Chapter 145: The Ancient Dragon Turtle’s Request 2

“Then... I suppose I’ll accept you as my servant?”

Kent’s heart was pounding wildly against his chest, but he managed to keep his expression calm as he asked the question. He even made himself look rather reluctant, as though accepting such a servant was a great inconvenience to him.

Inwardly, however, Kent was practically trembling with excitement.

This was a Dragon Turtle!

And not just any Dragon Turtle, but an absolutely enormous one!

From now on, who would dare to give him trouble? Anyone who annoyed him could simply be slapped to death by this giant creature. With a body of this size, even beings in the Legendary Realm would probably have a hard time dealing with it.

For starters, its body was larger than half a football field. Just imagine how much magical energy it could store! Casting forbidden spells would probably be as easy for it as breathing.

As for physical endurance, apart from certain powerful marine magical beasts, Kent doubted that any land-dwelling creature could match it.

And to make matters even better, this Dragon Turtle possessed an earth-element affinity. Earth-element forbidden spells ranked among the most powerful spells of their kind.

Kent’s legs were practically shaking beneath him.

“O great and mighty...”

The moment the Dragon Turtle realized that Kent was willing to accept it, it immediately began reciting the incantation for a magical contract.

Naturally, it was a master-servant contract, with Kent as the master and the Dragon Turtle as the servant.

After all, what kind of joke would it be for a draconic magical beast to take a member of the dragon race as its servant?

“I, Kent, accept!”

The moment Kent accepted the magical contract, he collapsed onto the ground and sat there, utterly overwhelmed.

This was simply too outrageous!

Only now did Kent begin to understand why the Dragon Turtle needed the vital blood essence of the dragon race.

As it turned out, draconic magical beasts could transform into human form when they advanced into the Legendary Realm. The higher their bloodline, the easier the transformation became. Conversely, creatures with weaker bloodlines faced a much greater risk of failure.

And failure came at a terrible price.

Not only would their rank decrease, but their lifespan would also be shortened.

The Dragon Turtle was a mutated magical beast with both mental and earth-element affinities. For a creature like this to transform into human form was practically impossible.

Its body was simply too enormous.

The larger the body, the more magical energy would be required to complete the transformation. The process would also take considerably longer, and the pain the creature had to endure would be far more severe.

Under such circumstances, the only viable solution was to strengthen its bloodline by increasing the concentration of dragon blood within it.

But how could the Dragon Turtle possibly dare to approach the true dragons and ask them for their blood?

It had no choice but to retreat into hibernation, hoping to prolong its lifespan until a solution presented itself.

Who could have imagined that Kent would awaken it today?

The moment the Dragon Turtle sensed the rich dragon aura radiating from Kent, it had immediately mistaken him for a superior dragon who had assumed human form. Seeing Daphne beside him only reinforced that misunderstanding.

After all, the dragon race was notorious for its lustful nature. Their fondness for beautiful women was common knowledge throughout the continent.

Even Big Nose’s presence seemed to support the Dragon Turtle’s assumption. Not everyone could recognize a Gold-Eating Mouse, after all, and the creature’s identity only made Kent appear even more mysterious.

“You... You... You’re not a dragon?”

The Dragon Turtle finally sensed Kent’s true strength and stared at him in astonishment.

Now that the master-servant contract had been established, it could clearly sense its master’s level of power.

Kent was far too weak to be a member of the dragon race!

Kent gave an awkward chuckle before answering with a perfectly straight face.

“I never said I was a dragon. In fact, you were the one who called me a human mage in the first place.”

“If you’re not a dragon, then why do you have the aura of the dragon race?”

The Dragon Turtle fixed its enormous eyes on Kent. Its breathing grew increasingly rapid, and it seemed to be teetering on the brink of losing control.

Kent rolled his eyes at the creature, though he was careful not to provoke it too much. If this enormous fellow went berserk, it might bring down the entire cavern, and Kent certainly wasn’t confident he could survive such a disaster.

“Obviously, it’s because I’ve applied dragon blood to my body!”

“Then... Do you have any more?”

The Dragon Turtle asked urgently.

It shifted its enormous body, sending loose stones flying in every direction.

Kent’s eyes flickered as an idea occurred to him.

“Well, I do have some left. But dragon blood is incredibly precious. Even though you’re my servant now, surely you don’t expect me to give it to you for nothing?”

“Cunning human! If you hand over the dragon blood as compensation and release me from this contract, then we’ll consider the matter settled. Otherwise...”

The moment the Dragon Turtle heard that Kent still possessed dragon blood, it immediately resorted to threats. It raised one enormous claw, revealing a set of razor-sharp talons, each measuring three or four meters in length.

“Oh, really? You volunteered to become my servant, and now you dare threaten your own master? I hereby command you to lower your head!”

Instead of getting angry, Kent burst out laughing. He strode boldly toward the Dragon Turtle and issued his command.

After all, the master-servant contract was one of the strictest magical contracts in existence. A servant was obligated to obey its master’s commands, regardless of whether it wanted to or not.

“Cunning, despicable human! You’d better release me from this contract...!”

The Dragon Turtle’s enormous head was pressed firmly against the ground as it cursed Kent furiously.

Meanwhile, Kent was busy examining his new magical companion, and the more he looked, the more pleased he became.

This Dragon Turtle was absolutely incredible! What a magnificent beast!

It was the largest magical beast Kent had ever encountered, and undoubtedly the highest-ranked one as well.

By now, Kent had even climbed onto its enormous head, already imagining how spectacular it would look when he rode this gigantic creature back to the surface.

Just imagine the looks on everyone’s faces!

As for the Dragon Turtle’s incessant cursing, well, who could blame it for wanting to vent its frustration? Anyone in its position would probably have a few choice words to say.

In fact, if the Dragon Turtle hadn’t complained at all, Kent might have felt uneasy instead.

“Excellent, excellent! Now that’s what I call big and powerful!”

Kent circled his new companion, growing more and more fond of it with every passing moment.

However, a new problem soon presented itself.

With a body this enormous, how was he supposed to take the Dragon Turtle out of here?

Forget about storing it in a pet space. Kent simply didn’t possess enough magical power to send such a massive creature into one, let alone the mental strength and magical energy required to summon it back out afterward.

There was only one practical solution.

He would have to take the Dragon Turtle along with him in person.

“Despicable! Shameless! Cunning!”

The Dragon Turtle kept repeating the same insults over and over again.

Kent eventually grew tired of hearing them, but there was no denying that the creature had astonishing stamina. It continued cursing him for an entire day without showing the slightest sign of tiring.

“That’s enough! Keep it up, and you won’t get a single drop of dragon blood!”

Kent was already worried about how to take the Dragon Turtle out of the cavern. Its incessant abuse only made him more irritated, so he finally roared at the creature.

To his surprise, the Dragon Turtle immediately fell silent.

Clearly, the master-servant contract was working exactly as intended.

Although the contract prevented it from disobeying its master’s commands, it could still speak freely.

“I don’t believe you have any dragon blood left! And even if you do, you certainly don’t have much. If you think I’m going to help you with anything, forget it! I’d rather die than remain your servant!”

“Hehe. Then tell me, what do you think of this?”

Kent suddenly produced a crystal vial from nowhere, held it up for the Dragon Turtle to see, and gave it a mischievous smile.

“Could that... be dragon blood?”

The Dragon Turtle lay sprawled on the ground, feeling utterly miserable. It hated the tiny human standing before it with every fiber of its being, silently cursing the wretched fellow over and over again. Unfortunately, the master-servant contract had already been established, leaving it no choice but to obey Kent’s commands and remain flat on the ground. Only its mouth and eyes could move freely.

What an unbearable humiliation!

Just then, it noticed the object in Kent’s hand.

Inside the crystal vial was a quantity of bright crimson blood, radiating a faint golden magical glow. Under the fiery illumination of the distant volcano, the liquid looked extraordinarily beautiful.

The Dragon Turtle’s heart skipped a beat. Staring at the vial in disbelief, it asked hesitantly, “Could it really be...?”

It was hardly surprising that the Dragon Turtle reacted this way. After all, it had lived long enough to witness countless extraordinary things, and its desire to advance had become increasingly desperate. If any creature had spent ten thousand years in hibernation and then suddenly glimpsed even the slightest hope of achieving its long-awaited breakthrough, it would hardly be able to remain calm.

Kent, meanwhile, had already figured out what was going on. His next task was to make the Dragon Turtle willingly obey him, rather than relying entirely on the contract to keep it under control.

Even a master-servant contract had its limitations. The Dragon Turtle could still pretend to obey while secretly doing things its own way. Kent certainly didn’t want to find himself in the middle of a battle, only to discover that his supposedly loyal companion was deliberately holding back against their enemies.

There was another important consideration. If the master died, a magical pet bound by a master-servant contract would not necessarily die with him. Instead, it would regain its freedom. This was one of the key differences between a master-servant contract and a soul contract.

That was when Kent came up with the idea of using rewards to win the Dragon Turtle over.

Gritting his teeth, he reluctantly took out a vial of dragon blood.

His heart was practically bleeding.

A single vial of this precious substance, if offered to powerful warriors on the mainland, would be more than enough to secure the allegiance of several ninth-rank experts.

Yet the Dragon Turtle before him was no ordinary ninth-rank magical beast. It stood at the very peak of the ninth rank, and its mutated body was so formidable that even a dozen ninth-rank mages working together to unleash forbidden spells might only manage to inflict serious injuries upon it.

That was the enormous difference between an ordinary ninth-rank magical beast and a mutated creature at the pinnacle of the same rank.

And the Dragon Turtle possessed another particularly troublesome advantage: mental magic, one of the most insidious branches of magic and among the hardest to detect. Its offensive power was formidable as well, making it an opponent that few would dare underestimate.

After weighing his options, Kent decided that giving the dragon blood to the Dragon Turtle was the safest choice.

Magical beasts might be intelligent, but their thinking was generally less complicated than that of humans. In the eyes of many other intelligent races, humans were practically synonymous with cunning, treachery, and shamelessness.

That, perhaps, was one of the fundamental differences between intelligent species.