Well, one thing led to another, and this is what has happened so far.
Drayken was injured, on the verge of dying. The energy was rapidly destroying him, and in his weakened state, he had to dodge these impossible arrows that could not only penetrate his defense but were also impossible to perceive.
It was a wonder he was still alive!
Sigh.
He supplied more mana to his Aura spell, and at the same time, starlight glitter across his entire body.
Star Strike was a broken skill that could harvest the energy of the stars, and after the battle with the Orc, Eryke realised it was much more versatile than he had thought. The only problem was that the destruction to the body became too much!
Whistle!
An arrow silently shot through the air and into his heart, effortlessly penetrating his Aura and Starlight. Its momentum was slightly halted, and luckily, his Fortification Skin, along with his dragon scales, stopped the arrow in its tracks.
This brief moment of respite allowed him to gather his thoughts and think calmly.
"The biggest problem with these arrows isn't that they're fast, but that I can't sense them. I can rely purely on instinct, but instinct can only get you so far."
Drayken was rapidly contemplating a solution to his problem. In the end, it all came down to his inability to sense the arrows.
Meanwhile, veins bulged across his body, and his skin began to crack like a broken vase.
"Damn it, think, think, Drayken."
He cursed loudly with all his strength, trying to find an optimal solution…
"Should I rely on my destiny points?" He opened his eyes, then closed them again. All the arrows were being deflected, and Drayken hesitated.
If it was impossible to complete this trial, then he wouldn't be here. Since they had given him such a challenge, there had to be a way to overcome it.
"I can neither smell, hear, nor see… What can I even do?"
Eryke focused.
"The only way is my instinct from my Dragon Bloodline… Is there something I'm missing?"
He began to sense the blood in his body.
Dragons are battle-hungry beasts; their power comes from their blood. As someone with a lesser dragon bloodline, even if he reached a higher rank of Dragon, he would still be much weaker than those with a purer lineage.
"What is the core essence of a Dragon?"
Drayken thought hard. Then a thought hit him, until now, he had only seen everyone in human form with dragon parts, but Dragons weren't humans!
"I have also abandoned my human bloodline… Does that mean—?" His eyes snapped open.
For a moment, Drayken stood still, then facepalmed himself, only for a layer of skin to tear from his cheek.
"Is it really this simple?"
His body was badly mangled at this point.
Eryke carefully sensed the energy rampaging inside his body, and his expression grew even stranger.
He had already tried to control this energy before, but he couldn't. However, on his next attempt, he used his bloodline to absorb it.
Immediately, there was an effect—his body glowed with a golden light.
Drayken hurriedly withdrew his Star Strike and retracted his Aura. Then, he sat cross-legged, taking all the arrows defenseless.
It wasn't that he wasn't hurt—every fiber of his being was screaming in pain.
His body was badly mangled with each arrow. The pain was overwhelming, and it was a life-and-death situation.
If it were any ordinary person, they would have died from the sheer pain alone, but Drayken was different.
His pain resilience was not something that mere pain could bind!
"The way of a dragon."
Drayken thought of the dragon painting he had seen in Eleanor's room. It was a beautiful creature with white scales and blue slit pupils, with long grand and majestic wings.
The life-threatening danger from the arrows made Drayken feel his blood boil beyond limits. His bloodline was becoming more active, and an image began to form in his mind…
Drayken froze in place.
Roar!
A primal roar spread throughout the surroundings, reverberating off the walls.
Drayken's body started to expand, growing in height and becoming bulkier and stronger by the second.
His mouth stretched, forming a snout, and his wings expanded. His bone structure began to change rapidly, his neck lengthening and growing thicker.
Scales appeared all over his body, and a tail grew from his back!
He had become a giant, three-meter tall dragon!
The arrows suddenly stopped coming, and Drayken's dragon form remained stationary for some time, as he caught his breath.
At this moment, he could feel power coursing through his entire being, and his mana core had also shifted.
"Hmm?"
He huffed, almost creating a storm in front of him.
His slit pupils fixed on the blue panel in front of him.
[Congratulations! You are the first Awakener to have taken the form of a complete Dragon]
[You have gained the title
"DragonLord?"
His slit pupils flickered slightly, and another panel appeared in front of him.
…
Grants exclusive skill: Dragon's Dominion (imposes authority over lesser dragons and isn't affected by higher bloodlines), increases mental resistance by 50%.
…
"This is…" He rubbed his chin with his sharp claws, his pupils flickering. As a lesser dragon, this wasn't very helpful, but the second effect mitigated his shortcoming, which satisfied him. The mental resistance wasn't bad either.
"Luckily, I didn't use the main body's Destiny Points." If one uses the easy route every time, they'll get used to it, and when they truly start to face difficulty, the troubles will start to come one by one.
While he might have been able to solve the problem easily, he wouldn't have gained such a benefit either.
"Congratulations, Drayken, you have passed the trial successfully."
The darkness faded, and Drayken's vision shifted to a bright room.
'Is this teleportation!?'
He thought to himself. Then, he looked at the hundreds of people in front of him.
Eleanor was there, sitting on the grandest throne, looking at him with some amusement in her eyes. Behind her stood Lilia.
As for the others, they were seated on more modest thrones, all wearing masks.
Their gaze toward Drayken made him feel a sense of suffocation.
Eleanor clapped her hands with a mysterious smile on her face:
"Everyone, what do you think of Drayken's performance?"