'Familiar existence detected, please give the familiar a name.'
"A familiar?"
Zhang Dong was now looking at something that reminded him of his old soul beast. But instead of the giant dragon that he could use to blast everyone to kingdom come there was a small baby dragon.
"You want me to give this guy a name Bob?... Well, it is a dragon… So how about Bahamut?"
His soul beast was a part of him, even when he gave it pet names then it was a bit silly. The creature was like a third hand that he could use without even talking but this one was different. While there was a connection between their souls he knew that this being was a separate entity. He could not tell what it was thinking as he could with the previous one.
Name:
Bahamut [ Sealed ]
Type:
Heavenly Golden Dragon [ Legendary ]
Realm:
!@$DSF#%
The first thing that he noticed was the legendary status of his familiar. It was as if he was some kind of monster tamer. This creature even had a spot for its power level but it was giving him the strange error text that was the same when he tried to examine his own realm.
"Perhaps it's the same realm as me? But what is this sealed status?"
When looking at this small dragon that was strangely purring at him he frowned. His old soul beast felt a lot stronger than this child but perhaps it was because of this sealed status. Would it show him its true might when it became unsealed? Could he order it to do it right here or was there some special requirement.
"Is this a list of attacks? But why are they grayed out?"
Golden Breath:
Holy-based dragon breath known to burn through any evil creatures.
Golden Magma Burst:
A massive surge of holy magma.
Divine Barrier:
A barrier of holy light that can protect its user from attacks, can protect from many status alignments.
He read through the first few before stopping as this list continued for a while. It didn't seem like a low leveled monster would possess this many attacks right after birth. Some of them sounded like the old attacks of his soul beast but there were some new ones. Most of them were grayed out which he could only attribute to the sealed status or to this dragon just being born.
'So instead of getting a power increase, I got this little guy?'
When looking at the cute creature he was not sure what he should feel. Would it be able to contend with tougher opponents or would it be one-shotted? There was also no way of knowing what would happen if it died. His old soul beast could be regenerated as long as he retained his own nascent soul. This dragon on the other hand had his own working soul that was very similar to his own.
'I guess I might have to find out soon…'
The people that were looking at him from afar didn't go unnoticed. While most of the cultivators were blasted into the distance after he was finished with absorbing the lightning energy there were ones that didn't. Even from his location, he could see that they belonged to the people he escaped from.
Now here came the problem, when he was absorbing his cores he had used up quite a large chunk of his system's spirit points. He had gone through most of his spirit point reserves as he hoped to reach a higher form of existence. Yet his plans didn't work out as instead of a large power-up he was given this dragon instead.
'If I flee will they leave these people alone, probably not…'
Then there was the problem with hundreds of cultivators coming to this place to watch him. Now they put themselves between ten powerful holy knights and one somewhat tired Zhang Dong. The knights had clearly waited for everyone to gather as he could feel all of them approaching from all sides, their intent probably to kill him along with everyone that was here.
'Hey Bob, is the system bugging out on me again?'
'Multiple system failures, please wait.'
He was not sure what was happening but ever since returning to this world his system was not working as well as it did. Even now if he gathered enough spirit points teleporting away would probably be impossible, which left him with either staying or bolting it towards another hiding place. Perhaps after some time passed Bob would be able to fix everything to allow him to port back to his sect where he could evaluate his cultivation in peace.
"GRRRRrrr"
"You can sense them too?"
Zhang Dong looked at his small dragon that started growling in the direction that the most powerful enemy was coming from. It was Lucius that after their little exchange he placed slightly above the horned tribe demons he had faced before. Yet together with the nine other golden nights, he was far more dangerous.
Even now he wasn't sure if he would come out victorious if he faced all of them. The only reason he managed to get away was thanks to his teleportation feature. His enemies did not show their true strength either. He was lucky enough to be in their camp where they probably didn't want to be destroyed along with the many silver knights there. Now on the other hand in this desolate land that was devoid of life they could let loose.
"There you are, treacherous cur!"
They were like a blazing star, their speed was truly tremendous and they were coming right for him. A decision had to be made, would he run away in hopes of his system springing back to life or would he face these ten knights here. After the transformation, he felt slightly stronger but also drained.
Then there was the whole problem with him not having any more core formation cores. During his travels, he was absorbing energy left and right with them but now he felt full. The larger seed didn't seem like it would be able to take in more energy which required further examination.
' probably won't be able to absorb their holy attacks like before, I have to actually beat them the hard way now and then there is this guy..'
Bahamut that had been named was floating around him while looking towards Lucius that was on a collision course. If his new pet just died after being born then he would be a laughing stock to any cultivator. How could he have gone through all of this trouble to have this familiar of him get killed. The small dragon didn't look like it could take even one hit, its wings were small and its head was large.
"I guess running is the only option, unless I figure out how to make you bigger you'll just get in the way."
Zhang Dong commented while reaching out towards this small creature. Yet as he was about to grab it and make a run for it there was a change. For some reason, the familiar reacted to his words and started glowing. Its body started giving out a radiant glow that started expanding in all directions and finally created the shape of an egg.
The golden knights that were charging toward him like jet planes quickly evaded to the sides. This golden egg was clearly radiating massive amounts of spiritual energy that were not much lower than Zhang Dong's.
'Wait, is he evolving already?'
Without Zhang Dong's input, the egg started to hatch. First, a small crack formed at the top, it was followed by a loud cracking sound that caused the ground to shake. Soon a large four-digit lizard-like hand burst through the top of it. The shell of this giant egg started to crumble quickly yet the parts when touching the air burst into tiny energy bubbles.
From within the egg emerged an adult dragon that was practically identical to the old soul beast that Zhang Dong was using. The biggest difference was the amount of energy this monster was radiant that was even above a great circle nascent soul master.
"They should grow quickly… but he is a bit smaller than my old soul beast."
The previous golden dragon could reach truly tremendous sizes. This Behemoth on the other hand didn't go over fifty meters in length. While everyone else was stunned by the emergence of this golden dragon, his master floated onto his head.
"Well, I guess this equals things out…"
The mounts that the golden knights had were the most problematic part of their strength. Their speed was slightly above his and when they came from all sides he had no chance to counterattack. Now on the other hand he had gained his own mount and it seemed Bahamut was ready to eat some ponies.
While he could not directly control his new familiar there was a sort of connection between their souls. Bahamut could tell what Zhang Dong wanted him to do and without waiting for a spoken command it opened its large toothy mouth. Within a matter of seconds, a burst of golden flames showered the incoming knights that were forced to quickly dodge in various directions.
This large breath attack would normally open the dragon to a counterattack as its enemies were much smaller and quite agile. Regretfully for them, Bahamut was not the only one there, Zhang Dong was standing on its back and quickly followed up with his own finger arts that shot out many tiny beams of energy towards the knights that attempted to attack some of the blind zones.
"Everyone quickly flee!"
The huge dragon took off which produced a stormy wind. All the cultivators that were here quickly began to flee as they noticed that a battle between powerful beings was taking place. Some of them remained even when risking their own death. To them, the sight of the huge dragon batting away winged horses was something legendary. They could not pass up the chance of seeing this all play out.
Yet this would also cause their deaths as the parties that were fighting did not pull any punches with each other. The chaotic burst of various glowing projectiles rained down on these empty lands which the ones that weren't able to escape would call their resting place.
"So even after consulting with Argus you still wish to kill me?"
"Shut up barbarian, I don't know what you and that wizard talked about but you are too much of a threat to be left alive! Braves to me, together we will eradicate this monster from the face of this world!"
"Hah, you really want to paint me as the bad guy here, don't you? Have it your way then!"
On one side was a man with his dragon on the other a small group of golden knights. Both of them started charging up for the next large attack and when they clashed everything would be turned to cinders.