Chương 52: Chapter 49: A New Path

"In their final wish, Pandemonium and Chaos sacrificed their souls to create a child. That child was your mother. At the same time, they became part of her."

"…Yeah," Queen Mirai nodded slowly.

"After I fully mastered my abilities, I was finally able to bring them back from within my soul. Piecing them together took a very long time—hundreds of years, actually. But time flows much faster inside the Chaotic Hell Realm, so they eventually recovered. It was still an incredibly slow and difficult process."

"I-I see…" Elizabeth nodded, absorbing the revelation.

"Uh, can I visit them later?"

"Maybe later, once we have time to unpack everything that has happened," Queen Mirai sighed softly.

"By the way, I wonder where Hrymdra is?"

"To unpack everything…" Elizabeth murmured. She turned to her father with a hesitant expression.

"Dad, why do the Nightmares want to invade this world so badly? And… was this whole situation really my fault?" King Louis looked down at his daughter, his gaze filled with warmth rather than the contempt she had feared.

"The Nightmares are a new threat I never imagined existed until recently. And no, this was not your fault. From what they have revealed, it seems they were already planning to invade our world. The accident from before only accelerated their plans slightly. In a way, it gave us valuable time to prepare and confirmed their existence. The Nightmare Kings are the strongest among them, but they are not invincible. You saw how I killed one myself. When they come, we will be ready. It will not be like last time.

There is no Dimensional Labyrinth to terrorize us, no Grievances, and no Entities. The Nightmares are unique lifeforms, similar yet completely different. In the VPI, our greatest scientists are working day and night to find ways to counter their power. Relying on just a few powerful individuals is never wise."

"Ahh! I see!" Elizabeth said, her eyes brightening with understanding.

"That's amazing. I wonder if I could visit the VPI one day? I've heard the last Grievances and Entities are living there in containment."

"Perhaps one day," King Louis replied with a gentle smile, reaching out to pet her head affectionately.

"Hrymdra, you're here." A gorgeous Dragonoid woman stepped into view. She was tall and strikingly beautiful, with long flowing azure hair, wide crystal-like wings, and sharp sapphire eyes that shone with ancient wisdom. She wore an elegant dress made of shimmering crystals, and azure crystal-like scales adorned several parts of her body. A pair of magnificent crystalline dragon horns crowned her head, making her look breathtakingly divine.

"Sorry for being late," Hrymdra sighed.

"I was busy speaking with so many people, catching up and trying to be more social. It was not easy, but I am finally getting the hang of it."

"Auntie!" Elizabeth ran toward her with sparkling eyes.

"Wow, you're so beautiful in your Dragonoid form! I never imagined I would see it!"

"I have not taken this form in thousands of years," Hrymdra said warmly.

"I wouldn't blame you for thinking I didn't even have it. But all Divine Dragons possess this form." Hrymdra knelt gracefully before Elizabeth and pulled her into a tender embrace, spreading her arms wide. She hugged her niece tightly and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Elizabeth, thank you," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

"You braved impossible odds and even risked your life to save me, even though I insisted it was too dangerous. You took responsibility for a mistake that was never truly yours and put yourself in harm's way for my sake. That means the world to me."

"Auntie…" Elizabeth's heart swelled as she saw tears streaming down Hrymdra's face. She gently reached up to wipe them away, watching in wonder as the tears transformed into beautiful ice crystals before they could fall.

"I am truly thankful for what you did," Hrymdra continued, her voice trembling slightly.

"No one has ever shown me such kindness and selflessness before. These events also served as a much-needed wake-up call. I realized I could no longer remain alone and isolated. It is finally time for me to step out into the world without fear—without being terrified that everything I grow attached to will die long before I do. And I owe all of this to you, my dear little dragon who fell from the skies by accident and changed my life in ways I could never have foreseen."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Hrymdra placed her hand gently on top of Elizabeth's head and infused her with pure divine power. She then offered a fragment of her own soul and finally produced a small, glowing red crystal from the palm of her hand.

"Here, this is a blood crystal," she explained.

"Eh?" Elizabeth tilted her head in confusion.

"I have known it since the moment I met you. You possess the same rare Trait as the Divine Dragon King. You have the power to inherit all Dragon Bloodlines—something even your father could not fully achieve."

"Wait… I do!" Elizabeth remembered that this was indeed one of her powers from her original character settings.

"So take my divine blessing, my soul fragment, and this divine blood crystal," Hrymdra said with deep affection.

"Together, they will fully awaken the Ice Dragon within you."

"T-Thanks!" Elizabeth replied happily. She took the crystal and swallowed it in one bite.

"Gulp… hm?!" FLUOSH! A brilliant explosion of azure light erupted from her body, forming a massive pillar of ice that shot high into the sky. The sudden surge shocked her parents and everyone else present at the gathering. The towering pillar overflowed with the radiant Light of Harmony, spreading outward and rapidly materializing into a gigantic Divine Frost Tree of Harmony. Its presence stabilized the weakened Realm that had suffered greatly from the Nightmare invasion.

"W-What is this?!" Even Elizabeth was unsure what was happening. The power within her bloodline continued to awaken fully, blossoming beautifully into the magnificent glowing Ice Tree that remained standing tall. She now stood atop the majestic tree while everyone below stared up in awe and amazement.

"This power…" she muttered.

"Astraea! Do you know what this is?!"

"Y-You have awakened another Path!" Astraea called out excitedly. Ding! [Congratulations, you have successfully awakened your Ice Dragon Bloodline!] [You have awakened the Path: [Ice Dragon – Tier 1: Level 1/100]!] [Your Ice Elemental Affinity has Ranked Up from SS Rank to SSS Rank!] [You have awakened a new Ice Affinity Spell: [Origin Frost – Tier 3: Level 1/10]!] [You have awakened the Ice Dragon Path Skill: [Reflective Crystal Scales – Tier 1: Level 1/10]!] [You have awakened the Ice Dragon Path Skill: [Frost Breath – Tier 1: Level 1/10]!] [Your Soul has grown considerably stronger.] [Your Soul Cultivation has progressed.] [Your Dragon Soul has Ranked up to [Rank 4: Growing Soul Heart Sapling]!] [Your Spirit Stat has increased by 200, 000.] [Your Soul Stat has increased by 300, 000.] [You have awakened the Soul Ability: [Divine Dragon Soul Tree Anchor – Rank 4]!] [Your Soul Ability: [Harmonious Chaos Reversal – Rank 3] has Ranked Up to Rank 4!]"A new Path?!

You can gain more Paths?!" Elizabeth had always believed one could only have as many Paths as they were born with. That was how the game "Your Story Online" worked. But this was a different reality. Awakening her Bloodline had granted her a brand-new Path to level up and develop, greatly expanding her Ice Dragon abilities. However, it did not seem as strong as her Divine Dragon Path, which covered her general draconic power and likely included her Harmony and Chaos forms that had started at a much higher Tier 5.

Her new Divine Ice Dragon Path was only at Tier 1, meaning she would need to level it up alongside her other paths to gain more stat bonuses and grow stronger as an ice dragon. Ding! [Due to the accumulation of EXP, your Levels have increased dramatically.] [Your Dragon Path has Leveled Up from Level 96 to Level 146!] [Your Chaos Demon Path has Leveled Up from Level 77 to Level 127!] [Your Human Path has Leveled Up from Level 71 to Level 100!] [Your Human Path has reached Max Level and can now Evolve.] [Your Class has Leveled Up from Level 83 to Level 100!] [Your Class has reached Max Level and can now Rank Up.] [All your Stats have increased.] [You earned a large quantity of Stat Points.] [You have earned 7, 000, 000 System Points.] [Your Bonded Familiar: [Incarnation of the Spiral of Eternity: Paragon – Rank 3: Level 85/300] has Leveled Up to Level 125!] [Your Bonded Familiar: [Nightmare Vestige Spirit: Mongrel – Rank 1: Level 79/100] has Leveled Up to Level 100!] [Mongrel has reached Max Level and can now Evolve.] [Your Bonded Familiar: [System Administrator Spirit: Astraea – Rank 1: Level 57/100] has Leveled Up to Level 100!] [Astraea has reached Max Level and can now Evolve.] [Your Bonded Familiar: [Nightmare Tree Seedling: Dryad – Rank 1: Level 48/100] has Leveled Up to Level 100!] [Dryad has reached Max Level and can now Evolve.] The incredible benefits did not end there.

Elizabeth quickly realized just how much stronger she had become from all the level-ups she had received.