“All right, Blue,” Merlin rubbed his arms as he said to the little blue dragon yawning a few steps away from him. Another characteristic about dragons he hadn’t known they had. “Just as we used to do it, okay? But this time with a little more intensity. You attack, and I deconstruct.”

  Blue stared at him with his large blue eyes and then turned away. Merlin frowned.

  He was in a training room, standing in the center of a blizzard, just as he had requested from the dorm master, and was freezing. Well, at least to the extent that he could. His Resilience was above level fifty now, and as such he was well immune to harsh weather.

  But that was besides the point.

  Everytime they were to train, the dragon always upped his requests, which was simply tied to how much meat he consumed in a day. Of course, Merlin had long realized that Blue was smart, and the dragon also knew that Merlin was basically using him as a training dummy, which was why he charged for it. However, Merlin would have thought that the dragon would stop increasing the pay by now. His monthly pocket money would be exhausted before the month ended at this rate.

  But, in the grand scheme of things, it was worth it. The headmaster had reminded him of their deal with him to be able to deconstruct an experienced S-Class Mage’s Advanced Tier III spell at the end of the term, so there was no time to be lax. His Intelligence was currently at level thirty-two, which put him more than halfway to level fifty. At his current level he was able to deconstruct the Advanced Tier I spells of an A-Class Mage, and the Novice Tier III spells of an S-Class Mage—without getting crazily hurt, that was. In other words, he still had some ways to go before he could deconstruct the Advanced Tier III spells of his own peers, not to talk about that of an experienced S-Class Mage from the time of the Cataclysm.

  Hopefully, his participation in the Tower raid, and, well, hopefully again, in the tournament, would help boost his level drastically. He didn’t have the time to venture into Dungeons as it stood now.

  “Double your usual portion.” He returned his attention to the pompous little dragon, Blue. “That okay?” Which was basically ten times the portion the dragon had started with. No wonder he was already five times the size he was two months ago. At the current rate the dragon was growing, in less than a year, he would be fully grown. Then he would be harder to hide, if hiding him would even be possible anymore by then.

  Blue glanced at Merlin and poured out a soft purr. Merlin understood that the purr was a yes. He was getting well versed in dragon language. Perhaps he would include that in his curriculum vitae whenever he got around to writing one.

  “Great.” Merlin nodded and readied himself, and so did Blue.

  The dragon flapped his little wings and lifted himself from the ground. Merlin’s gaze followed and he wondered how he would look to the dorm master if he was being watched. After all, he had asked Blue to keep his presence concealed, in the case that there were cameras in the room, which he was certain there were. Hopefully, they would just think he was roleplaying. It was also one of the reasons why he had requested a location with a blizzard. When Blue cast dragon’s breath, it wouldn’t be too out of place that it would cause one to bat an eye twice, and it would also enhance Blue’s magic. There was also the fact that it was good for his Resilience, even though ever since he’d crossed the fiftieth mark with it, its progress had been halved.

  All in all, the scenery was perfect for his training.

  Blue hissed and coughed, which was a signal for ‘dragon’s breath’ incoming. Puffs of cold smoke escaped the dragon’s mouth, and Merlin instantly activated Reader Mage. A second later, Blue reared his head in Merlin’s direction, puffed up his throat like a man would puff up their cheeks, and blew a whooshing wind characterized by frozen flakes Merlin’s way.

  [Perk: Reader Mage Activated]

  [Analyzing spell…]

  [Analysis complete]

  [Spell: Dragon’s Breath.

  Category: Novice, Tier III

  Spell Wielder: An Unclassified Dragon.

  Spell Description: An inherent spell within the dragon species that is characterized by them heaving out a breath of frozen air from their throat sac.]

  [Deconstructing Process: As always, ice and heat cannot coexist. Fuel your mana with your body heat and tamper with the temperature of the spell.]

  [Deconstruct?]

  [Yes?/No?]

  Yes…

  Merlin’s mana surged out of his body, blue transitioning to the red of molten iron as it connected with the wave of ice breath Blue hurled his way.

  It had been a while since the System had warned him of using too much of his body heat when deconstructing magic made from ice, and it was evident to how much he had tried his best to strengthen himself against what seemed to be his nemesis: ice magic. He was strong enough to deconstruct a Novice Tier III spell of ice, and that was evident in the way Blue’s dragon’s breath had evaporated into steam as it connected with his mana.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  However, he couldn’t relax. The quality of a spell was dependent on who was its caster.

  The spells he had come up against in Glace’s Ice Cave, the Dungeon he had rescued Blue from, were all Advanced spells, and yet, none of them were as strong as Blue’s Novice spells. Of course, he was not taken aback by that. After all, Blue’s mana had been what was serving as the Dungeon’s generator. There was no way he would have been weaker than the monsters in it. Regardless, Blue was an unreliable gauge of Merlin’s strength. The dragon was unclassified, so Merlin wasn’t sure if he was doing well enough against a being that was on the level of a C-Class Mage, evident of the Dungeon it was fueling, or, perhaps, even higher. And all the System gave to him when he leveled up were vague ideas of what he could do, not what he couldn’t do.

  Merlin sighed as he flexed his arms, his gains from his deconstruction flashing before his view.

  [Deconstruction Complete]

  [Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 39.5%/100%] → [42%/100%]

  [Free Attribute Points received: 2.5]

  [Dragon’s breath slayer?]

  Merlin blinked away the words, and turned his attention back to Blue who was still hovering in the air, staring at him. That was one thing Merlin liked about the dragon, he was lazy, sometimes downright annoying, but when he had agreed to train, he always went in.

  Merlin smiled. “Let’s continue.”

  Merlin could go on for ages without getting exhausted, Blue, however, was a different story. Halfway through their tenth training regime, the dragon’s stomach rumbled, and Merlin knew it was time to end their training.

  Blue was perched, sleeping on Merlin’s shoulder as he walked out of the training room, a towel around his neck, and his attention focused on assigning his points to his Intelligence Attribute.

  Assign twenty five Attribute Points to Intelligence…

  [Assigning...]

  [Successful]

  [+25 Attribute Points have been assigned to Intelligence]

  [Progress to leveling up Intelligence: 64.5%/100%] → [77%/100%]

  Merlin sighed as he rubbed his face with the edge of his towel, trying his best not to wake Blue up, and turned towards the hallway that led to the elevator. He glanced at the dorm master as he walked past his desk, and he noticed the man staring at him with narrow eyes.

  Yup… He had come off as insane, undoubtedly.

  He was just approaching the elevator when a familiar voice called him from behind. He turned around to see President Sakamoto and Senior Will. They were both dressed in tracksuits, and also had towels falling from their necks. They had been training as well.

  Merlin smiled. Sometimes he forgot that the dorm housed both the first years and the second years. Perhaps he should consider leaving his room more.

  He bowed. “Good evening, seniors.”

  “How’s it going, Merlin? Training?” President Sakamoto said as he walked up to Merlin and tried to wrap a hand around his shoulder. Merlin shifted back immediately, and, as expected, the mood turned awkward. “Oh. Sorry about that. Didn’t realize you were sensitive.”

  Considering President Sakamoto was fond of throwing an arm over Merlin’s shoulders as a form of greeting, no, he wasn’t sensitive. If he was, he would have fought against it while it was happening last term. Now, it was different though. If President Sakamoto’s hand touched Blue while he was sleeping, he would not only notice the dragon, but have a finger bitten. Blue didn’t like being bothered while he was sleeping. Nora had only escaped by a breath’s hair. Po had taught her how to escape ferocious pets before they attacked.

  Merlin chuckled, trying his best to defuse the awkward situation. “No. It’s nothing. The training just got a hold of me. I’m kind of very exhausted.”

  “You don’t need to explain yourself to him,” Senior Will snorted. “Wrapping your arm around others is a bad habit.”

  “Oh, yeah?” President Sakamoto raised a brow, and then threw his arm over Senior Will’s shoulders. “Stop me then.”

  Senior Will only sighed. Merlin could understand his exasperation. It reminded him of Chima and Hakyun’s bickering.

  “By the way,” President Sakamoto turned to Merlin, his playful expression giving way for seriousness. “Have you heard anything about your friend?”

  Merlin felt a lump in his throat. His training had done well to take his mind off Nikolai, but now the thoughts were back to haunt him.

  He shook his head, obviously knowing he couldn’t tell them what the headmaster had told him. He had mentioned it to Chima, Hakyun, and Nora though. They deserved to know.

  “I’m sure he’s fine,” Senior Will said, apparently noticing Merlin’s downcast expression. “The Tower raid’s coming up; you should focus on that.”

  Merlin’s brows jumped up. “Ah. In that case, is there anything I need to know about the raid? So I don’t hold my teammates and my Seniors back?”

  President Sakamoto hummed. “We’ve never been in a Tower as well, so we’re as lost as you are. However, I think just listening to whoever’s your leader would do wonders. Of course, there are times where you should take matters into your own hands. A leader isn’t always right, you know?”

  Senior Will elbowed President Sakamoto’s side, forcing a pained groan out of him.

  “Listen to yourself,” Senior Will said, slightly furious. “You’re practically telling the kid to disobey authority.”

  “But I’m right,” President Sakamoto argued.

  “Shut up,” Senior Will snarled. Then he turned back to Merlin. “Follow instructions. That’s the best course of action, okay?” Merlin nodded. “Then… Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight,” Merlin reciprocated the greeting as Senior Will pulled President Sakamoto along.

  He would have hoped for one of them to be on his team, but they were both students of Cohort Dragon Eye. In that case, he wished that Nora ended up with them instead. Despite how playful they came across, they were dependable.