I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 436: Ascension to Dragon

Eden's lair was quite empty and could be considered austere.Only a few glowstones embedded in recesses in the rock walls emitted a faint, eerie light.

Then there was a pile of items placed together and a small medicinal herb plot, where several wilted-looking magical plant seedlings were planted.

"Take it all. It's useless to leave it here anyway."

Eden sighed.

After all, it had lived here for a while and felt a bit reluctant to leave.

But leaving things here truly served little purpose. Even if Gauss didn't take them, once the magical formation weakened over time, other adventurers or monsters arriving here would eventually break in.

"Don't worry, Aria will take good care of these seedlings you raised."

"Aria is the Elf in your team, right?"

"Yes."

While Gauss and Eden were silently communicating, Aria had already stepped forward, carefully extracting the seedlings from the soil and transplanting them into temporary earthen pots.

They would all eventually enter Aria's dream world, where they would thrive.

At the very least, they had a brighter future than following Eden, the half-baked farmer.

Just look at them; planted by Eden in this sunless cavern, they were practically on the verge of withering away.

Gauss suspected that if they had arrived a few days later, they would probably only have seen a few withered, dead plant stems.

Thus, it proved the truth of the saying that every profession has its expertise. Even though Eden was a Demon King Seed, the Slime King, possessing an intuitive, penetrating talent for magical power, so what?

It was still powerless when it came to planting flowers and herbs.

Besides the few specially collected magical plant seedlings, nearby were piles of moonstones, gemstones, primary and intermediate magic stones, and some jewelry.

Gauss estimated that all these items together could probably sell for over a thousand gold coins.

These were treasures excavated from the fifth level of the maze and offered as tribute by the mushroom creatures. Many had already been digested inside Eden's body; otherwise, the number might have been far greater.

After leaving Eden's lair, the Red Dragon Guild officially began exploring the surrounding monster nests.

During actual combat, Gauss deliberately instructed Hephaestus not to use its dragon flame breath or physical body to kill enemies, but to utilize magic for combat as much as possible.

The effect of using magic once in actual combat might be better than practicing privately several times.

Even with part of its strength sealed, Hephaestus's formidable magical talent as a member of the dragon race remained terrifying.

Every spell it cast could be seen as an enhanced version of what an ordinary spellcaster could produce. The same fire magic, when used by it, covered an area several times, or even more, larger than that of a human spellcaster, with higher temperatures and carrying some of the hard-to-extinguish characteristics of dragon flame.

It could be said that the moment plant-type mushroom creatures were touched by Hephaestus's flame, their fate of death was almost sealed.

Sitting on the dragon's back, Gauss felt the ferocious fire magic released by Hephaestus below, a satisfied expression appearing on his face from time to time.

Hephaestus's progress in actual combat was evident. Initially, its use of Burning Hands in battle was a bit clumsy, but after Gauss offered a few pointers, it quickly became smooth, and the spell's power gradually increased.

He suddenly understood a bit how others might perceive him.

So, teaching a magical genius was this worry-free.

Of course, compared to him, Hephaestus still fell short.

Its talent was mainly concentrated in fire element magic. While other types of magic were still stronger than those of ordinary spellcasters, they weren't as dazzlingly outstanding. Gauss, on the other hand, was nearly an all-rounder in the field of magic.

Meanwhile, the other members of the Red Dragon Guild, through mutual cooperation, gradually showed a good degree of tacit understanding.

The team getting on the right track saved Gauss a lot of worry.

He only needed to intervene occasionally, leveraging the efficient mobility advantage of his Dimension Door and the target-locking effect brought by the World Rule power [Precision], to prevent unnecessary casualties in his team.

The other members of the team would then help him continuously increase the kill count on his Bestiary panel.

While slacking off, he, as the captain, paid special attention to Serlandul's situation.

Through his covert observation, he could sense that Serlandul, who had awakened the so-called "royal" bloodline, indeed performed somewhat differently in combat than before.

Previously, due to his role as a healer, Serlandul would often stay at the back of the formation, calmly providing Blessing spells, group healing spells, and other buffs to the frontline combatants. At most, during idle moments, he would occasionally cast a few curses on distant monsters.

He didn't engage in combat with monsters often, only acting when monsters bypassed the frontline fighters and got close to the medical personnel.

On the current battlefield, one could easily see a half-snake person, its body radiating intense cyan light, constantly swinging an energy whip in front, killing mushroom creatures.

What an aggressive position.

If not told this was a "healer-daddy," other adventurers would likely think it was a valiant half-snake person warrior.

So, was it still influenced by the bloodline?

Gauss observed Serlandul's state and found that besides his combat desire becoming exceptionally high, he could still maintain overall rationality in his eyes. During combat, he even occasionally remembered to send healing to injured or exhausted companions around him.

Furthermore, Serlandul's own physical strength seemed to have increased significantly due to the bloodline. Surface cuts on his body often closed and healed on their own within a very short time.

So, Gauss decided not to disturb him.

He planned to go ask and show concern after the battle ended.

The Red Dragon Guild had more than just Serlandul as a priest. Even if he didn't provide healing wholeheartedly, the existing medical support was sufficient to maintain the guild's operations.

This was the quality a healthy team should possess. Apart from him, the Guild Leader, no one was so indispensable that the team couldn't function without them.

Moreover, Gauss's existence only raised the Red Dragon Guild's combat power ceiling. Even disregarding him as the leader, the guild's strength was still not bad among the many adventuring guilds.

Luna, the level-9 Warlock, had decent, steady strength. This wasn't a derogatory term; on the contrary, it was Gauss's affirmation of her abilities. Her grasp of spells was solid, especially excelling in some wind magic.

Her overall combat style was steady, not overly aggressive. She cast spells steadily under the team's protection, striking areas where enemies gathered in large numbers.

Albenia, the level-8 Warrior, due to her Giant bloodline, also possessed the capability to take on several opponents of the same level for a short time, able to hold her own against most level-9 professionals.

Shadow, at level 7, was inferior to Albenia in frontal combat power, but in terms of killing speed, she was more terrifying than Albenia. She was faster, and besides her main body, she could split into three clones. Under the coordinated tactics of this four-in-one entity, she could quickly kill low-level targets like cutting grass.

After advancing to level 6, Aria's Elf Bloodline was further purified. This caused the power of her few moon god-blessed spells to surge dramatically. She was also a fighter who could easily transcend levels in combat power.

Her pet, Ulfen, had stopped growing in size, maintaining a standing height of just over two meters. However, its strength had grown alongside Aria's. And Gauss wasn't sure if it was his illusion, but he always felt Ulfen's fur had become more lustrous, as if its own bloodline had also been elevated and strengthened along with Aria, rising with its mistress.

In terms of combat power, Ulfen was equivalent to a level-5 monster.

Raven Eck was slightly inferior, with a two-meter wingspan, extremely fast flight speed, and a pair of black giant claws capable of easily shredding metal. Its combat power was equivalent to a level-4 monster. However, its advantages were flight mobility and its lordly advantage.

It could command numerous crow underlings for combat and scouting.

Now that Serlandul had broken through to level 6 and awakened the royal bloodline, he had also shed his identity as a full-time healer-daddy. His combat power was further unleashed, giving the Red Dragon Guild's high-end combat power another boost.

Besides the aforementioned few, the Red Dragon Guild's Master-level combatants also included Luna's two confidants, Infiltrator Ethan and Knight Dant; the Dwarf Toga; the Red Dragon Hephaestus; and the Goblin Clay Giant he summoned.

Counting them all, there were ten Master-level combatants, and several of them were considered strong even among Master-level professionals.

The only shortcoming was probably the relatively small number of members due to the guild's short establishment time. But this couldn't really be considered a shortcoming either. The elite strategy also made the Red Dragon Guild more operationally efficient than other adventuring guilds, not needing half a day of preparation every time they mobilized.

Gauss surveyed the battlefield and found that, when not assaulting strong enemies, there really wasn't much left for him to do.

So, he devoted more energy to instructing Hephaestus.

Currently, Hephaestus had only learned the cantrip Fire Bolt, the cantrip Shocking Grasp, and the 1st circle spell Burning Hands. Clearly, there was still great potential for development in the area of magic.

Although it couldn't master 2nd circle spells for now, it still had many 1st circle spells to learn. Coincidentally, its teacher and foster parent was Gauss, who was like a magical library. He might not have much of other things, but when it came to the number of learned spells, almost no spellcaster could rival him.

There was no helping it. Who asked him to have powerful mental strength while the spells rewarded by the Adventurer’s Manual didn't count toward his personal burden? This advantage was too obvious, allowing him to unscrupulously purchase and learn more types of spells, regardless of whether he used them or not.

During his usual rest time, he would find time to learn some new magic.

So, Gauss demonstrated the 1st circle spell Grease for Hephaestus.

Grease could temporarily generate a slippery grease area within a specified range using mana. Targets walking on it would find themselves extremely prone to slipping and losing control. However, in actual combat, its other use might be employed more often.

That was combining it with fire magic. Oil aiding the fire's momentum, creating a combo effect that made the fire more lasting.

Soon, with the assist from Gauss's upcast Grease spell, Hephaestus's already large-scale Burning Hands became even more turbulent, almost reaching the point where one dragon constituted an entire team.

After Gauss's demonstration, Hephaestus also understood the wonder of this spell. Its pair of golden dragon pupils slowly lit up with light.

"Did you see it clearly?"

Afraid it hadn't seen clearly, Gauss deliberately flew from the dragon's back to Hephaestus's side while casting the spell.

"Gauss, I need to watch it a few more times. This is a little bit difficult."

Gauss then nodded.

Gauss demonstrated it a few more times in front of Hephaestus.

Unfortunately, Grease wasn't a fire magic spell. Even if Hephaestus understood it, it would still need some practice and pondering time to cast it.

Gauss wasn't in a hurry either, just quietly explaining.

Finally, just before this battle was about to end, Hephaestus managed to cast a half-baked Grease spell, albeit clumsily.

This speed of mastery further convinced Gauss that its magical talent was indeed extraordinary.

If fire magic was the aptitude brought by its Red Dragon bloodline, then other types of magic were the manifestation of its own comprehensive magical talent.

After mastering Grease, Hephaestus could also learn more types of magic.

The 1st circle spell Tongue of Languages was almost essential. It could help the enlightened Hephaestus master more languages, such as the human common tongue, allowing it to communicate with others instead of only being able to talk with Gauss, who also knew Draconic.

Feather Fall, Shield, Mage Armor—these could all be learned.

Feather Fall could prevent injury from falls if its flight capability encountered an accident. Defensive magic could make Hephaestus safer. Although a dragon's body was synonymous with being thick-skinned and tough, one never had too much defense.

A frontline fighter with shields applied would only be more dominant.

As for the mental burden appearing when learning other high-level magic later, they could just choose to forget some spells then.

And Hephaestus's burden probably wouldn't come too early,

because True Dragons could also learn many spells. Especially those individuals enthusiastic about spellcasting could master several times the number of spells ordinary human spellcasters could.

It's just that many True Dragons, due to their innate abilities, inherited magic, and powerful physical strength, would disdain learning too many types of magic.

In the eyes of many arrogant Chromatic Dragons, many spells were just icing on the cake. The effort to learn them might not be as worthwhile as using that time to sleep. They believed learning just a few core spells inherited in their bloodline was sufficient.

In terms of magical attainment, Metallic Dragons like Gold and Silver Dragons were generally much stronger than Chromatic Dragons, and their magical systems were also more diverse.

In human records of battling dragons, the perception of Metallic Dragons' combat power also generally considered them superior to Chromatic Dragons, who relied more on bloodline abilities. It was hard to say that magic didn't play a part in this.

Gauss hoped to nurture the Red Dragon Hephaestus into a Chromatic Dragon proficient in all aspects of magic, and it just so happened to have the talent for it.

It would sublimate from a Drake to a Dragon and surpass those Chromatic Dragon peers.

Over the next two days, the Red Dragon Guild continued to sweep through the surrounding monster nests.

Under Gauss's tutelage, Hephaestus mastered Tongue of Languages, Feather Fall, Shield, Mage Armor, and Cloud Mist.

Mastering more types of magic made it more well-rounded.

Hephaestus also utilized the effect of Tongue of Languages to rapidly learn the human common tongue. However, its personality didn't seem very enthusiastic. Even after mastering part of the human common tongue, it very rarely communicated with other members of the Red Dragon Guild. Apart from Aria and a few others, it didn't even have much desire to talk.

Compared to human language, it still preferred using Draconic to communicate privately with Gauss.

Gauss guessed that Hephaestus might have the small thought that others couldn't understand Draconic conversations. After all, Draconic was a very high-level language, and almost no magic could decipher it.

Dragons were arrogant. Perhaps it didn't want others to hear its conversations with Gauss, especially since they contained a lot of Gauss's teachings and guidance as a teacher. Occasionally, it would act coquettishly, which was truly embarrassing for a dragon.

So, thinking of this, to save its face, Gauss also consistently used Draconic for communication.

Of course, Hephaestus probably didn't realize that some of its "weak" performances had already been silently observed by a certain Slime invisible to the ordinary human eye, and it had already mentioned it in Gauss's ear several times.