Chapter 29: Destined to Become a Dragon

“Hmm. The image I have of a ‘mentor’ is always one of elegance and intellect. Although her philosophy differs from that of our tribe, on the path of studying the mind dragons, we share many common topics. She can truly be called one of my teachers.”

Hermione replied softly. The traits of the gray-white dragon had not yet fully coalesced, but something unseen was drawing her to the very spot where the dragon had just lain.

Guided by this inexplicable pull, Hermione cautiously turned her head and looked toward Amanesis. “Over there, it seems like there’s something?”

Amanesis was the first to approach. With a gentle sweep of her arm, she cleared away the stones that obscured the area, revealing inscriptions carved into the plaza’s stone slabs beneath.

They were written in the Northern Tongue, a language Amanesis already understood.

She paused briefly, then said to Hermione, “Come over. There’s no other danger here.”

Hermione followed and clearly saw the Northern Tongue text etched onto the ground. It detailed how one could harness the traits of the Manlha fish, treefolk, and even the mind dragon clan to become an extraordinary being capable of mastering mental powers.

Though far rougher and more chaotic than the inscriptions on the Blasphemy Slabs, it repeatedly emphasized that mind dragons, with their singular focus in abilities, could effectively reduce the risk of powers spiraling out of control.

Still, mind dragons themselves are formidable and difficult supernatural beings... Most experimental subjects would rather seek the scarce Manlha fish hidden beneath riverbeds than provoke the dragons.

Most of these theories and findings had been topics the ‘mentor’ had discussed with Hermione.

But what followed in the inscription was something Hermione had never heard of before.

Narrowing her eyes, Hermione read on:

“A mind dragon built its nest deep within the Manida Mountains. It was so beautiful and captivating.”

“Merely observing it caused my body to warp…”

“It discovered me, but did not prey upon me; instead, it soothed my mental afflictions.”

“…It seemed to regard me as a mate? Even though it possessed all the traits of a female mind dragon.”

“…It fought against the giant that arrived. It held the advantage, but its wounds were grave.”

“…Before dying, it sought to pass its traits to me. Such behavior does not align with the dragons’ lustful nature.”

The tone was obsessive and cold, matching the mentor’s personality.

So this was how the mentor had obtained that dragon trait…

Hermione’s heart suddenly understood.

After the tribe was obliterated by the uncontrolled mutation of the ‘mentor,’ Ilusa had formed a reconnaissance team to investigate, with Hermione among them. Had it not been for her teammates dragging her away, she herself would have lost control after a glance at the gray-white dragon.

It was because of this that Hermione came to know a mind dragon was crouched here.

She continued reading:

“I have an intense desire to consume the traits it left behind… Based on past experience, this may be the extraordinary material I have long sought.”

“I consumed it.”

There was a clear break in the narrative, and further down the stone were these words:

“At the last moments of my life, I awoke. I possessed divinity.”

“Divinity… When you have it, you realize it is divinity.”

“All the tribe’s people died.”

“I realized I could momentarily regain clarity because, in my madness, I triggered an emotional resonance among the entire tribe!”

“But why did this emotional resonance awaken my fallen will? Alas, I no longer had time to continue researching…”

“I am about to die. But I refuse for my research and experiences to end here, to be buried by time in the dust of history.”

“With this newly born divinity and my remaining life, I have propelled the fate of this land—”

“Humanity shall inherit all of my ‘legacy’!”

“And you who read these words…”

“May you go further than I ever did.”

Having read all the inscriptions, Hermione’s lingering doubt about why the dragon guarded this place was resolved.

She sighed, “So the reason the ‘mind dragon’ remained here was the final will of the mentor.”

Her feelings were complex. Had the mentor not been so obsessive, had she heeded the Ilusa tribe’s advice to separate the research institute from the living quarters, none of the tribe’s people would have perished here.

This was the greatest destruction caused by uncontrolled mutations recorded since Ilusa’s chronicles began.

Yet, even before dying, the mentor still sought to pass all her knowledge to humanity.

Taking the extraordinary trait condensed from the shattered dragon’s body, Hermione turned to Amanesis and asked, “Can you bury this place?”

Amanesis did not reply immediately. After a moment of silence, she asked, “Won’t you organize a team to come here and gather usable resources? After my thorough ‘cleansing’ with my power, there are no other threats remaining.”

Hermione was taken aback for a moment, then whispered, “Yes, we must organize people to collect resources.”

Saying this, Hermione glanced at Amanesis, who, as a goddess, was increasingly resembling a member of the tribe.

…

The tribe’s young adults who had participated in the giant clan’s festival were gradually sent back. The tribe also had the energy to reorganize expeditions beyond the tribe, including a mission to collect supplies from the mentor’s settlement.

Hermione attended the council meeting held after her return to the tribe, where nine council members gathered.

The meeting was chaired by Leodoro, the current duty councilor, who reviewed recent events: Hermione and Urolius’s return, Amanesis’s joining, the giant clan festival, and the exploration of the mentor’s tribe, and made further arrangements.

What followed were calmer days. Hermione devoted herself to refining the newly adopted language, while Amanesis, gaining prestige within the tribe, was building a residence on a vacant lot beside the institute.

Once the house was completed, Hermione, who had been buried in her studies of texts, took the initiative to inspect it.

Looking at the dwelling divided into several rooms, she was surprised. “Only one bedroom?”

There was a washroom, a kitchen, a study, even a storage room, but just one bedroom.

Amanesis’s eyes curved into crescent moons as she answered matter-of-factly, “I don’t need to sleep at night, so why build two bedrooms?”

Her reasoning made sense, but Hermione still found the logic odd—she couldn’t tell what strange mood the goddess was in.

Still, as long as she didn’t have to compete for the bed, that was fine.

After all, she never wanted to endure the stiffness and damp chill of sleeping on the floor back in the early days in the land of the magic wolves ever again.