The Moon Thief

Chapter 102: A Stronger Being!

Heinald just watched the baby dragon standing in front of him, not knowing what to do. It felt strange knowing that this baby dragon in front of him would grow up to be one of the most powerful and deadly beasts alive.

Heinald slowly approached the baby dragon and took it in his hand. "Apparently, he's not afraid of me."

After closely examining the baby dragon in his hand, he sighed and left the cave, taking it with him.

He couldn't hide him in the dimensional pocket of his definitive robe. Imprisoning him in a spatial storage would mean killing him. That's why he hid him under his robe.

He quickly traveled to Redsand Mansion.

When he reached the mansion, he immediately hid the baby dragon in his room. He then walked quickly to his master's room. One of the priests standing guard at the door, as usual, went in and asked for permission.

With permission granted, Heinald entered.

"Did you gain an increase in your Spiritual Energy?" Albin immediately noticed the change in his apprentice.

"I was just lucky! I was able to obtain a fruit that contained quite a lot of Spiritual Energy in the Starlight Realm." Naturally, Heinald didn't tell him the truth. He was aware that the lie he was telling wasn't believable, but he hoped his master would n't get too caught up in the situation.

"Mmm." Albin nodded expressionlessly.

"Master, I have come to consult you on a matter." Heinald changed the subject.

"I am listening." Albin's gaze fixed on him.

"I've decided to acquire a Soul Companion..." Heinald started, but was interrupted by Albin.

"If I were you, I wouldn't rush into this. Remember, you only have a chance to bond with a companion. If you get an ordinary magical beast as a companion, you'll regret it when you encounter a high-level one in the future."

"I know. I just want to learn a ritual technique." Heinald said.

"If so... I'll give you a copy of a technique I know." Albin nodded.

"I'm grateful, master!" Heinald bowed respectfully.

After Heinald left his master's room, he immediately went to his room and took care of the baby dragon. He had not told his master about this dragon because he was simply afraid that he would take this baby dragon from him.

Dragons were beasts that were highly feared and respected in the Ainsar World. Being a Soul Companion with a dragon was undoubtedly something that everyone would want. Plus, bonding with a baby dragon was much easier. If someone wanted to bond with an adult dragon, they had to defeat that dragon and then convince it to become a companion.

To think of beating a grown dragon was undoubtedly insane!-That's why he wanted to bond with this dragon secretly. If he bonded with this baby dragon, neither of them would ever be able to bond with anyone else again.

After Heinald read the Ritual Technique that Albin gave him, he analyzed the information in his mind and began to prepare for the ritual.

Heinald constructed the various runes and symbols mentioned in the technique in his mind. Red smoke came out of his body and surrounded the baby dragon. After a while, green smoke emerged from the baby dragon's body and surrounded Heinald.

After a while, every time he opened his eyes, he had a smile on his face. As he had predicted, the ritual had been completed without any problems. Now he could feel the baby dragon's arrival in a part of his soul.

The baby dragon also felt his presence in a part of his soul.

"Come to me!" Heinald commanded in his mind.

As he had guessed, the baby dragon listened to him and scrambled towards his hand.

Heinald smiled and took him in his hands, stroking his little head a little, hid him in his robes and left the room.

Heinald quickly traveled to the shop called The Sleeping Owl. This shop was where he always bought the ingredients for the potion and sold the potions he brewed.

"Young friend Heinald! Welcome!" The old man immediately recognized the person who had entered.

"Greetings, Mr. Rovnof!" In the course of time, Heinald and the old man had interacted many times and became familiar with each other.

"Are you here to sell potions again?" Old Rovnof asked.

"No. There are some books I want to buy today." Heinald's expression turned serious.

"Is that so? What kind of books?"

"I want books that give high-level information on Anatomy, Evolution, and Mutation." Heinald exhaled loudly.

"Well..." Rovnof didn't know what to say for a while, then prepared to say something, but was interrupted by Heinald.

"Don't try to make excuses...I realize that a lot more is sold in this shop than is shown."

"Y-You...how would you know?" Rovnof's eyes widened in surprise.

"I'm a pretty good observer!" Heinald winked.

"Books with high-level information are not for sale..." Rovnof exhaled loudly.

Heinald shrugged and said, "We are no longer strangers to each other, I think you can do me a little favor."

"Keep dreaming! If the bigwigs find out about this..." Rovnof swallowed.

"Just a few hours...I'll pay you well for it." Heinald was determined to persist.

Rovnof grit his teeth and began a series of calculations. After a short while he exhaled and said, "You only have 4 hours, I'll take your 100,000 Arkana Stones."

"Deal!" Heinald immediately agreed.

"Wait here until I get the books ready!" Rovnof said and went to the back, disappearing.

About half an hour later, Rovnof informed him that the books were ready. He would read the books in a secret room at the back of the shop.

"There are twenty books here that contain high-level information on Anatomy, Evolution, and Mutation. Remember, these books are original books, so don't damage them and don't try to copy them. These original books are protected by a special magic against copying." Rovnof left him with the books after a few briefings.

"One glance will be enough to memorize all the content." Heinald grinned inside and quickly began reading all the books there.

After about an hour, he had already had all the information in his mind. However, he decided to wait for four hours so that nothing suspicious would arise.

After four hours, Rovnof quickly collected the books and took them to a special section.

"I learned a lot of useful information, even if it was for a short time. So, be a little generous and give you 150,000 Arkana Stones for the great kindness you've done me." Heinald was in a good mood, so he saw no problem being a little generous.

After all, if he could somehow buy these books, he would have to give them so many Arkana Stones.

It was pretty big profit from this angle.

Rovnof greedily took the 15 Crystallized Arkana Stones and smiled broadly.

*****

In a desolate cave, a well-built man was sitting naked. The floor he was sitting on was covered with a large magic pentagram. Around this pentagram were three silver bowls. Anyone who looked closely would have noticed that these bowls contained strange colored liquids.

This man was Heinald.

Within a few months, he had compiled all the information he had on Anatomy, Evolution and Mutation, and by analyzing them, he had drawn some inferences. Thanks to his experiments on these inferences, he was able to develop a technique that would strengthen his body a lot.

"Pascan Elsy!" Heinald muttered.

At that time, the formation he was sitting on emitted a red light, and the liquids in the silver bowls came together in the air, forming a kind of mixture.

The liquids that came together in the air took the shape of a sphere, then they began to separate into drops and finally took the shape of a needle.

"200g of Petros Uinis blood, 2g of Merrin Snake venom and 3g of Corrosive Blood Flower essence. I will integrate the mixture of these three ingredients directly into my muscles. If successful, this mixture will initiate a mutation in my muscles, but it will also start to affect all of my cells. If I manage to become a Level 2 Ainsar, my immune system will be strong enough to stop this mutation. If I fail, I will be in great danger!"

Before starting the process, Heinald did a situational assessment.

At his only thought, thousands of hovering needles pierced and penetrated every muscle in his body. The sudden pain he was experiencing made his face turn pale.

"My heartbeat accelerated abnormally in a very short time, the process is working as I expected." Heinald's eyes gleamed strangely.

"Aaargghhh!" Heinald began to squirm with the sudden pain rising from all of his muscles. Sudden swellings and strokes began to appear all over his body. His whole body was starting to become covered with black veins, from afar it seemed as if thousands of snakes were crawling inside his body.

Heinald was convulsing with pain, while at the same time gathering all his spiritual energy in the middle of his chest. If there was someone next to him, he could easily see the intense waves of energy emanating from him.

*Tond!

*Todond!*

Strange noises began to come out of his entire body. A small, white triangle shape appeared in the middle of his chest.

"Huaaaa!" Heinald roared with all his might as he tried to hold on.

The spiritual energy gathered in the middle of his chest began to spread like tsunami waves throughout his entire body. At this time, his color had changed to dark blue and he had reached about five meters in height. His hands had turned into claws, and long, bloody protrusions were beginning to emerge from his spinal cord.

His spiritual energy concentrated around his body and suddenly collapsed into a single point.

*BAM!*

There was a violent burst of energy and the cave, hit by the shock waves, began to collapse.

Hours after the cave collapsed...

"Argh!" Heinald felt a sharp pain in his body. When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing but darkness.

When he tried to stand up, he realized that he had tons of stones on him.

"I did it!" Heinald roared with all his might. He didn't need to delve deep into his soul to realize that he had managed to become a Level 2 Ainsar. He felt like a completely different person, just like when he was a Level 1 Ainsar, but this time he felt much more powerful than he felt then.

Heinald felt a great force on his arm as he shook his hand. When he pushed his arm up hard, the stones on him shattered and flew at great speed. He crumbled the stones in front of him and proceeded out of the cave.

When he came out of the cave, he realized that the sun had just risen. When he started examining his body, he was no different than before, except that he looked taller and more built. This obviously put him at ease, as he had predicted, after becoming a Level 2 Ainsar, his immune system was able to destroy his mutation.

He was in a desolate forest far from Saylam City.

*Whiiiirg!* Heinald heard a shrill roar.

That shrill roar belonged to the little dragon cub. He looked worried for the owner, who had been under wreckage for a few days.

"You do not need to worry!" Heinald smiled at him and took him in his arms.

Within a few months, this little baby dragon was almost too big to fit in his lap.

He went to the small lake nearby and washed to remove the dirt from himself. He then went to the cottage he had built before attempting a breakthrough. He wore the robe his grandfather gave him.

"I should be as strong as my grandfather used to be right now." Heinald muttered.

Heinald began casting his spell, Infernal Fireball, to test his new power level. Casting this High Rank Attack-type spell was much easier for him now. While he was constructing the pattern of this spell in his mind, he was pushing his mind power very hard before, but in the current situation it was like casting a Medium-Rank spell. In the past, he was undoubtedly the one with the strongest mind power among all the Level 1 Ainsars, but now his mind seemed much stronger than before.

Thanks to his incredible memory, he would be in a much better position than them as he could remember the spell's pattern much faster than other Level 2 Ainsars and construct it in his mind. This difference would appear more especially in High Rank spells.

A ball of fire the size of three palms formed above his hands. In the face of the heat emitted by this fireball, the surrounding trees and grass started to burn instantly. At the thought of him, the fireball began to fly, leaving traces of flame behind it.

It took less than two seconds for him to cast with this spell, it was an incredible speed.

*BAM!* When the fireball landed 300 meters ahead, into the middle of the trees, a terrible explosion of flame appeared. The resulting waves of flame instantly turned everything 150 meters in diameter to ash. The temperature at the center of the explosion was so intense that it reached over 2000 degrees Celsius.

He shuddered at the sight before him. If a Level 2 Ainsar cast a High Rank spell, terrifying destruction would ensue.

"Whirling Air Wave" Heinald roared.

An airball formed in his hand and was sent directly into the fire. When the airball exploded, all the flames about 500 meters in diameter were suddenly drawn into a single spot and were extinguished by the intense air pressure. After he extinguished the source of the fire, he waved his hand and rain clouds formed above the forest.

A downpour soon followed, which was enough to stop the fire, which was spreading at a slow speed.

"Let's go now, Revakender!" Heinald called out to the baby dragon beside him.

A small gust of wind formed around the baby dragon as he began to flap his wings.

Heinald also started running to test his new body. He could run about 20 times faster than before. He was going so fast that if there was an obstacle in front of him, he would probably not be able to stop in time and crash into it. He could have run much faster, pushing his limits, but he did n't want to leave Revakender too far behind.

Heinald ran non-stop for about a week. As the Revakender got tired after flying for a few hours at most, he mostly hugged on his owner's back and enjoyed a fast ride.

Despite this, Heinald's physical stamina was still very high.

When he entered Saylam City, he had hidden his baby dragon by wrapping a large cloak around his back. In the time that passed, only his master, Albin, had learned his secret and had a great shock. He hadn't even thought that his apprentice would actually bond with a baby dragon. But he would soon see something more surprising.

When Heinald reached the Redsand Mansion, he immediately went to his master.

"You actually managed to become a Level 2 Ainsar!" Albin looked at his apprentice in disbelief, "How old are you?"

"I'm in my thirties." Heinald replied with a smile.

Albin Redsand had been alive as a Level 3 Ainsar for too long to count. However, he had never heard of anyone in his thirties who had managed to become a Level 2 Ainsar. He already knew that his apprentice was a formidable potion genius, but he now understood that he was also a genius in the Ainsar Path.