Solar Mage

Chapter 48: Red Dragon Flower

My eyes open, as I stare up at the hole in the ceiling, lava dripping down from the sides. I lay motionless beneath the rubble, my entire body from the neck, down encased in hardened lava.

"Why am I still alive? Why do I keep surviving?"

I dryly mumble, with tears beginning to form under my eyes.

"Why? Why? WHY?!?!"

"Just let me die already... I have no mana or energy left. I wanted to die sacrificing myself to kill Magnus– not like this–"

"God, I'm so sorry Tin– Rachel– I wasted the life you sacrificed for me."

I stay silent for a minute, laying without moving my eyes or mouth.

I can't think properly... all my energy is gone, I can't afford hundreds of thoughts per second... I shouldn't even be speaking, it's wasting what little water and energy I have left. The only thing I can do is to wait for someone to rescue me. But the probability of them getting here? It's less than... I can't do calculations, let's just say one percent. Haha, would you look at me joking even in this state? I must really be dying. I can't believe it, will it really end like this?

"Pyro, if you can hear me, please, please–"

Who am I kidding? How could I show such a terrible scene in my last moments? They sacrificed their life for you Arthur, how dare you try to throw away this opportunity that they gave you?

I bite down on my teeth and clench them tightly.

Wait– I hear footsteps, and I feel a warm light of healing. It's a priest! I don't know if this is just a trick my senses are playing on me because I'm about to die or it's real. I wish I could turn my head to check, but my neck is fully hardened. All I can do is trust that they're a good person.

I clear my throat, swallowing the last bit of my saliva before screaming as loud as possible.

"I'm in here!!!"

Damn, I think I just felt my vocal cords rip. Screaming without mana hurts like hell. I hope they heard me because I don't think I'll be able to scream again.

The footsteps get louder and louder as the being gets closer. The warmth somehow feels more pleasant and the orange light gets brighter.

Looks like they heard me. Now I just have to hope that they aren't an enemy.

The person slowly moves the stones off my body one by one, their aura radiating a blinding light.

Amazing, I've never witnessed anyone radiate light as bright as that! It's as much as, no– greater than what even Tin could exude! My curiosity for this mysterious being's identity cannot be controlled. Is it one of the hidden cardinals? I want to look!!

After the mysterious person removes all the large rocks on my chest, I feel a heavy burden lifted from me, with my breathing beginning to stabilize.

Hoo that feels better.

The being makes its way around my body to my head after removing the rocks.

Hm? What are they doing now?

Then, she leaned forward, her blonde hair radiating in bright, divine-like light as it hangs down her beautiful, smiling face.

At that moment, I am unable to control my surprise as my jaw falls loose.

No way– Rachel?

No... this isn't Rachel.

"Pyro?"

I manage to weakly grumble.

She leans down further, placing her hand on my chest.

"Congratulations, you guessed correctly, Arthur!! You don't look too good right now, let me help you out with that."

My body erupts into massive orange flames.

It doesn't hurt– I can feel my organs healing, and my mana coming back to me!

The fire stops, yet the rock encasing me still remains.

Unbelievable, a kind of healing magic that can completely heal injuries and fully restore mana? If something like this was accessible by archmages and swordmasters, the whole world would be destroyed! I haven't felt like I was in such good condition since before I was poisoned!

The thin rock coating breaks easily as I get up.

The clothes didn't burn this time, Elderwyrm silk truly is a versatile material.

"Hehe, did you miss me?"

I look at her seriously, with an unchanging expression.

I know she's been watching me since she displayed her power to prove that I was her apostle, and now she's here, in the moment that I was just about to die. So why is she acting like this when she was watching the entire time? Why couldn't she come when Tin was still alive he could have survived! ... Calm down Arthur, you have energy now; you have time to think.

I closely examine her face, before sighing.

"Yeah I missed you, how have you– where are we? This doesn't look like the treasure room we were in before."

Her smile was shaking and unsteady. She clearly knows what happened and doesn't want to speak about it. Everyone has their own circumstances and if she doesn't want to speak about it, I shouldn't make her.

"We're exactly where we need to be."

What does she mean?

She points her finger to the direction behind me.

Turning around, a smile springs from my mouth, all of my attention focused on the Red Dragon Flower shining in red light.

"It's the Red Dragon Flower!! It was real! I was right!!"

I run down the hill of stone debris and admire the Red Dragon Flower carefully.

"Is it okay for me to just pluck it out?"

Pyro glides over to me, next to the flower.

"I mean, this is the only one I've ever seen so there's only one way to find out."

Is she kidding? This is the only chance I have, I can't waste all my efforts just to take another risk!

I take out the Sage System.

"How do I harvest the Red Dragon Flower properly?"

"ANSWER: IT'S FINE TO HARVEST IT ANYWAY, AS LONG AS THE STEM IS PLUCKED OUT WITH IT, IN ONE SWIFT MOTION."

Huh, so Pyro was kind of right. Wait–

"How do you know how to harvest Red Dragon Flowers? There should only be one in existence according to the tale."

"ANSWER: My creator, Luke Wolkan, has a plant and seed of each one in existence."

Wow, he really was accomplished.

"Okay, I'l just pluck it out then."

As I reach down to pluck it, Pyro pokes Sage continuously with a curious look on her face.

How cute, she acts just like a cat.

In one swift motion, though there being a slight resistance, the flower comes loose, a giant root coming out with it.

"Alright, we can leave now. Sagey, put this in the inventory."

Sagey flies back to me just as Pyro tries to poke it again.

"Aww"

The root disappears into nothing as I put Sagey back into my robes.

Pyro stares at me with the look of a child who just got their toy taken away.

It's– too cute!! I must ignore it!

I start walking past her, trying to ignore her as she continues to look at me with that face.

I continue to walk while she just stays put.

"Are you really just going to leave the Dragon's valuable corpse here?"

What? Did she just say dragon corpse?

My head snaps backwards.

How did I even miss it? It's massive!!!

I quickly run back to the dragon corpse and touch its scales.

"Amazing, these are all so high quality after all these years. How has it stayed in such a condition and not decomposed after hundreds of years have passed? Each of its body parts could make a Draconic tier artifact!"

"Of course the corpse hasn't decomposed. What do you think this is, a wyvern? Ancient dragons, like gods, are immortal beings. We could never die to the likes of time."

"It's an ancient dragon?!?! That means it has– it has the–"

"Indeed, it has the Golden Dragon Heart. "

A normal dragon heart has two uses. You could use it to make a Draconic to Ancient tier artifact, or you could eat it. No one really knows what the deciding factor for success is, or how it works, but only ten percent of those that consumed it, managed to successfully gain its powers that are said to be able to give you the mana of the dragon you consumed. The Golden Dragon Heart on the other hand, is in the category of Golden Monster cores. Sometimes, strong monsters develop golden cores. Once eaten, they say you will gain the powers of the monster you ate. And the Golden Core of an Ancient Dragon, one of the strongest, and the most intelligent monsters to ever exist, different from regular dragons, is in my hands. I want to eat it. Then, I will surely become much stronger, so nobody I love will ever have to sacrifice their life for me ever again.

"You shouldn't eat it though, you would definitely die if you did."

Pyro says nonchalantly.

Sagey suddenly flies out of my pocket without me giving him any instruction.

"POSSIBILITY OF SURVIVAL AFTER INGESTION OF GOLDEN DRAGON HEART: 0%"

What? I didn't even call for it. But if it's what the Sage System says, I guess I'll have to believe it.

"Fine, fine just put the whole corpse in the inventory then."

I say before the dragon corpse disappears into its inventory and I angrily stuff Sagey back into my robes. My smile drops for a second before reappearing, we begin walking back to the hill of debris under the hole, Pyro hovering beside me.

"Say, how are you able to descend back down into the mortal world?"

"Oh, well that's because this girl is my saintess, I gave her my blessing, you didn't know?"

I stop and turn to her with a confused look on my face.

How would I know?

"Wait, what? I thought you didn't know anything about the Church that humans made and dedicated to you?"

She continues hovering to the site without stopping. Seeing this, I resume my walking.

"I didn't know anything about the Church until you told me about it. I mark them with my symbol, appointing a new saintess every generation."

"If you didn't know about the church, why would you appoint a saintess?"

She must have a good reason, but I can't really think of any myself.

Pyro finally stops and looks at me with a straight face.

Here it comes.

"Why not? They're pretty."

"What? So you're just giving babies your great solar power, because they're pretty?"

"Yeah, what's the problem with that? I did the same for you."

KGH– Was that how she saw me? I want to refute that, but I can't. You know what Arthur, she can't possibly be that dumb, to give that much power to small children. In fact, all of the saintesses since the beginning of records, have all been kind, merciful, and holy. It can't possibly be a coincidence. She's likely just choosing them based on her subconscious thoughts– maybe she can see the future and her instincts just tell her to choose them. Right?

I clear my throat, trying to return myself to a calm state.

"Well, if all you need is your mark on a person, why didn't you use me as your vessel instead of her? My body should be able to exert much more of your power since I have two of your blessings and the affinity with the sun."

Her face turns red, immediately turning away after becoming self conscious of it.

"Wel-well that's because... you're a man..."

What is she talking about? Why does that matter? I would've been able to save both Rachel and— No, stop it Arthur, it wasn't her fault. Be grateful that both you and Rachel are alive. Being able to use a god's magic would've been cool though– I wonder how many magic circles she would have if it was convertible.

"Why does that matter?"

I say with a straight face, though glowing in radiant, divine light in Pyro's eyes.

She quickly rotates her head, looking back at me with a single eye peeking out, between her fingers, covering the rest of her face. She begins to breathe heavily, as the air around her begins to get warmer, almost hot.

"Puff; Puff; Does– Does that mean– you're giving me permission to– to– AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

She ends off, screaming with a high pitched voice before she raises her hand to smack me.

My Heightened Senses activate instantly.

Oh no, getting hit by a god's uncontrolled strike?! That'll instantly kill me!!! I need to do something before that hand comes down!

I use Body Enhancement, concentrating all of it on my head and using Iron Body.

This is still not enough! I need to do even more!

I use Swift Wind and increase the air resistance of the air between me and her to the maximum my current skill level can set it to. Lastly, I activate flame claws on both my arms and legs, forming them in a defensive position while crossing my arms.

This should be good enough right? She'll probably hold herself back a lot, or instead, her subconscious will. I can trust her subconscious, since it's always been right choosing her saintesses.

Then, her hand stops rising, comes to a halt, stopping at the furthest point.

Here it comes–

In an instant, her hand seemingly teleports in front of my out of nowhere.

What is this speed?!?!

My eyes close for the duration of a blink, bracing for the impact of the blow. When they reopen, my surroundings have changed as I find myself in another hole in the wall.

What's with me and craters in the wall?

"Oh no, Arthur– I'm sorry! Where are you? I'll come heal you immediately!!"

I move my eyes to the voice coming from below and see Pyro inside a hole, with lava covering all the sides.

What a troublesome god, at least I got back to where I wanted to be. I can't really feel my back though.