Westminster Bank

The two Silver Dragon Guides glanced at each other. The Silver Mask with Tune nodded with a faint smile. "In that case, I’ll go first."

With that, Tune dutifully cut his palm and poured the blood into a glass bottle, handing it to the guide.

The guide took the Blood Bottle and walked to the Dragon Gate, its Dragon Scales already stained with patches of blood. He pulled a Dragon Summoner Badge from his robes, dripped blood onto it, and then produced a piece of some unknown herb... After a series of flashy, elaborate rituals...

A hazy gray Dragon shadow was summoned from the badge.

"He drew out nearly seventy percent of the aura, and he’s using a ritual of the Viking Dragon Guides—one that’s long since been obsolete..."

The knowledgeable Dragon Guides in the crowd gasped. For the first time, they felt the gap between Bronze and Silver was more than a simple test or family lineage could account for. A Silver Dragon Guide... was terrifying indeed!

Some even began to wonder: if Silver Dragon Guides possessed such methods, what would the legendary Golden Dragon Guides be capable of?

As Tune’s Dragon Guide infused the Poison Dragon’s Soul into Tune’s Blood, Jose, who had been listening to the murmurs around him, asked his own guide, "Master, what do you think of this?"

Jose’s Dragon Guide smiled faintly. "I am his equal."

Hearing this, Jose was relieved.

Although he considered his older sister, Isabella, to be his greatest rival in this ritual, it would be a complete joke if his younger brother Tune unexpectedly snatched the prize from under his nose.

As for Denero and Lucy... one was no threat, and the other...

Jose glanced toward Baron’s side, where the young Daoist Nun was popping Golden Cores into her mouth like candy, one after another. Between bites, she would critique the technique of Tune’s Dragon Guide over at the Dragon Gate. Jose sighed internally.

’As for Lucy, as long as she’s happy, that’s all that matters.’

As the thought crossed his mind, Tune, who was standing beside him, suddenly let out a muffled grunt, his face turning blood-red.

This meant the moment to test his Dragon Heart had arrived.

On the Dragon Gate, the Dragon Scales instantly began to fill with blood. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... The count stopped at 18.

"Eighteen scales!"

A timely gasp of astonishment erupted from the crowd.

Whereas the previous Bronze Dragon Guides and their Trial Takers had barely managed to fill a maximum of 8 Dragon Scales, this Silver Dragon Guide had raised the bar to such a staggering height.

This was especially impressive considering the guide’s employer, Tune, was only at the Black Iron Tier. Even with the aid of the Poison Dragon Aura from the badge, Tune couldn’t withstand the pressure from the Dragon Gate for long before blood began to trickle from his nose and mouth, forcing him to stop.

Otherwise, it was clear that eighteen scales was not the limit.

Hearing the admiring gasps from the other Dragon Guides, Tune’s guide nodded at the Silver Mask with Jose. The message was clear: ’Your turn.’

A competitive spark immediately ignited within Jose’s own guide.

After taking the blood from Jose, he too went before the Dragon Gate. He assumed his stance and, with a ritual that was profound, ancient, and imbued with an even deeper mystery, summoned the Poison Dragon Aura that had been stored in his badge.

Everyone present stared, wide-eyed and speechless.

"Nearly eighty percent of the Poison Dragon Aura!"

As his blood was applied, Jose experienced what Tune had. The so-called trial of the Dragon Heart was, in fact, an illusion where one had to face the legendary Poison Dragon Glanville!

The resplendent Dragon Mighty pressed down on Jose, making it hard to breathe. However, the pressure lessened slightly as the Poison Dragon Aura summoned by his guide emerged behind him—an aura that felt incomplete compared to the illusion of Poison Dragon Glanville.

’So that’s what it was,’ Jose realized. ’Mobilizing the Poison Dragon Aura with blood is mainly to help the Trial Taker withstand the Dragon Mighty within the illusion.’

Jose now understood the gist of it and cursed his own pride for not asking the other Trial Takers about their experience beforehand. He simply did his best to maintain a composed expression, facing the colossal Poison Dragon in the illusion with what he hoped was a dignified posture.

Its horns were prominent and majestic, and its scales jutted out with the wicked sharpness of metal blades. With every breath, it exhaled a toxic mist—a single drop of which was rumored to be able to corrode an entire mountain range. The mist washed over its own scales and claws, staining them a skeletal, bone-white.

The greatest threat came from its Dragon Eyes.

That pair of golden eyes, flecked with cyan, brought to mind a giant python hunting its prey in the dead of night. As Jose stared into them, all his deepest fears were sliced, edited, and superimposed like a film reel, then projected back at him from within the Dragon’s pupils.

He could barely breathe. He was only jolted back to his senses by the sound of voices, hearing the Trial Takers shouting, "Twenty-three scales!"

He wiped his nose. His hand came away covered in blood.

...

The joy brought by the twenty-three scales was fleeting. The crowd’s enthusiasm was quickly doused by the sight of the Dragon Scales still remaining on the Dragon Gate.

Out of 108 Dragon Scales, more than 40 remained unfilled.

The Dragon Guides and their respective Trial Takers had all had their turn, for the most part. I say "for the most part" because there was one Dragon Guide who had been subconsciously overlooked and had not yet participated: Master Jack.

At first, everyone had been a bit suspicious of Master Jack due to the unexpected migration of the Thunder Wolf Dragon Beast Group. However, that was before he and the eldest daughter, Isabella, gave up on Dragon Hunting and resorted to robbing people in the mountains instead.

Now, that suspicion had vanished. ’They must have resorted to robbery because they weren’t capable of Dragon Hunting,’ people reasoned.

Now, everyone stared in dismay at the Dragon Scales on the Dragon Gate that were still not filled with blood.

’So many Dragon Guides have taken their turn, and we still can’t even open a small stone gate?’

"What now?" someone in the crowd asked. "We can’t just stand here and wait."

"Exactly. Who knows if that swarm of Comet Dragon Snakes will return. The Dragon Gate must be opened today."