Chapter 9

"…Rex?" I reached across the bed, still half-asleep, my fingers searching for the warmth that should have been there—the warmth of Rex, who had fallen asleep beside me.

But the space was empty. My eyes blinked open. I sat up, my heart tightening with a sense of wrongness. He wouldn't just leave… not after a night like that. Not after everything we shared.

I threw on my clothes in a rush, a simple cleaning spell leaving me fresh as if the night had never happened. Without wasting another second, I bolted downstairs to find the owner of the inn.

But then, the blow came. The innkeeper, casual and unaware of the storm he'd just unleashed, informed me that Rex had left sometime during the night.

My chest tightened. My hands curled into fists. My eyes burned. Not with sorrow, but with wrath.

"So that's how it is," I muttered through clenched teeth. "Used me… and ran."

Tears welled at the corners of my eyes, fury drowning out the ache. With red, blazing eyes and a boiling heart, I stormed out, set on one thing alone: Finding him— and making him take responsibility.

Meanwhile, miles away… Rex walked alone along a winding road, its destination unknown. The path stretched ahead into the horizon, flanked by hills and silence.

He didn't have anything urgent to do for the next few years, so he had made a simple decision—travel the world and absorb everything it had to offer. There was still so much he hadn't seen, and with his strength, nothing could truly stop him.

Besides, he had heard rumors—a Dragon Lord the size of an island. Whether myth or fact, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

Of course, Rex wasn't just wandering aimlessly. With his finely tuned senses, he could feel the pull of powerful auras. The road he was on led in that very direction—toward something strong, something worth investigating.

He had no idea where it would take him. But he intended to follow it all the same.

A few days later, Rex heard it—a massive, thunderous roar that echoed across the sky. Looking toward the source, he saw it: a magnificent white dragon, massive in size and breathtaking in presence, soaring from the direction of a distant empire. Its scales shimmered like polished ivory under the sun, radiant and imposing.

With wings spread wide, the dragon flew straight toward him, its speed incredible for its size. It halted midair above the road, eyes glowing as it glared down at Rex.

"Who are you, and what brings you here?" the dragon roared, its voice shaking the ground beneath.

But even as it spoke, it grew visibly tense, its eyes narrowing as it scanned the high-quality gear covering Rex's body—gear far beyond anything it had ever seen before.

"I'm Rex Tempus, a traveler," Rex said calmly, offering a friendly smile. "I felt your aura and came to see for myself. I mean you no harm."

But the moment the words left his mouth, the dragon's posture shifted—fully alert, tension crackling in the air.

"The Platinum Dragon Lord told me about you," the dragon said, its voice colder now, laced with caution. "State your intent."

"I have no intent," Rex replied casually. "New world, nothing to do… so I decided to travel. Might I know who I'm speaking to?"

The dragon's eyes narrowed, growing sharper with suspicion. "I am the Brightness Dragon Lord," it said coldly.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," Rex said with a calm smile.

The dragon paused, speechless. It had fought alongside the other Dragon Lords against the Eight Greedy Kings. It had witnessed firsthand the arrogance of players, their unchecked pride and destructive tendencies.

But now, hearing Rex speak and sensing no malice in his aura, it understood what the Platinum Dragon Lord meant. Rex was not like the others.

"You're really not like the other players," the Brightness Dragon Lord said softly.

"Not all players are the same," Rex replied, his tone light and relaxed. "Just like I wouldn't expect all dragons to be the same."

He offered a calm smile. "The players you met back then… they were the small fries. Of course, they got drunk on power once they realized how strong they were in this world."

The dragon slowly descended, landing before Rex with a graceful thud. For a long moment, it simply stared into his eyes, studying him in silence.

"So," the Brightness Dragon Lord said at last, voice measured, "what do you want?"

Its gaze narrowed slightly. "You don't expect me to believe you're truly here just because you're bored."

The question hung in the air as Rex offered a slightly awkward smile, one that didn't quite deny it.

"But I am," Rex said lightly. "I'm also looking for clues about how I came into this world."

The dragon stared at him for a long moment, silent and thoughtful. Then, without a word, its massive body began to shift and shrink, bones reshaping, scales fading. Moments later, standing before Rex was a handsome, blonde-haired young man, regal in bearing and composed in presence.

"You must be powerful," he said. "Only the strongest Dragon Lords can take on the forms of other races.."

"You know quite a lot," the Dragon Lord said, raising an eyebrow. "From what I've heard, dragons of your world are very different from ours."

"I brought back the Boundless Sea Dragon Lord," Rex replied casually. "Had him teach me Wild Magic."

The Dragon Lord's eyes widened in shock, his composed expression faltering for the first time.

"Where is he now?" the Dragon Lord asked, his tone steady, though curiosity flickered beneath it.

He didn't know much about the one called the Boundless Sea Dragon Lord, but he knew this: a Dragon Lord doesn't come back to life easily, especially not one that had been dead for over two centuries.

"He's dead," Rex said with a quiet sigh. "I'm what you'd call a solo player—I don't work well with others."

He paused, eyes narrowing slightly with thought. "The dragon wanted to stay dead. I forced him back… and in the end, I let him return to his eternal sleep."

There was a moment of silence. Rex exhaled, his expression caught between self-awareness and regret. "I keep telling myself I'm the ruthless type, but sometimes… I guess I'm not as ruthless as I want to be."

"You really are the strongest player…" the Dragon Lord said in disbelief, his voice tinged with awe.

Rex grinned. "Of course. We can have a small spar if you're feeling lucky."

The words had barely left his mouth before the Dragon Lord accepted, wasting no time in taking up the challenge.

Rex smiled and took a few steps back, creating space between himself and the Dragon Lord. Without hesitation, the Brightness Dragon Lord charged forward. Even in his human form—a weakened state—his strength was no joke. He was on par with the Boundless Sea Dragon Lord, a being equivalent to a level 90 player.

His fist shot toward Rex's face with incredible speed, only to freeze mid-air, stopping just short of impact.

Surprised, the Dragon Lord quickly shifted his stance and began moving around Rex, launching punches from every angle—testing for a weakness, a blind spot, anything.

But no matter where he struck, every punch stopped just before making contact. It was as if an invisible wall surrounded Rex. The Dragon Lord stepped back, shocked, unable to comprehend what he had just witnessed.

"It's called Infinity," Rex said with a light smile. "I bring the concept of infinity into reality. Infinity exists all around us… I just make it real."

The Dragon Lord's eyes widened, instinctively leaping back. Without a word, he shifted into his true form, his massive white-scaled body towering over the landscape.

There was no hesitation. He opened his jaws wide and unleashed the Dragon race's ultimate attack—Dragon's Breath..

Rex's eyes widened. This wasn't a normal breath attack. It was a beam of condensed light, unleashed at light speed—a pure, focused blast of power that tore through space with impossible precision.

Rex couldn't react. Against the speed of light, even he was far too slow. By the time he blinked, the beam had already reached him.

And yet… it stopped. Frozen in place, the beam hovered inches from his face, unable to pierce the invisible barrier that protected him—Infinity.

"What the…?" Rex muttered, stunned. To him, it had all happened in an instant. The attack was there one moment, halted the next. But then he reminded himself—light speed wasn't just fast. It was the universe's speed limit.

At such speed, time itself bends. Even Rex, at his best, could only hope to match the speed of sound. So it made sense that he hadn't been able to react.

"You couldn't even react to the attack… and still, it couldn't get past your skill?" the Dragon Lord said in disbelief, eyes wide with shock.

"It's not a skill," Rex replied calmly. "It's a spell."

He let out a soft sigh, his tone thoughtful. "And by the looks of it… not even you can reach that level of speed. If you could, well—I'd be at a loss for words."

"Well, it's my turn," Rex said with a grin. Instantly, the Brightness Dragon Lord shifted back on guard, sensing the change in atmosphere.

"This spell is called Curse Technique: Blue," Rex continued, raising a hand and pointing toward the sky.

At the tip of his finger, a blue orb began to form, calm at first, almost harmless in appearance. But within seconds, it swelled in size, growing rapidly as its pull intensified.

The very fabric of space and time bent around it, drawn inward, distorted and stretched as if the world itself was being dragged toward the heart of the spell. 

The ground around Rex shattered, breaking apart as if a void had suddenly torn open above him. Everything nearby—rocks, wind, even light itself—was being pulled inward, dragged toward the growing blue orb in a desperate attempt to fill the emptiness it created.

The Brightness Dragon Lord's eyes widened as he too felt the overwhelming force pulling at him. He spread his wings and tried to fly awayt, but it was useless. How could he escape through space… when space itself was being consumed?

"W-what is this?!" the Dragon Lord roared, panic lacing his voice.

"While the Infinity you faced earlier is Infinity in its basic state, Blue is what happens when I strengthen it," he explained. "It infinitely converges space to a single point—creating a void-like effect that generates powerful fields of attraction."

"Once you're sucked inside, you'll be crushed at the atomic level," Rex said with a grin. "This spell doesn't rely on attack stats—it draws power from the amount of MP I have… and trust me, I have a lot."

His job class, Limitless, wasn't built on brute force. It didn't need high attack power. The only requirement was having enough mana to cast the spell. Attack stats were meaningless.

"Okay, I surrender!" the Dragon Lord roared, his voice strained as he struggled against the pull. He had tried everything—even shattering his body into light to escape. But it was too late.

If he had done it from the very beginning, maybe he could've outrun the gravitational pull. But now? Now, he had no chance.

Rex let out a soft laugh as he calmly canceled the spell. The pull vanished instantly, and the Dragon Lord collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, every part of him straining from the effort it had taken just to try and escape.

"I… I see why you're the strongest," the Dragon Lord muttered, still too shocked—and exhausted—to move.

"Haha, no," Rex said with a light smile. "What you saw was just a fragment of my power."

He smirked, clearly enjoying the moment. "Back where I'm from, I used that very same spell against enemies… and it had no effect. There was this giant, wielding a sword so hot, its heat rivaled the sun. It was able to bypass Infinity."

Rex grinned. "Of course, I defeated him… and took the sword for myself."

Wanting to show off, he reached into his inventory and pulled out Surtr's sword—a massive, radiant blade still shimmering with residual heat and power.