The Dragon Tower

Enzo's eyes fluttered open, his head throbbing from Port's unexpected attack. He found himself in an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by a landscape that seemed to defy the laws of physics he was accustomed to.

"Welcome to The Dragon Tower, Prince," Port's gruff voice came from behind him. He tipped his head back and drank from a small bottle wrapped in a paper bag.

Enzo spun around his senses on high alert. "Dragon Tower? What is this place?"

'I've never heard of a place like this in the Razzar Continent.' Then he thought for a moment. 'Or anywhere for that matter.'

Port's lips curled into a rare smile. He licked his lips, whipping away the liquid. "This, my boy, is the ancestral training grounds of all dragons. A small planet hidden between dimensions, right now it is only accessible to the Dragon Clan's Royal family and the head butler. In other words, in the whole multiverse, you and me are the only ones able to access this place."

Enzo's jaw dropped as he took in the breathtaking tower. It reached up, high into the sky, piercing the clouds. Enzo couldn't even begin to fathom what the structure was made of. But that thought brought a question to his lips.

Before he voiced it, he pulled up the first quest he had received upon entering Beast Evolution.

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Quest: Void Dragon Palace

Details: The last Void Dragon died over 10,000 years ago, and the Dragon race has been slowly declining. The first step every Dragon Emperor must take when establishing their Dynasty is to build their Dragon Palace. Unique to Void Dragons, the Void Dragon Palace is known to be the reason behind the Dragon race's dominance in the primordial era and is seen as the pride of the dragon race.

Time Limit: 9 years, 359 days, 4 hours, 12 minutes, 39 seconds

Punishment For Failure: Extermination of Your Soul

Reward: ??

Requirements to Build Void Dragon Palace: 100,000 Blocks of Gold, 100,000 Blocks of Platinum, 100,000 Blocks of Mithril, 10 Primordial Source Stones, 5 God Hearts, 5 Demon-God Hearts, and 1 Void Stone

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"Have you heard of Mithril, Primordial Source Stones, and-"

Port help up his hand, shaking his head. "I know you must have gotten the quest of our ancestors. But don't ask me about it. The answer lies at the top of the tower. My previous Master told me he left something there for you."

Hope shown in Enzo's eyes, but he quickly discarded the idea that all the building materials would be at the top of the tower. 'Let's just hope it can at least tell me where to find them. A few million gold might also be nice…'

Clearing his thoughts Enzo asked another question. "You brought me here to train right? Is the tower some type of testing grounds? Is there beasts in there I can level from?"

"But why have you brought me here?" Enzo asked, still trying to process the magnitude of what he was seeing.

Port smiled, the first time Enzo had seen him do that. "It is both a testing grounds, but more than that, it is a system-blessed dungeon."

Enzo's eyes went wide. "You have a private, max-floor dungeon?!"

====

The trek to the dungeon wasn't as fast as Enzo would have liked, but when his only other option was Port carrying him, well, that wasn't an option at all.

"Okay, so just to be clear, this isn't the Razzar Continent, right? Because I thought we couldn't leave the Razzar Continent until Update 2.0." 

Enzo asked while they walked. 

Port raised an eyebrow. "You mean the integration, right? It's scheduled for a year out from when you came to the Alveron Kingdom. No, it's not. There are a few ways to get out of the continent. I'm sure the other descendants are not stuck on that small, backwater barony that you call the Razzar continent."

Enzo halted in his place. "Other descendants? How am I a descendant?"

Port looked him up and down. "Well technically you're not, but you might as well be. All it means is people from the five great factions."

This was the second time he had heard of the descendants and the five great factions. Neither which he had heard about in his last life, and he had been part of the Multiverse for nine years after the integration!

"What are the five factions? And what are the descendants?"

Port groaned, slapping his face. "You'll find that out in the tower. All this talk is boring, I want to see you fight."

Then a devilish smile came over Port's face. "Or maybe you'll die on the first floor and I'll have to wait around another 10,000 years for another Void Dragon to pop into existence."

Enzo started to retort that he wouldn't die when he was thrown like a lightning bolt towards the tower and through it's doors.

He had less than a millisecond to read the system message before he was confronted, face to face, with a snarling band of goblins.

[Welcome to the Dragon Tower. First Floor: Endless Slaughter]

Enzo's instincts kicked in immediately. He shifted into his dragon form, his scales gleaming in the dim light of the tower's first floor. The goblins, initially startled by his transformation, quickly regained their composure and charged with crude weapons raised.

"Let's see what you've got, Prince," Port's voice echoed from somewhere above, a hint of amusement in his tone.

Enzo didn't have time to respond. The first goblin reached him, swinging a rusty sword at his legs. He dodged, using his tail to sweep the creature off its feet. Two more attacked from the sides, but Enzo was ready. He breathed in and blew out, he could feel space bend and the air seemed to distort as purple flickers shot toward the goblins.

[You've increased your Space Elemental Mastery by 0.5!]

[Space Element: 0.61/10 (Early Seed)]

As the battle raged on, Enzo found himself pushed to his limits. His mana reserves dwindling down.

[Mana 149/740]

The goblins, while individually weak, came in seemingly endless waves. Their numbers forced him to constantly adapt his strategy, switching between close-quarter combat and ranged attacks with his void flame.

[Ding! Level Up (18->19)]

[Ding! Level Up (19->20)]

[Ding! Level Up (21->22)]

[Ding! Level Up (22->23)]

…

[Ding! Level Up (28->29)]

By the end of the fight, Enzo had leveled up 11 times and had even acquired a system-blessed skill.

[Skill Unlocked: Space-Void Burst - A concentrated explosion of space and void energy]

Seizing the opportunity, Enzo focused his energy and unleashed a Void Burst. The resulting explosion cleared a wide area around him, giving him a moment to catch his breath.

"Not bad," Port's voice came again. "But you'll need more than that to climb this tower."

As if on cue, a massive goblin, easily three times the size of the others, emerged from the shadows. It wielded a giant club and wore crude armor made from scavenged materials.

"A Goblin Chieftain," Enzo muttered, recalling his knowledge from his past life. He knew this wouldn't be an easy fight.

The Chieftain roared, rallying the remaining goblins. They charged en masse, with the Chieftain leading the attack. Enzo took to the air, using his wings to gain some distance. 

He couldn't fly very well, but even this much flight gave him a big advantage. 

He rained down void flame on the smaller goblins, not taking any chances. He knew what underestimating an opponent could lead to.

When he checked on his mana reserves after taking care of the remaining smaller goblins, he checked his mana reserves.

[Mana 3/1070]

He turned his long dragon head to the side, cracking his lock neck.

"It's time to end this."