Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner

Dark purple energy coalesced in the tunnel, reality folding inward on itself as Noah’s domain travel completed. He materialized maybe ten feet from Kelvin and Seraleth, his hair still damp from the shower he’d just abandoned, wearing his Eclipse tactical gear that he’d thrown on in about five seconds.
His eyes immediately registered the situation. The drake, mid-lunge toward Kelvin, its mouth open and glowing with internal heat. Seraleth tensed to intercept despite her injured shoulder. Kelvin’s prosthetic arms raised defensively.
Noah moved.
His enhanced speed carried him across the distance before the drake could complete its attack. He intercepted the creature mid-air, his shoulder driving into its side, redirecting its momentum away from Kelvin and into the tunnel wall instead.
The drake hit stone with enough force to crack it, tumbled, came up immediately in a combat stance. Its eyes locked onto Noah now, recognizing a new threat.
[Beast Detected]
[Race: Larva Cave Drake]
[Species: Ignis Salamandra Variant]
[Estimated Threat Level: Category 5+ Equivalent]
[Age: Juvenile - Approximately 8 Months]
[Note: Extreme Heat Generation - Physical Contact Not Recommended]
Noah’s mind processed the information rapidly. ’Not a standard category five. Doesn’t fit the normal ranking system, just like my dragons. Which means military classifications are basically useless here.’
The drake’s patterns flared brighter, shifting from orange to white-hot. Heat radiated from its body in waves that made the air shimmer, made breathing uncomfortable even from ten feet away.
’Eight months old and already this dangerous? What the hell does a full-grown one look like?’
Then the next notification appeared, and Noah felt his stomach drop.
[New Quest Available]
[Quest: Dragon Tamer]
[Objective: Tame Larva Cave Drake - 1/2]
[Reward: ???]
[Note: Lethal force will result in Quest Failure]
[Accept: Yes/No]
’You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Noah thought, his eyes still locked on the drake that was preparing to charge again. ’Tame it? How am I supposed to tame something that’s literally on fire?’
But the quest said one of two, which meant there was another drake somewhere in these tunnels. Probably the mate based on the phrasing. And if he killed this one, the quest failed entirely.
"Noah!" Kelvin’s voice carried from behind him. "What’s the plan?"
"New plan," Noah called back, not looking away from the drake. "Both of you get back. Way back. This thing’s about to get aggressive, and I don’t want you in the blast radius."
"What are you doing?" Seraleth asked, already moving backward while pulling Kelvin with her.
"Something stupid probably!"
The drake charged.
It moved fast, faster than its bulk suggested it should be capable of. Noah activated his Void Striders, his speed ramping up to match. He sidestepped the initial lunge, came around behind the creature, tried to grab it from the rear.
His hands made contact with its back for maybe half a second before the heat forced him to let go. Even through his beast gear gloves, the temperature was unbearable. Like grabbing a stove element turned to maximum.
’Can’t touch it directly. The heat generation is too extreme. My gear’s designed for combat protection, not thermal insulation.’
The drake spun, its tail whipping around at head height. Noah ducked under it, rolled forward, came up in front of the creature. He tried a different approach—grabbed for its front legs instead, thinking maybe the extremities would be cooler than the core body.
Wrong.
The drake’s legs were just as hot. Noah’s grip lasted maybe a full second this time before pain forced him to release. His gloves were smoking slightly, the synthetic material starting to char from the exposure.
’Okay, direct contact is completely off the table. I need to find a way to restrain it without actually touching it for extended periods.’
The drake’s mouth opened, and Noah saw the glow intensifying in its throat. He blinked backward ten feet on pure instinct.
Fire erupted from the creature’s mouth. Not a sustained stream, more like a shotgun blast of superheated air and flame that scorched the tunnel floor where Noah had been standing. The stone actually melted slightly, creating a glassy surface that glowed red.
’It breathes fire. Of course it breathes fire. Why wouldn’t the incredibly hot lizard also breathe fire?’
Noah circled the drake, his mind working through options. ’The quest says tame, not subdue. Which means I need to somehow make this thing stop seeing me as a threat and start seeing me as... what? An ally? A master? How do you even tame something that’s trying to kill you?’
The drake charged again, this time leading with its claws. Noah grabbed for them reflexively, managed to redirect the attack rather than take it head-on, but the brief contact left his palms stinging even through enhanced gear.
He needed a different approach entirely.
’Animals respond to dominance displays,’ Noah thought, watching the drake reset for another attack. ’Establish yourself as the alpha, force submission through superior strength. But I can’t use lethal force, can’t actually hurt it seriously, and I can’t touch it long enough to pin it down.’
The drake’s patterns pulsed brighter, its body temperature visibly increasing. The surrounding air was getting harder to breathe, superheated to the point where each inhale felt like it was scalding Noah’s lungs.
He activated Phase Step, his body becoming incorporeal. The drake’s next charge passed through him harmlessly. Noah phased back into reality behind the creature, tried to wrap his arms around its midsection from the rear.
The heat was immediate and overwhelming. Even with his enhanced vitality, the temperature was too much. His arms felt like they were being cooked. Three seconds of contact before he had to let go, stumbling backward with his forearms actually steaming.
[-25 HP]
[Health Points: 3,695/3,720]
[Warning: Prolonged Exposure to Extreme Heat Detected]
[Recommend Alternative Approach]
’Thanks for the obvious advice, system,’ Noah thought bitterly, shaking out his arms. The skin beneath his gloves was red, borderline blistered. His regeneration was already working on it, but the damage had been real.
The drake turned to face him again, and Noah noticed something. When it moved, when it shifted its weight, there was a slight asymmetry to how it positioned itself. Not injured, just... structural. Like one part of its body was less armored than the rest.
’The abdomen,’ Noah realized, watching it move. ’Under the belly. The ventral surface is probably less protected because it doesn’t need the same heat generation as the rest of the body. That’s where most lizards are vulnerable.’
But getting access to the drake’s underside while it was actively trying to kill him was a completely different problem.
Noah tried a new tactic. Instead of engaging directly, he started dodging, using his superior speed to stay just ahead of the drake’s attacks. Let it chase him, let it wear itself out, look for patterns in how it moved.
The creature was relentless. It charged, he dodged. It breathed fire, he blinked away. It tried to corner him, he phased through obstacles. The tunnel became a blur of movement, purple energy and orange heat creating a light show that would have been beautiful if it weren’t so dangerous.
But Noah was learning. The drake had patterns. It favored attacks from its right side. When it breathed fire, there was a half-second delay before it could move again. Its tail was its blind spot—if Noah got behind it at the right angle, the creature had trouble tracking him.
’Okay. So if I can get it to commit to a fire breath, then use that delay to get underneath it, maybe I can access the abdomen long enough to find whatever anatomical trigger point makes it submit.’
He tested the theory. Positioned himself in front of the drake, deliberately in its firing line. Waited for the telltale glow in its throat.
The fire breath came. Noah blinked sideways, appeared next to the drake’s flank, dropped into a slide that carried him underneath its body.
There.
A small section of the ventral surface, maybe six inches across, where the scales were different. Softer, less armored, and noticeably cooler than the surrounding tissue. Some kind of pressure point or nerve cluster based on how it was positioned.
Noah’s hand shot out, pressed against the spot.
The drake’s entire body convulsed. Not in pain, but in surprise. Like he’d found a switch it didn’t know existed. For one second, the creature went completely still.
Then it thrashed.
Its legs kicked wildly, trying to dislodge whatever was underneath it. Noah held on, kept pressure on that spot, hoping submission would follow.
Instead, the drake’s body temperature spiked dramatically. The heat went from unbearable to legitimately dangerous. Noah could feel his skin blistering even through his gear, could smell synthetic material starting to burn.
[-40 HP]
[Health Points: 3,655/3,720]
[Warning: Critical Heat Exposure]
[Recommend Immediate Withdrawal]
He let go, rolled away, came up smoking. His gear was actually on fire in places, small flames that he had to pat out manually.
The drake scrambled to its feet, patterns now burning white-hot, so bright that looking directly at it hurt. It was furious now, past the point of any kind of reasoning, operating on pure instinct that said eliminate the threat at any cost.
It charged again, but this time its movements were erratic. Self-preservation had been abandoned. The creature was risking injury to itself, slamming into walls to change direction faster, its claws tearing through stone without regard for the damage it was causing to its own limbs.
’It’s going to hurt itself,’ Noah realized, watching blood appear on the drake’s claws where it had torn them against rock. ’It doesn’t care. It’ll kill itself trying to kill me if that’s what it takes.’
He couldn’t let that happen. The quest would fail if it died, but more importantly, Noah didn’t want to kill something that was just defending its territory. This wasn’t a Harbinger. It was an animal, acting on instinct, protecting its home.
But he also couldn’t keep this up indefinitely. His health was dropping from repeated heat exposure. His gear was compromised. And somewhere in these tunnels was a second drake that probably wasn’t going to be any friendlier than this one.
The Drake lunged again, fire building in its throat for another breath attack.
Noah blinked backward, putting distance between them. He needed to think. Needed a completely different approach because everything he’d tried so far had either failed or made the situation worse.
Kelvin and Seraleth were watching from maybe fifty feet back, both of them looking concerned but trusting him to handle it.
’The abdomen spot works,’ Noah thought, analyzing what he’d learned. ’Touching it caused a reaction, some kind of neural response. But I can’t maintain contact long enough because the heat builds too fast when the drake gets agitated. I need to either cool it down first, or find a way to apply pressure without direct contact, or...’
His mind was racing through options, discarding most of them as quickly as they appeared. Cooling it down required abilities he didn’t have. Indirect pressure might work but he’d need tools he didn’t have available. Wearing it out was taking too long and risking serious injury to both of them.
The drake’s patterns were still burning white, its body temperature maintaining that dangerous level. It was circling him now, looking for an opening, steam or smoke rising from its scales.
Noah looked at his hands, at the blistered skin already healing thanks to his enhanced regeneration. Looked at his gear, scorched and damaged from just minutes of fighting. Looked at the drake, at this juvenile creature that was somehow both incredibly dangerous and almost pitifully young.
’There has to be a way,’ he thought. ’The system wouldn’t give me an impossible quest. There’s a solution here, I’m just not seeing it yet.’
The drake charged once more. Noah dodged easily, his speed still far superior despite the exhaustion building in his system.
But dodging wasn’t solving the problem. And time was becoming a factor—his health was regenerating, but slowly, and every heat exposure was chipping away at his total.
He needed a new plan. Completely different from everything he’d tried so far.
Noah backed away from the drake, putting even more distance between them, giving himself space to think without having to dodge constant attacks.
Kelvin called out from his position. "Noah? You alright?"
"I’m fine!" Noah called back, not taking his eyes off the drake. "Just need a minute to figure this out!"
The drake wasn’t giving him a minute. It was already preparing another charge, its patterns flaring, its temperature rising again.
Noah’s mind worked through everything he knew. The abdomen was the key. The heat was the barrier. Direct contact was impossible for more than a few seconds. The drake would risk self-harm to eliminate threats.
’What if...’
An idea was forming. Incomplete, risky, possibly stupid. But it was something different, a completely new approach to the problem.
He looked at the drake, at Kelvin and Seraleth behind him, at the tunnel system that probably held a second equally dangerous creature.
"Alright," Noah said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. "New plan."