Chapter 110: Azure Dragon’s Tear

[Ding!]

[Fate Trajectory changed.]

[…]

[Fate Restoration begins.]

[Correction attempt initiated by World Laws…]

[…]

[Searching for viable Fate Anchors.]

[…]

[No viable Fate Anchor detected.]

[Correction attempt failed.]

[…]

[Trajectory displacement confirmed.]

Vincent remained completely silent as more lines continued appearing before his eyes.

At least his head wasn’t splitting apart like last time.

Though that was the only good thing, and the constant ringing was still really annoying.

[Ding!]

[Calculating Overall Fate Deviation…]

[6%]

[…]

[19%]

[…]

[35%]

[…]

[77%]

[…]

[100%]

[Ding!]

[Overall Fate Deviation Rank: S]

Vincent’s eyes widened slightly.

‘S?’

Event #001 had only reached A- and already gave him Martial Memory, Fate Archive, several rolls and a bunch of other things.

Whatever came out of an S-ranked deviation should be considerably better.

The System didn’t give him much time to react and started spamming notifications again.

[Ding!]

[Calculating rewards…]

[1%]

[…]

[3%]

[…]

[7%]

[…]

[Do not interrupt the calculation.]

[Estimated completion time: Unknown.]

[Feel free to resume real life activities that won’t alter Fate.]

Vincent stared at the last sentence.

‘What exactly am I supposed to do that won’t alter Fate?’

Considering he had somehow turned walking around his own county into an S-ranked deviation, even breathing in the wrong direction might cause another problem at this rate.

Vincent didn’t bother asking.

The blue screen finally disappeared.

His sight returned to the Highlands, and the first thing Vincent noticed was something enormous beside the unconscious purple-haired girl.

An egg.

It was a huge dark egg with its dark shell taller than him and almost as wide as two people standing beside each other. Its surface was smooth compared to the Dragon’s scales, with faint purple patterns barely visible beneath the black color.

‘This is that Dragon’s egg?’ Vincent wondered.

Just as he did so, the young woman lying beside it suddenly moved.

Her long dark-purple hair shifted across the ground and one of her eyelids slowly opened, revealing dark violet eyes with narrow golden pupils.

She tried raising herself.

Linda immediately supported her and said, “Please don’t move.”

The girl either didn’t hear her or didn’t care.

Her eyes searched around until they landed on the enormous egg.

Her expression changed.

“My… child…”

The voice was weak enough that Vincent barely heard it.

She tried moving again.

Linda stopped her without any visible effort.

“The child is safe.”

The girl continued staring at the egg and shifting toward it.

Vincent looked between the two and stood up.

“I’ll bring it closer,” he said and got close to it.

Vivienne stood up and went to assist him.

Vincent reached the egg and placed one hand against the dark shell.

It was warm and something seemed to be moving faintly inside.

Vincent smiled lightly and said, “It’s alive.”

He and Vivienne brought it close to the Dragon girl and she visibly relaxed.

At the same moment, something inside Vincent’s pocket became hot.

“Hm?”

He reached inside and pulled out a familiar blue crystal.

The Azure Crystal.

Vincent had received it from his Event #001 rewards and had carried the thing around for so long that he almost forgot it existed.

Now it was glowing.

The Dragon girl’s eyes immediately focused on it.

Even Vivienne looked more carefully.

The crystal trembled between Vincent’s fingers.

[Ding!]

[Azure Crystal has entered resonance.]

[Compatible Dragon Origin detected.]

Vincent knitted his brows. ‘What?’

[…]

[Additional information identified.]

[Azure Crystal]

[True Origin: Crystallized Tear of the Primordial Azure Dragon.]

Vincent looked down at the small crystal.

‘This is a tear?’

It looked more like somebody had taken a tiny piece of blue glass and polished it.

‘And wait, Primordial Azure Dragon? Like the big mighty ancestor or progenitor Dragon!?’

[Yes.]

[The Primordial Azure Dragon is one of the Five Primordial Ancestors of the Dragon Race.]

[The remaining are…]

[Gold Dragon.]

[Jade Dragon.]

[Dark Dragon.]

[Red Dragon.]

‘Damn. You’re giving me information now?’

[The system can state relevant information when the Host encounters certain situations. A fine example is the current one.]

‘So you wouldn’t have said it before?’

[Yes. Possessing more information than needed will only hurt the Host.]

Vincent didn’t argue over this. His gaze slowly moved toward the pale girl lying nearby.

‘So she’s a Dark Dragon’s descendant?’

[Affirmative.]

[Dark Primordial lineage detected.]

‘And the egg too, yes?’

[Yes.]

[Dark Primordial lineage detected in the egg as well, however…]

[Developing Dragon Origin is compatible with the Azure Dragon Tear.]

[Integration available.]

[Do you want to use the Azure Crystal on the Dark Dragon egg? (Y/N)]

‘Wait, what’s this developing and Dragon Origin stuff?’

Vincent suddenly wondered.

However, an instance later, Vivienne called him out.

“Vin, that is…”

Vincent looked at her and then the crystal in his hand.

He suddenly realized he would have to explain the origin of it and many other things.

Vincent felt a cold sweat trickle down his back, but stayed firm and was ready to face any and every consequence.

‘I can’t divulge the system’s information but I can think of something to say to my mother.’

“I’ll explain everything in a bit, mom. Please wait.”

He then turned to the egg and his expression became serious.

‘The integration thing… is it something beneficial for the child or will it cause some mutation and harm it? You said five Primordial Dragons and this one is Dark while I’ve got the Azure thing. Are you sure it’s safe?’

[It is completely safe and very beneficial.]

[Integration will stabilize the developing Dragon Origin.]

Whatever it meant, as long as it was safe for the child Vincent was fine with losing the crystal.

He had no use for the crystal, and even if the Dragon and its egg were complete strangers for him, Vincent didn’t mind using the crystal for it.

He had a soft spot for children, and it didn’t matter if they were humans or unhatched dragons.

He placed one hand on the egg and thought, ‘I hope you are born much healthier with this and bring joy to everyone around you.’

Vincent then asked the system to use the crystal.

The Azure Crystal dissolved.

Vincent instinctively opened his hand, but nothing was left inside his palm anymore.

A thin azure light entered the egg.

The dark shell immediately reacted.

Blue lines appeared and travelled across the surface like veins spreading through marble. More appeared every second until the entire black-purple egg had faint azure marbling running through it.

Then the egg began shrinking.

Vincent quickly stepped back.

The massive shell compressed without breaking, becoming smaller and denser until it was finally around the size of his torso.

The blue light faded.

Vincent stared at it with a small smile.

He carefully placed both arms around it.

It was still heavy, but at least he could actually carry it now.

Vivienne helped support part of the weight without saying anything.

Together, they brought it much closer to the Dragon girl.

Her fingers immediately touched the shell.

The azure lines gave a faint pulse.

Her violet eyes widened slightly.

“Azure…” she said softly.

Whatever strength she had used to remain awake disappeared afterward.

Her eyes slowly closed, but her hand remained against the egg.

Vincent looked toward Linda.

“She’s okay?”

“For now, yes.”

That answer caught his attention.

“For now?”

Linda’s gaze moved toward several wounds that remained visible across the Dragon girl’s pale body.

Most of the ordinary damage had disappeared, but the deeper dark marks had not.

Vivienne answered Vincent’s question in Linda’s place.

“Her body is alive and stable, but she is not cured. We’ve stopped whatever was killing her, but not fully healed her.”

A confused expression was on Vincent’s face and he asked, “Why not heal her fully then?”

Linda placed two fingers near one of the dark wounds on the girl’s collarbone and answered,

“Her injury is not so simple. Whatever injured her has damaged more than just her body and removed a portion of her Dragon Origin, replacing it with an external imprint.”

Vincent had no idea what the latter half meant. He just understood that there was deeper damage.

Linda noticed it and clarified, “The Dragon Origin is basically what makes her a Dragon. Even if her body dies, as long as the origin is intact, she can revive herself completely. However, a part of this very origin has been removed and replaced with an external foreign influence. This is why you can see these dark wounds and mutation.”

Vincent actually understood what Linda meant and did due to it, he suddenly knitted his brows as he realized something.

“The mutation is caused by something external and doesn’t belong to the Dragon? Does this mean… whatever is inside… it’s also mutating the Highland monsters?”

“Yes.” Linda answered.

Vincent frowned harder.

He thought he finally uncovered the reason for the monsters’ mutation, but apparently there was just another mystery added to be investigated.

This was giving him a headache already.

He decided to put the matter aside for now and asked, “So… can you not remove this external influence and heal her fully?”

Linda nodded but then shook her head. “Madam or I can remove it, but then there would be a missing portion in her Dragon Origin and it might collapse and actually kill her.”

“What?”

Vivienne placed her hand on Vincent’s shoulder and continued, “Simply put, what’s killing her is also keeping her alive for now.”

Vincent turned to look at her.

“Kind of like how you get stabbed but shouldn’t remove the knife or you’ll bleed to death?” He asked.

Vivienne nodded lightly. “Something similar, yes.”

Vincent looked back at the unconscious girl.

“So do we need something to fill that missing portion of her origin or replace that external influence, right?”

“Yes,” Linda nodded. “Any of the two might work.”

“Do we have anything to start the treatment then?”

“I’m afraid not.” Linda shook her head.

Before Vincent got dejected, Vivienne said, “Don’t worry, there might be a way.”

Vincent looked at his mother again.

Vivienne continued, “There’s a Dark Forest in the county’s Central Region. It’s off limits for most with hunting permitted to a select few. There’s an ancient ruin there that might have what you seek.”

Vincent’s eyes lit up but nearby, Anastasia’s eyes flickered in surprise.

‘The Dark Forest…’

She was surprised to see that it was brought up.

After the house’s collapse, the Northern Region and mainland were overrun by monsters.

Duke Heinrich who took the Central Region was quite interested in this forest and was rumoured to have disappeared inside with his family.

This was something Anastasia had surface knowledge of and heard from rumors. She was in Aldorp and busy doing her things, but now that this place was brought up again, Anastasia felt slightly disturbed.

The house didn’t collapse anymore and technically the Dark Forest should’ve stayed how it was without someone needing to venture in it.

But now, even if Duke Heinrich didn’t find it or tried to explore it, the young master had to. If he wanted to cure the Dragon he would have to venture inside and explore, doing exactly what the Duke did.

Anastasia didn’t know what to feel about this. She just thought that Fate worked really strangely.

Meanwhile, Vincent, who had no clue of this place, said, “Perfect. Can we send someone to fetch the answers?”

Vivienne smiled lightly and shook her head.

“An ancient ruin usually has a lot of opportunities. It has its challenges but it will be a good learning experience and is something vital for your growth. You’ll have to go yourself.”

Vincent was speechless.

Before he could protest, Vivienne shook her head again.

“But not now. Your body hasn’t healed. Let’s get you healed first and then we can discuss other matters. While we’re at it, you can also tell mommy how you obtained that blue crystal.”

Vincent’s eyebrow twitched.

‘Changing the topic didn’t make her forget this… sigh…’