Soul of Searing Steel

All things were born of Flame and lived within Steel

Although the truth of the world had been forgotten by most of the people, there were still some knowledgeable people who knew the origin of this world.

The Flame that scorched Chaos had created the concept of Existence. A world with endless possibilities and infinite universes were created from that concept as well. Meanwhile, Chaos which had been scorched to ashes would be the Origin of Steel. It then gave birth to all life.

In a desolated era, people believed that life was the strength of Steel. The body was also forged by 'Steel'.

Therefore, the power of Steel was hidden in the body of every life. The more inherently powerful and the larger the mass of one living being was, the more 'Steel' the body of that living being would have. Needless to say, when there was more 'Steel' in one living being, that being would be more powerful. For instance, dragons. As one of the most powerful living creatures in the world, it was unquestionable that their bodies would have the most amount of 'Steel' in them.

In turn, the power of 'Steel' could also be passed back to the body of the living being and made tougher.

Through rituals, prayers, the inspiration of the first movers, life and death stimulations and many other methods, the human ancestors in the ancient time had succeeded in awakening the power of 'Steel' in their flesh and bones, making the power itself active. The power could be controlled and trained after that. Meanwhile, that would be the origin of the Warrior Class.

In theory, no matter how weak a person was, there was always a possibility to awaken that power within them. However, those who were too weak would die during the process of awakening the power. Hence, a warrior must have tough physiques and strong power.

During the ancient times, it was a long and pointless thing to rely solely on one's own bitterness and training to increase one's strength. For the vast majority of warriors, they had been hunting daemons, bathing themselves with the blood of the daemons and devouring their meat, using the most primitive and savage ways to plunder that power from within other living creatures.

The real warriors would go on hunting the most powerful beast in order to get the most power, which could allow them to forge their own legends.

That sort of beast would be—dragon.

According to legends, bathing in dragon's blood could make a warrior's body invulnerable, allowing him to obtain long-lasting life.

It was not a far-fetched myth but a fact. Killing a dragon and plundering the power of its life force would naturally allow a warrior to make great progress and obtain far greater physical strength and endurance than any other equivalent person. In short, the warrior who did that would have a longer lifespan.

Of course, this was also the most difficult thing to do. Among a million warriors, there might not even be one who could actually be capable of doing that. The dragon's scale armor could be deemed to be as tough and powerful as the most powerful magic armor. Not to mention that the sharp claws and teeth of the dragons were almost indestructible. Well, their strong vitality could allow them to counter back even after they were seriously injured. In addition, they had the special ability to flying freely and swiftly in the sky. That could really increase the difficulty for warriors to slay the dragons.

Slaying a dragon had always been the biggest legend which the bards and poets loved the most to sing and tell about. It was also the thing that the people all around the world loved to talk about so much. That should be enough to show how difficult it was for a warrior to slay a dragon. Slaying one dragon would usually require a party of four. The party of four should be formed from four people with different Classes which they would be required to work hand to hand together in weakening the strength of the dragon. While doing so, they would also require to gradually enhance their abilities and build up their strengths. After experiencing a long battle, only then the party could be capable of slaying those horrifying giant beasts.

Joshua naturally knew about that—Because in his pre-existence, an official explanation had been issued out by the game official to point out the matter about the upgrade and the Warrior Class. In the entire world of Continental War, one could acquire power by killing and slaughtering. Meanwhile, slaying a dragon would provide players with additional benefits.

The blood of different dragon species would provide different effects. Astral Dragons and Original World Dragons were quite distinct from each other as well. However, as the way Joshua saw it, the dragon blood of that White Dragon that he slaughtered in the North could actually enhance part of his physical fitness and strengthen skin and muscles, which made his body as tough as the armor he always wore. Other than that, the warrior could also acquire the Frost Resistance attribute that was at least an Intermediate grade attributed effect.

While he was still in the dragon lair that was gradually collapsing, Joshua reached his hand and gripped onto the beating heart of the dragon. He ripped it apart without showing even the slightest hesitation. Instantly, greenish-blue blood that was chillingly cold gushed out from the dragon heart as the heart was still pumping strong even though it was being ripped right out of the dragon's chest. Because of that, the warrior was completely covered in blood.

After all, not all dragon blood could have the effects that could increase a person's physical quality. For a Gold-tier warrior like Joshua, the blood of low-leveled dragons would only be worthy of being drank like water by him. That blood could significantly increase the endurance of the person who drank it. Only the dragon blood of Gold-tier or higher tier could provide certain effects that could really enhance his attributes.

That dragon was the largest of all dragons. It also appeared to have the strongest body and the strongest power. Its heart's blood seemed to contain the best essence of all. Hence, those who get to bathe in its blood would make the blood of the other dragons look useless.

The greenish-blue liquid which was chillingly cold had not even the slightest stench of any blood. Instead, it brought out a cold and refreshing scent. The temperature of it was obviously lower than zero degrees. However, the blood which contained a tremendous amount of magic energy and life force was not frozen even though it was that cold. Joshua closed his eyes as he stood right in front of the dragon heart enjoying the dragon blood that kept on oozing out onto him. At the same time, he was also using 'Steel Armor Kokyu-ho' while he was absorbing the power embedded in the blood.

'Kokyu-ho' was the mystical technique that had been gradually explored by the Sages in ancient times. It could be used to enhance the energy used by warriors on heaven and earth. The warriors could also use it to train their own bodies as they learned to adjust the power that was hidden within them. That could allow many, which do not have strong physiques to gradually become stronger. Sooner or later, one could open the gate of possibility to awaken their Combat Aura instead of training blindly and dying during the process of training. By activating his 'Steel-Armor Kokyu-ho', Joshua would be able to absorb the power of the dragon blood even faster than before. He could also take the opportunity to improve the level of his 'Steel-Armor Kokyu-ho'.

At the moment, the dragon lair was collapsing even faster than before. Initially, there were only some fragments of broken icicles falling from the ceiling of the place. However, currently, huge pieces of ice walls were collapsing down one after another, followed by the collapse of the pillars at the first half of the dragon lair. The entire first floor of the lair turned to ruin. From there on, the second floor of the lair was collapsing faster and faster now.

In the meantime, the muscles and skin of the warrior which were all covered in dragon's blood were getting tougher and stronger as the refreshing scent and presence were seeping into his body. Along with the continuous flow of dragon blood, that refreshing presence was beginning to get colder by the second. It turned so cold that it could bite down into the depths of the bones as if it was about to freeze the body of the warrior entirely.

That was the side effect of bathing in the blood of a dragon. At the same time when one was absorbing the enormous amount of power from the outside, the person would also be exposed to the vulnerability of being eroded by that kind of power. In the previous life, Joshua had bathed himself with the blood of a Fire Dragon. That time, he felt as if his entire body was suffering the excruciating pain of being burned alive.

However, the side effect was completely irrelevant though. How could a warrior who was capable of slaying dragons be too weak to sustain the power of his defeated enemy? Hence, with the Combat Aura moving all around his body, the chilly cold presence was weakened gradually. And it turned into a vibrantly hot energy instead after a brief moment. It was surging through every muscle strain, skeletal joints across his entire body, enhancing every part of his body's attributes and flexibility.

That feeling was just like wearing a set of invisible, weightless armor. It did not even affect his agility even by the slightest. Instead, it had greatly enhanced the flexibility of his entire body. Other than that, his strength had also increased a lot.

"This feels good."

Upon noticing that the blood in the dragon's heart was drying up, Joshua opened his eyes. At the same time, a large piece of icicle fell from the dome right from the top of his head and fell on him. However, that piece of large ice appeared to be crushed by some invisible force right above the warrior's head just like how tidal waves crashed into rocks by the shores before breaking into pieces.

At that point, the warrior looked as if he was completely covered in countless light blue magic crystals. Those were impurities that could not be absorbed along with the dragon blood though. However, they could be used as ordinary magic crystals.

Joshua shook his entire body as he was sweeping the surface of his entire body with very thorough vibration. After that, the crystals were crushed into powder form and they all melted into pure magic energy as they were released into the atmosphere between heaven and earth.

"The enhancement seems to be obvious though. The strength of that giant dragon is not so bad after all. If it could have battled me outside of the lair, it could have lasted longer as he could have flown freely in the sky. I might not have the chance to press it down to the ground and batter it to death."

The warrior then nodded his head and smiled. That was because he was satisfied with the fact that he had become stronger than before now. Joshua was currently in a good mood. He did not seem to be bothered by the collapsing dragon lair though. Instead, he opened up the system tab to look at his personal information.

Then he took a look at his character tab.

[Name: Joshua van Radcliffe]

[Form: Hero]

[Title: Dragon Slayer (Attacked the dragons, Defense will increase)]

[Race: Human Division in the Northwest]

[Race Skills: Combat Race (Combat Skills Experience x 1.1)]

[Level: LV49 Upper Gold Glory]

[Challenge Level: LV49 (Hero)]

[Attributes:…]

[Charisma: -8 (Inferior Dragon's Might -5)]

[Status: Bathing in Dragon's Blood]

[Strength +20, Stamina +20, Natural Armor +15, Advanced Cold Resistance, Advanced Frost Magic Resistance, Enemy of the Dragons, Inferior Dragon's Might]

[Because you are not a descendant of the dragons, nor do you possess the Bloodline of the dragon, hence, the Charisma for Dragon's Might has become a negative status]

[Class: LV48 Chaos Guardian + LV1 Unknown Class]

"Unknown Class?"

Upon seeing that, Joshua could not help but wrinkle his brow.

Meanwhile, the dragon lair had collapsed completely. Along with the thundering rumble, the cold ice layers that constantly emerged completely drowned out the warrior and everything around him.