When the first rays of dawn pierced the sky, the golden-red morning light spilled wantonly over the vast, boundless land, still cool with the night's dew.
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At this break of dawn, Gallos had just finished a night of relentless training.
He slowly retracted his stance, his chest heaving like a massive bellows, then let out a long, deep breath of scorching air that lingered for a long time.
Then, he turned his head toward the young golden dragon on the other side.
After a brief respite earlier, Alberto was now gritting his teeth, enduring muscle-tearing soreness and extreme mental fatigue, once again imitating Gallos's fluid yet powerful movements, starting a new round of exercise.
His movements were somewhat stiff and clumsy, but he showed no sign of stopping.
Is his competitive spirit really this strong? It's almost self-torture.
The Red-Iron Dragon's gaze lingered on the young golden dragon's movements for a moment, a flicker of surprise and amusement passing through his mind.
He pondered for a moment, then said, "That's enough, Alberto. I understand your unwillingness to be outdone."
"But even the sharpest blade needs to be tempered and rested. Giving yourself some breathing room to recover your weary body and tense mind is harmless and can even make subsequent training more efficient."
Upon hearing this, the young Golden Dragon Alberto's eyelids twitched violently.
Did he not want to rest?
He couldn't!
Alberto's golden tail hung limply, completely ignoring Gallos's advice, continuing the high-intensity training that pushed his physical and mental limits to the brink.
Judging by his stance, he wouldn't stop until he collapsed to the ground again.
Gallos stood silently, taking in Alberto's unusual reaction.
After a few seconds of silence, he slowly spoke, "Alberto, it seems you've made a rather peculiar oath?"
These words were like a stone thrown into a deep pool, shattering Alberto's fragile dam.
The pent-up frustration and heavy burden that he had nowhere to vent burst forth like a flood, the overwhelming urge to confide nearly making him lose control.
He pressed his head against the ground, clumsily rolling his heavy body to imitate Gallos's neck exercises.
Meanwhile, in a numb, weary voice, he explained intermittently:
"Yes... Gallos... I was carried away by my blood and made an oath... with harsh terms... and severe consequences for breaking it."
"Oh?"
Gallos's tone rose slightly, showing some curiosity, his eyes glinting with interest.
"What exactly is the oath?"
Spill it so I can have a laugh... Gallos silently muttered the second half in his mind.
According to the rich records in ancient inherited memories, there were countless examples of holy dragons impulsively making bizarre oaths and then getting trapped in them, flustered and exasperated.
Alberto's current miserable, self-inflicted state was a prime example.
Gallos's curiosity was piqued; he wanted to know what kind of oath could drive a proud golden dragon to such extremes.
"Alas..."
Alberto let out a long, heavy sigh, full of regret and helplessness.
He lifted his eyelids, his golden pupils flickering with complex emotions, repeatedly glancing at the Red-Iron Dragon beside him. His lips moved, words rising to his throat only to be forced back down.
He seemed to be speaking hesitantly, then hesitating to speak, his mind engaged in a fierce internal struggle.
After agonizing back and forth for a good seven or eight seconds.
Finally, under Gallos's silent, encouraging gaze, Alberto let down his last psychological defense.
"It's like this..."
He began to speak, his voice faltering between difficult training movements.
Soon, as he listened to Alberto's words, a glint of understanding flashed in Gallos's eyes, followed by sudden realization.
"I see."
He nodded slightly, his tone tinged with surprise and interest: "The content of this oath actually concerns me."
It turned out that after encountering Gallos and being defeated by him despite the rank difference, Alberto couldn't accept being defeated by a Young Dragon.
Driven by intense frustration and pride, he got hot-headed and swore an oath to defeat Gallos.
During the oath's term—until he defeated Gallos—he had to completely give up all entertainment and leisure, devoting himself wholly and unreservedly to training his strength and tempering his will.
More seriously, the oath stipulated: if he broke it, he would be reborn as the lowest of white dragons in his next life.
"I can see that."
Gallos's voice sounded quite considerate as he said, "This oath is now troubling you greatly, making you miserable."
He paused, then suggested, "How about this? Challenge me to a new fight right now, and I'll go easy on you in the battle, letting you win. That way, your oath's conditions would be met, right? Maybe it could end your oath."
However, the golden dragon shook his head, his movements sluggish from exhaustion.
He panted, "No, my oath has a key phrase—until I become stronger than you, indisputably stronger."
"Indisputably—"
He emphasized those four words, saying, "—that means any so-called victory achieved through an opponent's pity, charity, going easy, or any fluke method is invalid, a desecration of the oath."
"I must defeat you completely in a fair, open, head-on confrontation with no external interference or favoritism, relying on absolute strength."
Then you probably have no chance.
Gallos assessed calmly in his mind.
His Adaptive Evolution talent was essentially a long ladder to ultimate power. Theoretically, the later the stage, the more the accumulated advantages grew exponentially, eventually forming an insurmountable gap.
Now, as a juvenile, he couldn't be defeated by Alberto.
As time passed, with each Breakthrough of life's shackles and each Adaptive Evolution, the gap between them would only widen, making victory increasingly unattainable for Alberto.
But for now, Gallos felt the golden dragon's self-imposed pressure was excessive. What exactly were the specific terms of the oath that bound him so tightly?
Driven by intense curiosity, Gallos asked the golden dragon to recite the oath verbatim.
At this point, Alberto realized concealment was pointless and only made him look more embarrassed.
With a resigned frankness, he no longer hesitated and told Gallos the oath word for word.
[Until I completely surpass the Red-Iron Dragon Gallos Ignas.
Reject all entertainment and leisure, no longer allow myself any meaningless rest or laziness, tirelessly train my claws and fangs day and night, temper my scales, and hone my will and strength.
Until I become stronger than Gallos, indisputably stronger.]
Alberto's voice was filled with melancholy: "The oath I made is too harsh. Besides defeating you, I've cut off almost all my retreats."
The Red-Iron Dragon did not respond immediately.
He lowered his massive head slightly, deep in thought.
In his eyes, Alberto's seemingly dead-end oath was actually full of loopholes, far from the airtight trap he imagined.
First, the core penalty for breaking the oath—being reborn as a white dragon? That was a huge joke.
With the Platinum Dragon God Bahamut's special favor and expectations for the gold dragon clan, how could He allow His most favored, symbolizing justice and order, to fall into the evil camp due to an impulsive oath, especially as the lowest, most ignorant white dragon?
Such a penalty clause, in Gallos's view:
Its binding force was infinitely close to zero; it was more about Alberto's own twisted self-esteem and untaintable pride messing with him, scaring himself.
As for the harshness Alberto perceived, Gallos saw plenty of exploitable loopholes.
[Reject all entertainment, no meaningless rest or laziness]
—What is entertainment?
If an activity objectively significantly improves combat skills, tactical acumen, and on-the-spot reaction, while subjectively relaxing and pleasing the tense nerves, can it still be simply defined as entertainment?
—What is meaningless?
Planned rest can greatly restore strength, repair hidden injuries, improve the efficiency and quality of subsequent training, and accumulate strength for higher-intensity tempering. How can it be crudely classified as meaningless?
And the requirement of complete surpassing.
Does this only refer to physical strength and combat skills?
Shouldn't wisdom, strategy, depth of understanding of the world, and even charm also be included? The oath's intention should be comprehensive surpassing.
Therefore, reading knowledge books (increasing wisdom), socializing with powerful beings (understanding the world, increasing influence), appreciating art (cultivating the mind, increasing charm), and even sunbathing to maintain scales (increasing charm) are not meaningless and fully comply with the oath's premise.
"Oaths, after all, originate from the power within the heart, issued by the heart and bound by intent."
Gallos's gaze fell on the golden dragon as he calmly pondered.
"Strictly speaking, the final interpretation of the boundary between entertainment and meaningfulness lies firmly in the heart of the oath-maker, Alberto himself."
As long as Alberto could truly convince himself from the bottom of his heart that some rest or purposeful entertainment was an indispensable part of his training plan.
He could actually cleverly circumvent the oath's constraints.
Of course, pure, aimless sleeping or daydreaming just to pass the time would definitely not work.
That would be self-deception, unable to convince even the oath-maker.
The key was that Alberto needed to find logically consistent explanations and behaviors that he could genuinely accept without any self-doubt.
"So, the question is."
Gallos extended his claw covered in hard scales, gently rubbing his chiseled jaw, weighing in his mind.
"Should I enlighten this golden dragon who has obviously gone down a rabbit hole, help him analyze these loopholes in the oath, and free him from his current predicament?"
Just then, the golden dragon let out another muffled gasp, his massive body finally giving way, collapsing to the ground with a thud, too tired to move even the tip of his tail.
"Alberto."
Gallos looked at him and stated the facts calmly:
"Wanting to resolve the predicament brought by your oath by defeating me in a head-on confrontation is nearly impossible. The difficulty is probably a hundred times greater than you imagine."
However, the exhausted golden dragon clearly didn't think so.
He barely lifted his heavy head, panting, "No, I still have a chance. Once I complete my juvenile slumber and undergo that leap and transformation of life essence, I'll have a high probability of defeating you head-on!"
Alberto pinned his hopes on his next critical transformation point—the juvenile slumber.
He firmly believed that if he could enter and complete this slumber before Gallos, achieving a Life Level jump, he could turn the tables and defeat Gallos with the absolute advantage of Life Level.
Gallos was not convinced.
Alberto was now about sixty years old, and the juvenile slumber, according to normal dragon growth patterns, usually began around eighty.
Even if his hard training could bring the slumber forward, it would hardly be before seventy.
And Gallos himself would soon begin his juvenile slumber and enter the young adult stage.
By the time Alberto woke from his juvenile slumber, Gallos's Life Level would likely have already increased.
The gap between them would not shrink as Alberto fantasized but would likely become even more insurmountable due to Gallos's talent's continuous effect.
"Since you are so confident."
The Red-Iron Dragon's mouth curled slightly, having made up his mind: "Then I'll wait and see."
He suppressed the thought of guiding Alberto on how to exploit the oath's loopholes.
Since Alberto had his own ideas, Gallos decided to respect his choice and let him hit the wall he insisted on.
Although the golden dragon's training intensity was indeed ridiculously high, given the golden dragon's robust physique, it wasn't entirely unbearable.
At worst, he would miss out on normal leisure time and have an exceptionally tough life.
Moreover... Gallos calculated.
If they encountered any troublesome strong enemies in the dangerous wilderness later, he could use this straightforward and capable golden dragon as a reliable shield.
The stronger Alberto trained now, the more useful he would be later.
He seemed able to endure hardship, so let him suffer a bit more.
"By the way."
Taking advantage of the rare break, Alberto caught his breath and remembered something, asking, "On the way to this Borderlands, I noticed your followers are preparing for battle. Are you planning to venture into the wilderness?"
Gallos slowly nodded, his black eyes gazing at the distant rolling mountains.
He said in a deep voice, "Yes, I plan to first establish a foothold on the edge of the wilderness."
"Then be careful." The golden dragon warned seriously.