Serie did not linger long at the dragon castle.
This time, she had actually intended to ask Link to travel with her—to go together to the Sword Village in the Northern Kingdoms to return the Holy Sword and conclude a commission that had been delayed for decades.
Serie thought that having an interesting dragon like Link along for the ride would at least keep the journey from being too boring.
Most importantly, the commission explicitly required retrieving the Schwer Mountains along with it.
As a fragile woman, Serie couldn’t drag something like that; this task was impossible without Link.
Given the present situation, however, Link was immersed in grief, and Serie truly found it difficult to ask him.
After using her head-patting comforting magic on Link once more, Serie set off alone on the road to the Northern Kingdoms.
In truth, Link’s state wasn’t as bad as Serie imagined; he was already doing much better than before.
It might also have been the Long-Lived Species synergy taking effect.
[Long-lived units will possess a far longer life, more detached emotions, and greater difficulty perceiving the passage of time.]
Looking at it now, this buff was indeed formidable.
Yet strangely enough, his feelings hadn’t truly turned detached; it was merely that his memories of certain events had grown hazy.
Even stranger was that a absurd notion of time moving in a hurry would constantly rise within his heart.
He shook his head and quickly dispersed his idle thoughts.
“Right, there’s still that talisman.”
He pulled out the talisman, [Elf Class Change], from the system inventory.
That day’s situation had been special, and he hadn’t possessed the peace of mind to look at the description.
[Elf Class Change: Use on any target; the target will be treated as an elf, Elf Synergy +1.]
Link lowered his head in deep thought.
If he wasn’t mistaken, Serie was also in his party, and she was originally an elf.
If he changed his class to an elf as well, he should be able to activate the bonuses related to the Elf synergy.
Without further hesitation, he chose to use it directly.
A flash of radiance erupted, and a strange power surged out from the talisman, rapidly flowing into his body.
Immediately after, Link’s body began to shrink violently.
His original black scales faded away, gradually morphing into fair, pale skin.
His broad dragon wings folded multiple times before being pulled into his shoulder blades, as though they had never existed at all.
Even his dragon tail pulled back into his spine, segment by segment.
In the blink of an eye, Link transformed into a completely unfamiliar appearance.
Sensing the anomaly, he looked down at his hand once more—it was no longer a claw, but five slender, delicate fingers.
The [Elf Class Change] talisman was firmly embedded in the palm of his hand.
Now, he really had become an elf.
He clenched his hand into a fist and opened it again, feeling the flow of power.
Seeing that the bonus brought by the Superhuman Strength Hex was still present, Link felt relieved.
With a thought, he summoned his panel and opened the synergy tab.
Sure enough, the Elf synergy had been activated.
[Elf (2): Activated when two or more elves are in the party simultaneously. Elves will possess sharper mana perception, form a deeper resonance with natural elements, and easily develop goodwill toward one another.]
[Even when I close my eyes, I can still feel your presence.]
Link closed his eyes and tried to sense it properly, following the description.
Mm, his perception of mana had indeed become much sharper, but he felt like something wasn’t quite right somewhere.
Then something suddenly occurred to him; he snapped his eyes open and looked down beneath his waist.
“Thank goodness, my dragon bone is still here.”
“Wait… what’s this?”
Link turned his head and looked behind himself.
He saw a thin, long tail poking out right from his tailbone.
“Holy shit, if you’re turning me into an elf, turn me into a proper one!”
“Now I’ve become a dragon-elf.”
Link tried picking at the embedded Elf Class Change talisman in his palm again, but it didn’t react in the slightest.
“What, are you a one-time use item?”
While mumbling to himself, Link waited until the Elf Class Change talisman was off guard, then abruptly struck it with immense force.
The effect was outstanding!
The talisman instantly separated from his palm.
The moment it detached, the strange power sustaining Link’s body felt as though a connection had been severed, violently surging back into the talisman.
Immediately afterward, his body began to expand, his skin was recovered in scales, his shoulder blades unfolded, and his broad black wings stretched out once more like a newly hoisted flag.
He had changed back into that pitch-black giant dragon.
Link stood in the hall, looking down at his familiar pair of claws.
“Useful, really useful!”
Just like that, the [Elf Class Change] talisman became Link’s transformation device.
The reason was simple: if he maintained this appearance, humans should be able to communicate with him properly.
Thinking back to those years when he had just dragged the Schwer Mountains over from the Northern Kingdoms, he had passed through the sky above the village at the foot of the mountain.
The village had instantly boiled over—someone shouted that the Demon King had been resurrected, while others dropped straight to their knees and began praying to the Goddess.
Haven’t they ever even seen a dragon before?
Had he not promised Chris to protect her former village, Link wouldn’t have taken the initiative to go down the mountain anytime soon.
This “anytime soon” would have meant at least a few hundred years.
Aside from Serie coming over to beat him up occasionally, life was peaceful and comfortable.
But now things were different; he had a new task to perform—something that absolutely had to be accomplished.
Link filled the Stollenwercks’ feed to the brim, then found a loose, broad cloak to throw over himself.
He pulled the hood up to cover most of his face, and the hem of the cloak was long enough to drag at his ankles.
He looked down behind himself, coiled his overly conspicuous tail, and stuffed it into his cloak.
“Truly a flawless disguise.”
Exhaling a long breath, he straightened his posture, closed the main gates of the Dragon Castle, and stepped forward to walk down the mountain.
The sunlight at the foot of the mountain was bright and pleasant, falling upon his body, making the outline of his cloak appear exceptionally tall and straight.
The hood concealed his pointed ears, and the fabric covered his tail.
Looking at him from afar, he seemed like nothing more than an ordinary young adventurer.
Who could have guessed that this was the world’s sole dragon-elf?
The perception bonus brought by the Elf synergy gradually made the world in Link’s eyes look different.
It was as if an extra pair of eyes had been added—a pair of eyes that could see through distant places.
He could clearly feel the contours of the wind and the flow of mana in the air.
Things that previously required him to draw close to see clearly were now floating vividly within his perception.
Though, drawing close didn’t guarantee he could see them clearly anyway.
The unique ability of the elves filled Link with novelty, and he began using this power to scan even further away.
In the distance, he saw a quiet and peaceful village.
Except no human figures could be seen inside the village.
When Link mobilized his mana once more, the scene began to turn clear—so clear that it allowed him to see even more things.
If he wasn’t mistaken, that was the presence of demons.