A jolt went through the scaled dragon when it heard Darryl's words. "How do you communicate with me?" it asked quizzically. It did not know that Darryl could only communicate with it because he had the beast taming loop.

Darryl smiled and said, "There's no need to be surprised. I know a little beast language."

The scaled dragon thought about it for a minute, its eyes flashing sinisterly. "Even if you did not mean to disturb me, it doesn't change the fact that you have intruded on my territory. You'll have to pay for disrupting my cultivation."

Its tone was definitive. One final step and it would have become a real dragon. That was why it was absorbing moonlight essence when Darryl came crashing down. It would have to wait another ten years before the same opportunity came again. Raging, the scaled dragon did not want to waste its breath on Darryl, so it swept its long tail at him.

Darryl cursed and said, "Wait! I can help you to become a real dragon!"

Darryl could tell that the s