Chương 164: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 164 - Virtue Coins

"System, we've been together this long. Can't you just tell me directly?"

"Keep hiding things like this, and I'm afraid this relationship isn't going to work out."

"System, fine. If you don't want to say it, don't. After all, talking too much just annoys people~" Su Nian's dragon face was a portrait of grief. He sighed inwardly. System: "..." [Host, the System can only detect that your Exposure Level has decreased. The specific cause is occurring on a global scale and is beyond what the System can detect.] [This System is not a satellite!] Su Nian curled his lip and let it go. He had a rough idea of what it meant anyway.

Someone flashier than him had shown up, blazing across the world stage and sucking all the attention away. Which meant. It seemed he could go farm the Starter Villages again. Heheheheh... One more day. Wait out the Weakness buff. Then he'd take Anna and his monsters and charge straight in....

"Hiss!" A flash of sword light. The Goblin chieftain's head went flying. Blood sprayed in all directions. But Darabengba had already sheathed his sword and turned away, strolling toward the chest sitting on the platform. It was an old bronze chest, its surface covered in carved reliefs of Goblins, ordinary grunts, shamans, all the way up to high priests. His expression was strange. No matter how he looked at it, this chest looked exactly like a funeral urn for the Goblins he'd just killed. He eased the lid open.

Inside lay a single gold coin, palm-sized and worn smooth with age. He picked it up. The front was engraved with a towering man: crown on his head, a great dragon beneath him, a lion's shadow cast across his back, a group of charming Half-Elf maidens at his side. He flipped it over. The back bore two characters carved in a bold, sweeping script: Courage.

"This is... the legendary Virtue Coin?"

"Was what that old man said actually true?" His mind drifted back two days, to a small roadside village where he'd stopped to rest, and to an old man named Goodnight.

"Young man, I hear you're going to challenge the great dragon?" Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"With your current strength, how could you possibly win?"

"Adult dragons are sixth-tier creatures at minimum. Even the young ones are nearly unbeatable at their level~""But I can see it in your bones — you're a once-in-a-century hero. The peace of this world rests with you..."

"I happen to have some information and a treasure map. Since fate has brought us together, I'll let it go for one Gold Lion~" That day, Darabengba handed over a Gold Lion. The information claimed that collecting all twelve of Emperor Shivi's Virtue Coins would yield a piece of powerful Heroic Equipment. And with Heroic Equipment, slaying a dragon wouldn't just be possible, it would be like sharpening a blade that was already sharp.

The treasure map pointed to the first coin's location: a Goblin tribe buried deep in these very mountains. Darabengba pressed down the excitement rising in his chest, reached back into the chest, and rummaged. Sure enough, his fingers found a brand-new map. He stroked his chin.

"So that's how it works. One link to the next." He studied the map.

"This should point to the second Virtue Coin."

"That old man called Goodnight — he's no ordinary mountain hermit."

"He has to have some hidden identity."

"If I ever pass through again, I'll have to thank him properly." With that thought in his chest, Darabengba stepped back onto the road. The fog of uncertainty was gone. In its place: hope, clean and clear. All along the way, people enslaved by monster tribes were freed by his hand. They wept with gratitude. The name Sword Hero spread further with every village he passed through....

"A long, long time ago, a dragon appeared without warning, bringing ruin, stealing the princess, and vanishing into the dark..."

"Hero Darabengba rode the swiftest horse, carrying the hopes of all, and set forth from the castle..." The bard in the corner of the tavern sang the tune with warmth and lift, adapted from the story that had trickled its way to the royal capital. Most of the crowd listened with easy smiles on their faces. But not everyone.

"Damn it. That guy actually moved that fast." Freyja's expression had curdled. She'd spent this entire stretch recruiting in the royal capital, and every time she mentioned dragons, half the room found somewhere else to be. For ordinary adventurers, a dragon wasn't an enemy, it was a concept. Most had never even seen one in the flesh. But the idea of what a dragon was, its power, its savagery, had been ground into people's bones for generations. Tonight was her last attempt.

She'd chosen the largest tavern in the Anlius capital on purpose. If this didn't work, she was done with this country of cowards and moving on. The bard's voice grated on her. She cut right through it.

"Good evening, everyone." She rose and produced a golden medal, holding it up so the room could see.

"I'm Freyja, the Magic Hero. You may have heard of the Sword Hero. Consider me his equal. This medal was granted to me personally by the king." A warm smile was plastered across her face. It didn't reach her eyes.

"The person beside me is the Healing Hero. Together, we've already formed a well-rounded team." She swept her gaze across the mercenaries and adventurers filling the room.

"To make certain the dragon falls, we need more people of courage. Will you be dragon-slaying heroes?" The room went quiet. Everyone wanted that title. Whether they'd survive long enough to use it was a different question. Not long ago, an army had marched on Silvermoon Forest to kill the dragon, a force that included a third-tier Archmage. Not one of them came back. The whole of Anlius knew. The silence stretched. The smile on Freyja's face began to set, hardening at the edges. Inside, she was burning.

Every single person in this wretched country. Every last one. Cowards. Useless, the lot of them. You can't even help mud climb a wall.

"Excuse me — are you heading to Silvermoon Forest?" The voice was clear and unhurried. Feminine. Refined. Freyja turned toward the back of the tavern. A woman swathed in a traveling cloak rose from the shadows. Her hands went to her hood and pulled it back. She was younger than expected. Striking. Water-blue hair swept into an elegant coil, baring a pale, slender neck. Her eyes were the same shade of blue, calm on the surface, warm, almost gentle.

But beneath that warmth, buried deep, was a chill that kept the whole world at arm's length.

"My name is Thalestris," she said.

"Lecturer at the Saint Roland Magic Academy. Third-tier Lightning Archmage." Her lips curved slightly.

"My younger sister went missing in Silvermoon Forest. I was in seclusion when it happened, I only just found out. If you're going there, I'll go with you." Freyja's composure cracked. She couldn't help it. A third-tier Lightning Mage. The excitement hit her before she could stop it.

"Welcome aboard, Thalestris. From here on, we fight together."

"Count me in as well." A different voice. Easy, unhurried. Medraco stood, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, polished, unruffled, entirely at ease.

"Two beautiful ladies. It would be my pleasure." He inclined his head.

"Medraco. Second-tier Dark Mage and Alchemist." A beat.

"And I have a personal score to settle with that dragon in Silvermoon Forest." ➤ Next: Freya's Ambition