Perceval
Will, Nisha, and the priestess walked into Mother Tiamat's cave at noon.
Several large tables were formed into a square.
At the head of the square sat Mother Tiamat, she was already sipping tea.
"Come here you both, I want to introduce you two to Perceval," Tiamat said waving them over.
"Greetings Sage Perceval," Will and Nisha bowed.
"Thank you for honoring me," complimented an ancient-looking old man. He had long white hair that draped down his back. His long white beard was beard touched the floor. His tan caramel skin was wrinkled, and his bushy white eyebrows sagged over his eyes. The ancient man's spearhead was slow and shaky, but he held a pleasant smile.
"Thank you for helping to revive our master," Will and Nisha said still bowing.
"Arise. Sir. Perceval is pleased by your etiquette and demeanor. Please have a seat here, next to me," the mother of all dragons asked.
"We thank Gaia for our meal," she said and began to eat.
At the banquet, Will learned the only thing more monstrous than a dragon, was their appetite.
Yet, no matter their monstrous appetite they ate like refits nobles full of grace and etiquette.
Steak was served, but they were so large Will thought came from an apatosaurus.
Tearing into the steak, Will felt his mana pool soar just from eating. Then he and Nisha began swallowing mouthfuls of food.
"Mother Tiamat tells me you visited the elves. Tell me are they still hiding?" Sir. Perceval asked.
"Yes, but some followed me to my city. Now humans, elves, beastmen, and dwarfs live together," Will said.
"Yes, what a veritable cornucopia," Sir. Perceval laughed at the inside joke.
Will watched as Tiamat frowned, but the other dragons in attendance chuckled.
"I don't understand the joke. And yesterday you said you met my mother. Can you explain what you meant?" Will asked.
"It's not yet time for you to know. But all shall be explained eventually," Mother Tiamat comforted.
What do you mean eventually? Why can't you tell me now?" Will asked.
"It is not for us to say. Just be patient a while longer. Now let us focus on the feast" Mother Tiamat said, as she watched storm clouds roll over the Dragon Realm.
"Very well," Will said remembering his guest status.
"Did you enjoy the tour?" the alchemist from this morning asked.
"Except for paying you two million gold, the tour was quite nice," Will said.
"Stephanus what did you sell him?" Mother Tiamat asked.
"Astaroth's core he gave me. The boy is already using his femur, I thought he'd want the core too?" The old alchemical witch Stephanus said.
"Will dragon cores are filled with mana. Tonight, before bed, I'll help you learn to digest it," Mother Tiamat said warmly.
"Might as well make him a suit of armor from Astaroth's scales," Sir. Perceval said.
"Fine, Simeon can I ask you to build Will and Nisha armor from Astaroth's scales. You may also use any legendary equipment from my collection," Mother Tiamat said.
"How lucky, Will. You shall obtain something incredible." the priestess congratulated him.
And she continued, "I'm beginning to understand how you were able to achieve the things you had achieved"
"Please tell me, how I may reimburse you?" Will asked with a smile on his face.
"Please consider this a favor to an old friend. I'll also reimburse you for the core you purchased," Mother Tiamat said to a pleased Will.
He pledged to support Tiamat in the future, however, he may.
Hearing his inner praise for her, the old dragon mother smiled. Gaia agreed to help Will as a favor to an old friend.
"You know Astaroth was a close friend of mine. But he was too prideful, even for a dragon," Sir. Perceval said to no one in particular.
"Will, while we were out, I bought you a present," the priestess said handing Will a ring box.
"You got me a ring?" Will wanted if she knew the significance of giving someone a ring.
"Yes. I saw your elven spatial ring, and I want to buy you a dragon-made one," the priestess said slipping the ring on Will's ring index finger.
Will was astonished. Only, Elizabeth had ever put a ring on his finger, and that was at the wedding. But when he looked at the ring his heart raced.
[Dragon Spatial Array Ring]
[50,000 open units]
[Grade: Legendary]
The ring had 50,000 compartments. Compared to his elven-made ring it was much larger. And comparatively, made the first spatial ring he bought in Guidon look like trash.
"Thank you." Will graciously accepted the ring. Will decided to give the elven ring to Edward when he was older.
"What a lovely present Xing'er," Mother Tiamat complimented.
The banquet proceeded, as they ate, drank, and talked.
"What's life like here? When can you leave this place?" asked his hostess.
"We mostly sleep. Most only need to eat once a month. Once a year we visit the mountain to purchase supplies. At the age of 6,000 dragons are allowed to travel the world. There are currently one or two dragons living in Gadreel. They seem to really be enjoying themselves," Mother Tiamat chuckled.
"Most people just sleep?" Will asked.
"Understand we're different. Humans measure their life in days. Eleven measure their life in centuries. Dragons measure their lives in millennia. A decade to us is comparable to a day to you," Mother Tiamat said.
"How do dragons measure their magic cultivation?" Will asked
"Similar to you humans, with some exceptions. Human cultivation starts at the novice rank and for most ends with Journeyman-rank. Fewer may make it to master, but fewer still make it to grandmaster. Only once in a generation talent may make it to Sage.
Unlike other races, dragons are born at the master rank. Dragons are born with the ability to know generations of information. All dragons are born with the same knowledge that I have. It's my responsibility to guard every egg and teach each new hatchling.
After Sage level comes Emperor, Legendary, Demigod, and God. Most dragons cultivate the demigod stage before dying.
Both Astaroth and Perceval are demigods.
Only one of the dragons besides me became a god," Mother Tiamat said.
"What happened to the other dragon," Will asked.
"He goes too far! What banquet guest ask such inappropriate questions," Dracul yelled and pounded the table with his fist.
Meanwhile, Will and Nisha had stopped eating long ago. They were on the verge of collapsing from eating too much. However, they managed to increase her cultivation. Will saw his status screen flashing in the periphery of his eye.
"He has a right to know. Tiamat brought it up first. He asked what he thought was a harmless question. Son, you know the events that are already set in motion. We must have this world," Sir. Perceval said.
Having been rejected, Dracul left the feast in anger.
"Tell him Tiamat," Sir. Perceval said.
"Gaia created two dragons, me and my husband Lucifer, the mother and father of all dragons.
But, being the father of all dragons wasn't enough for him.
But being a minor god wasn't enough for him. He wanted all the world to worship dragons and be exalted. So, he started killing people to show his power.
I fought him, but he was too strong. After I lost, he sought revenge. To get revenge on me, he killed three of our children and twelve of his grandchildren before he was imprisoned in Tartarus by Aether.
Before he was imprisoned, he ravaged cities, demanding tribute to appease his temper. He tortured, killed, and ate those sacrificed to him and then continued to destroy everything, sacrifice be damned.
During his terrorism he destroyed civilizations for excitement and killed indiscriminately for pleasure," Tiamat explained.
"I apologize for asking," Will said.
"Don't be ridiculous, you didn't know," Tiamat said warmly.
Then Perceval stood up and everyone stopped talking.
"I want to thank everyone for coming to my farewell banquet. I have lived for thousands of millennia. I have seen the birth of many of you here and the deaths of many friends.
I especially want to thank William vont Ballard and Nisha for attending this feast in my honor. Will and Nisha let's meet tomorrow night privately," he said before sitting down.
With the banquet over Will and Nisha returned to their cave.
An hour later, Tiamat entered Will's cave.
Will took out the demigod-grade mana stone that was precious enough to be part of King Roland's family heirloom. He could probably buy a large imperial city using a single demigod-grade mana stone if he wanted. Or the least, he could trade it for a mountain of gold.
"Okay Will sit as do when you meditate," Mother Tiamat said as she used a claw to cleanly cut the pinnacle-grade mana stone into eight pieces.
"Will, I want you to slowly swallow each piece. As swallow each piece circulate your mana throughout your body," she instructed.
Will put a mana piece in his mouth, swallowed, and began circulating his mana whirlpool.
The moment he swallowed the mana fragment, a torrent of mana immediately surged inside his body. His bones creaked and his muscles started tearing apart as the torrent of mana coming from the mana stone forcefully passed through his mana whirlpool and meridians.
He hadn't felt this much pain since Elder Thaddeus used an array to turn his mana pool into a whirlpool in the garden behind the Knight Academy library.
It felt as though a raging river was trying to pass through a small pipe. His heart pounded loudly, and his blood vessels bulged from the pressure, almost bursting.
Had Will done without supervision, he was sure he would have died, his body exploding from the turbulent mana.
Thankfully, his constant training and Mother Tiamat's supervision helped him move the massive amounts of mana inside the demigod-grade mana core through his meridians.
Will felt his mana pool becoming denser and expanded.
Mother Tiamat skillfully guided the overflowing mana into the various parts of his mana organs, bones, and skins preventing Will from bursting like an overfilled balloon.
This was a method that would usually be considered suicide, irreversibly destroying one's mana pool and meridians, but under Tiamat's magic mana settled easily within his body.
Several hours passed by without Will realizing it. The moment Will swallowed the last demigod-grade mana fragment, all unnecessary thoughts vanished in his mind as he guided the overflowing mana with a single-minded focus.
When morning came, Will finally opened his eyes. He did it! He had managed to assimilate the whole mana core into a mana whirlpool, organs, bones, and skin.
Will stood up and stretched his body. His entire body ached, and his stomach grumbled from hunger.
Will checked his stats and was surprised by the big jump.
Race: Human
Rank: 3 (Earl)
Title: Lord of Games/ Gaia's Champion
Class: Merchant
Sub Class: Spellsword Knight
Attributes:
Constitution—82
Strength—85
Dexterity—77
Intellect—92
Charisma—17
Ranks Skills: Management (87), Diplomacy (74), Accounting (91)
Class Skills: Appraisal (100, 100) [Radar]
Abilities: Master Swordsmanship (7, 75), Master Terramancer (12+50, 75), Gaia's Blessing (multiplies your spell strength x2), Journeyman Blacksmith (37, 50). Immunity to [Dragon Fear].