20 Green Light Team
1734 Words
Most of them huddled near the fire together, except Miranda who did not really need fire to keep warm because she was strong. Ailsa was strong too but exhausted a lot of her strength during the battle and welcomed the heat. The rest of their teammates – new and old – however, were Terrans and needed as much artificial warmth as possible. The storm still raged outside, Miranda low-key blamed Ailsa for causing it.
“So, what should we do with the Ice Spell Dragon?” Jenny asked, she was seated next to Hogan who was busy whetting his swords with a smoothly polished rock that he produced from his knapsack.
“We could shrink it down and take it with us to the village,” Ailsa said as she laid in between Walt’s legs, the back of her head on his chest. She felt so comfortable and snug in that moment that she did not mind staying there forever.
“The most valuable part of the dragon is its skin. That’s what gives off all that powerful mana,” Michael said. It was obvious that he was very knowledgeable about magic and magical things “the best thing to do is to skin it. We can then take the skin back to the village you’re talking about.”
“Ugh, that sounds nasty,” Miranda said and made a disgusted face.
“Yeah, it does,” Ailsa agreed and Walt almost laughed.
“Well, I could probably use a spell to skin it so we don’t have to get messy with knives,” Michael offered and Miranda let out a huff of breath to show that she was relieved.
“Okay, that sounds good. Let’s do it.” Walt said and got to his feet, pulling Ailsa up with him. Michael, feeling stronger and fully healed, grabbed his scepter from the floor and got to his feet. Everyone else got up and they all walked to the side of the cave where they kept the beast they had been fighting a couple of hours ago. Its eyes were closed and it was perfectly still but it still gave off an overwhelming aura.
“Be fast about it,” Miranda said, she was feeling creeped out despite her usual willful attitude. Michael stood in front of it and lifted his scepter, muttering a spell that lifted the twenty feet monstrosity off the ground, making it over. Then he used his wind blade to make a sharp cut down the middle of the dragon, revealing the soft pink flesh underneath.
“I thought there wouldn’t be any mess,” Miranda said, making Michael grit his teeth in annoyance.
“I’m doing my best. Would you like to come to give it a try?” he said and turned his head over his shoulder to look at her. She scoffed and turned her chin up defiantly. Michael rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to what he was doing. Demons were the worst, he thought.
With skillful use of his wind blade, he made more incisions in strategic places on the dragon’s body. After he was done incising, he used his water polo skill to throw a huge amount of water at the carcass, applying high pressure to it from all sides. Some splash black from the water reached Miranda and drenched her, causing her to hiss because she hated water. Michael smiled secretly.
When he was done using the water, he lowered the Ice Spell Dragon back on the ground and turned to look at them with a grin.
“Okay, all we have to do now is pull at the skin and it’ll come right off,” he said and everyone stepped forward to start pulling at the dragon’s skin which was an exhausting task on its own. By the time they were done, the storm outside had ceased. Ailsa pulled the last bit of skin from around the dragon’s horn and placed it in the pile they created.
Suddenly, the leftover pink remains started to glow. They gasped and stepped back as it floated off the ground. Miranda shot a sharp look at Michael who held his hands up in defense.
“It’s not me, I swear,” he said. The light from the dragon shone brighter until it was too bright and they had to shield their eyes from it. Then, an explosion of rays occurred in the cave. Ailsa felt a strong presence, she removed her arm from her face and looked up to see a tall, white-bearded man in a long white robe floating in place of the dragon. All around them were pink petals and snowflakes that shimmered in the light. They were put in a trance.
“Congratulations. Hidden task completed: high-level boss, Eternal Ice – prayer of Ice Spell Dragon,” the system said. The trance state felt like they were in some protective bubble universe with different colors swirling around them. They could see each other and interact which was odd because the trance usually lasted about ten seconds. Walt wanted to call out to the others when a bright screen flashed in front of them and caught his attention.
On the screen, they saw the floating man. It turns out he was the chief of elves who had traveled to the Ice Field in search of treasure to take back to the Elves Valley. They saw him walk into the dragon’s cave, finding all sorts of treasures lying in wait for him. He started to grab as much treasure as he could, then blue something glimmered and caught his eyes. Dropping the other treasures he had found, he walked over to the shiny object and discovered that it was a blue egg. With great excitement, the chief carried the egg and lifted it up in the air, rubbing it slowly. Suddenly, the egg cracked open, and out came a blue translucent winged spirit that swallowed him up. He started to scream and grow, then his screams turned to roars and they saw before their eyes how the chief of elves transformed into the Ice Spell Dragon. They were returned.
“You have witnessed what happened to me here, thousands of years ago,” the man was no longer floating, he was standing in front of them with his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe “my name is Imin, I am the Chief of the elves.”
“Yeah, we figured,” Hogan replied and Michael gave him an elbow jab in the stomach.
“The curse of the dragon could only be lifted by the warrior – or in this case, warriors – who kill and skin the Ice Spell Dragon which I was captive in,”
“That is so messed up-ow,” Miranda said as she got smacked on the back of her head by Jenny. Ailsa felt the powerful and kind aura of Imin. He had a long white beard that extended all the way to the ground, long white hair that was tucked behind his pointy elf years. Elves were immortal and according to Imin, he had been the Ice Spell Dragon for thousands of years. Yet, apart from the color of his hair, he looked as young as any of them.
“Thank you, for your great service,” Imin said and lowered his head slightly in a bow.
“We are honored to have helped you, chief Imin,” Walt said and bowed back. The rest of them followed suit and once again, Imin flew up in the air. This time with his hand extended outwards.
“For your bravery and valor, I reward you all,” he said and sparkling dust floated all around them, rejuvenating them and filling up their skill levels “for true leadership and spirit, I award you with the Key of Prayer,” he said to Walt before finally turning to Ailsa.
“You are the only elf here. A nomadic elf, one of the rarest. It is a pleasure to be in your presence, I reward you with the skill of green light – The Rain of Prayer and Light of Blessing,” Ailsa blushed as she accepted the gifts, not sure what they were but eager to find out.
“Be well,” Imin said as his last words and vanished.
“Talk about high and mighty,” Miranda said for a minute, dodging the incoming smack from Jenny. They all laughed and gathered up the skin of the dragon. That was when they noticed that the dragon’s cave was now filled with treasures and magical items. With glee, they packed up as much as they could and headed out of the cave with their bags and pockets full. Walt smiled to himself as he thought about the poem and how every part of it was completely accurate.
They headed to the NPC village in Echo Corridor under Walt’s instructions but instead of journeying through the wind and cold, Michael used one of his teleportation spells and they arrived at the Echo corridor so fast, it reminded Walt of accelerating in the real world.
The leader of the village was oddly at the entrance of the village when they arrived. He explained that the strong mana had gone and he was waiting there because he hoped that they were the ones responsible for the disappearance. When they presented the skin of the dragon to him and explained what had happened, he was taken aback and overjoyed. He quickly took them back to the inn where they were given new clothes and fed. Luuk told them that the decrease in mana had already shown positive effects. He thanked them immensely and gave them the rewards they had agreed upon, adding even more to it.
The six of them took the magic materials to the central village where it was converted into the equipment for all of them. The equipment they had was now at the epic yellow level, which was the third-highest level it could reach. Walt told them about his desire to participate in team competitions. Michael quickly agreed, saying he had the same thoughts when he started playing the game.
To join in team battles, they would need to head south. Walt knew that in the south laid the Ocean of Sigh where they can find adventures that would help them advance to higher levels. He told them about it and Jenny groaned because she knew that Walt was insatiable. They collected their equipment and made their way back to the inn.
“We should have a team name,” Ailsa announced as they sat in the common room of the inn “Walt, come on, we’re six now…it’s kinda weird that we don’t have a team name,” the others chorused their agreement. Walt laughed and held Ailsa’s hand
“We’ll be called; the Green Light team.”
- Writer
