VBNWDW - Chapter 57
Chapter 57
"Alright, my dear Host. You've been teaching your student for a month now. And how are the results?"
Exasperated, the System spoke, its voice laced with sarcasm.
But the other person seemed oblivious to its mood, even offering a proud compliment: "She's exceptionally talented, I'd say. A very ambitious little queen."
Moonlight spilled down. The hot spring still steamed, and the surrounding vines drooped, their lush green leaves swaying endlessly in the wind. The woman, lounging lazily in a deck chair, gave a soft chuckle.
This was clearly not the answer the System wanted to hear. It was momentarily speechless, utterly failing to understand what its Host was trying to do. It had consistently advised Yueqing to keep the queen contained, to prevent her from growing. Once she lost the ability to destroy the world, what would her ambition matter?
But the rebellious dragon refused to listen. Instead, she began to teach the queen personally, investing a great deal of resources and energy into it.
The System said, "Don't say I didn't warn you, but your 'excellent student' has suddenly started avoiding you."
Yueqing replied nonchalantly, "I've noticed."
It tutted, ceasing its useless warnings. It waited until the queen appeared in the darkness, offered one last reminder, and then slipped away.
"Teacher Yueqing."
The white veil was lifted, and Metis arrived right on time, practiced in her movements as she handed six gold coins to the dragon.
It was a transaction for gold coins they had repeated many times.
The reclining woman raised a hand to take them. Her long, silver-white hair cascaded down as she did, her gilded eyes looking on with lazy indifference.
Metis tilted her head slightly, her gaze averted. Only after the dragon had counted all six coins did she point to the steaming hot spring beside them.
As if granted a pardon, Metis hurried over, deftly removed her dress, and descended the series of steps.
The previously clear spring water had completely changed its appearance. The pungent smell of sulfur was replaced by a rich medicinal aroma, and the red liquid lapped against the stone walls like ocean waves.
As Metis submerged herself completely, a cold sweat broke out across her skin, a sign of the intense pain she was enduring. Yet she showed no shock or surprise, as if she had long grown accustomed to it.
Once she had recovered slightly, she heard the person behind her speak slowly. "All the third-tier magic cores have been used."
Evidently, the dragon had transformed the spring water.
Metis gritted her teeth and nodded. She was about to ask if she needed to buy more when an unbearable pain shot up her spine. It felt as if iron nails were being hammered into each vertebra while flames of immense heat enveloped her skin, burning without restraint.
"Hiss…" Despite having soaked in the water for many days, Metis couldn't suppress a pained grunt. But she didn't climb out. As if to distract herself, she turned her head to the side.
At the woman tossing a gold coin into the air with a crisp jingle.
Ever since the day she had offered to become Her Majesty the Queen's teacher, the dragon had taken on a human form. She had maintained it all this time, never changing back.
She wore a simple long dress, her waist-length silver hair cascading freely. Her skin was a shade darker than wheat, a departure from the fair complexion most humans prized, yet it didn't look strange in the slightest. Combined with her graceful curves, it created a natural, inherent allure, as if this was how she was always meant to look.
Her features were stunning, her profile carrying an innate pride. Her gilded eyes seemed to hold the moonlight, and the corners of her lips were turned up in a casual smile, like a datura flower in brilliant bloom.
Even Metis, who had seen countless handsome noble scions, couldn't help but feel her heart flutter.
As if to punish her for her distraction, the pain from the medicinal water intensified once more. Metis instinctively grabbed a nearby stone, her grip tightening.
It was like soaking in non-lethal magma while swarms of fire ants bit at her flesh and gnawed on her bones.
The pain was excruciating.
Cold sweat dripped from her like a stream, creating ripples in the water.
Metis could no longer afford any distractions. She could only gasp for breath, repeatedly telling herself not to climb out.
Endure. Keep enduring.
This was her only chance to awaken. Since the Temple of Light had already sabotaged her once, they would certainly never give her another opportunity.
A common person becoming queen versus a Gifted taking the throne—these were two completely different paths…
But why was the dragon helping her?
The stone in her hand was about to be crushed. Metis's vision blurred; she had somehow let her mind wander again. The question that had troubled her for days resurfaced.
Just for those six gold coins?
How could someone who grew up in the royal palace be fooled by such a flimsy excuse?
She had seen with her own eyes as the dragon tossed exceedingly rare herbs into the spring. The few third-tier magic cores she had purchased were likely the least valuable ingredients in the mix.
Honestly, even Metis herself felt it was a waste to use such precious herbs to help an ordinary person awaken.
Yet the dragon did it anyway, without so much as a blink.
Why?
Her initial actions could be explained by the dragon's favor, but what about everything that followed?
Metis couldn't understand what it was about her that could possibly attract the dragon and warrant such a massive investment.
She still had no answer to her question. Instead, the dragon, who usually spent her time resting on the deck chair, suddenly walked over to her. She sat down casually and dipped her calves into the water.
The medicinal water that was torturing Metis so terribly was nothing more than slightly warm water to the dragon's powerful body.
Yueqing's posture was relaxed. She even lifted her foot deliberately, creating a small splash.
She said lazily, "Metis, you were just looking at me."
She'd been caught?
Metis froze, her gaze unconsciously shifting away to an empty patch of water.
"I…" She didn't know what to say.
The Black Dragon didn't seem to mind. She asked, "Was it a nice view?"
"Ah?" Metis, still trying to come up with an excuse, was taken aback. Without thinking, she answered, "Yes, very."
Her tone was firm, devoid of any flowery language, which made her answer all the more believable.
Yueqing chuckled, amused. She reached out and patted Metis's head, ruffling her golden hair before asking gently, "Does it hurt much?"
Just as Metis was about to answer, she heard the dragon add, "You're losing quite a bit of hair."
On the matter of hair volume—an issue of immense concern to all of humanity, regardless of age or gender—Her Majesty the Queen's expression froze. Even the excruciating pain seemed to lessen.
She'd looked in the mirror before leaving today, and everything had been fine!
Not until she heard a soft chuckle beside her did Metis realize she was being teased. Her face pale, she called out in exasperation, "Teacher Yueqing."
Yueqing's voice was as lazy as ever. "What is it, my good student?"
The dragon in her human form seemed to enjoy teasing people even more than she did as a dragon.
Seeing Metis press her lips together, Yueqing smiled. "Do you remember what I taught you?"
Previously, after each soak in the medicinal water, Yueqing would teach her about fire magic.
This knowledge was part of the dragon's ancestral memory, something even dragons of other elements could master. Many spells long lost to the human world had been perfectly preserved in the draconic lineage.
However, to avoid rushing her development, Yueqing had only taught her the more basic principles.
Metis nodded, indicating she remembered everything.
Yueqing praised her again. "So clever."
Who knows who told the dragon that students should be taught with plenty of encouragement and praise.
Metis's lips twitched as she reluctantly accepted the dragon's good intentions.
Her lifted leg kicked up a beautiful spray of water, the droplets falling with a soft patter.
"It's about time," Yueqing said.
"Hmm?" Metis looked confused.
With a casual wave of her hand, the woman beside her compressed the space, leaving only a single element behind. "You can begin meditating now," she said. "Try to connect with the fire elements in this space."
Despite the lingering pain, Metis couldn't help but reveal a flicker of joy. She immediately closed her eyes and began to meditate, using the method the dragon had taught her.
The so-called "awakening" was the process of perceiving elements one had an affinity for, absorbing them into the body, and then beginning cultivation through meditation.
The method used by the Temple of Light involved having light mages use special magic to pacify all the elements in a given space, minimizing the danger. Then, youths who had reached the appropriate age, whose bodies could withstand the influx of magical elements, would meditate to perceive them.
The dragon's method was far more aggressive. Using a body-tempering technique from her ancestral memory, she had created a potion from fire-element magic cores. By having Metis soak in it, she could purge all other elemental impurities from her body. The fire elements would then cleanse her very muscles and veins, making them so attuned to her that they would actively draw near.
This way, even though Metis had missed the ideal window for awakening, she could still sense the elements approaching. She would, after all, now possess what the human world called a pure elemental constitution—the body of a so-called one-in-a-million genius.
Yueqing tilted her head, watching as Metis's expression gradually relaxed. She recalled the image of her from the original plot, commanding flames.
Now that was the proud bearing a queen ought to have.
Yueqing looked up at the gathering dark clouds. She knew, of course, what Metis suspected. But if she were to say she was only cultivating a little queen because it was fun, would the girl believe her?
But that was truly what she thought. Compared to the puppet queen she had seen on the altar, she much preferred the proud, ambitious little queen who stood upon a dragon's spine.
Besides, making a queen like that cry would give a dragon a much greater sense of accomplishment, wouldn't it?
She shook her head. For some reason, she felt this world was having a great effect on her—or rather, that her draconic body was constantly influencing her personality, instilling in her a lofty contempt for other races.
This was also why, when she went out with Metis before, she preferred to shrink to a miniature version of herself rather than become human.
However…
She recalled the astonishment and prolonged daze in Metis's pale, gray-blue eyes the first time she saw her transform into a human, and all the supposedly secret glances she had been stealing since.
Yueqing couldn't help but give another mischievous smile. Since the little queen liked it, she might as well maintain this form a while longer.
She rubbed Metis's head again. Her golden hair was like iridescent velvet, and the texture was so wonderful the dragon couldn't restrain herself.
No wonder that green dragon had liked the first queen. What dragon could possibly resist a beautiful, glittering doll—a limited-edition queen model, no less.
The dragon nodded silently to herself, affirming her thoughts. Just then, she felt the fire elements in the surrounding space being drawn toward them, and she knew Metis had succeeded.
Layers of dark clouds obscured the crescent moon. The medicinal properties in the spring water were gradually absorbed into Metis's body, and the water slowly returned to its clear, transparent state.
Without any guidance from the dragon, the space was completely taken over by fire elements, all of them scrambling to surge toward her.
Just as those outside sensed a faint disturbance and turned their heads in surprise, the dragon waved her hand, sealing the area and cutting off all fluctuations. Everything appeared as normal.
It was around midnight when a voice finally drifted from the hot spring.
"Teacher… I'm so hot…"
Her suppressed gasps held a pleading tone, and a sheen of moisture coated her pale, gray-blue eyes, giving her a pitiful look.
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