The Mountain region of Mt. Claritas consists of many natural cave systems which, to this date, have been mostly unexplored. Not that any fairly civilized races like Humans and Dwarfs weren't interested in exploring them. In fact, the people who knew of the highly rare materials which were accumulated in the cave systems were desperate to get even a minuscule amount of it as it would be like a boon granted to them by the gods themselves.
But there is a very simple reason that they remain unexplored, which is...Most people value their lives and they would not allow certain doom to befall them for some profit or the thrill from adventuring the caves.
There had been many cases in the past where expedition teams from certain towns were sent to explore these caves but none had came back, even after many months or even years. It was presumed that the region must have been infested with powerful monsters. Announcements which greatly emphasized the power of the presumed monsters were made to kill the curiosity or the arrogance of the people, who might try to go near the vast cave systems of Mt. Claritas.
But, a certain being, which glowed as brilliantly as the sun itself was currently sleeping, peacefully like a baby in the arms of it's mother. The glow of it's scaly body would have made the entire cave in which it was residing in, visible to even a human eye. The being in question is undoubtedly the one who founded the Dragonic Kingdom, Felris Oriculus, also known as the Brightness Dragon Lord.
"...Hmm?" Suddenly, the eyes of the dragon shot open as he felt something crawling on his scales. When he looked for the entity that was on his scales, he spotted a juvenile hybrid between a Dragon and Spidar. It had the head of a dragon with a long and strong tail with the addition of four spider-like legs. He grabbed the hybrid and held it infront of him. He could tell that the hybrid had a sad expression on it's face as Felris held it away from him and thought:
I guess this is one of the experiments with the Spidans.
Felris had a mind more fitting of a scholar rather than a fighter. He is always hungry for more knowledge and he would spend most of the time, when he would be awake, on conducting more experiments to increase his knowledge about dragonic hybrids and for his pleasure. His fellow dragon lords would always stay away from him due to his tastes but Felris could not care less about it.
During the times, when the Eight Greed Kings walked the lands and killed anything that opposed them, the dragon lords fought the kings for the rule of the world but Felris did not bother to challenge them as he knew what the result would be since he had heard how dragon lords were getting slaughtered by the filth of the emperor, and he certainly wasn't stupid enough to throw his life away meaninglessly. Instead, he hid himself away and let his fellow dragon lords deal with the threat.
Though, how did this one manage to escape it's nest and come here? he wondered, while the juvenile tried it's best to escape the dragon's grasp and get close to him.
Well, it will be a hassle to return this one to it's nest. the dragon lord thought to himself, as he decided to simply eat the juvenile in his grasp in his grasp.
There was little time for the hybrid to even react to the pain as it's head was ripped off by the strong jaws of the dragon lord.
There are plenty of spidan hybrids and not a single one have inherited the capability to use Wild Magic. What a waste! Suddenly, he remembered that his descendant who were currently ruling the Dragonic Kingdom had also birthed a daughter, he made a mental note to check on this descendant for it's capability for Wild Magic.
As he finished what little was left of the body, he quickly got up and stretched out limbs and wings to wake up his muscles after sleeping for some time, Felris decided to check out the surface of the mountain since it had been a long time when he last visited the surface.
But first, I will check out those captured female humans...After all, they are above average. the dragon thought as he changed his path to the place where humans were bred.
It had been many hours since Keno and Satoru had started the climb on foot and so far, the journey was going smoothly. The temperature had dropped significantly, easily going in the negatives but that posed no problems for the undead since they were immune to cold.
The night was approaching fast, trying to cover the red sky of the evening in darkness but to Keno and Satoru, it was turning grey instead due to their racial trait [Dark Vision] which allowed them to see even in the dark. Finally, the two decided to settle down for the night.
"Alright Keno, I will create our shelter, okay?" announced the overlord, to which Keno nodded.
Previously, they had discussed about what their shelter for the night would be because they could not simply sit under the night sky due to the frequent storms that occur in this type of region. So, Satoru had proposed the idea of making an underground bunker to which Keno agreed.
"[Create Bunker]"
As the effect of the spell took place, a metallic hatch appeared on the ground which was the entrance to their shelter. Satoru opened the hatch as he gestured Keno to climb down and after she entered their bunker, he entered himself and closed the hatch above him. The bunker was designed to be like a temporary shelter for mid-to-high level players.
The interior was of lavish quality which could rival a dragon's treasure any day.
The Devs really put everything in making their designs, huh? the overlord thought to himself while remembering the sadistic developers of his favorite game.
"Satoru! Let's play a game for tonight" said Keno, pulling the overlord out of his thoughts.
"Alright then, which one do want to play?" asked Satoru as he remembered of the board games of the past in his inventory, that were added in the game with the summer update.
"Um, let's see...today, we will play Monopoly." she said with a smug face.
Instantly, the overlord held his hand to Keno and said:
"NO! We are not playing that accursed game...ever!"
"Heehee, so you admit that I will beat you at it anytime, hmm?"
"Hrrgh...Fine! Today's the day your streak ends!"
With that, the two went to their room and played several games of Monopoly for the night. Weirdly enough, one could even hear an occasional scream coming from their room.
{3 Days Later}
Satoru and Keno were currently climbing a low hill. They would soon reach the halfway point after a day or two, which would be a very big achievement for the denizens of the new world but to Satoru, the obstacles were nothing much.
I wonder if the truly powerful beings of this world could be counted on two hands. mused the overlord, feeling a little bored by the lack of worthy opponents.
No! It's better this way! Who would demand extra trouble.
The weather was very clear, contrary to the heavy storm that started on yesterday's evening. Due to that, Satoru had to create their shelter a little before they initially planned.
As they climbed higher and higher, the level of the snow had increased significantly to the point that Satoru had asked to carry Keno, to which she happily agreed as long as her condition of getting carried like a princess was met. Satoru had obviously refused that since he had to use his other hand to clear the snow ahead of them. She could not deny the reasoning behind the overlord's words so, instead she decided to sit on the majestic pauldrons of his robe.
"..."
The two continued their journey mostly silent. It had been some time since they had stopped talking as their were hardly anything interesting that they would be able to talk about and the two did appreciate a little silence for some time.
"Eee!" came a sound from Keno as she slipped from the pauldrons and fell onto the snow - if Satoru hadn't caught Keno in time.
"Careful!..Maybe the pauldrons aren't a good seat after all, huh?"
"Ah, thank you, Satoru. I was just trying to adjust but I slipped instead, I will just walk, okay?...I will be fine."
"You sure?" asked Satoru, to which Keno nodded vigorously.
'Alright, then." said Satoru before putting Keno down.
"Just be careful, okay?...Just look how much the ice is cracked from our path behind." he said as he pointed it the direction they came from.
"I know, I know. I will take care, don't worry."
"Umu."
With those words, Keno took a few steps ahead of him to demonstrate her point, but only after a few more steps, the sound of a large amount of ice breaking was heard followed a cut out scream from Keno as she started to descend into the broken ice.
Almost immediately, Satoru used [Time Stop] to stop even the flow of time. The world lost it's colors and the everything in it was stopped at it's current place.
"WHAT KINDA BULLSHIT IS THAT?!" shouted the overlord, immediately the [Emotional Suppression] kicked in and his mind calmed down, bringing back his sense of rationality.
"Just...what are the odds of that?" mused the overlord as he flew towards the small crater that had formed, revealing a very big space underground and a very scared Keno who was in the middle of falling.
There were various statues and pillars in that area, all of which led to an alter. Just by a brief look at it, Satoru could conclude that it was some kind of ancient, religious place.
Woah, to think I would get to see an ancient underground shrine like in those old stories Tabula talked about...or wait, was it ZaWurlda who talked about them?
Satoru shook his head to return to reality and instead he focused on Keno.
He flew towards her with his [Fly] spell and gently held her to bring her back to the surface. As he came out of the small crater, he remained floating above the ground so if more snow falls, they won't be caught again. With that, he resumed time and watched as all the snow in mid air fell in the crater.
"Uwah!...oh" came the sudden wail from Keno which was quickly by confusion.
"Don't worry, I got you." he said, holding the blushing vampire with both his arms.
"But never mind that, what we just found is much more interesting." he said while his tone struggling not to give away his happiness.
"Ehh?..W-what is it?"
"Ah, I will just show you." he said as he flew towards the crater and entered it with Keno while carefully inspecting the surroundings for any monsters that may have taken this place as their nest. When he concluded that the area in their vicinity was most likely free of any hostiles, he landed and gently put Keno on the ground as well.
She was stunned at the discovery of such an ancient looking place and she now understood why her companion was happy. It seems a little sub adventure was in order and she was as much excited as her dear companion.
She looked up to Satoru and said:
"I suppose a little adventure can't hurt, huh?" she said.
"Indeed, now let's go."
They looked around in the little cave. There were many pots and crates but they are broken or empty which made Satoru deflate like a balloon.
They don't have any loot at all...worst dungeon ever!...Ah wait, scratch that. he thought while remembering the insane dungeons events in Yggdrasil.
Satoru inspected the pillars and statues and found that they were made from a Yggdrasil mineral that he hadn't found in this world, up until now. It was a mid-tier mineral called 'Gaia's myki'. He remembered there was some kind of joke regarding the name but he couldn't remember exactly what.
He already had tons of different ores and minerals in his inventory and this mineral was one of the more abundant ones in his inventory. But the existence was pointing towards the fact that this place was most likely made by players like him or someone connected to players.
Meanwhile, Keno was looking at the walls of the cave in awe, to be exact, she was looking at the pretty crystals on the walls.
"Let's take a closer look, Keno."
Satoru plucked the nearest small crystal and crouched down to Keno's height to let her take a closer look while he silently analysed it.
This type of crystal is definitely native to this world.
"Wow! I have never seen a crystal like this!" she said with an excited tone.
"Let's take a decent amount of it so you can experiment with it in your free time."
"Yeah! I can't wait!"
And then, Keno went onto another one of her long explanations about the magical properties of the crystal and how it's so interesting that it's origin was somehow able to disprove the some famous theory about magic.
...Why does she always forget that I was just a salaryman in my prior life?
As her explanation came to an end, Satoru asked:
"Let's go check out that alter."
"Oh, right, let's go."
As the two approached the alter, They spotted many carvings of-
"Keno, cover your eyes!" exclaimed Satoru as he reflexively put his bony hands over her eyes.
"Uwah! What is it!?..Is it 'that' stuff or something?"
"Don't worry about it...Uhh, we have taken all the records we could find, there is nothing more here so let's get out." said Satoru, while practically dragging Keno with as much haste as possible.
"Okay Okay, I get it...Let's go."
As they both flew towards their exit, they resumed their journey.
"By the way Satoru, I don't appreciate that you still treat me like a child. I already know all the adult things!"
"Uh huh?" said Satoru, as he gave Keno a glance saying 'Oh really now?'
"Oh so you don't believe me?!...I will tell you how babies are made then!"
"No, don't. And sure, I believe you"
"Hmph"
I guess, she is still growing mentally, I can tell she doesn't know a thing so should I try giving her 'The talk'?...Wait, on second thought, I don't know a single thing about parenting-
"Satoru! Satoru!" came the angry voice of Keno followed by her vigorously shaking him to get his attention which pulled the overlord out of his thoughts.
"What?"
"What do you mean 'What?', answer me!"
"Uh, W-what were you talking about?" said Satoru hesitantly, knowing the incoming wrath of this little girl.
"Phew, that was good!" exclaimed the perverted dragon.
Having been sated for some time, the dragon could finally think clearly without his lust fogging his mind.
Wait, was there something I wanted to do before I got sidetracked?...OH! Right!, I completely forgot about visiting the surface, I guess I could pay a quick visit, It's probably not healthy to stay indoors for a large amount of time without seeing the sun.
With that thought, the dragon lord opened the container of rations for the humans that only he could open and threw one giant larvae for each of the humans on the ground to sustain themselves with.
Come to think of it, did I give them their rations when I visited last time?...Oh well, they are fine so it's irrelevant.
With that, he made to leave for the exit of his 'home'.
After some time walking, he made it to the exit and saw the sun for the first time in quite some time.
The sunlight feels pretty good, I should do this more often.
As far as he could see, the ground was only white. When he tried to walk on the snow, his feet sunk a little in the soft and very cold snow.
Like a child, out for skiing, he laid down on the snow and began to make 'Dragonic Angels' as he called it.
But suddenly, his playtime was interrupted by his magical senses, which were practically screaming at having been overwhelmed by detecting an ungodly amount of magical energy in the distance.
Almost like a moth flying towards light, the dragon subconsciously began to move towards the source of the energy but was quickly pulled in by his conscious mind which let him make a rational decision.
I will have to check it, Only they would be the ones who would have this amount of magical power.
Ah, H-hello!...It's been a while, huh? (Nervous Laughter)
You see, I didn't forget that I started a fic, I totally didn't...It just 'slipped' out of my mind.
But anyway, here is the chapter, I don't know when I can upload the next one though since I will be only writing in my free time(occasionally).
Knowing this information, It fills you with determination to wait for the next time...right?
But, I guess that's it, see ya in the next one.
Good day