A Dragon's Curiosity

Grace and Kian struggled on the ground like a pair of oversized earthworms.

The suppression from Tynes Zepyhr Band’s ability bound them tighter than iron bands or stone cuffs.

Furthermore, the restriction did not only affect their limbs, they also had no more strength to speak or protest.

Tears of anger ran down Grace’s face, she had never been treated like this ever before in her life.

Kian wanted to roar out of anger, yet he only wriggled back and forth, the only action he could execute.

Aaren and Nisha mutely observed them during this period of time, their constraints far more relaxed and easier on their movements.

The young man wanted to speak up several times and struggled to step forward to help the two on the ground, but in the end he never made the decision and looked towards the elf for help.

Nisha, still unused to the additional weight on her movements, steadied her posture and experimented with small movements like raising her arm or rolling her shoulder.

She had not entertained the thought of helping the arrogant nobles, their conduct left a bad taste in the dragon’s mouth.

The elf belonged to one of the highest possible aristocratic Duke houses in Leandar, yet she never lorded that status over others or attempted to draw benefits from that connection.

Her late grandfather built up the Dharnas house with his own hands, sullying the reputation of the family felt the same as sullying his name.

“Let’s go. They have their assignment, we have ours. Helping them won’t change that, only the teacher is going to get angry.”

Nisha patted the shoulder of the youth next to her and returned to the track around the yard.

Due to the Wind God Bracelet’s restriction, Nisha experienced a great feedback during every movement.

It felt as if every part of her had a hook with a rope attached to it, with a powerful third rank warrior at the end of every rope, and every time the elf wanted to go forward, the ropes pulled in the opposite direction.

Rather fortunately, Nisha had plenty of physical strength even without the empowerment from her aura cultivation.

Dragons did not have the repute as the strongest physical beasts for no reason, which most likely caused the [Eternal Warrior] to misjudge her physical limit when setting up her restriction.

Aaren ultimately followed behind the elf without offering any help towards the nobles on the ground.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, any step he might take could potentially bring him a lot of harm.

Doing nothing and staying clear of the most influential and dangerous person around, Tyne Pinewood, currently appeared as the safest path going forward.

Perhaps, fate stood on his side as well, since Grace and Kian were too busy struggling against the iron bands binding their whole body, making them too busy to notice the poor commoner walking away.

The young man struggled to walk faster than a snail like pace anyway, his restriction accurately gauged his power at the top of the first aura rank.

To move forward at all, Aaren needed to empower his physical body with aura, expending the energy in the process and training his physical constitution at the same time.

Although his personal task only consisted of five rounds on the track around the yard, he did not know if he had enough strength to finish them.

Nisha felt similar exertion, though the rounds were easier on her aura reserves.

On top of a finest quality physique and physical strength, the small portion of [Dragon Force] she could consciously circulate countered the [Zephyr’s Band], too.

Still, the raw exertion of muscle power and defying the energy against her allowed Nisha to properly exercise her strength.

Since her cultivation fell from the early fourth level back to the peak of the third level in the process of remoulding her body when the [Dragon Force] integrated into it, there had been a small improvement to her cultivation.

Rather than breaking through again from the peak of the third level, the additional energy bolstered her useable available energy instead, growing the pool of power stored inside her.

As the increase in power happened either way, the dragon accepted the unusual progress in her cultivation and now focused on getting used to the shifted physical prowess.

Only with perfect control over her own body would the elf be able to exert her utmost in the Dungeon on deeper floors.

She also needed delicate levels of control to practice the [Imperial Sword Play], otherwise Nisha merely waved a sword around like a stick instead of learning new aspects of the more intricate mysteries hidden in the technique.

“Wait a moment, wait for me!”

Aaren did his best to catch up to the elf before him, albeit his gait still made a snail look rather fast.

Small droplets of sweat appeared on his brows, the toll of his exertion already showing.

Nisha turned around and waited until he made it to the path, and then matched the young man as he walked at his own pace.

“Whew, teacher’s skill is really nothing to laugh at. Have you experienced something similar before? Your pace is rather fast, at least compared to me.

I have trained with heavy rocks in my village before, to train my strength, but compared to this, it’s only child’s play.”

Strenuously placing forward one foot after the other, Aaren opened up like a blooming flower and started a lively conversation with the other commoner in the joint training, at least he thought of the elf like that.

Nisha, on the other side, precisely measured every step she took, taking care of the distance and how the weight distributed itself during the process.

Despite enjoying an easier time than her fellow students due to her inborn advantages, the stricter constraints meant that her twenty rounds were much harsher than the five Aaren had to complete.

Anything that allowed her to save energy and complete them with more ease was welcome to the elf.

Recalling the [Advance] technique from the [Imperial Swordplay], the dragon adjusted her motions to slowly go through the recorded technique.

The Terus legion gifted her with a written record of the technique, which included a memory stone and several diagrams recording the flow of aura needed to execute the twelve styles, although the difficulty of these accounts nearly needed medical expertise to study them completely.

Starting with the ball at the back of the foot, aura gathered in a fitted sheet covering the surface as soon as the limb touched the ground.

From there, the aura gathered around the point of contact and surged to the pad next to the toes, while the pad lifted from the ground, effectively making the user stand on their toes.

The surging line of aura pools around five points respective to each toe and concentrates until the gathered potential explodes into motion.

Ignition of the prepared energy propelled the user forward with great momentum, using a minimal amount of power to achieve extraordinary results.

Of course, a general account might not fit each individual perfectly, so the trainees using the [Imperial Swordplay] had to experiment with the [Basic Styles] and find their own method or study supplementary medical knowledge to optimize their own version of [Advance].

Experimenting with the execution of her own version under the restraint of the wind shackles cast by Tyne, Nisha discovered that an explosive discharge of aura negated another portion of the hold on her, while refining her control over the ability at the same time.

“I can’t say that I encountered the same kind of inhibition before.

Previous to attending the [Royal Academy] in the capital, I lived with my grandfather in the countryside.

Rather than training with weights or similar methods, we mostly had to work for our livelihood as there were no other people living nearby.

So farmwork, hunting and maintenance work on our home took up most of my time, even though doing that also tempered my cultivation in the process.

Between enduring this [Zephyr’s Band] and carrying back a deer hunted after a long chase through the forest, I’d not say that these rounds are especially tiring.”

Talking while experimenting with the new environment did not strain the dragon too much.

Furthermore, Aaren had an innocent charm as the timid village boy that disarmed Nisha’s wariness against nobles and other arrogant characters.

She did not mind talking to him for a bit.

“That’s amazing, I never imagined that the places outside the village’s range had such a difficulty to them, comparable to the effects of a god tier [Manifestation].

Do you think we will also be able to comprehend our own [Manifestations] in the future? I don’t really know what to expect from this training program.”

Clearly, the restriction left the greatest impact on his young mind.

Walking side by side, they each took some pause after each sentence, persisting through the harsh training with effort and hard work.

Aaren especially, his originally lightly sweaty brows now developed into a completely drenched face, and they barely finished the first round.

The young dragon fared better comparatively, albeit the constant drain of aura also showed first signs of exhaustion on her body.

She spat out a heated breath, which blew up a cloud of dust to the side of the path.

Nobody saw exactly the spot of impact, the bamboo leaves on the ground withered from the rapid heat, making that exhale comparable to a flame breath.

“I think I have heard about [Manifestations] before, I seemingly recalled another phenomenon from memory.

Summoning a piece of gear, imbuing aura with power, and historical items reappearing, perhaps I’ve read about it before.

Anyway, this is a common trait aura displays regardless of race or training method, so my best guess is that as long as you continue to hone warrior abilities and often fight with them, there’s a pretty good chance to comprehend your own [Manifestation].

You should preserve in this training unit, too.

Since it’s the same as [Inner Space] for mages, you can probably obtain one at any rank of cultivation, so perhaps a first rank fighter out there already has his first [Manifestation].

With guidance from the [Eternal Warrior], it can only bring a positive effect.”

Nisha considered her current participation from a similar angle as she told to the youth beside her.

Sure, standing out as a special warrior student by being picked to participate brought unwanted attention, yet it already happened and attending now was the anticipated course of action, wanting to get out of the training would only raise more suspicion.

Furthermore, the elf had pretty much fumbled around on her own with regards to cultivation, the lessons in the [Royal Academy] and her visit to the Terus empire legion being the only exceptions.

And the first had yet to catch up with the depth of her cultivation, while the swordplay she learned had minimal effects on cultivation and leaned more towards fighting power.

That was why Nisha looked forward to the results brought by Tyne’s training program, the guild member had accepted a task that involved measuring their individual progress and tailoring a fitting exercise plan for them.

Compared to discovering things on her own, the dragon should most likely learn more sophisticated ways of training and advancing her aura from him.

While the pair accompanied each other in silence, they completed another round.

Passing the two earthworms next to the lawn in front of the gate, Kian managed to struggle to his elbows and knees already, while Grace barely sat up from the ground with a mud smeared face.

Aaren constantly wiped his face and neck to get rid of the sweat building up there with his hands, and he still had trouble controlling his laughter when seeing their pathetic appearance.

“You can go ahead. I know you’re matching my tempo, I have no spare energy left to hold a conversation though.

Since you need to complete more rounds than me, I will slow down and gather some aura before advancing, don’t mind me.”

Nisha agreed with Aaren’s suggestion and sped up. She still had nine tenths of the exercise before her, and it did not look like the [Eternal Warrior] planned on releasing them when the alloted time for class ended.