They don't want me to try anymore.

"His strength is only at the high level of Bronze, but his physical toughness is no less than that of Silver, and his dragon breath can definitely break through the self-adaptive magic shield of the early level of Silver..."

"This kind of dragon beast is rare and arrogant. Ordinary bronze summoners can't summon it even if they chant spells until their voices are hoarse! Headmaster, I admit that I underestimated your student. Regardless of his strength, his talent in summoning is beyond doubt."

As the saying goes, "every profession is like a mountain to climb," and nowadays, with the major category of mage being subdivided into dozens of subcategories, each subcategory actually has specific talent requirements.

For example, a battle mage needs a particularly high total amount of mana, while a summoner often needs to have the biological affinity of a druid and the time-space adaptability of a planeswalker (so that his mental tentacles can travel further in other dimensions).

The mere fact that ancient mages valued good magical affinity did not necessarily make one an excellent battle mage or summoner.

Therefore, Albert praised Richard so highly after seeing that Richard had actually summoned a dragon, convinced that Richard had outstanding summoner talent.

As for whether it's taboo to drive the descendants of the former Scourge's followers, the Empire doesn't really care, considering that the original leader has been gone for so many years.

Especially in Saint Goth, under the rule of a certain transcendent witch, they even dared to teach demonology, let alone dragons.

Hela smiled without saying a word in response to Albert's words, displaying a calm demeanor as if she had expected this...

But she was actually quite surprised.

Needless to say, the ordinary students in the surrounding stands were even more enthusiastic.

The flow has changed!

"This Connaught is no ordinary person either..."

"Being able to summon a dragon beast at the peak of the Bronze level is enough to be considered a genius, even in the Dawn Class."

"And this dragon is too compliant! It's supposed to be a very temperamental species, and even if it's successfully summoned, it should be very difficult to control!"

"However, with just that, you still won't be a match for Linda, will you?"

"Of course, Senior Linda wouldn't be defeated by a summoned beast... but this duel definitely won't end in five minutes."

Richard was oblivious to the noise and focused solely on communicating with the purple-eyed black dragon, constantly probing Linda.

He didn't think he was exceptionally talented—he mainly guessed that the reason he was able to summon the young dragon beast in front of him was mostly due to the characteristics of the [Dragon Knight].

Anyway, that night in the classroom, as soon as he tried to make contact with the illusionary world where sub-dragons were said to exist, he struck up a conversation with the purple-eyed black dragon!

It was as if the other party had been waiting for him all along!

As for why it was so easy but still took so long that night, it was mainly because this black dragon was very good at bargaining, specifically...

"for you!"

Seeing the dragon raise its tail, Richard picked up a handful of magic crystals from the basket at his feet and threw them over.

The latter opened its blood-red maw, bit into the magic crystal, and chewed up crumbs that fell all over the ground.

Yes, although the Purple-Eyed Black Dragon is very powerful, its appearance fee is also extremely high. Basically, it needs to eat a magic crystal after flying for a while, otherwise it will just stay in one place and do nothing!

That's why Richard is so unceremoniously pulling out a basket today—even so, the basket is now half empty!

On the other side, Linda was indeed having a tough time.

Dragons are known for their high health and defense, which rendered her most familiar wide-range spells ineffective. Moreover, she had to constantly change positions to avoid the scorching dragon breath and claw attacks that came from the sky.

She's running away in the same way Richard did.

But Linda didn't panic.

On the contrary, she still had the energy to talk to Richard:

"Is this your trump card? Not bad, that's interesting... But if you think you can defeat me with just this young dragon, you're delusional."

Richard blinked but didn't say anything.

But he raised his middle finger.

Linda's brows twitched, and she sneered, "Do you think this is charming? You think you can do whatever you want just because you consider yourself a barbarian? Then I'll show you what happens to barbarians in the empire!"

As she spoke, strangely shaped runes lit up on the surface of her armor.

Roar!

Before Richard could react, the purple-eyed black dragon spontaneously spewed dragon breath in an attempt to stop Linda's actions, but unfortunately it was too late.

The next second, Linda transformed into a streak of light and appeared on the black dragon's back almost instantly. A terrifying vortex of energy condensed between her hands and slowly but irresistibly pressed down.

Albert's eyes widened, and he clapped his hands excitedly: "The Howling Storm, specifically designed to target heavily armored opponents? To have mastered it at such a young age, that's incredible!"

Ouch!

In the arena, accompanied by a cry of pain, the purple-eyed black dragon slammed heavily onto the ground.

In pain, he twisted his neck, opened his mouth towards Linda's location, and roared as he spat out a fierce flame that instantly destroyed most of her adaptive magic shield and burned cracks into her precious armor.

But that was his final blow.

After the dragon's breath subsided, his body trembled and scattered into countless points of light, disappearing from the field—not that he died, but that his injuries were too severe, and he returned to his hometown in the Illusionary Realm to recuperate.

As the Purple-Eyed Black Dragon was Richard's most special high-level summoned beast, its sudden departure caused Richard to suffer a strong backlash, leaving him physically exhausted and with traces of blood at the corner of his mouth.

Of course, Linda on the other side wasn't having an easy time either.

The dragon's desperate attack not only broke through two layers of her defenses, but also forced her to consume most of her magic power. At this moment, she had no choice but to stop in place and catch her breath.

But thanks to her advanced equipment, her recovery speed was much faster than Richard's!

In an instant, the situation reversed again.

Richard, who had just gained a slight advantage thanks to his dragon beast, was now forced to face Linda, who was unleashing her full power.

The flow of people in the audience... has changed back again.

"As expected, the Joker is the Joker!"

"Linda is amazing!"

"Connaught, you'd better surrender now, you can't win!"

Only Tom and his friends remained steadfast, enduring the cold stares of those around them, and continued to cheer for Richard.

Linda flew slowly to Richard's side.

Rings of fire extended from beneath her feet, restricting Richard's movement and instantly killing several water elementals that had just been summoned and were running around aimlessly.

Richard, injured and having summoned too many creatures, had exhausted his stamina and magic in a short time, making it difficult for him to even run, and naturally, he was unable to escape the encirclement.

At first glance, he had become a rat in the corner, a turtle in a jar.

Linda curled her lips slightly, glanced at Tom on the stage who was still shouting, and shook her head dismissively:

"Look, the one who still supports you at this point is a fool who can't even graduate. Sure enough, fools always tend to gravitate towards each other."

Richard retorted, "If it weren't for you, my senior could have graduated this year too!"

"Oh dear, Richard, you're slandering me again. I've already said I have absolutely nothing to do with the Illusionary Realm, but..."

Linda raised her chin, almost looking down at Richard, and said, "So what if it's me?"

"You framed your classmates and implicated innocent people. Didn't you feel any remorse when you did these things?"

"Guilt? Based on what?"

Linda burst into laughter, then said in a cruel tone, "I'm sorry, junior, maybe I was too polite before, which gave you the wrong impression, but..."

"Whether you're a fool or not, you're nothing but ants in front of me. I'd be doing you a favor by treating you like dogs! What if I harm you? What if you die?"

"This doesn't even affect my breakfast!"

Richard narrowed his eyes.

He remembered Henry II, who had stood waiting in the same spot for a long time when he left home.

He recalled the simulation where he lost his powers and had to leave for a distant land.

I thought of Tom practicing diligently late into the night, Tom's mother, and especially the silver coins she collected...

really……

She got even angrier.

"Ha, the look in a stray dog's eyes."

Linda noticed the change in Richard's expression and waved her hand, saying, "What can you do now? For a Bronze-level player, summoning that dragon is already your limit, right? You can't even run fast anymore~"

Richard was silent for a moment, then looked up.

Just like Linda earlier, there was no sign of panic on his face.

He simply asked, "Linda, I remember, your grandmother was the current emperor's sister, wasn't she?"

"Why bring this up all of a sudden? What, have you finally remembered the nobility of my bloodline and want to surrender?"

Linda raised her staff and sneered, "Too late, I'm tired of this... Accept defeat, wild dog!"

As soon as she finished speaking, lightning crackled at the tip of her staff.

The spectators held their breath, waiting for the final blow of the duel.

However, Richard neither dodged nor avoided the question; he simply finished speaking his last sentence in the same spot.

"so……

"You're royalty too!"

Confirmed that the host's opponent has royal blood and the trait "Kingslayer". Triggered!