“Hmph! How infuriating! I wish I could go find those flies from the Texi Empire and have another fierce fight with them, haha! Little Morgan, you better not die on me, or I’ll be really sad.”

The dragon tail, now stripped of its perfect form, seemed almost alive as the damaged part twisted and regrew at a speed visible to the naked eye, reconstructing its complex structure and slowly taking shape again. Although it could recover quickly, its strength would be greatly diminished.

Section 2: The Rebellious Dragon

The gold dragon, who had once taken a direct hit from a ninth-level magic scroll “Frozen Miles,” scratched at what should have been a beautifully crafted spear-like tail, now mangled beyond recognition, making it extremely irritable. Its sharp claws, intentionally or not, brushed past the back of the knight’s head.

Last night’s chaotic battle had brought the worst luck imaginable—the gold dragon was struck directly by a strategic-level magic scroll that seemed to come out of nowhere.

If not for its knight erupting with all his battle energy in time to dispel the magic’s effects, the dragon would have been frozen into a giant ice block a thousand meters in the air and crashed down. Even with the gold dragon’s famously tough body, it might not have shattered on impact, but it would likely have been frozen for a hundred years, captured as a prisoner. Humans had plenty of ways to deal with all sorts of incredible beings.

Even though dragons are among the most powerful creatures under these stars, their bodies are full of treasures. Besides giving the enemy the glory of being a dragon slayer, there’s no guarantee the dragon wouldn’t be chopped into pieces and made into all kinds of magical weapons, with nowhere to seek justice.

Every gold dragon is a master of cold weapon craftsmanship, eating metal, arming themselves with metal, and born to wield the power of gold. Although they lack magical attack power, each gold dragon can evolve itself into a unique weapon of war. In ancient legends, gold dragons were the weapons wielded by gods in battle, able to transform into the legendary invincible Damocles Sword, with immense combat power. They are also the most bloodthirsty and slaughter-loving among the dragonkind—each one is fiercely unruly.

Even with the ancient alliance between dragons and humans, very few gold dragon knights have managed to sign a contract and not be torn to shreds. This makes gold dragons one of the rare and dangerous contract dragons—not every gold dragon is willing to become a human knight’s flying mount.

This gold dragon, named “Gold Coin,” lay sprawled lazily. Only his knight, Morgan, knew that his seemingly casual movements were full of danger. If his knight had let his guard down just now, the path of his claw as he scratched his tail could have easily sliced off the knight’s head.

As long as he could kill his own knight, he could break free from this damned dragon knight contract. He wouldn’t have to worry about being forcibly summoned while enjoying his freedom, and could live as he pleased, unrestrained. What a wonderful thing that would be! Who knows how he ended up so unlucky as to resonate with this human called “Morgan.” Under the Dragon God’s forced contract, he had to sign the knight’s pact against his will. That’s why this gold dragon was always looking for a chance to get rid of his knight.

Born a street orphan in a border town, fighting stray dogs for scraps, surviving on the occasional charity of kind souls and whatever hard labor he could manage, Morgan had never known the meaning of giving up since he could remember. A single mouthful of leftovers could mean the difference between life and death. Having witnessed children his age die helplessly in despair from sickness and hunger, he would never let any opportunity slip by. He’d rather cling on like a piece of stinking mud in a gutter, impossible to shake off, stubbornly refusing to let go. No amount of beatings, insults, neglect, or humiliation could shake his determination to seize every chance to survive.

When the Slan Empire’s Latin conscription discovered Morgan’s potential as a dragon knight and sent him to a brutal training camp, no matter how great the danger or difficulty, he would never willingly give up this chance to change his fate.

To survive, he could not abandon this principle ingrained in his bones. Morgan gritted his teeth and held on, even paying a much higher price than others. At last, he stood out among the many candidates, and by luck, resonated with one of the candidate dragons. However, it turned out to be an extremely ferocious, notoriously unruly gold dragon—one of the most dangerous and unsuitable dragons to serve as a mount. To make matters worse, Morgan’s battle aura was of the light attribute. While the two attributes didn’t clash, they didn’t complement each other either, making for an awkward combination with no synergy—far inferior to the rapid progress possible with matching or complementary attributes.

Under the gloating eyes of the eliminated candidates, the complicated gaze of the training camp instructors, the regretful looks of the other lucky new dragon knights, and the threatening, murderous glare of the gold dragon chosen by the Dragon God’s contract, Morgan still resolutely accepted the dragon flute. As for the attribute mismatch and the gold dragon’s danger, he had already known about them in the training camp. In his eyes, this gold dragon named Gold Coin was just a bit fiercer and craftier than a stray dog. As long as he was careful—very, very careful—he could protect himself and become a noble dragon knight who would completely change his fate.