Return to the Valley and the Golden Dragon

The snow had begun to melt in the hills behind Ernst Academy.

"Grandpa Doehring, my spiritual energy... I think I've broken through again."

Doehring Cowart smiled so broadly that his white beard lifted. "More than that! During the ten days and nights you spent completing Dream Awakening, your spiritual energy increased tenfold. You leaped straight from the beginning of level six to become a Level Seven Mage. Now you're a true Level Seven Mage."

"The gap between levels six and seven is a huge hurdle. Countless mages spend their entire lives unable to cross it," Grandpa Doehring said with feeling. "You've done it at sixteen. Even across the entire Yulan Continent, such talent is exceedingly rare."

Linley turned to look toward the hills behind the academy. An was meditating in their dormitory there.

"Grandpa Doehring, I'm going to Mist Canyon," Linley said. "Last time An went down alone, a Golden-Patterned Python nearly caught him. Now that I've reached level seven, I can use the Flight Spell. With An beside me, we should have a chance."

Doehring Cowart fell silent for a moment before nodding. "Mist Canyon is indeed a treasure trove. Both of you brothers may be level seven or higher, but you still mustn't let your guard down."

Linley nodded and strode toward the dormitory.

Inside, An sat cross-legged on his bed, meditating.

Dense motes of green light surrounded him. An's affinity for the wind element was exceptional, so elements gathered around him during meditation far faster than they did for ordinary mages. The green lights danced around him like fireflies before his body absorbed and refined them into magical power, which flowed into his middle dantian.

Linley did not disturb him. He sat beside the bed and waited.

About fifteen minutes later, An opened his eyes. A green gleam flashed through his dark brown eyes and vanished.

"Brother, you broke through?" An looked at Linley, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"That insight brought me to level seven." Linley nodded. "An, I want to gather Blue Heart Grass in Mist Canyon. Now that I've reached level seven, we'll have a better chance if we go together."

"Give me another month, Brother," An said.

Linley frowned. "Why?"

"I'm at the peak of level seven, just one step away from level eight," An said calmly. "I'm confident I can break through within a month. Our chances will be much better then."

Linley's eyes widened.

A Level Eight Mage? An was only sixteen.

"All right. I'll wait," Linley said.

For the next month, An secluded himself to train.

Linley practiced level seven magic in the hills behind the academy every day.

A month later, An emerged from seclusion.

"Level eight?" Linley asked.

An nodded.

Yale poked his head out of the living room, clicking his tongue in wonder. "Third Brother, Fourth Brother, you two are monsters. One reached level seven at sixteen, the other level eight. The two most gifted students in Ernst Academy's history both live in our dorm."

On the day of their departure, An and Linley changed into lightweight warrior outfits, shouldered their packs, and left Ernst Academy with Bebe.

The two darted through the mountain forests like phantoms.

In less than half a day, they reached the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

They spent another day traveling deeper into the mountains. On the morning of the third day, they stood atop the cliffs of Mist Canyon.

Thick white mist churned in the valley like boiling steam. Sunlight streamed down from above, forming rainbow halos in the fog. The canyon was too deep to see the bottom. Only the faint roars of magical beasts rose from below.

"I'll go down first, just like last time," An said. "Even if I run into a level eight magical beast, I can escape. You stay up here and cover me."

Linley shook his head. "We go together. Watching each other's backs is better than letting you take the risk alone."

Seeing the determination in Linley's eyes, An did not argue further.

They cast the Flight Spell at the same time. Green wind elements gathered around An, forming a pair of translucent wings.

They slowly descended into the mist.

White vapor washed over their faces, reducing visibility to less than ten meters. An led the way, with Linley behind him. Bebe perched on Linley's shoulder, his little eyes darting about as he watched their surroundings warily.

"There's a Green-Striped Giant Python thirty meters ahead to the left." An's Wind of Perception had detected the magical beast's presence. "Let's go around it."

Hugging the cliff face, they carefully skirted the level seven python. The farther they descended, the thicker the white mist became and the more densely the beasts' roars rang out. Halfway down the canyon, the information carried back by An's Wind of Perception made him draw a sharp breath.

"There are at least a hundred magical beasts below. Level seven Green-Striped Giant Pythons and Winged Bird Dragons, level eight Golden-Patterned Pythons, Fire Dragons, Green Dragons... and more presences I can't identify."

Linley's expression grew grave as well.

They continued deeper.

The farther down they went, the wider the canyon became. The cliffs on either side were now thousands of meters apart. Below, the sheer walls gave way to gentle slopes, and farther down still, they could even make out stretches of lush grassland and winding rivers.

An stopped on an outcrop of rock, and Linley landed beside him.

Through the thinning white mist, they saw an astonishing sight-

At the bottom of the valley lay a broad basin, where herds of magical beasts roamed. Earth Dragons, Velociraptors, Two-Winged Pegasi, Thunder-Winged Pegasi... all kinds of magical beasts lived together peacefully. Some drank beside the river, others rested on the grass, and still others circled overhead.

"Heavens..." Linley murmured.

An's gaze, however, settled on a peculiar patch of ground in the distance. It was a grassy patch seven or eight meters across. Every blade was emerald green, with a faint blue halo shimmering around it-Blue Heart Grass, growing densely together, over a hundred stalks in all.

"There!" An pointed toward the patch.

Linley saw it too, but his expression darkened further. "Nothing grows within thirty meters of that patch of Blue Heart Grass. There's no cover at all. And there are at least seven or eight magical beasts nearby, including two Velociraptors and a Golden-Patterned Python."

An studied the area for a while, then smiled slightly. "Brother, you've forgotten someone-no, a certain mouse."

Bebe squeaked twice on Linley's shoulder and puffed out his little chest.

"Bebe is faster than a level eight magical beast. He's small and hard to spot," An said. "Let him gather it while we cover him from above."

Linley hesitated, then nodded.

Bebe leaped from Linley's shoulder, his body swelling in midair from twenty centimeters long to nearly half a meter. He glanced back at An and Linley, then shot toward the Blue Heart Grass like a bolt of black lightning.

Bebe's speed was truly astonishing. An could see only a blurry black shadow darting through the grass before Bebe reached the patch in the blink of an eye. His little front paws flew, uprooting stalk after stalk of Blue Heart Grass and piling them beside him.

"What's he doing?" Linley asked anxiously. "A few stalks would be enough. Why is he gathering so much?"

An did not know whether to laugh or cry either. The little fellow was so greedy that, faced with all that Blue Heart Grass, he wanted to carry away every last stalk.

A Velociraptor drinking beside the river noticed something amiss and raised its head toward the Blue Heart Grass. It spotted Bebe-a little black mouse frantically pulling up grass.

The Velociraptor straightened its forelegs, a flicker of disdain crossing its eyes. A Black Shadow Mouse, a lowly level three magical beast, was not worth its attention. It lowered itself again and resumed drinking.

Bebe seemed to notice the Velociraptor's gaze as well. He trembled slightly, putting on a frightened appearance. The Velociraptor gave a smug growl and ignored him.

"The little fellow can even act." An could not help smiling.

Bebe kept pulling up grass. Soon, the pile of Blue Heart Grass beside him stood taller than he did. Finally satisfied, he expanded again until he was nearly a meter long. Scooping the pile into his front paws, he kicked off with his hind legs and raced toward An and Linley.

But the instant Bebe rushed out of the Blue Heart Grass patch, the Golden-Patterned Python moved.

As a level eight magical beast, the Golden-Patterned Python had exceptionally keen senses. It had noticed something unusual about Bebe long ago and had simply been waiting. When Bebe fled with the Blue Heart Grass in his paws, the python burst from the grass, its enormous jaws gaping as it lunged to bite him.

Bebe was fast, but the Golden-Patterned Python was no slouch either.

"Watch out!" An's expression changed. Both hands swept through the air, sending dozens of Wind Blades slashing toward the Golden-Patterned Python.

The power of Wind Blades cast with level eight wind magic was far beyond that of level seven magic. Each blade was half a meter long, shining a dazzling green and shrieking through the air. They struck the python's scales without piercing them, but the tremendous impacts knocked its body sideways, allowing Bebe to slip past its jaws.

"Roar!" The Golden-Patterned Python let out a furious bellow.

That roar alerted the entire canyon.

Velociraptors, Earth Dragons, Winged Bird Dragons, Two-Winged Pegasi... every magical beast turned toward them. They saw two humans-An and Linley-hovering in midair and attacking the Golden-Patterned Python.

Roars rose one after another. To magical beasts, humans were mortal enemies. They could tolerate other species of magical beasts living alongside them, but they would never tolerate humans entering their territory.

"Go!" An grabbed Linley and drove his level eight Flight Spell to its limit, soaring toward the top of the canyon.

But it was already too late.

Dozens of Winged Bird Dragons launched into the air from all over the canyon, converging on them. Their wings spanned over twenty meters, blotting out the sky. Farther away, Fire Dragons and Green Dragons began moving too. Those level eight dragons were even larger, with wingspans exceeding fifty meters. Each beat of their wings stirred enormous gusts.

An glanced back, his heart sinking.

At least thirty Winged Bird Dragons, more than a dozen Fire Dragons, more than a dozen Green Dragons, and Golden-Patterned Pythons and Velociraptors climbing up from the ground below. The force pursuing them was even larger than the one he had faced on his last visit alone.

"Brother, follow me!" An shouted.

They flew desperately upward. An's level eight Flight Spell was extremely fast, allowing him to weave through the encircling beasts and nimbly dodge fireballs and ice arrows. Linley's level seven Flight Spell was slower, but with An covering him, he barely managed to keep up.

Thud! A fireball struck Linley's Earth Guardian Sacred Armor. Its earthen-yellow light flickered violently, but it held. A Level Seven Mage's Earth Guardian Sacred Armor had already reached the jade tier and offered formidable protection.

Bebe poked his head out of Linley's arms, his little eyes blazing with fury. He wanted to charge out and teach those magical beasts a lesson, but Linley held him firmly down. "Don't be reckless! Let's escape first!"

The two humans and the mouse maneuvered through the air against dozens of magical beasts. An's Wind Blades struck precisely at approaching Winged Bird Dragons. Though unable to inflict fatal wounds, they could force them back. Linley's Earth Spike Array kept erupting from the cliff face, hindering the serpentine magical beasts climbing after them.

At last, they saw light above the canyon.

"Now!" An seized Linley's wrist and unleashed the full power of his level eight Flight Spell. Like meteors, they shot out of the mist and landed on the cliff at the top of the canyon.

The magical beasts pursued them to the canyon's edge, roaring in frustration. The Winged Bird Dragons circled above the canyon a few times before finally flying back in resentment.

An and Linley slumped on the cliff, gasping for breath.

"Bebe, how much did you gather?" Linley asked.

Bebe jumped out of Linley's arms and shrank to his original size, squeaking proudly. Through Soul Transmission, he said, "A hundred and sixty stalks! I counted!"

An and Linley exchanged a glance, each seeing shock in the other's eyes.

A hundred and sixty stalks of Blue Heart Grass-what did that mean? A single stalk was worth tens of thousands of gold coins. A hundred and sixty were worth millions. More importantly, with so much Blue Heart Grass, awakening Dragonblood Warriors for several generations of the Baruch Clan would no longer be a problem.

"Bebe, you've done us a great service." An reached out and stroked Bebe's head.

Bebe proudly puffed out his chest.

After resting for a while, they prepared to leave. An stood and habitually cast Wind of Perception to check whether any magical beasts were approaching-

Then his body went rigid.

"What is it?" Linley scanned their surroundings warily.

An said nothing. His eyes remained fixed on the dense forest about three hundred meters to the southeast.

"There's a magical beast," An said quietly. "A powerful one."

Linley tensed as well. "How powerful?"

"Let's take a look," Linley said.

An nodded, and the two cautiously crept southeast.

Passing through a stretch of dense forest, they came upon a clearing. A young golden dragon lay on the ground, licking a wound on its foreleg.

The young dragon was less than three meters long, far smaller than an adult dragon, but its scales were pure gold and glittered in the sunlight. Its horns had yet to grow, and its wings still looked immature, but its golden, slit-pupiled eyes already held traces of the majesty and pride unique to dragons.

"A Golden Dragon." An drew a deep breath, keeping his voice extremely low.

Golden Dragons were among the greatest of all dragons. An adult Golden Dragon was a Saint-level magical beast, standing at the very top of the Yulan Continent's food chain. The one before them, however, was clearly not yet mature.

"Its aura... level eight." An sensed it carefully. "But it's much stronger than those level eight magical beasts in the canyon. It should be at peak level eight, just one step away from level nine."

Linley's eyes lit up. "Could living dragon blood from a level eight Golden Dragon awaken the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline?"

An considered for a moment. "The Dragonblood Codex is clear. Saint-level dragon blood works best, followed by level nine dragon blood. With level eight dragon blood... the odds are very low. But a Golden Dragon's bloodline is far superior to that of ordinary dragons. Even at level eight, its blood would work better than an ordinary level nine dragon's."

He looked at Linley, and both of them thought of the same possibility.

Capture a level eight Golden Dragon alive, take its living dragon blood, and consume it with Blue Heart Grass-perhaps they really could awaken the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline. Even if the chances were low, it was worth a try.

"It's injured." Linley noticed that the wound on the Golden Dragon's foreleg was still bleeding. "It might have been fighting another magical beast. Right now, it's at its weakest."

An nodded, but he did not act rashly.

The Golden Dragon was a peak level eight magical beast. Even injured, it would not be easy to handle. With An as a Level Eight Mage, Linley as a Level Seven Mage, and Bebe helping them, perhaps they had a chance.

The two hid in the dense forest, silently watching the young golden dragon.