Chapter 293 Oath Bug

As the first rays of the rising sun pierce the sky, the golden-red dawn spills freely across the vast, boundless land, still cool with the night dew.

At the break of dawn, Garus ended his all-night training.

He slowly came to a stop, his chest heaving like a giant bellows, and then exhaled a long, deep breath of intensely hot air that lingered for a long time.

Immediately afterwards, he turned his head and looked at the young man Jinlong on the other side.

After a brief respite, Alberto gritted his teeth, enduring the tearing pain in his muscles and extreme mental exhaustion, and began a new round of training, once again imitating Galos's fluid yet powerful movements.

His movements were slightly hesitant and clumsy, but he showed no sign of stopping.

Is his competitive spirit really that strong? It's practically self-torture.

Red Iron Dragon's gaze lingered on the young man Golden Dragon's movements for a moment, a hint of surprise and amusement flashing through his mind.

He hesitated for a moment, then said, "That's fine, Alberto. I understand your competitive spirit and desire to be the best."

"But even the sharpest blade needs to be reforged and maintained. Giving yourself some breathing room to allow your tired body and tense mind to recover is harmless and can even make subsequent sharpening more efficient."

Upon hearing this, the young man, Alberto, twitched his eyelids violently.

Does he not want to rest?

He can't!

Alberto's golden tail drooped limply, completely ignoring Galos's advice, and continued the high-intensity training that pushed his physical and mental limits to the limit.

Judging from his posture, it seemed he wouldn't stop until he was completely exhausted and collapsed on the ground.

Galos stood silently, taking in Alberto's unusual reaction.

After a few seconds of silence, he slowly spoke, saying, "Alberto, you seem to have made a rather peculiar vow to yourself?"

These words were like a stone thrown into a deep pool, shattering the dam that Alberto had been desperately trying to build.

The pent-up frustration and heavy burden that had been suppressed for so long surged forth like a burst dam, and the intense urge to confide in him almost overwhelmed him.

He pressed his head against the ground and clumsily rolled his heavy body, mimicking Galus's neck-strengthening movements.

On the other end, a numb and weary voice explained intermittently:

“Yes… Garus… I was blinded by passion and made a vow that was… harsh… and… with heavy consequences for breaking it.”

"oh?"

Galos's tone rose slightly, revealing a hint of curiosity, and his eyes gleamed with interest.

What exactly is this oath?

"Tell me so I can have a laugh..." Galos muttered the second half of his sentence silently to himself.

According to the rich records in ancient traditions, there are countless examples of holy dragons who made bizarre vows on impulse, only to become deeply entangled in them and suffer great distress.

Alberto's current disheveled and self-inflicted predicament is a prime example.

Galos's curiosity was ignited; he wanted to know what kind of oath could force a proud golden dragon to such a point.

"well……"

Alberto let out a long, heavy sigh, filled with regret and helplessness.

He raised his eyelids, his golden pupils filled with complex emotions, glancing again and again at the red iron dragon beside him. His lips moved, words welling up in his throat but he forced them back down.

He seemed to be struggling to speak, yet remained silent; a fierce internal struggle seemed to be raging within him.

After struggling and agonizing over this for a good seven or eight seconds...

Finally, under the silent, encouraging gaze of Garros, Alberto finally let down his last bit of psychological defenses.

"It's like this..."

He began to speak, his voice breaking intermittently amidst the arduous exercise.

Soon, upon hearing Alberto's words, a knowing glint flashed in Galos's eyes, and he suddenly understood.

"I see."

He nodded slightly, his tone tinged with surprise and interest: "The content of this oath is actually related to me."

It turns out that after encountering and being defeated by Garus, who was much stronger than him, Alberto simply couldn't accept the reality that he had been defeated by a teenage dragon.

Driven by intense frustration and pride, he impulsively vowed to defeat Garus.

During the period when this oath is in effect, that is, before defeating Garus, he must completely give up all entertainment and leisure, and devote himself wholeheartedly and without reservation to training his own strength and tempering his will.

Even more seriously, the oath stipulates that if he breaks this oath, he will be reborn as a white dragon, the lowest of the low, in his next life.

"I can tell."

Galos's voice sounded quite considerate as he said, "This oath is now causing you great distress and suffering."

He paused for a moment, then suggested, "How about this? You challenge me to a new battle now, and I'll go easy on you to win. That way, your oath will be fulfilled, and perhaps it can help you end this oath."

However, Jinlong shook his head, his movements slowing down due to exhaustion.

He gasped, “No, there’s a crucial line in my oath—until I become stronger than you, undeniably stronger.”

"Undisputed—"

He emphasized these four words, saying: "—This means that any so-called victory achieved by relying on the mercy, charity, leniency, or any other trickery of the opponent is invalid and a desecration of the oath."

"I must defeat you completely through a fair, open, and unbiased confrontation, without any external interference or favoritism, only then will it count."

Then you probably won't have a chance.

Galos calmly assessed the situation in his mind.

His adaptive evolutionary talent is essentially a long ladder leading to ultimate power. Theoretically, the later the stage, the more the accumulated advantages grow exponentially, eventually forming an insurmountable gap.

Now, in his teens, Alberto is unable to defeat him.

As time goes by, and as Galus breaks through the shackles of life time and time again and completes adaptive evolution, the gap between the two will only widen, and victory will become increasingly unattainable for Alberto.

However, for now, Garos felt that the golden dragon's self-imposed pressure seemed a bit excessive. What exactly was the wording of that oath that could bind him so tightly?

Driven by intense curiosity, Garus demanded that the golden dragon repeat the oath to him verbatim.

Now that things had come to this, Alberto realized that hiding it was pointless and would only make him look more embarrassed.

With a resigned acceptance, he no longer hesitated and frankly told Galus the contents of the oath that bound him, word by word.

Before completely surpassing—the Red Iron Dragon Garo Ignas.

Rejecting all entertainment and leisure, no longer allowing oneself any meaningless rest or laziness, working tirelessly day and night to hone one's skills, refine one's scales, and forge one's will and strength.

Until he becomes stronger than Galus, undeniably stronger.

Alberto's voice was filled with melancholy: "The oath I made was too harsh. I have almost cut off all my escape routes except to defeat you."

Hong Tielong did not respond immediately.

His enormous head was slightly lowered as he pondered.

In his eyes, Alberto's oath, which seemed to have driven him into a dead end, was actually full of loopholes and far from being as impeccable as he had imagined.

First of all, the most crucial punishment for breaking an oath—reincarnation as a white dragon? That's an absolute joke.

Given Bahamut's favoritism and expectations towards the gold dragon race, how could He possibly stand by and watch His most beloved darling, a symbol of justice and order, fall into the evil camp because of an impulsive oath, especially since he was the lowest and most ignorant white dragon?

In Galus's view, this punitive clause:

Its binding force is almost zero; it's more Alberto's own intensely distorted self-esteem and unyielding pride at play, he's just scaring himself.

As for what Alberto considered harsh, Galos saw as full of loopholes to exploit.

Reject all entertainment; do not allow meaningless rest or laziness.

What is entertainment?

If an activity can objectively and significantly improve combat skills, tactical awareness, and on-the-spot reaction ability, while also subjectively relaxing and bringing pleasure to tense nerves, can it still be simply defined as entertainment?

—What is meaninglessness?

Planned rest can greatly restore physical strength, repair hidden injuries, and improve the efficiency and quality of subsequent training, accumulating strength for higher-intensity training. How can this be crudely categorized as meaningless?

And then there's the demand for complete transcendence.

Does this refer only to physical strength and combat skills?

Shouldn't wisdom, strategy, depth of understanding of the world, and even charisma be included as well? The oath should be about comprehensive transcendence.

Therefore, reading classic texts (increasing wisdom), socializing with powerful beings (understanding the world and enhancing influence), appreciating art (cultivating the mind and enhancing charm), and even sunbathing to maintain dragon scales (enhancing charm) are not meaningless and fully comply with the major premise of the oath.

"A vow ultimately originates from the power within, arises from the heart, and is bound by intention."

Galos's gaze fell on the golden dragon, and he calmly pondered in his mind.

"Strictly speaking, the ultimate interpretation of the boundary between entertainment and meaning is firmly in the heart of Alberto himself, the one who made the vow."

If Alberto can truly convince himself that a certain degree of rest and some purposeful entertainment are also an indispensable part of his training plan.

He could have easily and cleverly circumvented the constraints of the oath.

Of course, the kind of pure, aimless sleeping or daydreaming to kill time is definitely not going to work.

This is self-deception, and even the person making the vow cannot convince themselves.

The key is that Alberto needs to find logically consistent and reasonable explanations and behavioral patterns that he can truly accept, that he cannot doubt in the slightest.

"So, here's the question."

Galos extended his claws, covered in hard scales, and gently stroked his hard-lined jaw, weighing his options in his mind.

"Should I enlighten this golden dragon who has clearly gotten himself into a dead end, help him analyze the backdoor of these oaths, and help him get out of his current predicament?"

Just then, the golden dragon let out another heavy sigh. Its massive body finally gave way and collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to even move the tip of its tail.

"Alberto."

Looking at him, Galos calmly stated the facts, saying:

"To completely resolve the predicament caused by your oath by defeating me head-on is an almost impossible task, and its difficulty is probably a hundred times greater than you imagine."

However, the exhausted Golden Dragon clearly did not think so.

He barely managed to lift his heavy head, panting heavily, and said, "No, I still have a chance. Once I finish the slumber of my youth and usher in that leap and transformation of the essence of my life, I will have a very high probability of being able to defeat you head-on!"

Alberto pinned his hopes on his next crucial turning point – the dormancy of adolescence.

He firmly believed that as long as he could enter and complete this slumber before Galos and achieve a leap in life level, he could turn the tide and defeat Galos with his absolute advantage in life level.

Galos, however, disagreed.

Alberto is currently around sixty years old, and according to the normal growth pattern of dragons, the dormancy of youth usually does not begin until around eighty years old.

Even if he exercises diligently and can advance his dormant period, it is highly unlikely that he will live past seventy years old.

Galus himself will inevitably begin his adolescent slumber soon and enter adolescence.

By the time Alberto awakens from his youthful slumber, Galos's life level will likely have already increased.

The gap between the two will not be narrowed as Alberto imagined; on the contrary, it is very likely to become even more unattainable due to the continued effect of Garros's talent.

"Since you firmly believe it so much..."

Hong Tielong's lips curled up slightly, and he had already made up his mind: "Then I'll wait and see."

He suppressed his original intention to instruct Alberto on how to exploit loopholes in the oath.

Since Alberto has his own ideas, Galos decided to respect his choice and let him try to break through the wall he believes in in his own way.

Although the intensity of Jinlong's training was indeed ridiculously high, it was not entirely unbearable for Jinlong's powerful physique.

At most, it just means less normal leisure time, making life particularly difficult.

Moreover… Garus pondered in his heart.

If he encounters a formidable enemy in the perilous wilderness in the future, he can bring along this straightforward and powerful Golden Dragon to serve as a reliable shield.

The better Alberto becomes in training, the more useful he will be later.

He seems to be able to endure hardship, so let's make him suffer a bit more.

"Oh, right."

Taking advantage of a rare moment of rest, Alberto caught his breath and, remembering something, asked, "On the way to this border region, I noticed that your retinue was preparing for battle with great urgency. Are you planning to venture deep into the wilderness?"

Galos nodded slowly, his dark eyes gazing at the distant, undulating mountains.

He said in a deep voice, "Yes, my plan is to first establish a foothold on the edge of the wilderness."

"Then you need to be careful," Jinlong warned in a serious tone.

(End of this chapter)