Gernasa, with his mouth bound, struggled, trying to use his claws to remove the thing.
But, for some reason, whatever it was made of, he couldn’t break it. His clumsy dragon claws were also useless against the tightly knotted bow.
Helpless, he could only listen to Geli speak.
“It’s perfectly normal to play a bit while restocking supplies. I’ve been taking care of you all for so long—got to let myself relax too, right?”
Hearing this, Gernasa rolled his eyes sideways in exasperation, unable to stop himself from complaining internally:
Play if you want, but at least say something beforehand. Seriously, at your age, still wanting to go off playing everywhere.
Geli noticed his expression and pulled out a pile of things.
“Of course, I brought you all Gifts~”
Ahem, how could I accept that, heh heh~
Gernasa smiled and shuffled closer, pointing at the thing on his mouth.
After Geli helped untie him, he immediately asked,
“What fun stuff did you buy? Let me see.”
With Gernasa staring at her expectantly, she pulled out a…
Red Dress.
“Tada~ What do you think? Is it pretty?”
(ㅍ_ㅍ)
This scene seemed all too familiar, and Gernasa turned to leave without another word, not even bothering to argue.
Watching his back, Geli pouted.
“Tch, if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. It’s not like I only prepared this for you anyway.”
“Anyway, as I was saying—”
Suddenly he rushed back, still looking forward to what Geli would bring out next.
She kept rummaging, then took out a palm-sized, bright red object, looking like a fruit, but emanating waves of scorching heat.
“What’s this?”
“Phoenix Heart.”
“Huh?”
Those words made Gernasa doubt if there was something wrong with his ears.
“Phoenix? Isn’t that a Legend? It actually exists?”
Faced with his skepticism, Geli just tapped his forehead with a finger.
“Being ignorant isn’t your fault. Creatures like the Phoenix live in extremely remote places—almost no one encounters them, so they became legends. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. They’re just very, very rare.”
There are still many areas of this continent unexplored by intelligent beings, so only a handful of powerful individuals ever get to witness Legendary creatures.
The Phoenix: a bird wreathed in undying fire, turning to Ashes upon death and then being Resurrected from those Ashes in a juvenile form.
If you use special methods just before it turns to Ashes, you can preserve its flesh and blood.
Several Phoenix Feathers at the tail can give the wearer a chance at Resurrection; they can be made into potions or forged into equipment to increase the odds of Resurrection and provide special effects.
As for its flesh and blood, it may allow fire-element creatures to inherit the Phoenix’s undying fire attribute.
“Well? Do you like it?”
“Uh… Is this for me? Is it really for me?”
Gernasa wasn’t sure if she was actually giving him such a treasure.
“Of course. Who else would I give it to? If you don’t want it, I’ll keep it to have with a drink later.”
Only then did Gernasa accept it, while Kalu on the side finally couldn’t hold back and hopped up excitedly.
“What about me? What about me? Is there something for me?”
“Of course. Look, a beautiful little dress.”
A dress woven from gold thread and silk, studded with gemstones, sparkling all over and practically shouting money, making Kalu’s eyes go wide.
“Whoa—whoa~~~”
“And there’s more, take a look at this.”
Saying so, she brought out a dazzling, golden metallic Halo.
Smooth on the surface, its edges forming an abstract, radiant shape.
“This is something I got from the Church of Light. They call it the Halo of Divine Envoy—it’s actually modeled after the Angelic Halo, a type of accessory that can strengthen the Light Element. It’s pretty useful. Do you like it?”
Geli waved her hand dismissively, as if it was nothing special.
But anyone who knew her understood—she had extremely high standards. If she said something was useful, outside it would be a priceless treasure.
While the Golden Dragon is also considered a Fire Dragon, its main attribute is Light, so this was very suitable for them.
“Wow~ I love it! Hehehe~”
She laughed and put it right on her head, and the Halo hovered above her, leaving Gernasa utterly dumbfounded.
“Wearing a ring like that on your head—doesn’t it seem a bit unlucky…”
Gernasa’s thinking was different from theirs. Maybe, for them, it was a holy symbol.
But for himself, it was more like a sign of someone who had already kicked the bucket.
“Uh… Forget it, as long as she’s happy.”
He decided not to say more—otherwise, they’d just get upset.
After handing out their Gifts, Geli straightened up, hands on her hips.
“Alright, your stuff’s sorted. Now I’ve got to prepare a Gift for Aixi.”
With that, she headed for the Forging Room.
“Huh? Prepare?”
Gernasa followed her curiously and asked. She shrugged helplessly.
“No choice—finding a suitable Gift for Aixi is tough, so I can only gather raw materials and make one myself. Besides, she doesn’t know I’m back yet, so I have to hurry.”
As for what kind of Gift to make, Geli already seemed to have an idea.
“Okay, hurry up and eat that Phoenix Heart. If anything happens, I can keep an eye on you.”
“Oh, okay.”
Gernasa didn’t eat it right away, but put it away. But with her urging, he obediently took it out again, intending to eat it.
However, after hesitating for a while, he asked uncertainly,
“Can I roast it before eating? I feel like it wouldn’t taste very good raw.”
Such a rare item isn’t something you get to eat every day—wouldn’t it be a waste not to cook it properly?
“Meat that even undying fire can’t cook—how would you roast it?”
“Um… Then I guess I’ll just eat it directly.”
With that, he popped it into his mouth and chewed.
The texture was unique—crispy, with a flavor reminiscent of roast chicken.
The strangest thing was, as he swallowed, he could clearly feel a stream of heat sliding down his throat.
The warmth settled in his stomach, then quickly spread throughout his limbs and bones.
At that moment, it felt as if Gernasa’s whole body was burning, his expression a little unnatural.
Luckily, since their attributes matched, there wasn’t much rejection, and he quickly returned to normal.
Curious, he checked his body, but didn’t feel anything unusual.
“Doesn’t feel uncomfortable, and nothing especially different… Well, I’ll check for changes again if I get a chance.”
“Hmm…”
Geli rested her chin in her hand, staring at him thoughtfully at that answer.
“That’s odd. By rights, eating a Phoenix Heart should give you a good chance of gaining the undying attribute.”
“Really? Maybe I just have bad luck.”
Gernasa wasn’t dissatisfied. Reborn as a Red Dragon, born Legendary, and even having a Sage Master—it was already more than enough. He didn’t mind missing this little extra.
Of course, if he got it, that’d be even better, but if not, oh well.
“Hmm… Looks like nothing happened. I’d better go get Aixi’s Gift ready.”
After a moment, as Geli turned away, Gernasa suddenly felt something was wrong.
“It’s coming, that feeling—something’s about to burst out of my body!”
A nameless fire flared up from his belly, the swelling pain making Gernasa curl up.
Geli heard and was shocked, instantly tossing him a roll of paper towels.
“Quick, catch it! This sort of thing can’t be delayed!”
“Why are you throwing me paper towels! What do you mean ‘this sort of thing,’ hey!”