Tales of The Mighty Dragonair

If it was a simple choice for benefit then he wouldn't hesitate to choose his own benefit, but it was a moral issue, where he would endanger thousands of lives for his own sake.

He couldn't accept that! He wasn't a bad cultivator back in his days! so, he had no time to struggle, no point in object, as he declared:

"We will change our course then, let's go into a way that's opposite to my family's lands."

His decision made everyone eye him in another light. The old crew were happy to know he wouldn't risk everything for the sake of his safety, endangering their family and friends. Ron nodded, in satisfaction, as this was the decision the heir to his house would choose.

"Where should we go?" Lily asked, as she was the one ordering Birdy to move.

"Is there any place here full of high grade monsters?" Arthur asked.

"Sure, there is one hell of a place where all the mages I know would avoid," Clovert said, as he was touched by the right decision Arthur just made.

"Where?" Lily asked. "Why would mages avoid it?" Madly asked, while Arthur kept his silence, not saying a word.

"It's on the west from here, just go straight for four hours I think, where you will find a valley between a huge series of mountains. There is a lake inside, and rumors talked about an ancient monster living there, one who would kill anyone approaching the lake."

His words made them hesitate, and even shudder in fear. Arthur noted their reaction and didn't speak, as his interest was piqued by this place and this legendary monster.

"Don't scare the kids," Amelia said, "there is no monster there, as far as I know. I visited that lake many times already, and no such a monster lives there. all that's there is a bunch of some strong monsters, slightly stronger than the ones you fought already."

Her words calmed everyone, but Arthur felt there was more than she said. He didn't speak, as he had another thing in mind.

"I saw you use a strong monster in your attacks, is this your coupled monster?" he asked.

"Coupled?" she asked back, as she didn't understand his meaning, "Do you mean the monster I absorbed?" she added.

"Yes, we call it coupling," Madly volunteered to speak, as she was feeling excited by Amelia's presence, looking up to her like her idol.

"Well, I already have two monsters inside me, one I completely control, and it's much weaker than my second monster, which is the one which gives me most of my strength right now. the issue is, I can't completely control it, as its grade is way above mine, so whenever I stress myself, I always end up losing consciousness or being extremely weakened. That reminds me, what is with this meat?"

When she asked the last question, Clovert and Gregory's attention was driven to Arthur, who just smiled as he slowly explained:

"this meat is our cooking, it's the meat of monsters we kill."

"What?!!" Clovert and Gregory exclaimed at the same time, while Amelia just stood there, silent for a while, before muttering:

"That explains things then, why you kept gathering all the monsters killed or wounded on the ground. By the way, where did all these monsters go?"

She had many questions in mind, and every time she asked one, it would be very important to her and to the other two.

"They are all inside this ring," Arthur calmly replied, showing off the small ring he wore in his hand.

"This ring? What is special about it?" She examined the ring carefully, but she couldn't find anything important or unique about it.

"It can hold a lot of things, and it enables us to store living and dead monsters inside," Arthur said, when Madly interfered, trying to boast in front of her idol: "We made it."

Arthur just chuckled, while Amelia nodded her head, before asking:

"Can you make another one for me?"

Her question seemed bizarre, but the answer of Arthur came swiftly to quench everyone's aspiration towards the ring:

"Sure, I will make one for each person here."

"That's reassuring," she exclaimed, as she knew how important such a divine tool might be. She didn't yet fully understand the full uses of this ring, or how it worked, but if it was like Arthur said, then it would be quite handy.

"What about the monsters that fought with you? Like this huge bird we are riding right now?" Gregory asked the question that bothered him the most.

His question made everyone from the old gang smile, and even Lily laughed. Arthur explained the concept of pets to them, promising to make them have ones when they land on the lake. His words were quite shocking, as he declared his ability to make everyone here obtain more than one monster as a bet, using Lily as an example, as she already had two pets right now.

Arthur didn't say more, but deep inside him, he wanted to try and make the three new additions to his gang have more than two pets, three at least. Inside his ring, he had quite a variety of monsters, wounded but rather strong and useful monsters.

He didn't explain to them the concept of absorbing monsters' vital organs, as he intended to keep this as a little surprise for them, for later.

"May I ask, if you know other rogue mages like you?" he finally asked the question in his mind. He wanted to gather more rogue mages and form a small army of his own. The idea came to him when he decided to add the three to his little gang. If he started to add mages, then why didn't he aim for bigger targets? More mages?

The words of Arthur startled Amelia and the other two, as they thought he just accepted them on a whim, never thinking he already was planning to add more.

"I know some," Amelia said, hesitatingly, before adding, "but I can't vouch for them."

"What do you mean?" Arthur said.

"I mean they are already aspiring to join Dorgazire academy, working hard to join a contest to be held soon," she said.

"Oh, that contest? We already have a token to join it," Madly, innocently, said, like it was nothing. The reaction over the faces of the three was funny, quite funny indeed, especially Clovert and Gregory.

"What do you mean you have the token?" Gregory asked, trying to confirm his guess.

"We met someone from the academy, some high leveled disciple, or a master there, I dunno," Arthur explained, "she gave me a token so I can participate in the ongoing contest in a month's time from now," he added.

"You have the guest of honor token?" Clovert, in a shocked tone, asked. His tone was shaky, like he was experiencing a deep shock right now.

"What is about the honor token?" Ouly asked, as he noticed something was odd in their reaction.

"The token is a rare one, gifted only by a handful of masters, or their trusted disciples. Having such a token will exempt you from entering the preliminary contest, and you will be directed towards the final selection," Clovert said, in a very excited tone.