Chapter 497: Star King (I)
Long Haochen saw a group of unicorns, each snow-white aside from a golden mane and spiral shaped golden horn protruding from its head. Every unicorn had a pair of huge wings, pure white with their tips shining golden. In the midst of their walk, one could faintly see golden halos following under them.
Among the ranks of these Starlight Unicorns, an especially tall one was flying in the front, reaching six to seven meters height, with a horn over half a meter long. Its pair of wings were brimming with brilliance, only, the look in its eyes seemed incredibly shocked.
Right, Long Haochen’s current aim was a Starlight Unicorn, which are known as the highest grade of partners for knights.
“Hello, my friend. Do you still remember me?” Long Haochen approached the Starlight Unicorn King leading the group with quick steps.
When the Starlight Unicorn King saw him clearly, a screen of golden light immediately surrounded them.
Long Haochen didn’t try to avoid it, letting the golden light embrace him. The Starlight Unicorn’s voice could be heard in his mind.
“So it’s actually you, noble Scion of Light. It’s a joy that I get to see you again. But I really didn’t expect you to become so powerful in such a short time. And your holy aura seems to have become even more pure than in the past.”
The Starlight Unicorn appeared very familiar with Long Haochen. If one could say that the last time he had only acknowledged Long Haochen’s innate talent, this time he approved everything about Haochen. That being said, he strode forward, and, lowering his head, he rubbed it against Long Haochen’s hand.
Petting the golden mane on its neck, Long Haochen declared, “Old friend, today I came looking for you.”
“Looking for me? Did something happen to you?” The Starlight Unicorn raised his head, a surprised look appearing on his face.
Long Haochen replied, “I hope you would leave the mountain with me, and aid me.”
The holy light coming out from the Starlight Unicorn King became more powerful, and rapidly, his eyes became darker, “Noble Scion of Light, god’s chosen one, I am unqualified to become your mount. And furthermore, you already seem to have a mount of your own.”
Long Haochen nodded, “That’s right, I already have a contracted partner. But for some particular reasons, he is temporarily unable to fight alongside me. The demons came to attack us, and already launched a Holy War against us. We cannot afford to lose it. If we do, the whole continent will be put in a terrible situation. As a knight, I must resist the demons, and that’s why I need your help. I don’t need to bind you by contract, and only hope that you could become my comrademy friendand fight by my side.”
The Starlight Unicorn King was in shock, and muttered to himself uncertainly before asking, “Why did you choose me? In this holy mountain, there are many light elemental magical beasts that are a lot more powerful than I. As the god’s chosen one that you are, I believe that there is no magical beast here that would reject your invitation, because being with you would help our cultivation greatly.”
Long Haochen showed a faint smile, “It’s because as far as I know, you are the one with the purest light attribute. And only you have such a flawless heart. What I need is a comrade that can work well with me, rather than someone powerful. I believe that you should understand this.
“What’s more, although you are currently only a magical beast of the ninth rank, equivalent to the eighth step for us humans, I believe that after going through continuous battles, your cultivation will go up, and advancing into a Divine Unicorn shouldn’t be impossible.”
Hearing him say that, the Starlight Unicorn’s eyes lit up. Lightly nodding to him, he immediately understood the favor Haochen was doing for him. As Long Haochen had obtained the blessings of the Goddess of Light, if he stayed by his side for a long time, it was very possible that the limits on the Starlight Unicorn King’s innate talent would be overcome, raising the likelihood of it becoming a Divine Unicorn.
Among all known Divine Unicorns, almost every single one had encountered especially favorable circumstances. Battling alongside the Scion of Light was naturally something the Starlight Unicorn King was willing to do. The current Long Haochen was a full-fledged god’s chosen one, of even greater status than he originally had as the Scion of Light. At the time the Starlight Unicorn King had rejected Long Haochen, that was because the Scion of Light would come to attract overly powerful enemies, but the current Long Haochen clearly had enough ability for self protection.
“Understood, I am willing to become your comrade.” The Starlight Unicorn King lowered its head, presenting its horn in front of Long Haochen.
The matter went even more smoothly than Long Haochen expected: He knew that the fact the Starlight Unicorn King gave his horn for him to pet meant that he was acknowledging allegiance to Haochen.
Lightly petting his very warm and sensitive horn, Long Haochen held its head, “Thank you, friend. I believe that you won’t regret this. Let’s go wipe out darkness together. If in the future, there is anything you need my help with, I will do my best to provide assistance.”
The Starlight Unicorn shook his head, “I only hope for you to forgive my original rejection.”
Long Haochen only showed a smile, “This is nothing. Back then, I was, after all, way too weak, totally unqualified to act as your partner.”
The Starlight Unicorn King gave him a grateful glance, “Your heart is made of gold. Thank you for your forgiveness.” Saying that, he turned back and let out some cries towards his fellow Starlight Unicorns.
These Starlight Unicorns, reluctant to part with their king, immediately gathered in the middle of the circle they formed.
Long Haochen moved back to the side. He knew that the Starlight Unicorn King was bidding farewell to his comrades.
This trip to the Knights’ Saint Mountain went very smoothly. Long Haochen had taken a liking to this Starlight Unicorn King since the first time they met. He really didn’t resent this Starlight Unicorn King for his initial rejection,and now that he met him for the second time, Long Haochen had a clear sense of the compatibility between the two of them. In fact, this Starlight Unicorn King could be said to be the closest to being a Starlight Divine Beast among the magical beasts.
As for Divine Unicorns, they were the evolved form of a Starlight Unicorn! In the human records, there were not many Divine Unicorns. Long Haochen even wondered if Divine Unicorns could be a kind of Starlight Divine Beast.
With extreme reluctance, the Starlight Divine Beast King finished saying his farewell to his clan, and returned to Long Haochen’s side.
“My friend, if you want your clansmen to gain their freedom, maybe I can give you my assistance.” Long Haochen knew that many magical beasts were confined to the Knights’ Sacred Mountains, and without being led out by humans, they would be unable to leave this place.
The Starlight Unicorn King shook its head, “No need. We are actually unwilling to leave this place. Here, our kin gain accelerated growth, as this is a place that is just for light elemental magical beasts like us. In some sense, this is our holy land. So is there even a reason why we would want to leave? It’s not only the case for our community of Starlight Unicorns: the other communities mostly share this line of thoughts. The Knight Temple doesn’t interfere with us much, and at the times you come looking for mounts, it is also a choice on our side. If we are unwilling, the Knight Temple would never try to force us. This is why our relationship has always been so harmonious.”
Hearing everything he said, Long Haochen felt like his concerns were relieved. At least, the Knight Temple didn’t let him down.
“We can go, noble chosen one of god”
Long Haochen softly caressed the head of the Starlight Unicorn, “We are friends, no need to be so formal. Just call me Haochen, okay? And I’ll call you Star King. How about it?”
The Starlight Unicorn nodded warmly, and the wings on its back vanished.
Long Haochen didn’t immediately ride the unicorn, but put on his Gold Essence Foundation Armor, before moving quickly onto the back of the Starlight Unicorn King.
The two of them were very shocked to find out that when Long Haochen sat upon the Starlight Unicorn King, the Gold Essence Foundation Armor felt as if it was melting around them. Unexpectedly, the Starlight Unicorn King was included in the phenomenon, and around its body appeared a layer of dark gold.
Only, the dark-gold layer around Star King was a lot weaker than for Long Haochen. But even so, the Star King could gain some of the armor’s benefits, providing a perfect harmonization between his and Long Haochen’s cultivation. This feeling was hard to describe, as if the two of them were made one.
The other Starlight Unicorns saw the changes on Star King, and couldn’t help but kneel down in front of that scene, full of worship.
A Starlight Unicorn would normally have an all white body, with only its eyes, horn and mane being gold-colored. But if they were to awaken into Divine Unicorns, their whole body would turn golden. And the current Star King had some of the bearing of a Divine Unicorn.
The other magical beasts became full of envy upon noticing the changes on Star King. Just as he said before, in the Knights’ Saint Mountain, no magical beast would refuse the invitation from a god’s chosen one.
With a golden glint, Star King flapped the wings on its back, bringing Long Haochen soaring, and flying towards the direction from whence Long Haochen came.
Star King’s flying speed was extremely fast, probably comparable with Long Haochen’s full-speed flight, or even faster. His flight was extremely stable as well, to the extent that Long Haochen didn’t feel buffeted by the air. On Star King’s body, layers of soft spiritual energy bubbled out in the direction of Long Haochen, who found out to his astonishment that after his spiritual energy joined with Star King’s, it would not only mix with full power, but also, this kind of fused spiritual energy would immediately be in the state of Spiritual Highland.