A Dragon's Curiosity

Although the general strike Nisha performed with the blunt spear couldn’t compare to the prowess it had when she took her time to imbue the weapon with the spiralling aura from before, it still astonished Lisa. She had chosen the sword as it hailed itself as one of the stronger arms and plenty of skills centred around it, but she failed to produce the same force as a girl of comparable age to her.

Nisha didn’t bother to compare herself with a female human, and she already knew she possessed a far greater amount of strength and agility than others due to being a dragon originally. Turning to the staring girl, she suppressed a chuckle. And while she guessed that any store called [Golden Cauldron] possessing a spot in the Dungeon Branch must certainly be amazing, this did not impress her too much after she had heard Henry’s explanation on honour. It just added a bit of background to Lisa in her mind.

Looking at the two girls from behind, Unico begrudgingly approached them. Being ignored was a novel experience to him and certainly not by someone of his age. Frustrated, yet unable to show it, he interjected himself into the conversation, having overheard their last exchange.

“The [Golden Cauldron]? You’re dealing with alchemy ingredients, aren’t you?”

Shy at the sudden approach of another stranger when she barely could respond in coherent sentences to the first one, Lisa couldn’t even panic anymore.

“Yes, that’s the shop my parents run. I help out from time to time, but I don’t understand much yet of the concocting itself, sorry. Did you perhaps shop at our place before?”

Able to relate to the strangers by talking about a topic she was confident in, Lisa regained some of her bearings. Giving them the smallest hint of a smile, she pulled up her drooping shoulders and looked forward to an answer. As Nisha had never shopped there, she could only turn to Unico as well.

“Sorry to disappoint, I’ve never shopped there. But I do have high respect for alchemists. It’s a very highly esteemed profession. I admire them as well.

As for your blade work, try choosing a smaller sword, Lisa. It sounds harsh, but female warriors lack a bit in strength compared to their male counterparts. You tire out faster, and the balance is off with a longer sword. Of course, you can also disregard my advice. I’m no expert either.”

The sad expression was long gone since Unico now tread on familiar ground again, Lisa gave him a surprised glance. Regarding advice from a fellow student, she wasn’t sure how much she could trust it. However, the other girl beside her didn’t show any signs of unrest. His words should not be harmful, and the teacher would say something later on if she did change weapons and made a wrong decision. At least Lisa had no idea herself, and it was the first time in her life she wielded a weapon, a common circumstance for many of the young students around the field. Approaching the rack nearby, she looked for a shorter sword to practice with for now.

“Hey, how come you never gave me advice about changing my weapon?”

Leaning against the spear who surpassed her by at least two heads, Nisha criticised the young man, who could only helplessly shake his head in response.

“Aren’t you waving that stick around like it doesn’t weigh anything? You’re at least at the peak of the first rank; it doesn’t matter what you train. This other girl here has trouble putting her weight into the swing, that’s why her attempt is so pitiful. Even if you had an iron spear in that size, I reckon you could still beat the scarecrow to pieces. Actually, what do you usually eat to be such a brute …”

Shaking his head, he rapidly approached the target with nimble footwork and slashed his daggers in a cross this time, adding more faint lines on the enchanted puppet.

Nisha disliked getting called a brute, but she could not legitimately refute either as the armament in her hand honestly did not weigh anything for her.

Returning with another weapon more appropriate for her size, Lisa timidly looked at the elf, waiting if she wanted to make an attack as well for the practice experience. Seeing how the shy girl placed importance on the sequence, Nisha stopped grumbling and rushed up to the wooden target, slashing out in a wide arc to maximise the impact when the spear hit upon the wooden body. Although she left no marks like Unico without proper preparations, the resounding impact still enabled everyone to know how powerful the attack was.

“Don’t go and imitate that barbarian over there. Lisa is your name, right?”

Getting a quiet nod in return, the blonde girl turned to Unico. Even without testing it, the shorter sword already fit her hand way better than the original one, increasing her trust in him.

Taking a deep breath, she attacked the target as the next one, the sound of impact already resonating much better than when she practised by herself.

“It worked! Did you see? I did it!”

Unable to contain her joy, she turned around to look at the two strangers, beaming at them and thinking how great it was if they were to become friends.

Nisha, on the other hand, observed both of the other two. As usual, even without his attention, the vortex in his throat attracted more aura and mana out of the air, letting Unico recover much faster than Lisa, who had to catch her breath now and then after attacking with her sword. The dragon had no idea how her body worked in that regard, as the centre of her vision her body never showed up in the [Spirit Sight], even if she looked down straight on her chest. It attracted her curiosity to be unable to appraise her capabilities, but she couldn’t do anything about it.

Fortunately, she could at least ascertain her theory, and glancing at other small groups forming around the field helped as well. Apart from one or two irregularities, only the foreign children coming from the twin kingdoms had the strange vortex or similar constructs helping them absorb the natural energy in the air.

Apart from herself, a few other youths throughout the other groups also impressed her with the strength they could put into their swings.

Throughout the lesson, she chatted freely with Unico and Lisa, who was especially happy to have found her group.

The instructor, Mister Oak, passed their small gathering several times throughout the practice hour, yet refrained from intruding too much seeing as they helped each other out to discern some of the major beginner mistakes.

Returning the training armaments to their respective stands, Nisha secretly picked up a middle-sized splinter of the destroyed scarecrow from the demonstration at the beginning of the lesson. Although the wood had already shattered and separated from the impact, a small amount of magic remained inside the wood from the original enchantment. Done with her secret action, she rejoined Lisa and Unico while they walked towards their next destination for another lesson.

“What lectures are you going to pick? Personally, I wanted to take up alchemy to help out in the store more, but first turns aren’t allowed to.”

To integrate herself more into their small group, Lisa took the initiative to start a conversation. They had all tired themselves out on the field, beating the wooden puppets. Therefore she looked forward to a lesson in the pleasant coolness of one of the buildings.

“What? Why can’t first turns do alchemy? I had thought as part of the curriculum we can craft items?”

As a part-time adventurer, Nisha had already heard of the importance represented by potions and pills crafted by alchemists and sold in the Guild branch near the Dungeon. And each adventurer should pick a craft-related job they were adept in, at least that’s what she heard when she had registered in the past.

Now Lisa told them they couldn’t pursue alchemy, a subject the dragon anticipated to experience.

“Didn’t you listen to the introduction by the craft branch at the opening event?”

Looking at the elf a bit incredulously, Unico had to step up to explain again.

“First-turn students can only enroll in basic craft courses, such as gardening, smithing, woodworking and so on. Advanced jobs need a lot of rare and scarce materials, if each first turn student used them up while changing careers throughout the turn, there’d be nothing left for the more advanced students. Of course, most of the beginner jobs are necessary for the more advanced variety, so you can still get a feeling if you are suited or not for a particular profession.”

Loosening the scarf around the lower half of her face, Nisha could not quite grasp the information she had now. Unico, who wondered why she stopped walking turned around his head and similarly froze on the path as he saw her features for the first time, Lisa mimicking his actions when she noticed the two staying behind the majority of students heading for the next lecture.

“Don’t you know? I thought this was common sense. A skilled smith can still somewhat make do with regular iron to produce valuable items, yet alchemists can only work with specific plants and herbs. Otherwise, the process will fail, and all components will combust, disappearing from the cauldron.”

Taking the chance to converse among themselves before going to the next lesson, the three of them sat down on a nearby bench grouped with a simple stone table.

“Enchanter, Inscriptionist, alchemist, monster tamer, all of these occupations need somewhat valuable components which are often unusable for a second attempt in case the first one fails. Which in turns also means that a successful item from such a job will have a much higher price than a regular version of it.”

The role of a teacher naturally came to Unico, who seemed to enjoy showing off his knowledge. Lisa chimed in as well, the topic of alchemy being one of her forte’s.

“There’s two different primary paths in alchemy, pills and elixirs. A pill temporarily raises a particular attribute or recovers spent energy, while elixirs boast permanent benefits in return of much higher cost and difficulty. Mom and dad are both alchemists, but I’m still not allowed to work on something on my own, the most I can do is fetch materials for them from the storage. One mistake, and a whole batch of potions or recovery pills would get ruined. And for most recipes, each ingredient has to be carefully weighed and prepared before you can add it to the cauldron. Dad promised I could start helping out in the store with my potions next turn when I start taking alchemy lessons here in the academy. It’s my goal!”

Noticing this was the longest she ever talked in the presence of the two other youths, Lisa blushed deeply and looked down on the empty table surface suddenly as if it was fascinating.

“Indeed, and most of the core level jobs lead up to one or more higher ones anyway. A good gatherer is needed to discover the required herbs or to find the area where metallic ores and dig them up, which allows the alchemists to process the herbs or a metal smith to make a sharp sword. Mining, herblore, farming, animal rearing, all of it is needed to build the foundation for future professions.

Speaking of the basics, I have a general history class after this. I need to work on my knowledge to correctly understand my hosts during my stay here. Where are you two headed?”

Nisha seriously doubted Unico’s statement but didn’t refute his claim. Lisa answered before her, while the dragon glanced at the other youth.

“Personally, I need to attend Basic Reading and Writing. By helping out my parents in the store, I already picked up a bit here and there. However, it’s not enough for a proper alchemist; I can’t even read a book. What about you, Nisha?”

Torn out of her thoughts the elf had to mull over it for a second, yet found an answer fairly fast as it came to her naturally.

She needed neither history, as she learned it from the library before, nor reading or writing as the daughter of a noble house. Similarly, most of the entry courses offered to first turn students in the academic sense did not appeal to her, already covered by a primary education done jointly by Eldrin, when he was still alive, and Galan, who took over when she arrived in the capital.

“I will head over to the craftsmanship buildings and take a look. As a future adventurer, I want to learn a good profession to go along with it!”

Capable of entering the Royal Academy and aiming to be a full-time adventurer somewhat surprised the other two, but it wasn’t like it never happened. Although the qualifications obtained by graduating from this place elevated someone’s position above the mass of everyday adventurers, a fraction of nobles and higher situated citizen’s children still dreamed of romance and adventure, what better profession was there?

Still, Nisha had another line of thinking.

Where else was she going to be able to hunt as she pleased whenever she got hungry?

Being an adventurer truly was a dream job for the hungry dragon.