Winning him over

Redd's heartbeat involuntarily quickened.

With the curse lifted, this Old Dragon's strength and condition probably far exceeded his imagination.

It seemed winning him over was not impossible.

He took a deep breath, knowing it was time for a deeper exchange with this silent veteran of the battlefield.

Redd took a deep breath, suppressing the surge within him.

The Old Dragon's piercing gaze seemed capable of penetrating his soul, leaving him somewhat uneasy, but what he felt more was the trembling excitement of facing someone powerful.

He slowly took a few steps forward, each one marked by deliberate caution.

Coming up to the Old Dragon, he raised his right hand in a slow, clear motion and gently placed it on the dragon's snout, covered in hard scales.

Warmth met his touch, carrying the faint heat unique to dragon breath.

Meeting those eyes that seemed capable of setting everything ablaze, he tried to keep his voice steady and sincere. "Would you be willing to become my companion?"

The words were brief, without unnecessary embellishment, but the respect and sincerity they held-

Redd believed the Old Dragon could sense them, even if he could not respond in human language.

The Old Dragon seemed to be silently assessing something. His enormous jaws parted slightly, revealing sharp dragon teeth that gleamed coldly in the sunset's lingering light.

The next second, he abruptly let out a deep, thunderous roar! The sound waves struck like a physical force, spraying Redd from head to toe with a gush of rank, salty dragon saliva.

Caught off guard by this sudden attack, Redd froze, his face and clothes instantly soaked.

What alarmed him even more was the tremendous force of the roar, which left his ears ringing and nearly deafened him.

Almost at the same time, Ehm behind him let out an angry roar as well. Though not as deep and resonant as the Old Dragon's, it was full of warning,

as if saying, "Don't hurt my Redd!"

The protective stance was unmistakable, that enormous body even trembling somewhat uncontrollably, brimming with hostility.

With him between them, the two enormous dragons faced off and roared, their sound waves threatening to tear the air apart.

Caught in the middle and utterly bedraggled, Redd could not help grumbling inwardly:

Didn't you two notice I was in the middle while you were roaring at each other? Or have you both forgotten I exist?

Just as he thought the Old Dragon would attack again, or at least display greater hostility, those piercing dragon eyes flickered slightly.

Some of their cloudiness seemed to recede, replaced by an indescribably complex emotion, within which there was actually a faint trace of... acceptance?

Redd froze, thinking his ears had been damaged by the noise and he was hallucinating.

Only when the roaring had completely subsided and both dragons had fallen silent did he finally manage to come to his senses.

He instinctively raised a hand and wiped the sticky dragon saliva off his face, his movements somewhat stiff, while his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

It worked? He... he accepted me? Redd looked incredulously into those deep dragon eyes. That acceptance, that goodwill, and the resonance of their bloodlines could not be false.

Redd's heart was still pounding, the lingering impact of that heart-stopping scene not yet faded.

He eagerly summoned the system interface in his mind, his fingers swiping rapidly through empty air as he opened the "Pet Panel."

Points of light flowed across the screen, clearly listing the "companions" he currently "owned."

Sure enough, besides the information entries for King Ghidorah and the black dragon Ehm, a new entry stood prominently in the list:

Crimson Demon Dragon Aegon (+)

Age: 211 years (0-220)

Body length: 150 meters

Wingspan: 430 meters

Status: aged

At the sight of that "+" sign, an indescribable surge of elation filled Redd's heart.

It worked! He really became my companion!

He could even imagine the silent flash as the system sealed the contract.

Yet when his gaze fell on the words "Status: aged," that elation was instantly replaced by a trace of heaviness.

He immediately had the system conduct a deeper examination, and detailed information poured into his mind like a stream of data.

"A demon dragon's maximum lifespan is 220 years... Aegon is already 211 years old and has entered old age, with fewer than nine years remaining before reaching his maximum lifespan..."

The system's notification was cold and objective, yet it struck Redd's heart like a heavy hammer.

No wonder he had remained holed up in this dragon lair. No wonder he had clung to life despite bearing a curse. It turned out he had little time left.

A lifespan of over two hundred years counted as long-lived even among enormous dragons, but at its end, nothing awaited him but obliteration.

Redd thought silently, an indescribable sense of loss rising within him.

He had only just gained a powerful companion, only to be told that this companion's days were numbered.

But that sense of loss lasted only a moment.

A thought flashed through his mind like lightning: What if... what if I gave him evolution points and improved his attributes? Would his lifespan increase too?

Once that idea emerged, it gripped him tightly.

To test this conjecture, Redd immediately focused, using the system's examination function to begin carefully comparing the information on the three dragons: Ehm, King Ghidorah, and Aegon.

He needed to find a pattern and see whether improving attributes really affected such a fundamental measure as lifespan.

His fingers swiped rapidly through empty air, his eyes fixed on the constantly changing data, hoping to find a glimmer of hope within it.

This concerned his newly won companion-whether this ancient, enormous dragon nearing the end of his life could have a little more time.

Redd took a deep breath, shifted his attention away from the Pet Panel, and summoned his own Personal Panel. The light screen changed, and his familiar personal information came into view:

Name: Redd

Sex: male

Age: twelve

Evolution points: 2

Storage space: 100 cubic meters (+)

Bloodlines: Old Valyria Dragon King bloodline, Dragon Rider bloodline, titan king bloodline

Abilities: King's Might, Gravity Beams, Storm Control, Electricity Manipulation, Accelerated Regeneration

Status: good

Looking at the familiar entries on the panel, Redd frowned slightly.

Apart from having two more evolution points than before-earned by killing that giant Sandworm after considerable effort-the other figures were essentially unchanged.

Yet his twelve-year-old body held three ancient and powerful bloodlines, along with the various extraordinary abilities that matched them,

which was itself an incredible thing.

The "good" status on the panel also confirmed that he was currently in excellent physical condition, but behind that "good" lay immense potential and an even heavier burden.

He turned his gaze back to the Red Dragon Aegon's information entry, his finger hovering over that crucial evolution path.