When the adult dragonet chased out from the cave, it looked around trying to locate Jack.
There he was, the dragonet saw Jack who was running away in the distance. It uttered a furious roar as if saying, “Don’t think you can escape from me!”
It unfurled its two large wings. The bat-like wings started flapping and its body was lifted off the ground. When it was high enough, it suddenly shot forward with high speed. Within seconds, it had arrived above Jack.
Jack looked up. His eyes met with the dragonet’s red eyes. The dragonet then swooped down with open claws. One of those claws smashed onto Jack. The strong impact cracked the ground, causing dust to fly everywhere.
The dragonet lifted its claw, expecting to see the remains of the human that had dared steal their youngster. Yet, there was nothing there. It huffed and cleared the dust. It then looked upon the ground. No body.
The dragonet turned around, looking everywhere. No human was seen. Was the intruder so weak that he died from just that one stomp?
After searching for a while, it finally concluded that the human had died and the body disintegrated upon dying.
The dragonet then flew back and entered the cave. There were still more intruders inside. It wanted to crush more to alleviate the rage due to losing the young dragonet.
After the dragonet disappeared into the cave, a figure came out of the shadow. There was a crack beside the cave entrance. And since it was nighttime, shadows were abundant. Jack had slipped into there and relied on his Cloak of Shadow’s ability to hide.
The one that ran away and was trampled by the dragonet was Jack’s copy using Body Double. When he saw the dragonet swoop down and stomp his copy, he canceled the skill, causing the copy to disappear. Making it seem as if the dragonet had killed him.
He opened his party page to check on everyone else. More than half the party had gone already, meaning they had died and sent back to revive point. They were automatically removed from the party since they were too far away. ‘So many casualties?’ He thought.
He saw that Jeanny and his grandfather were still alive though. He sent a message to Jeanny, “How are you people doing?”
“We scatter. I’m with Domon and Bowler here. Some are still getting hunted by the dragonets. But there are only two dragonets, many of us managed to slip into smaller caves to hide. Some have escaped using the Guild Return Scroll once they are out of combat status,” Jeanny replied.
‘Oh, so we don’t lose more than half,’ Jack thought in relief.
“Are the three of you still in combat status?” Jack asked Jeanny.
“No, we’re out already.”
“So, why are you not yet using your return scroll?”
“I have to make sure everyone is safe before I leave.”
‘This lady…’ Jack admired the girl’s responsible attitude, but at this moment, it would just bring her harm.
“Jeanny, use the scroll. There is nothing you can do anyway. The longer you stay, the more chance of those dragonets finding you. The third dragonet is heading back there already. Soon there will be three of them looking for you. Do not make me go in there to save you!”
Jack didn’t receive a reply for a while. He was about to send another message when Jeanny sent a reply, “All right. We will return now. I’ll let the others know. You should return as well.”
“I’ll return later. Don’t worry, I’m already safe outside.”
“Okay. Stay safe.”
Jack then saw her message in the party chat. She informed everyone to not linger once they were out of combat. She would leave first. She asked everyone to report to her after returning, whether they have died or successfully escaped. She would hand out contribution rewards as well as organize help for those that had lost something. She then dissolved the party.
Jack looked into the cave. He could just pray for those that were still inside. They all wore Amulet of Rebirth anyway. Even if they died, they only lost one level, so there was nothing to worry about.
Jack looked out into the open. There were still three days until the World Tournament. It took some time to come to this Jagara region, so might as well use the chance to collect more draconic essences.
*
For the next two days, Jack spent it farming draconic essences. At first, he planned to bully the flame drakelings like he did the days before. But when he summoned Arlcard to increase the farming speed, Arlcard expressed disdain for fighting these drakelings. He said that they should at least farm the flame drakes if Jack wanted to call him. The flame drakelings provided too few exp points.
Jack was speechless, this native vampire’s desire to level up did not lose to outworlders.
Since Arlcard insisted so, Jack complied with his demand. They went to the flame drake’s territory. Jack was worried at first whether the Grim Flame Drake was still hunting them. When they clashed with the first Flame Drake they encountered, Jack constantly watched his radar. Fortunately, the Grim Flame Drake didn’t show itself.
Arlcard’s speed at reducing the Flame Drake’s HP was even faster than when they were doing it to tame the drake a few days ago. Maybe the vampire was unmotivated at the time. This time, he was going all out.
Jack also summoned Therras to allow it to share the exp points as well, all the while continuing feeding it high-grade pet food to boost its exp even further.
Jack tried his best to avoid the Grim Flame Drake. Before he initiated a fight, he went around checking the neighboring flame drakes first. If he spot the unusually large and dark red dot, he would move further away before engaging.
In terms of exp points, he had more gains if he spent his time inside the guild’s Training Cave and Ice Throne Dungeon, mainly due to the bonus of exp pills. So none of his classes achieve level up this time. But his Therras did, it was now a level 41 beast. Arlcard also finally reached level 50. Jack saw a satisfied glint in the vampire’s eyes even when his face showed no expression.
In terms of draconic essences, farming these flame drakes provided Jack with more essences compared to when he farmed the drakelings, even when he killed much fewer drakes in a day compared to drakelings. One flame drake gave him between ten to twenty essences while the drakeling only provided one to two essences. By the end of the second day, combined with his farming during the days they had attempted guardian taming, his Gold Dragon Bloodline had reached level 3. His attribute, HP, Stamina, and MP were now increased by 14%.
*
On the night before the day they were scheduled to depart for the World Tournament, Jack used the Guild Return Scroll. He went directly to the Guild Hall.
When he entered, he was surprised to find Jeanny, Viral Cora, Salty Trade, Sweet Talk, Trinity Dawn, and Bowler standing around the guild hologram platform. John was nowhere to be seen. What were so many girls hanging around the platform for? And why was Bowler in the midst of that group of girls?
Jack came over and understood when he saw the holographic image on the platform. It was a zoom-in view of the young dragonet they had captured. Since they couldn’t go to that Sky Garden Peak, Jack surmised they could only interact with this pet via this platform.
The dragonet was currently chomping on its food. Several bars were indicated at the corner of the platform. The bars were marked with descriptions: Growth, Hunger, Happiness, Health, and Training.
“What the heck?” Jack uttered after seeing the bars.
“Growing a young guild’s guardian pet is more complex compared to growing individual pet. You won’t have to go through this if you tame an adult guardian. But getting a young guardian and training it to adulthood has its advantages, its stats will be higher than a normal adult. There is also a chance that this guardian’s grade might increase to mythical,” Peniel said to Jack before she flew over to where the girls were.
‘I remember you said the same thing about Therras and Arlcard as well, but they are still rare elite in the end,’ Jack grumbled within.
“You are taking care of it quite well,” Peniel commented after checking the bars. All the bars except for growth were more than half-filled.
“Her,” Viral said to Peniel. “This dragonet is a female. We are even allowed to give her a name.”
Jack looked again, there was indeed a name above the bars. “What the f*ck? Penny? This is supposed to be a fearsome monster. Why give it such a cute name?”
“Her! Not it!” The girls shouted in concert. Jack was rather taken aback by their passion.
“Hehe, you better show respect to Penny,” bowler laughed. “She is their baby now.”
“Yeah. We give her a name similar to Peniel. You have a sister now,” Viral said to Peniel.
“Uh… No, thanks,” Peniel replied.
“Come on, let’s feed her again,” Salty Trade said when Penny on the image finished her current food.
“Feed her? Lady, if my eyes aren’t wrong, that hunger bar is filled up already,” Jack said.
“You stay out of this! What do you know about taking care of the young?” Salty retorted.
Jack looked at Bowler with a wronged expression, to which Bowler simply shrugged.
