CHAPTER 633: CHAPTER 426: EMBARKING ON THE ANCIENT DRAGON PATH 2.0

Selene admitted that the moment she saw the living Ornstein, she was extremely, extremely surprised.

The next second, when her gaze shifted to the Dragon Hunting Long Spear in the opponent’s hand, she felt herself getting a cold shock.

Though sometimes she’d rant crazily something like "Ah, ah, ah, I’m pierced to death by Ornstein~" seeming to enjoy it.

But only a true masochist would enjoy pain!

She was only making the best out of a bad situation because she couldn’t avoid being attacked!

Her purity isn’t that high!

This time, what should she shout to relieve the pain, "Your spear pierces my body, joy fills my heart"?

However, this time, she wasn’t coldly shocked.

Ornstein didn’t even glance at her, or rather, even the nearby Path Seekers were ignored by him as naturally as dust and pebbles.

The Lion Knight’s foot pressed into the ground, leaping into the sky, inadvertently emitting an aura that made those around him sway, with Selene, the closest to him, being blown away, crashing into several people before stopping.

"Wow..."

Watching him disappear among the mountains, the Princess couldn’t help but slowly open her mouth, her eyes flashing as if stars were hidden within.

The sound of Dragon Roar echoed in the sky, and several Flying Dragons pursued the direction the Knight went, occasionally glimpsed lightning and flames between the mountains, even though unseen, just by the sound one could tell it must be an intense battle.

At this moment, the Ancient Dragon Peak was filled with Flying Dragons, a glance at the sky would show several, quite different from outside the Painting World.

Before Selene could gather her thoughts, the faint sound of battle in the air transformed into an exhilarating drumbeat, fiercely stimulating the Path Seekers, prompting them to ascend the path to the peak of the Ancient Dragon.

In the blink of an eye, she was alone.

She climbed up from the ground, looking at the backs of people, eventually following them.

The information that appeared in her mind when she entered the Painting World let her understand, as long as she could successfully reach the top of the Ancient Dragon Peak, then she’s considered to have passed the preliminary test to gain the Ancient Dragon’s power. It seemed not that hard, although the Ancient Dragon Peak was tens of thousands of meters high, it shouldn’t be a big problem for the Path Seekers whose overall strength was very strong, right?

This thought persisted until she stepped onto the first step.

A Dragon Roar resonated in her mind, hazily she seemed to see the scene of ancient dragons, like rocks, roaring at the sky during the dark era.

A massive shock to her spirit!

Selene’s foot faltered, nearly falling backward, she hurriedly walked upward, however, the Dragon Roar vanished at the next step, the cold feeling suddenly appeared around her, and each step deepened this cold, as though she was in a world where Primordial Flame hadn’t appeared and darkness enveloped everything.

But it’s not just cold, as she walked further, her skin felt like it was being rubbed back and forth by rough rocks, a pain like scraping flesh emerged and similarly increased gradually, stronger than the unbearable cold.

Cold endurance and rock, these are the traits of Ancient Dragons, at the moment of stepping on the path to the top of the Ancient Dragon, the transformation from human to dragon had already begun.

If one reached the top, they could acquire powerful Dragon Stones and transform themselves into a dragon.

Path Seekers pursued powerful strength to surpass life and become a Superman, for this they needed to first transform themselves into a form close to Ancient Dragons, meaning using Dragon Stones to become a Dragon-man wasn’t the end, but the start.

Is the mere starting point so difficult?

Selene was deeply shaken, wondering how ancient people could come up with such a self-torturing way to acquire power.

The information in her mind even told her that there are more paths to transform into dragons beside the Ancient Dragon Peak, it’s said a mysterious scholar also grasped the secret of dragon transformation.

Since Dark Souls never clearly explained how the power of Ancient Dragons was to be cultivated, only provided items like Dragon Stones, this gave Gong Qiying a great deal of creative freedom.

Anyway, as long as it’s reasonable, logical, and retains the prestige.

"I can’t, I can’t hold on anymore...."

She didn’t know how far she’d climbed, Selene was gasping, leaning against a rock wall, unable to endure the frigid cold and the torture of rock friction, it was better to just give up.

After exhausting herself all day, her spiritual power couldn’t sustain her adventuring any longer.

However... the introduction to the Painting World said it could witness Ornstein’s story, she was desperately eager to see it, yet somewhat reluctant to give up.

Moreover, if by chance she could gain the powerful strength of the Ancient Dragon, she might escape from the Royal Palace or even defeat Eliphas?

She looked upwards, all the Path Seekers had surpassed her, leading far ahead.

Defeat again made her waver, forcing her to walk a few more steps before she couldn’t endure the pain any longer, squatting down, she repeatedly considered reaching into the storage ring and taking out that Magic Book which could swiftly consume spiritual power.

Her mind involuntarily conjured up the contents of the Magic Book, even without direct viewing, it rapidly diminished her spiritual power.

At this moment, a sound of something hitting the ground seemed to echo, Selene looked up to see a Path Seeker rolling down from above, stopping at her feet, his inhaling seemed less than exhaling, about to die at any moment.

She instinctively went over to help the person and asked: "Are you okay?"

But the person’s head tilted, directly fainted.

Upon touching the person, Selene suddenly saw frames of images flash before her eyes as if replaying, surprisingly they were this person’s life.

Accidentally becoming an Undead Man, locked in the Northern Undead Asylum, after not knowing how long, managed to escape and decided to acquire Ancient Dragon power to fight back to the Asylum and save his friends and family trapped there.

A simple yet classic reason.

Again someone fell from above, upon touching them, she briefly saw their life too.

Hometown destroyed by Abyss, relatives’ humanity taken by Soul-sucking Ghost, wandering aimlessly after escaping alone, suddenly awakened deciding to seek revenge, needing strength first, therefore came to the Ancient Dragon Peak.

Selene paused for a moment, after consecutively seeing these two people’s reasons for gaining strength, she suddenly had a strange feeling, indescribable.

Right, the reasons of these two people are just like the beginnings of those hero epics sung by bards; the only difference is, the heroes in those epics created great achievements, while these Path Seekers failed.

Both encountered doubts about their goals due to the pain during their climb, the doubts caused cracks, which eventually led to their abandonment and failure in climbing.

In this world, there is never a shortage of people whose experiences are similar to the legendary heroes, yet only a handful truly become heroes.

As for the reason, Selene thought, although it’s cliché, it’s probably persistence towards one’s goal. You might waver, but you must never give up.

"Why am I thinking about things that sound like something a Priest would say to enlighten others?"

She bit her lip, unable to understand why Sain would let people see these, but it indeed stirred something inside her.

Like... not admitting defeat?

At least she no longer wanted to voluntarily give up here; if she were someone who easily admitted defeat, she would have already given up in the Royal Palace!

With her fighting spirit reignited, she took great strides upward, covering three steps in one!

A few seconds later.

"It’s indeed still painful!"

Selene squatted down again, showing a pitiful expression.

Don’t blame her for the poor performance. At this height, it’s a pain that ordinary people can’t endure.

"Right, a goal, I need a goal that will keep me going."

The first thing that came to mind was Ornstein.

"But if the reasons others seek strength are all serious and profound, would it be strange if I just wanted to meet Ornstein?"

Then maybe use gaining strength to rescue myself from the Royal Palace as a goal? It feels a bit small, so maybe change it to rescuing the country?

This reason seems legitimate, but is it really what I truly want, can I really stick to it...

While she was pondering this, a thunderstorm exploded in the distance, accompanied by a wail, and a Flying Dragon plummeted to the ground, causing many Path Seekers to fall from the shock.

As the dust settled, Ornstein slowly drew the Dragon Hunting Long Spear from the Flying Dragon’s head and glanced at the crowd.

Upon seeing those striving to climb, he showed no reaction, but when he saw those who fell and even gave up, he turned and left again, disappearing from everyone’s sight.

Selene watched him leave from where she sat on the ground, her body trembling suddenly.

It wasn’t out of fear, but excitement.

Although it wasn’t obvious, just now when Ornstein looked at the group of "failures" including her, he seemed to show a little scorn, didn’t he?

She was despised by her idol!

In that instant, she immediately solidified her goal, which was to climb to the peak to meet Ornstein and witness the complete story!

"Just you wait, I’m not someone who gives up easily!"

Selene rose angrily, steadfastly climbing upwards, discarding the slightly tattered armor that was getting in the way as she went to lighten her load.

The higher she climbed, the more intense the pain grew, but instead, she moved faster.

Unbeknownst to her, as her climbing journey stretched on, her physical condition was gradually improving. Even though she hadn’t completed the test, she could still gain some strength, after all, Sain used rewards to motivate adventurers.

Selene was now full of enthusiasm, feeling in great shape, determined to climb to the top in one go.

But she seemed to have forgotten one thing.

That was her spiritual power, which was about to run out.

Simultaneously, at the top of the Ancient Dragon Peak.

Fingerley and his party were fretting over the Lion armor on the ground.

The Dungeon’s about to close, and suddenly the Princess got sucked into the Painting World?

No one knows when the Princess will come out; how are they supposed to report this to the Royal Knights waiting outside?

With only a few minutes left, it’s unlikely the Princess will emerge so swiftly.

"How about trying to bring the armor out?"

"It’s useless; those who leave the Painting World appear in the Dungeon."

Fingerley sighed, having no solutions left, so he thought about how to explain it to the people at the Royal Palace later.

Seeing Selene quite enjoying her time in the Dungeon anyway, and since there were no significant issues now, perhaps plead for the Princess to stay a few more days?

He felt she was quite an interesting girl, leaving a good impression.

A few minutes later.

"Dong... dong..."

The bell tolled, Selene had still not emerged, and everyone sighed deeply, their minds racing to think of an excuse.

But just then, a flash of light, and suddenly a huge figure appeared before them.

It was the unconscious Princess!