The Legendary Knight: Rise of the Primordial Dragon

Chapter 102: Shadow

Wyverns, although bearing a similar appearance to dragons, were vastly different from them. Dragons possessed wings sprouting from their backs, while a wyvern’s wings were directly attached to its front limbs. Moreover, they lacked the thick, impenetrable armour of scales that shielded dragons, not to mention their size was notably shorter and their frames far less imposing.

The most significant distinction that set the two species apart, however, was the heightened intelligence and the raw, abundant mana that dragons commanded. Wyverns, in stark contrast, possessed no such ability to wield mana.

Still, Vlad remained fixated on the idea of making a wyvern his beast companion. Even without mana, the raw, devastating physical prowess these creatures possessed was precisely what placed them firmly at the apex of the food chain among Feral Beasts.

It took Vlad a little over ten minutes to finally locate a wyvern resting peacefully on the grassy earth.

He approached the sleeping beast with careful, measured steps. Even he, despite his resolve, felt a flicker of nervousness creeping in as he drew nearer, acutely aware of the brute strength coiled within that slumbering frame.

"Hey there, buddy!" Vlad called out in a casual, soft tone, extending his hand placatingly.

The grey wyvern opened its deep, pitch-black eyes, fixing its gaze on the intruder while its head remained resting upon its folded wing, its neck bent in a relaxed curve.

"Great, it’s not aggressive," Vlad muttered, releasing a sigh of relief as he took a few more tentative steps forward.

His jaw tightened, and a bead of cold sweat trickled down his temple as he murmured, "Now, please don’t attack me."

With that, he carefully released a sliver of his dark mana, barely enough to shroud his skin in a thin, translucent veil of shifting shadows.

GRAAWR...

The wyvern roared, leaping onto its hind limbs with its eyes blown wide in sheer terror. It spread its leathery wings outward and launched itself into the sky. The sheer force of the displaced air current alone sent Vlad tumbling backward across the ground for several metres.

"Pthoe," Vlad spat out, clearing his mouth of the grass that had accidentally found its way in during his frantic tumble. He lay flat on the green surface, his limbs splayed outward in defeat.

"Fuck the wyverns—No, fuck all the Feral beasts," he muttered, clenching his fists tightly.

"Why does every single damn one of them hate me so much!?" he roared in sheer frustration, releasing all of his pent-up dark mana outward in a sudden, volatile burst.

Although the mana he released barely amounted to anything, it was more than enough to send the mana-sensitive beasts scattering in every direction in a frantic frenzy, desperate to put as much distance between themselves and Vlad as possible. The ground beneath him rumbled from the reverberations of their heavy, panicked footsteps.

"Yeah, that’s right, run, you fuckers. If I ever get my hands on any one of you, I’ll feed you to Chloe," Vlad shouted, completely incensed at this point.

He remained lying there for a few more minutes, letting the cool breeze wash over him and gradually soothe his frayed, annoyed nerves.

"Guess beast taming really isn’t for me," he sighed, rising to a sitting position. "I just have to drop out from this co— Ack."

Before he could finish his sentence, something tapped him gently on the back. He scrambled to his feet, quickly putting several feet of distance between himself and the unknown entity before spinning around.

What he saw before him was a dark horse, adorned with silky, flowing black fur cascading around its neck, hooves, and tail. It possessed lean, muscular skin that rippled with bulging veins, and a pair of shimmering, light-blue orbs served as its eyes. At the centre of its forehead sat a milky-white horn, spiralling outward and gleaming brilliantly, much like a polished pearl catching the light.

"A-a Unicorn?" Vlad gasped, his voice laced with both confusion and sheer disbelief. What he knew about unicorns was that they were an exceptionally rare species, even scarcer than the formidable wyverns or the elusive shadow panthers.

Moreover, weren’t unicorns supposed to be pristine white? So why did this one... Vlad shook his head, forcefully dismissing those nagging thoughts. After being continuously shunned and bullied by every other beast he encountered, he was the last person who had any right to become racist.

"You startled me there," Vlad said, steadying his racing heart before asking cautiously, "Aren’t you scared of me?"

The unicorn stepped towards Vlad in slow, deliberate strides, its luxurious fur swaying gracefully with the passing breeze. From the tip of its spiralling horn, a faint, ethereal white glow pulsed outward as it slightly bowed its head, bringing the gleaming point parallel to Vlad’s face.

"Oh, you want to become my Beast Companion," Vlad realised, realising the unicorn’s intent. He appeared a bit skeptical about accepting the offer. He had no knowledge of what abilities this particular unicorn possessed, not to mention the fact that it seemed distinctly different from the regular ones he had read about. What if they could not form a proper synergy with each other?

"Hah... who cares about synergy?" Vlad scoffed, shaking his head with a wry grin. When every other beast had fled from him in terror, this magnificent unicorn had extended its hand of friendship towards Vlad, or more accurately, the horn of friendship.

Vlad extended his hand forward, releasing his own dark mana in a controlled stream. Their respective energies spiralled into each other, intertwining harmoniously, and Vlad felt an overwhelming surge of unfamiliar emotions washing through him. The feelings were a potent mixture of happiness, raw excitement, and respect. They did not belong to Vlad. They were the pure emotions of the unicorn being transmitted through their nascent bond. A soft, genuine smile formed on Vlad’s lips as he gently tapped the unicorn on its velvety face. "Would you like me to give you a name?"

The unicorn blinked its luminous, blue-pearl eyes slowly, as if giving its silent permission.

"Alright, I will call you Shadow from now on."

Ding...

[You have formed a bond with the Dark Unicorn, Shadow.]

[Description: Dark Unicorn is an extremely rare Feral Beast species that prefers to keep itself isolated from other species. Shadow, the dark unicorn, has become the Beast Companion of the Host. The Beast will grow stronger alongside the Host, while the vice versa is also true.]

"Whoah! Professor Bjorn did mention that our beast companion would also become stronger as we grew in power, but he never said that the opposite was also true," Vlad gasped, his eyes scanning the display intently. "Is it a unique ability of Shadow?" Now that he noticed, the ceiling of his mana reserves had increased notably from before, making the smile on his face only widen further.

He looked at Shadow with eyes brimming with curiosity, while the unicorn merely tilted its head in a gentle, questioning response.

Ring... ring... ring...

Suddenly, Vlad’s phone began blaring loudly. He fumbled to turn off the alarm, which he had set for precisely 1:55 pm.

"Damn, only five minutes are remaining before the deadline," he gasped, quickly shoving the phone back into his pocket. "Shadow, we need to make a run for it," Vlad urged, the muscles in his legs tensing in preparation for a sprint.

He was about to dash forward when Shadow gently tapped him on the back from behind.

Vlad turned, instantly realising what Shadow was trying to convey.

"You want me to ride you?" he asked, to which Shadow only blinked its eyes.

"Alright then, show me what you got," Vlad said, climbing onto the unicorn, his hand gripping the thick fur around its neck.

The moment he did, the unicorn bolted forward, a long trail of black mana streaming behind its body like a flowing ribbon.

To Vlad, the ride felt astonishingly comfortable, with no jolts whatsoever, as if Shadow was not even running. Not even a single strand of his hair stirred in the rushing wind, as though a transparent barrier surrounded and protected him from the air itself. But what shocked him the most was the incredible speed at which Shadow was moving, if he could even call it running in the first place.

The unicorn was hovering across the land, gliding just above the earth. It touched the ground only once every several seconds before pushing itself into the air again, remaining only a few inches above the surface. Each graceful bound covered an astonishing distance, making it seem less like a beast sprinting across the land and more like a spirit effortlessly skimming over it.

"Amazing! You are several times faster than even Chloe!" Vlad exclaimed in exhilaration and excitement as the unicorn reached the forest within a few seconds, covering the entire distance in fewer than five tremendous leaps.