Chapter 122 The Obligatory Segment — Lucky Draw

"Do you want to eat this?"

Blaze offered the Monkey Hand to his own shadow. The shadow opened a pair of eyes, glanced at him, and then closed them again.

"Ignored, huh."

Blaze shrugged, momentarily troubled by how to handle this Monkey Hand. Destroying it would feel a bit like burning a bridge after it had outlived its usefulness.

The catalyst that had brought him immense help and allowed him to meet Chicken was the [Power of the Constellation]. And this Skill had been stolen from the Nemean Lion by the Monkey Hand. For this alone, Blaze was still quite grateful to the monkey.

The Golden Fleece... Although it was a challenge item, it couldn’t be considered completely useless.

"I’ll keep it for now." Blaze placed the Monkey Hand back into his inventory. With this thing around, he might be able to constantly pinpoint what he desired most in his heart at any given moment.

"Alright, time for the draw." Blaze clapped his hands and picked up the Dragon Memory Crystal from the ground.

Truth be told, he really wanted to imitate the Foreigners and perform a mystical ritual to increase his chances before the draw. Unfortunately, Balkan City wasn’t a particularly special place for Foreigners, so he didn’t know much about their rituals.

However, he did know one thing: he absolutely must not think about what he wanted most, because doing so guaranteed he wouldn’t get it. Of course, he couldn’t think about the worst possible outcome either, as that easily led to actually drawing the worst one.

The best method was to maintain a state of nothingness, and then, with lightning speed, draw the prize directly.

CRACK.

The Dragon Memory Crystal turned into powder. These grains magically danced upward, gradually forming a scene.

In the vision, a crimson Giant Dragon opened its mouth, drawing countless Flames from its surroundings. The Flames gathered at a single point inside the Giant Dragon’s maw. That point shifted from red to white, and finally, everything around it was overwhelmed by its blinding light.

When the light dimmed, everything in front of the Giant Dragon had vanished.

[Prayer: Challenge the Sun with this Flame!]

[Extracts Fire Elements from the surrounding air, compressing them over a long period to form a beam of light capable of annihilating everything. Requires a Faith Value of 500 or above to learn. When activated, it will massively Consume MP in exchange for the right to use the surrounding Fire Elements.]

"Hmm... It’s average," Blaze muttered, feeling a bit conflicted. It wasn’t a loss, but it wasn’t exactly a win either.

This Prayer had high collection value and was quite rare, but it lacked tactical utility.

The Prayer had two modes of use. One was to continuously Consume MP to breathe fire, gradually compressing the Flames into a high-energy beam in the process.

The other was exactly as seen in the Memory: continuously Consume MP to call upon surrounding Fire Elements for compression, ultimately creating a sun on the ground.

No matter which method was used, both would ultimately produce terrifying Effects. However, both were inevitably plagued by three fatal flaws: "massively Consume MP," "requires long casting times to reach maximum effectiveness," and "immobilizes the user during casting."

In the words of the Foreigners, this was a novelty gimmick of a Prayer.

However, considering that the charge-up damage depended on the charging duration rather than the individual’s Attributes, it was somewhat reasonable.

Those 40 attribute points hadn’t gone to waste entirely.

"Still, what does breathing fire actually feel like?" Blaze had always been curious about this. Summoning Flames with Magic was one thing.

But spitting fire directly from the mouth...

Driven by curiosity, Blaze opened his mouth and used the Prayer, choosing to Consume MP to create Flames.

A flash of bright light ignited across Blaze’s face.

"Huh?"

POOF!

Chicken slowly awakened. Her noble eyes looked down upon everything around her with the proud stance of one who disdains the masses.

The Dragon’s Power had clearly entered her body and assimilated far better than anticipated.

She couldn’t wait to share this with her partner in destiny.

Her noble Lion, her...

"Did something happen?" Chicken hopped over to Blaze, who was slumped on the ground, and tilted her head to examine him.

For some reason, Blaze’s helmet was blacker than usual, and thick black smoke was billowing from the eye slits.

"I learned a valuable lesson through personal experience today: never breathe fire while wearing a helmet."

Who would have thought that breathing fire from the mouth literally meant breathing fire from the mouth? Because he had kept his helmet on, the fire had roasted him right in the face.

This Prayer was completely useless to him in his Human form.

"Oh, this Prayer has quite the backstory."

Chicken’s now much larger body allowed for more expressive facial features, making it incredibly easy for Blaze to read her schadenfreude.

"That was a Dragon who dared to challenge the Sunbird. Its ambition, its delusion, its courage—all were admirable. But it was killed while charging up its attack. After all, it took way too long to charge. That strike might have actually shattered the Sun."

Blaze’s eye twitched uncontrollably. This was a Prayer that only brought misfortune. It needed to be Sealed immediately.

"Since I was so unlucky, then according to what the Foreigners call the ’Conservation of Luck,’ or whatever it’s called, you should be having a great time, right?"

"Of course! Look at my beautiful wings!"

Chicken proudly spread her massive wings. The moment they unfurled, they brought a suffocating pressure akin to descending dark storm clouds.

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Night Watcher’s Soul: Vidforlir

Skill: Noble Soul Z / Piercing Claw E / Supersonic Flight D / Three-dimensional Maneuvering F / Map C / Visual Sharing D / Divine Speed Magic F / Perfect Dive F / Dragon Breath F / Flame Absorption F / Wind Avoidance F

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Unlike the Black Wolfman, Chicken did not have a level. This fit the classification of a Ghost-Type Monster perfectly.

Because Ghost-Type Monsters had lost their physical forms, the balance between body and soul was broken. Since most Skills were recorded in the flesh, a Ghost Monster naturally lost the Skills it had acquired during its physical growth.

Before finding a temporary host body, Ghost-Type Monsters could only use Spiritual Attacks. They would only regain a level once they found a vessel.

Of course, this required the new body to closely resemble their original one; otherwise, it would result in a Chimera-like Monster.

Chicken’s situation was rather unique. She grew as a soul. Paired with her constant switching of bodies, it was equivalent to countless reincarnations. Every time, she started at Level 1, but every time, she became stronger than the last.

"It’s just like a Phoenix."

"Ah, we have to get rid of that guy eventually. Otherwise, as the latecomer, I’ll look like a cheap knockoff."

"That’s a topic for another time." Blaze nonchalantly rejected the idea. It seemed only the Twelve Beast Kings had been tempted by the Evil God’s Blood. Why would he go out of his way to provoke a Phoenix for no reason?

"Tch." Chicken clicked her tongue, looking like her grand conspiracy had just been foiled.

"We still need to find Master Hade. Hurry up and get moving; let’s not cause any trouble for the Dionysus Tavern."

Blaze urged her as he opened the cellar door. Because he had been staying down there the whole time, the staff had stopped coming in to fetch alcohol.

"So, have you figured out how to solve the issue of the Enhancement success rate?"

"Yeah, I have a few ideas." Blaze lifted the Twisted Greatsword and tapped it.

"Do you think it was just sheer luck that I managed to take over for Master Hade and successfully complete the forging without having the Blacksmith Profession?"