I Don't Need To Log Out

Friday evening.

After everyone logged out, Arlon returned to the inn for the last time.

It was time for Arlon the guide to fade into the background, and Arlon the player to move into the Citadel.

To their surprise, the Citadel had rooms for visitors to stay in, though they were only accessible to a select few.

Sitting on the bed, Arlon let out a breath. Phew, that was close. Lying about how he killed the Demon and the Named Monsters had been a gamble, and some players had shown skepticism.

The hardest question had been about how a single NPC could restrain a Demon, one of the strongest Keldars.

Arlon had deflected expertly:

"You're overthinking it. Not all Demons are invincible. Their primary strength lies in their ability to revive. It doesn't mean every Demon is a powerhouse—some are far weaker."

This wasn't entirely false. Keldars were powerful, but under normal circumstances, Trionians surpassed them. The difference lay in Keldars' ability to revive, while Trionians could not.

To reinforce his lie, Arlon added:

"That's what Arlon told me, at least. If he's lying, I wouldn't know. But I have no reason to lie to you."

Appearing confident while lying made it more believable, and his performance worked. Though he didn't know if everyone fully believed him, it was enough for now.

I used to feel bad about lying... he mused.

It would be okay even if his lies were nailed. He didn't think anyone among that group would go after Arlon's real body.

But being safe was always his priority.

After thinking about the day, he moved to the egg resting on the table.

Obviously, he had checked the egg with the Eyes of K**** before, but he activated the skill again.

Egg (???)

"An egg bearing a creature never seen before. Its origins lie in two distinct kinds, both strong, both majestic."

Even though this explanation didn't satisfy Arlon's curiosity, he had no way to learn more about it right now.

If Draco is the father, who is the mother? What is her kind?

He suspected the creature would have draconic features, though its exact nature remained unclear.

Shaking off his unease, he returned to the bed. He still had other things to check.

First, he took out the shard-like core from his inventory. It was the same as the one he got from the unnamed creature.

Atlas Core... Will this also give me a skill like the last time?

Even if it did, though, Arlon wouldn't absorb it. After learning Agema's spells, Arlon understood that spells, or abilities to be fully correct, were much stronger than the skills.

Even though the convenience of learning the skills instantly and using them without endeavor made them attractive, he wouldn't fall for it.

Arlon was rich now. He could buy as many skill books as he wanted. So he needed to stop himself.

The same thing was correct for the warrior skills. Arlon had never learned swordsmanship, he only swung his sword with his skills.

Even now, he was clumsily swinging his sword without any knowledge of it. Luckily, he rarely had to fight against a real swordsman, and when he did, he won thanks to his superior stats.

So, he was basically forcing it with sheer power, but this wasn't a long-term solution.

He accepted this training so that he could learn correct swordsmanship and build over it. Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

This way, he could also learn warrior abilities instead of skills, and maybe one day even create some himself.

Of course, it was in addition to the two warrior abilities he created in his past life, which were footwork and not sword abilities.

He activated the Eyes once more to inspect the shard.

***

Draco's Core

"Draco's extracted core. It once belonged to the one that was weakest of its race."

"You have found a 'Monster Core'. Do you want to absorb it? The player should be aware that this process may cause adverse effects."

***

Arlon refused it. I don't need it.

But, something happened the second he refused the system message. The shard, or Draco's Core, started shaking.

The shaking turned into vibration and the core left Arlon's hand, flying toward the egg.

It basically stuck to the egg for a second before light came out of the shard.

After a few seconds, it seemed like the shard was absorbed by the egg.

Arlon ran to the egg's side. There was nothing different both in appearance and when he looked at it with his skill.

He was relieved at first since he didn't know what would happen if the egg hatched in the middle of his room.

He still thought that the egg could be dangerous.

But since it didn't hatch and nothing seemed different, Arlon had to suck up losing the shard and get back to what he was doing.

Of course, he wasn't an idiot and he understood that the egg needed sustenance, and it had drawn it from the core. How much more would it require?

But he didn't know how much more the egg needed.

Pushing his thoughts aside, Arlon pulled out Aetherion's Edge, the sword gifted by Zephyrion.

"This is my new sword, huh?" he said loudly.

Aetherion's Edge was already humming with the mana Arlon injected it with.

When he checked the sword with his skills, it only showed the history of the sword known by Arlon.

Its enchanted feature was also basic, to conduct mana. Of course, it was an important feature for Arlon.

This is a good replacement...

Even if he didn't show it, Arlon was sad to lose his Wandsword. So it felt good to have a better replacement.

But I didn't even know there was something called Royals, lucky me..

Before his encounter with Vulwin, he hadn't known about the ranking system among enchanted equipment.

Royals, he learned, were the pinnacle, crafted by the leaders of the old heroes.

When he gave this quest to Arlon, he also explained the situation. Apparently, he spent his life analyzing enchanted equipment.

But since Royals can't be found lying around, he hadn't had a chance to analyze one before.

So, his quest was for Arlon to bring him one for analyzing purposes.

But Arlon didn't think he would get two pieces of Royals, and he even got to keep one.

After finishing analyzing the sword, Arlon put it back in his inventory.

He didn't need to check the other one since it would be analyzed by Vulwin in the future and Arlon didn't care about it.

There was only one thing to do now. He took out a book from the inventory.

"History of Trion"

This was given to Arlon by Zephyrion. Apparently, it brings together the parts of history that were found in one book.

But Arlon felt something else from this book. Even though he didn't know what, it felt like he couldn't look away from this book.

He opened it and started reading.

The book talked about before the times of the heroes. Though it wasn't interesting since it was classic history, Arlon still focused on it.

The history of that time seemed untouched since every part complemented each other.

But when he moved toward the part where the time of the old heroes was narrated, it turned into a jumbled-up mess.

Before Arlon realized, though, his ears were ringing again and darkness claimed him as he collapsed onto the bed.