Chapter 55: The Departing Dragon Rider

Chapter 55: The Departing Dragon Rider

Eileen said to Bran, “I’m leaving. Tomorrow.”

“So soon? I wanted to tell you a few more secrets about the Northlands.” Then, Bran felt a punch on his shoulder.

“Don’t you have anything to say?”

“Yes!”

“Say it.”

“About that bet last time, and the Phoenix’s light and shadow you bought, you still haven’t paid up.”

“…You money-grubber. Can’t I owe you?”

“You’re about to run off, I’m anxious. Believe me, I’ll chase you down to your lair.”

“You? If you come to my home, I’ll teach you a lesson in no time.”

“You can try to teach me a lesson now too.”

“I’m afraid if I beat up the little one, an old one will come. You have more people here, two fists are no match for four hands.”

“As if you’re so strong. My sister is right over there, go teach her a lesson.”

“Get lost! Here, this is yours. We’re even.” Eileen smacked four pieces of Dragon Gold onto the table.

Bran examined the Dragon Gold carefully, then asked, “Did you shortchange me? This piece is only the size of a palm. How can you even take it out?”

Eileen rolled her eyes, not bothering to deal with this country bumpkin Bran.

“I thought you’d stay for a while. Not waiting for the custom-made items?”

Eileen sounded somewhat helpless. “I really doubt if you’re a Northlander. Did you really grow up in a castle?”

“Not entirely. They were always preparing to sell me off, so I’m more like a Northlander for sale.”

“We come every few years to pick up the last order and place the next one,” Eileen explained.

“What exactly is this?” Bran tossed a piece of Dragon Gold in his hand. “It doesn’t look much like metal, but it’s very hard.”

Eileen explained, “It’s not metal to begin with. It’s actually the layer under a dragon’s scales. It has excellent strength and toughness. It can return to its original shape over a wide range of deformation, and it also possesses some metallic properties itself.”

“You should handle this better than the Northlands, right?”

“When it comes to metal, no one dares say they are better than the Northlanders.”

“So, you have the Northlanders mix the Dragon Gold with some metals to make alloy ingots, and then you take them back to make armor?”

“Yes, most Dragon Knight armor is made that way now.”

“What about weapons?” Bran continued.

“They aren’t suitable for making weapons.”

Little Dragon Rider didn’t stay long today. When seeing off Little Dragon Rider, Bran could sense Aiman’s reluctance.

…

Now Bran focused all his energy on the Dragon Gold. This was because Bran discovered that this material had a strange reaction to Mana. His Mana actually had a hard time penetrating inside this substance. This sparked Bran’s interest, and he began trying to fully penetrate and sense the Dragon Gold. Bran felt like he was facing a living creature, except this creature was made of a pile of fragments. Each fragment maintained life-like characteristics. It was a very novel feeling.

As the Mana continuously penetrated, the penetrated parts began to reorganize and integrate along with the fluctuations of the Mana, as if each fragment was finding its original position and starting to return. And the reorganized Dragon Gold became a part of Bran’s Mana, a real part, as if the Mana had become his nerves, starting to command its movement and changes. The parts inside this piece of Dragon Gold that hadn’t been penetrated yet felt like foreign objects that had entered the body. Luckily, this foreign object was also being gradually digested and consumed.

When Lily came looking for Bran, she saw a rather strange scene. A little figure that looked like her, about the size of a palm, was wrestling with Black Cat Huahua on the table…

Then she walked over without ceremony and slapped her brother on the head, interrupting Bran’s control and also ending Huahua’s game. Huahua, whose game was interrupted, picked up the little figure in her mouth, jumped into Bran’s arms, and placed the little figure in Bran’s hand. Then the little figure melted and disappeared at a visible speed, eventually spreading evenly over Bran’s hand like a glove.

Lily asked with curiosity and excitement, “What is this? Your ability evolved again? Tell me quickly.”

“No, I just found an interesting material, Dragon Gold.”

“That stuff used to make armor? It’s pretty ordinary.”

“Not ordinary. Very interesting.” Then, under Bran’s command, the piece of Dragon Gold covering his hand peeled off, turned into a square, and was handed to Lily. “See how it feels.”

“It feels like touching skin and flesh.”

“That’s it. The Dragon Gold the Dragon Riders gave me has good toughness, but the cold, hard metallic feel is overwhelming.”

“Why is that?”

“Maybe the Dragon Gold they refined is more like countless grains of sand stuck together. Even though each grain is flexible enough, the whole can’t reproduce this characteristic.”

“Is it that simple?” Lily retorted.

“Yeah, it is. And most importantly, this material can truly memorize the frequency of Mana Fluctuations. Once memorized, it’s hard to change. If the Dragon Gold they provided wasn’t more like an aggregate of sand grains, not a true whole, and if the Mana Fluctuations inside weren’t chaotic, I wouldn’t have been able to penetrate it with my Mana in such a short time either.

This material is really interesting. You know I can release, penetrate, and sense with my Mana, but when I need to change their external or internal form, I still need to make physical contact with these hands. Once contact is lost, I can only sense.

But this material is different. After being completely penetrated by my Mana, it’s like it became a part of my body. As long as it’s within the range of my Mana Web, it can act according to my will, like splitting, merging, and changing shape.”

…

Bran sat on the head of the statue at his doorstep, just like when he watched the Delegation before. Little Dragon Rider was leaving. Bran felt a bit reluctant. How long had it been since anyone pestered him to talk like this? Whether talking or listening, it was actually quite enjoyable.

Watching that team of Dragon Riders pass by his door and go away, the two Little Dragon Riders were no longer just fresh meat in Bran’s eyes. He felt they should be considered his friends. At least their attitude towards him, or his attitude towards them, was the way between friends. Even though that fly Aiman’s real target was Sister, and Eileen put her arm around his shoulder to annoy her own brother, this feeling wasn’t bad. At least it wasn’t distant.

They’re leaving just like that, without any gesture. This made Bran feel somewhat lost as he watched the Dragon Riders fading into the distance. Just as Bran was starting to feel truly disappointed, he saw Eileen break away from the group and run back towards him. Then Bran felt himself getting uncontrollably happy.

After stopping close by, Eileen said, “My brother asked me to say goodbye to Lily on his behalf. You must relay the message.”

“Okay, will do. By the way, tell him when you go back, he has no hope.”

Eileen grumbled, “Leaving, and you still don’t say anything nice.”

“Then you say something nice first.”

“Get lost! Can’t be bothered with you. I thought you’d at least say a few parting words, but you just sat here watching the show.” Eileen sounded a bit wronged.

“I was waiting for you to speak first, but you just left like that. I was about to chase after you, and you came back.” Bran grinned as he explained.

“Alright, goodbye.” Eileen shrugged.

“Goodbye.”

Seeing Eileen turn her mount to leave, Bran called out, “Wait.”

Then he threw a Crystal Ball to Eileen. Inside the ball was a creature coiling its body that Eileen had never seen before. “A gift for you. This is the Phoenix’s man, they’re sort of a family. I couldn’t bear to see the little couple living apart, so take him with you.”

Eileen smiled and gave Bran a sidelong glance. “I’d be a fool to believe you.”

“Don’t go. This is from my sister for your brother.” Bran threw another Ring to Eileen. It was an ordinary iron band, with a sentence Bran wrote in Han language: ‘I’ve finally lost you.’

“And tell your brother, if he doesn’t know how to give gifts to girls, he’s destined to be alone for life.”

…

“Gone?” Lily asked.

“Yeah. Also, I gave Aiman a Ring for you, helping you reject him.”

“Drop dead!”…