Ryan's head was buzzing.
Before I crossed over, people always said, "The Wuling van has mysterious power. The stronger its opponent, the stronger it gets. It's never won on paper, but it's never lost in a real fight."
Now Ryan suddenly felt like he had that same vibe.
In truth, he reckoned his combat ability was no better than a single finger of his good disciple.
But on the surface, he was a rare Legendary Archmage!?
Even with his knack for demonstrating physical experiments that worked only now and then, there was no way he should have earned such a muddled reputation. If anything had gone wrong at any point while he was putting on a show, he'd have been branded a fraud.
He didn't want to live the kind of life where the title read, "The Unbelievable Story of Seven Shota and an Internet Celebrity, Taking Turns One by One," only for people to download it and discover it was Gourd Brothers. After all, the constant risk of getting struck by lightning whenever he failed to bluff his way through something was pretty nerve-racking. The irony was, Ryan might well be the man in the world least afraid of being struck by lightning.
So, had his good fortune finally arrived...? It seemed like it had, and yet it also seemed like it hadn't.
Perhaps this vague, elusive feeling was what people meant by "Such is fate"!
(Ahem! Not the "Tathagata" from Buddha.)
At that moment, the flexible box was filled with icy water from the Cold Pool. The pitiful Fire Bat Elite poked its head out of the box, trembling and cowering like a drowned rat. Its narrow eyes opened timidly, gazing at the mysterious man who toyed with terrifying lightning in his left hand, yet showed no trace of magic power spilling from his body.
Every cell in its body, every corner of its soul, was saturated with the thing called fear.
And all because of Dragon's Might, which had sent it plummeting.
On the charred head of the White Dragon, killed so brutally, the Fire Bat could clearly sense how much fear and resentment this apex predator had felt in its final moments.
Though it was only a low-intelligence elemental creature, through the lingering thoughts clinging to the White Dragon's corpse, it could clearly "see" that the man before it—the one wielding the power of lightning—was the one who had killed the dragon.
A Legendary powerhouse who had no business existing in the mortal world!
After meeting Ryan's gaze, the Fire Bat lowered its head, humbly signaling its submission.
That remarkably spirited gesture even snapped Ryan out of the wild theories his disciple had cooked up.
"I'm not nearly that good at plotting things out... Oh?" Ryan turned his gaze toward the Fire Bat Elite, which was putting on the most submissive display imaginable. "You actually understand people?"
As if sensing that Ryan was considering taking the Fire Bat in, Bo Le uneasily pawed at the ground nearby.
To be fair, Ryan hadn't been interested in the Fire Bat Elite that had chased the Wind Rider all the way here.
Then again, he did hold a grudge against the Wind Rider, didn't he?
He couldn't withstand the Cold Pool and couldn't leave the valley. If this Sunshine Rainbow Little White Horse would let him ride it, he could leave the valley on a flying horse without having to put on airs as its master.
Then Ryan remembered that all the famous mages in the game liked to keep a Magic pet or two, and a mocking smile spread across his face.
He decided to wait and see.
"Little Bat! Want to live? Fine. Offer me a fragment of your soul, become my Magic pet, and let me rename you. Otherwise, die." His authoritative voice carried an irresistible, overwhelming pressure.
This was the judgment of the strong!
This was the declaration of the victor!
The Fire Bat instinctively felt a surge of resentment.
It reflexively refused to submit.
After all, the only ones in the world capable of making a Fire Bat submit were the most powerful fire-based arcane casters. The man before it clearly didn't meet that requirement.
It almost let out the shriek of refusal, ready to use a supersonic attack as its final act of defiance.
But before it could, it carefully sensed the other party's soul. Then an unexpected discovery left its whole body rigid.
It recalled a tiny detail. Just as it had been struck and stripped of a large amount of Fire Element, it had sensed the power of the World's Fundamental Law.
It was true that another, younger man had cast the spell, but the law that even the Fire Elemental Plane acknowledged had come from the man before it, the one who controlled lightning.
He... was definitely not as weak as he looked.
It was this mysterious application of the Fire Element's laws that changed the Fire Bat's mind.
Right in front of the two men, the Fire Bat gave a firm nod.
The next second, a translucent phantom split off from its body and floated before Ryan.
For a moment, Ryan was stunned too.
I was just saying it. You're really surrendering?
A system notification popped up: [Congratulations, host. You have gained the allegiance of Dickda*Brightflame, the Legendary Fire Bat King. He is willing to offer a fragment of his soul. Would you like to accept and make him your Magic pet?]
Ryan's left eyelid started twitching.
He'd genuinely never expected this thing to be a Legendary Fire Bat.
Of course, he knew that among monsters, a larger body usually meant greater strength. But until the system identified it, he had no idea this thing was a [Legendary] creature!
As for monsters, well, having the title [Legendary] meant they were among the top of their species.
But it depended on what kind of Legendary creature they were.
Take a Legendary Army Ant, for example. It might be able to bite a huge, bloody hole in an adult human, but in a real fight, one hammer blow would kill it.
Different species had vastly different Upper and Lower Limits when it came to strength.
For another example, a standard five-person Legendary adventuring party often couldn't handle a Legendary Red Dragon.
Though this Fire Bat King bore the title of Legendary, in the game, a high-level party of professionals averaging around level six could probably take it on.
On the other hand, the benefits of making the Fire Bat King his Magic pet were obvious.
A regular Fire Bat was only level three. In combat, aside from its high agility and fire attacks, it had no particular strengths. It was the sort of enemy even a moderately experienced party could easily kill.
But if he didn't use it as a main attacker and instead made it a scout, that would change everything.
The Fire Bat's skills were [Hide], [Listen], and [Scout].
When it suppressed the flames on its body, it could blend effortlessly into any environment.
With one as a Magic pet, a Mage basically gained a wide-area reconnaissance radar.
With that thought, Ryan didn't hesitate any longer. He quietly answered the system: [Take him.]
The next second, everyone saw Ryan extend his right hand from afar. A wisp of light separated from the Fire Bat's phantom and was drawn into him.
"Huff! Huff!" Bo Le snorted in displeasure.
Downs thought it was only natural.
Then the Fire Bat, which had just clambered out of the water box, heard its new master's announcement of its new name—and sentence.
"I was thinking of naming you Bruce*Wayne. But you're too ugly. Looking at you makes me want to beat you up. Anyway, you've got the word 'bat' in your name, so I'll call you Laifu!"
Laifu's whole body stiffened. It could tell its new master really didn't like it very much.
Beating up a Magic pet on a cloudy day was something to do when there was nothing else going on.
Ahem! So that sort of thing might actually be true...
Laifu suddenly felt like its future was bleak!