The top 3 and their cronies couldn't understand why, but the moment they heard this ominous laughter, a feeling of fear and worry overcome them. Coupled with the reluctant expression on Draco's face like they had forced him to an absolute dead end, they felt like they might have made the biggest mistake of their lives.
"Ken ken ken… kwan kwan kwan! I, Qiong Qi, have finally been unsealed after a thousand years of slumber! This world shall now crumble beneath my feet, kikikiki!" The Nefarious Lion bellowed as he walked out of the portal.
"Shishishi, this looks like a mighty fine location. Would be a shame if… someone introduced chaos and suffering, hehehehehe!" The Disgraceful Overgrown Lizard shrieked with eyes full of evil.
The crowd was left speechless, They thought these two would be some powerful monsters, but were just Rank 3 mounts. Seeing this, their wariness subsided, as they felt like that were nothing these two could do that would harm them in the least.
"Oh look, it's Brother Draco! Hahaha, this fellow here, what's the matter? Why did you summon us now?" Qiong Qi asked with a crafty smile.
"Ahahaha, this fellow would never call us unless there was something he could not handle. Quickly share the details if it is something good, and swallow a giant crab alive if it is something bad." Clarent added while rubbing his chin.
Draco's lips twitched, but he knew that this time, he needed the two clowns extraordinary might- their might in causing people to die by either bloodspitting or brain cell explosion!
As such, he equipped the shameless/good guy Draco thoughtstream and let him go all out. It was time to show these two people that their level of shamelessness was not even at the Qi Refinement stage, much less these three who were not trying to become Dao Lords.
Immediately, Draco's eyes became wet. "I-It's… I've been trying so hard to make everyone here happy and peaceful, but these crooks just want to stifle my progress! What have I ever done to deserve this?! All I wanted to do was just create some good things for others in exchange for things they didn't need! Is there a reason to go so far?"
Seeing his aggrieved expression and hearing his cracking voice, many of the ladies around felt their hearts ache. Seeing such a handsome and valiant man reduced to this after performing such a noble cause touched them deep down.
As such, their eyes became red with hatred and anger when they gazed at the men. Even Dorothy began to feel like she had gone too far, as she quickly wiped her wet eyes with a Rare Rank handkerchief.
The men themselves felt their faces freeze. Ayo, why are the ladies looking at us like they want to skin us alive? Hey hey, why are the ladies who were even blocking him along with us also leaving?
"ROAR! What a valiant and benevolent fellow! I definitely would not be so great as to help others for such little gain!" Qiong Qi roared with sadness in his voice.
"DESPICABLE! To bully such a refined gentleman who only seeks to better the world, just what kind of demon must you be?!" Clarent added while gripping his heart in pain.
This made the women even angrier on Draco's behalf, even those who were coiled in the arms of their lovers they had taken during their 100-year stay beginning to leave and stand aside.
This shocked the men as they realized that with just a few words, he had directly caused a great rift to prepare between the two sexes in the tower. This wouldn't be a problem outside, but here, what else was there to do when not climbing the tower but discussing the Dao of Dual Cultivation?
If the ladies all decided to ignore them for the next 3 years, were they supposed to cut a hole in the pillows and pound it like it was unruly beef jerky?
"Hehehe.."
"Kyakyakya…"
"Wuewuewue…"
From a position the ladies couldn't see, the aggrieved expression of Draco and the morose expression of his two companions vanished as they showed the smuggest smiles possible, with the addition of being so punchable that it would be a sin to leave them to go scot-free.
Many of the fellow's eyes became red when they noticed they were being played like this, and some couldn't help but rush out to attack the trio. The three's faces changed overtly as they made no attempts to defend themselves and let these fellows beat them up a little.
This shocked the girls and some of the other level-headed guys, until everyone was suddenly frozen by an invisible force that held them in place. They then saw the orb that guided them when they first came to the tower, Tadaima, appear before everyone.
"Hostile intent detected and violent actions have been carried out. Victim: Trial Taker Draco, His Mount Qiong Qi, and his Combat Pet Clarent. Aggressors: Trial Taker Garion, Trial Taker Benedict, Trial Taker… etc."
Tadaima then hovered over Draco and co, a light emerged from her sensor that scanned over the bodies of the three.
"Detecting level of harm caused…"
Immediately, Draco had an idea. He let Darkness Energy run rampant in his body using his bloodline to damage his internals. Since it was not a system-based skill, the tower could not stop him from using it nor could it detect it.
Draco still had yet to master Darkness energy even though he was immune to Destruction and a master of that. The direct result of this was Draco spitting out a huge volume of blood, his innards accompanying it.
Seeing this, the faces of those frozen shifted greatly even though they couldn't move their bodies. The eyes of those who were beating Draco up especially widened, as they knew that they had barely been able to even touch his armor, much less deal so much harm.
"Detecting egregious harm, internal injuries sustained are deep. Without medical treatment, recovery is impossible."
Tadaima then hovered over Qiong Qi and Clarent, who were sharp enough to use secret means to harm themselves, also coughing copious amounts of blood out. She then made the same assessment for them, before turning to the aggressors.
"In accordance with the rules of the Tower of Babylon, all aggressors shall be fined according to the damage they caused. As such, the total accumulated Score Points each trial taker of the aggressors' side will be deducted and paid to the victims as compensation."
Tadaima's words were like a bombshell exploding in the minds of all listeners. Nobody had bothered to start a fight in the early days because they were busy climbing the floors.
Those who came later didn't have much in the way of score points, so those who even fought usually served some punishment or the other in the tower depending on the severity of their fight.
But these fellows were the cronies of the top 3! The lowest among them was at Rank 100 with more than 30,000 Score Points, and they numbered just a bit more than thirty. What kind of things was this?
Those aggressors themselves ended up feeling a sweetness in their throats as they spat a mouthful of blood in pain. Just by hearing what Tadaima said, they suffered much more severe injuries than the fake ones Draco and his two buddies had done.
Speaking of them, the eyes of the trio widened in surprise as they gazed at each other. Holy shit, there was something like this too? Awesome!
Immediately, the eyes of the Shameless Trio changed in the way they looked at other trial takers. This made the fellows feel a chill run down their backs, as if felt like they had suddenly turned into prey before some powerful predators.
It wasn't over though. Tadaima turned to the aggressors and spoke with a tone slightly colder than usual. "As the Aggressors have spent some or all of their accumulated Score Points since the first floor on various things, it had been determined that there is now a debt. As such, you will be taken away to work off the debt or be harvested for parts."
This made the aggressors show horror and fear on their expressions, their already deep injuries worsening as they were dragged away with an invisible rope by Tadaima. Soon, the area returned to normal as everyone felt freed from their bindings, but no one spoke.
Even The Shameless Trio were shivering in fear. Holy fuck, that was scary. Even after having their points taken, the tower was still unwilling to let them go? Everyone realized that no matter how annoyed and aggrieved they were, they must never attack another person while in here.
The Shameless Trio realized that they wouldn't be able to use the same trick twice and rolled to their feet. Immediately, everyone gave them wide berth, even those who had previously supported them.
It couldn't be helped, they were the direct cause of what just happened, so everyone felt like approaching them wrongly could be misinterpreted by the tower. They didn't want to face the same fate as the previous fellows.
Seeing that things weren't good, Draco quickly wore an expression of relief. "Whew, thanks to the quick appearance of Tadaima, we have been saved. If not for that, we might have been beaten to death by the crowd to hide their shame from doing evil!"
"That's right! I think they got what they deserved. No one is as wicked as them, so it's probably impossible for everyone's punishment to go so far." Qiong Qi added with a nod.
"The tower is incredibly fair. Only when you attack someone with the intent to kill would it show this level of ruthlessness. Then again, how many would have such evil hearts here?" Clarent also agreed with a laugh.
Hearing this, the crowd was jolted out of their fear and panic as they remembered the cause and effect leading up to what they just saw. Realizing that they had almost estranged these three due to prejudiced after what they just suffered, many among them felt really bad.
Draco noticed this and quickly capitalized on it. He cupped his fist towards the crowd and spoke in a benevolent tone.
"Regardless of whatever happened, my intention in coming here today was twofold. Firstly, to completer my agreement with Miss Helia Nuer. Secondly, to open my own stall exclusively selling Legendary items and equipment in exchange for special resources from the tower. Please make sure to patronize my goods if you need them!"
Hearing this, the eyes of the crowd lit up. The top 3 who still stood at the back with dumbfounded expressions shook their heads when they remembered why they came here.
Immediately, they tried to get their cronies to move forward, but the fellows made their faces as if they couldn't see their bosses. They whistled as they checked their nails while others gazed at the sky as if the heavenly texts were located there.
This left the top 3 speechless, infuriated, and helpless. After seeing what happened the previous time, who would still step forward for them? The tower was about to close, there was no need to endanger their own benefits just for these 3.
In fact, why did they bother to still listen to them? It wasn't like they were going to climb the tower anymore and needed the advance of the top 3 to go on. It was likely because they were used to the status quo that they still obeyed orders, but after being shocked awake by what just happened, they realized that they didn't need to do so anymore.
As such, most of them directly followed Draco to see what his store would offer while ignoring their former bosses. This made the expressions of the top 3 fall as they were shocked and horrified.
They left here en masse with endless pomp and ferocity to suppress what felt like just another target, but now they had lost everything they had built over the past 100 years.
What hurt was that there was no fucking thing they could do about it unless they wanted to end up like those other fellows. They could only swallow their anger and storm out of the area, ignored by the crowd as they were focused on the newly constructed stall that was glowing with a golden light.
Draco saw that he could spend score points to upgrade his store, so he directly used some of the amount he got from the reparations to make it a large stall that took practically 1/16th of the space of the entire street.
Upon seeing that the store was so magnificent, the onlookers were surprised. If they didn't know that Draco was selling Legendary items, they would still stop over to take a look since no one else in the tower was brave enough to invest in a shop this big.
Draco then went to the vendor's side and tweaked the shop interface. Immediately, almost a hundred plus Legendary items were put on display. They were all of different types and utilities, but were all very good quality, even for the Legendary standard.
Draco also listed that a certain list of items could be exchanged for any item of any type. These were resources that he and Eva needed, as well as Clarent and Qiong Qi who added a few things they also needed.
Well, Clarent and Qiong Qi didn't personally need them. One was a Divine Dragon who would have no issues reaching the Divine Rank along with Draco, and the other was a Rank 7 Lion who would also ascend to the Divine Rank with his bloodline.
The ones they were getting these things for were Chrona the Silver Drake and Sheera the Manticore, as well as Nemea and Sphea.
Since their intentions were noble, Draco didn't stop them, but how could he not tease them?
"Hehe, didn't you say that wyrm turned Drake was beneath a great Divine Dragon like yourself, Lizard Boy? And you, since when did you care about your family you vile promiscuous lion?"
Clarent blushed and turned his head away. "H-Hmph! That is just because I am feeling benevolent! I-Its not like I like her or anything, baka!"
Qiong Qi laughed uproariously. "Hahaha, a father like me must naturally pamper my family! I am not like some fellow who is collecting wives like pokemon and neglecting my kids to play some gay quests!"
Clarent gasped as Draco was blasted back into a wall, leaving a huge dent in it. The fellow was forced to cough three wads of blood due to the sheer power of Qiong Qi's rebuke.
Clarent made a cross sign and was thankful he didn't often bully Qiong Qi. Who knew that the lion could be so vicious when you least expected it?!
"Excuse me, are you a dragon?" A girl with two curved horns on each side of her head asked while blinking. She was quite tall and had a lovely figure reminiscent of Hikari, but her skin was a dark shade of grey and her eyes had blue cornea and white pupils.
Upon seeing that someone was interested in him. Clarent laughed and spun around. From a mere dragon, he shifted into a dragon with a flashy pompadour and stylish-pimp-like clothes.
The fellow smiled, showing a line of gold and silver teeth spread intermittently with his normal teeth. The sheer amount of bling on his neck would even make 2chainz flee with shame.
"Haha, that's right baby. If you wanna know more about this Dragon God, you can take a look at my business card." Clarent said suavely as he passed a hand through his pompadour and produced a small card that he flung over to the girl without even looking at her.
Speechless, the lass captured the card and took a look at the details.
Name: Cla "10chainz" rent
Age: Immemorial
Build: Different
Blood Type: Ice
Sex: ist
Race: ist
Married To: The Game
State: Godly
Nation: wide
House: The Heavens
Toilet: The Earth
Garage Size: 21 capacity
Number of cars: 6
Needs: Special
IQ: Zero
Dixie: Nourmous
Occupation: Busy
Hoes: Infinite
Wives: None
Anti: Vaxxed
Power Level: 530,000
Form: Final
After reading this, the horned girl felt her mind explode. Qiong Qi who was looking on shuddered and murmured: "I felt a great disturbance in the Dao, as if millions of brain cells suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."
Draco also felt it, but could only sigh on behalf of the lass. She came here with good intentions but had to lose 90% of her IQ in just one encounter. How tragic.
Draco could only quickly teleport her away to prevent her suffering anymore. Clarent was extremely dissatisfied by this and rushed over to Draco to beat him up, however, he and Qiong Qi were collected into the Inner Universe right away.
The shop had an auto exchange function, so he didn't need to be here to make the transactions, they would be done autonomously. Since he was done with his task, he directly bid farewell to Helia Nuer who had watched everything happening with a straight face and twitching lips.
Eventually, Draco returned to his castle after checking his accumulated score points, which had now increased to 244,987 points even after what he spent in upgrading the score.
Unfortunately, the score he received as compensation was not added to his ranking, but was only spendable. As such, it still showed that Draco was at Rank 663 with 9,900 Score Points total.
That was fine by him, as it would be weird to be on Floor 3 with so many points, more than any of the top 3 who were so close to the last floor.
Well, since that was the case, it was about time that he continued his climb, no?