After saying goodbye to the guards and taking a map they so graciously provided, Ryan made his way toward the Dragon Capital.
"Is... Is that...?" Ryan whispered as he approached the gigantic golden towers floating high above him, their presence casting an eerie light across the kingdom below it.
Yoko chuckled. 'Don't be surprised by this sight. Wait until you see the rest of the Multiverse. This city will look like a child made it out of clay in comparison.'
Aiming his sword upward, Ryan started his trek toward the sky city, passing by a multitude of dragons, some of who nodded in greeting as they passed, while others blew steam out of their nostrils and turned away.
'Looks like all dragons aren't made equal,' Ryan thought.
'Don't call these things dragons,' Yoko said, disgusted. 'These things barely qualify as lizards compared to me.'
Ryan fell silent. He had heard these types of comments more and more from Yoko as she seemingly got used to his presence.
Shaking his head, Ryan steadied his blade as he continued toward the Dragon Capital, eager to see the luscious city up close.
===
Inside the Dragon Capital (51 days until the wedding)...
"Tours! Get your tours here!" a small dragonkin shouted. Her tail swished in the wind as everyone ignored her.
Vimmi was trying and failing to find any customers as usual, but she didn't seem to mind as she continued yelling, much to the chagrin of passersby.
"Kid, knock it off already," one passerby said.
"It's not like people need a guide. People can just buy a map for a fraction of a Heavenly Credit!" another said.
Ignoring the people like usual, Vimmi kept shouting, her raggedy clothes not deterring her as she held a cheerful smile plastered on her face.
"Hello, sir," Vimmi said, hand outstretched to the cloaked figure approaching her. "Would you like a tour?"
Seeing the figure nod, she smiled brightly. "Then come with me."
As she walked, she said, "We have three packages for you to choose from, the standard package, available for 3 Heavenly Credits, which includes a tour of everything one might like to know in the city."
"A deluxe package available for 10 Heavenly Credits in which I will personally take you to all the best stops only few dragon folks know about," she said, directing Ryan into an ally.
"And our ultra deluxe package, available for 100 Heavenly Credits."
She finished her pitch and turned to the cloaked figure. "Which would you like today, sir?"
Ryan, the cloaked figure, stared at the girl with a look between curiosity and contempt plastered on his face.
'Who does this half-lizard bitch think she is trying to rip off Master?!' Yoko screamed telepathically, attempting to break out of her shell and rip the dragonkin to pieces.
'It is rather odd that she is charging so much,' Ryan replied. 'But I'm more interested in what's around her neck.'
While listening to the girl's ridiculous prices, Ryan had zoned out the girl's pitch long ago, transfixed on the girl's necklace.
"What exactly comes in this ultra deluxe package?" Ryan asked, wanting to scrutinize the necklace for longer.
The obsidian crystal glowed on her skin. A powerful-looking dragon wound around the pendant and through the intricately carved scrolls and symbols that decorated the necklace.
"Oh, I'm glad you asked!" Vimmi replied with a chipper swish of her tail. "It's a special offer we have for the Empress's tournament."
Ryan paused, looking at the girl's necklace to gaze up at her eyes, and asked, "What about it?"
"We offer one guaranteed slot into the tournament!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands.
Blinking, Ryan started to walk away when he heard, "Such a shame that only dragons can participate in the tournament. I wish the Dragon Empress would be more open-minded."
Stopping in his tracks, Ryan turned around, narrowing his eyes.
"What did you say?"
Fluttering her eyelashes innocently, the girl said, "I was saying how happy I'd be to see some other species participating. It'll make for an interesting change of pace. But it's no matter to me who wins, right?"
Ryan's eyes narrowed further, trying to read between the lines of what the girl was trying to say.
"Are you dumb?" the girl finally asked. "I can get you in if you pay me."
Ryan's eyebrow twitched. "I got that, but how will that help me win?"
"If the Dragon Empress wants a dragon in her harem… how will that help me?" Ryan asked.
Rubbing her forehead, Vimmi muttered, "Please don't be him. Heavens, please don't be him."
Regaining her usual smile, Vimmi said, "The testing required to become a harem member is done before the start of the competition. The Dragon Empress requires all her harem members never to go into dragon form. Thus…"
"Thus, if I could pass these tests, I could get in," Ryan finished after she stopped talking.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! We got a brainiac over here!" Vimmi shouted.
But Ryan stepping toward her in the dark ally made her squeak.
Then remembering she was facing a man, she regained her confidence and said, "Nice try, trying to scare me."
"Is that so," Ryan growled but stopped, seeing the necklace again.
He couldn't understand why, but he knew that if he attacked the girl, even touched her, the necklace wouldn't allow him to claim it later.
'Yoko, do you know what that necklace is?' Ryan asked, finally remembering he had a knowledgeable dragon who could see what he saw.
'Yoko?' not hearing a reply, Ryan tried again but didn't hear anything.
'YOKO!" screaming as loud as he could telepathically, he finally got a response.
'What kind of luck do you have, kid?' came her reply.
'What do you mean?' Ryan asked, thinking, 'I think my luck can be considered abysmal.'
'That's the Necklace of Holy Dragon Blood. The sacred relic of the dragon race,' Yoko said, still astonished.
'What does it do?' Ryan asked excitedly, thinking, 'This is my big break! Finally!'
'Nothing.'
'Pardon?' Ryan asked, blinking.
'It doesn't do anything,' Yoko said awkwardly. 'It only does something if you have the rest of the six accessories of the big seven.'
'So then, why do I want it so bad?' Ryan asked, looking at the smirking Vimmi's neck where the necklace lay.
Inside Ryan's palace, Yoko had difficulty keeping the smile off her face, thinking, 'I knew it!'
Between the Galaxy-Tier soul protection spell, his weird bloodline, his ability to manipulate space, and now one of the holy relics, something only the First Ones can use…
'He is a First One. I'm positive.'
'But how is he a heaven's chosen?' Yoko thought.
She suddenly widened her eyes and exclaimed, "It's his soul protection! Anything above Sage-Tier can influence the heavens themselves. So it must be hiding his identity from them.'
Inside her shell, her tiny body was doing circles as she was unable to sit still from excitement.
After a second, however, she frowned. 'But Master can't use time… that must be because his soul protection is blocking it!'
'I remember mother once telling me that powerful spells used on someone not developed in cultivation had serious side effects…'
'Maybe that explains his lack of brains.'
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