CHAPTER 282 STEER A DRAGON
Three months flew by in the blink of an eye.
The main force of the northeast military camp was assigned to the battlefield, and only a few hundred
were left to defend the camp. This made the camp quiet and gloomy lately. One area in the camp
seemed unaffected by all the gloom. The beast farm bustled with activity and remained lively.
A group of spirit-manipulated beasts gathered at the area beyond the beast stables. Worry and concern
seemed a thousand miles away from them as they lingered about.
In the middle of the throng sat Verdanim. Its giant dragon wings set it apart from among the other
beasts in the area. It looked like a member of the royal family amidst its loyal subjects.
Verdanim turned towards his direction with eager eyes as Rocky approached. He then extended an
arm that reached its face and stroked it lovingly.
"Your leg is almost completely healed. Walking is no longer painful for you. But I'm still not confident
that it is strong enough to support your landing from flight," Rocky said with concern. He walked closer
to Verdanim's leg and checked it.
Three months ago, Marin had to lead the main force of the northeast military camp on the battlefield.
Because she could not assist Verdanim with the rehabilitation, she asked Sheridan for help. However,
while Marin was gone for half a month, Sheridan was called to the base camp.
The task to help Verdanim was then handed over to Rocky. He also took over Sheridan's task of being
in charge of the beast farm. Most of his time was occupied with his studies so when Sheridan left,
Rocky became busier.
Because of the war between the Holy Dragon Empire and the Timber Deity Empire, many spirit-
manipulated beasts in the battlefield became badly injured or even crippled. They were then sent to the
beast farm of the northeast military camp. Many of them became unfit to ever serve in the battlefield
again. Some even arrived at the brink of death. These beasts were normally abandoned afterwards.
But Rocky never liked the idea of simply abandoning beasts. So he established a temporary operating
room adjacent to the beast stable. His days went by as he studied or operated on injured beasts.
The spirit-manipulated beasts around Verdanim were mostly saved by Rocky's efforts.
Verdanim itself recovered better and faster than expected thanks to Rocky's help and dedication. Half a
month ago, it started to walk normally. But Rocky was worried that its bone could easily be injured
again. So he spent another half a month and helped Verdanim do physical training that helped
strengthen its newly healed bone. When it was not on physical training, Verdanim assisted Rocky with
the other injured spirit-manipulated beasts on their rehabilitation. The whole beast farm of the military
camp became a busy rehabilitation center.
All of a sudden, Verdanim moved its head towards Rocky and touched him gently, and then flapped its
wings.
"I know how badly you want to fly, but your master hasn't returned yet. I can't let you fly alone without
your master's permission. You know how strict and troublesome your master is. Don't get me into
trouble!" Rocky said while shaking his head. He understood Verdanim's intention very clearly.
Verdanim had wanted to fly for some time now but Rocky worried that the newly healed bone was not
strong enough yet to handle the impact of landing. He had no choice but to forbid Verdanim from flying.
But Verdanim had held back its desire to fly for too long and no longer could it hold back further. For
dragons, the sky was what the ocean was to fishes.
Verdanim then came up on Rocky's side and flapped its wings again.
"You want me to accompany you?" Rocky guessed with a thoughtful look.
It was common knowledge that a spirit-manipulated beast, especially a high-grade one which had a
master, never became friendly to another spirit manipulator. Dragons, a naturally proud race, like
Verdanim only showed loyalty to its master. It was unheard of to see a dragon that became friendly
towards another spirit manipulator other than its master.
The friendliness between Verdanim and Rocky was evident for some time. And now Verdanim was
willing to allow Rocky to steer it while flying.
It was understandable enough, though. Spiritual beasts had human-like intelligence and high-grade
ones like dragons even had human-like emotions. Rocky not only saved Verdanim's life but also helped
it stand up again and walk. So it was grateful to him for everything that he did for it. However, Verdanim
could not express its appreciation through words, so it instead acted friendly towards Rocky.
Normally, only a royal spirit manipulator, who commanded the dragon spiritual power, was qualified to
steer a dragon. If Rocky were an ordinary spirit manipulator, Verdanim would never allow him to steer
it. In fact, Rocky possessed the strong dragon spiritual power from the Holy Dragon Bead. Although the
Holy Dragon Bead inside him had been sealed, Rocky had advanced by leaps and bounds in just three
months. With this progress, the seal on his Holy Dragon Bead was slightly held back, and Rocky
regained a trace of the dragon spiritual power.
Verdanim accepted Rocky because of his dragon spiritual power's trace. Since Marin hadn't come back
yet, Verdanim wanted him to be its companion to fly.
Rocky was surprised by its invitation. It was unheard of to be befriended by a dragon which already had
a master. He thought that it must be the first time that it happened in history.
"Are you sure?" Rocky asked Verdanim. He had never steered a dragon before, so he was really
curious about how it felt like.
Verdanim raised its head and roared excitedly, and then bent down.
"OK, I will be your company for a while. Don't let your master find out about this. Otherwise I would
definitely be in trouble!" If Marin found out that he steered Verdanim to fly, Rocky would get himself into
trouble.
Rocky got up and sat on the area between Verdanim's neck and back. He then patted Verdanim, and it
flapped its wings. Powerful currents of air flowed under Verdanim's wings as dust and debris flew up in
the air. Verdanim braced itself and accelerated the flapping of its wings. The dragon was in the air after
a few brief moments of flapping its wings. Verdanim felt exhilarated and rushed to the sky.
"Whoooah!" Gusts of wind flew past Rocky's ears. His surroundings changed fast from the brown and
green color of the beast stable to the blue and white of the sky. Flying was a completely new content rights.
experience for Rocky. It felt surreal and magical for him. He looked down and saw the northeast military
camp from a different perspective. He looked all around him and a magnificent vista overwhelmed him.
Rivers looked like silver threads that divided a field of deep green trees. Magnificent mountains
towered above the landscape below, its white, icy peaks looked like white crowns and the clouds that
flew past looked like white hair.