Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 566: What Should I Name It?
To Steven, Oripathy had always felt like something akin to a "world-exclusive status effect."
According to Kal'tsit, every living being in Terra carried traces of Originium within their bodies—no matter how little or how much. Even those so-called gods and the mysterious Feranmuts, as long as they possessed a physical form, were not entirely free from its influence.
Steven himself wasn't an exception either.
Originium energy permeated the entire world—even the very air he breathed contained traces of it. As for why he wasn't infected?
Well… if anyone else drank a bucket of milk a day like he did, they probably wouldn't show symptoms either.
Still, the fact that creatures like Nergigante and Zorah Magdaros could also be infected genuinely surprised him.
These beings were practically incarnations of natural disasters. Setting aside their bizarre and unpredictable abilities, their sheer physical strength alone should have made them resistant to ordinary Originium influence.
After all, even someone like Patriot, a Wendigo, could forcibly suppress the onset of Oripathy through sheer bodily strength. And Talulah—who only carried a fraction of dragon blood—showed almost no visible weakness in her daily state.
If they could do that, then beings like Zorah Magdaros and Nergigante—true, full-blooded Elder Dragons—shouldn't have been affected by mere ambient Originium at all.
Nergigante's case, at least, could be explained.
It had probably overeaten those strange sea creatures, suffered indigestion, and maybe swallowed something it shouldn't have along the way—leading to its current condition.
But Zorah Magdaros? That was a different story.
As a top-tier colossal Elder Dragon, its internal energy cycle should already be completely self-sustaining. Unless it had been eating Originium as food, there was no logical way it should have deteriorated to this extent.
And yet, even its cooling organs were now overflowing with Originium energy.
If it followed the same fate as infected individuals before it, then once this Zorah Magdaros exploded, the unstable Originium crystals scattered from the blast alone might very well be enough to destroy the world all over again.
"So this went from a ticking time bomb… to a full-blown dirty bomb, huh?"
Steven couldn't help but let out a bitter smile.
Even for him, Oripathy wasn't something he could easily handle, especially not in its current state.
The core issue was this:
Zorah Magdaros was already in critical condition.
If he forcibly purged the Originium crystals from its body, its remaining "five percent HP" wouldn't survive the process.
And if it died…
Sure, maybe it wouldn't turn into a dirty bomb anymore—but even a normal explosion of that magnitude would still be catastrophic beyond imagination. This fragile world simply wouldn't be able to withstand it.
This wasn't like Nergigante, which relied on overwhelming regeneration to survive.
Recklessly applying the same method here would be suicide.
"…Looks like I'll need to investigate how it got infected first."
Steven rubbed his chin, glancing back at the volcano that was still spewing molten lava.
"More importantly… figuring out how to treat it comes first."
For some reason, he felt like he was missing something.
Something crucial.
Like the chaotic Originium energy scattered all across this island.
Honestly, an ordinary person probably wouldn't last two minutes here before becoming infected. The concentration of Originium was so high it practically felt solid.
No wonder even something like Nergigante had eventually been overwhelmed by it.
After silently organizing his thoughts and settling on his next course of action, Steven gave a small nod.
Then, riding atop the Nergigante beneath him, he turned back the way he came.
At the very least, there was one piece of good news.
Through his investigation, he now had a rough understanding of the Zorah Magdaros's condition.
And although its health was still steadily declining, he estimated he still had over a month left to deal with the situation.
In other words, as long as nothing unexpected happened, this thing could still survive for at least another month.
And that time would be more than enough for Steven to figure out how to save it.
Since he had already decided to tame this walking "perfect base" for himself, there was no way he was backing out now. Even if it meant dealing with endless trouble and paying an enormous price, to Steven, that was exactly what made it interesting.
A life without challenges was far too boring for his taste.
Sitting atop the Nergigante's head, Steven began rummaging through his inventory, searching for any items or mods that might help treat Zorah Magdaros.
From his earlier attempt at treating Nergigante, he had already confirmed one thing—his items did work on these Elder Dragons from another world.
The only issue was that the quantity required might be slightly absurd.
And that was where the problem lay.
Most healing-related mods in Minecraft didn't restore health based on percentages. Instead, they provided fixed amounts of recovery. Even regeneration potions followed that same rule.
But this Zorah Magdaros? Its health pool probably exceeded hundreds of millions.
Unless he was willing to empty out his entire stockpile, there was no way he could produce enough healing potions to make a meaningful difference.
Sometimes, being too big wasn't a good thing.
What was the point of having such a ridiculous HP bar anyway?
Didn't it know this was basically torture for the healer?!
"…Seriously." Muttering to himself, Steven pulled out a name tag and began considering what name he should engrave onto it with an anvil.
There was no rush.
He had even planted a Warp Stone marker on the creature's back, so finding it again would be easy. Before anything else, he might as well handle his own matters first.
Like naming his new mount.
After all, "Nergigante" or even "Spiky Boy" were just species-based nicknames. Now that it belonged to him, it deserved a proper, unique name of its own.
"I'm terrible at naming things," Steven admitted, rubbing his chin as he looked down into the dragon's massive eyes.
"So why don't you judge it yourself? Saves me the trouble of you complaining later and asking me to change it."
Since this was its name, it only made sense to consider the dragon's own opinion.
"For example… I personally think 'Rocker' suits you pretty well. Sounds strong, looks fitting—what do you think?" Steven spoke casually, completely unconcerned about whether his newly tamed mount could understand him.
After all, the system would definitely bridge that gap.
If even his own mount couldn't understand him, then that system would be pretty useless.
And sure enough, the Nergigante quickly grasped his meaning.
Though it couldn't understand Steven's words directly, the connection between their consciousness conveyed his intent clearly.
The response came immediately.
It shook its horned head decisively.
Rejected.
"Rocker" sounded like the kind of third-rate character who'd get beaten senseless in seconds. It was far too crude—instinctively unacceptable.
"…Tch. Then how about 'Karl'?"
Steven scratched his head, realizing that his previous suggestion might have been a bit questionable.
"A friendly little hedgehog's name. Feels pretty similar to you—cute, too."
This time, the name was far more ordinary.
The response he got was another violent shake of the head, it's so forceful that Steven nearly got thrown straight off its back.
Clearly, this Nergigante had zero appreciation for those "meme names." If anything, it seemed to outright dislike them.
"…Why are you being so picky? Since when did you get so fussy?" Steven clicked his tongue. "Aren't Nergigantes supposed to be macho beasts? What's wrong with picking something cool? Don't tell me you want a name like that Barioth's nickname—'White Crap' or something?"
Just thinking about the nicknames from Monster Hunter, that one stood out the most in his memory. That infamous title had practically traumatized countless beginners.
Disgusting?
Absolutely.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have earned such a… legendary name.
Not to mention titles like the "Golden…"—yeah, better not even say the full thing. Probably wouldn't pass any kind of censorship anyway.
Would it really kill them to just have normal names?
"…Forget it, forget it."
Letting out a sigh, Steven gave up arguing. He reached out and patted the Nergigante's massive horn.
"Then I'll call you Ebony. I was originally saving that name for something like a Deviljho, but honestly… doesn't look like that guy's showing up in this world."
He paused for a moment, then added with a faint smile:
"That should be good enough, right? My partner?"
This time, the Nergigante didn't shake its head. Instead, it let out a low roar.
A quiet acknowledgment.
And then, as if nothing had happened, it continued flying steadily through the sky.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 617: A Bold Guess[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628