After work, start to speedrun the other world-Chapter 173 - 51 Return to Sky City_2

"..." Eden pulled down her hood, unconcerned about Siegfried’s assessment. Despite Siegfried being a renowned dragon-slaying hero, she had seen too many heroes and didn’t pay them any special mind.

"Then let me take her to get dressed up," a pleasant female voice rang out, and all eyes turned toward the source. Yasiraqi approached, wearing a splendid red gown.

She covered the lower half of her face with a folding fan, looked at the returning Ahtal, and after sizing him up, spoke:

"I’m happy to see you safe and sound."

"This... might just be good luck," Xi Mu sighed, which earned him an eye roll from Yasiraqi. She prodded his breastplate with her closed fan.

"You won’t always be lucky," Yasiraqi cautioned, "If you want to live well, stop running into dangerous places."

At that, she shook her head.

"No... sometimes it seems like wherever you go, trouble follows."

"Just a coincidence," Xi Mu said with a laugh and a wave of his hand, while Yasiraqi’s expression softened slightly, though she chose not to dwell on the topic further.

She reached out to Eden.

"Miss Eden, would you like me to show you around Sky City?"

"That would be very kind of you," Eden responded with a polite smile, taking Yasiraqi’s offered hand, and they left together.

She knew Yasiraqi had intentionally taken her away to create a suitable space for Siegfried and Ahtal to talk.

So, she didn’t turn down Yasiraqi’s invitation.

"Let’s talk some serious business," Siegfried said as he walked toward a pavilion not far away, speaking to Xi Mu beside him, "Sky City is temporarily home to several dragons, all here for the purpose of... killing me."

Xi Mu asked with curiosity, "To kill you?"

"To put it in a way you’d understand, let me tell a story," Siegfried settled into a chair in the pavilion, snapped off the neck of a wine bottle with his hand, and then poured two cups of wine.

"If a monster transformed into a human and suddenly infiltrated human society, what do you think the reaction of most people would be?"

"Dangerous," Xi Mu answered promptly.

"What if this monster’s thoughts were vastly different from humans?" Siegfried asked, "And you had the power to slay such monsters?"

"I would try to kill that monster," Xi Mu answered, and Siegfried smiled, taking a sip from the cup on the table.

He went on to add:

"What if the monster also had the power to enable other monsters to continue transforming into humans?"

"Then, by all means, it must be killed," Xi Mu replied without hesitation, then grew silent.

It seemed he understood Siegfried’s predicament.

"And what if this monster’s ’magic’ could even steal people’s powers," Siegfried poured himself another cup of wine, "If this magic spread, greedy monsters would keep coming after humans... non-stop."

"Those dragons, they’re here to kill you?" Xi Mu frowned, his voice growing more serious, as he grasped the concept Siegfried was driving at.

From the perspective of the dragons, a formerly weak species suddenly becomes one of their own, and these new entrants could gain power by killing their kin.

Of course, they would want to eliminate the one stealing the power of dragons.

This was the side effect of using the Dragonborn magic; one faced the hostility and curses of dragons until the user of the Dragonborn magic perished.

However, for veteran players, the Dragonborn magic was essentially... a monster-aggravating tactic. It positioned players as natural enemies of the great dragons, continuously attracting dragon assaults and exponentially increasing experience points.

"They’re here to kill anyone who possesses the Dragonborn magic," Siegfried revealed the truth, "They dare not act now because they’re worried that once I die, they won’t be able to trace how many people have learned the Dragonborn magic."

"..."

Xi Mu silently drank a cup of wine, his furrowed brow indicating that he wasn’t in the best of moods, seeming to find the Dragon Clan’s malice particularly troublesome.

In response, Siegfried had another piece of bad news, "I wasn’t supposed to transform into a dragon so soon."

He explained as Xi Mu looked on in confusion.

"However, recently I’ve slain another malevolent dragon, and after seizing its power, my transformation into a dragon has been expedited."

Xi Mu asked doubtfully, "Dragon magic, it can continue to seize a dragon’s power?"

"It can keep on going." Siegfried explained cheerfully, "But the more dragon power I take, the less human I become until I’m no longer a human at all."

He sighed.

"Even if you have the rightly interpreted dragon magic, once you kill enough dragons, you will still transform into one."

It was no exaggeration, the essence of dragon magic was to strengthen oneself by seizing dragon power, and the end result of using dragon magic continuously was transforming into a dragon.

"Is there no way to avoid it?" Xi Mu asked, to which Siegfried shook his head and explained.

"This magic of the Dragonkin was prepared by the Creation Witch for her return to the human world," Siegfried gestured with his hands, "Correctly interpreted dragon magic only ensures that you don’t lose your human reasoning."

Xi Mu: "..."

"Don’t worry too much about what the dragons think." Siegfried took a sip of wine and consoled Ahtal, "As long as you don’t continue to slay dragons and reveal that you can use dragon magic, you needn’t worry about being hunted by the Dragon Kingdom."

Xi Mu frowned, "But they won’t let Yasiraqi off, will they?"

"I will erase some of Yasiraqi’s memories." Siegfried’s voice suddenly grew tired, "They won’t target Yasiraqi too aggressively afterward."

He had planned everything well, waiting for Ahtal to grow up and then secretly kill himself while ensuring Ahtal would protect his daughter without worries for the rest of her life.

However, plans inevitably go awry. Initially, he had only slain the malevolent dragon with good intentions, but that act had significantly advanced the timing of his transformation into a dragon.

And the Dragon Kingdom had also noticed his seizure of dragon power.

"No worries; I will slay any dragon that means harm to Yasiraqi." Xi Mu gave his assurance, "If the Dragon Kingdom won’t cease, I myself will pay a visit to the Dragon Kingdom and have a talk with the Dragon King."

"Hahahaha... Such pride you have." Siegfried laughed heartily, his boisterous laughter seeming to shake the entire garden.

He wasn’t surprised by Ahtal’s arrogance; after all, geniuses are prideful, especially the likes of Ahtal who believe they can threaten the Dragon Kingdom single-handedly; that was quite normal.

Anyone with Ahtal’s rate of growth would likely be very arrogant, disregarding everyone else, believing in their potential to become a demon.

"Once you possess power that aspires to the divine, you can threaten the Dragon Kingdom," Siegfried said, reining in his laughter.

He picked up his cup and clinked it with Ahtal’s, saying:

"Remove the ’power’ augmentations, and even at the racial level... there’s a vast disparity in strength due to differences in lineage, which is why the Dragon Clan is the strongest race; they have a strong lineage to boost them."

"Understood, my teacher has told me." Xi Mu instinctively raised his hand, touching the bracelet he wore on his wrist.

In the game’s official settings, the pinnacle level for humans was ninety-nine, but in actual combat, there were some differences in the numbers.

In his first playthrough, he had been defeated by a dragon because its health bar was too long, and he ran out of magic power, allowing the dragon to turn the tables and kill him.

Of course, the higher the numbers, the higher the experience points gained.

And naturally... bosses that act like cheating monsters, known as mechanic monsters, yield very high experience points when defeated.