Chapter 5 The Path To Becoming Strong
Currently, Blake was sitting on the stone bed with the dragon girl standing in front of him. "I guess we should introduce ourselves since we are now officially a couple in name!"
And it was this sentence that spilled from the dragon\'s girl\'s mouth that confused him the most. If he even came close to mentioning anything that said otherwise about their new relationship, she would suddenly get angry and want to kill him. So he could only accept this new fate. He just did not understand what a boyfriend in name actually meant. But at the same time, he did not see a downside to having a dragon girlfriend. She was cute and very powerful. While he really had no actual feelings for her at this time, he did not mind getting to know her and maybe one day actually forming true feelings for her.
He watched as she placed her hand on top of her ample breasts while standing with her legs spread out and her head held high as she proudly spoke her name: "My name is Lilliana Atherlia, the last of the Ather dragons! You can call me Lillia!"
"My name is Blake Harris. Human and someone who has been reborn." Blake gave his introduction, but he realized he could have left out the reborn part, but he couldn\'t help but add something when Lillia said something amazing as well.
"Hmmm… Blake…. Blake…. Blake…. Not a bad name! Very fitting for my boyfriend in name only." Lillia nodded her head in approval. Why this was, Blake did not know, but she kept saying in name only.
"Ummm… Lillia, what does: in name only mean?" Blake asked curiously.
"This… I-It\'s because we just met. We still need time to really get to know each other. But don\'t get me wrong. You are my boyfriend, so don\'t think otherwise." Lillia blushed as she lowered her head and played with her fingers.
Blake nodded his head at this. What she said did kind of make sense. But something bothered him: "So if we do not work out, we will just break…."
"You want to break up with me!?" Lillia\'s arms once again suddenly turned into huge claws causing Blake to break out into a cold seat as he yelled out: "No! That is not what I meant!"
"Huh?" Lillia\'s arm froze mid air and looked at Blake in confusion. "Wha-What do you mean?"
"I mean. If we do not work out and we find out that we do not really match each other. If it comes down to that, we should not try to force it, is all I am saying. I am not saying I want to break up with you. I mean, we haven\'t even given it a chance yet." Blake replied. Thanking the gods above that Lillia actually let him finish this time. He did not know if his heart could handle being threatened by those large claws.
"I see… But that won\'t happen. Now that we are a couple in name only, we are bound together. You see, we Ather dragons have a kind of sense. It allows us to sense the one who will make the perfect mate, and there is only ever one that will appear. But to think you would appear here even after I sealed myself away. I guess this is what the meaning of fate is. Your scent was the main reason I allowed you to even enter this room." Hearing Lillia\'s words and listening to what she had to say, Blake really did not know what to make of all this fate stuff. If it was truly fate then wouldn\'t they have met in his last life?
But in order to not make the dragon girl mad at him, he could only nod and say: "Then I guess I will be in your care from now on."
"Mmm!" Lillia smiled as she tapped her chin and looked Blake up and down. "You are too weak. Very, very weak."
Blake was not offended by her words at all as he nodded his head. "This is very true. While I do not understand why I was able to use magic just now, I do know that currently, it will be a struggle to survive once the Dragonic returns. Lillia, do you have any ideas on what I can do?"
"Let\'s see, I do not know how long I have been asleep here but before the seal was placed and the war was still ravaging the land. Humans were able to evolve to become supreme beings. But it was no easy feat. Those humans spent millions of years to reach their current state. And there were only a handful of such humans." Lillia frowned, but she only made more questions for Blake.
"You said millions of years ago, but according to what I know of this world, it has only been around for four billion years." Blake did not understand. Even if there was a kind of reset on the planet, the earliest recorded animal ever found was 1,237,000 years old. And this was discovered two years ago in 2026.
"This planet? Four billion years old? Hmm… I guess that should be right around the reset date. To be honest, we put humans in hibernation back then. There were a few different breeds of humans, but I am not sure what happened to them during this time. But the truth of the matter is, is that this planet is over five trillion years old. At least that was what my ancestors told me at one point." Lillia\'s words were actually really destroying all known science.
Blake liked space and things related to space, so he knew a lot about the universe. But the date that was most widely known now was that the universe was 16.28 billion years old. Since that was as far as they could look back. The scientific world was turned on end when they discovered that the Big Bang was not actually the beginning of the universe. They found many galaxies and planets much older than the big bang theory with newly made telescopes that could look farther out and found that what they thought was the big bang was actually just a very large galaxy, that took up a large section of the sky and was now called the Big Bang Galaxy.
"Five trillion years old. Then Lillia, how old are you?" Blake asked.
Lillia turned and looked at Blake with a smile that did not reach her eyes as she firmly said: "I am twenty years old."
"But…." Blake was confused. Hasn\'t she been alive all this time? But before he could continue asking, a hand that had turned into a claw clamped his shoulder and squeezed it as the voice of death entered his ears. "I am twenty years old!"
"Ah! Mmm…. Right, twenty years old…." Blake felt a cold sweat roll down his back. He couldn\'t even breathe. Nor did he dare raise his head to look the scary dragon girl in the eye. He only now remembered something an old lady once told him. Never ask a girl her age unless you are seeking death…. Thinking of that old lady, he couldn\'t help but apologize in his heart for not taking her seriously.
Hearing Blake say she looked young caused Lillia to smile and blush. "Hehe… Saying I look so young…."
Blake almost coughed up blood. This girl basically threatened him into saying it. He had a lot to say but didn\'t dare say anything out loud, so he decided to change the subject. "Is there a way for me to become strong before the Dragonic return?"
"Hmmm... I did happen to keep a vial of blood that belonged to a certain ancient race. Although, whether it will kill you or not is another story." Lillia paused before continuing: "I can say that if you are able to merge with this blood, you will be able to grow ten times more powerful than any human ever could."
"Blood? Which race\'s blood are you talking about?" Blake was slightly interested. He did not mind taking a risk as long as he was not going to transform into some kind of disgusting monster. After all, he came here to become strong.
"The Drakani. A higher race of Vampires that had a bit of blood from every race within them. But right now, as you are, you can not handle such blood. If you did take it, your body would swell up and explode, instantly killing you. But do not worry, you said that with the return of mana that humans were able to evolve, did you not? Since that is the case with the mana here and my help, I can help you evolve once more before the Dragonic even arrive.
From there, you can begin enriching your body with mana. The process may seem slow, but once you reach the second stage of evolution, I will help you take in this blood and expand your strength greatly." Lillia stepped forward, sat in Blake\'s lap, and leaned against his chest. "Since we were brought together by fate, I will be sure to help you grow as strong as possible."
Blake was silent. Feeling the warm body leaning against him, he felt a little self conscious but hearing her words that were spoken softly and filled with sincerity. He couldn\'t help but feel touched. "Then I guess I should work hard so I do not disappoint you."