“Phew...”

Li took a deep breath...

“I can accept your legacy. So, should I call you Teacher Hortons?”

“You can call me that. After all, whether you’re a good person or a bad one, all I want now is for my legacy to live on. I don’t care what kind of person you are. Even I have killed far too many lives in the name of experimentation. I’m no good person myself.”

“Good or bad... I don’t know which side I belong on. I’m pretty casual about it—I just follow my heart... If I want to do something, I do it... I don’t care about all that stuff. But there’s one thing I want you to tell me: can I get out of this Abyss of the Underworld?”

“The obsession in your heart is terrifying. You can get out, but you’ll only get one chance.”

“What chance?”

“Something happened in this Abyss of the Underworld. It was something I couldn’t believe, but I saw it with my own eyes...”

Hortons sounded extremely serious.

“What happened?”

“Kid, do you know about the Dragon King?”

“Rank Two, the Dragon King?”

“That’s right. Rank Two, the Dragon King. Even though the Dragon Clan was wiped out, their strength was so great that they still earned the glory of Rank Two. Even the gods had to acknowledge the Dragon Clan’s power!”

“What do you mean?”

“A dragon has been born here in the Abyss of the Underworld!”

“A dragon?”

A dragon...

A creature that had long since gone extinct in this world. They say it was the most powerful and beautiful being in existence. Thousands of years ago, during the Rank War, the other races joined forces to wipe out the Dragon Clan because its power was utterly terrifying! A dragon’s claws could tear through anything!

Even a god’s divine body could be torn apart by a dragon’s claws...

They were destroyed because they were too powerful, too terrifying.

A dragon...

A race that no longer existed on the Yalatika Continent...

Everyone on the Yalatika Continent knew this. The Dragon Clan had long since vanished, and yet...

Now Hortons was saying he’d witnessed a dragon being born. It was unbelievable. The Dragon Clan no longer existed—so how could a dragon be born...?

“I still can’t forget what happened. It was so incredible... There were actually dragon eggs still hidden in this Abyss of the Underworld. The Dragon Clan wasn’t extinct after all.”

“But what can just one dragon do...?”

“Dragons are born female. When the time is right, a female uses her own power to split off a dragon egg, and the egg hatches into a male dragon. The two come together and produce the next generation of the Dragon Clan. Even if only one dragon remains, given enough time, they can give rise to more dragons. The Dragon Clan will never perish...”

“But what does that have to do with whether I can leave the Abyss of the Underworld?”

“Hahahaha! Don’t you know that the Dragon Clan are the masters of the Abyss of the Underworld? This place was originally their home. Only the Dragon Clan can control the Abyss of the Underworld! And only the Dragon Clan can fly out of it! They’re an incredibly intelligent race, and they inherit the knowledge of their ancestors. So every dragon is born with great power and wisdom.”

“Teacher Hortons, are you saying... I have to find this dragon and... ride it to get out of the Abyss of the Underworld?”

“It might eat you on the spot, too. Hahaha!”

“You...”

A dragon...