Sprawling for hundreds, maybe even thousands of kilometers was a vast mountain chain that stretched past William's view. His exit point from the tunnel had placed him about two thirds of the way up the mountain, but he still couldn't see the top of the tallest mountains.
The fog covered William's view once again, but this time he realized it wasn't fog. No, this was a cloud!
He got on Uri's back and used Atticus' Illusion Magic to conceal their presence, then had the dragon fly down the mountain until the clouds no longer obscured William's vision. As they flew further, William redirected the dragon towards a massive City in the distance.
Strategically placed in the center of a ring of mountains, the City maintained a single entrance to the south that could only be accessed from the other side via man-made tunnel.
If they weren't multiple kilometers in the air, William wouldn't have been able to see past the cyan blue walls that were dozens of meters thick and over five hundred meters tall.
William had to redirect Uri a second time to avoid running into a thin barrier that William didn't notice until they were only a few hundred meters away. The barrier was made of millions of Complete Arrays, which would even take William weeks if not months to crack.
He wondered how much time someone spent creating this barrier, which was probably strong enough to withstand his improved Five Elements Explosion Array, which was now formed of Complete Arrays and stored in his Array Wheel.
Bzz Bzz
"Huh?" William felt his Space Ring shudder for a moment, before returning to its previous state. He looked inside but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. He was about to close the Space Ring when it vibrated a second time.
Bzz Bzz
William picked up the Array Wheel, which was shuddering slightly at consistent intervals. His fingers clasped around the object, causing a piece of information to enter his brain.
Fragment nearby.
"I forgot about that." William muttered. He had an ongoing Quest to recover all eight of the Array Wheel fragments, but it was labeled impossible, so he had temporarily set it aside. Now that he was close to a fragment, however, how could he let it go?
Even if his Array Wheel wasn't completed, having an additional slot for an Array could be lifesaving in the future.
I'll at least check it out. If I can't get the fragment, so be it. No need to get into unnecessary trouble.
William directed Uri to loop back the way they came and fly over the mountain ring. After a few minutes of flying, William had the dragon land at a different cave entrance than the one from before.
The dragon could tell that this was just a method to keep William's secrets hidden, but the presence he felt made him feel uneasy.
Just how strong is William? Did he create this, or is there a powerful being even stronger than Master Riyald? There's no way that someone who hadn't Ascended could create this!
On William's end, he received a positive notification from the System that Flame Dragon Uri had been added to his Companion Beast Menu. He could now check the dragon's status, and there was even an option to upgrade his Potential.
Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any rewards since he didn't hatch Uri from an egg. Either way it was fine.
———
BEASTS:
-Epic:
--Uri (Flame Dragon): S (10000PP to next rank)
-Mythic:
--Atticus (Mythical Rat Snake): B (25000PP to next rank)
———
He's two ranks higher than Atticus, but his upgrade is still cheaper...How powerful will Atticus be when he's S-Rank?
William had added Uri to his Companion Beasts for a few reasons. The first was because the dragon was very loyal even without being controlled by the System and William wanted to give back to him in the future by improving his potential.
The second reason was for his own Potential Points gain. If Uri killed Magical Beasts before, William wouldn't earn anything. But now, he could passively earn Potential Points without even lifting a finger!
It was a win-win situation, and Uri didn't seem to mind at all that his life was at the hands of a young man with a bone age of barely twenty. The dragon trusted him completely, having a great sense for a person's character. He could tell that William liked to get into trouble, but he always treated those close to him well.
System, should I upgrade Uri right now, or will there be a Tribulation? William paid five Potential Points for an answer.
-There will be a Tribulation, but his strength will automatically be improved beforehand so there will be a one hundred percent chance of passing. Regardless, the Tribulation will attract unwanted attention.