Chapter 19: It's Time to Sign a Contract
"Lisa, you cannot awaken your bloodline."
When the village's usually peaceful elder spoke these words in a calm tone, the girl felt a sense of bewilderment invade her heart. She hugged her arms tightly to her chest, fingers clenched. Due to nervousness, she subconsciously glanced around her. Inside the spacious ceremonial hall, all the eligible youths of the village looked at her with complex expressions—some with regret, some with confusion, some with tension, and some with disdain.
"Your bloodline is pure, but it has fallen into dormancy. You cannot awaken the inherited power."
After saying this in a slightly indifferent tone, the elder, whose hair and beard were white and whose horns had even turned cyan, let out a soft sigh: "Step down, Lisa. Next."
Subconsciously obeying the elder's words, the girl stumbled down from the testing stone platform in the center of the hall. Because of her dazed state, she nearly fell, but no one stepped forward to help the staggering girl. After she returned to her seat around the hall, scattered voices emerged from beside her.
"Hmph, before the test, she had that arrogant and disgusting smile on her face. Now she's failed, hasn't she?"
"Lisa can't do it either? Her bloodline should be the purest..."
"What's the use of purity? If she can't awaken, she'll always be an ordinary Dragonman."
"The hunting team had high hopes for her. With Lisa's bloodline concentration, if she awakened, she'd definitely become a main force against those monsters... Sigh, why did it turn out like this?"
"Maybe she's not favored by the gods."
Lisa didn't even hear the words of those around her clearly. An intense sense of loss invaded her heart, leaving the once-confident girl utterly dejected. She murmured to herself, "How could this be..."
Just ten minutes ago, she had thought she would smoothly awaken her bloodline, becoming a 'Pure Blood'—something not seen in dozens of surrounding villages for over a decade—and then become an important combat force and pillar of the village, sharing the burden of her father, the captain of the hunting team. She had even fantasized about growing into a powerful hunter capable of delving deep into the 'Desert of the Gods,' finding the monster that killed her mother, and avenging her.
But now, all those fantasies about the future had vanished. Unable to awaken her bloodline, she would remain an ordinary person for life. Forget becoming a hunter to hunt monsters; even daily life would be dangerous—in the vast Chronos Mountains, countless dangerous beasts roamed. If it weren't for the Dragonman hunting teams repeatedly clearing out the monsters in the mountains and creating a safe zone around the village, even farming would be a huge risk for ordinary Dragonmen.
During the time the girl was lost in thought, one youth after another stepped onto the stone platform. Some succeeded, some failed. Those who succeeded were overjoyed, while those who failed were downcast. But none of this mattered to Lisa anymore. She sat blankly in her seat, her mind empty, until a violent tremor suddenly shook the entire hall.
"What's happening?!"
"An earthquake?!"
"Everyone, stay calm!"
The elder's voice rang out, suppressing the chaos. But before he could finish speaking, a loud boom echoed from the distant mountains, followed by a massive tremor that shook the earth. Even the sturdy ceremonial hall groaned under the strain. Through the window, Lisa saw a streak of fire tearing across the sky, crashing into a hill not far from the village, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris.
A meteor! A meteor had fallen!
The entire village was in an uproar. The elder quickly organized the crowd, sending the hunting team to investigate the fallen meteor, while the youths were ordered to stay put. But Lisa's heart was pounding wildly. She felt a strange heat surging within her, a sensation she had never experienced before. It was as if some invisible force was resonating with her blood, stirring something deep inside her.
Could it be...? Could that meteor help her awaken her bloodline?
The thought struck her like lightning. Without hesitation, the girl slipped away quietly along a small path, taking advantage of everyone's panic to sneak out of the village. The Dragonman tribe was a martial society; everyday clothing was mostly forest camouflage colors. Even those who hadn't awakened their bloodline had received basic training in their youth, and the area around the village was a safe zone without monsters. So Lisa's journey was smooth, with almost no obstacles.
But because she was too young, unfamiliar with the paths, and had to avoid the hunting team's routes, by the time she rushed to the meteor's landing site, the village's hunting team had already arrived ahead of her.
The meteor had landed on a treeless hill, radiating intense heat that distorted large patches of air. Panting heavily, Lisa hid behind a giant tree in disappointment, watching as her father—a tall, stern-faced one-horned Dragonman—directed the hunting team to transport massive chunks of white meteorite debris. These stones from the sky usually contained rare and durable metals, perfect for forging the finest weapons and tools. With several Dragonman villages in the area, they had to move the largest and most useful parts before other hunting teams arrived.
"Damn it, they're too fast! They didn't give me a chance!"
Though unwilling, this was the limit of what Lisa could do. After all, she was just a fourteen-year-old girl who hadn't awakened. Expecting to outpace elite hunters who had trained for over a decade was wishful thinking. Watching the hunting team carry away most of the white meteorite, Lisa thought about heading back to the village. Since there was no opportunity, she'd avoid taking risks for now. She planned to see if she could later get close to the white meteorite in the village—though the hope was slim, it wasn't impossible.
But just as the girl watched the hunting team, carrying the meteorite and hastily leaving without checking the surroundings, disappear into the forest, she suddenly realized something important—that strange radiation, which made her whole body hot and seemed ready to awaken her bloodline, hadn't disappeared! It was still at the meteor's landing site!
"Could it be?!"
Thinking of this possibility, Lisa held her breath: Could it be that the hunting team hadn't moved the part of the meteorite that could help her awaken her bloodline? That made sense—the entire hunting team consisted of people who had successfully awakened. How could they be like her, a failure who couldn't awaken?
With this thought, the girl had no intention of hiding anymore. The village's hunting team had left, and people from other villages and forest monsters hadn't arrived yet. This was her best chance! Acting on impulse, Lisa leaped out from behind the tree and sprinted toward the crater—ignoring the scorching air filling her lungs. She ran at full speed, climbing to the top of the hill in just over ten seconds and reaching the edge of the crater.
It was a massive pit about ten meters wide, but surprisingly shallow. Though the meteor had caused a great commotion and a terrifying earthquake, it hadn't done much damage to the hill. At the bottom, black-red magma was beginning to cool, and a broken white meteorite sat in the center of the pit, radiating intense heat.
Most of it had been taken by the hunting team, leaving only less valuable broken edges and a small part of the outer shell. But even so, the meteorite's quality was evident—it looked more like steel than stone, compressed, condensed, and purified countless times by some immense force. Just looking at it, Lisa felt that weapons made from this material would be indestructible... especially if it were a greatsword!
But the girl's attention wasn't drawn to the meteorite. In fact, she only glanced at it before her gaze involuntarily shifted.
Because something was slowly wriggling in front of her, like a blob of white jelly, crawling right into her line of sight.
"Didn't everyone leave? Why is someone still here?! Where did this human village girl come from? Wait, why does she have horns?!"
A certain severely injured Greater Demon, whose original form had been mostly destroyed, let out a cry of surprise.
"Good heavens, what... what kind of monster is this?!"
A certain Dragonman girl, whose bloodline had fallen dormant and who was taking a desperate gamble for her future, let out another cry of surprise.
The Great Flame Demon Syndicate, who had lost almost all his power and was reduced to a pure flame essence in the shape of something like an Abyss Flame Slime, was calmly thinking. He looked at the Dragonman girl before him—with long black hair and two cyan horns, trembling as she groped for a stone on the ground, ready to smash him, the survivor of a calamity. For survival, the Flame Demon's mind raced through countless thoughts, and he subconsciously flashed back to the figure of a certain black-haired warrior. After a brief but most sincere prayer, a sudden inspiration struck Syndicate. The Greater Demon directly connected his mind to hers and spoke in the most serious, solemn, and persuasive tone of his life:
"Oh, maiden—do you have any wish you wish to fulfill?"
"Huh?" Lisa was stunned, pausing her action of throwing the stone in her hand.
—Mycroft Continent, Northern Lands. Joshua, who had just finished his conversation with Eagle, suddenly paused slightly.
"What's wrong, Joshua?"
The old Pope, who had just bid farewell, noticed the warrior's dazed expression and casually asked. Upon hearing the question, Joshua shrugged and said with some confusion, "It sounds like... a prayer?"
It must be an illusion, he thought.
After all, in this world, there shouldn't be any demons who pray, right?