Chapter 146
Chapter 146
The crowd was speechless.
Silence!
Deathly silence!
The moment the scores appeared, every member of the Dragon Domain faction, dragons included, froze in shock.
Only Zhou Ming himself and Renee, who stood among the crowd, found nothing strange about the ranking or the score.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!”
Cork’s expression changed dramatically, his pupils contracting. “There must be something wrong with the Dragon Profundity Mirror!”
First place: Fire Envoy ยท Rod. Score: 100!
Both his position and score stood out far too much. They were utterly beyond Cork’s comprehension.
The Dragon Domain Trial Tournament had been held 105 times, yet no one had ever received a perfect score!
“Elder Cork, hurry up and fix it!” Submit and Perish could not believe the ranking either. “How could he possibly score one hundred points?!”
“Please wait, everyone!”
Cork’s face turned grave. He shrank the Dragon Profundity Mirror, held it in his hand, and carefully examined it.
Two minutes… Five minutes…
Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Under the crowd’s increasingly impatient gazes, Cork said with difficulty, “There is nothing wrong with the treasure!”
“Holy shit! Then he really did score one hundred!”
“Who exactly is Rod? Why have I never heard of him in the Dragon Domain before?”
“He stayed silent until he could stun the world with a single feat!”
…
The crowd still found it difficult to believe. Remembering how they had slandered, mocked, and ridiculed Rod just moments before, their expressions became more colorful than the last.
It made no sense!
How could such a person have existed in the Dragon Domain all this time, only to suddenly emerge from nowhere?
“Please forgive the modest display, everyone!”
Under their incredulous gazes, Zhou Ming strode forward openly and cupped his fists. “I’ll be taking the dragon egg this time!”
With that, he hurriedly turned to Cork. “My lord, please grant me my reward!”
“I…”
Submit and Perish’s face flushed scarlet. He glared fiercely at Rod, utterly unable to understand how an NPC at Level 80 and the third class advancement could have defeated him.
“Well…”
Embarrassment crossed Cork’s face.
To tell the truth, that dragon egg had been arranged for the Dragon Soul Mage. If Bawang performed exceptionally and was willing to pay an enormous price, the Dragon Domain might also have considered making arrangements for him.
But Cork had never imagined that some unknown Rod would appear out of nowhere and seize first place with a score beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.
This was simply…
“Something isn’t right!”
A thought suddenly struck Cork. He looked at the man calling himself Rod with deep suspicion. “Come to think of it, why have I never seen a Dragon Warrior like you anywhere in the Dragon Domain?”
“Does my lord recognize every single Dragon Warrior?” Zhou Ming’s heart tightened, but he immediately countered with a question of his own.
Cork shook his head. “No, but you truly are an unfamiliar face!”
“Are you saying he snuck in?” Submit and Perish seemed to understand what Cork meant. He carefully studied Cork and grew suspicious as well.
First place, with a perfect score!
The performance was simply too outrageous!
Submit and Perish had only ever met one other person this absurd in his entire life!
“Zhouyou Shijie!” Submit and Perish narrowed his eyes. “You’re Zhouyou Shijie!”
“We’re done for!”
Renee’s lovely face changed slightly. “He’s going to expose us!”
“Hm?”
Zhou Ming’s expression did not change. Neither servile nor overbearing, he countered, “Dragon Soul Mage, do you truly believe Zhouyou Shijie is the only person in the world capable of defeating you?”
“…”
Submit and Perish did not dare make such an outrageous claim.
Arrogant though he was, he knew that Rule by Inaction and the elites from other regions were also exceptionally powerful and difficult to handle.
“My lord, if you believe I snuck in, that’s fine!” As though he had suffered a tremendous injustice, Zhou Ming raised his voice. “Just give me the first-place reward before you investigate. Whatever you discover afterward, I’ll accept the consequences!”
He was nearly in tears as he continued, “I know the dragon egg was prepared for Submit and Perish. But since I won first place, why must you invent excuses to forcibly strip me of my reward? Such conduct is truly disheartening!”
Ding!~
[System Notification: You have used the item [Take It on Faith Card] (S Rank), increasing the target’s trust in you!]
As he spoke, Zhou Ming activated the item he had purchased from Mysterious Merchant No. 2, preventing Cork’s suspicions from deepening.
“I’m not inventing excuses. I genuinely have no memory of anyone like you!” Cork looked around and saw the crowd filled with righteous indignation. His face grew awkward, and for a moment, he did not know what to do.
“Rod’s” heartfelt and sincere words earned him an enormous amount of sympathy from the Dragon Domain soldiers.
Nothing else mattered. If the Dragon Domain reneged on the promised reward simply because it had not gone to Submit and Perish, none of its future events would have any credibility. People might even conclude that participation was meaningless because every competition was merely an empty formality.
“Why should that matter? I’m an honest man, and I’m standing right here in the Dragon Domain. Are you afraid I’ll run away?” Zhou Ming sounded utterly sincere. “If you think there’s something wrong with me and want to investigate, you’re welcome to do whatever you like afterward!”
“Well…”
Cork was left without a response.
Refusing to award the prize now would indeed alienate the crowd.
Moreover, Rod’s result proved that he was a promising talent. Cork’s current behavior truly was enough to chill the man’s heart.
“Sigh!”
With that thought, Cork relented. “Very well. Rod, Submit and Perish, the two of you will come with me. I’ll take you to select your dragon eggs.”
For some reason, despite feeling that greater caution would be wise, he still found Rod’s argument perfectly reasonable.
“Thank you, my lord!” Zhou Ming was overjoyed. His sorrow instantly turned to delight, and he almost burst out laughing.
Holy shit!
Who would’ve thought getting a dragon egg would be this easy?
“Good grief!”
Renee stared from within the crowd, dumbfounded. “It just had to be you!”
After hearing Zhouyou Shijie’s entire speech, even she would have wanted to protest the injustice on his behalf if she had not known the truth.
“Thank you, my lord!”
Submit and Perish reluctantly accepted the outcome as well.
No matter what, he was a Dragon Soul Mage. The Dragon Domain would hardly neglect him.
“Wait, what about me?” Bawang, who had taken third place, could not help but interrupt. “My lord, did you forget about me?”
Cork glanced at him. “Your score was less than ideal. We’ll see how you perform in the future!”
Bawang was speechless.
…
As the host of this Dragon Domain Trial Tournament, Cork had clearly informed the Dragon God and the Dragon Domain Guardian in advance.
Thus, once the ranking was finalized, he took Zhou Ming and Submit and Perish to a heavily guarded location. There, he used his token to obtain passage through checkpoint after checkpoint.
“Security here is no joke. Even a god-tier rogue would have trouble stealing a dragon egg!” Zhou Ming immediately grasped the situation.
It was fortunate that Submit and Perish existed. Otherwise, Zhou Ming never would have enjoyed such extraordinary luck.
Everything seemed to be going almost too smoothly, however. Hopefully, nothing unexpected would happen.
At least let me get the dragon egg into my hands first!
Zhou Ming prayed silently.
They arrived in a sweltering, hidden chamber shrouded in gloom. Cork released the restriction and said sternly, “You have ten minutes to choose your dragon eggs. Remember, you may select only one each. Taking more will immediately trigger a terrifying restriction and bring down its backlash upon you.”
He paused, then added another warning. “Furthermore, the dragons inside these eggs already possess intelligence. If one rejects you, do not persist. Choose another!”
“Understood!”
Both men nodded.
“Go!”
Cork motioned for them to enter, then left to report the situation to the Dragon Domain’s upper ranks.
Outsiders found it difficult to enter the Dragon Domain, but leaving was even harder!
Allowing Rod to collect a dragon egg had been necessary to quell the crowd’s outrage, but that did not mean an unborn dragon would agree to form a contract with him.
If the investigation uncovered a problem, Cork had more than enough time to take the dragon egg back.
Delay could only invite trouble!
After Cork left, Rod hurried into the chamber. A damp cavern appeared before him, filled with dragon eggs of every kind. They came in different colors, with oval shapes larger than basketballs. Their shells were covered in all manner of patterns and radiated elemental light.
Clearly, the color of that light represented each egg’s corresponding element.
[Water Dragon Egg] (Rare S Rank): Can hatch into a Water Dragon with respectable aptitude.
[Fire Dragon Egg] (SS Rank): Can hatch into a hot-tempered Fire Dragon with tremendous destructive power.
[Earth Dragon Egg] (Rare S+ Rank): Can hatch into an Earth Dragon with an exceptionally tough body.
…
Dragon eggs undoubtedly had their own grades.
The higher the egg’s grade, the greater the strength and potential of the dragon it could hatch.
“I have to pick a powerful one!”
Zhou Ming and Submit and Perish both burned with excitement and lunged toward the dragon eggs at full speed.
…