I Received System to Become Dragonborn-Chapter 1262: Ominous

Selene laughed lightly as she stepped back. She rolled her shoulders as if loosening tension that hadn’t truly settled in the first place.

"You’re strong, Marcus. At the start, anyway," she said with an easy grin. "You’ve got talent. But right now?" She tapped her chest once. "I’m much stronger."

Marcus pushed himself up with a soft groan and nodded, accepting it without argument.

"Yeah... I figured," he said.

He didn’t say anything more. He wouldn’t explain that the sudden rise in his Magic aptitude back then might not have been entirely his own doing. He wouldn’t mention the interrogations, Sergeant Drake’s sharp eyes, or the uneasy feeling that something foreign had once brushed against his power.

Talking about it would only make the loss feel heavier.

Right now, he believed it was over. That was enough.

Medics guided him toward the infirmary. His injuries were minor, almost negligible, but procedure was procedure.

Selene grabbed two water bottles from the side of the arena and drained them both quickly.

She exhaled, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and bounced lightly on her heels.

Her breathing was steady. Her posture relaxed. Her stamina was still impressively high.

She looked up and grinned. "Come on. Next."

The second candidate stepped into the ring.

She was a woman with short ash-blond hair and sharp, calculating eyes. Unlike Marcus’s explosive presence, hers was quiet and coiled, like a drawn blade. Her Magic manifested as field manipulation—localized gravity distortion that allowed her to alter weight, direction, and momentum within a limited range.

It made her unpredictable and dangerous in close combat.

She tilted her head slightly at Selene, lips curling into a faint smirk.

"Team leader, you’re the healer everyone’s respected as the strongest among us," she said. "Let’s see how long you last when I don’t hit where you expect."

"Haha! Let’s go!" Said Selene.

Above, Erend, Adrien, Billy, Jessica, Thomas, and Conrad watched in silence, their attention fixed on the arena.

As Selene took her stance again, Erend suddenly felt it again.

A strange tug deep within his power. Subtle and insistent. As if something unseen was urging him to move and act again. To be elsewhere than here.

His brow furrowed. He scanned the arena, the candidates, and the air itself, but nothing stood out as a problem. Not yet.

Erend exhaled slowly and stayed where he was.

" If it’s important," he thought, "the system will show it, right?"

For now, he watched the show below.

—

Far away from the training arena, more exactly in another world, beneath skies far calmer than they had been not long ago, Eccar continued his leisurely stroll through the Elf Palace grounds.

The gardens still bore scars if one looked closely enough. Some ancient trees had been replaced with younger growth, their leaves lighter in color.

Parts of the marble walkways had been reforged, the patterns not quite matching the old designs.

Magic lamps hovered where towers once stood. The terror that had brushed the palace skies had not been forgotten but life had already begun to reclaim the space it had nearly lost.

Elves moved about everywhere.

Some tended to the gardens, guiding vines and flowers with gentle Magic. Others carried scrolls, tools, or crystal devices between buildings.

Laughter drifted from an open terrace where younger Elves practiced spellwork, their motions clumsy but enthusiastic.

Vendors had even returned near the outer courtyards, offering fruits, carved trinkets, and glowing charms.

When Eccar passed, heads turned.

An older Elf bowed slightly. A group of guards placed a hand over their chest in salute. A few younger Elves stared openly before smiling and whispering to one another.

He was the Dragonborn. The word didn’t need to be spoken.

Eccar returned the gestures easily. He nodded, smiled back, and lifted a hand in casual acknowledgement. It came naturally now, far more than he expected it would have.

He hadn’t realized it before, but he was enjoying this.

"Hehehe," he giggled under his breath, clearly amused by the attention.

Saving worlds had its perks, apparently.

His gaze lingered a little longer than necessary as several Elf women passed by, their long hair catching the light, their movements graceful in a way that felt unreal.

Humans were beautiful of course, sure. But Elves carried something else. A dreamlike quality, as if they belonged halfway between reality and a pleasant fantasy.

"Feels like I’m walking inside a really nice dream," he thought, smiling to himself. "Can’t say I hate it."

Then it hit him. A tug that was not on his body but deep within his soul.

Eccar stopped, the faint smile fading as he pressed a hand lightly to his chest.

The sensation wasn’t painful. It was subtle, persistent, and familiar.

His brow furrowed.

"That again...?" he muttered quietly.

He knew without question that it wasn’t physical. This wasn’t fatigue or injury. It came from somewhere deeper, resonating through the part of him tied to the nature of the Time power.

He stepped aside toward the palace wall so he wouldn’t block the path and lowered himself onto a stone bench.

His posture relaxed, but his eyes sharpened with focus.

He sat there, listening inward, trying to understand the pull. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Erend must have felt something like this as well," he thought.

The garden continued around him. It looked peaceful, alive, and healing. But for the first time since his walk began, Eccar wasn’t fully present in it.

Something was calling.

Eccar closed his eyes and focused inward.

The sensation was unmistakable now that he paid attention to it. This wasn’t random unease. This wasn’t instinct alone. The pull carried a familiar weight, ancient and precise.

Time power.

His expression darkened slightly as realization settled in. This was the same power he carried within him, the fragments of Krono’s soul.

The remnants of the Time Dragon that Krono had shared with him, with Erend, and with Aesa.

If it stirred now, it wasn’t without reason.

"If it’s reacting... then is something already moving?"

A faint chill crept along his spine. The gardens around him remained peaceful, Elves still passing by, laughter still echoing softly between the buildings. Nothing here suggested danger.

And that worried him more.

Eccar opened his eyes and stared at the distant spires of the palace, jaw tightening.

"I need to see Erend," he thought. "Soon."

The feeling wasn’t panic. It was worse. It was certain.

Something was happening.

—