Dragon Ascent

Old Chen stood at the very front, leaning on his vine staff, his eyes beneath his white brows gleaming with complicated emotions. As village chief, he knew better than anyone how proud the Azure Dragon was. This divine beast had never allowed a human to touch it, much less permitted someone like Lin Hai to ride on its body.

The Ta Lo villagers by the lakeshore were already dumbfounded. They had never known that the Azure Dragon would fly through the skies with a human on its back.

The Azure Dragon seemed to sense the change in Lin Hai's mood as well and let out a soaring dragon roar. Both Lin Hai and the Ta Lo villagers could hear the delight filling that cry.

Resonating with the Azure Dragon's emotions, Lin Hai noticed that the parts of his legs and hands touching it had begun to grow warm. A warm yet boundless force flowed from those heated areas, following the circulation path of his Life Force toward his dantian.

Lin Hai knew this was likely the Azure Dragon's power. He also believed the Azure Dragon would never harm him, though he did not know what it intended to do. So he did not interfere, allowing the power to advance toward his dantian.

Even more wondrously, once the energy from the Azure Dragon entered Lin Hai's dantian, fragments of the Azure Dragon's memories began flashing through his consciousness.

On an ancient battlefield, a larger Azure Dragon fought a shadow beneath the stars, dragon blood raining down from the sky. That was the inheritance memory the Azure Dragon's mother had left for the Young Azure Dragon. At the bottom of Ta Lo Village's lake, a young dragon curled beside a massive, cold dragon corpse, licking the scales on its tail that had been injured in a battle against Soul-Eating Beasts. There was also the curiosity and joy it had felt yesterday upon sensing the rich life aura on Lin Hai.

"I see..." Lin Hai gently stroked the dragon scales. These memories made him understand the Azure Dragon's loneliness. As the last pure-blooded divine dragon, it carried the mission its mother had left behind, yet had no one to share that burden with.

When the energy transfer was complete, a message automatically surfaced in his mind: "Divine Dragon Heart—only those acknowledged by a true dragon may awaken it."

Within those memories, Lin Hai had not only learned of the Azure Dragon's thousands of years of history, but had also gained a deeper understanding of the meaning and concept of the word "dragon."

At the same time, he learned the name of this power—the Divine Dragon Heart. It was a Divine Dragon Heart granted only to those truly recognized by a divine dragon, not the so-called Divine Dragon Heart the Ta Lo villagers gained after learning natural magic from the Azure Dragon.

Unlike the intense transformation brought by Ego's Flower Bud, this power seeped silently into the circulation of his Life Force like spring rain. When he closed his eyes and looked inward, he saw that a ring of azure-gold radiance had appeared around the emerald energy mass in his dantian.

After this power settled within Lin Hai, he found that his Life Force seemed somewhat different. Yet it was nothing like the earth-shaking transformation that had occurred after absorbing the flower bud Ego had left behind. Aside from being able to directly sense the Azure Dragon's emotions, Lin Hai had plenty of time in the future to study what other changes there were.

Right now, Lin Hai had only one thing on his mind while riding the Azure Dragon: whether he could try using Dragon Ascent with it—the ultimate move Rayquaza could use only after Mega Evolving in Pokémon.

The Divine Dragon power the Azure Dragon had given him allowed him to better sense its emotions, while his Life Force could convey his thoughts to it. He had also gained a better understanding of the concept of "dragon" through the Azure Dragon's memories. With all these conditions in place, Lin Hai was confident he could use this ultimate move. If he really succeeded this time, then should the Soul-Eating Beasts or even the Dark Dweller escape in the future, he and the Azure Dragon could hit them hard with Dragon Ascent.

He acted as soon as he thought of it. After Lin Hai conveyed his idea to the Azure Dragon through his Life Force, the Azure Dragon also wanted to try the immensely powerful move from this human's thoughts. The man and dragon immediately saw eye to eye.

Lin Hai drew a deep breath and pressed both hands against the dragon's neck as the Azure Dragon flew straight into the sky.

As it flew, the Azure Dragon began gathering its own power. Lin Hai, following its movements, transmitted his Life Force through both hands into the Azure Dragon's body, coordinating with its actions.

Emerald Life Force and azure-gold dragon power began to merge, erupting into a dazzling sphere of light where they met.

In the eyes of the Ta Lo villagers, the man and dragon that had been flying peacefully through the sky suddenly shot straight upward for no apparent reason. At the same time, a lush azure glow gradually began to spread over the Azure Dragon's body.

When the man and dragon reached a tremendous altitude, the Azure Dragon suddenly stopped moving through the air, azure light blazing from the scales all over its body. Lin Hai, seated on its back, was enveloped in an emerald cocoon of light. The two energies intertwined, dyeing the clouds for miles around blue-green.

The light radiating from the Azure Dragon made it seem like a second sun in the sky, except it was an azure sun.

Then, following Lin Hai's conception of Dragon Ascent, the Azure Dragon began diving toward a barren mountain below that showed no signs of life.

The Azure Dragon transformed into a streak of light as it plunged downward. Its speed far surpassed the speed of sound, yet it did not trigger a sonic boom. All kinetic energy was converted into that increasingly brilliant blaze of light.

The Ta Lo villagers saw only the azure sun in the sky begin falling at tremendous speed, like a massive azure comet.

A few seconds later, the enormous comet "fell" onto a distant mountaintop. Immediately afterward, dazzling blue-green radiance burst from that direction, illuminating half the sky, followed by a thunderous explosion and dust shooting straight into the heavens.

BOOM—!!!

The intense light temporarily blinded everyone, while the shockwave snapped trees a thousand meters away in half. Once the dust began to clear, the villagers discovered in horror that the eight-hundred-meter mountain—no, there was no mountain anymore. Everything above the mountain's midsection that they had just been able to see had completely vanished.

Returning to the man and dragon who had used Dragon Ascent, because it was the Azure Dragon's first time using the move and it was not proficient enough, it had suffered some light injuries after crashing down headfirst despite the protection of the energy.

Lin Hai, on the dragon's neck, was completely unharmed. He was merely dazed by the enormous impact and sound. Once he came to his senses, he used the little Life Force he had left to heal the few small wounds on the Azure Dragon's head.

After Lin Hai finished dealing with that, immense joy flooded his mind. At the same time, he sensed that the Azure Dragon was also extraordinarily excited.

That was because the Azure Dragon had completely grasped how to use Dragon Ascent during this test. It believed that even without Lin Hai's help, it could use the move on its own, though it would not be as powerful. It would also have to hold back somewhat to avoid injuring itself, making the Dragon Ascent it used alone even weaker. Still, it would be more than enough to deal with the Soul-Eating Beasts that occasionally escaped. With Lin Hai present, it even felt that it could defeat the Dark Dweller.

Thinking of the Dark Dweller made the Azure Dragon sad, because it remembered its mother again. If its mother had also learned this move, perhaps she would not have died, and it would not have needed to guard this place alone for thousands of years.

Sensing the Azure Dragon's emotions, Lin Hai stroked its scales as though comforting a child who missed his mother.

The Azure Dragon recovered quickly. After all, thousands of years had already passed. If it could not let go of such things, it might have wasted away long ago and would never have waited until the day Lin Hai came to meet it.

Having gathered itself again, the Azure Dragon carried Lin Hai soaring into the sky once more amid the Ta Lo villagers' worried gazes.

When they saw the Azure Dragon, the Ta Lo villagers finally let out their held breath. They had thought something had gone wrong with it when it had charged toward the barren mountain carrying such immense energy. If Old Chen had not calmed them down, they would have rushed over to look for the Azure Dragon already.

When the Azure Dragon carried Lin Hai back to the lakeshore, Lin Hai's face still held a flush that had not fully faded from excitement.

Old Chen and the other villagers gathered around, but they did not dare approach too closely, because lingering traces of energy still swirled around the man and dragon.

The old man asked in a trembling voice, "That just now was..."

"Dragon Ascent. It's a new offensive move." Lin Hai slid down from the dragon's back and patted its scales. "It came from a sudden idea of mine. Now that the Azure Dragon has learned it, fighting those Soul-Eating Beasts will be much easier."

The Azure Dragon cooperatively raised its head and spat a stream of azure flame at the lake surface. The flames stopped three yards above the water, transforming into countless motes of light that drifted down.

The villagers all fell to their knees in worship, while Old Chen bowed deeply. "Young friend Lin, from this day onward, Ta Lo Village will forever be your home."