The setting sun's afterglow could no longer reach into the valley. Wyvern Valley was swallowed in deep shadow, where wyverns flew through the gloom, uttering a chaotic chorus of shrill screeches.
Mantou's movements had grown increasingly practiced, bordering on muscle memory. Scaling the steep cliff face, he soon relocated the wyvern, which was already on the verge of exhaustion.
"Awoo—"
Seeing this relentless human approaching yet again, the wyvern let out a strained shriek and flapped its wings to take off. But having depleted too much stamina, even becoming airborne was a struggle.
"Think you can still get away?"
"Hehehe, don't bother fighting it. Be a good beast and let me mount up."
A lewd grin spread across Mantou's face. The lasso in his hand flew as if heat-seeking, slipping with pinpoint precision around the wyvern's slender neck.
"Awoo..."
This time, the wyvern didn't waste much energy resisting; it merely let out a pitiful wail. Mantou yanked the rope tight and skillfully clambered onto its back.
Had it not been shielded by tough scales, bloody welts would have been choked into the wyvern's neck long ago.
"Good, good, good."
"Another day, another wyvern ride."
Mantou patted the side of its neck, then drew the spray can and vigorously doused its head.
The wyvern slowly unfurled its wings, trying to glide into the air, but quickly lost the strength to support itself and crashed down onto the ground.
"Awoo—"
Expending its last shred of strength, the wyvern threw back its head and let out a long howl. Then it slumped its head low, giving up any futile resistance.
The human on its back filled this adolescent, growing wyvern with utter despair. For three whole days, this human had relentlessly tried to mount its back, coming right back no matter how many times he was flung off.
Once, the human had even plummeted from a hundred meters up, splattering into a bloody paste on the ground, making the wyvern believe the nightmare was finally over.
Yet barely half a day later, the same human had returned to the valley completely unscathed and full of vigor, lassoing it anew to try riding it once more.
It made the beast genuinely question its wyvern life.
"Holy shit, it worked!"
Seeing the wyvern bow its head, Mantou beamed with delight, feeling an immense wave of satisfaction. He had spent three days and nights relentlessly attempting this, and he had finally pulled it off.
He reached out to stroke the wyvern's head. This time, it didn't snap with its jaws, nor did it screech, lying completely resigned to whatever he did.
Perhaps it was sick of the torment, or perhaps it had genuinely submitted.
Mantou felt the texture of the wyvern's scales, feeling its pulse and breath, filled with the sheer elation of bitter efforts finally bearing fruit.
Looking at the wyvern sprawled on the ground with its eyes shut in exhaustion, he spoke to it:
"Guess I should give you a name..."
"Waifu?"
"No, too tacky. Besides, you look like a male."
"Big Dragon? A bit too crude."
"Since I'm Mantou, let's call you... Noodles. Your neck is pretty long and skinny anyway."
Mantou cheerfully patted the top of the wyvern's head.
"Noodles!"
"Awoo..."
The wyvern lifted its head slightly, offering a limp, feeble response. It was evidently sick of him, but submitted nonetheless—the two weren't mutually exclusive.
"Mantou, what kind of trash name is that?!"
Singo landed beside him atop his own wyvern.
He had already tamed his on the second day. According to Singo, he had communicated using bits of Draconic stolen from the kobolds, though Mantou remained skeptical.
Mantou protested, "Noodles has great symbolism! Look at whatever dogshit name you came up with."
Singo replied smugly, "My mount is named Wyvern. Authentic and classic. What's wrong with that? Ash just called his Pikachu, didn't he? He didn't saddle it with dumb names like Mantou or Steamed Bun."
Mantou cursed, "Stop making excuses for being trash at naming things, Sing-dog."
Ignoring him, Singo addressed Alger, who was supervising nearby: "Instructor Alger, we've completed the trial. Can we advance our class now?"
Stroking the wyvern's neck, Mantou exclaimed excitedly, "Redscale Conqueror, activate!"
"You may."
"You two have truly proved... unexpected."
Even the usually reticent Alger couldn't help expressing his awe. Such talent could no longer be called merely rare in the world—it defied all common sense.
"Igor!"
Alger called softly.
Casting a massive shadow, the dragon-blooded giant eagle with a wingspan of nearly ten meters descended from the sky, drawing envious stares from the two players.
Alger vaulted onto the dragon-blooded giant eagle with practiced ease. Without even needing an order, the great eagle beat its wings and took flight.
Without looking back, Alger said:
"Follow me. I will take you to see the Master to complete the advancement ritual."
Singo followed close behind on his wyvern.
"Wyvern, let's go."
Seeming to sense what was about to happen, the wyvern let out an excited roar, flapping its wings to follow immediately.
That was precisely how Singo had convinced the wyvern to submit in the first place: by becoming the mount of a Redscale Conqueror, it too would receive a precious Bloodline Boon, gaining formidable power akin to their pack leader.
Yet at this critical moment, Mantou's "Noodles" wilted. It merely lifted a wing weakly, showing it was far too exhausted to fly.
Patting the side of Noodles' neck, Mantou didn't know whether to laugh or cry, even suspecting it was deliberately taking revenge:
"Hey, Noodles, get up!"
"If you don't fly, they're going to leave us behind!"
"Noodles" seemed annoyed by his shouting and let out a raspy growl.
Flapping its wings with great difficulty, it took tremendous effort just to lift off into midair, wobbling and swaying through the air and jolting Mantou ceaselessly in the saddle.
Meanwhile, the other two had already put considerable distance between them.
"Wait for meee—!"
"Can't you show a little mercy to a student driver—?!"
Mantou shouted from afar atop the violently jolting wyvern.
Their commotion drew the attention of many retainers. Seeing humans mounted on the backs of wyverns was like seeing ghosts—they found it utterly unbelievable.
Up on Bedrock Fortress, a hobgoblin guard tapped his comrade's shoulder and pointed to the sky.
"Look!"
"What's that?"
"Isn't that just a wyvern—wait, there are humans riding on their backs!"
"Th-they actually pulled it off?!"
The hobgoblin guard held out an open palm to his comrade. "I won. A hundred copper coins."
The other hobgoblin guard cursed, "Did we even finalize the bet?! Asking me for money already—piss off!"
Yet immediately afterward, the hobgoblin guard stared with considerable envy at the humans mounted on the wyverns, murmuring, "Those two humans... they're really going to soar to the top now..."
"Tell me about it. Commander Duoluo sent six of his trusted confidants to take the trial before, and four died while two ran away. Chief Steward Langpu mocked him for ages over that."
"Tsk, tsk. Who would've thought those rabid beasts could actually be ridden."
"Yeah, I always thought their skulls were packed with nothing but slime."
Chapter 89