Chapter 185
The shadow caught in Yolanda’s telekinesis was swiftly lifted into the air, revealing its form.
It was a girl with soft brown dog ears and a wagging tail.
“What are you doing?” Synthia frowned. “She’s with us.”
“Eh?”
Yolanda froze, eyes wide, then quickly released her grip: “I… I’m sorry!” she stammered, bowing deeply.
Freed at last, Rowena walked up to Drayken with a cheerful smile, her tail wagging excitedly.
“I’ve picked up the scent of a human, master,” she announced proudly.
Drayken stared at her wagging tail in silence. Then, without a change in expression, he gently patted her head:
“Good girl.”
“Hehe~” Rowena giggled foolishly, clearly pleased.
If anyone knew she was the one who killed Pierce and then ran away, they would be utterly shocked.
She looked so innocent, her eyes sparkling with gleam and happiness.
“So, where are they?”
“There?” Rowena tilted her head, then pointed behind her. “Follow me, Master.”
With a grumbling look, she glanced at Yolanda. “Who’s she?”
“Our slave,” Drayken said lightly. “If you have any grievances, go ahead and attack her. She wouldn’t dare fight back.”
Rowena’s eyes narrowed mischievously. “Hehe.”
Then she lunged at Yolanda, sinking her teeth into the side of her neck.
Yolanda instinctively tried to raise her shield to defend herself, but a terrifying gaze froze her in place. She mechanically turned to look at Drayken and immediately stopped her telekinetic barrier.
Rowena bit down hard on her neck, crimson blood pouring out in a heavy stream.
Only after Yolanda had lost enough blood to turn pale did Rowena release her grip, retracting her canine teeth.
Landing lightly on the ground, she shook her head.
“You’re too weak.”
Yolanda felt a surge of murderous instinct welling up inside her but she was utterly helpless. Suppressing the urge, she dared not move, especially under Drayken’s unyielding gaze.
Rowena turned back to Drayken, tail wagging cheerfully.
“Did I do good, Master?” Rowena asked with stars in her eyes.
“Of course you did,” Drayken smiled. This girl harbored deep resentment toward humans, so of course she wouldn’t treat Yolanda kindly.
“Should we go now?”
“Wait.” Drayken wasn’t in a rush; there were more important things to address. He gazed at Rowena with a serious gaze:
“Do you know how your race gets stronger?”
Though he intended to raise Rowena as his guard, she was far too weak right now, completely useless in battle. No matter how cruel it sounded, he didn’t want to carry a burden.
Hearing this, Rowena grew serious. Her eyes locked onto Drayken’s with intent:
“Our race can only grow one way and that’s by forming contracts.”
“Contracts?” Drayken frowned, puzzled.
“That’s right,” Rowena nodded. “We form contracts with spirits in the Spirit Realm. The more contracts we have, the more power we gain, and the stronger we become.”
“The Spirit Realm?” Drayken’s eyes narrowed. He had heard the term from the Naga when Zarek was trapped in time, but according to dragon intelligence, no such place officially existed.
“Yes. The Spirit Realm is a plane between imagination and reality. Some races residing in the Yggdrasil Forest have developed the unique ability to enter it.”
“Summon it, then,” Drayken, curious, immediately said.
“Well, I can’t,” Rowena rubbed her head sheepishly. “I don’t have enough mana mastery.”
“You guys can use mana?” Drayken raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Synthia spoke up, “Almost every race has some compatibility with mana. Only a few, like humans, don’t have mana at all. Even then, only dragons have enough mana control to form a mana core.”
Drayken rubbed the back of his head again. “How did I not know about this?”
Synthia puffed up proudly, thumping her chest:
“It hasn’t been long since you came to this world, how would you know our entire history just by reading a few books?”
“Yeah, right,” Drayken grumbled.
Then he walked up to her and extended his hand.
“Touch my hand.”
“Eh, ah?” Rowena immediately grew flustered, her cheeks turning pink:
“Master, I… I’m not ready for that…”
Drayken flicked her forehead, causing her to wince in pain.
“Ow, why did you do that?”
“Because your mind is filled with dirt. I’m going to transfer mana to you and form a mana core,” Drayken said nonchalantly.
“You can do that!?” The three women shouted in shock simultaneously.
“Of course I can. Now, touch my hand and sit down in a meditative pose,” Drayken said in an extremely serious tone.
“Okay.” Rowena felt excited; if she could really establish a mana core like the dragons, then she could summon many more spirits from the spirit realm and grow stronger with it.
She sat in a meditative position, mirroring the movements of Drayken, and touched his hand.
’So big ans Warm.’ That was her thought as her hand made contact with Drayken.
“Close your eyes.”
Rowena obeyed and focused, wiping out all the distracting thoughts. Her race could barely control somewhat of a mana, and the strongest had six spirits contracted, which made them almost as strong as a Rank-4 dragon.
In simple words, they were one of the lowest in the food chain.
The moment she focused, she could faintly sense a gentle force entering her; it was warm and inviting.
“Mhm.” Her cheeks flushed in a deep shade of red.
“Focus.” Drayken frowned.
“Y… yeah.” Rowena guided the mana given by Drayken toward the center of her body, the dantian, because that place was the easiest where the mana flowed.
However, this made it vulnerable so that if one attacked their stomach, they would destroy the mana core along with it.
Unluckily for her, her mana control was simply not enough to form the mana core; luckily, for her, there was Drayken who assisted in helping her.
He had an intricate connection to the mana, not to mention the control he got naturally from the Dragon bloodline; his titles alone were enough.
In just a few minutes, Drayken had built her a complete mana core.
From now on, Rowena was a Magic Acolyte.