him like the sword of Damocles, its edge shining with moonlight. However, he felt no fear, 'I had lived a life that many would kill for. I have lived through my fantasy. I had power and was respected.'

A faint regret resurfaced deeper within him, 'Would this end differently if I wasn't a coward and evolved?'

Suddenly a shadow descended from between the clouds, accompanied by the howling of winds and flapping of wings.

A large dracodactyl in the armor of stone and lava pierced through the clouds like a fiery meteor, and its long-clawed hind legs grabbed him like a bird snatching a fish from a pond.

The buildings quickly turned smaller and smaller, and the terrifying player turned into a miniature, measly ant. The winds howled around him, and the city's lights blurred.

"Running away?" The dragon knight could only see a glint of the knight's blade as it swished through the empty space.

The next moment a fan of wind as sharp as the sharpest knife hit the beast and cleaved through its dark volcanic armor and the scales below it.

"Graaah!"

The blood gushed out and rained down on the blurry streets below them. The grasp of his mount's claws loosened as they both tumbled down from the sky.

'No!' The ground quickly closed on, and the blood of the dracodactyl gashed out in rivers.

They crashed into the open fields outside the city and painted the snow red as they slid through it.

The life in the beast's golden eyes faded away as it stopped moving in the pool of its blood and clouds of steam.

It all happened so fast, but now the situation finally hit him, 'What have I done? I was too cowardly and scared to evolve and this is what it brought to me. My mount, no, my companion had to die to save me and remedy my mistakes.'

He fell on his knees. His body was in pain, but he didn't care as he crawled through the crimson snow toward his dying mount. His armored hand slowly caressed the beast's rough and still blazing-hot armor.

'I will evolve and avenge you. I will fully utilize the power of the system and no longer care.'

POV Vesuvius:

The dragon felt like in a dream as the time moved in the mysterious well of time.

Sometimes it flowed faster, and sometimes slower. Other times it even moved backward, making it impossible for him to know how long he was there and even more impossible to know how much time had passed in the outside world.

More and more islands floated around him, slowly connecting to form larger ones containing entire biomes of fire, lightning, and ice.

His body slowly sunk downwards, and the energy flowed into him through wide, river-like streams that nourished his body and provided him fuel.

He slowly grew in size; his wings grew wider, and his armor denser. His aura and domain both constantly intensified, which in return empowered the stream of elemental energy fueling his growth.

'How is my kingdom doing? What is going on outside?'

He pushed back all the useless thoughts as he returned to studying his magic.

'I was wrong to think only about the physical properties of time. Yes, it has physical properties similar to these predicted by the scientist back on Earth, but at the same time it has its magic properties too.'

Vesuvius felt like an idiot as it was all the time right before him, or more exactly around him, 'This entire well of time should be impossible in physics. Also, this liquified time is likely nonsense too. At least with my shallow knowledge of physics.'

Dozens of his attempts failed and behaved differently than he expected, and now he finally knew why, 'I have to study the physics of time but also its magical properties.'

Simultaneously more than a dozen different spell circuits spun and rotated above his head. Each one was different, only in small detail.

One by one, they burst into motes of light and sent ripples of different intensities and shapes through time.

'Why should I experiments only with a single spell circuit at a time when I have the mental capacities to do it for more? I need to hurry, I can't just spend centuries in this place.'

He initially thought he had time, but now he felt he was wrong. He didn't know what was happening out there, but the weak and hazy connections with his minions told him they were fighting.

'Who dared to invade my kingdom and attack my minions? Just wait until I return. I will turn you and the next five generations of your family into ash.'