Mr. Ross was a dragon, but not a true giant dragon, rather a bipedal flying dragon, a Clay Dragon.
He was not made of clay but could produce clay.
Not by the process of pulling.
It was the place where he resided, and over time, the Dragon Breath and bloodline seeping into the earth would create veins of clay ore.
"Clay… metal?"
Initially, Russell was also perplexed, but in the human understanding of this world, clay was a metal, a kind that could become extremely hard when fired.
Ros the Clay Dragon, since being contracted by the original Baron Youguang, had now guarded the Fluorescent Fungi Family for over sixty years.
Near the Glowing Valley, he had nourished three veins of clay ore.
Continuously producing a large amount of clay, the family fired it into various exquisite ceramics and sold them throughout the Shadowflame Grand Duchy, and even internationally.
At the same time.
Ros the Clay Dragon was also the territory's most formidable combat force. During several Snow Demon invasions, they were repelled by Ros's Dragon Breath.
Without the dragon, the Baron's family would be unable to stand in the Glowing Valley.
Fortunately, bipedal flying dragons had long lifespans, generally living three to five hundred years, and Ros was not yet seventy years old.
He could still protect the Fluorescent Fungi Family for several generations, even up to a dozen generations.
"Contracting Mr. Ross is hardly possible anymore." On the way back to Fluorescent Castle, Russell had completely abandoned this idea.
Not because he lacked greed or didn't want to become a Dragon Knight—being a Flying Dragon Knight was still being a Dragon Knight.
Nor was it because he was meek and yielding, feeling that his elder brother Roland was the future Baron and head of the family, who should rightly contract Ros the Clay Dragon.
Instead, it was because his transmigrator identity might have been perceived by Ross.
"Dragons have such keen instincts… If only Mr. Ross could not speak, I fear…" Russell recalled with a shiver the moments shortly after he had transmigrated.
Back then, he was crossing the street eating Dream Dragon Ice Cream when he was unexpectedly run over by a fully loaded dump truck, like an assassin.
His consciousness darkened, and he found himself in this new body.
The original body's talent was somewhat deficient, starting to cultivate Douqi according to the "Douqi Cultivation Manual" at seven years old, but only managing to cultivate a bud of Douqi at ten.
Seeing his coming-of-age ceremony approaching with his Douqi bud yet to bloom into true Douqi, he bit the bullet and forced an assault on the Douqi bud.
This led to a disaster, and he died.
However, thanks to the former body's reckless attempt, the Douqi bud successfully bloomed, and Russell's soul merged without having to face this trouble, instantly possessing the long-desired Douqi, becoming a qualified Knight.
But.
The moment he stepped out, he was targeted by Mr. Ross perched upon the tower of Fluorescent Castle. Through a window, those dragon eyes, larger than bulls', stared at him for a solid quarter of an hour.
Russell had no doubts that, if it weren't for the constraining bloodline contract, Mr. Ross would likely have given him a blast of Dragon Breath right then and there.
Turning him to ash.
Constrained by the contract, Mr. Ross ultimately did not harm him, but his attitude took a sharp turn for the worse.
To prevent others from detecting anything amiss, Russell immediately decided to keep his distance from Mr. Ross in the future. It just so happened that at his coming-of-age ceremony, his father, Baron Roman, had granted him a knighthood, providing him with his own land, where he would dutifully develop his estate.
"As the second son of a baron, let noble qualities flourish, and leave the opportunity to grow close to Mr. Ross to my elder brother, the primary heir to the barony."
The party of three riders split at the crossroad in town.
"Mr. Charles, Mr. Eric, this is where we part." Russell waved his hand.
The crossroad split into two paths, one leading to the town and the other to a castle on a mound. As the lord of the entire Glowing Valley, the Fluorescent Fungi Family did not reside in the noisy, dirty town but in the separate Fluorescent Castle outside of town.
Charles performed a hat-tip gesture, bending over on his horse, baring his big yellow teeth, and smiled, "Lord Russell, I look forward to hearing good news from you."
Eric, not adept at such formalities, simply muttered, "Goodbye, Lord."
Once Russell had ridden off.
Charles invited, "The sun is still high. How about a drink at the tavern?"
"No, thanks."
"Such a boring fellow."
Charles hurried to catch up as Eric turned to walk away, striking up a conversation, "Don't you find that Russell has changed a lot lately? He used to be so quiet, and now, even though he doesn't talk much, he seems…more assertive."
Eric replied, "As the son of Lord Baron, he should be."
"I mean, he's changed a lot."
"He's grown up, gotten promoted, he's a man now."
"Hmm, indeed…" Charles nodded in agreement with Eric, "Knights gain confidence from their Douqi."
In the end, he sighed wistfully, "A true knight should bravely ride a dragon!"
Eric rolled his eyes.
As a Great Knight brimming with Douqi, let alone riding dragons, he couldn't even mount a phantom beast. In all of Glowing Valley, all the newly born phantom beasts belonged to the Baron's family; unless one accomplished great military feats, there was no chance of bonding.
"Hoping… to follow in Russell's footsteps to achieve the goal of riding a phantom beast…"
Meanwhile.
The hopeful Russell Fluorescent Fungus had already arrived at the gates of Fluorescent Castle.
It was a traditional stone castle, its walls constructed block by block of giant stones, filled with various magic materials. Even a strike with Douqi could hardly make a visible mark, indestructible.
Atop the towering towers hung the Fluorescent Fungi Family's flag, embroidered in the middle with a clump of bright green mushrooms, vaguely forming a skull shape.
That was the Glowing Mushrooms, also known as Glowing Mushrooms, the family's most important source of magic potion.
The flag fluttered in the wind.
The green skull swayed from side to side.
"Huh." Exhaling a breath of stale air, Russell urged his horse through the gate.
The guard at the gate, clad in thick leather armor, saluted with a fist to the chest as he passed through.
Arched stone gates, a long bridge corridor, and at the end stood the stony structure of Fluorescent Castle.
To highlight the family's glory, the entire path was laid with ceramic floor tiles, even a layer of shiny silver-gray ceramic tiles adorned the castle's main body's exterior wall.
The gray towers and walls looked heavy and somber, while the silver-gray main castle shimmered beautifully.
It was a castle that had never experienced the ravages of war.
Snow Demons from the snow-covered lands had never breached into the heart of Glowing Valley; frequent noble alliances within the Shadowflame Grand Duchy also ensured that there was little fratricide. The occasional patches of marks were scratched out by Mr. Ross's claws.
"Chirp, chirp..."
Russell looked up to see a black shadow sweep over his head, emitting a shrill cry disproportionate to its size.
It was Ros the Clay Dragon.
"Wheeze, wheeze." Although the black horse under him was majestic, feeling the dragon's dignity, it began to tremble, continuously exhaling air from its nostrils.
"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous," Russell soothed the black horse's neck.
Whoosh!
The passing shadow landed on another tower of the castle, its huge bat wings folding, claws like hooks hung onto the edge of the tower, balancing its body while pulling its stout hind legs up against the edge of the tower.
Like a gargoyle, it crouched atop the tower roof, surveying the castle below and gazing across the entire Glowing Valley.
Its body was covered with fine dark red scales, overlapping to appear almost black.
The fierce dragon head above had vertical dragon eyes that swiveled.
Catching sight of Russell riding home, it sneered lightly, exhaling two gentle streams of dark red Dragon Breath, quickly turning its gaze elsewhere.
Russell calmed his black horse.
He didn't look at Ros the Clay Dragon but instead looked down at his left palm. There, seemingly stimulated by the Clay Dragon, the palm warmed slightly and then outlined a faint red mark resembling an "M."
On closer inspection, it was a slender dragon, its wings spread as if in flight.
He clenched his fist.
The mark seemed to extinguish, with specks of sparks flying from the gaps in his fist, merging into the air and vanishing.
"I have a dragon too, but… I can only ride it in my dreams…"