22 - Dragons Are Ridiculous

After Val named Larz, he turned around, to leave the room, but when he turned around everyone was looking at him. There was no noticeable change that occurred due to the [Tame] skill. Therefore, no one knew for certain if it had been successful or not. The only indication they had was that Val had named the baby dragon. Jamal observed Val and could see he had suddenly become far more exhausted and assumed his mana had been severely depleted.

What surprised Jamal was that Val had a high enough mana supply to form a link with the baby dragon through his [Tame] skill. Jamal was no expert but he had read in historical documents that it was extremely hard to successfully use [Tame] on dragons for multiple reasons. For starters, as he had already mentioned, it was almost impossible to get an adult dragon to agree to be tamed, due to pride, but besides that, the mana consumption needed to [Tame] an adult dragon is far more than any normal person had. Newborn dragons required less mana, but it should still be an extreme amount of mana. The fact that Val was able to use [Tame] and still be conscious, meant that his mana reserves were beyond belief for a 10-year-old and his Talent must be at least A-Rank if not S-Rank. If he had been an old expert, who had trained and improved his mana through resources then it would be understandable, but for a newly awakened child to be able to achieve it was just baffling.

Jamal had assumed he would fail to [Tame] the dragon, he may have reconsidered allowing Val to do so if he had known he would succeed.

Val looked at everyone and introduced Larz,

"This is Larz, my new partner."

This confirmed everyone's suspicion that he had succeeded and they were all truly amazed by this young boy.

Sav was the first to congratulate Val and say hello to Larz,

"Congratulations Val! Hello Larz, I am Sav."

The young black-haired girl introduced herself to the little dragon, but he did not pay much attention to her, he just replied,

"kyuu"

After that, everyone else introduced themselves and congratulated Val.

Eventually, Jamal decided that it was time for them to complete their task.

Jamal spoke, mainly to Val but loud enough for the woman to hear,

"Okay, we need to complete our task quickly. We will be exterminating the remaining bandits and taking all the loot. I will lead the way and take down the remaining bandits, Val and Leo, you two are in charge of protecting the women, in case of surprise attacks from the bandits. I doubt it will happen, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

Val nodded, but Anna looked worried, she decided to speak up about her concerns,

"Wouldn't it be safer for us to wait outside the cave, so we don't get caught in the fight? None of us have very strong Talents, and Sav still has 7 months before she awakens."

Jamal was not surprised by her worry and quickly replied,

"No, it would be far more dangerous. The bandits stand no chance against me, Val could also eliminate them all by himself. We are by far enough to kill them and protect you. However, if you were to wait outside, you may be attacked by monsters or beasts, with no one to protect you."

After Anna heard Jamal's response, she immediately understood how wrong she was. It was nighttime, in the forest, and there is a high chance of being attacked and they would not be able to even see the enemy coming, let alone defend themselves.

Anna simply nodded to Jamal in understanding and everyone was about to leave when Jamal walked into the room. He wanted to store the cage, in which Larz had been imprisoned, it was a rare and unique magic item after all.

As Jamal was going to collect the cage, Val took this opportunity to check Larz's Talent and Skills. Val closed his eyes and thought about Larz.

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Larz

Age: 3 Months

Gender: Male

Mystic Beast Race: Storm Dragon

Talent and Skills:

S-Rank Lightning Talent

- Lightning Dragon Roar (A-Rank) [Fires lightning in a large barrel shape from the jaws of the dragon].

S-Rank Wind Talent

- Wind Blade (C-Rank) [Shoots blades of wind. When used by a dragon the Wind Blade is shot from the wings of the dragon].

S-Rank Ice Talent

- Ice Sheild (D-Rank) [Creates circular shields of ice].

S-Rank Water Talent

- Underwater breathing (D-Rank) {Passive} [Allows the user to breathe underwater].

Physique:

Draconic Body [The body and senses of a dragon is strengthened by mana, they also naturally have higher defenses to their elements. Their scales also provide added defense against physical attacks].

- Telepathy [Allows the user to speak mentally to others].

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'Holy shit... What is this ridiculous status... I thought I was talented, I can't even be compared to Larz. He has 4 S-Rank talents, is that due to being a dragon? He is classed as a Mystic Beast, is that different from being classed as just a beast like Leo? Do all dragons have such ridiculous Talent, or is it just Larz?'

Val's thoughts went wild, he just could not believe Larz's status. He was awoken from his daze by Sav, who asked,

"Are you okay? You look completely out of it?"

Once Val was out of his daze and back in reality, he looked at Sav and replied,

"Yeah sorry about that, I was looking at Larz's status and it was unbelievable."

Jamal had returned and heard what Val said and informed him,

"It is said that a dragon's status should never be compared to a human's because it will destroy your hopes and dreams of becoming strong HAHAHA".

When he finished informing Val about what he had read in ancient texts he started laughing, he found it funny that Val, who should have a ridiculous status himself, was speechless about the status of his familiar.

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The group began walking back through the corridor until they reached the fork in the road. Jamal observed the pathways. He decided to go down the center path, from his keen senses he could tell there were people down both paths, however, there should be more down this path.

The reason he chose the path with more bandits was that he wanted to eliminate them as soon as possible. Also if for some reason the bandits on the other path flank them, then Val will have fewer bandits to deal with. He could also perceive a stronger person down this path and assumed it was the B-Rank vice leader.

The group headed down the path, Jamal was leading the group, Leo stood in front of the women and Val was close to the back of the women. Val had Larz resting on his shoulder and was walking next to Sav. Leo was not happy about Larz's new spot on Val's shoulder but he had a job to do and could not complain for very long about it.

As they walked down the corridor the women were becoming more scared, these bandits had destroyed their village, killed their families and loved ones, and raped them. They had a lot of mental damage done to them over the last few days, with everything they have been through.

The group soon made it to the end of the corridor, and once again there were three doors. But before they could enter one of the rooms, a tall man, with shaggy, dirty blonde hair and a beard to match, opened the middle door and slowly exited the room. To Jamal, it was clear this guy was the B-Rank vice leader, the women were also aware that this man was someone important in the bandit group.

When Tina saw the man, her body reacted and she started shaking, she was close to falling to her knees in fear, as she remembered the things he had done to her yesterday. However, she was supported by two other women. Val who saw this decided to whisper to her,

"I know he is a bad man, who has done bad things to you. But you do not have to be scared, he will be dead soon, I promise."

Tina looked at Val as he finished his attempt at supporting her, she gave a forced smiled and nodded. She wanted to thank Val but no words came out of her mouth.

The man observed the group, he had felt the presence of someone strong approaching whilst sleeping, so he got up to check what was happening. When he observed the group, he realized it was just the captured woman, a man, a boy, a cat, and the dragon they had found. He realized the women and dragon had been freed from their prisons and became enraged,

"You have freed our prisoners, who do you think you are, do you even know who you are messing with? We are the Sharp Sheild Bandits!"

Jamal was surprised, the Sharp Sheild Bandits was a notorious bandit group, that had been operating in this area for a few years. They had not been eliminated because they only operated on the outskirts of the kingdom, and the baron did not have the manpower to conduct a large-scale operation, just to kill some bandits. Most adventurers in the area were also not strong enough to deal with the group, and the few that were would not waste their time with bandits.

Therefore the group had been fortunate enough to be able to continue their operations here without many issues.

After Jamal's realization, he responded with a smirk,

"A bandit is trying to threaten me with the name of his bandit group? How pitiful. I am Jamal, Knight of the Dolan Dukedom, I serve Duke James Dolan directly, and your foolish boss and the majority of your group attacked one of the Duke's merchant caravans, so obviously they were exterminated like the pests you are."

Jamal's words were said with venom, he was clearly looking at this bandit as if he was an insect.

Everyone including Val and the bandit vice leader were shocked. Val now understood why Jamal was so strong, being the knight of a Duke was incredibly prestigious, and serving him directly showed that you were accomplished and trusted by the Duke.

The bandit vice leader was frozen in place. He thought that he could use the name of his bandit group to scare away the intruder, the boss, 4 of the other vice leaders, and the main force, were currently away, and if the intruders were here with the women, it meant that a few of the remaining bandits had already been killed. He wanted to scare the group away because this man was most likely stronger than him, however, when he heard he was the knight of a Duke, he knew he was fucked. Why would someone who serves a Duke directly be scared of his bandit group...

The bandit tried to say something to calm the situation, but before he could even get the words out, Jamal had propelled forward, slicing his neck. His head dropped to the ground with blood spurting out of his neck like a fountain.