Two Thunderous One-horned Dragons were wandering near the carriages like they were guarding the supplies. Fuck, so shameless. It’s not like weapons are edible, why steal them?

I took a deep breath and began to devise my battle plan. The chances of me dying if I challenged these Thunderous One-horned Dragons did exist. I’d actually have to split my concentration if I were to go up against an additional monster. My 3000+ Defense was nothing in the face of two simultaneous Thunder Strikes.

I finally decided what to do after thinking about it for a long time. There was no reason for me to go up against the land dragons because I was only here for the magic scroll. Earth Escape it is, then. I’ll use a stealth-type skill to get there and grab the magic scroll. A true man of the world had to be flexible, not everything needed to be solved with brute force...

……

Alright, let’s go!

Swoosh!

I sunk into the earth and moved at a slow 10% movement speed. Earth Escape’s movement speed was seriously too slow and the name itself was a fraud. If it could move at 50% movement speed or higher, then it wouldn’t lose to an assassin’s stealth and I would’ve used it more instead of keeping it idle. There weren’t really many times it could be used.

I slowly made my way to the supplies carriage and carefully rummaged through the goods. It was all a bunch of weapons, rations, and other typical stuff like that. A long time later, I finally found a golden scroll at the bottom of a chest and the system notified me that I had already fulfilled my quest requirements. I got it!

All of a sudden, the two Thunderous One-horned Dragons discovered me at the same time, roared, and unleashed Thunder Strike together!

I immediately guarded.

Bang bang!

The impact from the two attacks sent me flipping backwards, tumbling into the grass. I didn’t bother to stop and used the momentum to run away. Taking on two Level 150 shadow-rank mobs would be a stupid thing to do. I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf to aggro them and took that chance to run for it.

When I was far enough to completely lose any aggro on me, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf back into the pet space. The two land dragons instantly lost their target and resumed their aimless wandering around the carriages.

I wiped off the cold sweat on my forehead. Close call. My guard was a success but I still lost more than 4000 HP to the two land dragons. If I had been directly hit, I’d lose at least 15000+ HP. A one-shot, no doubt!

I checked the golden scroll in my bag. Okay, mission accomplished. I could turn in the quest. This was an S- Rank quest so the difficulty level should be high in the first place. It was a good thing that I was the one who got it. If it were anyone else, they would’ve long been instakilled by the Thunderous One-horned Dragons!

With my 3000+ Defense, I still lost more than 7000 HP to Thunder Strike so if it was someone with not even 2000 Defense like High Fighting Spirits, I bet he’d take more than 14000. It would be weird if he didn’t get one-shot.

……

I happily counted the Dragon Meat I had in my bag. I had exactly 124 stacks. Alright then, I’ll keep grinding after dinner and then return to the city before midnight to make Sky City’s, or even China’s, first batch of Rank 10 Dragon Meat Soup!

I passed through the Hellhounds’ woodlands and by the time I reached the edge of the hill, I discovered that the adventurer camp was again under attack by a pack of Hellhounds. I drew my sword and cleanly handled the entire pack Hellhounds. Then, I stepped forward and took out the teleportation scroll before initiating a chat with Captain Budo. “My lord, I’ve brought back your lost scroll!”

“Ah? Heavens…”

Captain Budo was pleasantly surprised. He took the scroll and exclaimed, “Young warrior, your courage is admirable. I never imagined that you could truly take back the scroll from the mouths of those ruthless lizards. Come, this is the reward for your bravery. Sky City’s royal family will thank you for your contribution!”

Ding~!

System Notice: Congratulations, You have completed the S- Rank quest [Retrieve the Teleportation Scroll]. You have gained 1800000 EXP, 40000 gold, 4000 Reputation, and quest reward: “Knight’s Lava Legguards”!

……

Oh? There’s also an equipment reward?

Pleasantly surprised, I hastily opened my bag. Damn~ Laying at the center of my bag was a pair of glowing dark red metal armor legguards. By no means did they look like your run-of-the-mill equipment and the numbers I saw when I fished them out left me even more amazed—

Knight’s Lava Legguards (Purple Gold–grade, Outstanding★)

Defense: 405

Magic Resist: 320

Strength: +99

Stamina: +105

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 20%

Passive: Increases user’s evasion by 120

Outstanding Property: Increases user’s max HP by 2000

Level Requirement: 110

Class Requirement: Magic Knight

……

Strong! My eyes went round. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. An S- Rank quest had actually given me a Purple Gold–grade item and it was even a 1-star Outstanding too! This piece of gear should only drop from a boss, but it had come as a quest reward. I could no longer say that this was thanks to my karma. There was only one reason left, my Luck value. The 22 Luck I had right now could be said to be unrivaled at the current stage of the game. It obviously helped in combat and it could even make NPCs look at you intimately. Luck was an amazing, rare stat!

Should I give these top-tier legguards to He Yi or Gui Guzi? I couldn’t equip them anyway since they were exclusive to magic knights. After a while, I decided to just give them to Gui Guzi. He Yi’s equipment was already good and she even had a high-grade mount. Gui Guzi was the one who needed better equipment.

I’ll deal with it when I’m back in the city!

I glanced at my experience bar. The quest gave me around 7% EXP. It was still early. If I carried on with my slow grind, I still wouldn’t reach Level 116. Past Level 115, trying to level up again was harder than giving birth to a baby! Depressing!

……

I returned to the Land of Dragon Bones and resumed my level and Dragon Meat grind. I even occasionally got some Dragon Scales for Yamete. Hitting three birds with one stone was as joyous an occasion as always.

I took a break and went offline to eat the boxed meal Beiming Xue bought and then continued my vigorous grind again, all the way until it was almost 10 pm, when I was already in the depths of the Land of Dragon Bones.

Sword still in my hand, I looked in my bag. There were almost 300 stacks of Dragon Meat in there. At this point, I could already make a huge load of Magic Consumables just from these. Should I just pack it up and return to begin my Cooking God feats?

I took out a return scroll and just as I was about to crush it, the clear cry of a dragon suddenly sounded from afar.

I instantly trembled from excitement. This was a different sound than what a Thunderous One-horned Dragon would make. Was it a boss? It had to be. I’d been grinding here for so long but I hadn’t even seen a boss till now. On the other hand, the boss in this area should at least be a Level 155 Spirit Rank boss. If I went there, I’d just be offering up my life...

This fact made me hesitate for a bit but I still decided to go anyway. Let’s see if I can find a bug or something that will allow me to kill the boss. If it really is impossible, I’ll just kite it to death. AI settings were dead while players were alive. Methods to kill a boss were aplenty but it all depended on if players dared to use them.

I slowly ventured onward. After parting the forest greenery, I saw a scene that left me a tad dumbstruck. A black, majestic looking land dragon proudly stood in the clearing. Its entire body was covered in black heavy armor and its scales were reminiscent of blades. Its black eyes brimmed with imperial might as it gazed at its surroundings...

However, it seemed like it wasn’t a boss after all because this black land dragon didn’t have a boss’s aura. I checked it a second time and my eyes went wide when I saw the land dragon’s stats screen—

Armored Swordback Dragon (Rare)

Level: 150

Attack: ???

Defense: ???

HP: ???

Property: Can be tamed by players above Level 110

Introduction: A powerful dragon born in the depths of the forest, the Armored Swordback Dragon possesses defenses so great that it could still remain alive after the Great Cataclysm. The Armored Swordback Dragon is extremely tenacious and suitable for use as a mount. In ancient times, many human heroes rode Armored Swordback Dragons as their mounts.

……

I rubbed my eyes and then confirmed again if this dragon could be tamed. The tamer also had to be Level 110. I instantly opened my friend list and sent Gui Guzi a message: “Little Gui, Come to Sky City map (90867, 117673) at once!”

“Boss, I’m tanking mobs right now…”

“Shut up and get here immediately!”

“Alright, I’ll be there in one and a half hour!”

“Mn!”

……

Fuck, he’s still thinking about grinding mobs. Even if it was a boss, it wouldn’t even match up to a mount like this. It was a low-rank land dragon, but it was still a dragon! If Gui Guzi was able to tame this land dragon, then he’d become a dragon knight, though a low ranked one...

I checked my friend list again. Good, Gui Guzi had just reached Level 110 ten minutes ago. My boy was a grinder for sure, his leveling speed was that impressive!

My current location was relatively far away from Sky City. Even if it was Gui Guzi, he wouldn’t be able to get here that fast. I’ll just wait here patiently!

I jumped onto a nearby tree trunk and leaned against it, holding my sword in my embrace. I’ll just stay here and guard this Rare. I’ll eliminate anyone who dares to get a piece of this land dragon. The moment I saw this Armored Swordback Dragon, it immediately had the words “Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls” plastered on its face. Even if it had to be killed after the taming failed, it had to die by my sword. No one else should even think about having it!

I leaned against the tree trunk, the dense tree leaves giving me exceptionally good cover. An ordinary player wouldn’t be able to see me while I had a vivid view of everything in my surroundings. I browsed the forums while also keeping an eye on the Armored Swordback Dragon and dragged Gui Guzi into my party. He’s still far away at the other side of Dragonbone Mountain Range!

……

In the blink of an eye, more than an hour had passed. Gui Guzu had already passed through Dragonbone Mountain Range and was currently gasping for breath in the party channel as he got tangled with a mob on his way here. It seemed tragic but with his Defense and HP, it shouldn’t be a problem for him to make it here alive. Especially since I’d killed most of the land dragons in the Land of Dragon Bones. The biggest threats were gone so if he couldn’t make it here, he’d be a fake Undying Knight.

At this critical juncture, a few leaves in the distance suddenly rustled. Not long after, nine players appeared in my line of sight. They were Sky City players with conspicuous emblems on their shoulders. It was people from Gods of Destruction. The world was small but damn, did it have to be this small?!

Dominating Knight God was at the front, holding a sharp blade. “I can’t see this dragon’s stats. I’m not sure if I can tame it. It’ll be a waste if I can’t. If I fail 10 times, the Rare will transform into a shadow mob.”

Behind him, Dominating Heaven Blade raised his sword. “What are you afraid of? Just tame it!”