Chapter 33: The Fatal Bug

The night was tranquil.

The rustling of the pen tip against paper sounded like leaves swaying in a gentle breeze, soothing enough to lull one to sleep. Yet, a sharp, sudden "rip" shattered the harmonious atmosphere. A crumpled ball of paper was tossed backward, striking the head of the young dragon who had just poked her snout into the room.

Victoria snorted, but seeing Linde’s back and the disheveled hair he had been tugging at in anxiety, she held her tongue. Linde had built the cottage with a wide front door that anyone could enter, but he had fashioned the door to his own room so narrow that no one but him could easily squeeze through. Currently, she was crouched low, stretching her neck long to peer into the room at the tiny human.

Victoria could sense that Linde was in a foul mood, and the words she had spent all day preparing were stuck in her throat. If she spoke up and Linde roared at her in annoyance, refusing to pay her any mind... just thinking about it made her nose sting and tears gather like little pearls in her eyes.

She tilted her head slightly, glancing at Cirona in the living room. The latter nodded at her, offering an encouraging look. The words the butterfly dragon had whispered earlier echoed in her mind: "Go for it! Linde trusts you, just as you trust him."

Victoria took a deep breath, her voice trembling as she began, "Li-Linde... the moonlight is beautiful tonight. Shall we go out and take a look?"

"..."

After a long silence, the man replied in a hoarse voice, "Alright..."

The night sky looked as if it had been splashed with ink by a squid, then decorated by dragon-stars finding their perfect places to shine. The moonlight was distant, serene, and bright. Victoria looked up at the brightest star in the north, praying for her grandfather to grant her the courage to tell the little human everything.

Meanwhile, Linde stared blankly at the moon, his thoughts fixed on the system interface.

[Reputation Level: 1 (299/500)]
[Current Reputation Points: 269]

He had spent thirty reputation points in total: once for dragon language translation, once to generate mist to delay a pack of red newts, and once to reflect a fireball spat by a red newt. Each had cost ten points.

Most of his reputation had been earned by completing Cirona’s request, which rewarded him with one hundred points, and fifty more for collecting fragments of old-world shadows. The rest had been accumulated through his daily interactions with Victoria and Cirona. The problem was that the number had stopped moving. No matter how he interacted with the two dragons, the points remained stuck at 299. Linde had even tried hunting down a solitary Tier 2 red newt and defeating it in battle, but the points did not budge. Perhaps the creature's strength was too low, or perhaps draconic-blooded sub-dragons didn't count, requiring pure-blooded dragons instead—or maybe both.

It was strange, then, that he could gain points from Cirona, who was neither a pure-blooded dragon nor particularly powerful. This suggested that Cirona harbored significant secrets, perhaps ones even she was unaware of. If he sought comfort and safety, his reputation level and points would remain stagnant; this was exactly why Linde wanted to raid the treasure vault and confront the red dragon.

Without a way to reach the netherworld—or even knowing if such a place existed—the synthesis of materials was limited to what he could obtain in the main world. To overcome a superior foe, he relied heavily on his "commands," making the acquisition of more reputation points critical.

The higher the waves, the more valuable the fish. If he could pull off the heist of the dragon’s hoard, his fame would shake the world. Achieving such a feat would undoubtedly cause his reputation points to skyrocket, making the breakthrough of his current bottleneck a natural outcome.

Most importantly, Linde had the confidence to face the red dragon. He had discovered a "bug"—or rather, a specific feature of the commands—after carefully studying their operational mode and reflecting on his three previous experiences.

The reputation settlement for the three commands—Weather, Translation, and Mirror—worked differently:

[/weather: Base cost of 1 reputation; changes local weather as desired, with costs scaling based on area and type.]
[/translation: Costs 10 reputation; allows the user to understand any language.]
[/mirror: When about to take damage, reflects all attacks back at the opponent; cost depends on the power of the attack.]

For instance, if he had nine points and tried to make it rain globally, the cost would exceed his current points, so the command would only execute on the smallest possible scale. However, Translation would simply fail because he lacked the points.

Mirror, however, was the most overpowered command. Simply put, it executed first and deducted later. When facing a fatal attack, Linde could trigger Mirror to reflect the damage, and only afterward would the system calculate the attack's power and deduct the corresponding points.

This had been foreshadowed in the system’s initial description, though he hadn't realized it at the time. Only after reviewing the details of reflecting the red newt’s fireball did it dawn on him. This meant he didn't fear the red dragon’s towering rage, nor did he fear a full-power breath attack. What he feared was the red dragon treating him like an ant and swatting him with its claws. If he didn't use Mirror, he would die; if he did use it, the dragon would realize his special ability and stop using full-power attacks, resorting instead to minor harassment.

If he used Mirror and his remaining points weren't enough to cover the cost, he didn't know if the balance would stop at zero or drop into the negative. However, he suspected it would drop into the negative, subsequently disabling all his commands. After all, if he could still use Mirror while in the negative, he would be essentially immortal.

Once Linde understood this, he realized he needed to figure out how to make the red dragon see him as a worthy opponent. Victoria’s earlier suggestion that he pose as a Chrono-Dragon was a solid strategy.

In this treasure-raiding operation, his own safety was largely accounted for. What he couldn't let go of were Victoria and Cirona. Most of his plans were focused on what they should do if they encountered special circumstances. Any dragon capable of serving as a guard for a red dragon would surely be strong—at least Tier 4. As Victoria had mentioned in the cave, there was a massive chasm between low-tier and mid-tier dragons.

Victoria had given the World Book to him, but she was only a Tier 3 dragon. If they encountered those sub-dragon guards, it would surely be the end. Not to mention Cirona. He was deeply worried about them; they didn't have his means of survival. Therefore, his planning had to be meticulous. If any step went wrong, they had to be prepared to abandon him and flee, while he found his own way to escape.

Linde didn't know how to tell all of this to Victoria. She was a proud little dragon with strong self-esteem, and his words might hurt her or pierce her heart. Under the silent moonlight, both the human and the dragon were troubled, wondering how to speak while being mindful of the other's feelings.