Chapter 46

“This is the dormitory of our Academy.”

It was a building about half the size of the Academy building, giving off an officetel-like atmosphere.

Though it was called a dormitory, it could be considered quite a magnificent house.

In front of the dormitory was a security office, where a person in neat attire was stationed inside.

“Huh?”

“It’s you!”

The person inside the security office stepped outside and recognized Dahlia and us.

“Do you know each other?”

“Just a little.”

He was the staff member who was guarding the checkpoint when we entered Sarita City.

“I told you we’d meet again!”

“Just a coincidence. But what are you doing here?”

“I’m doing security part-time! The pay is good here.”

At that, Dahlia and Catherine moved closer to the staff member.

My and Jema’s tuition will come from the money I earn while repaying my debt to Aila.

In contrast, the two needed to find work to earn money within this city.

“By the way, I haven’t even asked your name.”

“Oh, I’m Minwoo.”

A rather familiar name and pronunciation.

“Did you cross over the gate?”

When I asked, Minwoo shook his head in response.

“I didn’t cross over myself; my parents did. I was born here.”

I was seeing someone who crossed over the gate for the first time.

Of course, he wasn’t the one, but I thought it would be nice to meet Minwoo’s parents if I had the chance.

With Minwoo guiding us, we entered the dormitory.

“I actually heard in advance that new residents would be coming in today. I didn’t expect it would be you.”

They didn’t seem to separate male and female dormitories, as we were all assigned to the same floor.

“There are quite a few vacant rooms right now.”

Minwoo opened one room and showed us the inside.

The room was about four pyeong in size and included a bed, desk, and wardrobe as basics.

“This room is nice.”

“Oh, by the way, there are residents here who are not students of the Academy as well. Keep that in mind.”

Since there were quite a few vacant rooms, we could each choose the room we wanted.

“Um, is there a room that doesn’t get much sunlight?”

“Most people look for rooms with plenty of sunlight, why would you want that?”

Minwoo looked puzzled at Jema’s question but quickly showed her such a room.

The location of the dormitory was right in the city center, so it was bound to have at least one spot that didn’t get sunlight.

Such rooms tend to be damp due to the lack of sunlight, and ceilings or walls are often overtaken by mold.

The room Minwoo showed Jema was tucked away but quite clean.

“This room gets very little sunlight due to the building in front.”

Minwoo opened the window to show her the situation outside.

Seeing that, Jema responded that she would choose this room.

Minwoo’s expression brightened, like someone who had successfully sold a troublesome item.

“I’d appreciate it if you used it. It’s a hassle to manage if the room keeps being empty.”

Managing a room that doesn’t get proper sunlight would clearly be Minwoo’s responsibility.

Room 1501.

That was the number of the room I chose. Located on the fifteenth floor, it offered a splendid view of the surroundings of Sarita.

There wasn’t anything particularly personal to put in the room, so it felt empty.

I kept an olive branch in the wardrobe where I needed to put my clothes.

Sitting on the bed, I pondered what to do with that olive branch.

An olive branch that supposedly retained power from the past dragons.

The branch’s length was ambiguous, making it unsuitable as a staff to carry or hold in hand.

It didn’t seem like a good choice for a weapon either.

Though it had some remaining power, I didn’t even know how to extract it.

I placed the olive branch in my hand and tried infusing it with mana or swinging it lightly, but nothing happened.

There was definitely something I didn’t know, but even touching the book didn’t summon that white dragon.

Overwhelmed with frustration, just as I was about to lie down on the bed to get some sleep, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

I hurriedly got up and placed the olive branch on top of a book.

I infused both the book and the branch with mana and waited.

A translucent fairy appeared from the branch, fluttering around me for a moment before disappearing.

Thud! Thud!

The olive branch started to twist awkwardly, making bizarre sounds.

The completed shape resembled a kind of bracelet.

When I slipped it onto my wrist, the bracelet adjusted to fit as if it were alive.

Thump!

My heart began to race violently, followed by an intense wave of fatigue that made me fall onto the bed.

“Hello. Hi? Hello? Hello?”

The one who woke me from my slumber was a green fairy.

I wondered if it was a dream, but the city night view outside the window confirmed it was real.

Without asking who they were, I simply responded to their greeting.

“Hello.”

“I’m sorry for making you exhaust your energy so suddenly.”

The fairy bowed in mid-air, apologizing to me.

“I wanted to recover quickly since it’s been a while.”

“I see.”

“My name is Wizel.”

“I’m Ririan.”

The fairy spun around me, examining various things.

“It seems you are indeed a dragon. Still a hatchling, though.”

“That’s right. I was born just a few years ago.”

“I have a mission to guide you on behalf of the dragons.”

“A mission?”

“Yes. Do you happen to know the Flower Dragon?”

I shook my head.

The fairy began to tell me what they knew about the dragon.

Typically, dragons are known to be fierce, savage beings that reign at the top of the ecosystem.

However, the Flower Dragon values life and does not harm indiscriminately, it seems.

It lived distanced from humans but was very friendly with fairies.

During the time of war, it ran away instead of fighting.

“What? So, the dragons weren’t completely exterminated?”

“Who knows? If they are hiding, that would be fortunate.”

Dragons have exceedingly long lifespans.

Hearing that a small number of dragons might still be alive, my heart began to race.

This was not just my emotions; my body felt a reaction!

The hope that my kin might be alive coursed through me.

Despite my will, my whole body trembled, and I couldn’t stop it.

After a few deep breaths, I managed to calm down and asked the fairy.

“What kind of power does this bracelet have?”

“You can talk to me. It can also heal wounds, albeit a little.”

I wanted to experiment immediately, but I didn’t want to inflict unnecessary injuries on myself.

“I heard that you infused some kind of power into the branch.”

“I was only told to hand over that bracelet.”

I felt a bit disappointed by the olive bracelet’s capabilities.

Healing powers are important, but they seemed too minimal.

Why did the dragons leave behind such a power?

The second day broke. In five days, I would reunite with Aila and leave this place again.

Today was the day to enhance my magical abilities.

Though it was early, it seemed there were slightly more students than yesterday.

Since it was the middle of the semester, there probably weren’t many students like us enrolling midway.

This meant students were transferring from other classes.

“Hello~”

In today’s magic class, there was a familiar face.

“Ah, was it Mr. Max?”

“You can drop the honorifics.”

He was definitely the person in charge of Jema’s exam.

“What brings you to the beginner class?”

“I came to learn magic.”

“I thought since you’re an advanced class student, you’d at least be at the intermediate level.”

“Haha. Most kids here are probably similar to me. It’s rare to find someone taking both magic and swordsmanship equally.”

Max sat next to me and started practicing the magic he had recently been learning.

The class was primarily about asking the teacher questions and receiving guidance.

It was similar to self-study, but a common assignment was given to lead the lesson.

“Today, try creating some ice, and then melt it.”

The assignment was on very simple topics, but the students’ expressions weren’t bright.

“Everyone looks a bit down.”

“You’ll understand once you try.”

I judged it wasn’t too difficult and created a piece of ice.

Then I created a fireball and brought it close to the ice.

“Huh?”

It didn’t melt.

I raised my hand and told Adelia that I had made an ice piece that wasn’t melting.

“Ririan, that’s not that it won’t melt; it’s that you can’t melt it with your fire.”

When Adelia ignited her finger and held it up to the ice I made, it began to drip and melt.

“Why is that?”

“This exercise allows you to adjust the difficulty yourself. If you want to melt your ice, you need a bit more mana in your fire. This is a practice in controlling mana.”

I realized why Max said I would understand once I tried.

It took longer to use magic immediately than to condense mana first.

It was indeed the moment I felt how the Demon King casually wielded magic with just a finger snap.

I created fire again to melt the ice.

It felt somewhat easier to cast magic today compared to yesterday.

Whereas yesterday I had slowly progressed through each step without concentrating the mana, today all those actions flowed naturally as a single motion.

Still, I couldn’t be careless, as it was harder to maintain if I lost focus.

Using a bit more mana than when creating the ice, I made fire to melt it.

It was true that simply using more mana would work, but that couldn’t be the purpose of this exercise.

This practice wasn’t so simple, but some were repeating it after succeeding a few times.

Students like Max hadn’t attempted it again after succeeding just once.

“Don’t you keep practicing?”

“Why? Melting the ice is the end, isn’t it?”

This person doesn’t seem as intelligent as I thought.

I contemplated whether to elaborate or not.

“How about trying once more?”

“Once more? Sure. It’s easy enough.”

Max created an ice piece the size of his fist and swallowed it with a fireball the same size.

Watching that, I realized something.

Max’s magic varied in size depending on how much mana he infused, while my magic had a consistent size regardless of the amount of mana.

I carefully observed the magic of other students besides Max.

Everyone was different, but the size of the magic was influenced by the amount of mana used.