My bedroom wasn’t as big as the one in the mansion, but it was comfortable. Instead of a massive mirror, making me seem like a narcissist, there was a scholarly study table, outfitted with blank paper and a quill… In some ways, these people were barbarians incapable of easy technology like the internet or even phones.

  This bedroom made me feel like a studious scholar, not as luxurious as it should be, but elegant. I looked through the many drawers, finding nothing. It seemed that whoever this ship was meant to serve didn’t want anything but the paper prepared.

  Eternal Quill

  Type: Initiate Artifact

  Description: It’s a pen but magic and shaped like a quill. I can’t with these people. Ball-pens aren’t that hard!

  Ignoring the silly artifact, I grabbed a chair and flooded my system with empowering starpower. After a solid effort, I managed to put it near the window. Recognizing my intent, I saw the space outside. We were closing towards the star, though its intense light didn’t hurt my eyes.

  I spent hours just looking at the space, ignoring all the heavy thoughts floating around. At some point, I fell asleep…

  When I woke up, the window was pitch black. Strange blue runes floated on it. As I focused on them with my scouter, they shifted into words. “Metaphysical Travel in progress. Time until arrival: 6 days 22 hours.”

  This was FTL travel, using the idea dimension or the Source…We have already left the system. My back hurt from sleeping on the chair, but I persevered and stood up. Walking out of the room and straight towards the command deck, I marveled at my ship. It wasn’t what I expected, but it sure as hell was nice.

  When I opened the door to the deck, Vogelgesang wasn’t there. I approached the holograms in front of the captain’s chair and stared at them. Diagrams I couldn’t understand showed some sort of statistics.

  Starship Status

  Description: Everything is okay… I think. We’ll need to read a lot more books to understand how it works.

  “Young master.” A hand landed on my shoulder, making me squeak in surprise.

  “When did you get here?!”

  Vogelgesang’s lips turned into a confident smile as she stared down on me. “The hydroponics work as intended. I hope you like the Siasu fruit.” In her other hand, there was a pitch black fruit the size of my head, smelling faintly of butter and salt.

  I sighed. Of course, it had to be the greasiest, meatiest fruit. It’s not going to be fun eating bacon every day. “It’s fine. Can you teach me how to drive a ship?” I needed to learn that if I wanted to become my own man.

  Vogelgesang chuckled. “No. You can learn that in school.”

  Of course, she had to be infuriating. “Can you show me how to enter and leave it at least?”

  Her grin grew wider. “That I can do.”

  After I ate the meaty fruit and wiped away the fat, we moved towards the training room. Seeing it again made me have some hope in these barbarians. They had proper treadmills and various exercise machines, some of which I couldn’t even name, surprising for a former gym rat.

  “What does exercise have to do with entering the ship?”

  Vogelgesang grinned, showing her sharp fangs, her ears twitched. She spoke teasingly, “You see, young master. To claim Lacrimony, you will need to become at least Knight rank. Reach 100 SE and take this place as your own.”

  My legs became weak. I got tricked in such a stupid way, and it was embarrassing. I wasn’t some innocent child, and yet Vogelgesang ran circles around me. I clenched my teeth and gathered my willpower. “Alright, you got me. I can’t have a ship until I finish school, big deal. I wasn’t going to leave anyway.” This changed nothing.

  The elf wagged her finger side to side. “I have ordered the ship to let you fly only if you become a Knight. Until then, its abilities will be limited. Now train! I have prayers to do!” She turned around, but before she could leave, I grabbed her dress.

  “Give me some tips at least! Don’t just leave.” She was infuriating.

  She glanced at me, her eyes dead serious. “Follow your nature, young master. Architects of ambition don’t need coddling.” Vogelgesang slapped away my hand and left the room.

  Anger won’t help me reach the things I dream about. With nothing else left to do, I started making training plans. Heroes in Dad’s books pushed their limits to increase SE, so that’s what I planned to do, and in the process, I’ll master the only form I know.

  Force Form

  Type: Catalytics – Forms that turn starpower into catalysts for change. Force, heat, decay.

  Mastery: Initiate

  Progress to Adept: 5/100

  Form Affinity Compatibility: Null (95%), Sapphire (5%)

  Note: Huh, it seems that scouter hid some information from us. Just know, there are four other types of forms.

  “Thanks, soul… Now to get this started.”

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  I quickly scouted the training gear inside until I found something I needed. A red metal circle around 3 meters in diameter, with a terminal nearby.

  Starpower Manipulation Machine

  Description: Forms a field that makes it harder to control starpower. It’ll probably help us become more sensitive to it.

  I pressed on the lowest setting and stepped inside the machine, flaring my starpower. It was much more difficult to do than usual. Sluggishly, I did my best to make a force form, letting the starpower flow through my hands. Then I thrust, only to make glowing sparks fly out of my hand…

  “Fuck!” My hand became too hot in the process, and the flaring stopped. Training was going to be more difficult than expected, but I saw a way to find more forms.

  Force Form

  Type: Catalytics

  Mastery: Initiate

  Progress to Adept: 6/100

  Form Affinity Compatibility: Null (95%), Sapphire (5%)

  Note: Your fingers weren’t curled enough and you didn’t channel your affinities well enough. It intersected with a different form, try again.

  My breath hitched. It seems there was much more to this scouting thing than I thought.

  Days passed quickly. The loop of pushing myself to the limit and feeling the flow of starpower increase was intoxicating. Constant repetition of the force form made it familiar to me, and its strength increased significantly. 44% that’s how close I was to adept.

  Train, eat, bathe, repeat. It was fun and I wouldn’t mind if each day was like this, if I had books to read... Vogelgesang remained silent, brushing off my questions or saying vague nonsense. She was useless. Lacrimony’s facilities were top-notch, nearly as good as back in the manor.

  SE has increased to 9!

  I stared at the window, enjoying the warm sensation spreading across my muscles. I stepped out of the starpower manipulation circle and wiped the sweat from my brow.

  “Young master, we will be arriving soon.”

  I didn’t even jump in surprise. Vogelgesang liked to appear out of nowhere, and I was getting used to her antics.

  “Good, I was starting to get bored.” I flared my starpower and made a force form, but instead of thrusting, I raised my hand. Vogelgesang’s hair rose as did her dress. “What do you think?”

  She scratched her ear. “You learned how to change direction, impressive. But you lack impact. You need to focus the force, instead of spreading it.”

  As always, useless advice. “If I knew how to do it, I would. There’s a mechanical component that I can’t figure out, but hey.” I fully closed my ring and pinky and forced more starpower through. Light started shining from my hand, like a tiny flashlight. “I wasn’t just training the force form.” It took the whole week of experimentation to make it usable.

  Basic Light Form

  Type: Phasics – Forms that change the phase of starpower. Light, liquid, solid, gas. The possibilities are as endless as states of matter.

  Mastery: Initiate

  Progress to Adept: 2/100

  Form Affinity Compatibility: Null (95%), Ruby (5%)

  Note: It’s a mess. The form is intersecting too much with the force, so I don’t know what goes wrong.

  Vogelgesang petted my head with a smile. “Good job, young master.”

  “You know I’m not truly a child, right?”

  “To me, most are children.”

  I shook my head and pushed away her hand. “Let’s go, you, elf hag. I’ve been waiting long enough.”

  She just gave me a smile, and we moved towards the command deck. The minutes until arrival trickled down. I counted each second.

  Finally, we arrived. For the first time in a week, the magic mirror shone with light. Space greeted me, and among the sea of stars, a space station floated.

  It was a titanic fortress of black metal, its outer structure was covered with black scales, etched in a geometric sort of way. It looked more like a prison and less like a school. Many smaller black ships flew around it like bees, coming from one side of the station to another. Did Vogelgesang trick me again?

  She was pressing buttons on the console until, eventually, a loud ring resounded through the room. “We’re getting a call~” Vogelgesang smirked, before tapping on a button.

  The window’s image quickly shifted. In a small room stood a tall woman with long horns and crimson serpentine eyes. Blood-red scales covered her arms and neck. She wore a black military uniform, and from her back protruded two bat-like wings. She stood straight, but even under this stern appearance, her beauty shone through.

  “Count Varaxis, the Dean of the Copper Dragon Learning Facility, speaking. Identify yourself or face annihilation.” There wasn’t an iota of emotion in her voice.

  I stood up, preparing to speak, but Vogelgesang quickly took out her amulet. Mark of the Beast. “This is Lord Vogelgesang, First of Elves. I came to use my favor with Lord Rame.” She never stopped smiling.

  Varaxis’s face twitched as she slowly bowed her head. After a second, she met Vogelgesang’s gaze. “It is an honor to meet a friend of my Beloved. I will prepare a meeting room this instant. Please enter through the main gate.”

  Then the window turned back to normal. I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. “You damn elf…This is a school for dragons! How is this even supposed to work?”

  Vogelgesang rolled her eyes. “True dragons are on the verge of extinction. You will be living with mere clones; they might match an old soul in growth.”

  The puzzle quickly clicked together. The military outfits, weapon stations, this wasn’t just a school. It was a clone-rearing farm, controlled by the copper dragon’s wife. What sort of mess was this going to be?

  “I-I guess it’s too late to chicken out. I’ll trust you this one time, Vogelgesang. But if these… snakes decide to kill us, I’ll make sure your soul doesn’t become one with the Source, got it?”

  She started chuckling, slowly at once and then changing into roaring laughter. “They wouldn’t dare, my dear young master. Rame is a coward; he will not deny me.”

  “We’ll see…” I doubted her words. My father, a mere Baron, could singlehandedly wipe out an army. I have no idea what a Count is capable of or even a Lord.

  Soon, the ship passed into the docks, landing on one of the empty platforms. The insides of the station were made with a purpose. It didn’t look just militaristic; it was borderline religious. Each wall was covered with engravings of dragons, not human dragons, but true dragons breathing flames at geists. Lifelike pictures of dragons that ripped million-armed horrors. Every meter of the station was an uncanny work of art.

  Scaled guards quickly surrounded our ship, spears were floating near them, which was very characteristic of this barbaric world. Vogelgesang made a gesture, and a portal opened up in front of her. “Follow me, child.”

  She stepped out, and I nervously followed her. Standing in front of these guards was terrifying. Not only were they two meters tall, but they also wore an evil, black, glowing armor. Their spears also shone with different colors as if preparing to shoot us. My head became light and my heart started beating fast.

  “Hail!” Vogelgesang spread her arms wide, smiling.

  I took a deep breath, suppressing my fear. “Greetings.”

  They didn’t speak, simply staring at us. My scouter failed to give any information about them; it just couldn’t scan them. The quiet hum of the station became grating. Suddenly, I realized something, which nearly made me chuckle. All of them were female… Was Rame some kind of pervert?

  A figure flashed in the corner of my eyes. Flying through the massive docks like lightning, Varaxis landed behind the guards, her face full of worry. Quickly, she cleared her throat and gestured to the guards. “Put down your weapons, whelps! These are honored guests.”

  Like one, the dragon-guards stood straight, knocking on their chest twice, their spears flew out of their hands, floating near them. Where the hell did I come to?

  “Please, follow me, elder Vogelgesang. I have arranged a communication ritual with my Beloved.”

  The elf gave me a smug glance and started walking. Clenching my fists, I followed.