[Bond Complete!]
[You have been tamed!]
"Huh?"
Confusion washed over Vey'rax, as despite his hundreds of years of life he had never seen a sorcery like this before.
"What kind of spell is that?" he wondered, and as if to answer, the window shifted, revealing a status screen.
[STATUS]
[Name: Unnamed]
[Species: Ice Dragon (Hatchling)]
[Rank: 1st Realm (Early Stage)]
[Lineage: Unawaken]
His eyes widened as he began reading through the list. He didn't need the status screen to tell him he was only a hatchling, but seeing that his rank now was of the 1st Realm, instead of his previously 8th Realm, was quite a downgrade.
After a moment of pause at his rank, he continued to scan through the attribute list, shaking his head in disbelief at how weak he truly was.
He didn't previously have a list like this to tell him his strength, this whole system display thing was completely new to him, but seeing single-digit numbers was definitely not a good sign.
[Attributes]
[Strength: 7]
[Agility:9]
[Vitality:12]
[Spirit:15]
But the real surprise came last, as a sudden bond status window appeared before him.
[Bond: Active]
[Master: Aria Valen]
[Rank: 1st Realm (Early Stage)]
"M-Master?!" he blurted, only for a growl to come out of his mouth, "This lesser girl is supposed to be MY master?" he added, his eyes shifted to the girl who was now kneeling beside him, staring at her new beast with excitement burning in her eyes.
Her expression suddenly turned to a faint frown as she spoke out.
"But… what are you?" she muttered more to himself than to him, but then her eyes widened as a sudden realisation came to her mind, "A basilisk?!"
She jumped to her feet, refusing to believe she had gotten so lucky.
Basilisks were extremely rare creatures, taming one would be considered truly great luck.
Vey'rax, however, stared at the girl with a perplexed expression.
"A Basilisk? Seriously? You dare compare me to those lowly creatures? I'm a dragon!" he tried to say only to make a bunch of random sounds that made no sense at all.
The girl giggled at his sudden growling.
"Aww, you must be hungry. Come, let's go home, I'll get you something good to eat," she said, already turning to leave.
Vey'rax snickered, watching her walk a couple of steps.
"As if…" he muttered, mocking the girl for even having an idea of telling him where to go, but when he tried to turn and leave… his body refused to listen.
"Huh?" Confusion dawned on him as no matter how hard he tried to control his body, it simply remained in place.
Then, the girl turned slightly, "Come on," she repeated, and in that moment, it was as if his body moved on its own, his wings flapped, and his body soared toward the human girl.
"I… can't disobey her commands?"
The sad reality of his bond became clearer with each moment as his wings, despite his refusal continued to flap and follow the girl.
"This has to be some cruel joke…" he murmured, his growls making the girls think he was excited to go with her.
The walk to the girl's residence wasn't long, in fact, the short distance made Vey'rax only wonder how why would the girl made a bond with the random beast she saw out in the wild mere minutes away from her family's residence, but he didn't have long to dwell over that train of thought as they arrived at the massive gated entrance, guarded by two heavily armoured soldiers.
"Lady Stormvale-" one of the soldiers greeted the young woman with a slight bow, though his eyes clearly snapped toward the small thing flying right behind her.
The two guards, however, didn't have to wonder for long as the Aeria was quick to introduce her newly tamed beast with pride.
"I tamed my first beast," she said, gesturing toward Vey'rax, who felt a cold sweat run down his body.
A young girl confusing him for a dragon was already a great luck, but two soldiers? They surely had to take part in hunting down the dragons. The moment they realise what he is he's done for.
"It's a basilisk," the girl suddenly added.
"A basilisk?" one of the soldiers murmured the words under his breath, confusion flashing across his features. The two guards exchanged a slow, tense look but did not press, simply stepping to the side to let the girl in.
"Congratulations, Young Lady," The soldiers said in unison.
The girl was quick to walk past them, her lips curved into a proud smile.
Aeria wasted no time, moving toward the library.
There sitting on a dark leather chair, was an old man, holding a large tome, no title on its cover.
The moment the two of them entered the room, his gaze shifted away from the book and toward them, and in that moment, Vey'rax's already cold blood ran even colder.
It was the face of the last humans he had seen, no other than the Wind Emperor.
"Father, I have good news!" the girl suddenly said.
'Father? Wait…' a foul realisation dawned on Vey'rax.
Not only he got tamed… but he got tamed by the daughter of a human that had killed him.
"Aeria? What-" her father stopped his question before it could even start as his eyes landed onto Vey'rax.
"What is that thing?" Her father asked, standing up to his feet.
The girl pouted slightly at the question, "It's my beast. I tamed it"
A look of disbelief flashed across her father's face, but not the good kind. Rather, he couldn't believe his daughter would just go and simply make a bond with any beast.
"Aeria, at your rank, you cannot have more than one beast. The first beast is the most important thing for a beast tamer. You're a daughter of an Emperor, if you fail to cultivate properly our family, all our legacy will cease to exist." the man paused for a moment, letting out a deep sigh, "No matter, leave this beast with me, I'll kill you and you'll find more suitable-"
"No!" Aeria cut her father off, "It's a basilisk, they're extremely rare!"
"Basilisk?" Her father raised a brow and took a few steps closer to study Vey'rax.
After a couple of glances he nodded.
"It does seem like one but… Basilisks are foul creatures"
Vey'rax couldn't help but laugh at the remark. The dragons had despised basilisks more than anything, seeing them as pure imitations of their might.
"This lesser seems wiser than he looks" Vey'rax thought, still amused at the comment.
"Father," Aeria began, her tone turning more serious now, "Put some trust in me and I won't disappoint" she said, her expression stern.
Lord Valen lingered for a moment, his gaze drifting from Aeria to Vey'rax a couple of times until he finally gave up and let out a long sigh.
"You have one week. If you can't reach the mid stage by then I'll slaughter this beast myself"