"When I reached level 99, I came to this place and dreamed about the ancestor. He showed me something and opened my eyes. Fifty years later, I reached level 100 and became the 4th Divine Dragon of my tribe." The voice behind this legacy said this for Minos and Ruth to hear.
"The Ancestral Dragon God helped me a lot during my ascension. I narrowly missed making a mistake by absorbing the powers of my Divine Medicine, and I escaped perishing in my ascension. But even after I became a God, I still could not understand the meaning of what he showed me."
'Ancestral Dragon God?' Minos frowned upon hearing this, realizing that such creatures saw this giant skeleton as an ancestor.
It should be noted that there were no dragons with 4 wings, and the size of that creature was at least twice the size of this level 100 dragon.
But the history of the animals of the Spiritual World was much deeper than that of humans, considering the long life of these creatures in that world.
Dragons could live for more than 250,000 years when they reached level 100!
Because of their ability to live longer, these creatures had much more important memories of the ancient past of this world.
"This skeleton... What is its relationship to your tribe?" Minos asked. "What exactly did it show you?"
"That is the secret of the dragons, young one. But since you will inherit my powers, I will tell you. This is our ancestor's body, the Spiritual World's first dragon.
In the beginning, we did not exist. Only the beings of our ancestors' tribe lived in our world. But then something happened, and as the last hope of his tribe, our ancestor sacrificed himself to divide his own powers.
This division created his corpse, but it also created three weaker races that could carry fractions of his power throughout the world. These were the sea dragons, the dragons of my tribe, and the wyverns."
Wyverns were ancient creatures that had become extinct in the Spiritual World. Still, in the distant past of such a world, they were mighty, though they lost in raw power compared to these two "siblings" races.
"For some reason, the Wyverns perished before they even discovered their origin. But sea dragons and we had instincts that led us to this place. Unfortunately, we were weak at that time, so our tribes kept this area a forbidden secret, where not even our members could go."
Dragons below level 90 would die if they came near the remains that attracted them so much. So, millions of years passed before the first of them reached that level, and the two tribes kept the volcano under protection.
The Spiritual World was in its infancy since the end of Panvuter, so there was nothing powerful to threaten them at that time, and they protected such a place with ease.
Eventually, these creatures adapted to the new reality of this world and grew stronger.
"When the first ones who entered this place did so without being burned, they soon realized that below level 99, sleeping here would do more harm than good. But as soon as this was discovered, my tribe took this place and drove out the sea dragons.
Since then, we have kept this place under our control and passed on the story of the ancestor among the high elders of the tribe.
After I killed and devoured the body of my father's murderer, I was privileged to be close to the ancestor and receive his help."
"That..." Ruth heard all this and was shocked. "He divided? Is that even possible?"
"That is what my ancestors who were closest to him felt, young woman. I was not alive at the time, so I cannot speak for sure. No dragon in my tribe has that ability, either. However, the cultivation world is mysterious and profound.
Some innate abilities can do more impressive things, so why doubt it?" He said.
'Probably a special kind of sacrifice...' Minos thought. If this was reality, then his theory was more or less correct.
These dragons were descendants of that creature through a mixture of bloodlines or the splitting of its powers. Either way, they would have fractions of the characteristics of this creature.
The dragon replied to Minos. "As for what he showed me, I think it will be easier for you to understand if I say it was the sky. I saw something starry. But I still don't know for sure what he was trying to tell me. All I know is that by thinking about it during my advancement, I was able to reverse a mistake and successfully advance to level 100."
"The sky?" Minos opened his mouth, not understanding what that meant. 'Is it because pieces of Panvuter were sent away? Is he telling us that...'
At this thought, Minos' eyes opened even wider. 'Could it be that the enemies Henricus Longus expected are other descendants of those giant creatures? Perhaps descendants that survived on other fragments of Panvuter?'
If that were the case, it would be both good and bad.
It would be good because it would mean that the limits of these creatures were close to their own, and his worries about the future would be less. But it would not be so good because it might mean that there were several potential enemies of theirs among the many fragments of Panvuter.
What if each fragment of Panvuter was like the Spiritual World? What if several of them were somehow connected because some of them were closer?
Then the threat to him could be much greater than he thought!
The dragon saw that Minos was seriously thinking about something but continued to speak. "Anyway, this brought me to the peak, and you two should look for this place when you reach level 99. Fight with the dragons of my tribe and earn the right to come and meditate in such an area.
With what you'll gain with me, you will surely have strong bodies to withstand the temperature of that place."
The two felt their vision fade with these words as everything around them changed.
"That's all for now. I hope you can come close to my level... Perhaps we can meet again in the future." The creature said before disappearing.
Meanwhile, Minos' entire group watched as his and Ruth's bodies were surrounded by half-golden, half-black energy.
"How much longer will it last? They've been like this for a week." One of the Demigods in Forrest's group asked.
...
