MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

The lady Alex summoned was a dragoness with an ashy white skin tone and a face as beautiful as any, with two slim, dark horns adorning her forehead and flowing pitch-dark hair cascading down her back, starkly contrasting her pale skin.

She had gray eyes with a dark slit in the center and small pointed ears, their edges adorned with small dark hexagonal scales, framing her face, making her appear near identical to a mature version of Nyla, but Alex knew she was not the one he was hopping to meet.

A quick look at her status revealed that her name was Mortisha Taivnu Xiandai, carrying the same second and third name as Nyla, but since the lady before him had her strength sealed to peak Sixth Rank and carried an air of maturity to her, Alex could guess she was a close relative of Nyla.

Alex instantly knew he was dealing with someone truly strong because only someone who could protect themselves from his eyes could prevent him from seeing their stats, and after the recent upgrades, not many could achieve that.

Alex felt no threat from her, so he was about to ask her why she purposefully sealed her strength to answer his summoning call and how it even worked, but before he could do so, she attacked him.

Alex reacted instinctively, matching her blow for blow, but he could also sense that she had no intention of harming him, leading him to realize that she was either toying with him or testing him.

"BOOOM", "BOOOM", "BOOOM"

Booming explosions echoed through the grassy expanse, and with each impact, the ground shifted, cracked, and splintered from the force generated by the two blurry individuals exchanging blows.

The pitch-dark longsword in Alex's grasp moved like a shadow, meeting the claws of the draconic beauty blow for blow.

Their exchange was so fast that even an average peak Elementalist would see only two dark blurs, with each exchange sending shockwaves rippling through the air, the force of their attacks creating deep fissures in the ground beneath them and sending cracks rippling through the space, painting their surrounding in pure chaos.

Alex's focus was unwavering, his eyes locked on his opponent, while the draconic beauty's movements were equally precise yet carrying an effortless elegance, hinting that she wasn't even taking the fight seriously.

It was as if she was toying with Alex, her serene expression never wavering as their weapons clashed in a dance of shadows and sparks.

"Young man, your strength pleases me," Lady Mortisha said as she casually caught the blade between her fingers, ending their exchange.

"I hope you don't mind a mother assessing her future son-in-law's abilities," Lady Mortisha said, her voice dripping with a mix of amusement as her elegant face leaned closer to Alex.

"Elder, I think you have misunderstood something," Alex said, realizing what she was referring to.

"I don't think so," Lady Mortisha said calmly, her certainty unmistakable in her voice.

"Nyla is resolute in her decision not to enter into a contract with anyone from any world, risking the loss of a lifelong opportunity to enter the ancestral realm, just so that she could wait for someone to be summoned by someone special,"

"You looked confused, so let me clear some of your doubts,"

"My clan resides in the Mystic Realm, a place that does not house any gateways to the ancestral realm, but children of my realm can still enter this great realm by being summoned,"

"As for how I know that Nyla is specifically waiting for you because direct descendants of my clan lineage can acquire the Dragon Monarch insignia and impart them to others as they wish,"

"We give the ancestral insignia to all those we find talented to build connections with the future strong figures of other worlds, and since Nyla only ever picked a single individual, she could not be waiting for any other individual but you," Lady Mortisha said, leaving Alex with even more questions then he had after seeing her.

'What is even going on with these ladies?'

'First, it was Lady Cordelia with her marriage proposal, and then it was Lady Yue, who I had never met before she confessed her feelings to me, and now it's Nyla, who I only ever met once?' Alex questioned, having been left speechless by these turn of events.

Alex could think of why each of the three ladies liked him, with Lady Cordelia acting solely on her feeling of gratefulness rather than love since he saved her life.

Lady Yue probably saw him as her ticket to exit the ancestral realm, while Nyla could just be seeing him in high regard because of his strength when they met, which was possible knowing that dragons value strength more than anything.

But she could be just using him to avoid a family arrangement, and the same could be possible for Lady Yue.

So while later that ladies liked him, Alex was not least bit affected by these proposals since he held no feeling for any of them.

At the moment, besides the few questions going through his mind, he was thinking about whether Lady Mortisha could use her true power and, if she could, how he could convince her to help him deal with the mad apothecary.

"I see you already have someone special by your side, but I guess you two are not very close," Lady Mortisha said as she waved into the distance at Lady Yue.

"Elder, if you don't mind, can you please answer some of my questions," Alex asked after a short pause.

The encounter with Lady Mortisha ended on a great note, as Alex learned why she came instead of Nyla and how someone of her strength even entered the ancestral realm using the summoning circle he created with limited mana.

Nyla was currently undergoing her Sixth minor core advancement, which in realm time would take close to a month to finish, so Alex would not be seeing her any time soon.

Alex next asked Elder Mortisha about how she was able to be summoned, even though he already had an idea of how it happened, but learning from her cleared his doubts.

As he expected, the summons did not need to meet the age limit to enter the realm, and anyone from the other side could be summoned if they met the power limit set by worldly law, even when the summoning was altered to locate a specific individual.

Alex also learned the great news that Elder Mortisha could unseal her power after the summoning, but since her summoning link was established with very limited mana, it would not last more than a few seconds before she was forcefully sent back.

But there was a way around this difficulty, as with a permanent contract, Alex could summon Elder Mortisha and keep her in the realm for as long as he could sustain her presence.

Even with a maximum of 40 million mana, she could only stay for up to ten seconds, even with her power limited to peak Eight Rank. However, even in that short time, someone of her level could reduce an entire city to dust.

It did not take even a bit of convincing to make Elder Mortisha agree to form a permanent contract with him, giving Alex another ace in case he needed it.

Alex was adamantine that he would not use her even in the worst of situations, and while it was tempting to use her to kill Zarach, that contemplated was erased as quickly as it came to his mind because his sole purpose for entering the realm was to grow on his own and not be carried even if slightly.

This was the same reason why the Malefis Domain had no connected powers in the ancestral realm, and if there were any, he was not made aware of them even though Alex's growth was connected to the survival of the domain.

It was done so like this because the elders understood that only through extreme struggle would Alex have the chance to reach his potential, and he had no problem with the route laid out for him.

The only reason Alex was willing to accept Elder Mortisha's help with the mad apothecary if needed, was because he had earned her assistance through his own luck, and he desperately needed the clone infusion technique due to his time constraints.

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