The Second Partner (3)
After the conversation ended, Effir tried to get up only to stumble and fall again.
Artis seemed to have expected it, however.
“It’ll take a while to get used to your new body.”
When he first transformed into a human, he suffered quite a bit as well.
“It’s especially tricky to learn how to walk with two feet. It took me about three days to learn how to walk like an actual human being.”
However, she couldn’t just stay in the middle of a mountain path for days to practice how to walk.
Artis looked at Han-bin.
“For now, I think it would be better if you carry her.”
“Sure, but…”
Han-bin shrugged and scratched his head.
He clicked his tongue as he looked at the beautiful girl wearing a loose robe.
“So you’re female…”
Effir felt a little embarrassed.
“Did I look like a male? I thought I was pretty in my own way…”
Artis also scolded Han-bin.
“That’s rude, Han-bin. Couldn’t you tell by looking at it? It was a very beautiful female Wyvern.”
Perhaps he needed to look at her from a Dragon’s point of view.
But what would he know? He was still human, after all.
“It was just a winged dinosaur that looked scary in my eyes. The roar was terrifying too.”
“Boo, I got a lot of praise from the Flying Dragon Knights for my elegant shrieks…”
Artis gently soothed the disappointed Effir.
“Don’t mind him. This guy’s just got feeble knowledge about us. Your cries were beautiful, so don’t be disappointed.”
“Are you sure? Mr. Artis was also a magnificent Dragon.”
“Was I? Thank you.”
Ryu Han-bin shook his head as he watched two Latna’s Dragon Race members giving each other compliments.
“Yippie, you two are having fun.”
It was time to move.
He turned his back on Effir.
“Hurry up. I’ll carry you.”
“Yeah!”
While hugging Han-bin’s neck, she laughed.
“Hehehe, I’m human. I became human.”
“Do you like being human?”
“Of course! Now I can read books and wear pretty clothes!”
The voice of a chattering little girl tickled his ears.
Ryu Han-bin smiled nonchalantly.
‘She’s cute.’
* * *
The giant with a silver-haired girl on his back and the red-haired young man continued to follow the mountain path.
As they walked, Artis raised a question.
“How did you meet Han-bin in the first place, Effir?”
He couldn’t fathom how Ryu Han-bin, who had just arrived at Latna, would be acquainted with a Wyvern.
“I tried to eat him, so Mr. Han-bin slapped me hard.”
Ryu Han-bin was baffled by Effir’s answer.
“T-that’s not wrong, but wording it that way is a bit…”
Today, Effir was a beautiful young girl.
A 190 cm-tall muscular man slapped such a beautiful girl?
‘I feel like a villain!’
Fortunately, Artis understood the context correctly.
He continued to ask questions.
“You mean you fought Han-bin and managed to survive?”
Ryu Han-bin crushed a level 72 Lich with his bare hands and easily dominated over a level 75 Magic Swordsman easily.
“At your level, one hit from him, and you would’ve been a goner.”
“I almost died.”
Effir shrugged. She continued to explain that her face became swollen because of the fight and that she was lucky to have healing potions.
“After that, he spared me in exchange for telling him everything I knew and for taking care of him.
She laughed, saying that Ryu Han-bin was very clumsy.
Han-bin couldn’t help but admit it.
“She gave me a lot of help. I’m really grateful to her.”
“It’s all thanks to that incident that I’m able to become a human. Come to think of it, why are you walking around wearing nothing but fur shorts and boots, Mr. Han-bin? Didn’t you bring a lot of clothes with you back then? Your skin’s darkened too.”
“It’s a long story.”
They kept walking on the path while talking to each other.
As they made their way down the mountain, Ryu Han-bin realized something.
‘Huh?’
Effir was talking to herself.
“With the pelvis as the center of the body… Straighten your back, so your back and head are in a straight line…”
She kept mumbling to herself as she intently watched the steps of Artis and Han-bin.
“When moving, every time a foot lands, the body interlocks, and the center of gravity is reversed…”
“What are you doing, Effir?”
Effir blinked as if snapping awake, then replied to Han-bin’s question.
“Please put me down for a minute.”
“Why?”
“I think I can imitate the way you two walked.”
He put Effir down as told.
The little girl stood on her feet before slowly stumbling forward.
“This, like this, like this…”
Artis stopped her with a laugh.
“Is it too much? As a Dragon, it took me over three days to adjust to bipedal walking. I imagine it would be harder for Wyverns–”
“Oh, it works.”
Effir was already walking correctly.
The more she moved her feet, the more her body adapted. In no time at all, she could walk as naturally as a normal human being.
“I see. It’s not as hard as I thought.”
She then gave the duo a bright smile.
“I can walk now.”
Artis’ eyes widened.
“Already? How’s that possible?”
Han-bin looked at Artis.
“It took you three days to walk on two feet?”
“Yeah. I had a tough time.”
Effir only took around ten minutes.
“Hey Artis, aren’t you just dull?”
“It’s true that I am dull, but…”
The growth of a Dragon’s strength was based on Mana, which was why their motor skills weren’t that advanced.
That was also the reason why they took on the role of Mages as humans.
“But that’s not normal.”
Seeing Artis’s bewilderment, Effir scratched her head embarrassingly.
“I’m really good at moving my body.”
After watching her incredible flying skills, they had no doubt that she was leagues ahead of her own kind.
Well, there’s no doubt that the massive flying skills put her far ahead of the ordinary Wyverns.
‘Come to think of it, she was surprisingly good with her hands, wasn’t she?’
Han-bin recalled their first meeting.
“Even as a Wyvern, she could pull off the caps of healing potions easily.”
“Healing potions? Something that small?”
“Yeah.”
Artis looked even more perplexed.
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“Is that even possible?”
The forefeet of a Dragon or a Wyvern were more akin to feet than hands.
Yet Han-bin claimed that she could move her forefeet that flexibly.
Furthermore, it was more difficult for Wyvern to move because the forelimbs were covered with wings like a bat.
“That doesn’t make sense. It’s like inserting a thread into a needle hole using her toes, right?”
“Well, she did just that.”
While they were talking, Effir had gone from walking to starting to run naturally.
“Running on two legs feels different.”
She moved much better than an ordinary human.
Every movement was precise and efficient.
Not only did she fully adapt to the human body in a matter of minutes, but she also succeeded in switching to the human senses.
Artis truly admired her.
“Oh my God, she’s a gifted athlete.”
Out of curiosity, Ryu Han-bin took a look at Effir’s information.
[Race: Human. Lv. 1]
“She’s just a normal human being, though.”
“For now. She’s still getting used to the human body, after all.”
As a Wyvern, Effir trained herself well and gained a lot of combat experience.
Her
When Effir was a Wyvern, it trained itself well and gained a lot of combat experience.
Her physical abilities were reflected in her human form to some extent.
Even at her level, she already possessed a more advanced physical capability than an average warrior.
She just didn’t know how to apply it properly. Hence her level was low.
“If she masters human martial arts, she will be able to reach level 20 in no time. It’ll probably only take a month or two…”
Artis mumbled as she watched Effir.
The girl had stopped walking and running and had started shadowboxing.
“Is it like this, like this?”
She was imitating the bare-handed techniques of the knights she worked with during her days in the Dragon Knights.
Her techniques were clumsy at first, but they swiftly became better.
“Yap! Yap! Yap!”
Han-bin muttered something out.
“Huh, she’s Level 2.”
After a while, she practiced kicking.
“Level 3.”
Next, she practiced alternating between punching and kicking.
“Level 4…”
It’s only been about 10 minutes.
Her status window had already changed so much.
[Race: Human. Warrior Lv. 7]
Speechless, Han-bin asked Artis.
“When the Dragon Race transforms into their human form, do their level rise this fast in the beginning?”
“It definitely rises quickly, but not this quick.”
Artis raised an eyebrow.
“There seems to be a mutation in that Wyvern.”
After a few more minutes, Effir finally came to her senses and approached the duo.
“Sorry! I got distracted. Let’s continue going down the mountain. I can walk now.”
However, they had dumbfounded expressions on their faces.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Ryu Han-bin and Artis looked at each other, then smiled bitterly.
They returned to their journey.
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“No, let’s go home first.”
“Yes, let’s go back and talk.”
“…..?”
Puzzled, Effir could only follow the duo, but this time with her own two feet.
* * *
At the Northern part of the Xrad Kingdom and near the Satt forest was the Herald region.
In the basement of an abandoned fortress located deep in its mountains, dozens of monsters were bound by chains of light.
The monsters came from dungeons, such as goblins, orcs, kobolds, and ogres.
With a beckoning from Leslie, a brunette woman, the monsters burst into painful screams.
“Aaahhhhhh!”
“Kaaaarrrggghh!”
The monsters dried up and vomited black smoke.
The smoke agglomerated and gathered in her grasp.
Leslie laughed as she looked back at Richard, a middle-aged blond man.
“It’s accumulating amazingly. At this speed, we’ll be able to meet the schedule.”
Richard clicked his tongue.
“Is that so.”
The problem was the experiment in the village of Gyuzac, which Alejandro was in charge of.
“Why is that guy taking so long?”
Shin Ha-joon’s mission was to capture a large quantity of Dungeon monsters and bring them together in one place. It was troublesome and needed a lot of work.
However, even if he died, it wasn’t going to cause the experiment any trouble.
Anyone could easily fill in the job.
However, losing Alejandro was a different story.
“I don’t know how far he’s tracking them, but if he doesn’t return soon, he’ll cause problems with our schedule.”
As his concern rose, a young man entered the basement of the fortress.
He looked to be around his mid-20s, had dark brown skin and short blond-dyed hair.
Leslie was a little surprised when she saw him.
“D’Andre? What brings you here?”
D’Andre shouted, cutting off her words.
“Alejandro is dead!”
“… What?”
Richard’s face had hardened.
Shin Ha-joon only had a high level, but he was stupid and had no sense of combat.
He was the one who became a Lich, after all.
Liches were humans who turned themselves into undead out of fear of dying of old age.
However, the Alien’s reason for becoming a Lich was different. He didn’t age after all.
Shin Ha-joon was simply so bad at fighting that he was brought to the brink of death, forcing him to become a Lich.
That was why its actual combat ability was subpar compared to its level.
The Lich was ignored within the organization, so it didn’t receive any items like Artifacts.
On the other hand, Alejandro was powerful.
He had years-worth of combat experience and had excellent battle senses. He had a deep understanding of the Maxbrid Martial Arts, one of the three major swordsmanships.
He was also armed with all kinds of powerful Artifacts and a Unique Item, the Polymorph Necklace.
But he still died?
“Where did he die?”
“I don’t know the exact details. He went too far. I only know he headed to the dungeon city, Highten.”
Richard’s expression became serious.
‘If he lost even after using the Polymorph Necklace, does that mean the Dragon is more powerful than Alejandro even in human form? No, maybe his opponent wasn’t a Dragon at all but something else?’
Either way, if it could beat Alejandro, Even Richard couldn’t assure victory.
“This is a huge problem. The Polymorph Necklace is a valuable item.”
Richard thought about it for a moment before reaching a conclusion.
“You should give up on the Gyuzac village and join us instead, D’Andre.”
“Huh?”
“Whatever defeated Alejandro isn’t something we can handle on our own. We’ll leave this place after finishing the experiment. The upper line will handle shin Ha-joon and Alejandro’s case.”
D’Andre nodded.
“Okay, then. Let’s move right away.”