After they finished burying their fallen comrades, the rcenaries returned to the caverns. They moved with practiced ease, securing the area, pitching tents, and cooking the ga they had caught earlier.
As expected of those who walked so close in Lady Velmira’s embrace and honored the War God Varkun, they mourned with sincerity, and then ate with laughter.
They shared food, swapped crude jokes, and retold the story of slaying a dragon with increasing exaggeration, as though they hadn’t just buried five of their own.
Lucen, sitting quietly near the fire, watched it all with a furrowed brow. He had seen scenes like this plenty of tis from the safety of a monitor, in gas, ani, and movies. He used to think it was a cool scene, but in reality, it was sothing else.
This was his reality now, not sothing you simply see on the monitor, but sothing warm and alive.
"Hey, little leader, co eat with us." Harlik gestured for Lucen to co sit with them. Lucen approached and sat with the group of rcenaries.
"So little leader, what kind of magic did you use when you were fighting us? It’s the first ti I’ve seen such a spell."
"I’ll explain when we make it back to Ironhold," Lucen said, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Well, now I’m even more curious."
"How about you guys, what was the na of your rcenary group?" Lucen tried to change the subject.
"We really didn’t have a na, we were just called Harlik’s rcenary group. How about you give us a new na, little leader?"
"Hm, a na for a rcenary group."
’These guys remind of the band of rcenaries from an old manga I used to read.’ Lucen glanced at Harlik for a second. ’I don’t think they would end in the sa fate. Now that I think about it, there are quite a few famous ani rcenaries. Still, I wouldn’t na this group with the sa na. I wonder what would be a good na for our group...’
Lucen was truly thinking about what to na this group. ’A na that carries weight, and glory... Even for those buried in the snow.’
"So what do you think, little leader, going to give us a new na?" The rcenary disrupted Lucen’s thoughts, who smiled and replied.
"Yeah. I’ll give you all a na worthy of what we’ve been through."
"So what is it?"
"I’m still thinking about it, I’ll tell you guys when I think of the na."
"Sure, sure, I’ll wait for that." The rcenary responded while taking another bite of the at he was holding. "This would have been better with a mug of ale."
...
The group of rcenaries ate well enough and kept on laughing and sharing stories with Lucen. It was truly like the entire battle they had just had this morning never happened.
Lucen was able to pull himself from the rry-making rcenaries and went to look at the body of the dead dragon. Even though it had died a few hours before, it was still hot to the touch, and its blood even more so. Steam was actually rising from the dead young dragon’s blood.
’In stories, drinking or bathing in dragon blood gives so sort of enhancent, and of course, there’s also the chance of death. Still, everything I have done up to this point has had the chance of death, and I’m still alive.’
"What are you doing, little leader?" Harlik appeared behind Lucen.
"I’m thinking of bathing and drinking the dragon’s blood."
"Are you serious? You want to bathe in and drink that dragon’s blood, that’s hotter than a boiling pot."
"Don’t worry, I think I can take it."
"You know I’m a rcenary and I’ve done things that could be called crazy and stupid, and I’ve seen a lot of absurd things, but what you’re saying might be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard."
"You do know there are stories about dragon’s blood granting incredible things."
"Those are just stories, fairytales told to young boys like you. I know you’re a young little leader, and sotis forget that because of how mature you are, but this isn’t sothing you should do. I’ve seen n drink wyvern blood, thinking it’d make ’em stronger. Their screams lasted an hour before they died with nothing to gain from it. That’s just wyvern blood, this is a true dragon’s blood."
"It probably seems crazy and stupid to do," Lucen admitted, "but a lot of things that worked out for started that way."
Hearing Lucen’s reply, Harlik did not know what to say. Ever since eting the young Thornehart this morning, from their battle against each other to their cooperation in defeating the young dragon, this kid has done one crazy, incredible thing after another.
If it were anyone else the sa age, no even older people like that done all of those things, they would have died many tis over. When he thought of that, Harlik was starting to believe that Lucen might actually do it and survive.
"If this kills you, I don’t know what I would say to the Iron Duke... Sorry, sir, your son went crazy and burned himself by bathing in dragon’s blood."
"Then pray to Kalderos that these flas won’t burn ."
Harlik paused for a mont, unable to tell if the boy was fearless or just completely mad.
Lucen, who had already strengthened his resolve, set aside his bag, his weapon, and removed his armor and clothes. Once he was stripped bare, he stood at the edge of the steaming pool, his heart pounding like a drum. ’This is f*cking stupid.’ A second passed, then he leapt.
Kalderos’s blessing was being used to its full effect. Still, even with the blessing that reduced heat and fire, stopping his body from being burnt, Lucen still felt like he was being boiled, but he endured it as he rolled his body in the pool of dragon’s blood. Lucen could feel the boiling blood entering his body through the pores of his skin.
He was unaware, but the traits of Grit and Dragonkiller’s resolve were helping him not die from the boiling blood.
The rcenaries who were eating joyfully noticed the commotion and gathered around, looking at what Lucen was doing.
"Hey, aren’t we going to pull him out?" one rcenary asked, alard.
"You can try, but can’t you feel how hot that thing is? We ain’t even close, and I’m already drenched in sweat, and it’s snowing. If we placed our hands in there, I’m sure it’s going to burn off." Another one replied.
"Couldn’t we cool it down with an ice spell?"
"Don’t you rember what happened when we tried that while fighting. The ice spell evaporates before it reaches the blood. We need at least a Third Circle Mage for that plan to work."
While the rcenaries were panicking a little that their new leader was being boiled alive by dragon’s blood, Lucen finally heard the thing he wanted to hear: The notification chi.
[Extre stress has been placed on your body: Aura has awakened]
[Gained new skill: Regeneration - Passive (Novice) Warning: Only upgradable by bathing in stronger dragon’s blood.]
[Strength 5]
[Endurance 10]
The second Lucen heard the notification chi, Lucen quickly moved out of the dragon’s blood while shaking his body like a wet dog, he headed to the snowy area of the cavern and rolled in the snow.
His skin hissed as the snow touched it. Steam curled around him, and a tallic scent hung in the air.
The boiling blood that was covering him was lting the snow, but at the sa ti, it was being wiped away. Lucen headed to areas with more snow and continued to roll in them.
The mages from the rcenary group helped Lucen by splashing him with first-circle water spells. After so ti, the dragon’s blood was no longer on his body. Lucen lay on the snowy ground, breathing heavily.
"Hey, are you alright?" Harlick carefully approached Lucen and asked.
"A little tired, but I’m okay."
Harlik crouched beside him, snow crunching beneath his boots. He handed Lucen his clothes back.
"You’re a damn lunatic, you know that?"
"You need to be at this level to keep up with a Thornehart." Lucen jokingly said as he sat upright, putting back his clothes.
"So did you gain anything from that boiling bath of yours?" Harlik asked curiously as the other rcenaries approached to listen to the conversation.
"I think I gained a few things."
"What is it?"
"I feel a little bit stronger, and can I borrow a knife?"
"Here, little leader." One of the rcenaries handed his knife to Lucen.
When Lucen held the knife, he suddenly cut the palm of his hand, which surprised everyone.
"What are you doing?! Healer, do sothing about this idiot." Harlik commanded.
"That’s weird, I thought it would close up."
Lucen, whose pain tolerance was unusually high, stared at the cut in confusion. He honestly expected it to close up, like the mutants he’d seen in shows back on Earth.
Even with Varkun’s blessing and Regeneration, it didn’t close imdiately. While the healer was bandaging up his cut palm, Lucen opened his status window to look at his HP.
’It’s going up, but it’s 2HP for every five seconds. So it does regenerate health, but not fast enough for one to see visibly.’
After the healer finished bandaging him up, Lucen poked his finger with a knife, which once again surprised everyone.
"Hey, give that knife already!" Harlik said as he grabbed the knife from Lucen, who was pointing his bleeding finger.
"Look." The bleeding finger stopped, and the prick Lucen made healed. "This is what I gained from bathing in dragon’s blood."
"All that effort for sothing like a minor cure wound that most clerics from any temple could do."
"So you guys aren’t going to go bathe in the dragon’s blood as well? Who knows, maybe you guys will gain sothing different," Lucen suggested.
"Sorry, little leader, unlike you, we ain’t that crazy." One of the younger rcenaries spoke.
"If we did that, we would die first before gaining anything."
"No need to do it. We already have our beautiful healers who would heal our wounds." Another rcenary spoke while winking at the two won healers.
"Hey, who are you calling beautiful?!" The only healer who was a man in the group complained.
"Be grateful we ain’t calling you ugly even though your mug is sothing only your mother could love." The others started laughing.
"Suit yourselves, when I’m done resting, I’m going to try drinking the blood next."
"Gods above, he’s really gone off the deep end," soone blurted.
"Okay, now he’s actually lost it," a younger rcenary whispered.
"You almost got burned by the blood, and now you’re thinking of drinking it?!"
"Okay, I know that you’re one lucky fella, but now you’re just pushing it," Harlik spoke while sitting down next to Lucen.
"I won’t drink it now, I’ll rest first. I’ll also try to cool it down and maybe try a single drop. I just need to test what it might do," Lucen replied.
"That’s still insane, even now it’s still hard to believe your skin doesn’t have burn marks. What are you made of?"
"That’s thanks to Kalderos’ blessing, it kept my skin from burning."
"Sure, so you just have a blessing of the God of the Forge of Flas," Harlik said sarcastically.
"Yeah, I also have a blessing from Varkun and Vermilla," Lucen answered with a grin on his face.
"Whatever you say," Harlik, still not believing his words simply shrugged his shoulders.
One of the rcenaries leaned over to another and whispered, "Should we start a betting pool? Five silver says he grows scales."
"Nah," another replied, scratching his chin. "Ten says he breathes fire."
"I’ll put twenty on him just dying."
"So you guys aren’t going to stop , instead you’re making bets?" Lucen asked, a bit surprised by their actions.
"What, did you expect us to stop you?" Harlik, who was beside him, asked.
"No, not really... Still, I at least wanted you guys to try sothing."
"Why bother if you’re going to do it anyway. We said we would follow you, so if our little leader wants to do this madness, then we’ll have fun while you’re doing it. That’s the rcenary way," Harlik responded.
The other rcenaries laughed at Harlik’s response. Lucen looked at the laughing rcs and felt a quiet relief settle in his chest.
He was still a little bit on guard, and even thought they would do sothing while he was weak from what he had done. At most, they would have simply continued their job and brought him to whoever hired them.
Still, after observing them and making his bet that they won’t harm him, he felt like he had won that bet.
Amidst that laughter, surrounded by warriors who had tried to kill him this morning, who now called him little leader. Lucen let his eyes close, a faint smile on his face as he drifted into sleep.
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