As Draven examined the white otter in his hand, its crying face suddenly twisted into a strange grin. In the next second, like a puff of white air, its body morphed into the shape of a one-meter-tall white dragon with two bat-like wings and a long tail that resembled that of a crocodile. The scales on its body glowed with a multicolored light, something not usually found in white tyrant dragons.
"All of you are bad... I will... I will kill all of you, with my invincible dragon form," the white dragon said fiercely as it looked at Draven grudgingly.
"Sir, be careful. In this form, his strength is enough to rival even cultivators at the Ascendant Realm," the shopkeeper warned when he saw this.
Draven waved his hand with a frown. "Something is not right with this whole situation. Why can a dragon youngling, born just six months ago, talk so fluently? Mutation alone can't explain this level of proficiency with human language."
"Big idiot, what do you even know? Zappy is born with a super brain. I can study anything you humans could take years to learn in just days," the white dragon raised its head and said to Draven proudly.
"Zappy?" Draven turned to the shopkeeper. "Are you the one who gave him this name?"
The shop owner shook his head. "He named himself."
Draven's eyes squinted even more when he heard this.
"There is definitely something wrong with this dragon youngling, something even I can't point out. But it is not dangerous as it seems. You can take it if you want," Silas's voice suddenly rang in Draven's mind.
Draven's brow relaxed and he nodded. "Fine then. Where is the beast pouch?"
"Hey! Why are you ignoring me? You have no idea who you are dealing with. I am the invincible Zappy, who rules over all three worlds. Hurry up and bow your head, otherwise you won't have a chance to repent in the future," the white dragon flapped its wings and said to Draven aggressively.
"Three worlds? Where is that?" Draven turned towards it curiously, his interest piqued. There was another world in his head, too, the one he first belonged to before transmigrating into this one.
Is this guy also a transmigrator like me? Is that why he knows human language? Draven thought to himself.
The white dragon nodded its head seriously. "The sky world, the earth world, and the water world. There is no one who can beat me in any of these domains."
Draven's mouth twitched. He ignored the silly dragon and turned to the shop owner, who hurriedly took out a white pouch from his storage ring and handed it to Draven.
"I have already erased my mark from it. You can just scan it with your spiritual sense and you will find the magic formation for claiming ownership of the beast pouch," the shop owner explained.
Draven nodded and did as he was told. Soon he found a complex formation inside the beast pouch. After infusing his spirit chi into it, the pouch recognized him as the owner and allowed his spiritual sense to enter.
The setup inside was similar to the room they were standing in, with an artificial pond in the middle. It was more spacious, with a large four-meter-long circular bed and a large feeding basin. Draven could also sense rich water, wind, and earth elemental energy in the atmosphere. Looking up, he could not see any sky, but there were thick three-colored clouds, brown, white, and light cyan blue, likely condensed from elemental chi.
"Well, that's a good one," Draven said to the shopkeeper with a light smile.
The shopkeeper also smiled. "Let's finish the rest of the paperwork then."
Just when Draven was about to nod, his seventh sense throbbed. He casually whipped his leg behind him, sending the white dragon, which had suddenly pounced, tumbling backward and rolling on the ground a few times.
"I won't become your slave. I have to leave, I have to leave," the little dragon mumbled in a low voice as it struggled to stand up. It even vomited blood a few times.
Draven scratched his head in amusement. "Leave us alone for a while. I have something to talk to this guy. We'll sign the documents afterwards."
The shop owner nodded with a sigh. "I am not locking the door. Just push it open when you are done."
Draven nodded. After the shop owner left, Draven walked up to the little dragon and asked, "Why do you want to leave, and where to?"
Zappy gritted his teeth and stared at Draven coldly without saying a word. Both of them just kept staring at each other for some time before Draven finally gave up and said with a sigh, "Give me a valid reason and you are free to go wherever you want."
Zappy's little face paused for a moment. The next second, tears started flowing from its eyes uncontrollably. "Zappy doesn't know. Zappy can't remember anything."
Draven looked at the little dragon speechlessly. He wasn't even sure if this guy was actually crying because of his kick or for some other reason.
"Fine, fine, stop crying. Let me give you an offer. I have a trick to increase your cultivation faster, and I can promise good food and accommodation. If you want, form a contract with me. Otherwise, you are still free to go," Draven said impatiently.
"Food? Will there be fish?" Zappy lifted its head and asked between tears.
Draven shook his head. "I don't like fish, so there won't be any fish. But there will be a lot of meat and other cultivation resources. On top of that, as my first contracted beast, I will appoint you as my beast army's supreme commander. You will get the highest privileges. So think carefully before you give an answer."
Zappy changed back to its sea otter form and lay motionless on the ground with a blank look on its face.
After some time, Zappy hesitantly looked at Draven and said, "I will form a contract with you. But you have to give me a lot of meat, and you must treat me as an equal, not a slave. In return, I will protect you when I grow up."
Draven smiled. "Fine by me. The one thing I never lack is good food, so you can definitely count on me for that."
With a wave of his hand, the crooked staff appeared in Draven's hand. He pointed the staff towards Zappy. The next second, a golden magic circle manifested at the tip of the crooked staff and entered Zappy's forehead. At the same time, Draven felt a strange connection between himself and Zappy, a telepathic link where they could communicate mentally, just like he did with Silas through the ring on his left ear.
"Let's go. I still have some business left," Draven said to Zappy as he put the crooked staff back into his golden dragon tattoo.
Zappy scratched its head with a blank look on its face. But when it saw Draven walking out, it endured the pain from the earlier kick and ran behind Draven like a squirrel. Seeing its miserable state, with blood coloring its white fur, Draven felt a little guilty inside and took the little guy in his arms. "Don't worry about your injury. We can go to the Merchant Association and ask the healers there to heal you with light element."
Zappy didn't respond. It simply curled up in Draven's hand like a cat and soon fell asleep.
When he reached outside, the shop owner looked at the sleeping Zappy in Draven's hand in surprise. "It is the first time he has shown such intimacy towards someone other than the young sir from the First Stronghold. You truly are fated to be his master."
Draven paused in his step when he heard this. "That guy from the Skywalkers?"
The shop owner nodded. "Ever since he was born, he never spoke or ate anything until the day we met that young man at an auction house. Initially, I was going to auction him there, but when he saw that young man from the Skywalkers, similar to how he attacked you, he attacked him. That was also the first time he spoke."
"For some reason, that guy was interested in buying him at that point, and we agreed to meet the next day to complete the transaction. But that didn't happen since someone tried to assassinate him that night."
Draven lightly stroked Zappy's fur without much change in his expression. "Let's finish signing the documents first. I have some other urgent matters to attend to."
The shop owner nodded and both proceeded with the paperwork. After placing Zappy in the beast pouch, Draven left towards the Merchant Association.
At the Merchant Association, he first visited the fourth floor to look for a healer to treat Zappy's injury.
"Sorry, sir. All the healers who specialize in treating demon beasts are currently attending a meeting. If you want, you can let the interns do the first aid before the healers are free," the receptionist lady outside the Beast Care department said to Draven politely.
Draven looked around. There were a few more people in the waiting area with different demon beasts. Some were sitting there alone, likely because their beasts were inside a beast pouch like his.
"I want a second-tier healer to treat my contracted beast. The cost doesn't matter, but I want the healer as soon as possible," Draven said impatiently.
The receptionist looked at Draven in surprise, as second-tier contracted beasts were quite rare in the 36th Stronghold.
"May I take a look at your beast, sir?" the receptionist asked with a professional smile.
Draven nodded and summoned Zappy from the beast pouch.
"This... sir, it is not even at the first stage of the Mortal Realm. Are you sure you want a second-tier healer?"
Draven frowned. "What, is there someone of higher tier? If you have a third-tier healer, that would be even better. Call him over."
"You are joking, sir. How could such a high-tier master be in our humble branch?" The receptionist's mouth twitched as she gave a simple reply.
"Take it as a tip and get someone here as soon as possible," Draven suddenly tossed a second-tier essence coin towards her.
The receptionist's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the coin spinning on the table before her. Like a cat catching a mouse, she hurriedly caught the coin and smiled broadly at Draven. "Please wait, sir. Even if I have to drag one of them here, I will do it for you."
Draven smiled. "Good. Make it as soon as possible. If I am happy, I will give you an additional tip."
Even before Draven could finish his sentence, the young lady at the counter directly jumped over the table like a monkey and sprinted off in a particular direction. Everyone, including Draven, looked at this scene with a stupefied look on their faces.
"That looked delicious. Can you give me one?" Zappy suddenly asked Draven curiously.
Draven nodded with a smile and gave him a first-tier coin from his storage ring. Since these coins contained pure essence inside them, beasts and humans could consume this energy if the outer shell was broken. It was just not cost-effective, so people usually didn't do that. But people like Draven, who had a lot of money, didn't care about such meager losses.