Dracotitán

"Huh?" Muria was dumbfounded when his spirit refused him without hesitation. "You're refusing me?"

"Yes, master."

"Then why even call me 'master'?"

"I can call you by your name."

"You..." Muria was momentarily speechless at this response.

"Muria, a spirit does not blindly obey its master. The purpose of a spirit is to better assist and guide their master to become stronger, not to mindlessly follow every command.

For any command that might impede your speed of becoming stronger, I reserve the right to refuse."

"So now you're calling me by my name." Muria looked at his spirit somewhat dazed, muttering under his breath, then, hearing Cassio's words, he argued, "I want to learn the best archery in the world, which is also a way to become stronger. Why are you refusing me?"

"Based on my analysis, the probability that you want to see a female elf of the royal family far exceeds your desire to learn archery.

Moreover, Heloice is currently guiding your training in Titan martial arts. You don't have spare time to learn Elven archery."

"..." Muria stared at his spirit expressionlessly, then slowly turned away, sinking into the pool filled with vibrant life essence, submerging his whole body.

In the following days, Muria's life was highly regimented. During the day, he endured Heloice's intense training (or more accurately, beatdowns). Afterward, Cassio would teleport him to the infirmary to heal hidden injuries from his body.

At night, he spent the entire time meditating, a routine that was quite dull. Now, Muria only felt relaxed while soaking in the life-giving pool or consuming elemental crystals.

"Crunch! Crunch!" One day, after soaking and munching on elemental crystals to replenish his energy, Muria suddenly remembered something and looked at Cassio floating nearby.

"I just remembered something. It's been a month now. Besides the daily challenge requests from Heloice, haven't there been any other Titans challenging me?"

Muria recalled walking through the clan's territory with Heloice, meeting several Titans and exotic beasts, all of whom had expressed a desire to battle him. It seemed odd that there had been no movement for such a long time.

"I have notified all potential challengers among the Titans and exotic beasts in the clan that you are currently undergoing special training with Heloice. Until it ends, you will not accept any challenge requests."

"You never told me about this," Muria said, staring at his spirit.

"There's no need to tell you, Muria," Cassio replied coolly. "You just need to focus on receiving Heloice's instruction. I will handle the rest; you don't need to worry about it."

"Do other Titans' spirits also address their masters by name like you do?" Muria glanced at his spirit, recalling how Heloice's seventh spirit treated her with high regard, whereas his own spirit was quite bold.

"No."

"Then why do you call me by name? Can't you be like other Titans' spirits?"

"I cannot."

"Why not?"

"Because you are not like other Titans, and as your spirit, I am also unique."

"..." Muria pursed his lips and continued to consume elemental crystals to replenish the energy drained by Heloice's training.

Truth be told, Muria quite liked eating elemental crystals. Although they were tasteless, his body felt exceptionally comfortable after consuming them. The various delicacies prepared by the cloud giant chef on Taiji Island were merely a culinary pleasure and provided no real benefit to his body.

...

As a new day dawned, Muria once again accepted a challenge request from Heloice and stepped onto the teleportation array leading to the arena. However, this time was different.

"Muria, have you ever been to the Abyssal Training Ground?" This time, instead of attacking immediately, Heloice posed a question to Muria.

"The Abyssal Training Ground?" Muria was momentarily taken aback. He had heard this term several times before but never gave it much thought since it sounded demon-related, and Muria had little interest in demons. He shook his head honestly. "No, I haven't."

"Well, today I will take you to the Abyssal Training Ground to fight demons in real combat. You'll progress faster by killing them."

"Killing demons?" Muria showed a hint of disdain. "What progress can there be in fighting such weaklings? I could kill a bunch of golden-level demons with a single slap."

"What if you faced a demon legion?"

"A demon legion?" Muria paused. In Erathia, not just any group could claim to be a legion; they had to number at least five hundred to qualify while ensuring strength.

"Number seven, set up the teleportation array to the demon training ground."

"Just a moment."

As Muria was briefly lost in thought, a teleportation array quickly formed on the ground of the arena.

"Let's go. I hope you'll still hold that disdain for demons once we get to the training ground."

...

Surrounded by endless darkness, with parched, desolate ground underfoot, Muria stepped out of the teleportation array onto what seemed like a massive island suspended in the void.

However, this island bore no vegetation; it was populated by seemingly infinite, never-decreasing numbers of demons because atop this desolate island stood a colossal gate made from endless piles of bones.

"The Abyssal Gate!" Muria's face turned pale as he gazed across the vast island at the gate emitting endless twisted, evil energy. Inside, a swirling vortex of space continuously spun, and a stream of demons of varying strength and appearance continuously poured out.

The Abyssal Gate was a necessary construction for a demon lord leading a demon legion to invade the material world. Through this stable, large-scale teleportation structure, a demon lord could continuously send endless demons into the material realm.

"Heloice, this is your so-called demon training ground?" Muria unleashed dozens of thunder and wind blades, turning a group of brazen weak demons and boastful demons into mincemeat and char.

"This is a gateway for demons to invade the material world!" Muria said incredulously, while casting spells to turn another wave of aggressively attacking demons to ash.

"So what?" Heloice looked emotionlessly at Muria. "In the Abyss, no lord dares to invade Erathia through this gate!"

"But, the size of this gate..." Muria's eyelids twitched as he looked at the distant flaming skeletal gate, "is already sufficient for legendary demons to pass through."

"That's not for you to worry about. If a legendary demon comes, there will naturally be Titans to deal with it." Heloice looked towards the densely packed approaching demons. "What you should be thinking about now is how to exterminate the demons in front of you."

Muria steadied his mind at Heloice's words and squinted at the surrounding area. Even as he continuously cleared the area with his spells, the number of demons only seemed to grow.

"There are many low-level fodder, but there are also quite a few soul-level demons!" Muria noted seriously, observing several large demons among the throng, each standing on a ring of filthy, evil energy.

"Soul-level demons are mine to handle; you deal with the rest." Just as Muria was gearing up

 to fight, Heloice stopped him.

"What's the fun in cleaning up a bunch of fodder? Heloice, leave some soul-level demons for me!"

"Let's talk after you've cleared these out." After speaking, Heloice's long legs kicked off the ground, shattering a large area of the hard stone surface, and she charged directly at those soul-level great demons.

"Shit!" Seeing Heloice smash the upper body of a great demon with a punch, Muria began reciting spells discontentedly, preparing to unleash wide-range magic. Until now, he had only used third and fourth ring attack spells, but now he was ready to use sixth ring spells.

"Chain Lightning!"

"Compressed Magic Orb!"

"Bigby's Crushing Hand!"

...After a barrage of sixth-ring spells landed, amidst the agonized screams of the dying demons, bronze and silver-level demons lay dead on the ground, and even four gold-level demons were killed by Muria's magic.

"Muria, hand-to-hand combat." Seeing Muria using spells against the demons, Heloice, who had just torn apart a soul-level demon, reminded him.

"Got it." Muria responded, "I'm just using magic to clear out these lower-level demons."

With that, Muria stepped forward and charged into the group of surrounding gold-level demons. "Crack!" "Roar!"... Just as Muria had said before, the gold-level demons couldn't withstand even one of his moves.

Those demons, each capable of causing a catastrophe if released into the human world, faced Muria as lambs before a tiger, weak and powerless.

Not to mention the size difference—Muria was now thirty-two meters tall, while the strongest gold-level demons, even those elite variants, were at most twenty meters tall. With such a disparity, Muria could overpower them with his physique alone.

Moreover, after training with Heloice, Muria had gradually incorporated Titan martial techniques into his every move, turning them into instinct.

"Boom!" "Crack!"... Muria's giant hand, ablaze with golden dragon flame, smashed the head of a berserker demon, and the burning flames kept some of the filth at bay. His long dragon tail, like a whip, snapped a hunting spider demon in half...

While Heloice handled the soul-level demons, Muria, like a tiger among sheep, slaughtered the demons at a terrifying rate. However, as time passed, Muria faced a grim reality.

The bodies of demons piled up beneath his feet, but the number of surrounding demons didn't seem to decrease. In fact, they only increased, even those he had just cleared with his magic were quickly replaced by more.

"The Abyssal Gate." Muria took a deep breath, gazing at the towering gate of bones in the distance. As long as that gate stood, the idea of exterminating all the demons here was laughable.

"Huff! Huff! Huff!..." As time gradually passed, Muria continued slaughtering demons, his breathing growing heavier, and he began to feel a trace of fatigue.

Muria didn't know how long he had been fighting or how many demons he had killed. He now stood atop a small hill made of demon corpses, yet around him, demons continued to surge toward him endlessly...