Bliss did not trust this dragon’s word one bit. He had been a therapist for many years and could almost instinctively tell when someone was manipulating the information to persuade a group of persons.
All that blabbering before was probably the dragon’s way of buttering him up to make sure he thought the dragon was full of information and was willing to share.
In reality this dragon might have been planning to eat him the moment he was healed. But Bliss knew exactly what to do against these types of personalities.
With a heavy sigh Bliss turned his back and began to walk away leaving the dragon in its battered state.
Almost immediately Bliss was struck in the back with a strong killing intent.
Bliss smirked
There it was, when things weren't going in our favor people often showed their true colour, it was obvious this dragon was a killer.
The dragon, seeing Bliss walking away despite his killing intent that was severely weakened due to his physical state, felt disgusted.
Today he would be forced to lower himself to a mere dungeon beast even when he had just been birthed by the Dungeon’s Heart; this was something that he had never done. He had always been superior to every creature in his class.
“Wait! I’ll tell you!”
Bliss smirked and without even turning around responded,
“Go ahead, I'm listening.”
The dragon loathed Bliss’s attitude towards him, who was a superior creature, but he bit his tongue and continued.
“The only way to be free of the dungeon is for a Dungeon Boss to pay back ten folds the energy used to create a dungeon creature.”
“Pay back? What does that even mean?”
“Fool!
Do you think new dungeon floors and creatures pop up out of nowhere?
It's all thanks to the blood of adventurers.
When adventurers die in the dungeon their life energy, mana and bodies are absorbed into the dungeon which the dungeon heart uses to make new creatures and floors.
In your case it only took about four adventures to create you, based on your life energy I'm fairly certain these are the humans who provided the energy.”
The dragon paused, pointing towards the bloodied bodies of the adventurers.
Bliss rubbed his chin then turned around.
“Wait, something is missing here. If it is that easy to escape the dungeon why are you still here?”
The dragon clicked its tongue, it was put in an awkward spot the moment it heard that question.
“...because if you are killed inside the dungeon you will spawn back after a few hours although you will lose a few levels and have to restart the collection process. But if you are killed outside the Dungeon then death is death.”
Bliss heard this and contemplated what the dragon was saying, but something seemed out of place.
If when you die in the dungeon you are reborn then why would this dragon be calling for help so assiduously, especially if he knew he would be revived.
Contemplating Bliss was left with two options.
The first and most unlikely for a proud creature such as this dragon was that it was close to some kind of evolution or escape and really did not want to lose the levels or else he would have to recollect all the lost experience.
Or the most likely idea was that there was more to “If you are killed inside the dungeon”. If Bliss had to guess he would say that it mattered ‘What’ killed you inside the dungeon and ‘how’ you were killed. For instance this death would more be death by injury and not necessarily being ‘Killed’.
To Bliss this was the classic ‘Broadening the facts to fit the case’. But there was more as Bliss pondered the exact words of the dragon. Why would it broaden it so wide? Why ‘If you are killed inside the dungeon’ and not ‘If you are killed by adventures inside the dungeon’ especially since adventures were what they were already talking about.
Unless… the dragon was also trying to protect himself!
That's when it hit Bliss. The dragon was afraid that Bliss would kill him in its weakened state.
But why would the dragon be afraid of being killed if they had just met, unless the dragon had something that Bliss wanted.
And once again the reality hit Bliss like a freight truck. The only thing Bliss said he wanted was to escape the dungeon and only a Dungeon Boss can do that, so does that mean another way to become a Dungeon Boss is by killing a Dungeon Boss? It would make a lot of sense.
Even if Bliss originally did not want to kill the dragon after thinking through all this he figured killing this powerful dragon would level him up far enough to be able to stand toe to toe with at least common adventurers.
The alternative was to spend the next few months or years trying to conquer nine floors of this dungeon. This concept did not seem very appealing to Bliss, but he replied none the less,
“So, what do I get if I help you?”
The dragon who had begun to grow a little worried after seeing Bliss in such a long pause finally exhaled a sigh of relief.
This was a dangerous game he was playing, in his current state any creature could kill him and he would not be able to respawn but seeing as Bliss was a newly created creature he figured he had yet to figure out the basics of the dungeon. The purple dragon flashed its head slightly and spoke.
“Hmmm, well since you want to leave the dungeon so quickly, how about I promote you to a Dungeon leader. That should make us even right?”
“Do YOU have that kind of authority?”
Acting as though his interest had been peaked Bliss turned his head and responded in a slightly mocking tone.
The dragon, feeling as though he had grasped Bliss by his desires, continued to explain.
“ Yes, yes, you see as the only Dungeon Boss for the last few decades I have some level of authority over all the creatures who reside within the dungeon.
Not only can I promote and influence them, I can even enhance them.
Come here, let me give you a sample.”
The dragon waved its claw welcomingly for Bliss to touch it.
Bliss, still on guard and hesitant, touched the claw. Immediately Bliss felt a surge of power rush through his body.
*Congratulations! The Dungeon Boss has chosen to enhance you!*
*Select a skill to be mutated*
- [Self Assurance - level 2 rank 1]
- [Skill crook - level 1 Rank 1]
- [Minor space magic - level 2 Rank 1]
- [Basic Weapons Crafter - level 2 Rank 1]
- [Keen eye - level 1 Rank 1]
*Are you sure you want to Mutate Skill Crook? Yes/No.
*Congratulations! Skill Crook has mutated into the hidden Skill ‘Skill Culprit’*
[Skill Culprit (M) - level 1 rank 1]
- 30% Chance to steal 1 random skill from a defeated enemy and add it to your skill stash, skill will revert to its lowest level. Skills in skill stash cannot be activated unless equipped and cannot be re-entered into the skill stash (max 3).
Intel +6.
Bliss was a little overwhelmed by the multiple notifications.
“Not bad eeh?” The dragon said in a proud pompous tone.
“It’s a start.” Bliss said, trying to hide his slightly impressed face.
“Okay, where do I start?”
“Just remove each of the arrow heads from my back, once all of them are removed I will start healing naturally.”
“That’s all?”
Bliss was a little surprised that a few dozen arrows alone was all it took to reduce the dragon to such a pitiful state.
“No, you have to be careful! These are obsidian arrowheads with a fish bone design.
If you just try to yank them out they will shatter inside and spread their paralytic poison even further.”
Bliss nodded and climbed on the back of the dragon and walked to the center of the dragon's back and gripped the first arrow.
Despite the arrows looking very short from a far it was obvious that these arrows were all at least a meter long which meant each of them was buried deep inside the dragon.
Bliss in a moment without hesitation used every ounce of strength and pushed the arrow deeper into the dragon’s back.
“AArrrgh!!”
The dragon roared out in a cry loud enough to rattle the trees within the forest a fair distance out.
The area on the dragon's back that Bliss was standing glowed in a purple hue and electric sparks could be seen gathering around Bliss’s feet.
