34 Dragon King
·Poseidon
Q: When can humans think in the most calm state?
A: During a wise moment.
Honestly, Roswiser didn’t have many wise moments after finishing homework with Leon.
A few times, she even battled all night without sleep and still managed to get up to continue working in the study.
But today was different, as Leon flipped the first gate like a reborn war god and forcibly pushed the Silver Dragon Queen into her wise moment.
Now, the couple lay in bed, neither feeling sleepy nor interested in getting cozy with each other.
Thinking about various questions became a great way to k*ll time for these two.
Leon leaned against the headboard, his hands behind his head, his gaze landing on the “Nine Gates of Hell,” which had been kicked to the foot of the bed during their “chaotic battle.”
He blinked, then crawled over to grab the book.
“I suddenly remembered that this book has a very strange point.”
Leaning back against the headboard, he flipped through the pages while speaking.
Roswiser casually fiddled with her messy hair, her nightgown’s strap hanging precariously, and asked, “What strange point?”
“It says here that to open the first gate, a Dragon King-level person must be present to assist.”
Roswiser nodded, “Yeah, isn’t that why you asked for my help tonight?”
“But this is a classic passed down from my Master, who took risks to get it out of the Empire.”
“Hmmm… so?”
Leon sat up straight, looking at Roswiser, and spread the book open, “So, why should human martial arts be measured against a Dragon King’s standard?”
Roswiser paused her hair-styling, beginning to ponder Leon’s question, “Right, by human standards, you’d probably use letters like ‘S’ or ‘A’ to express power levels, right?”
Leon nodded, “Yep. And calling it ‘Dragon King-level’ is quite specific.”
He paused and muttered, “My Master knows I have you, a Dragon King, by my side, which is why he entrusted me with this book, believing I could master it. But what if it was some other practitioner? Where would they find a so-called Dragon King for assistance?”
It’s tough for a human body to stand shoulder to shoulder with a Dragon King.
Historically, those who reached Dragon King-level power were either long gone or had retreated to the mountains, uninterested in the world.
And a super SSR like General Leon who can match or even surpass a Dragon King only appears once every few hundred or thousand years.
So… in a sense, this martial art named ‘Nine Gates of Hell’ doesn’t seem tailored for humans at all.
What was the creator of the Nine Gates of Hell thinking, developing such a high-risk and excessively harsh martial art for humans?
“You say…,”
After a moment of silence, Roswiser spoke up, “Could it be that this martial art wasn’t developed by humans at all? But rather… originates from some Dragon race?”
At her words, Leon was slightly taken aback.
Roswiser’s deduction made some sense.
He had just mentioned how the term ‘Dragon King-level’ was too specific.
But that “specificity” only applies to humans;
If you think about it from the perspective of a Dragon, ‘Dragon King-level’ would seem completely natural and reasonable.
Every race has its own standards for measuring power.
Like Roswiser said, humans rate power levels using letters like ‘S’ and ‘A.’
While the Dragon race sometimes uses those letters too, they often describe power levels with terms like ‘Dragon King-level’, ‘Quasi-Dragon King-level’, and ‘Super Dragon King-level’, which are instantly understandable.
“So, my Master handed me a martial art developed by the Dragon race to learn…?”
Leon chuckled, “What if I end up training my way into growing a tail? That would be the worst!”
Roswiser playfully kicked his backside, “What’s wrong with a tail? Having one is great!”
Leon replied with a serious expression, “Not great.”
“Hmph, you’ve never experienced the wonders of having a tail, so of course, you think it’s not great.”
Roswiser huffed, flopping back on the bed, her silver tail flicking proudly, “You’ll never know how wonderful it is to have a long tail in your life.”
“Thanks for the blessing, Miss Melkway.”
Roswiser shot him a glare before steering the conversation back to the Nine Gates of Hell, “If you want to figure out whether this martial art was developed by humans or Dragons, there’s a really simple way.”
“What way?”
Roswiser pointed to the ancient book in Leon’s hands, “Just check who the author is.”
Leon rolled his eyes in exasperation, “You’ve been alive for over 200 years; you should know that the author and the developer of a technique are not necessarily the same person, right?”
That habit is widely understood across races.
First, it protects the developer’s privacy.
Secondly, many developers are skilled in combat but not in documenting their theories, so they rely on someone else’s summaries to publish their works for posterity.
Of course, some developers don’t care and just do the research and publish themselves, cutting out the middleman for a neat profit.
Roswiser shrugged, “Of course I know that. I just meant that even if the author and the developer aren’t the same person, they’re at least from the same race, right?”
Leon smiled faintly and tossed the ancient book into Roswiser’s lap, “I checked earlier; the author is someone I’ve never heard of.”
Roswiser opened to the first page of the book, where the author’s name was written:
Claudia Poseidon.
The name itself wasn’t particularly special, but the surname sent shivers down Roswiser’s spine.
She stared intently at the letters ‘Poseidon’, unable to look away.
Sensing her unusual reaction, Leon gently shook her shoulder, calling her name, “Hey, Roswiser? You okay?”
“Ah? Ah… I’m fine, really.”
Leon glanced at the author’s name again, asking, “Do you know this author?”
Roswiser tucked her hair behind her ear, “Um… not really, I just have a bit of knowledge about the surname.”
“Surname? Poseidon? I noticed that name earlier too. It seems pretty rare; I’ve never met anyone with the last name Poseidon.”
Roswiser let out a wry smile and shook her head, “Of course, you’ve never met anyone. Because… that’s a surname from the Dragon race.”
Upon hearing Roswiser say this, Leon was momentarily surprised, then thoughtful, “So… it really is a martial art created by the Dragon race.”
“But why does a Dragon martial art exist within the human Empire?”
“Because it’s a trophy from defeating a certain Dragon race, I’d say; that’s common enough,” Leon replied.
Roswiser bit her lip, “No, that’s not right; it shouldn’t be a trophy.”
“Hmm? Why not?”
“Because Poseidon is the royal surname of the Sea Dragon Race, and they haven’t shown themselves for thirty years, so how could they have been defeated?”
As soon as she finished speaking, a heavy silence fell upon the bedroom.
The couple simultaneously looked down at the old book, “Nine Gates of Hell.”
In that moment, countless questions swirled in Leon’s mind.
How did his Master get a martial art created by the long-vanished Sea Dragon Race that had been gone for thirty years?
Did he really, just as he said, take risks to sneak it out of the Empire with the help of an old friend?
If the Master did indeed conceal the origin of Nine Gates of Hell, what were his motives?
And who exactly handed this book to his Master…?
