Laz continued to fall.
His limp body plummeted from the high altitude, through the smoky streaks of the thick white mist. His body was just lifeless, as his hand was outstretched, allowing gravity to have control over the fall.
Still mid-air, when it seemed like Laz wasn't going to be able to make it, a large creature coiled upward in a fluid, graceful arc.
Its body glistened with a scale pattern that was reminiscent of both sky and sea. After it performed its upward motion, it turned its head downward and slithered towards Laz, spiralling around his lifeless body.
With a low hiss, it spiraled once more, adjusting its body to carry Laz on the firm stretch of its upper back.
"Master!"
"Master!"
"Wake up now!"
***
Zone A South, Area D...
The moment Laz got trapped in the twisted place, alarm bells rang all over the bustling city of the dwarves.
Mean faced dwarves could be seen marching in unison along the street, until they reached a tall building. A palace.
Seeing the speed with which these dwarves approached, the gate men need not be told to open the gates immediately. As soon as the marching dwarves stepped into the arena enclosed by the gate, they came to a halt.
A fat, bald dwarf, with a grumpy beard drooling from his jaw, was already standing on the top of a platform above the ground. He wore a broad, iron armor and was crowned with ruby-forged horns.
"Lord Lunaski! Lord Lunaski!"
The dwarves saluted in unison, with one of each of their knees kissing the bare ground.
"What is this catastrophe that has happened?" Lord Lunaski asked, knowing that his scholars won't be in such a haste if there was no impending problem at hand.
"That is exactly why we are here... An intruder has been caught in the barrier we created to protect us."
"General Avaki, you know what to do," Lord Lunaski simply said, and turned to get inside.
At that instant, lightning struck the sky, and it lasted for about fifteen seconds before it was replaced by a purple-red fluid, which seemed to cover the sky.
Not long after, rumbles began to strike all over the place, blue lines could be seen cutting across the purple-red fluid, and then—
KPAKRRRRR!
The fluid shattered as if it were glass, and the whole place got covered in fog.
"A force has trespassed the Barrier of Illusion," General Avaki roared, jamming his hands in salutation and returning his right knees to the interlocked ground.
"Who cares breach the barrier?" Lord Lunaski thundered.
"A body, my Lord!" all the dwarves replied in unison.
"General Avaki! I need not tell you what to do," Lord Lunaski thundered again, turned, and began to enter his palace.
"Copied, my Lord!"
At the same time, the General turned to the rest of his fellow scholars and began to issue orders.
"Go and deploy the Elites, tell them to get ready at the landing border."
"Yes, sir!" Man 1 concurred and left.
"We will move over to the rear border and try to decipher what has happened. This force, which was able to trespass our Barrier of Illusion, isn't of the ordinary."
"Yes, sir!"
The rest of the scholars echoed, and together, they marched out of the royal compound.
***
"Master, you happened to be transported to the South Region," the dragon snake announced to Laz, who had woken and now rode the creature on its upper back.
"South Region?"
"Yes, Master."
The ellipse was made up of four Zonal regions. There was the North, the South, the East and the West.
The South, which happened to be Laz's first appearance on his journey to the Land of Testament, was dominated by Dwarves and Giants. The appearance of any of these creatures was dependent on the surface of the region you find yourself in.
The zone was divided into two zones, Zone A and Zone B.
If Laz had fallen into Zone B, then he would have been facing a lot or a few giant creatures.
Squinting, he was reminded by the rushing air and parting mist that he hadn't died. He survived once again. But he still wanted to understand the sense his servant was trying to make.
"So, what are you trying to insinuate from what you just told me?" Laz asked, a thought he didn't want to be true had dripped into his mind.
"We are in danger, Master," the creature replied, eyes scanning the distant mountain ridges which had become more visible.
"You fell from a place no being should tread lightly. Now, we will be hunted."
Laz blinked. "What? Why?"
"Zone A of the South Region is made up of Dwarves. And the power of these dwarves was classified into different categories."
There was the Royal, who happened to be the ruler of their land. Then, the Scholar, the Elites and the Labour.
Each of these categories had its various functions in the dwarf land.
"Luckily, Master, you fell into an Awakened Region."
"What does it mean?" Laz asked.
As these categories have been mentioned, the "Awakened" prefix will be added to each of their names, as in Awakened Scholar, Awakened Elites and Awakened Labour.
The only exception was the Royal, who is believed to have evolved to become the Tamed Royal.
Accordingly, their power resonates with the kind of names they bear.
"And like I said, they have their different functions."
"Do you know what it takes to become a Scholar? In any field at all?"
"I think I can make guesses," Laz replied, as air continued to blow his silver hair backwards.
"Whatever guess you have, the Awakened Scholars are the mastermind behind the barrier you just fell from."
"It was a barrier?" The shock hit Laz.
"Yes, it is called the Barrier of Illusion. And, no one who fell into it has been heard to survive," the dragon snake said, and suddenly increased its speed, slithering downward.
"My Master is great!"
They continued traveling in silence and were finally out of the fog that had enveloped them. Laz then broke the silence.
"I want to give you a name."
"Yeah, yeah. I will be glad if Master gives me a name."
Laz thought for a while and lowered his head to meet that of the creature by the side. "I will call you 'Good' starting today."
Once the creature heard this name, its speed increased the more as it slithered in a circular motion joyously, before returning to the normal straight line movement.
"I have been bestowed upon a name!" Good exclaimed.
Meanwhile, as Good was busy showing how happy it was, the peculiar screen appeared before Laz, right above the head of the dragon snake.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
«↓ Serpent Dragon ↑»
«↓ Name: Good ↑»
«↓ Rank: Titan → Tamed-Titan ↑»
«↓ Soul Core: 4/32 ↑»
«↓ Abilities: Unlimited ↑»
«↓ Master: Laz Mann ↑»
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laz gulped once he saw the status of the creature. He was right when he guessed that killing Good back in the trial world would have granted him more cores to graduate to higher ranks.
To him, since he had a creature of such a rank, his battle problem was now solved.
'But, why is the core relatively smaller than supposed?'
Before the thought could linger, the screen appeared again.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
«↓ Good's soul core has reduced as a result of bonding with its Master to gain a Tamed title. While it still has the abilities of a Titan, the force of execution would not be as exact as that of a Titan ↑»
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Poor Good, I'm sorry I had to make you go through this. But, abilities are unli..."
"Master, I'm not sure what you're talking about, but it's best if you lie low on my scales," Good cautioned.
"What, wh—?"
A sudden vibration shot through the air.
Fsssshhhhhhhkkk!
A piercing sound. Something had been launched.
From the far left of the sky, a massive spear — no, a missile shaped like a spearhead — tore through the mist like a bolt of divine retribution.
Once the dragon snake had noticed this, it dived.
Laz screamed involuntarily as gravity tugged them both downward. The wind screamed past them, and the mist fractured into tendrils around their descent.
BOOM!
The spear exploded behind them.
Or? No, Good was alone in its dive.
It had exploded with—
"Laz!" Good's voice grew distant as it stopped diving, drifting sharply backwards.