Typemoon: Starting Out as the Lion King’s Personal Knight - [Chapter 37]: Journey to the East

As the pleasant conversation with Sanzang continued, the boiling dragon blood within Alaric gradually calmed. He noticed that the surge brought on by the dragon blood overload had faded, leaving an emptiness quickly filled by magic. Power surged again as if it had permanently settled within him. This newly gained strength felt familiar, almost as though it had always been his. It wasn’t a gift from the Holy Grail but rather an expansion of his limits.

The most noticeable change was his magical energy, which had significantly increased; he estimated it had risen from rank B to roughly B+.

“The potential of dragon blood, huh—”

Alaric murmured, twirling a lock of his pale hair. His mind felt unchanged, but his body had undeniably transformed. Beyond the visible changes, he also felt an insatiable hunger, a craving that couldn’t be satisfied. His physical strength and other attributes seemed enhanced, too.

‘Am I fully turning into a humanoid dragon?’

“Where are we headed next? Shouldn’t we be looking for water and food? Normally, Wukong handles that, but I can do it too!”

Sanzang said eagerly, licking her lips.

Distracted by Sanzang’s question, Alaric snapped back to reality and noticed her pale lips. He asked reflexively, “Do Servants also need to eat?”

Sanzang nodded as if it were obvious.

“Of course! If we don’t eat, we’ll die! The Buddhist scriptures say, ‘All sentient beings rely on food to survive.’ Food is a top priority!”

She raised her index finger, lecturing him like a teacher.

“Besides, I’m really hungry and thirsty! I haven’t eaten anything since I manifested here!”

Alaric laughed, clapping his hands.

“Since even the great Xuanzang Sanzang says so, what are we waiting for? Let’s go beg for alms. I happen to know a place—”

Originally, Alaric had been debating whether to venture deeper into the desert to search for remnants of the Crusaders. But after hearing Sanzang, he set aside that idea. His recent battle with the nameless Servant had made him more aware of his weaknesses. While his nearly boundless magical energy was an advantage, it wasn’t absolute. There was a limit to how much magic he could release, a threshold beyond which lay a realm filled with beings far more powerful than he.

Although the second boost from the dragon blood had raised this threshold, it still wasn’t enough. His skills were still underdeveloped. Despite surviving several life-and-death battles and gaining valuable experience, he hadn’t undergone a fundamental transformation. What he needed now was more advanced combat techniques, better control over his magic, and a sword that could support him in battle.

“Damn it, where am I supposed to find a sword?”

Just thinking about the weapon issue gave him a headache. Since his encounter with the Lion King, he’d been swapping weapons, looting them from Crusader knights or borrowing from Ozymandias. Even a visit to the Atlas Institute, which Holmes had called the Reserve Vault of Mystic Codes, hadn’t yielded a single suitable weapon.

“I need to find a Mystic Code—”

With his next steps clear, Alaric turned back to Sanzang. Should he take her to the Camelot or the Holy City in the desert? Going to the Camelot would mean facing the Lion King directly, though Sanzang would likely be neutral. She was still observing the Singularity’s dynamics. Conversely, Ozymandias, the Sun King, would be much easier for Sanzang to engage with. As a protector of humanity, Ozymandias had no reason to oppose her. Weighing the options, Alaric decided to take Sanzang to the Holy City and let her decide her course thereafter.

As he led her back, his curiosity grew about her manifestation. He couldn’t help but ask, “Miss Sanzang, did you manifest alone? Earlier, it seemed you were the only one surrounded by those Crusader knights, and even—”

You cried so much.

Sanzang, naturally manifested in this Singularity, was undoubtedly a representative of Buddhism. And Alaric knew which Buddha she referenced—the Shakyamuni Buddha, the one who achieved enlightenment, who transcended the suffering of life and death, who was the first to reach the end.

Could this crisis of humanity be a minor disturbance to the Buddha? Alaric wasn’t sure what impact his presence would have, but Sanzang’s manifestation confirmed that the Buddha’s gaze had fallen upon this place.

Sanzang’s face twisted in distress as she answered.

“What could I do? I’m all alone… I can’t handle it… I get lonely and scared, and I can’t do anything by myself—”

Alaric instinctively raised a hand, reassuring her.

“That won’t be a problem anymore, Miss Sanzang. From here on, your journey will be just like the ones you’ve had before.”

Sanzang’s face lit up.

“As a high monk who overcame 81 tribulations, I can handle any difficulty. Otherwise, Wukong and the others would laugh at me.”

Hearing Wukong’s name again, Alaric hesitated, then asked, “By the way, the weapons you’ve been using—are they your disciples’ weapons?”

He glanced at the Ruyi Jingu Bang in her hand. After seeing her fight, he was struck by her decisiveness and fierce combat style. Her weapons changed form—sometimes an iron staff, a nine-toothed rake, a demon-subduing staff. He sensed these transformed weapons were more than just for show.

“Huh? Weapons?”

Sanzang looked at him, then leaned back in sudden realization.

“Who knows? Maybe they are the weapons of those three foolish disciples of mine. Their bodies didn’t manifest, but their weapons did. And to think I’ve always been so nice to Wukong and the others—”

She spun the Ruyi Jingu Bang in her hand, making it whistle through the air.

“So it’s true?”

Alaric’s curiosity deepened. These were famous weapons from Journey to the West—whether it was Sun Wukong’s Ruyi Jingu Bang, Zhu Wuneng’s Nine-Toothed Rake, or Sha Wujing’s Demon-Subduing Staff, each was a legendary treasure.

It was undoubtedly a powerful Noble Phantasm.

“So, Miss Sanzang, back when you journeyed west, who was the one who subdued all the demons?”