Chapter 5) n.o.ble Sculpture

Weed cleaned himself in the river before going to see the dragon Ratuas.

“I might be killed if I am dirty. This dragon might have a nasty nature so I can’t allow it to find fault with me.”

He washed his body and looked at his face in the Yuskellanda’s mirror that he needed to deliver to the dragon. The item had a staggering level limit of 1,000. It was an item he couldn’t use but had the ability to seal monsters.

“Hrmm, my mouth is ugly but the rest is okay. I have become lighter after was.h.i.+ng.”

Yellowy and Goldman were watching.

“Umoooo, he looks the same.”

“Gol gol gol. He has changed. The water is dyed.”

Only he would know the subtle differences! Weed washed himself then changed outfits. He wore equipment that he wouldn’t regret losing if he died.

There was only a day remaining for the deadline of the quest so he decided to go straight there.

Ratuas’ Lair. It was in the area south of the Rosenheim Kingdom.

There were light particles as Yurin appeared like magic.

“Oppa.”

“Is the picture ready?”

“I’ve drawn a picture of the area. We can depart immediately. And…”

“Huh?”

“Should I prepare a coffin made out of paelownia wood? Or perhaps birch wood?”

“…….”

Weed gave a long sigh.

He was close with his sister so she was joking around.

‘My family is happy enough now to make dull jokes.’

Then he looked at his sister with affectionate eyes.

‘She grew up.’

His grandmother and sister. He loved his family and was always nervous about looking after them. Sometimes an incident would occur but it was hard to replace the warmth of a family. His sister grew up pretty without any major incidents.

‘Any thief that steals her is a really blessed guy. No, I won’t send her away so easily. She’s been living with me all her life.’

Yurin was still babbling.

“You might be burned to death. Or just melted. Oppa, you haven’t died in a long time. Shouldn’t you die at least once?”

“…….”

“Isn’t this a great opportunity to die?”

Weed recalled when Yurin was a child.

They were young children with no parents. There was only a difference of a few years but it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he raised her like a daughter.

‘I remember when she had a runny nose. She cried easily, had food cravings and hung around some bad people for a short period in high school.’

Still, she managed to get a scholars.h.i.+p for university. Their parents would have been proud and happy.

Spending a long time with his sister.

‘Now she needs to marry a good man and I’ll send her off.’

Thanks to Yurin, he arrived right under CreG.o.dal mountain where Ratuas was located.

There was a river flowing through the forest and the cries of birds could be heard.

“Oppa, I’m going.”

“Yes. I’ll contact you later if I need it…”

Weed tried to ask for help from Yurin.

“I will wait with a coffin!”

Yurin stuck her tongue out before disappearing into particles of light.

“Indeed my sister…I will make her cook in the morning and evenings.”

I felt more like a father than a brother.

In particular, he felt good because of her bright and active personality. It was good compared to when Yurin used to be depressed and dull.

“It will be good enough if she gets married in the future.”

It was dangerous to be an unmarried woman. Weed started to climb CreG.o.dal mountain. He wasn’t afraid of any monsters thanks to Time Sculpting.

Thanks to the Dark Gamers Union, he got information about the area around the dragon’s lair.

-Pathfinder Lane.

It was a long time in the past.

I just reached level 180 when I found a dragon’s lair. I accidentally stared at a big jackpot before dying.

There would be huge compensation for the great risk.

That time was the early days in Royal Road but I saw legendary weapons and treasure.

Those who obtained it would be able to grow faster than anyone else. Of course, they could also be sold for an expensive price.

Anyway. There are two dragons currently inhabiting CreG.o.dal Mountain.

Blue dragon Ratuas and black dragon Kerminade.

I was killed by a monster trying to enter Kerminade’s lair.

Huge ant like creatures were crawling around. There are rare monsters near the lair of the dragons.

Weed had been to the lair of the black dragon Kaybern in the Thor Kingdom.

The evil dragon Akryong Kaybern!

He made a sculpture for him using the agate jewels obtained from the tomb of the master sculptor Belsos.

There were thousands of corrections as he made it into the shape of an elegant and brilliant sculptor! Just thinking about it caused his stomach to hurt.

“I don’t want to be involved with dragons. The quest should end here.”

Weed paid close attention.

He was walking when he saw a lich!

The lich was holding a skull cane and wearing a red robe.

Weed automatically made calculations.

‘Not wearing a crown. Richer than a common lich. Looking at the blackened skull on the cane, I guess that the lich uses black magic to trick enemies. I should use Blink to narrow the distance and avoid the magic.’

Figuring out the lich would be a great help in battle.

Weed took out his weapon in preparation for a head on confrontation.

-Human.

But the lich spoke to Weed.

-Ratuas-nim is waiting.

Wed understood the situation.

‘The dragon sent a steward to meet me.’’

Dragons needed to satisfy their lofty intellectual interests and turned useful subordinates into lich.

It could be a terrible slave life but they were actually treated quite good.

There were many dwarf slaves in this area.

‘In other words, it is a type of slave management.’

Weed had looked for information about Ratuas through Mapan.

It wasn’t reliable but information about the dragon was obtained from local legends, n.o.ble families and royal records.

Unlike Akryong Kaybern, Ratuas wasn’t evil and there were no special activities talked about in the records.

‘He isn’t a very bad dragon. Akryong Kaybern always asks for gold and other treasures from the kingdom but there is almost no records of Ratuas. I wanted to steal a rare treasure from Kaybern but he would have killed me.’

Weed watched the lich and pulled out a turtle.

A turtle was a well-known favourite pet for lich. Of course, he had prepared it as a bribe. Giving bribes were necessary for mutual friends.h.i.+p!

-What is this?

“A minor token of my sincerity.”

It would be a grievous situation if the other person rejected it. Giving bribes to a diligent and sincere knight would cause intimacy to fall instead.

Weed had considered all this when deciding the bribe. He needed to give a true bribery that the other party would accept.

A flimsy bribe wouldn’t be good if he was trying to build a relations.h.i.+p with someone. But the lich just took it since he was the servant of a dragon and didn’t have any morals.

-A small, white turtle.

“A precious thing. Its potential to grow safely in the sea is very low. I would rather the turtle stay here than be vulnerable to hara.s.sment from human hands.”

-I think so as well. Ratuas-nim’s place is a rare heaven.

“And this is a small house for the turtle to live in.”

Weed pulled out a golden turtle house.

The purity was 100% gold.

A sculpture of a house and small pond that made him cough up blood! The artistic value was 374 and the materials cost at least 4,000 gold.

“I thought some advance preparation was needed. The turtle can feel at ease.”

-Then it will be useful for the turtle.

The jawbone of the lich got a little wider as he accepted the turtle and golden house. If he was a human then his mouth would be torn!

-Don’t linger anymore. Go before Ratuas becomes angry.

But the fierce voice had already softened.

Weed had managed to form a small relations.h.i.+p with him. Of course, he wouldn’t help Weed kill the dragon but even a slight increase in friends.h.i.+p was important.

If the bribe was enough then he could be useful later.

Weed imagined many things before meeting the dragon Ratuas.

He wondered how strong and intimidating he would be compared to Kaybern. Unlike Ausollet the Chaos Dragon, this dragon had his combat skills intact.

‘It would be a tremendous a.s.set if I can discover even a small gap.’

He also looked at everything when he had entered Akyrong Kaybern’s lair.

Weed would become strong enough to target a dragon one day!

Even when he was the desert ruler, he barely had enough power to face a strong dragon like Ausollet.

Weed’s overall level and combat power was far below them but that would change over time. He could take advantage of miscellaneous skills, the five secret sculpting techniques and even Time Sculpting. He also had the support of the Geomchis, helpers like Pale’s party and the overwhelming Gra.s.s Porridge Cult. If Weed hunted a dragon then even high level users would jump in!

In the future, he would create the myth of invincibility when hunting.

-Human, you might not know this but I have been waiting a long time for this day.

The huge body of the blue dragon Ratuas was waiting. He stared down at the tiny Weed with wise eyes.

He was once a young dragon on the Versailles Continent but had grown to a great dragon after living for at least 1,000 years. Time really didn’t matter to a dragon.

‘He receives gifts from dwarves and elves so he must be really rich.’

Weed respectfully bowed his head.

“It is great to see you. It is within the promised deadline but I am sorry for the delay.”

-In the past, I took away the Fairy Queen’s freedom but that punishment was too harsh. I regretted it later but it was irreversible.

“I understand. You are really great.”

Weed searched from the corner of his eye.

Akryong Kaybern’s mountain was filled with many treasures. Compare to that, Ratuas’ lair was wide and empty.

‘He might be a frugal dragon or the treasure is stored in another warehouse. The warehouse is likely to be higher.’

Later he might be hunting Ratuas and would need to loot the treasure.

‘Maybe he has another house.’

Weed thought very quickly.

He didn’t miss any bit of the surroundings while talking to the dragon.

-I have waited for so long. The thing you brought…give it to me.

“Yes. I will give it to you immediately.”

Weed pulled out the Mirror of the Silver Dragon Yuskellanda. Then the mirror floated towards Ratuas. Ratuas’ head bent a little closer.

-Her mirror…this is right.

The eyes of the dragon trembled.

It seemed like tears were pouring out!

‘Dragons have different colours and aren’t fond of family members.’

And there was no reason for dragons to become lovers.

Ddiring!

-Ratuas’ Lair has been completed.

A human has brought a relic of the silver dragon Yuskellanda to the blue dragon Ratuas.

Old memories have been brought back for him.

Weed gave him something containing old memories so the delivery system was successfully completed.

‘No compensation. I can’t be greedy. Just be glad that I am no longer bound to the dragon.’

Weed was satisfied about completing the quest.

‘I will come back later and take Ratuas’ life.’

He would lead tens of thousands of troops to hunt a dragon. There would be high ranking shamans and priests with special skills such as sealing. There would be certain limitations and it wouldn’t work on the dragon forever but hunting a dragon wasn’t impossible.

Then he would systematically attack the Central Continent.

Of course, Weed knew that the current level of the players meant there was only a 1% chance of killing a dragon like Ausollet.

Dragons weren’t stupid and wouldn’t fall into consecutive traps when fighting. They could even fly into the sky and launch a decisive breath attack.

But if the pinnacle of different professions were gathered and skills utilized then a miracle might be seen.

Currently, Weed needed to prepare to hunt the Hermes Guild and the dragons.

It would be in the future but the dream of being the ruler of the north would be accomplished. A dragon was the final boss.

Chaos Dragon Ausollet had swept away tens of thousands of priests and fanatics of the Embinyu Church.

He would need to use many troops as well as tricks to win.

“It is great to see your infinite glory. May you live long in the future.”

Ratuas raised his head from the mirror and stared at Weed.

The large, sapphire like eyes looked at Weed.

-Human, you have given me something important.

Weed replied in just 0.1 seconds.

“Then a sword or luxury goods…heok, no. I don’t want any reward and simply did this as a favour to Teneidon. If you have any rewards then give it to the Fairy Queen Teneidon.

His instantly switched tactics.

No matter how good the treasures, his intimacy with the dragon was a little low. It would be a success if he just escaped from the dragon’s lair.

-I smell a good scent from you.

‘Heeok!’

Weed turned pale.

‘He can’t be a human eating dragon!’

He didn’t recall anything about this in the records.

-I don’t particularly like humans. They are disruptive and have no respect for other lives. However, I sense the clear smell of spirits and the aura of nature from you.

Humans who pursue art are worthy of respect.

-You have received the recognition of the blue dragon Ratuas.

Fame has increased by 4,390.

-The t.i.tle ‘Dragon’s Artist’ has been acquired.

It can be gained if the person has a great pa.s.sion for the arts, has high fame and the recognition of at least two dragons.

The growth rate of the art stat will increase by 4%.

The sculptor’s quest experience and fame will increase by 11%.

Weed had a satisfied smile on his face.

The art stat was helpful in many ways. But nevertheless, he still wanted to get away from the dragon.

“Thank you for acknowledging me. However, there are many artists more outstanding than me. For instance, the painter Petrov.”

He was an itinerant artist who was a potential rival so Weed willingly gave him up.

-Do not doubt your overwhelming fame. Although many artists have shone while they were alive, you are without a doubt the most outstanding contemporary artist.

‘Keheok!’

Praise was a burden in a situation like this.

‘I really don’t need a treasure. Then…’

-Artist, I would like to ask you for a job. You are the only one that can possibly do it on this continent. I will lend all my support so please make a sculpture of my friend Yuskellanda.

Ddiring!

-Silver Dragon Yuskellanda

The dragon Ratuas has requested that you make a sculpture of Yuskellanda!

This opportunity is only given to one sculptor.

Utilize the materials in the dragon’s lair to create a rare dragon sculpture.

Ratuas believes in your reputation as the best artist on the continent.

So the dragon will demand perfection. If it isn’t…

You will be given two chances to create a sculpture and one month to complete it.

Level of Difficulty: The best work.

Compensation: Ratuas’ confidence.

Quest Restrictions: Limited to the best artist.

“Uhh.”

Making a sculpture for a picky dragon would be quite difficult.

‘The contents of the quest isn’t that intimidating. I can give it up. Or try it a little bit. It isn’t an impossible risk.’

He was highly familiar with making sculptures.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was either hunting or sculpting in Royal Road. He would even be sculpting during breaks..

He was constantly experiencing new things when making sculptures. This was an opportunity to use the best materials.

‘I will soon rise to a sculpting master…there is a long way to go if I only make ordinary works.’

Now the dragon was commissioning him to make a sculpture!

‘It will end if I refuse. But refusing will lower my intimacy.’

He would become a sculpting master so he couldn’t run from the dragon.

Weed indifferently said after thinking for a while.

“I will try my best.”

-You have accepted the quest.

From that day on, Weed was able to freely come and go from Ratuas’ lair.

The first human allowed to visit a dragon’s lair freely.

Of course, many users would be able to see this scene through the broadcasting stations. It would also be helpful when the time came to hunt the dragon.

Ratuas had a large library approximately 100 metres in height and pa.s.sageways connected to warehouses, a laboratory and housing for the workers.

It was similar to a 50 pyeong apartment and was like a huge royal palace inside the mountain.

Understandably, there were creatures like the lich, chimeras and sea creatures guarding the entrance to the pa.s.sageways.

Weed was allowed to experiment with the magic treasures!

He could use the magic items and materials in the treasury for the sculpture. The dragon had various rare alchemy ingredients and new materials not seen on the continent. There were mountains of piled up gold and jewels.

“This is the Bank of Korea. Selling all of this…I would be able to live.”

Weed was in extreme mental stress.

‘Looking without being able to take anything!’

It was like the gold piled up in a vault in the Bank of Korea!

He skimmed through the magic books in the laboratory that the dragon collected.

<202 Experiments of Life>

There were hundreds of books related to spells and strengthening.

Weed naturally tried to read them.

[Dragon Ratuas’ Magic Records #54

The way to take advantage of the properties of water…]

Ddiring!

-Your wisdom isn’t high enough to read it.

Reading wasn’t possible!

He built up a variety of stats but knowledge and wisdom were the most neglected.

‘This is beneficial for a magician. It isn’t much use for me.’

Weed decided to focus on making the sculpture.

He had many things to do on the continent. He would neatly finish the dragon’s quest and leave.

“Where should I make the sculpture?”

-Wherever you want to make it. In my opinion, the entrance is large so making it there would be good.

“I hope for a well-lit place. In my opinion, that is also the best location.”

Weed searched the surrounding area.

The sculpture was a type of installation and the location needed to be carefully decided.

In particular, the harmony between the colours and ambient light was essential. He felt the energy from the magnificent CreG.o.dal Mountains.

He started the sculpture of the dragon.

‘Yuskellanda. The target of the sculpture has been confirmed…the figure of the dragon can’t be significantly different from the original.’

It couldn’t be a ridiculous or objectionable sculpture.

‘I am limited in my number of attempts. That makes it significantly harder.’

The lich brought an image of Yuskellanda.

A pure and n.o.ble silver dragon. An elegantly handsome dragon worthy of admiration.

“It is really nice and beautiful.”

-Ratuas’ friend. You deserve the best.

“I will make sure to generously use my artistic spirit.”

The lich was more benevolent because of the bribe.

Weed looked at the image of Yuskellanda several times.

‘A beautiful dragon. Fortunately I have a good model.’

A dragon wasn’t that different. The body type was just a variant of different animals.

Yuskellanda was a slim yet distinctively female dragon with a soothing atmosphere.

The dragon Ausollet was a violent machine while this dragon felt more like a friend to humans.

The dragon represented the Versailles Continent due to overwhelming strength and wisdom.

Weed had an ill-fated relations.h.i.+p with dragons but this dragon quest would be helpful.

‘It is worth trying to make a dragon sculpture. Furthermore, I can get significant support.’

He normally made sculptures using rotten wood or stone. The chance to use the best ingredients for a sculpture was rare.

Weed asked Ratuas.

“I need a lot of silver.”

-Tell me how much you want. How much is necessary?

Weed thought quickly.

‘I should demand as much as possible. So the materials can’t be blamed if he isn’t happy with the sculpture?’

He made a quick calculation and said.

“30,000kg of 99.99% pure silver…”

The amount was estimated according to the size of Yuskellanda.

‘It might be too hard. My intimacy will drop…’

-Is that enough?

“Yes. More could do but that is plenty.

-I will give 40,000kg. Tell me if you need more.

“Heeok!”

The dwarves working in the warehouses started bringing it out.

Treasure started to acc.u.mulate at the entrance!

The price of silver in Royal Road varied from time to time. It was cheaper than gold. However, this was a mountain of bullions!

‘I was mistaken when I thought this dragon was frugal. He is rich enough to buy a building in Gangnam.’

Pure silver was necessary to melt and refine to the desired shape.

Weed was also given command of the dwarves.

“Please melt this.”

“I understand.”

The dwarves started working straight away. More than 100 dwarves were working in the nearby dwarf village.

There was no doubt about the skills of the dwarf blacksmiths. In addition, the dragon was watching so they wouldn’t play around. The dwarves used excellent blacksmith skills to refine the pure silver.

Weed made another request to Ratuas.

“I wish there was 100 pearls for decoration.”

-How heavy?

“More is better. A minimum of 100kg should be enough. And the rating of the pearls are very important…they should be at least second grade.”

-I will bring it from the warehouse.

100 first grade pearls were procured.”

They were the best pearls without any imperfections.

I drooled like a beginner making a low level sculpture.

“And a bunch of…”

-Speak.

“Helium?”

A metal mined from Jigolaths.

The lifetime dream of any sculptor.

“Well, I will try my best even if I am lacking materials…it is obvious that I should use the best materials… Just tell me if you don’t have it.”

-Bring it.

The helium appeared!

It was three times the amount he used to make the G.o.ddess’ Knight Armour.

“1,000kg of platinum…”

-Bring it.

“I’d like some fairy tears. Around 10,000 litres.”

-I will bring it.

The dragon casually handed out materials rarely found on the continent.

He started to feel the true gap between the rich and poor.

Thanks to Ratuas’ support, he started to prepare a lavish sculpture.

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