Chapter 34: Dragon King – Poseidon

Question: When can people think most clearly?
Answer: During post-nut clarity.
Actually, Rosvitha usually didn’t experience much post-nut clarity after finishing her “homework” with Leon.
There were even times when after battling all night without sleep, she could still get up and continue working overtime in the study.
But times were different now – Leon, having opened the first gate, was like a transformed war god who forcefully drove the Silver Dragon Queen into a state of post-nut clarity.
To the point where now the married couple lay in bed, neither sleepy nor in the mood to continue their intimate activities.
Thinking about various issues was these two’s usual way of passing time.
Leon leaned against the headboard, hands behind his head, his gaze falling on “The Nine Hell Gates” which had been kicked to the foot of the bed during their “skirmish.”
He blinked, then crawled over to retrieve the book.
“I suddenly remembered something strange about this book.”
Leon said while flipping through the pages, leaning back against the headboard.
Rosvitha was casually fixing her messy hair beside him, the strap of her nightgown hanging precariously on her shoulder. “What’s strange about it?”
“It says here that to open the first gate, you need a Dragon King-level person to assist.”
Rosvitha nodded. “Yes, isn’t that why you had me help you tonight?”
“But this is an ancient text my master risked bringing out from the Empire.”
“Hmm… so?”
Leon sat up straight, looking at Rosvitha, opening the book in his hands. “So why would a martial art created by humans use Dragon Kings as a power measurement standard?”
Rosvitha’s hair-fixing motion paused slightly, and she couldn’t help but think along with Leon’s doubt. “That’s true. According to human custom, they’d probably use letters like ‘S’ or ‘A’ to express power levels, right?”
Leon nodded. “Yes. And the term ‘Dragon King-level’ seems too specific.”
He paused, muttering to himself, “Master knew I had you, a Dragon King, by my side, so he gave me this ancient text, believing I could successfully master it. But what about other practitioners? Where would they find a so-called Dragon King-level assistant?”
For humans to match Dragon Kings was very difficult. Throughout human history, those who reached Dragon King-level power were either already buried or had withdrawn from society to live in seclusion.
And super SSRs like General Leon who could match or even surpass Dragon Kings appeared maybe once every several hundred or thousand years.
So… this martial art called ‘Nine Hell Gates’, in some sense, didn’t seem like it was meant for humans at all.
Why would the creator of the Nine Hell Gates develop such a high-risk martial art with methods so harsh for humans?
“Do you think…”
After a brief silence, Rosvitha suddenly spoke, “Could it be that this martial art wasn’t developed by humans at all? But rather… by someone from the dragon race?”
Hearing this, Leon was slightly stunned.
Rosvitha’s deduction made sense.
As he just mentioned, the term ‘Dragon King-level’ was too specific for humans.
But what was considered “too specific” was only from a human perspective;
If you considered the practitioner to be from the dragon race, then ‘Dragon King-level’ would seem very natural and reasonable.
Each race had their own standards for measuring power.
As Rosvitha said, humans were accustomed to using letters like ‘S’ and ‘A’ for rankings.
While dragons sometimes used these letters too, they would also use terms like ‘Dragon King-level’, ‘quasi-Dragon King-level’, ‘super Dragon King-level’ and so on – terms whose meaning could be roughly understood just by hearing them.
“So you’re saying master gave me a dragon race martial art to learn…”
Leon couldn’t help but laugh, “I hope I won’t end up growing a tail while practicing! That absolutely can’t happen!”
Rosvitha kicked his butt playfully, “What’s wrong with having a tail? Isn’t having a tail good?”
Leon replied seriously, emphasizing each word: “Not good.”
“Hmph, of course you’d think tails aren’t good when you’ve never experienced their wonders.”
Rosvitha sniffed, the tip of her silver tail lying on the bed flicking proudly as she said, “You’ll never know in this lifetime how wonderful having a tail is.”
“Thank you for your blessing, Miss Melkvi.”
Rosvitha glanced at him, no longer continuing their banter, and brought the topic back to the Nine Hell Gates. “Actually, there’s a simple way to know whether this martial art was developed by humans or dragons.”
“What way?”
Rosvitha nodded at the ancient text in Leon’s hands. “Just look at who the author is.”
Leon rolled his eyes helplessly. “You’ve lived for over two hundred years, surely you know that the author of such books and the developer of the techniques are often not the same person?”
This was indeed a common practice among all races.
Firstly, it was to protect the developer’s privacy and safety.
Secondly, some technique developers were only good at fighting and killing, not at recording their theories in writing, so they needed others to organize and compile their work into books for future generations.
Of course, some technique developers didn’t care about these things and would research and publish books themselves, cutting out the middleman, nice and simple.
Rosvitha shrugged her shoulders, “Of course I know about that, what I meant was, even if the book’s author and the technique’s developer aren’t the same person, they’d at least be from the same race, right?”
Leon smiled faintly, tossing the ancient text into Rosvitha’s lap, “I looked at it during the day, the author is someone I’ve never heard of.”
Rosvitha opened the first page of the ancient text, where the author’s name was written:
Claudia Poseidon.
The name itself wasn’t particularly special, but the surname made Rosvitha’s spine turn cold.
She stared fixedly at the three characters spelling ‘Poseidon’, unable to look away.
Leon noticed her unusual reaction and gently shook her shoulder, calling her name, “Hey, Rosvitha? Are you alright?”
“Ah? Ah… y-yes, I’m fine.”
Rosvitha glanced at the author’s name again and asked, “Do you know this author?”
Rosvitha tucked her hair behind her ears, “Mm… not really, I just know a little bit about the author’s surname, that’s all.”
“The surname? Poseidon? I noticed it during the day too. It must be quite rare, at least I’ve never met anyone with the surname Poseidon.”
Rosvitha shook her head with a bitter smile, “Of course you wouldn’t have met any, silly. Because… it’s a dragon race surname.”
Hearing Rosvitha say this, Leon was first slightly shocked, then made a thoughtful “oh” sound. “So… this really is a martial art created by dragons after all.”
“But why would a dragon martial art be preserved in the human empire?”
“Probably seized as spoils after defeating some dragon, that’s pretty common, right?” Leon said.
Rosvitha bit her lip, “No, that’s not right, it shouldn’t be seized spoils.”
“Hm? Why not?”
“Because Poseidon is the royal family name of the sea dragon clan, and the sea dragons… haven’t shown themselves for thirty years, so how could they have been defeated?”
With those words, the bedroom suddenly fell into silence.
The couple both lowered their heads, looking at the old copy of “The Nine Hell Gates.”
Countless questions flooded Leon’s mind.
How did Master get hold of a martial art created by the sea dragon clan that had vanished for thirty years?
Was it really as he said, smuggled out of the empire by an old friend at great risk?
If Master had concealed the true origins of “The Nine Hell Gates,” what was his motive?
And the person who gave this book to Master… who were they really?