After kissing for a while, Rossweise felt like it was time for a break.
Because that's how it usually was.
But Leon didn't seem to have any intention of letting go.
'Hey, hey, what's this damn man up to? Seamlessly transitioning into round two?'
Rossweise gently pushed Leon away, giving herself a chance to speak, "Why are you in such a hurry? Let me rest for a bit."
Leon remained silent, his face expressionless, and kissed her again.
Rossweise suddenly felt like she was dating a child.
'Dating, dating—shouldn't there at least be some "talking" involved?'
'It can't just be "love without talk," right?'
But she couldn't do anything to stop him, so she had no choice but to go along with this idiot for now.
About five minutes later, after the damn man had kissed to his heart's content and finally calmed down, he let Rossweise go.
Rossweise, her face flushed, sighed in relief and lay back down.
The couple sprawled across the large bed in a disheveled mess, the blanket long kicked to the floor.
They stared at the ceiling in silence.
After a long while, Leon finally spoke, "Did you feel it?"
"What do you mean?"
"The difference."
Rossweise's pupils flickered, then she nodded, "Yeah, it feels very different."
Leon slowly raised his arm and looked at his palm, "It's like my body has an endless supply of power, and this power… is incredibly pure."
Rossweise closed her eyes, "Hmph, yeah, it's powerful, I can feel it. But you're really using this newfound strength for something like this?"
Leon glanced at her and retorted, "A dragon slayer learns a new ability. Using it on a dragon, isn't that perfectly reasonable?"
The queen kicked him in the side, "Reasonable, my ass! That's just twisting logic!"
"Want to keep going?"
Rossweise froze, pursing her lips in hesitation.
The experience just now had reached an entirely new level, and her desire to be conquered by Leon had been completely satisfied.
But just as Leon had reminded her—don't die.
If they went at it at that intensity a few more times, maybe dying was an exaggeration, but… passing out would still be embarrassing, right?
'This damn man would mock me for ages.'
Besides, he could now break free from the dragon mark's control, meaning she had lost her advantage in taking the initiative.
This was not a favorable situation for her.
Until she figured out a way to restrain Leon, it was best to "avoid battle" as much as possible.
So after much deliberation, despite her lingering attachment to the new experience, Rossweise ultimately restrained herself, "That's it for tonight."
Leon didn't intend to force her.
He had only asked to see where his newly unlocked body's limits lay.
But looking at the mother dragon's exhausted state—
He probably wouldn't even reach his limit before Rossweise gave out.
'Heh, so this is the great dragon body?'
'Pathetic!'
———
Question: When is a person in their calmest state of mind?
Answer: The post-Climax clarity.
Normally, Rossweise didn't experience post-climax clarity after finishing "homework" with Leon.
There were even times she fought through the night, unable to sleep, then got up to continue working in the study.
But today was different.
Leon, having unlocked the First Gate, was like a reborn war god, forcibly sending the Silver Dragon Queen into a state of post-climax clarity.
Now, the couple lay in bed. Neither sleepy nor in the mood for more intimacy.
Thinking about various matters was their usual way to pass the time.
Leon leaned against the headboard, hands behind his head, his gaze landing on Nine Hells Gate, which had been kicked to the foot of the bed during their "battle."
He blinked, then crawled over to pick up the book.
"I just remembered. There's something really strange in this book."
Leon leaned back against the headboard, flipping through the pages as he spoke.
Rossweise absentmindedly tidied her messy hair. Her nightgown's strap hung loosely off her shoulder, barely clinging on, "What's strange?"
"It says here that to unlock the First Gate, a Dragon King-level person is needed as an assistant."
Rossweise nodded, "Yeah, isn't that why you had me help tonight?"
"But this is an ancient text that my master risked his life to smuggle out of the Empire."
"Hm… so?"
Leon sat up straight, looking at Rossweise as he spread open the book, "So why is a human martial art measured by Dragon King standards?"
Rossweise paused her hair-tidying and began thinking along with Leon, "Yeah… according to human conventions, wouldn't it be something like 'S' or 'A' rank?"
Leon nodded, "Exactly. But 'Dragon King-level'—that's a very pointed term."
He hesitated, muttering to himself, "My master knew I had you, a Dragon King, by my side, so he gave me this book, confident I could master it. But what about other practitioners? Where would they find a Dragon King-level assistant?"
For a human to reach Dragon King-level strength was almost impossible.
Looking at all of human history, those who had achieved such power were either long dead or had retreated into seclusion.
And someone like General Leon, who could rival or even surpass a Dragon King, was an ultra-rare case that only appeared once in hundreds or thousands of years.
So… this Nine Hells Gate martial art didn't seem designed for humans at all.
Why would its creator develop such an extremely risky technique, especially one so difficult for humans to train in?
"You're saying…"
After a moment of silence, Rossweise suddenly spoke, "Could it be that this martial art wasn't developed by humans at all… but rather by a dragon?"
Leon froze slightly at her words.
Rossweise's guess wasn't unreasonable.
As he had just pointed out, "Dragon King-level" was an oddly specific term.
But that specificity only applied to humans.
If the practitioners were dragons, then "Dragon King-level" would make perfect sense.
Every race had its own power-measuring standards.
As Rossweise mentioned, humans tended to use letters like 'S' and 'A' to rank power.
While dragons sometimes used those, they also frequently classified strength with terms like "Dragon King-level," "Quasi-Dragon King-level," or "Super Dragon King-level," which immediately conveyed a clear hierarchy.
"So… my master handed me a dragon's martial art to learn?"
Leon chuckled bitterly, "If I keep training, I won't end up growing a tail, right? That would be a nightmare."
Rossweise playfully kicked his butt, "What's wrong with a tail? Having a tail isn't bad at all!"
Leon's expression turned serious, and he enunciated every word, "It's bad."
"Tch, you've never experienced having a tail, so of course, you think it's bad."
Rossweise snorted, flicking the tip of her proud silver tail, "You'll never understand how wonderful it is to have one."
"Thank you for your kind blessing, Miss Melkvei."
Rossweise rolled her eyes at him, then refocused on Nine Hells Gate.
"There's actually a simple way to find out whether this martial art was developed by humans or dragons."
"What way?"
Rossweise pointed her chin toward the book in Leon's hands, "Just check the author's name."
Leon sighed and rolled his eyes, "You've lived for over two hundred years, and you don't know that the author of a book and the developer of a technique are often not the same person?"
Rossweise shrugged, "Of course, I know that. But at the very least, the author should be from the same race, right?"
Leon chuckled and tossed the book into her lap, "I checked earlier. The author is someone I've never heard of."
Rossweise opened the first page.
The author's name was written there:
[Claudia Poseidon]
The name itself wasn't particularly remarkable.
But the surname… sent a chill down Rossweise's spine.
Leon noticed her abnormal reaction, reached out, and gently shook her shoulder, calling her scattered name, "Hey, Rossweise? Are you okay?"
"Ah? Ah... no, no problem."
Leon glanced at the author's name again and asked, "Do you know this author?"
Rossweise tidied the strands of hair on her face and tucked them behind her ear, "Hmm... not really. I only know a little bit about this author's surname."
"Surname? Poseidon? I also noticed this surname during the day. It should be quite rare, right? At least, I've never met anyone with the surname Poseidon."
Rossweise gave a bitter smile and shook her head, "Of course, you haven't, idiot. Because... it's a dragon clan surname."
Hearing Rossweise say this, Leon was first slightly stunned, then let out an "Oh" as if in thought, "So... this is indeed a martial art created by the dragon clan."
"But why would a dragon clan's martial art be preserved in a human empire?"
"A trophy seized after defeating a dragon, right? That's a common occurrence," Leon said.
Rossweise bit her lower lip, "No, no, that's not right. It shouldn't be a trophy."
"Hmm? Why?"
"Because Poseidon is the royal surname of the sea dragon clan, and the sea dragon clan... hasn't appeared in thirty years. So where does the idea of them being defeated come from?"
As soon as she said this, the bedroom suddenly fell into silence.
The couple simultaneously lowered their heads, looking at the ancient Nine Gates Hell book.
For a moment, countless questions surged in Leon's mind.
How did Master get his hands on a martial art created by the sea dragon clan, which had disappeared without a trace for thirty years?
Did he really, as he said, take the risk of having an old friend steal it from the empire?
If Master had truly concealed the origins of Nine Gates Hell, what was his motive?
And the person who handed this book to Master... who exactly were they?
No matter what, Master would never set him up—Leon firmly believed this.
So, even if he didn't yet know exactly where Master got this dragon clan-written Nine Gates Hell, it didn't stop Leon from practicing it.
Because, at present, he still hadn't found a way to solve the problem of being unable to condense magic power. In that case, mastering a brand-new, powerful martial art had become a necessity.
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