My Two Status Windows

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 95: Dragon Rider Contract

Drakina, now a B-rank, had transformed into a true dragon.

Although her size was reduced when viewed through the Apostle’s Garden Window, she still appeared to be a formidable red dragon.

I sent her a message.

[Did you become a hatchling?]

[Yeah. I was a little short on mana, but it suddenly increased. Was it because of your blessing?]

[Oh, does a message like that pop up?]

[Yeah, it was a well-timed blessing. Thanks.]

Surprisingly, she thanked me without any resistance.

[Then try polymorphing into a human. I need to summon you.]

[Got it.]

After waiting for a bit, Drakina transformed from a dragon into her human form.

She looked the same as before—a beautiful woman with red hair.

When I summoned her, she appeared in my house, wearing ragged orc clothes.

Seeing me, she brightened up and suddenly gave me a high-five.

“The timing of your blessing was perfect~ I almost failed.”

“You could have failed?”

“The system window said the success rate was 50%. I thought, ‘Why the hell is there a success rate for returning to my original form?’ and just started evolving.”

This one really has no sense of caution.

I checked her status window.

Her class had changed, and a new blessing slot had appeared.

[Name: Drakina

Class: Red Dragon Hatchling

Guardian Deity: Kim Jiho

Title: –

Level: 100

Physical Ability: A

Mana: S

Skill: C

Luck: D

Blessing: ‘Bestowed Power of the Guardian Deity’

Retrievable SP: 1481]

My eyes locked onto the retrievable SP.

“You have 148,100 SP right now?”

“Yeah, I worked hard to save up.”

“Then let’s see if the number disappears.”

When I clicked the SP retrieval window, a message appeared.

[Retrieved 1481 SP.]

“Did your SP change?”

“No? What did you do?”

“I retrieved some SP, but it looks like it doesn’t affect the apostle.”

Drakina looked confused.

I pondered over it.

1481 SP was honestly a small amount, but if I had more underlings, it could add up.

But how do they even accumulate SP?

“How do dragons gather SP?”

“Huh…? It just builds up as I live.”

“It just builds up? You had about 20,000 before, but now you have over 100,000?”

“When I was about to evolve into a hatchling, it just skyrocketed. I don’t really know how it happens.”

“Does it increase when you kill monsters?”

“No idea…”

Drakina tilted her head.

Ugh, useless.

I’ll have to experiment by grinding dungeons myself.

“Alright, never mind that. Let’s do the Dragon Rider contract.”

“Ugh… Right.”

“You haven’t forgotten the Oath of Dragon Words, have you?”

“I know, I know.”

She pulled a sour face for a moment but quickly composed herself and became serious.

“Well, it’s for a hundred years anyway… I, Drakina of the Dragon God’s lineage, hereby swear.”

She reached her hand toward me.

A red glow enveloped her hands before it burst into a brilliant light.

“I accept Kim Jiho as my soul-bound companion. The contract duration is one hundred years from now.”

Do we really have to become soul-bound just to be a Dragon Rider?

She didn’t waste a second locking in that hundred-year term…

[Red Dragon Hatchling Drakina is initiating a temporary ‘Dragon Rider’ contract. Do you agree?]

When I pressed “Yes,” the red light from Drakina’s hands was absorbed into my body.

System messages popped up.

[You have formed a temporary Dragon Rider contract with Red Dragon Hatchling Drakina.]

[You can now ride Drakina.]

[Your soul bonds with the dragon, exchanging abilities. The stats of both beings influence each other and increase.]

Soul bonding?

With this one?

I looked at Drakina, feeling uneasy.

She was looking at me with the same expression.

Then, another message appeared.

[The affinity between the two beings is not deep. They are not highly compatible as soul-bound partners. Due to insufficient resonance, the ability boost is weak.]

[Only 10% of each other’s abilities will be shared.]

10%?

I checked my status window.

Except for Luck, my stats in the neutral faction’s gauge were maxed out.

Luck was just slightly below A-rank.

Hmm… If I raise my rank to A, my limits should expand, and my stats should increase even further.

But I wasn’t the only one benefiting.

“Whoa, what’s with your abilities?”

Drakina suddenly latched onto my arm.

Wondering why she was acting this way, I checked her status.

Her Skill and Luck had each gone up by one rank.

A 10% effect was this significant?

“You’re amazing! Let’s be best friends from now on. Hehe, let’s share our soul resonance more.”

Drakina grinned up at me.

She was undeniably beautiful… but I kept remembering her orc phase.

“Sigh. Whatever. Does your Polymorph work fine?”

“Polymorph? Of course. What do you take dragons for?”

“The gods won’t detect you?”

“If a deity-level being directly looks at me, they might, but do you think any will come to Earth? Unless they’re god-tier, they won’t notice a thing.”

Drakina was full of confidence.

Well, I doubt gods would come all the way here.

But her looks were too striking.

If she walked around outside like this, people would take pictures, and she’d be all over the internet as a “Western beauty.”

Even among the famed Valkyries, none were this gorgeous…

I turned on the TV.

A news broadcast was on, with a stunning anchorwoman.

“What’s this?”

“See that lady? Try making your face look like hers.”

“Why?”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“You stand out too much. People on Earth don’t look like you.”

“Oh, really? Is this what humans like? My father must have designed my looks for appeal.”

Drakina summoned a mirror and compared her face to the news anchor’s.

“So, big eyes and nose are good? Jawline? Chest?”

“Ugh, stop analyzing it. Just change your appearance a little.”

“I need to analyze it to change it properly! Tch, so you want me to blend in?”

“Yes. Actually, that anchor is considered pretty. Oh, right. That woman there. That’s the most average-looking face.”

“That’s average? Humans are so small. Ah, but their faces are big…”

Drakina studied the TV screen, murmuring to herself.

After about ten minutes, she nodded confidently.

“Polymorph.”

Then, her face began to change.

Her hair and eyes turned black, and her pale skin gradually darkened.

The transformed face took on the common appearance of an East Asian woman.

Oh, for just ten minutes of analysis, this was incredibly accurate.

“How’s this?”

“Yeah, well done.”

This should be fine to take around.

Should I register as a Hunter right away?

Hmm.

No, there aren’t any dangerous dungeons on Earth yet, so I’ll register later.

It’s not time for humanity to have a B-rank Awakened yet.

For now, I need to go to Eshtar and level up, so I should reverse summon.

Just as I was about to open the Apostle’s Window for reverse summoning, Drakina suddenly spoke in a flustered voice.

“Huh…?”

“What’s wrong?”

“My mana is unraveling.”

The polymorph transformation started reversing, like rewinding a videotape.

In an instant, her face reverted, and her hair and eyes turned red again.

“Ah… is it because my father, the Dragon God, did it? It looks like I can’t maintain the polymorph. I keep reverting to this appearance.”

Drakina said that the Dragon God’s power took priority, making it impossible to maintain the polymorph for long.

That Dragon God sure is using his power for the strangest things.

Come to think of it, what has he been up to?

Since declaring he would destroy the planet Kalvine, he’s been completely silent.

“My Awakening Quest for the Dragon God has been stuck at 3% for over a month now.”

Since it still shows 3% remaining, he’s probably still alive…

Well, I’ll hear from him eventually.

“Alright… Since it’s not urgent for you, I’ll reverse summon you to the Apostle’s Garden.”

“I wanted to explore Earth… The Apostle’s Garden is so boring.”

Drakina was glued to the TV, unable to take her eyes off it.

She looked like a child fascinated by something new.

Still, walking around in that appearance would attract too much attention.

She could use invisibility magic, but I won’t be on Earth anyway.

“It’s not ideal for you to walk around Earth looking like that. Since I’ll be going to the planet Eshtar anyway, I’ll summon you there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I also have an experiment to run.”

“What experiment?”

“Just something simple. Let’s go through a dungeon.”

* * *

I entered the reset version of Eshtar again.

Many Hunters were rushing in, forming guilds, and clearing dungeons.

Ignoring all that, I dashed straight to the mountain peak.

There, a massive navy-blue dungeon portal shimmered.

Hercules hadn’t forgotten to summon the dungeon portal.

As I stepped inside, a wave of heat hit me, and I saw a red, barren land.

Walking a little further, I reached a hill where countless mages stood in formation.

Dressed in red robes, they immediately showed hostility upon seeing me.

“A living human!”

“Kill him!”

All at once, they began casting spells.

Fire mages?

I immediately summoned Drakina.

She appeared in her human form and looked around curiously.

“Where are we?”

“This is an A-rank dungeon. Can you handle them?”

“Those fire mages? A-rank? Why are they so weak?”

“Oh? Then can you take them on alone?”

“Of course.”

Drakina confidently charged toward the fire mages.

They fired streams of flame at her, but the moment she opened her mouth, all the fire was sucked in.

“What?!”

“Using fire magic against me? How adorable.”

After devouring all their magic, Drakina reached the top of the hill.

She opened her mouth wide, unleashing a torrent of flames like a flamethrower.

“Gaaah!”

“This magic… It’s too strong!”

“Scatter! Fall back!”

Even as their comrades burned to death, the mages maintained discipline, retreating in formation.

Drakina smirked and spoke lightly.

“Stop.”

At that single word, most of the mages froze in place.

Then, they were consumed by the fire breath.

Just before they turned to ash, they looked at Drakina in horror.

“A dragon’s… Command…”

“She’s a dragon…”

Those trapped by her dragon magic burned instantly, while the survivors quickly used flight magic to escape.

Seeing them flee, Drakina scowled and gave chase.

I simply watched.

If she wiped them all out, I could have gotten free SP…

My hands itched, but I held back.

I wanted to see what would happen if I left the dungeon entirely to my Apostle.

“Stop right there!”

Drakina had been rampaging through this dungeon world for three hours now.

After defeating the last mage and destroying the dungeon core, we returned to the mountain peak.

“You got 9,000 SP?”

“Yeah, I even get SP for killing monsters. That’s a huge gain.”

When I checked Drakina’s status window, I saw 9,000 recoverable SP.

I originally thought only 1% would accumulate, but this time, she received the full amount.

Does the percentage change when clearing a dungeon?

“Plus, I leveled up.”

Drakina grinned, saying she was now level 101.

I also gained a small amount of experience.

Even though I did nothing.

So, when an Apostle clears a dungeon, some of the SP and experience automatically go to their Guardian?

The message window displayed “[Daily SP Consumption for Apostle Summon]: 500.”

So, in 10 days, that would be 5,000, making the net gain 4,000 SP.

The rewards weren’t enormous, but not bad either…

I checked the remaining slots in the Apostle’s Garden.

If I filled them all with strong fighters, their collective SP earnings could be quite lucrative.

Right now, I didn’t have many skilled Apostles, but having the option mattered.

Should I ask Hercules to summon one more A-rank dungeon portal for Drakina?

Step, step.

“It’s over. I have something to say.”

Guess he couldn’t help himself.

The massive figure of Hercules approached.

He stared at Drakina for a moment before handing me a red gemstone.

“What’s this?”

“The ‘Smiling Devil of Kalvine’ sent it. It seems to be related to the one beside you.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]