A Dragon's Curiosity

In the end, the dwarf did not return from his study to advise them. Most of the students finished familiarising themselves with the forges and left for other classes earlier. When they left those youths threw a particular gaze towards the forge with the elf and the chubby boy, curious why they worked so hard, yet they still left without going over. Enthusiasm was right, but the teacher wasn’t here to notice it, so why bother?

Since the two of them took the full amount of time, their results naturally reflected the amount of effort they poured in. Cooling down on the anvil slightly, Nisha gave the second iron ingot a few finishing touches with the smithing hammer. Deep down in her mind, she was secretly delighted to have produced something from scratch in the forge and looked around if the arrogant dwarf was around.

A moment later, the dragon scolded herself for the thought. How could a little iron ingot enter the eyes of a master? Just because they experienced a little success, she couldn’t let it get to her head.

“We did it!”

Cheering for their success, Conner placed the first ingot refined besides the second. Although the first had some flaws due to Nisha’s inexperience when refining it, the metal block still fell within the reasonable deviation allowed to be called a proper ingot.

Taking the slightly smaller and more deformed block of metal for himself, Conner acknowledged who did the work’s leading share. Furthermore, he wouldn’t feel comfortable in his skin if the elf still gave him more benefits. Acquiring an iron ingot already stood out among the other students, no matter how shabby it looked as the metal had to be smelt here to get accepted as part of the materials for the next lesson.

“What a shame the others left already, I wonder what kind of faces they would make if they saw the elf which the teacher scolded at the beginning and her helper are already ahead of everyone else.”

Releasing his joy into merry laughter, the young man carefully picked up his spoils and stuffed them into his bag. As the two of them were respectively at the beginning and peak of the second aura rank, this little bit of weight could not be considered substantial by either of them.

Realising how her mindset differed from Conner, the dragon was startled for a second. Rather than that, she also became aware how she didn’t know any of the other kids in either the warrior class in the morning or among those who just left. As soon as she saw them and decided they were not a threat, Nisha totally disregarded all of them. Besides Unico, Lisa and Conner, who took the initiative to interact with her, the elf didn’t know a single name of her fellow students.

Picking up her ingot, Nisha nodded her head as she came to a decision.

“We still made progress and learned something so that we will stand out in the next lesson. Probably. I’ve got to go now, though. My next class is about to start.”

As the two aspiring smiths stayed as long as possible to finish their work, there would only be a small rest period before the magic lesson started and Nisha still had to find the location where it would get held.

And as a personal goal, the dragon wanted to pay more attention to the other students this time around. Even if their strength was beneath her own; they fell into the non-threat category, Nisha shouldn’t just disregard them, or it might lead to a lapse in judgement. The dragon was aware that she had made a mistake and needed to correct it.

“Huh?”

In a similar manner, Conner felt quite astonished as well. As he also entered the second aura rank, he knew how difficult it was to break through. Any of the new students in the royal academy needed to break into the first aura or mana rank at least, attaining the second rank was quite more difficult compared to that. As both he and the elf beside him were in the second aura rank, he didn’t understand what kind of lesson she wanted to attend, only the mage lessons and some unknown minor subjects held in the afternoon. And since she already obtained the second aura rank, she couldn’t have achievements in mana as well, right?

Naturally, they weren’t close enough yet to let him question the elf’s words. Seeing that his group partner had the intention to leave, Conner readily did not hold her back.

“Since you have another arrangement, we will see each other again in the next lesson. Take care.”

Gathering his things and leaving first, the chubby young man waved in a cheerful manner and left first. In regards to mana, he had no talent at all and would not choose to torture himself with some challenging minor subject either. Hence he sighed in relief as his first day at the Royal Academy came to an end.

Contrary to his schedule, Nisha still had one more subject on her time table. As she had already visited two out of the three major factions in the Academy, it was now time for the dragon to visit the last one. Due to their unique characteristic as sharp spires rising into the sky, it wasn’t hard for her to locate the direction she needed to head now.

Stealthily depositing her iron ingot in her [Inner Space], Nisha looked around the courtyard for the last time before she departed.

The mage lesson was about to start, and she still had not figured out where exactly the place it was held was.

Hurrying along the stone pathways the elf had to slightly struggle against the streams of students who already finished their lectures and now headed towards either the city or the faculties of the Academy to peruse.

Despite her smaller frame, she would have most likely been able to plough her way through and shove everyone aside. However, that course of action would also undoubtedly draw an incredible amount of attention towards a new student.

Escaping the busier main path the elf only had a short amount of time available to inquire about the beginner classes. Fortunately, the administration tower for the mage faction also appeared to be empty at present as most students already headed for their classes.

Asking for the relevant information from a kind woman seated on the first floor, Nisha sprinted to the nearby dark blue tower and barely managed to reach the right room in time for the teacher to enter as well.

Grabbing a seat towards the back of the room the dragon let her gaze wander over the other students who arrived first, a few of them responded in kind to observe the latecomer before looking towards the front again.

As a matter of fact, her late appearance caused quite a ruckus, and her warrior garments also added another layer of attention on the elf. In the room, among the three dozen students, only two or three others had similar leather clothes, showing they pursued both aura and mana mastery. As to have such an ambitious student show up late, the others secretly sneered in their hearts, and quite a few whispers had her as a topic as the room buzzed with excitement.

Nonetheless, the teacher had entered the room at the same time, and Nisha had to stop observing her future classmates.

Dressed in a dark grey robe the woman in front of them could not be considered as aged or wizened. With roughly twice of her age, the dragon found it incredibly weird that the other got considered a teacher, yet she agreed to let the female instructor prove her worth first before making a judgement. Otherwise, she’d be no better than that hateful dwarf and the dragon herself also appeared quite ordinary on the surface. After all, based on her current estimation her physical strength at the peak of the second rank matched up to a human cultivator at the peak of the third rank and her resources of mana similarly reached a size comparable to a mage with one rank higher than her.

A single rank might not sound like much; however, the separation between them clearly showed off the vast gulf between them. Otherwise, most warriors and mages would not be stuck at the bottleneck for many turns before they succeeded in  a break through.

Even Conner, who already stepped in the second aura rank right when he entered the academy, should be considered as a rare genius for his ability to break through.

Evidently, the other students regarded the teacher quite similar to Nisha as their whispers showed no signs of stopping. A regular instructor would most likely have to shout over the gathered teens and try to get their attention, yet the young woman showed no signs of being troubled.

In a soft-spoken voice, she began her introduction, not caring whether or not the children could hear her. Luckily, the dragon possessed quite keen senses. Otherwise, there would be no chance for her to listen to the words at the back of the room while the other students still whispered to each other.

“I welcome you to the Mage Tower. As your senior, it is my duty to guide you along the path of cultivation; you may call me Miss Anet. Don’t be confused, the way of developing your mana is in no way different from the manner in which warriors train their aura.”

Her initial words disappeared among the hushed conversations and only after the teenagers realised the teacher was not going to bother to adjust her volume did the room lapse into a respectful silence, eager to hear what the young instructor had to say. While she wasn’t a city shaking beauty, her appearance was still pleasant to look at, and her soft voice pleased the ears of the boys among the students.

For the dragon, the first words held no suspense; she had always trained in this manner. Your personal power grew in proportion to the amount of effort you invested. If the progress halted midway, it wasn’t due to a lack of talent, but a lack of effort.

“In the same way that warriors train their body to exhibit even greater strength and hone their aura, mages tread the path of mental cultivation. We hone our spirits to grasp an even finer control over our spiritual abilities.

Many among you probably can’t wait to throw fireballs around and learn how to cause destruction. Not that this course of action is wrong in itself, however even casting the mightiest spell is only a mean to an end. As genuinely powerful mages, you will find plenty more opportunities to utilise your mental strength as alchemists, formation experts, enchanters and other similar professions.

Always remember, power is necessary, but not all power expresses in might.”

If anyone else said those words, they might have sounded comical. However, tens of brightly coloured lights started appearing in front of Miss Anet’s body, rotating in a lazy manner around her body and forming a spiral, then surging into the air before taking an orderly fashion around her again. In front of such a display of magical precision and might, cast without a wand or similar focusing tool, and voiceless at that, all of the students stared at her with twinkling eyes, awed by the spectacle.

Nisha similarly respected her for the display, the magical constructions appearing neat and systematic with slight alterations for the different colours. Otherwise her light mana freely controlled the orbs, the small hand gestures in her speech acting as the trigger for the magic.

Even as the dragon saw through the trick to substitute the chanting, she was still somewhat impressed by the precision and ease in the manipulation of mana.

“As for the first lesson, you will each find yourself a partner to practice. In the cabinets beneath the windows are the tools you need for the lesson. It’s more of a game than a real artefact. Nonetheless, I think the duel board will be able to keep you busy for the next few times we meet. Go ahead and grab one for two people each, when you found your groups I will explain how it works.”

After the soft-spoken instructor finished, the next hustle practically felt like an explosion compared to the previous silence.

Rushing towards the wooden closets as if there was a prize on the line, the teenagers viciously fought for the boards contained within.

The dragon only shook her head and aimed for one of the cabinets in the back of the room with fewer people around.

Obtaining one of the boards with a bright green stone embedded in the middle, Nisha looked around to find a partner for the exercises.

As luck would have it, one of the other teenagers dressed in a warrior’s attire currently waited on the other side of the room while the students crowded around.

Making a decision to be the first one to initiate a conversation, Nisha approached while carrying the board in her hand.

“Hi, my name is Nisha. Do you want to practice together?”

Having seen her approach the young man evidently had an idea what she was going to say and nodded his head.

“Nice to meet you. And sure, we can do that. My name is Alexander.”

Shaking her hand, he pushed his desk together with Nisha’s and turned sideways in his seat, waiting for further instructions from the teacher while the room gradually settled down.