For the sake of that dish of dipping sauce from the vegetable patch, Genasa wrapped a plate of dumplings and returned to the Crystal Palace for a beautiful sleep, banishing all fatigue.
When he woke up, he had no idea how many days had passed and decided to go check on the vegetable patch again.
But as soon as he stepped out of the teleportation array, he thought he saw something flash across the sky?
“Was that an illusion? Just now it looked like a big yellow rat dashed through the sky, hmm? A big yellow rat?”
Back at the Crystal Palace, sure enough, the main gate was echoing with the sound of knocking. After a while, Geli emerged and waved her hand to open the door, revealing the golden, sparkling Bartke before them.
“Oh ho, here to play again?”
He glanced at Genasa on the ground, looking like a little snot blob, then closed his eyes and shrank into human form.
“I’m here to deliver materials, and to check on Karu. You didn’t bully her, did you?”
“Uh-huh.”
Genasa’s lips twitched, but he ignored him, afraid it might ruin his rather good mood at the moment.
Bartke didn’t mind him either. He lifted his hand and handed that ball of floating golden substance to Geli.
At this moment, Karu poked her head out of her room and, upon seeing Bartke, bounced over excitedly.
“Father~”
She called out sweetly, then flew into his arms.
A faint smile appeared on Bartke’s poker face. He gently patted Karu’s back, then set her down.
“I brought you a little gift.”
He took out a shiny golden crystal. Its very appearance immediately won Karu’s affection, her eyes sparkling as she stared at it.
“Wooow~”
Without much fuss, he gently pressed it onto a scale in the middle of Karu’s forehead.
The crystal quickly adjusted its size, merged, and replaced that particular scale. At the same time, a surge of transparent energy rapidly spread.
After it covered her whole body, it vanished, leaving only the conspicuous little patch of dragon scale on her forehead.
It was obvious this was a defensive artifact—and a very pretty one at that—completely in line with Karu’s tastes.
“Hehe~ I love it, thank you, Father.”
“As long as you like it.”
Genasa watched quietly from the side, but unexpectedly, Bartke also turned and took out something for him, tossing it over.
“Catch.”
“Eh? For me too? Oh, gifts are fine, no need for any dragons, hehe~”
Genasa laughed as he caught the item. It was a red, diamond-shaped crystal about the size of his head, oddly familiar. His instincts told him this was quite precious.
Since that was the case, he might as well scold Bartke a little less in the future. But what exactly was this thing?
While he was still puzzled, Bartke explained:
“Some time ago I killed an evil red dragon. Judging by the bloodline similarity, it seems to have been your older brother. This is his magic core. Eating it will give you a significant boost.”
“……” Wait, is this right? (￣□￣；)
Genasa stared at the magic core in his claw, feeling a mix of emotions, but in the end, helplessly put it away without consuming it.
“Well, thanks, I guess.”
“No need to thank me, it was nothing.”
“……”
Still, it was clear that his cheap old man was doing quite well out there. He was one hundred percent the longest-lived red dragon at this point, and a good chunk of the red dragons out there were his relatives.
Once a bloodline reaches Epic rank, it’s basically impossible to produce offspring naturally. Genasa was more or less his last brood.
“And that little white dragon,” Bartke added, “I also brought a gift for her. Since she’s not here, I’ll entrust it to you to pass on.”
He took out a bundle of snowy white material, which looked like some sort of silkworm silk?
Not thinking much of it, Genasa casually put it away, planning to give it to Aish later.
Some time later, Geli finished preparing the curse-suppressing potion for Karu.
“Alright, come over here.”
She called to Karu, who was chatting with Bartke. Karu responded and ran over with a little hop.
With another bounce, she deftly jumped into the cauldron, twisting her body and swimming lightly inside.
Bartke watched the whole time and sighed helplessly.
“This child really has it hard…”
“Yeah, she really does. Oh, right, I don’t think Karu’s mother has met her yet, has she? Aren’t you planning to take her to visit?”
Remembering this, Genasa thought, Karu’s mom can’t have just kicked the bucket, right? Even if she didn’t like kids, she should at least show up once.
Bartke hesitated for a while, then shook his head.
“I’ll take her when I have time, but now isn’t the moment.”
“Huh?”
Seeing Genasa’s confusion, Bartke didn’t mind explaining.
“Her mother is in charge of our tribe’s foreign trade in the human kingdom. She’s been busy lately. When she has time, it’ll happen.”
“Oh, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s her mom like?” “Hmm… Very accomplished.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
After racking his brain, he only managed those few words. Genasa was a bit speechless, sensing Bartke didn’t like this topic and dropping it.
But inwardly he thought:
To be in charge of such an important thing as foreign trade, and to be qualified to marry the prince, she couldn’t possibly be ordinary.
Previously, Genasa subconsciously thought Bartke’s wife wasn’t all that remarkable compared to other females of similar status, otherwise Bartke wouldn’t have set his sights on Geli.
“Can’t judge by that, after all. The old hag puts on a totally different face in public. Sigh… What a mess.”
Suddenly, a drastic change occurred—outside the Crystal Palace, a sharp surge of magic energy erupted.
Bartke instantly became alert and rushed outside.
Genasa, coming to his senses, followed right after.
In the sky, a massive golden light ring had appeared, shrouding the area and producing a strange pulling force.
Seeing this, the battle-ready Bartke finally relaxed a little.
“It’s just the Gate of Miracles. Haven’t seen it in so long, didn’t recognize it right away. I’ll go check it out. Be back soon.”
“Huh? What gate?”
Bartke didn’t answer. His figure vanished on the spot, as if pulled up into the golden ring above.
Leaving the bewildered Genasa standing there full of question marks.
“What’s this Gate of Miracles? Never heard of it before.”
He went back to ask Geli about it, and got the details.
Gate of Miracles: a special kind of summoning magic. It requires no materials or magic circles, almost no prerequisites, extremely low consumption, and is very easy to learn.
Even a novice apprentice can pick it up and use it, but it’s an extremely dangerous forbidden spell.
The summoned target is completely random—could be any creature from any corner.
It might be a grasshopper from the roadside, or a powerful, evil demon lord.
It could even be some strange being from a subdimensional space. As long as it exists in this world, it could be summoned, provided that some creature in the summoning area actively responds.
“Precisely because of its unpredictability, some summoned things are far too dangerous, so this magic was banned long ago—completely forbidden. But some old-timers secretly teach it to their students, just in case they’re ever in desperate straits. That’s the only reason it still exists, but very few people ever use it.”
After Geli’s explanation, Genasa nodded thoughtfully.
“Oh~ Got it.” The idea is to roll the dice when in a desperate situation. And justice-loving, busybody golden dragons, when they come across such a thing, will almost always respond to the call and rush to save those in dire need.
At this point, Genasa turned to Geli with a sly grin.
“So, Master, do you know how to use it?”
“Me? Of course I do. Who do you think I am? This kind of… Wait, you’re not seriously thinking I should teach you now, are you? No way. Who knows what you’d randomly summon if you learned it.”