The map expansion quest turned out to be even more monotonous than Gong Qu had expected.
Most of the time, the two of them were simply on the move.
Three days passed. Apart from the first day, when they activated a teleport point in an abandoned village, nothing else stood out. No remarkable landmarks, no scenic stops. Just another routine drop of a teleport anchor every 50 kilometers.
Currently, they were somewhere on a gently sloping plain, about 220 kilometers from the forest cabin.
From a distance, they spotted a few reptilian beasts, around two to three meters tall, roaming aimlessly. They looked like small triceratops.
"Are those… juvenile dragons from the overworld?"
Gong Qu called out to Keqing, then opened his inventory to check, leather, string, and iron ingots were all in stock.
He quickly pulled out his crafting table and followed the recipe to make three saddles.
"What's up, A'Qu? Is there something wrong with those dragons?"
Gong Qu grinned. "A'Qing, how about we try our hand at being dragon tamers?"
He raised the saddles in his hand.
Keqing's eyes lit up. "You mean we can tame those dragons like we did with Little Orange?"
Little Orange was the stray tabby cat Keqing had adopted.
In just a few days, the cat had already gained weight and shed all traces of its former wildness.
"Yeah. These overworld baby dragons can't compare to the dragons from the Ice and Fire Legends mod, but they'll make for decent mounts."
"Just be careful when saddling them, they're a bit temperamental."
Keqing took a saddle from him, and after a few tips from Gong Qu on beast-taming, she eagerly approached one of the juvenile dragons.
Gong Qu followed behind, ready to heal her at a moment's notice.
After all, a baby dragon was still a dragon, not exactly comparable to breaking a horse.
At worst, a horse would buck you off and run.
A juvenile dragon? It might bite your arm off after it throws you.
Keqing crouched low like a hunter, inching forward. From the corner of her eye, she kept track of Gong Qu, who was preparing his elemental skill. That eased her nerves quite a bit.
With the "healer" on standby, she found her courage.
She aimed, then threw!
The saddle flew as if guided by a targeting system and landed squarely on the dragon's back.
The young dragon paused, its eyes confused. Before it could react, it felt a sudden weight on its back.
"Raaawr!"
Its inborn pride couldn't accept being mounted by a two-legged creature. It immediately began to thrash, trying to throw Keqing off.
Keqing clenched her teeth and held tightly to the saddle grips.
Unfortunately, the dragon's resistance was too violent. With one final buck, both Keqing and the saddle were thrown to the ground.
"Not good!"
She rolled to absorb the fall, only to feel a gust of wind rushing toward her.
The dragon charged, its twin horns aimed straight at her.
"Nature's Blessing!"
Boom!
Keqing raised her hand in defense.
A flash of white light enveloped her.
Her diamond armor absorbed most of the damage, and the remaining bit was instantly healed by Gong Qu's elemental skill.
Shaking her head clear, Keqing glanced at the surrounding dragons who were beginning to close in. She frowned.
She could probably take them all out with one elemental burst. These flightless juveniles were no match for her.
But the goal was to tame them, not kill them, which made things several times harder.
Luckily, her diamond set was sturdy. She figured she could spar with these little beasts for hours if needed.
"A'Qing, I'll take the other two. You focus on taming that one."
Gong Qu drew his Sharpness IV diamond sword, the killer instinct he'd honed from fighting bulls now flaring in his eyes. He charged at the other two juvenile dragons.
Keqing nodded and retried the process, mounting the dragon again.
Gong Qu positioned himself between her and the two incoming dragons.
After that short scuffle earlier, he'd gotten a pretty good sense of the young dragons' attack power.
Slightly stronger than a brown bear, but not by much.
With Keqing's physical stats and diamond armor, she could practically let the dragon attack her freely—it'd only leave a few bruises.
"Roar!"
The two juvenile dragons pawed at the ground restlessly like wild bulls, preparing to charge.
Gong Qu chuckled. "Sorry, I can't let you interfere with A'Qing. This is my home turf—time for a little nap."
"Blue, cough, Vine Snare!"
Gong Qu plunged his sword into the ground.
To his surprise, the diamond sword's excellent elemental conductivity amplified the power of his Grass element. Vines exploded from the ground, growing dozens of meters in an instant.
As if sentient, the vines shot toward the two dragons and began to wrap around them.
The dragons struggled wildly, tearing some vines apart.
But the vegetation on this plain was far too lush, their resistance only bought them a little time.
Before long, the two dragons were tied up like zongzi, only their confused dragon faces poking out.
The scene was almost comical: one man, two dragons, staring at each other.
"Ahem… you hungry? Want a bite?"
Gong Qu took out some raw beef from his backpack.
The dragons immediately looked eager.
He tossed some to them.
"Rawr rawr~"
Their emotions were unmistakable: Big bro, gimme another one!
"Pfft, your buddy over there's fighting tooth and claw, and you two cave in for a couple chunks of meat?"
The proud dragon race, never to be enslaved… unless food and board were included?
He glanced back at Keqing.
The largest of the dragons was finally calming down. She'd stayed mounted for over three minutes now.
With nothing else to do, Gong Qu sat down cross-legged and admired Keqing's fierce grace.
Ten minutes later.
Keqing came striding over on a three-meter-tall, four-legged living tank. The dragon's heavy claws thudded against the earth.
"A'Qu, the taming process is amazing! I feel like I can steer just by thinking, like it's an extension of my own body!"
Side note: There are horses in Teyvat.
So it wasn't strange for Keqing to know what reins were.
Unlike a certain cavalry captain… who has no horse, right Kaeya?
Gong Qu suppressed a jab at Kaeya and patted one of the dragon heads. "They're huge, so one tamed dragon should be enough. What do you say we butcher the other two? In the Realm of Raptors mod, dragon meat has great texture, and their scales can be used to craft armor."
As soon as he finished~
The two tied-up dragons started shivering.
Gong Qu gave them a sidelong glance.
Well now, they can understand human speech.
Kind-hearted beauty Keqing stifled a laugh. "A'Qu, don't scare them. We just opened up a pasture recently, should be enough space to raise all three."
Bulls nearby: Excuse me, who's the real devil here?
Gong Qu nodded.
That pasture wasn't great for farming world coins, but it'd work fine as a meat reserve.
Especially once he started raising a whole brood of massive dragons from the Ice and Fire Legends mod.
Just imagine: a hundred dragons clearing the path for him as he traveled, what a sight that'd be.
Thinking of that made him glance disdainfully at the two juvenile dragons beside him.
"Fine, let's call this a warm-up for dragon taming."
Gong Qu untied the dragons. They didn't resist at all as he saddled them.
They rode the dragons to the nearest teleport anchor and warped back to the forest cabin.
And just like that, the three juvenile dragons were let loose to roam the western plains.