Chapter 3: 'Plugging One's Ears While Stealing a Bell' Fighting Technique
Editor: Atlas Studios
Perhaps the Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon sensed the dangerous aura coming from the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon. It took a few steps back and stared at the other party nervously.
It used its dragon wing on one side to protect its knight in fear that Gold Coin would suddenly burst out in anger and endanger him. The Metal-Attribute Giant Dragons' arrogant and unruly nature was notorious among the dragons, and they were one of the most dangerous dragons for Dragon Knight Contracts.
Seeing the Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon's actions, the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon simply snorted and curled up its body into a sleeping position, too lazy to deal with this small and weak fellow.
Messiah was a young Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon less than a thousand years old and still growing. A Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon was inherently flamboyant and covered all over in everlasting and inextinguishable flames and sulfur fumes. It was difficult to imagine how the Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon, who would be conspicuous anywhere, was trying to sneak attack as though it was plugging its ears while stealing a bell.
It was really too hard on this Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon to be fooled by Aca to imitate what was the unique stealth talent of Shadow Dragons. This poor Giant Dragon was hoodwinked by its knight to waste time on such skills that were of no benefit to it.
Fire Dragon Knight Aca might have been taught a miserable lesson by Brother Gardel, thus spent his time thinking of ways to learn from others' strong points to close the gap and turning the perilous situation around. Molin could guess with his toes the source of Aca's recently weird actions.
"Molin, of course you're not scared. Apart from Metal-Attribute Giant Dragons being slow, they have high physical attack power and defense, which only Black Dragons can match. In the past few days, I've been trained miserably by Brother Gardel. To be honest, Messiah and I have stronger attack power and weaker defense. Our strength is imbalanced, so it's easy for opponents to find flaws and attack us. So I want to learn the unique skill of Brother Gardel and his mount, Shadow Dragon Skye. This is what it means to let them have a taste of their own medicine, and it's the best way to strike back at them."
The 'Nine Revolutions Flaming Battle Aura' on his entire body had not yet dissipated when Aca took off his helmet, revealing his brown hair and a handsome young face. He was definitely an outgoing, cheerful young man that made girls screen, but his bitter expression made people unable to restrain their laughter.
The vast majority of training methods for Dragon Knights and their mounts were the same attribute so that they could fully unleash the powers of the pair's strength.
Of course, there also existed a very small number of Dragon Knights and Giant Dragons that could have their souls resonate to realize the contract despite having different attributes. And a small number of lucky ones could form a mutually beneficial growth effect.
For example, the wind-attribute and fire-attribute combination and the water-attribute and thunder-attribute combination were unmatched in power. It was not as a simple 'one-plus-one equals two' increase, but the requirements for attribute control and tacit understanding of both parties were also very high.
Only when their strength had reached a very high level could they use their inherent abilities under suitable circumstances and timings to unleash the best effects. The limitations arising from incompatible attributes could only be overcome with extremely high wisdom.
For unknown reasons, some Giant Dragons were willing to become the partners of human knights regardless of whether their attributes were compatible.
For tens of thousands of years, such lucky people were extremely rare, and only a few cases had appeared.
Therefore, soul resonance became the basis for becoming Dragon Knights. Even so, there was no absolute guarantee that they could become true Dragon Knights. There were many 'Dragon Knights' that were abandoned by their Giant Dragons because they were incapable of controlling their Giant Dragon mounts and eventually forced to return their dragon flutes.
Very few people could accept the drastic change in circumstances. Many, who had been shouldering the high hopes placed on them, never rose again after the setback and were silently submerged by the long river of history.
This journey fraught with many dangers and unknowns meant that becoming a true Dragon Knight was glorious and well revered.
Aca and his Giant Dragon partner, Messiah, were the same attribute. Aca's Nine Revolutions Flaming Battle Aura complemented the Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon, and the speed of his Dragon Knight training was as fast as rumored, improving by leaps and bounds.
Molin and the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin were the rare light-attribute and metal-attribute combination. Molin's mentor, Dragon Knight Ohagen, was exceptionally surprised by how Molin's and Gold Coin's souls resonated under the Dragon God Contract and formed a knight partner contract.
In this world, apart from the attributes of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, thunder, light, and darkness, there were also special rare attributes such as ice, poison, space, time, and blood.
Although the light-attribute and the metal-attribute neither restrained each other nor were compatible, it was an unprecedented case. In history, there were not many Dragon Knights in the first place. Furthermore, combinations of knights with different attributes were even more pathetic in number, resulting in a lack of reference materials. Most knights with different attributes relied on their own trial-and-error experiences to accumulate their own unique strength development path. Therefore, how to unleash his strength required Molin to explore his own way.
"Don't be like this, Aca. You are a Fire Dragon Knight, not a Shadow Dragon Knight. Even if the other attribute Giant Dragons tried to imitate the Shadow Dragons' talent, it would be impossible to master it before dying. Brother Gardel's Shadow Dragon is inherently talented at its potential for concealment, and it is unmatched at sneak attacks and instant kills. This was merely a surprise attack, but in attacking head-on, Messiah and you have the upper hand. The strength of a Dragon Knight requires the knight and the Giant Dragon partner to combine their wisdom to control their strength, rather than unleashing their strength casually. You and Messiah have to think about it carefully. I feel that the fire-attribute should be attacking, attacking, and attacking. The best defense is the best offense. Instead of defending, attack until your opponent is unable to fight back. Like this, why would you still need defensive methods?" Molin kindly reminded Aca not to continue to remain silly.
To be honest, a sneaking Fire Dragon trying to plug its ears while stealing a bell would appear more like a clown entertaining others wherever it appeared. It was a disgrace to dragons. Molin could even imagine how the old fellows of the Dragon clan would strip Aca of the honor of being a Dragon Knight for leading Messiah astray.
Molin's Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin had long covered its eyes with a claw. Poor Messiah, how did it get stuck with Aca as its knight? Should I secretly get rid of Aca and free this poor little Fire Dragon?
The Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin was silently grinding its white fangs, wondering whether it wanted a human snack.
Every Dragon Knight was a lone traveler with the highest power, very secretive of their abilities. The more secrets they hid, the better they could save their own lives at critical times or use them as trump cards for victory.
A Dragon Knight's unique skill was known only to their mentor and disciples. Even their own partner living with them for their entire lives might not know anything. Usually, those in the same profession were careful about letting others know their secret skills, hoping that others were far inferior to themselves.
If not for Aca being Molin's good friend who grew up together with him in the training camp, in addition to Aca being a noble and fortunately also becoming a Dragon Knight with him, Molin would not have been interested in giving him pointers.
The attributes of Giant Dragons originated from the gifts of the gods, and there were no differences in their strength. Their power only lay in how they used them and the decisions they made. Even for water and fire, as long as the ability to control the energy reached an extremely high level, it was possible to achieve miracles.
"Molin, after you said that, I seem to have some feelings. The old fellows in my family only know how to sleep and don't bother with educating the younger generation. They only know that the Giant Dragons don't need to learn, and the long lives they have can teach the Giant Dragons all they need to know."
The Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon Messiah, who had remained silent all along, smiled gratefully to Molin, showing its pearly white teeth.
This smile was not cute at all. No matter how Molin looked, it looked like it wanted to eat someone.
The young Giant Dragon then turned its head and rolled its eyes at its knight. "Aca, you brainless fellow!"
The Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin felt sympathetic toward what the Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon said. While a knight picked its Giant Dragon, the Giant Dragon also picked its knight.
Dragon Knights were not only the partners of Giant Dragons, but they were also the wisdom pioneers for the Giant Dragons. It only took ten-odd years for humans to grow from children to adults, but it took at least a thousand years for Giant Dragons to reach adulthood. To dragons, the long lifespan of tens of thousands of years would cause the dragons to do nothing.
The knowledge and inborn skills inherited from their bloodline were enough to guarantee the independent survival and self-preservation of dragons to a certain degree. The dragons simply adopted a laissez-faire attitude, allowing each dragon to slowly learn and master everything in order to live a long life so that it would not feel lonely.
"Messiah, don't say that about me. Save me some face at least."
Aca looked wronged after being put down by his Giant Dragon partner in front of others. It was something embarrassing, even if it was in front of his best friend, Molin. For the sake of his face, he waved both hands excitedly like a monkey and defended himself. "Well, it was just for our sake. Hehe. If Brother Gardel saw us suddenly displaying the Shadow Dragons' unique skill, it would have been great, so eye-catching."
"Wow! What a stupid fellow. Don't you know that opposing elements will clash? Otherwise, until now, dragons have yet to produce multi-attribute or even full-attribute Giant Dragons. Even talented, mutated dragons with a combination of two attributes are rare existences in a million years. Even if there is such a mutated dragon, not to mention being a mount for a small knight, it would not even appear in the scope of the Dragon Knight Contract."
Seeing Aca's exaggerated body movements, the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin at the side stuck its huge head deeply into the rock pile like an ostrich. The thunderous sound clearly indicated how hard it had done so, and the hard rocks were not any harder than tofu in front of the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon.
Immediately afterward, the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin jumped up agitatedly, shook its dragon wings, extended several sharp metal sword-shaped long blades pointing directly at Aca, and shouted at the Fire-Attribute Giant Dragon Messiah, "Little Fire Dragon, do you want me to get rid of this stupid knight with no common sense? Being with him is a humiliation to us dragons."
-- Gift
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