NOVEL WEB Book 6: Chapter 38: Prepare
Dawn approached and the first light of morning drew a pale wash across the sky.
Instead of rushing back to Dragon Island, Lilith found herself walking into a bookstore once the street shops began to open for business.
There were still a few things she needed to ascertain.
The bookstore was old, its interior cloaked in dust motes that danced in the soft morning sunlight. The faint scent of aging paper, mixed with the slightest hint of mold, hung in the air.
Behind the counter sat a drowsy old man, slouched in his chair.
When the bell above the door rang to announce Lilith's arrival, he barely lifted his eyes to glance at her before dozing off again.
Lilith ignored him and headed for the section marked "Geography."
Most of the books on the shelves were old, their covers faded or missing entirely. Many were bound together by thin twine, but when Lilith flipped through a few, she found the pages surprisingly well-preserved.
The vivid hand-drawn illustrations and annotations on them revealed the care and effort their authors had poured into them.
After some searching, she finally found what she had been looking for—the "World Map."
It was an old piece—yellowed with age, folded and wedged tightly between two thicker books.
Under the sunlight filtering through the skylight above, Lilith carefully unfolded the map and studied it in silence.
Although it was a "world map," it illustrated only the continent where Lilith currently stood—Xedrios.
After all, no one had dared venture into demons' territory to chart its lands, and the so-called "evenly matched" rivalry between humans and demons had always been a result of home-ground advantage rather than true parity.
Even during their golden era, the human nations had never succeeded in pushing their front lines into demon lands.
The truth was, humans still knew next to nothing about their supposed enemies.
But none of that mattered to Lilith.
Whether the demons and humans warred or made peace, their conflicts were no more than dust caught in the wind—insignificant in the grand scale of this world.
Lilith traced her finger across the brown expanse of Xedrios, which took up nearly half the map, and moved eastward—across a stretch of blue.
To the east of Xedrios lay the endless ocean.
To the north, the Sea of Origin was said to be the biggest ocean in the world. It was rumored that in the darkest depths of that ancient sea, the strongest existence of this world slumbered. However, whether such a creature truly existed remained debatable.
To the south, divided by a scattered group of islands, was another ocean… In Lilith's memory, that ocean had a name. Some called it the Sea of Dragons, others the more poetic Sea of Azure Waves.
Among the human nations, it was almost always referred to as the Sea of Dragons because at the heart of that vast expanse of blue lay a single, mysterious island: the ancient homeland of the dragons.
It was a holy land in the hearts of all who revered the dragons.
Yet, on the map before Lilith, that southern sea was not labeled. The Dragon Island was not even marked. It was just an empty stretch of azure.
In reality, the Dragon Island was not a secret location to the human world.
They had long been known—but sealed by a powerful magic barrier. Even if someone knew precisely where the island was, they'd never be able to find it and simply drift endlessly, lost in the boundless azure waves.
Even so, most maps would mark its location. Even if it was unreachable, its mystery sold well. After all, no profit was easier than milking the fanatical believers.
"I knew it…"
Lilith stared at the map, feeling a surge of excitement in her chest. In this carefully constructed fantasy, she had finally found a flaw.
No matter the reason behind the dragons' erasure from the continent's history, one thing was certain, countless details had to be rewritten to fully erase their existence.
And those alterations had to be as subtle as possible, crafted like careful substitutions meant to replace what should have been.
The Holy Sky Empire, the Aurora Python, and the so-called Ancestra… All of them were stand-ins—deliberate replacements to mask what once was. After all, the greater the change, the harder it was to maintain consistency.
But on this map… an island that should've existed was missing.
Of course, the Dragon Island hadn't vanished. It had been hidden, so no one could find it and learn the truth.
"I knew it. Dragon Island is the key," Lilith murmured confidently.
The more something had to be hidden, the more vital it was. Which meant if she could return to that island again, she would be a step closer to the truth. At least, that was a place to start.
With that thought in mind, Lilith retrieved a teleportation scroll.
It was a special one—bound to the fixed coordinates of Dragon Island. She had brought it with her when she first left home. No matter where she was in the world, activating it would take her back.
However…
Lilith sank her consciousness into the scroll, only to emerge a moment later with a disappointed look.
As expected, it wasn't going to be that easy. At some point, the coordinates embedded in the teleportation scroll had been erased.
What was once a special return scroll connected to Dragon Island had degraded into a useless generic teleport scroll. There was no telling where she might end up if she used it.
"So, my only option is… to fly back?" An exasperated smile tugged at her lips. For the first time, going home felt like a chore.
Maybe it was her punishment for staying away so long.
She folded the world map and made her way to the counter. "How much for this, old man?" She waved the map in her hand, waking the dozing bookseller with her voice.
The old man lifted his heavy eyelids and gave the map a glance. "That one's old, girl. It's super outdated."
"Old is exactly what I'm looking for." The newer maps were likely perfect, but the old ones, especially those pulled from forgotten corners, might still hold something unexpected.
Lilith's eyes flicked to the newest edition of the world map hanging behind the counter. It was still blank in the lower right corner.
"Is that so? Five copper coins then," the old man said simply.
"Deal." Lilith fished out five copper coins, then paused as something occurred to her. "Hey, old man, do you have many storybooks here?" she suddenly asked.
"Storybooks?" The man looked at her. "That whole row behind you. But fair warning—my shop's full of old ones. I never bothered keeping up with what the youngsters are into these days. Still, old or not, they're good stories."
"I see."
Lilith scratched her head and turned toward the shelf he'd pointed to. A wall of books greeted her. Her head throbbed just looking at it.
In every lifetime… reading easily made the top ten list of things she hated most. She'd always find a reason to avoid doing it.
"Old man, do you have any storybooks about dragons?"
"Dragons? What's that?"
"Thought so."
After receiving an answer within her expectation, Lilith had given up on the idea of finding anything useful in the shop's shelves and turned to leave.
"By the way, little girl." The old man's voice stopped her just as she reached the door. His cloudy gaze flicked toward the old world map in her hands. "You're searching for something, aren't you?"
"Uh… I guess you could say that." Lilith turned back, puzzled by his sudden interest.
"Well then, since you bought something, I'll give you a bit of advice."
"Advice?"
"Don't rely too much on that map if what you're looking for isn't marked on it. It might lead to the wrong place instead."
"Huh?" Lilith tilted her head, but the old man had already closed his eyes again, clearly showing no intention of elaborating.
"Strange old man," she muttered.
Shrugging it off, Lilith stepped out into the warm sunlight.
She glanced around at the city streets that were slowly waking up, then slipped into a quiet alley and found a secluded spot.
After making sure there were no children nearby, she rose gently into the sky, ascending toward the clouds.
The wind was strong, but her magic weaved around her to shield against the gusts as she unfolded the old world map once more.
"Without coordinates, teleportation is too risky. Flying's the only option left. But the distance from here to the sea where Dragon Island is…" She traced her finger along the map, then squinted at the scale printed on the map and roughly calculated in her head…
Well, only about ten thousand kilometers.
At her current flight speed, it would take a full month to reach Dragon Island.
For dragons who barely registered time in the same way mortals did… that span was practically nothing—… who was she kidding!
A whole month?! That's too long!
Lilith frowned, glancing down in thought, trying to come up with a faster way to travel. But with the teleportation scroll rendered useless, the only useful thing on her was… the black flame.
She concentrated and summoned a black flame that curled to life at her fingertip.
"I used to hate you, but now I'm starting to rely on you. Maybe one day I'll end up falling into some abyss I'll never crawl out of." She let out a soft, mocking laugh as she stared at the strangely alluring black flame.
"But right now… you're all I've got." As if responding to her, the black flame swayed gently—then flared, leaping behind her.
With a muted whoosh, the cold flames spread out, forming a pair of flaming wings on her back.
The black flame could only consume and devour, not give her speed. At most, it could only devour space to achieve the effect of teleportation, but that would be extremely unstable—no different than using a teleportation scroll without destination coordinates.
So instead, the flame began to slowly settle and condense before finally turning into a black liquid.
In the sticky liquid, something seemed to be taking shape, gradually growing. The faint outline of hard bone slowly became visible.
Lilith felt a strange burning sensation behind her back, as if something were growing out from where her shoulder blades were.
The sensation made her let out a soft gasp, her body trembling slightly as the black liquid faded away.
Then, with a deafening thunderclap, a pair of massive black dragon wings unfurled powerfully.
Whoosh—!
The wings flapped at Lilith's will, stirring up a fierce wind. The dark clouds scattered, and Lilith turned into a blur as she shot forward at a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Nearly thrown off by the sudden acceleration, Lilith barely stopped herself from emptying her stomach's content. But soon, she managed to get the hang of controlling the dragon wings and gradually slowed down.
"Is this the speed of a true dragon?"
Lilith curiously stroked the wings that had seemingly grown from her own body, moving as naturally as if they had always been part of her.
The scales were as hard as iron, yet they carried a surge of power that surpassed everything in the world.
Dragons were truly impressive.
But what impressed Lilith even more was the black flame—or rather, the black liquid—that had perfectly shaped itself into dragon wings.
The black flame's absolute devouring. The black crystal's absolute defense. The black liquid's absolute mimicry. One ability. Three evolutions. No weaknesses.
This terrifying power, inherited from the Dragon Eater, once again revealed its monstrous nature that could make even the Great World beyond fear it.
And yet, as she gazed at the wings, a terrifying thought surfaced in her mind, one she didn't dare to dwell on.
If the black liquid's mimicry truly had no flaws… Then did that mean… it could turn anything into a dragon permanently?