Chapter 219: Your Name! Persuasion

How many years has it been? It seemed that ever since he became a demigod, no one had ever asked for his name.

At this moment, the black-robed figure was also a little at a loss for words. After a long pause, he replied frankly while the bony creature was feeling somewhat uneasy: "If you wish to call me, just address me as 'Star.'"

"Star... sir?"

"Yes! Anything works."

"And you?"

"I, I... don't have..."

The bony creature's slightly self-abasing voice slowly came through, trailing off into silence by the end.

If it weren't for the black-robed one—no, Star was currently in a state of consciousness, residing within the bony creature's body—he wouldn't even have been able to hear it clearly, and would have thought the other party simply didn't wish to discuss it.

But now, by a series of coincidences, he could hear every word with perfect clarity.

No name?

At this moment, Star kept feeling as though he had stumbled upon some kind of truth.

No common sense, no name, and no dragon-kind inheritance; its mind was a bit dull, as if it had only just been born not long ago. Combined with this most primordial era when deities had yet to appear, it was very likely the very first undead creature in this world.

If those last two points weren't among them, and he had encountered it in his own world, he would have only thought it was a low-class dragon beast without inheritance or intelligence.

Normally, upon seeing it, he wouldn't even bother to acknowledge it. If it accidentally offended him, he would casually crush it to death.

But if one added this era when deities had yet to appear, a newly-born bone dragon with intelligence but no dragon-kind inheritance—for a moment, he could only feel that he might have encountered some terrifying great figure of the future!

No, that can't be, right?!

For a moment, the more Star thought about it, the more horrified he became. Could he really have stumbled upon some great fortune?

If that were truly the case, what would he still need to strive for? As long as he carefully attended to this master, once it grew up, he could completely stop struggling in the future and become a god while lying down!

No, no, no.

Star shook his head vigorously, driving out that wild fantasy.

He felt he couldn't be so fanciful. Relying on others was not as good as relying on oneself; in the end, it was only through one's own efforts that one could stand on solid ground.

However, the seed of that wild fantasy seemed to have already taken deep root in his heart.

Having regained his composure, he finally remembered that he seemed to have not yet responded to this bone dragon's words.

He pondered for a moment, then murmured in a voice just loud enough for the other to hear: "No name?"

"Mm..."

A faint voice sounded.

"I see. I dare say I too can be considered well-read. How about I give you a name?"

Star asked in a tone that was gentle yet carried a hint of probing.

"..." The bony creature.

After a long pause, just as Star thought it was going to fall through, an extremely faint "okay," barely louder than an ant's whisper, came through.

At this, Star smiled soundlessly and began to think seriously. His intuition told him this was a wonderful opportunity to build goodwill with the other party! He absolutely could not miss it!

At this moment, his mind was working as never before. He swore that even when he had first entered the academy that changed his destiny, he had never been this serious!

After pondering for a moment, he moistened his voice, trying to make his tone gentler, before finally speaking.

"Mm, I see that our first encounter was near this deep abyss, and you often stay in places like this. This place must hold great significance for you, right?"

"Mm..."

The faint voice still came through.

It seemed that at this moment, anything involving the matter of a name made it especially self-abasing.

But Star felt he was already used to it and didn't dwell on the point further. After a brief pause, he continued.

"Since it holds such great significance, how about taking the character 'Yuan' (Abyss)?"

"Yuan?"

"Yes, 'Yuan'! It means the deepest, darkest region, and since you are dragon-shaped, shall we name you Yuan Long (Abyss Dragon)?"

"Yuan... Long...?"

At this moment, upon hearing the name spoken in that steady, powerful, mature voice, the bony creature couldn't help but murmur and repeat it.

Along with its repetition, the flames within its hollow eye sockets also began to leap and dance joyfully.

"Well, fine, I'll listen to you. From now on, I'm called Yuan Long!"

After a long pause, while Star was feeling anxious, a somewhat suppressed, dissatisfied, and reluctant voice replied.

Success!

At this moment, Star finally breathed a sigh of relief internally. Though the voice that had just come through sounded very reluctant, Star could extend his consciousness outward to observe.

Therefore, he saw with perfect clarity the flames leaping joyfully within the other's eye sockets—a behavior that looked exactly like a little girl who had received a satisfactory gift.

Although this behavior was utterly at odds with the other's imposing, ferocious exterior.

Sigh, why does it always feel like I'm attending to a temperamental young lady?

At this moment, Star sighed helplessly within.

But seeing how good the other's mood was at the moment, he knew it was time to strike while the iron was hot.

Thinking of this, he spoke again: "By the way, Yuan Long, I heard you mention earlier that you wanted to take revenge?"

The moment these words left his mouth, Yuan Long, whose mood had been incomparably cheerful just an instant before, instantly tucked away that cheerful mood, as if recalling some unhappy matter and wanting to vent.

But at this moment it was still staying in its own cave, which it couldn't bear to tear down. And the Star mister who had just given it a two-character name, the same as that guy's, had barely gotten the upper hand over that guy, so it couldn't hit or scold him either.

In the end, unable to find an outlet, it could only viciously bite off a mouthful of the dark, soft soil, saying with some indignation: "That's right, I'm going to take revenge on that bad dragon!"

"I see, then when are you planning to go? Can you win?"

The instantly piercing question left Yuan Long silent for a while, its mouth open yet not knowing what to say. Finally, it could only mutter sulkily: "I, I can't beat it..."

At this moment, it, who had never considered this point before, also lowered its head somewhat sullenly, silently staring at the gloomy ground.

"I see. Then have you ever considered becoming stronger?"

At that moment, Xing felt as though he were some creepy uncle patiently coaxing a naive little girl to go look at goldfish, his heart brimming with guilt.

But the other's desire to become stronger made him suppress that strange guilt and continue speaking.

"Become stronger?"

A slightly puzzled voice came from the Yuanlong. Since the day it was born, it had never encountered any animal it couldn't beat... no, rather, every single creature—no matter how massive a beast sovereign or a beast king—upon seeing it, couldn't help but feel fear and flee.

One could say the Yuanlong had never met anything that dared to attack it, had never experienced the feeling of weakness and unwillingness, and had no idea what "becoming stronger" meant.

So, faced with this utterly unfamiliar term, it had absolutely no clue what it was.

"..."

And that puzzled voice naturally left Xing falling silent.

Sure enough—no matter how many times he saw these heaven-blessed creatures grow stronger just by eating and drinking, he couldn't help but weep with envy; he wanted to experience that wonderful feeling too!

(End of Chapter)