The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion - Chapter 257

Capítulo 257: Chapter 257: The Baby Dragon Is Not A Dragon

Damian released a speck of his presence, sending it rippling far back into every corner of the library.

In the next second, everyone heard something moving, accompanied by the sound of continuous, heavy thuds.

“What is that…?”

Yuki asked, squinting as she stared at a distant black figure racing toward them at terrifying speed.

The black figure leaped from dome to dome before launching itself fully into the air.

It descended upon them so fast that they didn’t even have time to comprehend what it was.

Something dark swept past them in an instant, leaving behind nothing but a fleeting mirage.

“It’s so fast…” Ana Sánchez and the others turned around, trying to see what had just rushed past them.

What they found was the figure bouncing around their emperor like a dog greeting its favorite human after a long absence.

“Is that a baby dragon…?” Elfie asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

Yes, it looked exactly like a baby western dragon.

It had four legs, a long tail, and a pair of wings, with a lizard-like head.

Its entire body was pitch black, like the darkness of night itself, its scales gleaming with a faint purple sheen.

Dark violet eyes glowed softly with light.

It was about the size of a bear.

The baby dragon leapt around Damian, releasing low growls as it tried to get his attention, despite already having it.

“Alright, alright, I know you missed me, I missed you too,” Damian said, kneeling down and patting the dragon’s head.

The dragon responded by continuously bumping into him, licking his face while its long black tail swirled excitedly through the air.

“This is Kagetsu, and he is not a dragon,” Damian said. “To be more accurate, he is a Shadow Dragon Spirit. At his core, he is a spirit born from the essence of the Shadow Dimension. His body merely takes the form of a dragon.”

As he spoke, Kagetsu had already moved on and was now playing with little Eden.

“By the way, he is not a baby dragon,” Damian continued. “He is over a hundred thousand years old. His true form is as large as Fenrir’s real body, large enough to overshadow an entire city. He just prefers staying small because it makes it easier for him to bother me,” Damian added with a chuckle.

“My king,” Ana said hesitantly, “didn’t you say the Shadow Dimension is where the cosmic garbage of the universe ends up, that life cannot naturally exist there? Then how can a spirit be born from it?”

“You’re right,” Damian replied. “Kagetsu was not born naturally within the Shadow Dimension. He is the result of one of my experiments going in a direction I never intended. He is truly one of a kind.”

Damian turned his gaze to Elfie as he continued.

“He is also the reason the Norse gods were able to get their hands on one of my creations, the Law Forger.”

“Kagetsu is the only being in the universe capable of wielding pure shadow essence. Through the shadows, he can travel to any part of the universe. As long as a shadow exists at his destination, he can appear anywhere across the three planes of existence,” Damian said with a sigh.

“Usually, he doesn’t like leaving the Shadow Dimension unless he’s with me. But during my absence, he has a tendency to wander. He dislikes being cooped up in one place, and because he possesses shadow essence, the Shadow Dimension doesn’t affect him the way it does others. He can move freely without issue.”

“But the problem is that shadow gateways are not two-way paths. They are interconnected routes leading to every shadow across all planes. When he created a gateway during one of his little outings, he must have accidentally caused the [Law Forger] to fall into it.”

“As it fell through the gateway, it, by pure chance, ended up in one of the Nine Worlds of the Norse Pantheon.”

Damian sighed once more.

“As I said before,” he muttered, shaking his head, “he’s a troublemaker.”

Damian explained more about Kagetsu and shared small stories from his past involving Kagetsu as they walked.

Before long, they arrived at one of the domes, the largest of them all.

They entered the dome through a huge door that opened automatically.

Inside, a vast space unfolded before them, filled with countless items stacked in rows and columns on hundreds of shelves.

The materials numbered in the tens of thousands, and that was just the ground floor.

There were still nine more floors above, and according to Damian, each floor contained hundreds of materials, equipment, and weapons of all shapes and sizes, amounting to hundreds of thousands of items, all his creations, the kind that could never be found anywhere else.

“There are so many things in here…”

Everyone was stunned by the sight.

Damian walked toward one of the countless shelves and carefully placed the [Law Forger] back among other items equally dangerous, if not more so.

This was the place where it belonged, untouched by anyone else.

“My king, did you really create all this?” Maria asked, clearly shocked.

She could sense a mysterious, powerful, almost incomprehensible presence emanating from every single one of his creations.

“I did. I have lived for thirteen lifetimes and countless eons of time, most of which I spent in this very place, aside from the time I spent hunting down threats entering our universe,” Damian said, shrugging.

“Holy heavens, my son-in-law. If any one of your creations fell into the wrong hands, it could lead to catastrophic events beyond imagination,” Avanora said with a serious expression, glancing over his works.

“As I said before, mother-in-law, there is a reason I keep my creations in the Shadow Dimension,” Damian added. “It is not that my creations are dangerous. They have the capability to interfere with the cycle of existence, which can be exploited in dangerous ways.”

“The Law Forger is a perfect example. Although it is a failed creation, I initially intended to use it to cultivate more gods. I consider it a failure because it requires the souls of mortals, which is unacceptable. Mortals are just as important as gods in the cycle of existence.”

“Try not to touch anything without telling me. Some of the items here can interact with the soul,” Damian warned. He paused as a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Actually, why do you all not follow me? I have some items I think would be very suitable for you.”

Everyone nodded and followed the emperor out of the dome.

He led them to another dome, one without floors, but a huge garden yard.

Yet, the yard did not have a single tree, plant, or blade of grass.

It appeared to be composed entirely of thick, rocky soil, pulsating with strange energy.

The presence there was both dangerous and sharp.

Even the celestials felt a piercing edge just by being in this place.

This dome was very different from the others.

For one, it seemed to be the widest of all, occupying the largest area among all the library’s structures.

Inside, there appeared to be some kind of invisible barrier Damian had placed along the walls, seemingly to prevent the strange presence emanating from the yard from leaking outside the dome.

They could also sense a massive formation spread across the dome’s interior.

It was invisible, yet its presence was unmistakable.

Even the weakest of the high humans in the group could sense it with ease.

Everyone wondered what this place was used for, especially after observing the yard.

Hundreds of swords were stabbed into the soil, each surrounded by a layer of thick, sharp, destructive energy.

Yet, this energy was in perfect control, flowing smoothly between the swords like wind gliding through the rocks of the Grand Canyon without causing a single disturbance.

All the sword auras released by the hundreds of swords should have destroyed the library, but they did not.

The rocky, dense soil seemed to counteract the destructive energy of the swords, and with the formation Damian had set up, that energy appeared to be redirected elsewhere.

Only he knew where.

Zzz… Hhhee… Vvvnnn… hum~

A faint but thick, continuous hum entered everyone’s ears.

Immediately, their heads ached as if tied to a mountain.

Not everyone felt it.

Some of the goddesses experienced only slight discomfort in their heads, while the celestials felt nothing, though they could sense something trying to disturb them, like a sharp, dangerous presence near their necks, even as the rest of them felt the headache.

“This… this is sword resonance, right?” Valentina Ignatius asked, her expression filled with surprise.

Avanora observed everything, the formations covering the entire interior of the dome, the swords embedded in the ground, the thick soil that seemed made of some special material, and the energy released by so many different swords, all in perfect harmony.

Normally, such power would have destroyed the place, but here it remained stable.

A thought formed in her mind.

“My son-in-law, are you cultivating the sword aura?” Avanora asked, her expression shocked.