Chapter 10: The Mysterious Pond

Chris and Azreon continued falling down the cliff.

Azreon was desperately flapping his wings, trying to slow their descent, and although his efforts were enough to make them glide somewhat instead of simply dropping straight down, Chris was still far too heavy for the little dragon to carry.

Their descent remained dangerously fast.

They struggled for a few more moments before Chris finally saw the ground approaching beneath them.

"Brace yourself!"

There was barely enough time to react before Chris slammed into the ground.

"AAGGHH!"

Pain exploded through his entire body.

Azreon fell directly on top of him, but unlike Chris, the little dragon seemed completely unharmed. He quickly jumped off his body and began licking Chris’s face, clearly worried about him.

Chris remained on the ground for a moment, trying to recover from the impact. That was easily the biggest fall he had ever experienced.

He carefully moved his arms and legs, checking his body for injuries. Despite the incredible pain running through his muscles, he couldn’t feel anything broken.

’How am I still alive?’

He slowly moved his fingers, then his arms and legs, but everything seemed to be working.

The pain was intense, but there didn’t seem to be any serious injuries.

It was probably because his body had become much stronger after reaching Level 19, while Azreon’s attempt to slow their fall had also reduced the impact considerably.

Chris slowly pushed himself up.

His muscles were still numb from the impact, and he gritted his teeth as he stood, but the pain was already beginning to fade slightly.

Once he was standing, he looked down at Azreon and patted his head.

"Thank you, buddy. You saved my life again."

He was endlessly grateful to the little dragon.

Azreon had already changed his life completely by giving him the chance to become the Beast Tamer he had always wanted to be, and now he had saved his life twice.

The little dragon was more than just his contracted beast. He was his companion.

Chris looked around.

The bottom of the cliff had the same strange atmosphere as the forest above. The crimson sky was still visible, casting a faint red light over the surroundings, but a thick fog covered the ground.

Chris couldn’t see more than twenty meters ahead. All he could see around him were rocks.

The fog made it impossible to determine what was beyond their immediate surroundings. He could at most see 20 meters ahead of him.

Chris turned around and looked back at the cliff.

Because of the fog, he couldn’t see its top, but he could tell from the steep rock wall that climbing it would be nearly impossible.

Considering how long they had been falling, the cliff had to be extremely high.

’I definitely can’t climb that.’

He needed to find another way.

Chris called Azreon and began moving in a straight direction away from the cliff.

He knew he had to be careful. The fog made it easy to lose his sense of direction, and getting lost in an unfamiliar area could be deadly.

Because of his years of surviving in the Wilds, Chris had learned several tricks for dealing with situations like this.

Every twenty or thirty meters, he stopped and placed a rock on the ground, then used the edge of his sword to make a distinctive cut across it.

The marks would allow him to recognize the path later. If he didn’t find anything useful, he could simply follow the trail back to the cliff and search in another direction.

He had learned the hard way that getting lost in the Wilds was something a person couldn’t afford.

’If you get lost, you don’t survive.’

Chris continued walking with Azreon beside him. The fog remained thick, and the landscape barely changed.

For almost an hour, they walked through the strange rocky area.

Then Chris suddenly noticed something.

He felt... better. The pain from the fall had quickly receeded, and his body felt lighter and more energetic.

Chris slowed down.

’That’s strange.’

His level had increased recently, but it wasn’t enough to completely heal him after such a massive fall in only an hour. Something about this place was affecting his body.

He stopped and tried to sense his surroundings.

Nothing.

There was no obvious source of mana, no monster nearby, and nothing he could identify as dangerous.

Chris turned toward Azreon.

"Little Azreon, do you feel something weird about this place? I suddenly feel my body getting lighter and rejuvenated."

Azreon looked at him for a moment. Then the little dragon raised his head and sniffed the air, and his expression suddenly changed.

Azreon turned toward the left. He seemed to have sensed something.

He looked back at Chris and began roaring, clearly urging him to follow.

"You found something?"

They changed direction, but Chris continued leaving his marked rocks behind every few meters. He didn’t want to lose his way just because they had found something interesting.

After walking for a short while, Chris finally saw something through the fog.

"What is that?"

He moved closer.

"Is that... water? A pond?"

A small pond was embedded into the rocky ground. It was roughly the size of a small pool, and a thick layer of fog surrounded it.

More fog seemed to be rising directly from the pond.

Chris stared at it.

"Is this what creates the fog? Strange..."

He approached carefully. The liquid inside the pond looked white.

At first, he thought it was simply reflecting the fog, but after getting closer, he realized the liquid itself was actually white.

Chris slowly held his hand above it.

He couldn’t feel any heat or cold, nor could he sense any danger. Still, he wasn’t willing to take chances.

He took a small piece of meat from his backpack and dipped one end into the liquid.

He pulled it back out, and nothing happened.

The meat wasn’t burned, frozen, dissolved, or damaged in any way.

Chris examined it carefully before finally deciding to test the liquid himself.

He slowly dipped one finger into the pond. Instantly, a powerful surge of vitality entered his body.

Chris’s eyes widened.

All the remaining pain from his fall disappeared in an instant, and his entire body felt refreshed. Better than that, he could feel his strength increasing.

"What..."

Chris looked at his System.

His XP was increasing at an incredible rate.

"This! This is some good stuff!"

He stared at the pond excitedly, but then he noticed something.

The surface of the pond was slowly lowering. The liquid was disappearing as he used it.

Chris immediately pulled his finger out.

’This pond is too small.’

Whatever this liquid was, it wouldn’t last forever. He had to use it carefully.

Chris looked toward Azreon.

The little dragon was staring curiously at the pond. He seemed to understand that the liquid was beneficial, but he hadn’t touched it.

Instead, he was simply standing there and waiting.

’This little guy...’

Chris felt a warmth in his chest.

’He helped me so much, saved my life over and over again, and now he’s even restraining himself because of me.’

He turned toward the dragon.

"Azreon, you will enter this pond and absorb its contents."

Azreon immediately looked at him and roared several times. It sounded as if he was arguing with Chris and urging him to use the pond himself.

Chris shook his head.

"Listen, little Azreon. The priority right now is to increase your strength."

He pointed toward the pond.

"You are our greatest weapon against those Dark Spirits. We need you to become stronger if we’re going to have any chance of fighting them or whatever other monsters we may encounter in this dungeon."

Azreon became silent.

After a moment, he gave another hesitant roar.

"Okay, how about this? You jump in and absorb as much as you want, and I’ll dip my hand in it so I can absorb a portion of it too."

The little dragon seemed to think about it. Eventually, he nodded.

Azreon approached the pond and jumped straight into the white liquid.

Chris immediately dipped his hand into it as well, and the familiar surge of vitality rushed through his body.

Then the System notifications began appearing.

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

The notifications appeared one after another. Azreon’s level was rising incredibly fast.

In only half an hour, he had already reached Level 19, becoming equal to Chris.

The two continued absorbing the liquid. Chris could feel himself approaching Level 20 as well.

The excitement in his chest grew stronger. Both of them were about to evolve again.

Then the System notification finally appeared.

[Level increased.]

[Requirements for evolution met.]

[All attributes increased: x1.5.]

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

[Requirements for evolution met.]

[All attributes increased: x1.5.]

They had both reached Level 20.

A powerful surge of energy rushed through Chris’s body as all of his attributes increased.

He clenched his fists. The feeling was incredible.

Then he looked toward Azreon.

The little dragon immediately jumped out of the pond and became surrounded by a cocoon of fire energy.

Chris’s eyes lit up.

’If he grew this much at Level 10, what will happen at Level 20?’

He was also curious about Azreon’s fire. The flames had already become incredibly powerful after his first evolution, so there was no doubt that their strength and range would increase again.

After several minutes, the fiery cocoon began shrinking. Eventually, it disappeared.

Chris stared. Azreon had grown again.

This time, the dragon was roughly the size of a grown lion. His claws were noticeably sharper, his wings were much wider, and his tail had become even longer.

Azreon turned his head toward Chris.

"ROAR!"

The sound shook the surrounding area. Compared to his previous roar, this one was far more powerful and intimidating.

It sounded almost like the roar of a lion.

"Hahahahaha! Look at you, buddy! You look amazing!"

Chris hurried over and proudly patted Azreon’s head. The evolution was even greater than he had expected.

"Good, good, buddy. Now jump back into the pond. The remaining liquid might allow you to reach Level 30, or at least get you close."

Azreon immediately roared back without moving.

"No?"

Chris tried persuading him again, but the dragon stubbornly refused.

"You are stubborn, buddy."

Chris sighed.

"Then let’s go and jump in together."

Azreon finally agreed.

They both entered the pond and continued absorbing the remaining liquid.

[Level increased.]

[Contracted beast’s level increased.]

They continued for another hour, and by the end of it, both had reached Level 25. Then the white liquid disappeared completely.

Chris stood up and looked around.

The thick fog that had surrounded them was slowly beginning to disappear.

"Hmm... maybe the disappearance of the pond is causing the fog to disappear too."

Chris called Azreon and began following the trail of rocks he had left behind.

Now that Azreon had evolved again, Chris wanted to see if they could return to the top of the cliff.

They followed the marked path, and with every passing minute, the fog became thinner.

Eventually, they reached the place where they had fallen. By now, almost all of the fog had disappeared.

Chris looked around and was instantly stunned.

The area was enormous.

Steep cliffs surrounded a vast open space in a circle, making the entire area look almost like the bottom of a massive dried-up lake.

Chris stared at the ground.

"Damn... was this place once a huge lake that had dried up?"

He looked toward where the pond had been.

"And was that lake filled with that strange liquid?"

He thought about it for a moment, but there was no way for him to know.

Finding a pond containing the strange liquid didn’t necessarily mean the entire area had once been filled with it, and even if it had been, there was nothing he could do about it now.

Chris turned toward the cliff.

The top was barely visible.

"Azreon, buddy, try to lift me into the air this time. Let’s see if we can go back up."

Azreon roared and spread his wings. He lifted himself into the air before grabbing Chris’s collar with his claws.

The dragon managed to pull him off the ground, but they were still rising extremely slowly.

Chris frowned.

’He’s much stronger, but I’m still too heavy.’

Then he suddenly remembered something.

’In my excitement, I totally forgot...’

Chris quickly opened his own attribute panel and then Azreon’s. They had both gained a large number of attribute points from leveling, but he hadn’t distributed them yet.

He immediately allocated the points, spreading them across their attributes. This time, he kept Azreon’s Strength slightly higher while giving himself a little more Agility. It would be useful against the Dark Spirits later.

The changes were immediate. Azreon’s wings became noticeably faster.

His body rose more quickly, and he began carrying Chris upward with much greater ease.

Chris looked toward the top of the cliff, and a smile appeared on his face.

"That’s more like it."

With Azreon’s newfound strength, they began ascending the enormous cliff.