Others Summon, I Forge Beast Armor

Nurturing the Primordial Twin Form Dark Dragonlord is not a hassle.

Soon, Luke had the Primordial Twin Forms at Tier 7 with respect to their Age Tiers by feeding them water, feeding them meat, and feeding them Aeon Crystals.

His Summoner Stockpile came into use here.

This was the right thing he saved it for.

Seraphina helped a great deal too. Anything that passed through her hands gained an extra edge in potency, so the little dragons grew stronger and sturdier than their Tier was meant to.

Furthermore— since Seraphina hatched the egg inside her Spirit from the start, a bond ran between her and the Primordial Twin Form Dark Dragonlord now.

Calling it a Soul Imprint wouldn’t be far off.

Which means the Dark Dragonlord now carries a gift of spirituality bestowed by an Empyreal Angel.

But Luke didn’t want the Primordial Twin Forms growing too dependent on Seraphina.

Seraphina had her own journey as she needed to establish her Path, or Paths. It wouldn’t be worth stalling her own progress just to cater to these two dragons.

However, if Seraphina were to leave, Luke would lose his reliable questionnaire for raising the Dark Dragonlord the right way. Because if the System’s guidance turned vague, he’d be left fumbling blind.

After all, this was the same Dragonlord from the same era as Seraphina, so she knows a lot about it.

But this wasn’t hard to solve.

Luke can never forget that he had another Mythic-grade Beast, whose knowledge far surpassed Seraphina’s, exceeding hers by a hundredfold or more!

There was no questioning the depth of that beast’s insight.

Out of the Workshop, through the Insect World.

Along the way, Luke asked Seraphina to turn some shrubs into monsters, then instructed the two dragons to kill them. This would fulfill the Tier 9 requirement — having the dragon take a life.

Seraphina’s eyes began glowing, and she pointed at the shrubs.

Soon, clumps of bushes came to life, taking monster shapes.

From the perspective of the bewildered dragons, these shrub-monsters looked like nothing short of the sky falling in!

Luke wanted to see what his dragons were capable of too, raising a hand and pointing:

”Go! Bo, kick it with your leg, breathe fire at its flowers! Lan, spin and blow it back with wind, then breathe fire!”

As soon as he said so, he hesitated—was the command too complicated for the Primordial Twin Forms?

But the dragons obeyed nevertheless.

Bo slapped his monster with a clawed foot, sending leaves flying, then breathed out a mouthful of red, hot fire, setting the monster ablaze.

Meanwhile, Lan spun around very fast and gave away so much wind that pushed her monster. And as she finished the spin, her belly swelled, and she breathed out a mouthful of blue-white fire that swallowed the monster whole.

Both dragons did well, but the endings were different.

Bo’s monster burned to ash, but Lan’s monster did not leave anything behind.

Luke became interested. So this is the Immortal Flame’s handiwork?

He would have to watch it a few more times to figure it out and make sense of things.

Now passed Tier 8, Luke fed the dragons more Aeon Crystals, and that was for Tier 9.

With all conditions met, the Primordial Twin Forms advanced in Age.

〖Age: Youngling〗

As expected, they also became bigger in size.

The little dragons that hatched not long ago were now 5”5 each!

Bo was taller and more robust than his twin sister.

Also, the beast armor Luke forged for the Dark Dragonlord began to show signs of its existence— breastplate, wing-guards, all of it materializing now that the Primordial Twin Forms were bigger.

This said something about how uncanny Luke’s talent was. It even bent to the rules of Transmogrification.

Vitality also increased, fifteen points each. But Bo’s was three points higher than Lan’s. Bo at twenty-three, Lan at twenty.

Luke couldn’t quite work it out.

Lan wielded Immortal Fire — by rights, that should matter more. So why was Bo the stronger one?

”Seraphina, this is progressing faster than I expected,” Luke said. ”What’s your guess for the next stage? How far off are we from a fully realized Dark Dragonlord?”

”Master, I can’t say for certain,” Seraphina answered. ”I know the Primordial Twin Form exists, but the things in between, I don’t know. Still, going by their size now, it shouldn’t be far off.”

Luke nodded, thinking to himself, ”This question is best asked of Amigo. He cultivates the Evolution Branch on the Primordial Path, so he knows everything like this. But your guess isn’t bad either. Just don’t forget; the further along, the harder it gets. This time it only took minutes to reach Youngling, but the next stage might not be so kind. Could be a week, could be a month, could be a year. Depends on fortune.”

”Master, every time something comes up, you bring up Amigo, saying his insight surpasses mine. What’s so special about that little turtle, anyway?” Seraphina asked.

Luke laughed, ”Sounds like someone’s jealous.”

Seraphina crossed her arms, turning her face away. ”I’m not jealous. You’re the one being sentimental!”

”Haha, Seraphina,” Luke said. ”You should know, Amigo’s a Mythic-grade Beast, same as you. He established the Primordial Path, adopted the Evolution Branch, then attempted the River of Evolution, cultivating from the very origin of life, all the way to the limits of his Potential. That trip took one point two billion years. By my count, you haven’t even lived a quarter of that. So cut me some slack for bringing him up so much. He’s a living legend.”

Seraphina huffed. ”Whatever he’s done, he’s still just a turtle.”

Luke smiled and dared her, ”That so? Come on, let’s go see him. He’s been cultivating for a week, so I should be able to bring him back now. Every minute he spends in there is a hundred thousand years. A week comes out to exactly one point two billion years.”

Seraphina, unconvinced, followed along.

Shortly after, they reached the Insect World’s great metropolis, outside the tall Ant Hill Palace.

Luke recognized the Bee Commander he’d met before, and asked it to guide them to the Life Tree that Amigo used as a conduit to the River of Evolution.

The Bee Commander was overjoyed to see the Armorer return, because the Life Tree had become trouble.

The tree was growing wildly.

Growing without end, without boundary, a sprawling tangle of chaos. Even the Bee Army was forced to abandon the outpost and fall back some distance.

The moment Luke heard, he apologized, admitting he’d caused the Insect World such trouble, and that he’d make it up somehow.

But Luke didn’t know how bad it was until he saw it with his eyes.

The place seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere like a dimensional forest!

Vegetation grew in a riot of colors, some familiar, some alien.

A sprawl of deep green and rich gold, Aeon and Life Force so dense they refused to dissolve, so they overflowed, blanketing the spot where the Life Tree once stood.

And at the center of this, there was one wisp of energy. It was this energy that sustained this otherworldly forest.

”Not long ago, the tree suddenly bloomed,” the Bee Commander said. ”And then all of this sprouted. None of our soldiers have touched it, and none dared even get close. The tree did everything itself.”

”Much thanks, Bee Commander,” Luke said, summoning his mask and putting it on.

Using the abilities of the Molten Triceratops Mask, he scanned the density of the forest.

Hidden within the forest lurked many hideous shadows.

And at the center, something was seated, and that’s where the thread of energy was coming from.

Luke summoned his Olympian Serpent Bodyplate Armor, manipulating the vines to clear a path for himself.

Waiting for him inside was a swarm of deformed monsters, sprung from who-knew-where. Luke made short work of them, no real effort required.

These monsters were similar to the ones that came from the hundred eyes of the Hundred-Eyed Crow. Like a bear with gorilla arms, kangaroo legs, and frog skin.

They ganged up on Luke, but Luke’s spear cut them down before any could get near.

Eleven turns of Pursuit, one hundred fifty percent Tracking. Run? There was no running from this.

The spear bends mid-thrust, chasing everyone down, and even when one monster dodged, the spear will curve. One thrust, one kill, straight through, again and again.

[You have slain ???] x10

”They are lingering here and not venturing out to attack the Insect World,” Luke said to himself after he noticed their objective. ”This means that they are protecting the forest or whatever is responsible for making the forest.”

”So that means whatever is responsible for making the forest knows of only one person that could kill the protection they set up.”

Luke smiled.

So it is true. Amigo really is the cleverest being in the whole cosmos!

Once Luke cleared the monsters, he tracked down the source of that thread of energy and found an altar made up of swamp leaves.

On the altar was a creature, and from the crown of its head, that thread of energy came out, unbroken.

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A/N: Thanks for reading