"So, that's how it is… Sigh, It would have been better if I came back early…" (Aria)
"Well… perhaps that demon prince attacked him because of that tree or something he was researching…" (Riya)
Aria shook her head and said in sad tone:
"Aaron is my second-youngest child… truthfully speaking, dragons don't have the concept of marriage as they live alone most of the times…" (Aria)
"We just agree to have kids with the dragons of the same age who we are most familiar with… hmm, I guess that's how love works in the dragon race…" (Aria)
This is also the reason why there's no dragon queen in the dragon race.
Even if a female dragon becomes the strongest, she would still be considered the dragon king, not the dragon queen.
"But still, it's quite saddening to lose a child…" (Aria)
Dragons usually like to stay in solitary confinements, build large magic barriers around their nests, and sleep for years.
Some dragons take interest in various hobbies and practice them over the years, like Aaron, who took interest in researching the tree of blood.
Most dragons don't have great motivation like Aaron, though.
As dragons have very long life-span, things get boring after you keep doing it for centuries or more.
Thus, most dragons pass time by sleeping for decades and centuries.
A dragon doesn't need mortal food, they can directly ingest mana from their surroundings and live without eating anything else, so they don't even need to find food.
Dragon's usually don't have much interest in technology either, and barely any of them are interested in research. Due to this, the dragons are ironically far behind other races in terms of technology.
The reason why the dragon race is so strong without even having an ounce of technology is because each true dragon has the potential to reach S-rank in its lifespan.
They don't even need to do anything at all either, they just need to sleep, ingest mana, and grow over time.
They literally grow by just sleeping and doing nothing.
If a dragon lives for two hundred years, it becomes an adult dragon and ascends to rank S without even getting up from their bed.
Other races envy and fear the dragons because each one of them has such high potential.
Breaking through Rank-SS is actually much easier for the dragon race, but they don't bother with it as they are just too lazy to even move.
Newborn dragons are supposed to have inherited knowledge stored in their DNA and bloodline, so they know how to take care of themselves from the very start.
They ingest mana and survive anywhere in the world, but still, quite a lot of dragon mothers take care of their children till they are at least ten years old.
During that time of ten years, if you try to attack their child, you will meet with fearsome backlash from the mother, just like how Kai and Tomar did when they attacked Aaron in his childhood.
…
"Well, even SS-rank healers are powerless against death… even we can't reverse it…" (Aria)
Seeing Aria shake her head, Riya asked in a confused tone:
"Hmm, but isn't there a rumor that SS-rankers can revive the dead?" (Riya)
"That's just a rumor made up by someone, there's no way to revive the dead… we can certainly heal someone who has even a little bit of life-force left in them, but if the soul has already left the body, then there's no way to do it…" (Aria)
"Wait… does that mean you can revive the dead if you can capture their souls? Then how come the necromancers do it even without being SS-rankers…" (Riya)
At Riya's question, Syvis smiled and answered in a gentle tone:
"Well, the necromancers don't control souls of the dead, they just force their will and mana into the dead bodies and to make them move, those dead bodies they control don't have 'free will's' of their own…" (Syvis)
At Syvis's words, Aria added her own thoughts.
"if they really want a summon with 'free will'… The SS-rank necromancers usually make 'forbidden contracts' with the 'dead souls' and ask them to become their subordinate…" (Aria)
"This method relies heavily on the choice of the dead soul, if the person has just died and wants to return to life, they can agree to become the subordinate of the SS-rank necromancer, thus returning to life as an undead…" (Aria)
"But that's a very bad idea; it practically just makes you a 'sl*ve' of that necromancer… no person with a sane mind will do that…"
"Your soul will not be able to leave this world peacefully unless your undead body dies…or the necromancer dies…" (Aria)
The confusion in Riya's mind increased even more after those words.
"Then where do souls usually go after death?" (Riya)
"Actually, there was a person who once led extensive research on this topic…" (Aria)
"She was the 'First SS-rank Healer' and the 'First Awakener' of this world, her research on healing and life was so detailed and so advanced for her time, that people gave her the titles 'Goddess of Life and Cure'…" (Syvis)
"She was born during the era when mana and dungeon gates opened for the first time in this world…" (Syvis)
Hearing such high praise from both Aria and Syvis, Riya got curious to know about this person.
"Uh, this is the first time I am hearing about this…" (Riya)
A confused look appeared on Syvis's face at Riya's question.
"Huh? Records and famous books are written on her; have you never read a book about her… hmmm, you might have heard this poem as a child then…" (Syvis)
[Young fairy Young fairy, don't cry,
The benevolent goddess of cure, Will bless your heart.
Those against her radiance, are small fry.
Her benevolence extends to all
She can heal your soul.]
"Ah, yes! My mother used to sing that poem to me when I was young!" (Riya)
"Yes, that poem was actually made during her era; it has lasted for more than two millennia now…" (Aria)
Syvis and Aria glanced at each other and nodded their heads.
"That person was called Astra 'The Enlightened God of cure'; the capital city of the human race is named after her and the human continent was also named 'Astrum' after her name, 'Astra'…" (Syvis)
Aria nodded her head and said:
"Her feats were immense and her fame spread all over the world… she had such a kind of heart that people considered her as a 'Mother' figure…" (Syvis)
"This is the reason why humans are referred as 'Children of Astra' by the whole world nowadays… This is a show of respect for her..." (Aria)
Hearing all this amazing information, Riya felt quite excited, She hadn't read many history books so she didn't know about all this.
But today she figured out the truth behind why everyone referred to humans as 'Children of Astra'.
"But… the reason why the whole world came to respect her was because of the ultimate sacrifice she made. She sacrificed her 'Soul', 'Will' and 'Life' to create a sword for King Allen…" (Syvis)
"Records say that the sword she made with her 'life' was called 'The sword of Promised Destinies'… King Allen once used that sword to change a 'Certain Destiny'… which the world isn't aware of…" (Aria)
"Then where did that sword go?" (Riya)
Aria shook her head.
"With the disappearance of King Allen a millennia ago, that sword also disappeared… we aren't aware of its whereabouts' anymore…" (Aria)
"There are rumors about it though; it's said that 'it was a one-
time-use weapon' or something like that but we aren't sure about it…" (Syvis)
"One-time use weapon?" (Riya)
"Yeah, it's a type of weapon which self-destructs after you use it once…" (Aria)
Riya was quite surprised that such a strong weapon was only usable for one-time.
"She was the only person who understood the essence of healing to an extreme level, no one comes close to her in terms of mastery at healing…" (Aria)
"Even after two millennia, not a single SS-rank healer has been able to reach her level of mastery… she wasn't the 'First Awakener' for nothing after all." (Syvis)
Astra was the first individual to receive recognition from the heavens and awaken when the dungeon gates had just begun to open and the various races were beginning to arrive on this planet via those dungeon gates.
In those days, the people in power made her life very difficult and even tried to use her as a lab rat many times, but she survived some way or another.
Eventually more awakeners appeared and her life was spared.
She then went on to become an S-ranker and continued to help people.
Later, during the first few decades of the thousand-year war, she ascended to rank SS right after King Allen.
She was a member of the 'Golden Generation', which was led by King Allen himself.
Her circumstances of death are mysterious and hazy, but they are related to 'The Sword of Promised Destinies' in some way or another.
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
If you were confused about why humans were being referred to as 'children of Astra' all this time, then here is the explanation you wanted! Let's gooo!!!
Question of the day.
Do you also think that the previous golden generation was really mysterious and strong?
1. Yes (Each member from it is a legendary and world-known figure after all!)
2. No (The current golden generation will be even better!!)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.