Ten Lucky Draws: I Became OP - Chapter 348: The Maw - First Friends

Chapter 348: The Maw – First Friends

While Ash and his wives enjoyed their time, the journeys of the others had been slowly unfolding over the past few days.

It had been exactly two days since Ash destroyed the Higher Realm and everything that followed.

In that time, Aurora, the sole heir to the Originat and Ineffable Pantheon, had been familiarizing herself with the Third Dimension.

She wasn’t alone either, as during the Masque she had made a friend—or at least started what could be considered the beginnings of one.

Isis Tiamara, the Dragon Princess, began her journey long ago on Elaris.

Though she and Aurora were born literal realities apart in many ways, they shared one thing in common—neither had ever known friendship.

For Aurora, it was obvious; even after thousands of years, she was only now setting off on an adventure alone.

As for Isis, she had always been a pawn in someone else’s game, her life on Elaris not so different from that of Vaeloria, the Last Sovereign.

The rivalry between Clans and Kingdoms had been far bloodier than anything Humans endured on Elaris.

On the other side of the Death Wall, life was harsh and unforgiving.

Now, in the present, two women sat together in the void between Universes.

After leaving the Land of Weaving, Aurora hadn’t tried to persuade Isis of anything—she simply tagged along as if they’d been friends forever.

Isis ignored her for an entire day, but Aurora’s gentle, genuine presence…. and her ’annoying’ teasing eventually softened her guarded demeanor. And they now shared a quiet moment, perched on a lone stone drifting through the void.

Here, no light reached them except for the faint, cold shimmer of distant universes and the soft golden music notes drifting lazily around Aurora’s head like fireflies.

Not far ahead loomed the Cosmic Steele — its surface etched with Dimensional Rankings that shifted languages every few seconds yet somehow stayed legible to anyone who looked.

Aurora leaned back on her hands, her white-blue hair floating gently in the null-gravity, golden eyes glinting with playful mischief as she read the rankings aloud.

“The Third Dimension… The Maw, huh?”

She let the name linger in the air before glancing sideways at Isis.

“Sounds like some kind of beast, doesn’t it?”

Isis sat with her knees drawn up, her long obsidian-black tail curled protectively around her ankles.

She had long since shed the Masque clothing she despised.

Now she wore something entirely different—no armor, just light, comfortable garments, her tough scales offering all the protection she needed.

She had short black hair and a pair of black horns crowning her head.

Since the silence had broken yesterday, she’d barely spoken, but now her lips curved in the faintest hint of a smirk.

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” she murmured. “The world of cultivation is full of mystery, after all…”

Aurora giggled; to her, cultivation wasn’t so mysterious. Her power had long surpassed the limits of this Lower Dimension of the Third, leaving little beyond her sight.

“Is it really?” she asked with a smile. “To me, it all seems rather bare.”

“Tsk, as you’ve said countless times,” Isis scoffed. “And you don’t even carry an aura of cultivation…” She trailed off, her tone hinting at unspoken thoughts.

Still, she couldn’t honestly imply Aurora was some weakling. If that were true, there was no way she’d be sitting here in the void.

Aurora tilted her head, the music notes in her eyes slowing as she studied the athletic woman.

“Well, I’ve told you just as many times—if you’re tired of wandering endlessly, we can start now.”

Isis let out a short, humorless snort.

“I don’t need your help… you decided to tag along on your own.”

A brief pause hung in the air.

The silence between universes wasn’t empty; it pulsed with the faint hum of gates opening and closing, power shifting across unseen borders.

Aurora’s gaze returned to the void, fixing on the Dimensional Gate that led to a red world called Mars.

“Whatever, Miss Princess… that woman with the white braids—she went through there,” she said, brushing off Isis’s attitude entirely.

Isis rose a brow at that notion.

“My mother’s bloodline has been moving along with her… I’m not sure how, but could she have been captured by that woman?”

Aurora giggled, teasing the dragon.

“Oh? Are you asking me, or just thinking out loud?”

“Tsk.” Isis’s tail twitched once—the only sign of her irritation. “You’re impossible to deal with.”

Aurora playfully frowned at that… it seemed Aurelia’s teachings had rubbed off on her more than a little.

“How… cruel.”

Isis gave a small, bitter shrug.

“Whatever… you’ll get used to it.”

Aurora studied her for a long moment, golden eyes glinting with curiosity.

“So… you’re not going to ask why I’m following you?”

Isis finally turned her head, black slit-pupiled eyes meeting gold ones flecked with music symbols.

“No. I don’t see you as a threat, and I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”

Aurora smiled, raising a brow.

“Hmm, I can’t tell if you’re naive… or just too trusting.”

Her words lingered before she went on.

“You should never judge a book by its cover, you know? But… lucky you, because you’re now my first friend.”

Isis stared at her.

She let out a huff — part laugh, part scoff.

“Friend? Why do you make it sound like a privilege?”

Aurora paused and tapped her chin, realizing she truly didn’t know how to navigate this whole friendship thing.

’Hmm, being friends with me… Daddy’s only daughter… that’s obviously a privilege,’ she mused, though she disliked thinking that way.

It was something Sonna had always told her growing up—a sentiment that even surprised Ash with how Earthly it sounded: treat others how you’d like to be treated.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a privilege… but it definitely has its perks,” she admitted with a shrug.

Isis narrowed her eyes before glancing back at the Cosmic Steele, the name The Maw glowing in third place.

She let out a slow breath.

“You’re interesting… I’ll give you that.”

Aurora leaned in just enough for their shoulders to touch.

“Then I guess we should get moving. Friends don’t let friends walk into cosmic hell alone.”

Isis stayed quiet at first, but after a long pause, the corner of her mouth lifted into the smallest, most reluctant smile Aurora had seen from her yet.

“…Don’t slow me down, you damned lullaby.”

Aurora laughed, the sound echoing gently through the void between universes.

“Now why would I do that, oh dragon princess?”

Together, they rose from the void-stone—two heirs from opposite ends of existence—and stepped toward the shimmering gate leading into the Middle Dimension of the Maw.