Tian Long looked pensive for a few seconds before replying, "Because of my temperament, they made it very difficult for me to unlock my potential in this world. It would take a major investment and a number of conditions would need to be met—and I'm not sure you'd want to go down that path. I'd suggest you deal with the other World Bosses in the meantime, while I try to find the right person to help me."
Sora understood that he probably wasn't the ideal candidate to assist her, and he couldn't help but feel a little offended.
"Are you looking for someone specific? Maybe I can help?"
Tian Long gave him a doubtful look. "There are three types of individuals who can help me. My senses tell me you don't have a special affinity with the Eastern Dragons, so you don't possess the innate talent that the first type of individual gives off through their aura. You also don't seem to have the mythic class associated with Eastern Dragons. And I highly doubt you have a supreme skill tied to them either."
Sora's eyes widened. 'What is she even talking about?'
Seeing his reaction, Tian Long sighed. "Forget it. If we come across someone who meets one of those criteria, I'll let you know."
Annoyed by the way Sora kept constantly looking up to meet her gaze, she tapped the ground with the tip of her foot, kicking up a small cloud of dust and energy.
The dust quickly settled, revealing a transformed Tian Long.
Sora had to lower his gaze now, realizing the woman standing before him was now exactly his height.
Her eyes and hair were still dark, but her black dress had shortened and her horns had disappeared.
Noticing Sora scanning her for changes, she snapped her fingers to draw his attention and explained her action, "I don't particularly like taking on this ridiculous size, but your species seems to all be smaller than the last, so I'll deal with it."
Pointing at her now-missing horns, she added, "And I might as well blend in…"
Sora thought he heard a trace of embarrassment in Tian Long's voice, but kept his thoughts to himself.
"You can look however you want, that doesn't bother me. But… when are we signing that contract?"
After half an hour refining the terms of their agreement and defining the limits of their partnership, Sora and Tian Long were enveloped by soul energy that sealed their bond.
Tian Long didn't hide her relief and joy, celebrating by returning to her young ones, while Sora tried to calm down Hiyoko.
"Stop it, Hiyoko. You know Kara is the only one who matters to me…"
Hiyoko had two tiny tears welling in her eyes, and her gaze was filled with a mix of sadness and anger.
"She's so pretty… That flying viper seems to really like you, even after the beating you gave her earlier! Why else would she shrink herself if not to seduce you? You're going to fall for her, I just know it!" Between cries and exclamations, Hiyoko pressed on, voicing her concerns.
Sora put a hand to his forehead, noticing Tian Long freeze in the distance, and started wondering if he was losing control of the situation.
"Be polite, Hiyoko. You know anyone can hear us from over there. And you have nothing to worry about. Tian Long is our new friend, and we're traveling together to help each other survive in this brutal world."
Feeling the gazes of Sora, Tian Long, and most of the heavenly dragons, Hiyoko retreated into silence.
Sora wasn't exactly comfortable with the new atmosphere, but he couldn't think of anything to say that might lighten the mood.
He let out a long sigh and sat down, focusing his attention on the perspectives of his brothers scattered across the kingdom.
Many had cut off the constant information sharing that connected them to Sora, choosing instead to focus on their own activities—but fortunately, he wasn't obsessed with knowing everything about everyone.
'Not bad. They've unlocked four new supreme skills through mythic classes, cleared all dungeons under level 280, and gathered around ten Arks of various rarities.'
As he focused on each one's progress, he raised an eyebrow. 'Triple Five raised his [Goblin Bloodline] to EX rank and his [Human Bloodline] to SSS rank. The impact on his power is insane... And he didn't even contact me to announce such a breakthrough?'
He sent a message to him and got a quick reply.
[Triple Five: If you're not going into a tough fight right away, don't bother with the SSS tier for now. If what I discovered is true, SSS rank is meaningless.]
His curiosity was piqued, but he didn't press further.
He shifted his attention to the others.
'Maybe there's still hope for the future,' Sora thought, a tense smile on his lips.
He had accumulated a fair number of victories through his Alter Egos in the last few days, but he wasn't naive.
'These victories are meaningless... We haven't faced their elites. The more time passes, the more I realize how monstrous Norj, and the Demon Kings Nate and Abbott really were...'
'Norj was bold enough to raid Enkidu and Gilgamesh... Abbott had immeasurable power just minutes after arriving here, and Nate was still able to hold his ground... Right now, I'm nowhere near being a threat to any of them.'
Thinking about the amount of [Soul Power] Norj had amassed through his streams gave Sora chills.
'He must be unbeatable by now...'
Sora stopped focusing on his Alter Egos and opened his eyes.
"I recognize that look. You must be under a lot of pressure... Are your kingdom's hopes resting on your shoulders?" Tian Long asked, her tone more caring than before.
Sora hesitated, then nodded.
"You're the host kingdom this time, so maybe you don't fully grasp what's at stake. Don't hold back in this war. Win at any cost. Otherwise, you'll regret it forever," Tian Long added. The hatred in her gaze sent a chill down his spine.
He knew it wasn't directed at him and nodded again. He then asked a question that had haunted him for a long time.
"I've met Demon Kings and a dark elf with colossal power. They're so strong it defies logic. From what I understood, they were already insanely powerful before entering this world, while we start from zero. How are we supposed to compete with that?"
As Tian Long materialized two chairs and invited him to sit, the dragons took flight and headed east.
Sora and Tian Long had agreed on a place to house the small horde, and he'd asked Daemon—his Alter Ego who held the [Supreme Authority Badge]—to handle it.
Tian Long trusted the contract she signed with Sora and quickly began to speak.
"You're incredibly strong for your level, and I assume you've figured out it's mostly tied to your talent level and soul level. You even seem to have infinite potential, which I can't quite explain."
Sora was pleased that some people still didn't know about his innate skill, [Prestige], and motioned for her to go on.
"You've gathered a good amount of soul energy and developed certain skills to impressive levels, but you still seem stuck in this world's earlier version. You haven't yet explored the new paths that opened with the update."
"Your swordsmanship is excellent for your level, but you're still far from the maximum mastery allowed in this version of the world. To give you some perspective, the beings you mentioned had skill mastery levels far beyond what's allowed here—even before they entered this world…"
Sora's mouth opened slightly at her words.
"Don't worry. As you probably guessed, I'm the same, and yet you still defeated me. Any excessively powerful creature entering this world gets restricted. The limitations vary, but think of them as forced balancing—capping overall power and skill mastery. The ones you mentioned are players, so they probably lost a good chunk of their skills upon arrival. If this world follows the same rules as others, they had to choose which skills to keep, and at what level."
Sora, deep in thought, looked up to ask, "So the ones I met were nerfed versions?"
Tian Long nodded. "Yes. They don't have their true soul level, nor all their skills. These types of players usually spend their first few months on a server relearning what they were forced to give up when they came. And to make things fair for other players, they're limited in how many total skills they can learn."
"Fair? You think they need more than one skill to stomp everyone?" Sora asked, voice rising with indignation.
Tian Long chuckled at the outrage in his tone. "If they spend their time slaughtering weak players, they'll be slaughtered in turn by other monsters who took the time to regain more power."
"What can I do to close the gap now?" Sora asked, genuinely curious.
He already had plans of his own and a path slowly taking shape in his mind, but he was open to learning more about the world.