《Dragon's Dagger》 Prologue: Worst Birthday Ever. During 2000 A.F of Wudo calendar there was celebration of a yearly festival and it was the joyful day for Daram Royal Family since it was the Birthday of their Crown prince. Su Jin, was well known for his kindness and Honesty. Even though he was a Crown Prince of Daram Empire, among his peers he was always humble towards them he was classified as genius who appear once in 100 years in the history of Daram Empire, his Grandfather was very much proud of him and nurtured him well with all of the empire¡¯s resources available and because of that at the tender age of 12 years he was able to reach 6th Tier of Magnum Qi Realm while others of that age were at only 2nd or 3rd Realm, even so he was never arrogant and always spoke politely with everyone and greeted everyone with smiles on his faces. He has always been kind to all the peoples and everyone appreciated and acknowledged him and they were glad for him since he was going to become their King on this joyful day. This was his 16th birthday, and entire capital city was decorated with flowers and other decorative items. Entire city was filled with fragrance of the flowers and happiness and smile can be seen on the faces of the people of the Empire. When the sun was still obscured by the clouds, a frantic cry could be heard from the far end of the main street near the Empire¡¯s wall. Knight¡¯s wearing Purple Armour started the massacre near the Daram Empire¡¯s Wall, the news of the massacre has already spread over. People didn¡¯t believe this at first, but when they saw the large amount of fleeing citizens from the general direction of the Daram Empire¡¯s Royal City¡¯s City Wall¡­.. Bursts of power and prestige, brings a strong bloody smell! Fear, this kind of thing rapidly spread across the crowd! First person started to run ¡­ ¡­ Then the second, the third¡­¡­ And then the 1000th¡­¡­ The capital defense soldiers patrolling the streets suddenly left their posts and ignored the chaotic fleeing citizens. With purpose and order, these soldiers quickly regrouped and began marching towards the general direction of the central square. Anyone unfortunate enough to get in the way of these so called ¡°protectors of the city¡± was immediately dealt with! Whether it was ordinary members of the public, businessmen, or tourists, all became victims of these sword wielding butchers! Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. In the central square, the Crown Prince Su Jin was already surrounded by numerous soldiers ranging from heavy cavalry riders, infantry, to crossbowmen. These people were gathered around the two sides of the palace. As long as the fleeing citizens didn¡¯t try to head into the central square, these soldiers don''t care. In their mind, they only had one objective: The Royal Palace! And the Knight¡¯s from the Youlong Kingdom who can fly didn¡¯t take long to arrive at the central square either. Once they were a the central square, a thousand arrows were aimed at the Emperor who was Su Jin¡¯s Father standing on top of the platform! No one knows when, but an explosive tension quickly formed in the atmosphere! Kingdom was invaded by Youlong Kingdom Knights for their world concurring quest. Young prince witnessed his family was being slaughtered and his Empire being destroyed by the Enemy Knights and was unable to do any thing, barely able to keep himself alive with the help of his Parents. Almost all his family members were destroyed and Slaughtered by the sneak attack of Youlong Kingdom Knights, He was saved or was able to survive because his Father Su Jigan Tian and his Mother Mo Queing shielded him and protected him when they were escaping from underground tunnel built under their Royal Palace. while escaping his parents gave him their Empires Heirloom which was passed down for 5000 years. His father gave him a Old Looking Key which was passed down from First King and so on to his Father who was 11th King, and his mother gave him a small Pentagonal Necklace which was a protective charm and asked her son to leave the place as soon as possible, In order to defend his exit route so that no one form Youlong could reach Su Jin they stayed back in the Tunnel and urged him to live a better life and bid farewell to him in order to protect him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (To Be Continued) Chapter 1: Mysterious Ds Dagger ¡°This must be a dream! I remember that today is the crowning ceremony, for my ascendance to the throne; I must be sleeping,¡± Su Jin¡¯s mind was in complete chaos unable to comprehend what was happening in his life and following his parents instruction he reached the underground cave¡¯s exit the sight he saw there made his heart cry crazy. The entire Daram Empire which once flourished in Entire South Sky Continent was now at its ruins, countless lifeless bodies of people who fought for the protections of royal empire was lying everywhere on his path and entire Daram capital city was burning under the flames of war weak women and children who escaped the attack were also found by the knights of Youlong kingdom and they had their way with them, this made Su Jin come back to reality and he became aware of the current situation of the Empire. When he regained his consciousness he found himself surrounded by 500 Youlong Kingdom Knights, which went after the fleeing people and were returning back. Though they were a lot weaker than him, But they outnumbered him, and Two General Level Knights gave the order to his men to kill Su Jin, and a fight broke out between them. Using every ounce of his strength Su Jin fought with them and killed more than 200 knights and which made him lose considerable amount of his strength making him unable to continue any more. Results of the fight were clear he was going to die under enemy Knight assault. Unwilling to accept his fate, he griped his hand firmly and drop of his blood from his palm fell on the key and a strange light started emitting from his palm which was holding the key given to him by his father the key started glowing in red light and all the dead aura emitting from the from the countless dead body was absorbed by the key and this was the reason behind the red glow on the key. This read light swallowed Su Jin from everywhere, it felt he was in a complete new world and in front of him was the mysterious dagger, having a rusty look on it and a dragon was carved at its edge it was releasing a strange aura from it. Su Jin, went to inspect the dagger blood was still flowing from his palm and again blood fell on the dagger and various inscription on the dagger started glowing on the dagger, and it went inside the body of Su Jin¡¯s body and it made him unconscious. Like a spirit, Su Jin after collapsing, drifted under the Red Light. Su Jin felt his body floating through the air, light and completely out of his control. ¡°Where am I?¡± He turned his gaze downwards. There was a mass grave with thousands of corpses everywhere. It was a lifeless land. A group of crows and vultures pecked the flesh from the decaying bodies. ¡°So many people have died here. Am I dead?¡± Su Jin smiled wryly, looking at his hands. He could see the dead bodies through them. It seemed like he was truly dead. But at this moment, a lone wolf with silvery white fur suddenly barged towards the mass grave and disturbed the crows and vultures. In a hurry, the birds flew to the withered branches on the trees nearby and shrieked towards the wolf that interrupted their feast. The lone wolf paid no attention to the sounds of the birds. It approached a young boy¡¯s body, sat down and sniffed. Then it gave a long and sorrowful howl which made the birds grow quiet. The young boy¡¯s face was pale but stern, with many scratches across his body. His clothes were ragged and a black dagger was tied to his waist. The dagger looked rusty and dull. The boy was completely lifeless. The lone wolf stayed on his side and kept howling, as if it was begging for the heaven¡¯s for mercy. Perhaps, the heaven would answer its plea. All of a sudden, the black rusty dagger quivered and a strange power stirred from within. An indescribable force sucked Su Jin¡¯s spirit towards the dagger. He was startled but before he could react, his body no longer felt weightless. Opening his eyes, Su Jin looked up and saw the depressing grey sky. It was foggy. He suddenly felt a pounding headache, followed by painful memories flashing into his head. He thought his brain was about to explode from all of the events happened in his life today. He then noticed all of the corpses were everywhere around him, oozing a rotten stench. The stench disgusted Su Jin so much, that it made him fill with rage and burning anger. . ¡°Why did this happened? Why am I over hear? Doesn¡¯t matter, I need to get out of here first.¡± This was his first thought. He passed by many corpses and ran towards a forest. The stench of rotten bodies slowly faded away and the sight of them finally disappeared. When he approached the edge of the spooky forest, he realized that his whole body was in searing pain. He was too exhausted to run. His legs had given up and he tumbled under a tree while heavily breathing. He finally noticed the wolf that was following him. He was spooked as the memories flashed through his brain. He remembered when he was 10 years old, he went on hunting with his grandfather he saved the life of a baby wolf whose mother was murdered by a Purple Lion while protecting her newborn child. He remembered that he named the wolf¡­ ¡°YuWu!¡± Hearing Su Jin¡¯s calling, the wolf howled a few times and its eyes sparkled. When he heard the voice that came from his mouth, it was unfamiliar to Su Jin. But a strange sound came from his stomach. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°YuWu, I¡¯m hungry. I can¡¯t walk anymore. Please go and find me some food.¡± Su Jin gathered a bit of hope and whispered. His stomach rumbled at the perfect timing. Behind him is a forest, in front of him a mass of corpses of Daram Empire¡¯s dead Soldiers. The forest was called the Beastly Forest. Which is located at the outside of the Capital City. He used to come to this place with his grandfather to improve his martial arts skill this is also the place where his Grandfather taught him ways of living a life. Inside the forest¡¯s mountains contained many extremely dangerous magical beasts. He only dared to hunt the beasts with 6th layer magical abilities when he came to hunt with his grandfather who stayed at the edge of the forest and only kept a watch at him. He would take the opportunities to battle when the beasts came out of the forest to eat, to increase his own battle power. To Su Jin¡¯s misfortune, the earth beneath his feet began to shake. Bang! Bang! Bang¡­ Su Jin turned his head and saw a magic bear three metres tall charging in his direction. It¡¯s terrifying mouth was displaying its razor sharp teeth. It opened its mouth, ready to bite! Su Jin did not know what to do. A shiver ran down his spine and his brain froze, he was unable to react. A magic bear was even more powerful than any other beast he fought so far. His heart screamed, ¡°Am I going to die? If a magic bear could kill me, I don¡¯t deserve the Daram Emperor¡¯s name. I¡¯m going to fight!¡± Su Jin¡¯s bloodthirst was growing by each second spent between life and death. He pulled out the rusty black dagger from his waist and ignored the pain from his body. He pushed through his body¡¯s limit and jumped. He thrust the dagger, which was more like a tiny sword, 40 centimetres in length, towards the bear¡¯s neck. A strange, indescribable feeling arose within Su Jin¡¯s heart when he held the black dagger. He did not put much thought into that feeling, there was no time. The bear seemed to have sensed something when it saw the rusty dagger. A tinge of disdain flashed through its eyes as bit down onto the dagger. At this very moment, all of the bear¡¯s long, sharp teeth shattered. Blood was oozing from its wounds. As the blood covered the dagger it seemed to come alive. The dagger burst into an incredible amount of black threads which wrapped around the bear¡¯s head. The threads were so tight that the bear could not move. Su Jin¡¯s hand was glued to the dagger. His body gave a violent shake. All the black threads condensed into a black light which was directed towards his body. Su Jin felt his wounds healing, his strength replenishing. To his shock, the bear¡¯s torso shrank at an alarming speed until there was only skin and bones left. The bear merely struggled for a brief moment before it died. His wounds disappeared, his hunger no longer remained. He felt energetic. He looked at the dagger. A few pieces of rust fell from the dagger, the black light shone weakly for a while longer and then it returned to normal. When his life was at stake; Su Jin was fierce and fearless, however he realized after that a cold sweat had covered his body. He tried to steady his breathing. All the sensations he just experienced were unimaginable. He could not find anything similar when searching through the memories from this mind. It took him a while to compose himself. Then he remembered that he could wear the bear¡¯s skin for covering his body. He took out the dagger and began to remove the bear skin. Thanks to this Grandfather¡¯s teachings, Su Jin was an expert at skinning a beast. And since the bear¡¯s flesh and blood were completely absorbed by the strange force from the dagger; he removed the skin without much difficulty. When it was done, he neatly folded the bear¡¯s fur. His eyes lit up when he saw the bear¡¯s skeleton. ¡°Bones of a magic bear! I can get Self Essence from those.¡± The second he touched the bones, the skeleton burst into fine dust and was blown away by the wind. Su Jin was dumbfounded. He sighed ¨C It was regretful that he could not get Self Essence from the skeleton. Then he suddenly saw a blood-red cobblestone-size object, an elixir was laying on the ground. ¡°Ha! An elixir!¡± Su Jin naturally knew how precious the elixir was. He was ecstatic to have found it. If he used it, he could obtain better medicine and equipment to protect his life in this Beastly Forest. Suddenly, he felt something approaching him. He will hold his head high. YuWu came back this time with a small hog in its mouth. The wolf was a natural hunter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (To Be Continued) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2: Escape From Pursuit After Jin finished eating the food brought by YuWu, he again went to the place where the lifeless bodies of thousand¡¯s of his kingdom¡¯s people and Daram empire''s army soldiers was thrown by Youlong Kingdom knights. He wanted to give them a proper funeral so that their vengeful souls can rest in peace. He used his family¡¯s secret technique [Burning Magma Flames] and ignited their dead bodies with his flames and unknowing to him, because of his rage, anger and anxiety those flames became so high that they even if anyone was 100 km away but they will notice, It seems like those flames were like some kind of signal from Su Jin, to those despicable slaughters, and the physical form of the anger he held inside him. Su Jin immediately left that valley in order to avoid being detected by Youlong Kingdom Knights he went further deep inside the beastly forest. YuWu was also followed him and hide the presence of Su Jin from other Demon beasts. Unknown to them Hong Youlong one of the Grand Knight of Youlong Empire, With hawk-like eyes and grayish brown hair, his face was bluish, with a high-bridged nose. With facial features of some mixed blood, a 1.8m powerful build was very eye-catching who was first one to notice the fire, found Su Jin and YuWu who were running from the valley and he silently followed them waiting for any critical moment to ambush them. After running for 5 KM away from the valley towards the central region of the beastly forest Su Jin felt like someone was following them so he pretended not to notice and waited for the opportunity to attack his pursuer. When they reached a plain region with less trees, Hong Youlong ambushed them with sword in his hand. Su Jin who was waiting for him to attack took the rusty old dagger in his hand and with all of his Qi Force responded to Hong¡¯s attack. Hong Youlong became slightly surprised when Su Jin was able to notice him. He looked at Su Jin with scorn, and coldly said: ¡°You¡¯re called Su Jin, right? The one whose coronation ceremony was today!¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Su Jin leisurely stared back at him. There wasn¡¯t a single hint of fear on this face. In an instant they clashed with each other the dagger in Su Jin¡¯s hand, pierced inside the Hong¡¯s heart and other than his clothing nothing was left of him. Though every thing happened in an instant, it still managed to awaken the other beasts near them and only after few minutes, 236 or more beast attacked Su Jin and YuWu, they avoided some of their attacks and started to run deeper inside the forest towards the Silver Dragon Mountain Range. The reason why the mountain was named the Silver Dragon Mountain Range, was because in the center of the mountain place lived an enormous Great Dragon, thus granting it that name. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. However that was only in legends and no one had actually seen it before. Su Jin came to those mountains with his grandfather and remembered that his grandfather once told him that ¡°Dragons were at the apex of all the beasts, so even the lowest leveled dragons are terrifyingly powerful. And if they really existed, there might be no possibility of surviving after seeing one.¡± Since, they were busy running from the beasts they only followed the track of the night star¡¯s to reach the mountain ranges. Su Jin somehow discovered a very strange phenomena Happening to him. Covertly breathing in, Su Jin¡¯s footstep retreated backwards, his heart developing an desire to back off. After all, at the moment, his strength was too weak; weak enough to not to be able to take care of three or four 1st Tier of King Qi Realm Beasts Following them. If he was slightly careless, he would have to pay with his life. As he stepped back a few steps and started to leave, his heart suddenly jumped. He could even faintly hear the the *Ba-dump* sound that came from his heart. Su JIn thought Anxiously ¡°What is this feeling¡­.?¡± *Ba-dump*¡­.*Ba-dump¡±¡­..*Ba-dump¡±¡­..*Ba-dump¡±¡­..*Ba-dump¡±¡­..*Ba-dump¡±¡­.. His heart fiercely jumped again. In his heart, an inexplicable feeling suddenly surfaced, and then it became more and more intense. This feeling is¡­.. Su Jin put his hand onto his chest, a baffled bewilderment appeared on his face¡­ ¡°There¡¯s someone¡­ calling for me?¡± He thought. Su Jin turned around and looked toward the south. That incomprehensible feeling clearly came from that direction. This feeling was really subtle; although it was a kind of illusory and whimsical feeling that could not be described with words, his heart could not even generate the slightest hint of doubt or resistance. Since he didn''t know what was calling for him, Su Jin asked YuWu to head directly towards the west direction by avoiding the beasts following them for YuWu¡¯s own safety and Su Jin then told YuWu to look for him afterwards. Avoiding the Beasts that were madly pursuing him he ignited his [Magnum Flames], and burned some nearby trees that created some fire and smoke giving him the time to escape easily.