Temporal Pearls

'My aura might not be able to touch anything that isn't mine, but I have dragon apex womb as part of me and also, my right hand wrote dragon words and they broke due to that and later healed by the womb'

In all this internal dialogue, Seth was trying to convince himself to touch the dragon. But ultimately, his anxiety got the better of him and he hid asin, breathing deeply, trying his best to control his Guru Gam heart.

Suddenly, the dragon tried to move but failed. And it lies there, panting and growling.

Seth panicked when it moved but seeing the lethargic nature of the dragon, he sighed in relief. He knew that the Dragon could squash him to death with ease. However, Seth summoned his courage, because this was a once-in-a-lifetime action.

His fingertip was coated with aura and he touched its neck or precisely soft scale.

'Damn!' Seth was mesmerised. The dragon aura was thick and violent but also elegant and somehow fast, very fast.

Seth couldn't understand the very fast part he just comprehended from the dragon.

"Impossible!" Suddenly, dreadful realism hit him, "What kind of situation did I get myself in?" Seth went into trance not caring if the dragon heard him.

What made him enter that state was the realisation that the red string Retina gave him had an aura that was stronger than this dragon. And compared to her, this dragon was like an ant.

The moment the Dragon moved for the second time, Seth came back to his senses and quickly dashed and hid in another monster cave. He watched the transparent dragon raise its lean body and try to flap its wings but they were weak.

It was about to lie and rest but then it moved fast, leaving behind after images. Seth was surprised by the sudden action but not for long as crimson fire smashed where the other dragon was just now.

'Are dragons fighting against each other?' Seth wondered. However, he didn't see the fire dragon but felt its pressure leaving.

He carefully checked and confirmed they left, he came out and ran very damn fast. His now 200 Exertion Points were reduced every 10 minutes. In no time, Seth noticed the far distant forest but suddenly his Aura Sight noticed something in the crevice. It was incandescent and attracted him.

Any other time, Seth will have checked it but now, Seth wanted one thing. To be in Living Root.

Right as his Exertion Point was about to use off, Seth activated his aura and the exertion Point refreshed. But they depleted faster than normal.

As Seth jumped into the forest, some trees swayed left and right welcoming him.

"Hello. How are you too!" He lay down panting. Exertion Points made him almost inexhaustible when doing normal activities but tedious activities made him get tired fast even with full exertion points.

"Red Valley!" Seth shouted, "I will never come back!"

Seth stayed there to recover for some time before he stood but at that moment, he felt a pull, some sort of desire, a soft compulsion to move toward the south of the forest. This feeling was new to him, so Seth increased his perception, and read the aura there confirming it was okay, so he moved toward it.

He walked to the north edge of the forest, buying that was where he survived his encounter with Roana and Silver Water. But he felt that wasn't the reason. Seth then stepped forward outside the forest and left again.

In his hand was Dragon Rabbit Foot, as a token of safety. Unbeknownst to Seth, he travelled several kilometres. Until he reached a small clip, below was a small mountain that has a 3m tall cave entrance.

Inside the cave was bright but the air was strangely shimmering uncannily.

[Congratulations, you have found one of the young dragon's lairs, your quest objective]

"Shit!" Seth dashed back with all his power till he reached the forest. At the same time, he squished all kinds of feelings of exploring elsewhere.

He came back to his fake village and jumped on the bed with a sigh. His first thought was to log out but then he dreaded what he would find out in the real world.

So, he just called something he had forgotten to check ever since he got it. Red stripes and Silver stripes.

"Green red Cloak!"

[Green Hooded Cloak]

"Okay, the name didn't change!"

[Humans are extremely weak and thus in Gawee Continent Sanctuaries provide them with a wrapper that will give them a slight advantage and uplift their stats in their acknowledged Sanctuary]

[Available Chrome]

~Green

[You have made an empty village with no residence in the living roots forest]

~Red

[You have survived the red trials and gained your gift and thus became and residence with a plot of land in Red Eye Valley]

~Silver

[You have arrogantly gazed and gained the ire of the Gawee Continent Moon, however accepting Amma class provide you with a certain level of protection against the Moon]

____

"I didn't arrogantly look at the moon. I was just tired and pitying myself as I looked up." Seth doesn't like the way the game was treating him, "was it all planned to force me to accept Amma's class?" He wondered.

[Green Hood Cloak]

Level: 10 (maxed)

~Improve Health!

~Reduce Pressure!

~Camouflage in the forest!

Duration: 1 hour

Cool down: 2 hours.

[The Cloak has three Aspects, upgrade it to have more ]

[The attribute of the cloak increased by 500%]

____

[Red Stripe]

Level: 1

~Increase the bleeding effect

[The more your enemy bleeds the less you bleed and vice versa but the bleeding will increase your perception and cognitive ability.]

~Absorb natural red liquid

[Any naturally red liquid will be absorbed into the red stripe and gave a 1% increase in movement stats per 1 litre]

[Note: The cloak can be only levelled up by absorbing red liquids in an intense situation]

____

"Why do I feel red liquid means blood?" Seth wondered.

[Silver Stripe]

Level: 1

~Provide 0.000001% protection against moon gaze!

[It might seem small but as long as one wasn't directly under the moon, one will be safe from instant death]

~Improve movement under normal moonlight!

[Moonlight is comforting to you as you travel under its guidance]

[Note: Without moon gaze, you are blessed in the night sky of the Gawee continent.]

_____

"Not bad! But I see the game giving me movement stat a lot. Good, I need that!"

Seth removed the Green cloak and observed it. The cloak felt like a soft green leaf but in the red stripe areas, it felt like a liquid shifting back and forth. When touched, it still felt like a leaf.

The silver stripes were thinner but they had a dim healthy glow, and he touched them, they dissipated but recovered in minutes.

He was observing when the black panther came in. It was skinnier and battered like a malnourished animal. On her neck, there was this depression as if something had wrapped around her for a very long time.

He quickly went to her and ruffled her coat which made the hair fall down. Her eyes were looking at him with gladness and servitude.

As he observed the neck, it was a neckband mark. "Did some people come and bind her on the neck… shit. Was it Mantle Of slavery!"

Seth wondered in shock.

"You are freed from the shackles!" Seth shouted.

Crack!

The panther fell down exhausted with gladness on her face. Her heartbeat slowed down and her body temperature dropped.

"What happened!" Seth was in full confusion. But after thinking deeply, Seth was able to deduce what was going on.

He removed his shirt and looked at the collar and chain tattoo on his bicep which symbolized the Mantle Of Slavery.

"This is terrifying! Even in death, even after I broke the chains, I'm not free but something called Unslave. And that was just because the being that enslaved me never freed me by itself before it died!"

Seth reasoned.

"And even after the chain broke from the panther's neck, she is still enslaved by me because she was infinitely weaker and lower life form than me!"

He was silent as he watched the black panther before him. "This is a scary ability!" Seth's heart trembled as he remembered those he used Mantle Of Slavery on.

The first was this Black Panther, then Dave Linus Fratile Redone, and then that Black Tamer that came to this forest. However, the black tamer wasn't here in person and he doubts if the effect was active on her.

The last was the Ancient Tree Sampling of Amma. During his escape, he only tried to see if it would affect the tree and it worked to his delight, but if it didn't, Seth was going to cut the vines down and escape by manipulating the staff from distance, since Red Stream will not hinder him.