Armaros looked at the massive dragon that probably has enough power to flatten him and his slave Fanah with ease, and hoped that his little epiphany was correct, if it wasn't, he will be crushed by the frankly powerful and dangerous summon.
He held no illusions of being able to beat it, not after what he had seen of its strength, and so a gamble had to be taken for this one, and one that he was half willing to take for the prize of the dragon treasure.
And so he moved towards the dragons, his steps firm yet light as he kept his breathing in control and tried not to panic as he walked towards it. And if he was being honest, the size of the dragon was doing an amazing job of scaring him and the closer he got, the more fear he felt as he looked at it.
'Fuck, it's big.' Armaros thought to himself as he got closer to the dragon.
He felt his nerves act up as he got closer to it and the scale of the dragon became much more apparent, but he didn't go for his weapon or call on his mana, and didn't give the dragon any reason to perceive him as a threat and kept on walking at a steady pace.
Fanah had to suppress her thoughts on attacking the dragon as she watched her master get closer to the dragon. On one hand, he is the one who has endalved her, and if he dies then she would be freed. But on the other hand, he had fought and bled by her side, and also never betrayed her or used her for her body, unlike most of the men that she knew of, and she has grown to trust her master as he turned out to be more honourable than the men she had met previously in her life, especially those who have greater power than herself.
'He isn't someone who would do something recklessly, he must have a plan.' Fanah thought to herself as she kept her thoughts and instincts in check.
Armaros got very close to the dragon, and it had lowered it's head, keeping it level to the ground as it kept eye contact with him, as he felt nervous and fear at the sight. But he didn't let it rule him as he slowly got closer to the dragon, and it growled lightly as he walked closer until he was standing in front of its snout.
Warm air was expelled from its nose and mouth as it washed over him as he momentarily wondered as to why it was even breathing to begin with before he expelled that intrusive thought to focus on the situation.
'If this is the true goal of this trial then...' Armaros thought to himself as he breathed in and out.
After calming himself down and getting his erratic heartbeat under control, he looked at the dragon and raised his right hand, and slowly placed it on the snout of the dragon, feeling the rough scales of the humongous beast. While Fanah was watching this with her jaw dropped at what her master had just done.
'Wh-What? Is-Is he actually touching the dragon? Is he insane!?' Fanah thought to herself in shock as she saw that.
But Armaros was focused entirely on the dragon, and a few seconds after he had touched it's snout, the dragon growled and he felt a magic wash over his body from it. He tensed at that, but he didn't let go and kept eye contact with it.
And then the dragon closed its eyes slowly and a puff of warm air left its nose, before the entire dragon glowed and broke into magical particles which was absorbed into the central crystal. Armaros let out a sigh of relief when he saw that, while Fanah was shocked that the dragon had disappeared on its own, without being attacked and destroyed by them.
'It just disappeared on its own? What kind of trial does that?' Fanah thought to herself as she looked at her master in shock.
She stood there for a few seconds as the crystal glowed, and the eyes of the dragon statues on either side of the crystal also glowed in tandem. Fanah then went to her master's side as he turned to look at her as she reached him.
"Master, what... what was that? How did you beat it?" Fanah asked him as she wanted to know how her master beat the trial.
"To be honest, I wasn't sure that my idea would work, I just went on a limb since the dragon is stronger than the both of us. Simply put, I approached without any hostile intent." Armaros said to her as her mind blanked out.
"What?" Fanah asked her master in surprise.
"Exactly as you said. Instead of attacking the dragon or approaching it with the intent to defeat it, I approached it with the intent on... let's say peaceful resolution right now. And it seems to have worked. The condition for passing this trial is to approach the dragon without any intent of hostility, and maybe a desire for friendship so to speak." Armaros said to her as she couldn't believe her ears.
'R-Really? That's the condition for passing this trial?' Fanah thought to herself in shock as she hadn't expected that at all.
It was a totally bizarre condition to be honest. A trial was meant to be a test of a person's strength, skill, power and knowledge, whether physical, magical or both. And yet her master had revealed that the condition to pass this trial was to have the desire to become friends or companions with the summoned dragon.
It was baffling for her, especially because it's the trial of a dragon itself, as they are a species that has always focused on power more so than friendships and such. So to hear that the condition for passing the trial was to have non aggressive feelings towards it was confusing and disorienting for her.
But any thoughts that she or he might have had were put to the side as the eyes of the dragon statues glowed brighter and the crystal glowed and illuminated the entire room, forcing the two humans to block the light with their arms as they had to take a step back from the intensity.
*Crack crack crack shatter*
The crystal cracked and soon shattered, the large fragments crumbling and turning into mana particles which converged into the centre of the now destroyed crystal, or rather the thing that was stored in it.
The two lowered their arms as the light faded and they were now able to see properly, and their eyes widened as they saw the crystal turn into mana and enter the object that was stored inside of it. A vaguely human and dragonic shaped thing which was becoming easier for them to distinguish and see.
Both Armaros and Fanah's jaws dropped slightly as they recognised the creature in front of their eyes, a being that is almost of the same mythical rank as the dragons that are recorded in legend.
'Is that a Dragonewt?' Both thought to themselves in shock as they looked at the floating creature.