"Are you planning to kill me?" William asked the dragon as he inspected its features, his voice surprisingly calm despite standing in front of a powerful beast he couldn't hope to kill.
[Bestiary] Flame Dragon: +1 PP
"Ha, planning? I don't need to plan to kill anyone. If I want to do it, I will do it. If I don't, then it's just that!" Uri scoffed at William's words.
The dragon continued, "You've already passed my floor, but I can't accept your cowardly methods. If you truly want me to accept you, then take my full-powered strike!"
His mouth began to glow as a fireball formed in his mouth.
William began to panic, "Wait! Wait!"
The dragon snorted and ceased gathering Mana for its attack. "What is it? Are you too scared?"
William thought of something. "No, that's not it. I'm just exhausted from the previous floor. Wouldn't it be cowardly of a mighty dragon like you to attack me when I am weak?"
Uri thought for a moment, finding that William's words made sense. "Very well. You have five minutes to recover."
"Are you that weak that you need more than five minutes? If that's the case, I'll just kill you now!"
"No no, five minutes is perfect!" William immediately got to work forming improved Perfect Arrays.
One after another, the Barriers were stacked in front of each other and surrounded William. He layered the Runes to make each Barrier stronger and weaved in Heat Absorption and Frost Absorption Arrays just in case the dragon decided to use an elemental attack.
William knew that Uri was a Flame Dragon, but who knew what other abilities it had picked up over its lifetime?
Uri narrowed his eyes at seeing William's preparations. It didn't understand Arrays, but it could tell that William's were anything but ordinary. He wondered if his attack would be able to break through all of them.
What am I thinking? Of course I can break through them! His bone age is only twenty-one years old, there's no way his defense can be strong enough to resist me who has lived over three thousand years!
The dragon consoled itself inwardly, but as the timer approached one minute remaining, the number of Arrays in front of William had increased to nearly a hundred. It became more and more nervous, secretly doubling the speed of the timer.
"Time's up! Here I come!" the dragon didn't wait for William's acknowledgement. It called the surrounding Mana of the trial tower to its maw, releasing a blinding flame breath that threatened to devour the entire third floor.
The flame breath sped forward like a laser as it crashed into William's Arrays, pulverizing the first Array, second, and even the third Array.
The fourth Array was actually a formation duplicated from the Array Trial William had taken previously. It absorbed the flame breath's energy at incredible speeds, becoming stronger and stronger until its strength had approached the Soul Formation Realm.
Unfortunately, even that Array shattered as the amount of power stored within it became too immense for it to contain. The flame breath continued forward, shattering three more Arrays before it came in contact with a second Absorption Formation as William would now call it.
The second Absorption Formation approached its limit as the flame breath charged forward, but this time the Formation remained standing. Uri stared ahead in shock as the last bit of its Mana was used, the flame breath being exhausted after only eight Arrays.
It looked at William with surprise and interest, who was calmly standing in the center. William's hands were in the sleeves of his robe, and his eyes gleamed with a slight defiance that bordered arrogance.
Uri sighed in frustration. This kid was clearly more talented than he expected. William reminded him a little bit of his Master Riyald, who fought the entire Dragon Continent by himself many years ago and came out victorious.
Since then, Uri had followed him as his voluntary servant. The dragons were prideful, but they respected the strong. When Riyald told Uri's grandfather he needed a few dragons, he sent Uri as one of his followers.
At first, Uri felt it was a mistake. Why should the powerful dragons have to give the human a servant, even if they were defeated by him? Shouldn't they just accept their fate and die with glory? Riyald didn't deserve their support.
Dozens of years later, Uri's attitude started to change. Riyald wasn't just strong, but he actually cared for the wellbeing of the dragons. He took care of them each and every day for years, even protecting them through the difficult times.
All he asked was a bit of their blood every now and then or for them to assist in his projects, which was but a menial task for dragons.
Seeing William standing before Uri with those eyes reminded him of when Riyald raised hundreds of Arrays to defend against an enemy ambush, saving the lives of over a dozen dragons in the process.
Even though the enemy was stronger and greater in number than Riyald, he held on with his will and incredible skill in Arrays, enduring every attack that landed on the Barrier.
"Kid, you've passed my test. I won't bother you any longer." Uri turned to leave.
William noticed the change in Uri's eyes. "You don't want to follow me through the trial anymore?"
Uri paused briefly but continued walking short after. "I can't do that. I have to watch the second floor." It was an obvious excuse since the second floor was already cleared, but William didn't say anything.
As the dragon's voice echoed down the staircase, one last phrase from Uri entered William's mind directly. His tone was amiable with a hint of sadness, each word flashing through William's brain like a brief memory.
But. If you somehow manage to clear this trial tower, I will swear my loyalty and follow you to the ends of the earth if you so wish...
The words continued to resound in William's mind as he realized the meaning behind Uri's words.
The rewards of this trial are not minor at all! William rejoiced in his mind. He thought of how cool it would be to ride on top of a dragon, one at the Soul Formation Realm at that!
This also made William realize another important point. The Magical Beasts in the Gravitas Ruins could freely leave if they wanted to! ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ NoveIꜰire.net
Perhaps there were limitations or certain criteria to be met, but this would have an incredible impact on the real world, where Nascent Soul and Soul Formation Beasts were rare unless in the Providence Zone.
If I had to guess, the Magical Beasts are bound by the trials they are tied to. The information wasn't incredibly valuable right now, but perhaps in the future William could use this to his advantage.
He temporarily disabled the Barrier Arrays near him but didn't destroy them just in case they were needed for the third-floor trials. William approached the red box with extreme caution, expecting something terrible to happen with every step.
When he came within five meters of the red box, the deep voice of the trial creator sounded in his mind.
Welcome to the third floor. Prepare yourself for the trial of luck.