2. Howling
It was late at night.
"Ugh~"
The little princess of the dragon clan was currently entangled with sleepiness. Her eyes were half-open, her head bobbing up and down like a pecking chick, trying hard to keep herself awake. Her efforts made her look quite adorable.
"Are you tired, Xia Yi?" Xia Lulu pinched her daughter's soft cheeks.
"No, not at all!"
Xia Yi rubbed her eyes and bravely said.
"I'm not tired at all! Yawn..."
"You're starting to yawn. Let's call it a day. You should go back to your room and rest, Xia Yi."
"But I want to stay with you, mother."
"Xia Yi, do you remember what day tomorrow is?"
"...I remember."
Tomorrow was Xia Yi's royal trial.
The dragon clan was a powerful race that respected strength. Xia Lulu not only needed to deter the outside world, but also constantly face challenges from within the dragon clan.
As the future heir of the dragon clan, Xia Yi also needed to demonstrate her qualifications to all the clan members, with strength as the proof.
Even if she was the beloved little princess, she could not escape this.
If Xia Lulu's offspring were weak, it would indirectly affect Xia Yi's future reputation within the dragon clan...
In short, she would go from being a promising dragon clan member to a cute mascot.
"So go and rest well, adjust your state, Xia Yi. Can I wait for your good news in the palace?" Xia Lulu stroked Xia Yi's head.
"Mother, I will definitely show the clan members how outstanding I am, as someone with the bloodline of Christie!"
"Are you really that confident? I heard that you've been playing around all the time, and you've hardly ever passed your regular tests."
"I haven't been playing all the time! I think I can do it..." Xia Yi's voice was a bit uncertain, "Probably..."
...
The next day.
After saying goodbye to her mother last night, Xia Yi who returned to her room quickly fell asleep, preparing for the trial the next day.
She rarely had a dream.
It was a strange dream. In the dream, she seemed to be a swordsman, constantly honing her strength, challenging various strong enemies...
"What a ridiculous dream, no wonder everyone says that dreams are the opposite of reality."
Xia Yi didn't care.
What she had been good at since she was a child was magic, she had never touched a sword, let alone practiced swordsmanship. There was no chance of her becoming a swordsman.
However, Xia Yi, the little princess of the dragon clan, would not be distracted by these things.
With the help of her servants, Xia Yi changed into her battle dress.
After all, today's royal trial was the most important thing.
Hundreds of years ago, Xia Lulu won elegantly and beautifully, gaining the recognition of the entire dragon clan.
She believed that if her mother could do it and she couldn't, it would definitely cause controversy.
Therefore, today's battle was a must-win, not a must-lose.
...
The Dragon Clan had taken positions on all sides of the arena, their sole purpose being to witness firsthand how their little princess would perform in the royal trial.
"Everyone's eager to see how strong our little Dragon Clan princess really is," one of them said.
"Princess Xia Yi is the queen's only daughter. Given the queen's immense power, her offspring can't possibly be weak," another added.
"Indeed, it would be quite interesting if Princess Xia Yi's performance fell short of expectations…"
Xia Yi, standing at the very center of the arena, could hear their discussions. She felt an immense pressure, having never faced such a situation before.
She could only imagine the consequences of failure…
"No, I can't fail," she told herself, shaking her head to dispel the thought.
I can do it, I can do it!
"Your Highness, are you ready?" asked the dragon overseeing the royal trial.
This was Sera, a dragon with fiery red hair. She was quite the beauty, with a proud figure and a stylish dress sense. She was also a member of the royal maid group and had served Xia Yi for many years.
"We can start," Xia Yi nodded, biting her lip in anticipation.
Seeing the princess's nervous expression, Sera couldn't help but chuckle. "Your Highness, there's no need to be so tense. Relax a bit…"
"I'm not nervous!" Xia Yi retorted immediately. "This royal trial is nothing to me. I can win it easily! Watch your words, you're losing respect for me!"
"Alright, alright, Your Highness, you're right!" Sera conceded, trying to suppress her amusement. "So, Your Highness, are you going to challenge a third-order enemy?"
In this world, the strength of the powerful had a standard of judgment. It started from the first order and went up to three, four, five, six…
Currently, Xia Yi was a third-order dragon.
"Just third order? Are you underestimating me?" Xia Yi scoffed.
"Your Highness, traditionally, challengers in the royal trial have chosen enemies of the same order as themselves."
"But there are exceptions," Xia Yi pointed out. "My mother challenged a fourth-order opponent with her third-order strength, didn't she?"
"So, are you going to choose a fourth-order enemy? You should think carefully."
"There's no need to think. Hurry up and bring it on. I can't wait!"
"…I understand."
Respecting Xia Yi's choice, Sera chanted a spell, summoning a huge magic circle on the ground, before stepping back.
After a loud noise, a colossal figure appeared in the center of the arena.
It was a magical puppet giant, composed of precious magic crystal mines and standing tens of meters tall. Xia Yi, who was not even one and a half meters tall, was engulfed by its shadow.
As long as its core remained intact, the magical puppet giant could continuously draw magic power from the air to repair its body.
Moreover, it was difficult to damage this magical puppet giant with magic alone.
This was a bona fide war weapon. If the Dragon Clan truly intended to slaughter the human race, releasing a large number of magical puppet giants into the world would be enough to cause the human race to collapse.
"Her Highness is actually challenging the magical puppet giant, a creature beyond her rank?"
"Look at the inscriptions on this magical puppet giant. It seems to have a high defense against spells. It's specialized… I can't break its defense."
"This is a formidable opponent. Even our elite guards of the Dragon Clan may not be absolutely confident in defeating it."
"Wuu wuu!"
Xia Yi had begun to wail inwardly, her face already showing a wronged expression.
Why did her opponent have to be a magic puppet giant with full magic defense? Even if she managed to break through the defense, it could keep healing itself non-stop. How was she supposed to defeat such an outrageous monster? Wasn't this just making things difficult for her?
At this moment, Sera ran over again.
"Your Highness, I can tell everyone that I made a mistake in summoning. How about I change it to a strong but useless scarecrow for you?"
Upon hearing Sera's words, Xia Yi, who had been through the elite education of the dragon clan, reflexively interrupted her, "No need! It's fine as it is, I'm very satisfied. Only by defeating strong enemies can I prove my strength!"
Sera was taken aback.
The princess's resolve was harder than a magic crystal mine!
But then she thought, if the princess really suffered a setback, the sight of the blushing loli princess crying and stubbornly insisting seemed… quite adorable?
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