BXBX NOVEL Chapter 363 Scorching heat.
As the door opened, a gust of scorching heat burst out. Zaleria took a deep breath, this was the environment she liked the most. What was behind the door is a deep cave with magma all over the place.
Cain was using Lisworth’s resilient sphere to protect himself and Sofia yet the heat was getting to them. He was being affected more than her. “Are you all right Cain?” Sofia grabbed his back as she saw him panting.
“It’s just a bit hard to breathe in this heat, how are you doing?” Cain asked her as she didn’t seem that bothered to him.
“I’m fine, it’s just like a hot day,” Sofia replied, her draconic blood protecting her. Cain only had a heart so he wasn’t immune or made to survive this.
Seeing him struggle to keep the barrier up, Sofia had a smart idea. She transformed into her half-dragon form and covered him with her wing. Using her draconic magic, she started absorbing the heat from around Cain and releasing it from her mouth in a stream of fire.
As the cave widened, a large pool of molten magma shining brightly appeared in front of them. Zaleria transformed to her draconic form and walked into the magma as if it was a hot bath.
“AHH! This feels amazing,” She stretched her limbs inside the magma.
“This hut is built on a volcano?” Cain asked. He didn’t know about this since he was never allowed inside. Thinking back to his old self. That might have been just to protect his life..
“A volcano? This is a part of my treasure hoard, all of this is molten pure gold.” Zaleria replied as she glared at them with fire streaming from her nostril.
“Is it really all gold?” Sofia looked around, this place looked nothing like a treasure.
“I keep it molten with a magic source and some runes, this way I can guarantee that no one would steal it. I also need to clean my draconic body, for that only flames or molten metals can do the trick. I believe other dragons do this as well, sister used to bath in acid after all.”
“Well that’s…” Before Cain could finish talking, his vision blanked. Even with Sofia trying to cool him down, and his magic blocking direct heat. The heat around him was enough to boil water, him withstanding it for so long was a testament to the abomination’s resilience.
…
When Cain woke up, he found himself in what used to be his old room, his head was hurting and his muscles ached. The heat almost cooked him alive.
“Are you awake?” When Cain looked to the side he saw Gracie standing beside him with a bowl of water.
“No, I’m still dreaming,” Cain replied.
“Sofia was worried, she thought the heat killed you,” Zaleria called him from the couch, she was sitting there staring at him.
“You look polished, your skin is shining.” Cain meant that literally as he could see a faint glow in Zaleria’s skin.
“A transformation this may be, but I still have my scales, they are the ones glowing after I took my bath,” Zaleria replied, the way a chromatic dragon’s transformation works was a bit primal. Using her scales literally covers her skin and changes color so it resembles that of human skin.
“Metallic dragons are better than you in this regard, they can even transform into animals or different humanoid shapes,” Cain said with a smile.
“Don’t talk about them, those snorting hard-headed idiots,” Zaleria growled. She then sighed, “So let me guess, you said that in the past life I was killed by my sister. You also mentioned a witch who took you in for a year or so, was that also me?” She who never believed his story at the start is now slowly accepting it.
“There is no sense hiding it at this point, that witch was indeed you. I was enslaved here for over a year and thanks to you I learned a lot of witchcraft.” Cain replied with an exhausted face.
“And the witch tattoos?” Zaleria gasped.
“You should discover them about a year from now, sadly that won’t happen since I won’t be present as a helper. You discovered them just a week before Morena’s attack, my guess is that she was after them.” Cain said what he thought.
“Cain are you all right?” Suddenly the door busted open and everyone rushed in to check on him.
Zaleria glared at Cain as everyone rushed at him, she felt a bit distant. “I will get everything ready to go, Set a portal here and let’s continue our way. I only wanted to stop so I can take a bath, we can always get back here if we wanted.”
Before Zaleria could reach the door Cain called her. “There is something I want to say before we reach the capital, we’re going to deal with a bronze dragon at the capital that could help us hut krakens. Try to hide your aura when we get close or she will attack immediately.”
Zaleria turned toward Cain and growled, “Bronzes are weaker than us reds.”
“I don’t want you to kill the girl, she can be a powerful ally. Just treat her with Care, we need the Kraken ink for the tattoos after all.”
Everyone gave him a look as if asking if that was all the intended with her.
“I do want to explore the place though…” Sofia gave him a sad look, she didn’t get enough of the place yet. They were here for less than two hours.
“Let’s get to the capital first, then you can teleport here and explore the place as much as you want. I will even give you a map with all of Zaleria’s secret stashes.” Cain said with a smug smile. Zaleria was like a squirrel hiding bits and pieces everywhere.
“What do you know?” Zaleria stood with a worried face.
“I know where you keep your failed spell book, dairies, the poems, and even the art gallery from when you had…” Zaleria flew in and closed his mouth immediately, whatever he was about to say, she didn’t want it to get out.
“Ok! Ok! I believe your story, just shut up and don’t tell anyone!”
Hearing her talk like this, Sofia made up her mind to make Cain talk no matter what.
Cain stood and created a portal inside the room, and made sure it was permanently linked to the maze. Just in case the hut teleports again.
“We’re ready, let’s go.” Sofia came to call Cain.
Cain then used his senses and found that Zaleria was waiting outside where she can’t see them. He immediately used silence around them. “Come here quick, I will show you something!” He rushed toward the next-door room and opened it.
The room was empty, it had nothing but dust and an old bed. Cain then grabbed a lone torch at the corner and pulled it down to unlock a small hidden locker in the wall.
Sofia could see a red grimoire inside. The thing was thicker than her fist. “Tales of inferno, A collection of Zaleria’s failed attempts at creating a ninth-tier spell, She might be a strong dragon but her magic skill started low, you could say she was considered a failure of a dragon, yet hard work got her this far.”
“She will be angry, you shouldn’t do this,” Sofia told him with a serious face.
“Don’t worry, I bet she was intending to show it to you but seeing you calmly walk through her secret scorching hoard changed her mind. You might have the magic talent she lacked and those concluded you don’t need to see this.”
“Sofia looked at him, “I won’t slack otherwise.”
“I think you should be aware of the amount of hard work needed for someone to create ninth tire magic so you won’t look down upon them. Draconic arrogance is the dragons’ only weakness, you should never fall into that trap.”
Cain said as he remembered how all dragons count too much on their overpowered abilities. Even though they could achieve higher by working just as hard as the other races.
“The curse of the gifted, that’s a thing that you need to understand.”