I consider my next actions carefully.

Of course, I’m planning on sending him a taming request. But the real question is what I will have in it. Since he can’t leave here and I don’t want a onetime thing from him, there’s really one other thing I can think might come in handy.

I sent the taming request, and immediately after, my sight blurred.

An impact shoots through my body, as I just realized I’ve been thrown into a wall.

What?! Wh-

Elder Lu’s eyes are furious and lose their pupils, returning to his draconian glassy eyes. His features have the impression of scales and are growing slightly. An aura bears down on me, weighing me down.

And that’s when I feel a hand on my throat and my feet are lifted from the ground.

…He’s choking me.

“H-cu-wai… j-s.”

fuckfuckfuckfuck

He’s crushing my throat. I can’t breathe and I can’t even get a word out. What do I do?

…

…

…

While I’m choking over here, he looks to his side and I can see the pupils return to his eyes.

But I soon remember… I don’t have to breathe.

As soon as I stop drawing breath, his eyes refocus on me and place me back on the ground. His hand releasing from my neck.

There are a few cautious glances at me, before I can tell he decided to check out the taming request.

I’ve never been happier that the taming request immediately and automatically makes it so if the spirit beast wants to know anything about the request, they have to agree to not disclose any information about what happened and what is in it.

The sub-layer of the agreement is that if they have the intention to decline, it will wipe their memory. A true non-disclosure agreement.

…and it’s an automatic process.

So even though he’s thrown me against the wall, he’s already accepted the agreement. Because he never would have gotten the chance to attack me otherwise. The instant that he truly considers declining, his memory would be wiped.

So, that just means he’s angry at me.

Now that I think about it… I didn’t feel pain even once during his attack.

His aura, the attack, and pressure on my throat all caused me to fear that I was dying. When in actuality, it was like a slap on the wrist.

… I really need to put in a clause that will make it so they can’t hurt me, even superficially, like this was. Even if it only caused me panic, although I was never in danger.

There’s silence for a bit longer as he continues to think about the choice. One that he’s already made, but is putting on a show for.

He gives another look over at me, right before I sense he accepted the agreement.

My taming contracts fluctuate rapidly as I pause and start them again. Now, with an increased amount of mana available.

“To think that someone would do such a thing for knowledge… you’re lucky I was curious and interested enough to read through it. Most other dragons would simply kill you for the impertinence.”

His voice reverberates in a noise-less tone in the dragon tongue. Showing a bit of an added layer of scolding in its frequency.

Looks like I made the right choice, then.

Sending him a taming request, thus having him become one of my tamed spirit beasts, while offering him optimized healing and emergency healing over time.

And in return, he will offer me the best thing I could ask for without offending him.

His support and knowledge from within the library.

A mentorship, rather than him becoming a servant of mine. With the taming contract language mirroring that. And if I’m in danger in the library, I can go to his section for protection. I just have to reach the silo, which would be a challenge in itself, but better than nothing.

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Of course, if anything changes, we can adjust the agreement as necessary.

Something that I may try to do in the far future to have such a powerful being on my side.

Funnily enough, he was one of the options on the list of elders I could trust in the core formation realm. So, I’m sure that while this is the step to do for now… eventually he will join me in a closer way. Using the contract that the others formed for me.

Which reminds me. I passed along my knowledge of elders and people to watch out for to Sister Nuan, that we could and couldn’t trust. That I should be healing and shouldn’t.

She seemed a little worried by some names on the ‘shouldn’t’ list. But I’ll leave that to her to consider. Clearly, I have enough to do here.

His voice interrupts my thoughts.

“Your first lesson. Things like this, you should communicate first, before sending over. Even with that memory protection, the recipient might still be tempted to punish you in ways outside the agreement. Especially if they are a dragon.”

…

I can’t help but think of a counterpoint.

…It also means that if I did what he said, I wouldn’t have the protection of the contract if they felt disrespected by the offer.

And If this offended him and I was already on his good side… I can only imagine a dragon who wasn’t bound by the sect, library, or even the taming contract.

Even if I’m suffering from the contract, that just means I didn’t put the right clauses in it. And in that case, I’m still protected because they’ve already forgotten.

So yeah… no.

This is definitely one unintentional lesson of his I will take to heart.

ALWAYS use the contract first with powerful creatures.

…

Hopefully, his other lessons will be more straightforward.

However, even with my contrary thoughts to his, I immediately bow to him in appreciation for his acceptance.

This will definitely help me with my plans.

He absentmindedly waves off my bow, with all his features now fully human again.

He seems distracted by the healing I’ve already started on him. At an extremely low level, of course, since he’s so large.

As could be assumed, it will still have an immense effect on his cultivation speed.

As they say, even a mosquito is still meat. And cultivators, even spirit beast ones, are looking for every advantage.

My attention is drawn back to him as he comes close to me and brushes the dirt off me. A grin on his face, from the benefits he’s seeing.

“There’s no need to bow or have formalities between us. We definitely have a different relation between us now. So, that won’t be necessary.”

I feel the weight of something enter my hand from his. A small jade pendant, tiny enough to fit in a small pocket or on a necklace.

“Here. This will let us communicate at a distance. If you have questions, insert your qi into it to activate it.

“Oh, but make sure if you don’t want to be found, to not use it. It’ll be like a beacon for those can sense it. Should be normal otherwise.”

I quickly put it away, but look up sharply when I feel him pushing me from the back and nudging me down toward the water.

“Alright, alright. I’ve spent enough time with you young people. Let this old man get back to guarding. I’ve spent far too much time on personal things.”

Ah, I that’s true. I have taken quite a bit of time here. While I can tell the Ai, Lin, and the others are still in here, many others have already left.

If I want to catch them before they leave, I’ll need to hurry. Not to mention all the other things I need to do.

It doesn’t take long before he’s taken me back to the cart and in front of the surprised eyes of the twins, shooed us off and down the silo.

Deeper and deeper we head. The whole time, the twins are watching me closely. Their curiosity was clearly at peak levels.

But all remain silent, as they don’t know how to broach their questions.

So, I decide to fill in the gaps and answer what I’m willing to do.

“Sorry for the long wait earlier. I was just working out an agreement with Elder Lu for him to teach me from time to time.”

Mao nods her head absentmindedly while Ling takes the lead.

“So, you could actually speak the dragon tongue? I’ve only ever seen the elders do such a thing. And usually, they just used a talisman or artifact to do so.”

She leans in a bit more to whisper in my ear.

“You realize what that means, right? They obviously could do it with some effort, but learning the language would be a hassle. And there are plenty of people who would be willing to make connections with someone that could talk with the dragons with little effort.”

Ah, I see what she’s doing. She’s offering to broker any contact with anyone who might want or need such services. Not all dragons choose to learn the common human languages.

“I get what you mean. I’d definitely be open to working with the right people for some future projects. After some vetting, of course.”

I see a conspiratorial grin shine on her face as she nods her head at her sister in reference to her.

“Well, we have just the right person to work with you on that. Would you mind if we stopped by your tower from time to time? With notice, of course.”

“Yeah, that sounds fine with me.”

An idea comes to mind, as I say that. So, I press a little further. Leaning into my abilities a little.

I lean quite close to her, but keep my eyes on Mao.

“We could definitely each get to know each other better. In several ways.”

I then turn my eyes to Ling directly.

“Both of you are welcome anytime, as you both have quite a few interesting things I’d like to learn more about.”

Mao has a slight blush as she’s watching, but I’m surprised that it’s Ling that seems completely flustered by my words.

From what I can tell, this is the best action I can take to draw them into my group on a more permanent basis.

“Y-yeah. We’ll do that then.”

They both fall quiet, leading to silence in the cart, as it floats further downward.

It’s actually good timing, as it allows me to see the transition between these areas.

The waters only grow darker, with the books growing more dense and larger the deeper we go. It’s not long before I can see the opening to the silo below.

An opening shrouded in shadow; I can only just tell the shapes the swim outside of it. Massive creatures that quickly move deeper into the unseen. Smaller ones that hover along the edges, watching for the newcomers to their realm.

And right as we reach the opening, I see the area we are entering. Finally, understanding what was unsettling me in the previous section.

In this outer court area, there are ruins… but in far better condition than the previous one. Almost as if the area was a few decades from whatever tragedy struck it. And if this is what the outer court looks like, what would the inner court look like, not even mentioning the core disciple levels?

Could these be snapshots in time? And if so, would that mean these creatures are the previous residents?