The next morning, Kaelus packaged his items: the pristine S-rank Elderwood Troll core, the heavily damaged Knight's Cape, the S+ Two-Headed Crystal Wyvern's crystal fragments, and a sack full of S+ Armored Scorpion shell fragments. He knew the other S+ cores were with Aethon—one for the guild and one sold to Riona, who had been adamant about securing one of the valuable assets in exchange for the Ironclad Aegis's support.
Kaelus left the guild hall and headed straight for Grolnuk's Armory.
Grolnuk, looked up as Kaelus entered. The dwarf was clearly surprised by Kaelus's silver hair and emerald eyes, but even more so by the sword at his waist.
Grolnuk immediately reached out and grabbed the hilt of the Viridian Sword. "Hold on! What the hell happened to this blade?" He was amazed by its newly refined form, a sight he hadn't seen since Kaelus left on the monster raid.
"It's been more than a month since I last saw you, Mr. Grolnuk," Kaelus said, pulling his sword back gently.
"It's the same for you, Kaelus. I've heard your name everywhere. And the changes on you are too noticeable," Grolnuk replied, his eyes scrutinizing the young man. "So, the fact that you are here, you have something for me, right?"
"No, I just visited you because I miss you," Kaelus deadpanned.
"Nonsense! Give it to me," Grolnuk demanded, his callused hands extended.
Kaelus chuckled and reached into his bag, pulling out the glowing S-rank core of the Elderwood Troll. He explained the element and the monster's power.
"I didn't expect you encountered an Elderwood Troll, but I thought you might bring the S+ Armored Scorpion's shell fragments to me."
Kaelus then handed him the sack of shell fragments. Grolnuk's eyes shone with a dwarf's greed for materials. Kaelus then revealed the S+ Two-Headed Crystal Wyvern's crystal shards.
"This is a mana nullification crystal, Kaelus. Where did you get it?" Grolnuk asked, his excitement growing serious.
Kaelus briefly explained the fight with the Two-Headed Crystal Wyvern.
"Well, you had a rough day just to encounter that. It can nullify deviant elements, as well as enhanced ones."
Finally, Kaelus handed over the damaged Knight's Cape. "Can you fix this?"
Grolnuk sighed, examining the scorched weave. "So you had to activate the barrier skill. The fight must have been dire."
"It was," Kaelus agreed. "Can it still be repaired?"
"I will do my best," Grolnuk conceded, inspecting the broken enchantment weave. "But this will not be a cape anymore, and the artifact rank will be lowered from its original 6-star high-rank status."
"It's okay as long as it will be fixed."
"Fine. So how much for the artifact materials?"
"I don't really need money right now," Kaelus said, placing the sack of Armored Scorpion's shell fragments on the table. "I hope you can make me something from these materials. Also, our deal with the S-rank monster core..."
"Yes, I didn't forget about that. Follow me inside."
Grolnuk led Kaelus to a secluded, dust-covered chamber deep within the armory. He opened a secret vault beneath the floor and retrieved a single, ancient, leather-bound book: his ancestor's journal. The pages were too old, threatening to peel apart with every touch.
Grolnuk explained that his ancestor was one of the core members of the Hero's Party—a group of legendary SSS-rank mages from a long time ago.
"A millennium ago," Grolnuk began, reading from the brittle pages, "they gathered to venture into the deepest part of the Eastern Territory because they got an information that a monster—a dragon— resided there."
"Why did they want to see the dragon?" Kaelus asked, his heart beating faster.
"Because of its core. A Plant Element core," Grolnuk emphasized. "In theory, the cores of monsters are only the basic four elements. But the book says dragons are not classified as monsters. They are Divine Spirits," Grolnuk revealed. "They can be born with secondary elements. Perhaps there are even tertiary elements among Divine Spirits."
"So how did your ancestor get the scale?"
"The Verdant Dragon was already wounded when the party got there. It was wounded by someone. The wound wasn't healing by conventional means. The people that wounded the dragon seemed to be not from this continent."
Grolnuk looked up, his voice barely a whisper. "They call themselves 'Players'."
"PLAYERS!?" Kaelus echoed, the name slicing through his reality. The Aethos Ascendant MMORPG. For months since leaving the cave, Kaelus hadn't paused to notice the glaring inconsistency: there were no other Players here. The world he lived in was the world of Aethos Ascendant, yet he was the only one. The thought of being a Player in the game world, yet finding no others, hammered in his mind. Where are the Players like me?
Grolnuk continued, "They are also using skills and weapons that are not from here. Artifacts are just toys to them."
The dwarf's words confirmed Kaelus's sudden realization: there were still Players like him; they were just in another place.
The Verdant Dragon revealed a secret to Grolnuk's ancestor: the world is divided into three parts:
Terra, The Land of Mortals - This is where we are.
Mythos, The Land of Divine Spirits - Where dragons, phoenixes, and other Divine Spirits live.
Atlas, The Land of the Gods - This is where the Immortals, or the Players who wounded the Verdant Dragon, reside.
The dragon's purpose there was to ensure no invaders could jump from continent to continent. With the dragon's cave at the deepest part of the Eastern Territory as the center of the three continents, the dragons were using a skill that created a barrier made from their essence. This barrier's purpose was not just to suppress the monsters, but also to prevent the Players from traveling from their continent, Atlas, to the dragon's continent, Mythos, and the mortals' continent, Terra.
The fragmented questions in Kaelus's mind coalesced into a terrifying whole as Grolnuk continued reading the ancient journal.
Grolnuk explained the two-day battle that cemented his family's fate. On the first day, the fight broke out, and the Verdant Dragon successfully killed all of the initial invaders—the 'Players' from Atlas. However, the Dragon was grievously wounded in the process. The Hero's party attempted to treat the Divine Spirit, but the unconventional nature of the Players' weapons meant the wound would not heal.
The next day brought the true horror: the same Players the Dragon had killed returned for revenge, bringing others with them. They were true immortals. Outnumbered and facing opponents who could not truly die, the Verdant Dragon and the Hero's party joined forces. They managed to kill the invaders once more, but it came at the cost of the lives of the entire party, save for Grolnuk's ancestor, who was gravely wounded.
The Dragon, now on the verge of death, made a final sacrifice. The Verdant Dragon disattached his most vital possession: his reverse scale, pouring his remaining power and life force into it. The scale, brimming with energy, was enough to heal and save the ancestor's life.
Before the Dragon died, he passed the reverse scale to Grolnuk's ancestor with the final will to make a great weapon out of it—a weapon that would continue the fight. This sacred promise became the legacy of the Stoutbeard family, compelling them to become master artificers.
Grolnuk then gestured to the sword at Kaelus's hip. "We are following that tradition. The entire reason the Stoutbeard family became artificers was to keep that promise to the Verdant Dragon: to labor until we could create the greatest weapon from his scale."
The dwarf's eyes sparkled with pride and wonder as he looked at the Viridian Sword. "He also said that the scale would choose who would wield this weapon. That scale is so special, Kaelus. It has an element all its own—a genuine Plant Element," Grolnuk said, emphasizing the rare magic. "It has the remaining power of the Verdant Dragon's core. No mortal mage could ever imbue a weapon with that power. The moment you entered my armory, the Verdant Scale was glimmering like it found its new owner."
Grolnuk finished. "The ancestor recorded that once one dragon died, they would be replaced by another. As for that dragon now, I don't know, but I'm sure there is a dragon there. No one will venture deep into the Eastern Territory, so there's no assurance that a dragon is living there today as a replacement for the deceased Verdant Dragon."
The revelation shook Kaelus to his core. The fragmented questions in his mind were all suddenly, terrifyingly answered. Sylva's theory was not just correct; it had a profound, cosmic layer to it.
Kaelus realized the full, crushing weight of his lineage. The Mythos Continent, the land of Divine Spirits, had initially stationed the Verdant Dragon as the protector of the barrier to prevent the Players from jumping from Atlas to Terra and Mythos. When the Verdant Dragon perished, the Mythos Continent stationed his mother—the Wind Dragon—to the cave as the new guardian.
His mother had held the line until her own tragic end, an end Kaelus now realized was tied to his own past life: she had been killed by another Player, Kai Nakamura. With his mother's death, the terrifying responsibility of protector of the barrier had been passed directly to him, the last Wind Dragon descendant.
The "massive shift" the Mage Emperor sensed was the collapse of the dragon's barrier. Kaelus realized the terrible truth: the moment he, the current dragon descendant, left the cave—the nexus point of the barrier—the magic began to dissipate. The dragon and the cave had to be in the same place for the barrier to remain active. His departure was the trigger for the disappearance of the "water" Sylva had theorized about, leading to the rapid destabilization of the entire Eastern Territory.
He, the child of the cave, must be the key to restoring the shield. Kaelus didn't expect that the answer to all the upheaval on the continent—the monster waves, the new dungeons, the massive shift—lay in Grolnuk's ancestor's dusty journal. His mission had just become far more urgent and far more personal.