SON OF THE HERO KING

Still tied down in this weird pose, Sol sighed,

“Untie me.”

Skuld hurriedly listened and released him before jumping in his arms while laughing sheepishly.

“Don’t be angry please.”

“I am not. Do not worry.”

Like this, Sol closed his eyes as his mind wandered, trying to forget the phantom pain. The hot and supple body of Skuld helped him calm down quite a bit and wondered if he should simply go for another round with her but fought the urge.

‘I shouldn’t use sex as a means of escape.’

Doing so was no different from drugging himself. Though it was pleasurable, Sol did not wish to become the kind of man who used sex to cope with any pain.

Furthermore, it wasn’t as if it was useless for him to conquer the pain by himself. There was nothing wrong with increasing his pain threshold. He knew that the dragon baptism in the blood pool wouldn’t be easy and his transition to a Duke even less so. But he had no choice.

The world was not a kind place and he was still too weak. Sooner or later there would come a day when the women who protected him until now wouldn’t be able to continue to do so and he would be able to do nothing but to wallow in his own weakness.

This was unacceptable for Sol. He did not wish to live in regret and madness like the him from the other word line.

But no matter how many times he repeated to himself that wasn’t enough.

What was the Duke level?

Becoming a Duke means finding one own truth. It means knowing and accepting oneself. Be it the bad or the good.

No matter how ugly your inner self was.

This was what it means to become a Duke.

Of course, this wasn’t the only way. One could become a Duke by understanding the truth about one element, one object, or even one concept.

It did not change that the path of power was the path of seeking the truth even if the answer we found at the end wasn’t quite pleasant.

Meditating with Skuld in his arm, Sol's mind wandered between his own understanding and the information Skuld sent in his mind.

Once he finally assimilated them and incorporated them into his own understanding, he would once again ask Skuld to send him more knowledge.

Even though it was painful.

Even though it hurt so much he wished to die.

He would not stop, could not stop, nor could he falter.

His life had long since stopped being his own.

He had to continue to advance until he finally reached his goal.

—-

Standing a little afar and watching the display of affection, Tiamat nodded to herself. She didn’t feel the same pain Skuld was feeling in seeing Sol suffer.

Better suffer now, here where it was safe, rather than finding himself inadequate on the battlefield.

In order to become stronger and reach the level she was at now, she had not hesitated to tear down the base power the goddesses had bestowed to her during her creation and she felt no regret about it.

She was sure that later Sol would look back on those days with a certain fondness. But in order for him to do so, they needed to go through the ordeal.

Tiamat would not underestimate how much damage Ymir could bring her. Even if she wasn’t in a bad shape like in the future described by Skuld, the little titan wasn’t the only one who could read the future.

This was why she needed to prepare. She needed a failsafe. Someone she could count on to keep everything afloat.

‘I wonder if He received my message.’

As long as He came, she would not fear even facing an army.

Thinking so, she approached finally approached Sol that was still lying down on the ground with Skuld, and asked,

“When should we have the contest?”

Sol gave a strained smile, wondering if Tiamat had witnessed his foolish appearance when Skuld tied him down. Still, he answered smoothly and with confidence,

“Twenty-four hours will be enough. I already nearly grasped what I am seeking.”

In fact, he would want it to happen even sooner but he wanted at least one last session of knowledge absorption to finalize his preparation.

Tiamat gave a grin, “Do not disappoint me.”

Even though she said that she knew that he wouldn’t. There was no way Sol would lose the contest as long as he was willing to use all the cards he had in his disposal. At his current level, only top Dukes like Nabu could threaten him.

Of course, if Sol underestimated his opponents and ended up being caught off guard this would be a totally different.

‘Well, this is why I sent him to Tartarus initially.’

She was thinking so when she remembered another reason she initially came to him,

“Now that I think about it. So in the end you choose Kiyohime?”

This time it was Sol's turn to give a sheepish laugh.

“Don’t worry, I immediately stopped observing you when you became frisky.”

She wasn’t lying. She stopped observing when they became hot and heavy. Then she got curious a few moments later and took another look and damn was she surprised.

She would have never imagined one day seeing such expression on her ever serious daughter, this had been truly eye-opening for Tiamat and it made her even more curious about Sol’s prowess.

Initially, she wanted to wait until he became at least a King or a demigod. But now she wondered if she shouldn’t simply go for it when he become a Duke.

Nodding at her wise decision, she turned and walked away.

“You should rest. The harder part is still to come.”

“Very well.”

—--

When the news of the contest happening soon swept through the eight heavens, it was like a storm was taking up.

All the Dragons less than a few hundred years old who were sure of their skills could participate. There was no limit to the numbers permitted and all skills and equipment were allowed.

Everyone immediately went into a frenzy, as they left whatever they had at hand to rush toward the 7th heaven where the contest would take place.

Be it because they were confident in their skills or because they thought they might be lucky. The number of participants continued to swell without end.

Of course, while many dragons and hybrid dragons were participating, the others were more interested in betting faith coins.

Money would always make the world go around no matter where it was and the Dragon’s territory was no exception.

The most likely participant to win the contest in people's minds were of course Nidhogg and Kaiser. The two of them were the well-deserved leader of the young generation and had never been disappointed with their performances.

What made people curious though, was the third one on that list. A dragon that had never been raised by a dragon.

A hybrid born from the union of the third but deceased dragon queen and the King of a human in the mortal world.

Of course, those uninformed found those claim ridiculous. After all, while only a few pieces of information about Sol were available, something that was made clear was that he was not even a Duke and in fact was did not even awaken for more than one year.

A non-Duke hybrid winning against the two most talented dragons of the generation as well as a number of other powerful dragons?

This was logically and realistically impossible. Most of them could only express their disbelief at the news.

Some even speculated that the whole contest was just a show and that Tiamat had already decided to give the championship to Sol.

After all, Tiamat wasn’t known for her fairness. She had always been openly partial toward people she appreciated and never made a show of the opposite.

In the end, be it dragons or elves or any other living in the territory, they knew that no man sane enough would come to humiliate themselves on the ring. If Sol decided to participate, it means that he had something that gave him the confidence to win.

Whether it was a misjudged confidence would be known sooner or later.

—-

[8th Heaven, Hydra’s island]

“How is it going?”

Looking at his granddaughter as she prepared and ingested different poison, he couldn’t help but ask.

For poison users like them, once they ingested a particular poison, their bodies would be able to analyze it down to the deepest level and recreate it to an even higher degree by mixing it internally with their mana and other poisons they already had.

When beginning on this path, the pain was so excruciating that most people simply never went past a certain level before giving up. Every step had to be taken carefully in case they absorb a poison they couldn’t handle and killed themselves. Such cases were not rare and in fact, this was the ending of most poisons users.

Either end in mediocrity or die trying to become stronger.

Of course, there was a third road. One of success. This was a road Hydra walked and this was the same for Nidhogg.

In fact, Nidhogg was even more talented than him. This was the advantage of being a perfect hybrid.

Inhaling the toxic fume, Nidhogg finally opened her eyes, “I am ready. I will not lose.”

Hydra clenched his fist in excitement.

—--

[8th heaven, Fafnir’s island.]

“You seem more invested in this contest than I thought.”

Fafnir looked puzzled as he spoke to a panting Kaiser. They had just finished a rather brutal session of training and he was surprised why Kaiser suddenly had such a desire to win.

After regulating his breathing, Kaiser stood up, “I want to win. Not only as a dragon but also as a man.”

Fafnir tilted his head, “You are interested in the little phoenix girl?”

Kaiser nodded, causing Fafnir to frown,

“You do know that just winning against Sol doesn’t mean that his girl will magically fall for you, right?”

“Please, don’t take me for a moron, okay? I am not that stupid. I know she won’t fall on my lap just by me showing my muscles. But if I don’t win this fight I won’t even have the opportunity to give it a try.”

He proceeded to explain how Sol and Isis would form a contract if he won the contest.

“Heh…In this case, go for it.”

Fafnir laughed. He was a simple man. If you were interested in a woman, you had to do everything to win her favors. But if she still didn’t reciprocate after all this, you should simply give up and search for someone else.

The world was filled with women there was no need to pin for one so much you destroy yourself.

“Do what you can to get what you want. But never close your mind to other opportunities. The world is wide after all.”

Thus was his way of life.