Ashen Dragon

The last rays of the sunset could no longer reach into the valley, filling Wyvern Valley with shadows. The wyverns flew in the darkness, emitting noisy screeches.

Mantou's actions grew more skilled, almost becoming muscle memory. He climbed the steep rock walls and quickly found the wyvern, which was already close to exhaustion, again.

"Roar—"

The wyvern, upon seeing the troublesome human coming again, let out a strained screech and flapped its wings, preparing to leave. But it was too fatigued to take off properly.

"You think you can still run?"

"Hehehe, stop struggling. Just let me ride you already."

Mantou's face showed a lewd smile as the lasso in his hand, like an automatic tracker, precisely looped around the wyvern's long neck.

"Roar..."

This time, the wyvern didn't expend much energy struggling, only letting out a wail as Mantou tightened the lasso and easily mounted its back.

Were it not for the scales protecting its neck, blood might have been drawn by the lasso.

"Good, good, good."

"Another day of riding a wyvern."

Mantou patted the side of the wyvern's neck and then took out a spray, giving its head a generous misting.

The wyvern slowly spread its wings, trying to glide in the air, but soon could no longer support itself and crashed to the ground.

"Roar—"

The wyvern used its last bit of strength to lift its head high and let out a long howl before bowing its head, ceasing its futile struggle.

The human on its back filled the young wyvern, still in its growth phase, with despair. For three whole days, this human had been trying to ride on its back, stubbornly getting back up no matter how many times he was thrown off.

There was even once when the human fell from a height of a hundred meters, crashing into the ground and turning into a bloody mess, and the wyvern thought it was finally free from this torment.

But within half a day, the human returned to the valley unscathed and energetic, once again trying to lasso and ride it.

This made the wyvern question its existence as a dragon.

"Holy crap, I did it!"

Mantou's face was full of joy and immense satisfaction as the wyvern bowed its head. He had been trying day and night for three days and had finally succeeded.

He tried to pet the wyvern's head, and this time it didn't bite or screech, instead, it lay still, displaying a resigned posture.

Maybe it was fed up, or maybe it had genuinely surrendered.

Mantou felt the texture of the wyvern's scales, sensed its pulse and breathing, and felt a great sense of triumph and relief.

He looked at the wyvern, lying exhausted with its eyes closed, and said to it:

"Do I need to give you a name too...?"

"Darling?"

"No, that's a bit vulgar, and you seem to be male."

"Big Dragon? That sounds too rough."

"Since I'm called Mantou, how about I call you... Noodle, seeing as your neck is so long and slender?"

Mantou cheerfully patted the wyvern on the top of its head.

"Noodle!"

"Roar..."

The wyvern lifted its head slightly and gave a weak response. It seemed both fed up and resigned; these two feelings were not mutually exclusive.

"Mantou, what kind of name is that!"

Xin Dog landed nearby on his wyvern.

He had already tamed his wyvern by the second day. According to him, he used draconic language learned from the kobolds to communicate with it, which Mantou doubted.

Mantou protested: "Noodle, what a meaningful name! Look at the crappy name you came up with."

Xin Dog proudly said: "My mount is called Wyvern, pure and simple. What's wrong with that? Look at Ash, he didn't come up with some weird name for Pikachu, did he?"

Mantou cursed: "Don't make excuses for your poor naming skills, Xin Dog."

Ignoring him, Xin Dog addressed Alger, who was overseeing them from nearby: "Instructor Alger, we've completed the trial. Can we advance now?"

Mantou, feeling the wyvern's neck, exclaimed: "Red Scale Conqueror, activate!"

"Yes."

"You two are truly... unexpected."

Usually quiet, Alger couldn't help but marvel at this rare talent, which defied common sense.

"Eagle!"

Alger softly called out. Find adventures on My Virtual Library Empire

The Dragon Vein Giant Eagle, with a wingspan nearing ten meters, cast a large shadow as it descended from the sky, drawing envious glances from the two.

Alger skillfully mounted the Dragon Vein Giant Eagle without needing to command it as it spread its wings and took off.

He said without looking back:

"Follow me. I will take you to meet the master and complete the advancement ceremony."

Xin Dog followed closely on his wyvern.

"Wyvern, let's go."

The wyvern seemed excited for what was to come, raising its head and letting out a long screech before flapping its wings to follow.

This was the argument Xin Dog used to make the wyvern submit: becoming a Red Scale Conqueror would allow it to receive a precious bloodline gift and gain strength comparable to their leader's.

But at this critical moment, Mantou's "Noodle" faltered. It could only weakly lift its wings, indicating it was too tired to fly.

Mantou patted Noodle's side neck, almost tearfully, suspecting it of deliberate revenge:

"Come on, Noodle, you need to get up."

"If you don't fly, we'll be left behind!"

"Noodle" seemed to grow annoyed by the shouting and let out a low roar.

With great effort, it flapped its wings and finally lifted off the ground, flying unsteadily and causing Mantou to feel constantly jostled on its back.

Meanwhile, the other two had already widened the distance.

"Wait for me—"

"Why don't you consider a newbie starting out—"

Mantou, riding on the wobbling wyvern, shouted from afar.

Their commotion caught the attention of many retainers, especially when they saw the human on the wyvern's back, which seemed incredible, like seeing a ghost,

At Rock Fortress, a goblin guard patted his colleague's shoulder, pointing to the sky.

"Look!"

"What's that?"

"It's just a wyvern—but wait, there's a human riding it!"

"They... they really succeeded?"

The goblin guard spread his palms towards his colleague: "I won, one hundred copper coins."

The other goblin guard cursed: "Were there bets being made? You just want my money, get lost!"

But then, the guard watched the humans riding the wyverns with envy and muttered: "These two humans are going to soar to great heights..."

"Who could have guessed? Captain Dolores even sent six trusted men for the trial, and four died while two fled, getting mocked by Director Ramp for a long time."

"I never thought these raging beasts could be ridden."

"Yeah, I thought their heads were filled with slime."