Unlimited Power 02 - The Ranger's Domain

"If you are done here, let's get going," Bianca said.

  Before Ryan could think or analyze more about his new class, Bianca approached and said that. He was a pretty patient person, but that behavior was starting to get on his nerves. In the end, that was probably for good. Leaving that city and that girl behind would help Ryan more than anything right at that moment, but then Ryan learned about something troublesome…historical

"The dungeon in Brasilia needs to be cleared tomorrow soon after sunrise," Bianca said. "So, we are going to depart now."

  It looked like she was going to be his guide toward the next dungeon as well. Ryan let out a long sigh and made a vein pop on Bianca's head. As if she had any right to be angry…

"Let's just endure each other's presences, all right?" Ryan said. "Just lead the way. The sooner this is over, the better for both of us."

  Ryan jumped on Furball's back, and then Bianca began to guide them toward the next dungeon. Meanwhile, Ryan began to think about Femradiel's presence seriously. A class that granted healing or purification spells was rare, so Ryan will have a hard time finding a way to make her leave his body. It looked like the easiest way to solve that situation was to help her recover her body.

"Hey, Femradiel." Ryan thought.

"You never used my name before, not that I cared about. Regardless, it is giving me the creeps."

"You sure talk like a human… it is very weird."

"Magic is what is making you understand me like this."

"I will be frank with you. I don't want to work with anyone, much less with a dragon. Also, having you inside me is annoying."

"As expected of someone who has become socially awkward, you sure are good at breaking the ice."

"Anyway, since I don't want you inside me, I am going to help you recover your body. That old one still must be there, right? It will serve, right?"

"A body isn't like the clothes you use. Once a link is severed, you can't return to an old body."

"Time for plan B already, huh… How much mana do you need to create a new body?"

"10.256.369.741 mana points."

"Ten billion? What the hell? Why are the numbers so exact?"

"What did you expect? I want a fully-functional body that will continue to make me stronger. Ideally, I would need a lot more, but that amount is enough to create an exact copy of my old body. Are you going to sign the contract?"

"No contract, no clauses."

"Even newborn kids aren't that difficult… Without a contract, I can only drain one point of your mana per second. With this pace, I will need 327 years to obtain enough mana to reconstruct my body."

"What if I find some magic item to store my mana. A magic item that steals mana from monsters would be perfect, actually."

"Good luck finding that. Even if you find such an item, I doubt that the magic item will be able to store even a small percentage of the mana necessary."

"… What are my options?"

"You have two. Sacrifice enough monsters with mana that equal that amount in a single moment or make a contract with me. Since my goal is to recover my body and yours is to get rid of me, we can make a clause that says that our cooperation will end once I have enough mana to reconstruct a body. That being said, that will not be beneficial to neither of us."

"Explain."

"You will use a lot of mana to do something that won't benefit you directly, and I will recovery my body, but in the end, I will be too far behind the level of all monsters on this planet."

  Ryan agreed with that. All that much could be used to so many things. With that amount, Ryan would be able to summon more than seventy million golems… which was probably more monsters than the entire continent had.

"Besides, as I have mentioned before, many dragons are interested in the system that you humans have access to, so am I. The possibilities that you have greatly interest us. Dragons are greedy creatures, greedy for knowledge and power. While I think that power is only a means to an end, I want to obtain as much knowledge as possible, and I think that I only can do it by joining the side of a human."

  At least Femradiel was sincere about her goals. Still, that didn't make things any easier for Ryan. He loathed the idea of obtaining a power that he didn't deserve it; Ryan also disliked the idea of working with someone else who wasn't one hundred percent loyal to him.

"I will probably regret this later, but since I want to see this entire situation to the very end, I am willing to become a slave if that is necessary to obtain your trust. The contract will be completely unilateral, and I will be able to intervene in matters that are related with dragons."

"So, you are willing to go that far, huh."

"Like all the other sins, greedy is also a curse. After being defeated by a single human, I don't have much of my pride left. So, I am free to let my greed control my actions."

  That certainly wasn't a half-assed greedy. Still, Ryan was hesitating… given how much knowledge Femradiel gave to him, he wouldn't mind giving her a hand about her problem. If he only could get rid of the status bonuses that he will gain by joining forces with a dragon…

"You don't have to worry about the bonus of strength you will gain by working with me. As long as you don't transform in my draconic form, you won't use my power. As for my techniques, I need to pass the knowledge to you for you to learn them. If I don't do that, you won't be able to use it."