"The sun has set."
Alant watched the sun set behind the mountain for the seventh time, plunging the entire forest into darkness, with only the torch in his hand providing the sole illumination.
He remained in place, motionless for a long time.
He knew that it was unlikely for more Spirit Realm Rangers to advance in this Spirit World Trial, and his hope of obtaining a powerful dragon Talent had truly been dashed.
"This is it, then."
Alant let out a long sigh, his other hand hanging limply by his side, loosely clenched into a fist, unable to snap out of it for a long while.
This was already the seventh day; according to the trial's information, when the sun rose tomorrow, Monsa City would be destroyed.
And this had nothing to do with him anymore. He and the other Spirit Realm Rangers hadn't even found a single trace of that High Priest.
For the past four days, they had searched tirelessly throughout the forest, but found nothing.
He understood that all their efforts over these days had been in vain.
He was the one who had held out the longest. On the sixth day, someone had already committed suicide to exit the trial.
And after noon today, almost everyone had withdrawn from the trial.
Because everyone knew in their hearts that they had to find that High Priest before he transformed into a dragon.
Otherwise, after the transformation, the combat power capable of destroying all of Monsa City would definitely be beyond their ability to withstand.
Even before transforming, they might not be able to defeat that High Priest even if they all fought together.
Alant decided not to waste any more time. Facing a dragon, he had no intention of confronting it head-on.
Being incinerated by a single breath of Dragon Fire was not a 'contribution' to preventing disaster.
He drew the small knife at his waist and pointed it at his neck.
This was a mandatory lesson for every Spirit Realm Ranger: learning to commit suicide quickly.
When you find yourself in a dilemma in the Spirit World, you'll discover that directly committing suicide to exit is the best and most efficient method.
After all, not all trial settings are reasonable. Some trials are extremely difficult but offer minimal rewards. In such cases, there's no need to waste time.
Just as he was about to quickly end this trial, a sudden tremor from the ground made him stop.
He halted, quietly sensing the direction of the vibration.
He felt that somewhere, the ground was being broken open by something, with sounds of explosions and hard objects colliding.
Suddenly, all these sounds were drowned out by a voice he was extremely familiar with, echoing throughout the forest.
It was a dragon's roar, a sound he had heard countless times from his father.
An invisible Impact wave swept across the ground. By the time it reached him, the wave was already very weak, only breaking a few slender branches and knocking them to the ground.
Alant felt the torch's brightness increase significantly. He looked up and saw only a massive black shadow flying in the air.
Half of the moon was blocked by it. Alant could barely make out the Dragon Scales protruding along its edges.
The dragon suddenly launched an attack. Its head lowered, and a small area glowed with a dark red light. Then, this dark red hue slid from its chest along its long neck to its head.
A "boom!" explosion sounded. By the time Alant regained his senses, his surroundings were engulfed in flames, his ears filled with roaring, and his eyes could only vaguely see the menacing figure in the sky.
---
The High Priest—no, now it should be said, this dragon—had completely devoured the High Priest's memories and personality.
It recalled a very ancient name, belonging to the dragon corpse that the High Priest had refined in conjunction with a deity.
It was called Quentin. It had already died before entering this dream, but its corpse had accidentally stumbled into this dream.
After being refined into a pool of dragon blood by the High Priest, it should have had no consciousness left. However, that High Priest somehow mastered a secret method.
He was actually able to awaken its consciousness and ask how to truly become a dragon.
Quentin generously told him the method and kindly reminded him that if he used this method, the dragon transformed might not be him, but a new life possessing the consciousness of both of them.
As a dragon, how would it know any method to preserve consciousness during transformation? This method was something it had obtained from some dragon in some year, who knows when.
But upon hearing this, the other party did not retreat. Instead, he became very excited, saying he understood and thanked the dragon elder for the guidance.
At that time, its consciousness was still very puzzled: why was this human not retreating upon hearing such drawbacks, but instead very happy?
Now, after absorbing the High Priest's consciousness, it understood everything.
The High Priest had long known that this was a dream. He was desperate to escape this dream and go to other parts of the Spirit World.
And this required immense power. His deity could not grant him such power. He pleaded countless times, only to receive the deity's cold reply: stay here.
So when he learned the method to become a dragon, he was overjoyed. Even if he completely lost his own consciousness, he absolutely did not want to be trapped in this dream anymore; he would rather sacrifice his life.
Thus, the High Priest had already taken some minor measures, using the method obtained from Quentin's consciousness to restrict the deity's power projection in this dream.
And he had long concealed this from the other two priests, preventing them from communicating with the deity so they could not hinder his plans.
A few days ago, he had completed all preparations, so he captured High Priest Rune, using his corpse as the final material.
And the deity served by the High Priest would probably have to reach a reconciliation with him now.
Quentin was now heading to Monsa City to retrieve its own dragon blood, and incidentally refine the dragon blood from all the residents to gain more power, allowing it to break through the barriers of this dream.
"My god, this is the final gift you have given me. Thank you."
Quentin knew that its deity was not unresponsive to its actions; this was just a tacit concession between them.
After it retrieved the dragon blood and left this dream, the entire dream would reset, returning to the time when the Temple in Monsa City had just been established.
However, by then, Monsa would no longer have the divine water product. They might have to rely on some power granted by their deity to fight against Monsters.
And its deity's faith in this region would remain unchanged; this was the condition for His concession.
Its deity was not powerless to sanction its actions, but doing so would yield no benefits and only cause additional losses.
If Quentin were allowed to proceed, He would actually suffer fewer losses. So after realizing Quentin's actions, He only issued a warning without taking further action.
Quentin felt its entire body trembling. It had inherited the High Priest's memories and, naturally, the goals the High Priest had longed for.
It flapped its wings and flew toward Monsa City. Now, it couldn't wait to see what the other regions of the Spirit World looked like.
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