The moment Luo Shu stepped towards the guardian's body,
The atmosphere distorted.
The power of space-time abruptly descended in that instant, congealing space and slowing time, as if immersing a spring cicada within amber.
As the space-time around Luo Shu stagnated, two figures simultaneously appeared in the hall.
These were none other than Joseph and Rad.
"Did we succeed?"
Staring at the residual image of Luo Shu left in this world, Joseph spoke with uncertainty.
"We did indeed succeed."
Rad Maurer, wearing a black eyepatch over his right eye, let out a relieved sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead:
"By leveraging the conceptual conflict caused by the Demigods' clash and combining it with our control over this Abyss world, we managed to activate the repatriation arcane art the moment that monster let his guard down."
"Although it appears the Hidden Management Department's monster is still here, his true form has already returned to the real world."
"What remains here is merely a residual shadow caused by the temporal stagnation."
Hearing Rad's confirmation, Joseph breathed a sigh of relief:
"Is that so..."
"Excellent. This has gone even more smoothly than we anticipated."
A smile spread across Joseph's face.
He strode purposefully toward the guardian's corpse, muttering to himself as he walked:
"Originally, I thought we'd need to continue with the guardian's trial after repatriating the Hidden Management Department's monster. I never expected the residual True Dragon power within the guardian would be largely depleted by a single Demigod battle."
"And what I never anticipated even more was that the guardian would be directly stripped of life, leaving behind a perfectly preserved body."
"This way, the concentrated blood essence gathered from numerous races through the power of death has been preserved to the maximum extent."
By now, Joseph had reached the guardian's body. He touched the three-meter-tall giant form, his eyes burning with fanaticism as he murmured:
"What a perfect body..."
"Indeed, dragons are the most powerful creatures in this world, the destined enemies of gods!"
Hearing Joseph's fervent declaration, Rad approached the guardian and used an arcane art to sense its internal condition, his expression shifting with surprise:
"The amount of remaining blood essence is actually sufficient to meet the minimum requirements for four people's advancement rituals?"
"I thought we'd need to slaughter all four hundred remaining races in the Abyss world to meet the requirements... This truly exceeds my expectations."
At that moment, Joseph turned to look at Rad:
"How much longer can the temporal stagnation last?"
Rad calculated silently before responding: "Estimated maximum of two minutes."
"Two minutes? That's sufficient..."
While speaking, Joseph withdrew a specially crafted syringe from his coat. With some effort, he inserted it into the guardian's body, his eyes devout and his face showing the fervour of a pilgrim:
"The ritual requirement for the Hero Rank's Top Tier Class - True Dragon Sorcerer - has only one condition."
"To orchestrate and conduct a death event affecting over a hundred races, and drink the blood essence of a Demigod dragon species amidst the deaths of hundreds of souls!"
"All preparations are now complete..."
Joseph retrieved two small golden cups from his inner coat pocket. He poured the True Dragon's blood essence from the syringe into the cups and handed one to Rad.
As he handed over the golden cup, a smile appeared on Joseph's face:
"Not planning to make a move?"
"To use an Eastern idiom, well, 'killing the donkey after it's done grinding' would be the most appropriate description."
"You must have fantasised about killing me at this moment, haven't you?"
Hearing this, Rad glanced at Joseph and sighed slightly:
"Forget it. I don't want to face the wrath of that Demigod from the Hidden Management Department alone after returning to reality."
The golden moustache on Joseph's face immediately twitched upward:
"A wise choice."
Joseph lifted the golden cup filled with dragon blood in his hand.
Seeing this, Rad reached out to take it and sighed softly:
"How do you plan to deal with that one from the Hidden Management Department?"
To this, Joseph merely smiled slightly:
"I think His Excellency the President would be quite fond of the title True Dragon Sorcerer."
"And what about the final portion of the blood essence?" Rad asked, holding the golden cup with a puzzled expression.
Four portions of the True Dragon's blood essence - two obtained by them, one given to the President of the American Union in exchange for protection, and the final portion remained. How should it be dealt with?
To this, Joseph smiled faintly: "I think the Supreme Chairwoman of the SDS would be an excellent choice..."
"The wife strategy?" Rad's face showed sudden understanding, then broke into a smile: "It seems you've been preparing for this for quite some time, Mr Joseph!"
Hearing this, Joseph chuckled softly and raised his golden cup:
"This True Dragon's blood shall be sacrificed for us!!"
As these words fell, Joseph and Rad raised their golden cups and drank the contents in one gulp.
As the dragon blood went down, Joseph felt his entire throat and stomach burning as if he had drunk not a cup of blood, but a cup of sulphuric acid.
However, he didn't pay it much mind.
After all, the True Dragon Sorcerer Class had a special characteristic - it skipped the three preliminary stages of Common, Excellent, and Elite, and started directly from Hero Rank.
This meant that anyone who completed the ritual could transfer to this True Dragon Sorcerer Class.
Similarly, those who had reached dead ends in Common Classes and High Tier Classes could directly jump to the True Dragon Class and embark on the path to becoming a True Dragon, almost like the manifestation of the legend that all things can transform into dragons.
With such formidable power, it was only natural that the dragon blood would be special and cause some discomfort.
However,
Rad's exclamation after swallowing the dragon blood immediately dragged Joseph back to reality:
"This isn't dragon blood?"
"What the hell is this?"
Just as Rad cried out in astonishment, a voice full of naive sincerity rang out:
"It's gastric acid!"
"Specifically, the acidic substance from that grey ocean within the True Dragon's body that can transform into crocodile-dragon beasts."
"This is a little toy I specially collected for you."
Hearing this third party's sudden interjection,
Joseph and Rad turned their heads in shock and fury toward the source of the voice.
There,
Sun Seto, with her flaxen hime-style hair, showed an exceptionally pleased smile.
Beneath that smile, a male voice that felt terribly familiar to Joseph and Rad spoke up:
"So, gentlemen? The taste of dragon gastric acid should be quite pleasant, shouldn't it?"