Lie Down, Get Down, Roll Over, Shake Hands

Vermes reacted faster than expected—and far more violently.

When the Enhancement Card's effect vanished, her enormous body began rolling and convulsing across the ground.

A Flame Aura of astonishing heat enveloped her entire body.

It was a spell-like ability unique to red dragons, capable of scorching any creature that came within one or two meters of them.

Her agonized, ear-splitting roars echoed through the lowest level of the Mage Tower.

Her powerful tail whipped the surrounding rocks like a mad lash, never stopping for an instant.

Shattered pebbles flew in every direction.

One of them even shot more than ten meters away, grazing Zuo Si's cheek.

It left a small cut on his young face.

Dark-red beads of blood slowly trickled from the wound.

But he did not notice at all. His full attention was fixed on the red dragon's nearly hysterical behavior.

It was obvious that all her struggling was futile.

Neither her powerful tail and wings, nor her steel-rending fangs and claws, nor even her devastating Flame Breath and spell-like abilities could do anything to the thing that had crawled inside her body.

She could only endure the unbearable pain as the Awaken Creation used its Barbed Tentacles to tear open a small opening in the most fragile, sensitive part deep inside her ear.

Then it slowly wriggled through that opening toward the point where her brain connected to her spine.

That bone-scraping, heart-piercing agony was simply not something any creature with pain-sensing nerves could endure.

But before long, her frantic struggling gradually calmed down.

Only the area near her head twitched faintly, while a small amount of blood flowed from her ear and slowly dripped onto the ground.

When a flash of white light passed through Vermes's irises, she finally staggered back to her feet.

At the same time, an unfamiliar voice suddenly echoed intermittently in Zuo Si's mind.

"Brains! Delicious! Eat!"

He immediately realized that this was a message from the creation that had entered the red dragon's brain.

According to the description of the creator's special ability, Awaken Creation, all Magical Constructs granted intelligence would form a connection with their master similar to that between a Wizard and Familiar.

So Zuo Si promptly replied, "No! Cannot eat! Monitor! Control!"

"Do not eat! Monitor! Control! Understood!"

Obviously, this newly awakened Wondrous Item had an intelligence level barely approaching that of a human infant.

It could not understand long, complicated sentences.

Not to mention holding a normal conversation like certain wizard familiars.

But Zuo Si was not sure whether this little thing, which had inherited part of a Mind Flayer's Psionic Ability, possessed the potential to grow.

That was, whether it would gradually become smarter as time passed.

Or even develop into another creature similar to a Mind Flayer and eventually break free of his control.

Of course, he could not afford to worry about that now. Since things had already come to this, he simply walked up and tried issuing commands.

"Lie down!"

"Get down!"

"Roll over!"

"Shake hands!"

As it turned out, the controlled Vermes obeyed every command perfectly, and her expression even carried an adorably vacant contrast to her usual appearance.

In just Several Seconds, the whole tone of the scene had changed completely.

The terrifyingly powerful red dragon behaved no differently from a Pet Dog.

"Good girl!"

Zuo Si gently patted the dragon's snout in satisfaction, then gave another order. "Allow her to speak."

Instantly!

Vermes, who had been lying on the ground like an obedient dog a moment ago, abruptly opened her mouth and roared madly, "Bastard! You Humble Maggot! How dare you treat me like this?"

"I'll give you Ten Seconds to reconsider your wording! If another curse or Insulting Term comes out of your mouth, I guarantee you will never have another chance to speak again." Zuo Si threatened without the slightest politeness.

Once you're used to it, it doesn't hurt.

He had already offended her beyond repair anyway, so he did not care about going a little further.

"..."

The red dragon fell silent.

Though brutality and rage flashed in her eyes.

Though she made no effort to hide her urge to kill the Human cub before her.

In the end, she did not utter any more contemptuous words such as "maggot" or "little worm."

The threat worked?!

Seeing this, Zuo Si immediately seized the opportunity to continue intimidating her. "I believe you've already noticed that the little thing that crawled into your brain can read and control all your thoughts and movements.

In Order To help us cooperate better and escape this damned place, I will allow you to regain Control of Body later.

But before that, I must remind you of something.

Don't try any tricks!

Because all of your Attack Intent will be read instantly. Before it can even be transmitted through your Spinal Nerve, it will be forcibly Filtered and Intercepted.

And if I die, no one will be able to stop that little thing from eating your brain.

You know far better than I do what it means to have your brain eaten by a Mind Flayer.

It means erasing all of a creature's memories, personality, and even soul."

"Allow me to regain control of my body?" Vermes asked, shocked yet wildly delighted.

What she feared most at that moment was permanently losing Control of Body, becoming a puppet under someone else's control, or being completely devoured.

"That's right!

My creation has not yet learned how to control your body, Innate Ability, and spells in combat.

So I've decided to give you a chance.

Also, I sincerely suggest that you carefully consider changing your attitude so that we can get along better.

After all, my patience is not unlimited.

As time goes on, that little thing will slowly learn from the commands you give your body.

Just imagine: if one day it learns all your Combat Skill, how do you think I'll deal with a Potential Enemy that wants to kill me every day?"

As he spoke, Zuo Si did everything he could to paint a terrifying, hopeless future.

His goal was to plant a Seed of Fear deep in the dragon's heart so he could control and use her more effectively.

The facts proved that even the most violent and bloodthirsty red dragon would shrink back when faced with a fate worse than death.

After a brief period of thought, Vermes quickly recognized the cruel reality and said in a somewhat dejected, unwilling voice, "I can obey your commands. But you must promise not to treat me as a servant. I am a dragon—the finest and most Noble Red Dragon among all true dragons. I demand at least the most basic respect."

"A very reasonable request! I agree. From now on, our relationship will not be Master and Servant, but equal partners and allies." Zuo Si nodded without even needing to think about it.

As a transmigrator, although he had lived in the magical world of a Slave Society for nearly two years, he still retained ideas from modern society deep down and did not reject Equal Status with those around him.

Not to mention, this equality was merely verbal.

As long as that creation remained under his control, Zuo Si was in fact the red dragon's unquestionable master, holding absolute authority over her.

"Very well! As long as you maintain the most basic respect for me, I will not resist the commands you give."

Having received the promise she wanted, Vermes's attitude noticeably softened.

After waiting about half a minute, she realized that her brain had regained control over her body and immediately chose to activate her Innate Ability.

Amid dazzling magical radiance, the huge dragon transformed in less than Several Seconds into a beautiful human woman around twenty years old, with long black hair, delicate and alluring features, a tall and shapely figure, and a red gown draped over her body.

In the Forgotten Realms, true dragons gained a powerful Polymorph Ability during adolescence.

This ability allowed them to enter towns and villages in the forms of humans, elves, dwarves, and the like, adventuring, traveling, and even Make Friends with mortals.

Of course, evil dragons would instead use it to gather information on passing caravans, establish Intelligence Networks and forces, or take in underlings and servants to serve them.