I confidently flew through the vacuum of space, reshaping the planets in my wake, leaving behind a trail of beauty and a testament to my prowess. None of the geists and plague-monsters in my way could even touch me. The fresh air and the freedom of power were intoxicating… Wait a second, air in space?

  “It’s time to wake up, we can’t be late again.” My old voice resounded from behind me.

  “You’re right, Friedrich, me. Dreaming is good once in a while, but reality calls.” I turned around to meet my soul again, instead I faced the Betrayer, its grotesque body twisting in horrifying shapes.

  A terrible voice drowned my thoughts. “Conquer the Galaxy! Stop the Invasion!” All of its seven heads started squealing, making my ears ring with pain.

  “Get out of my head!” I shouted at it, but the monster showed no reaction. “Get out!”

  My eyes opened. Cold sweat covered my body as I tried my best not to shake. “Fucking stupid deal…” I murmured, taking a deep breath and letting the empowering flow of starpower calm me. “Right… It’s time.” I shook my head and stood up. Immediately, VITA started reforming the armor over my body; it wasn’t uncomfortable, and even the sweat had disappeared.

  I washed my face and set out towards the class. Today I will not make the same mistakes. After a few minutes of running and ignoring other students, I reached for the door.

  The room looked the same as always. Filled with magnificent art pieces of draconic power and beauty… And tiny whelps. Ivaldie swung a sword construct; some girls were doing exercises, others were passionately talking about nonsense like food and future courses.

  In the corner, I noticed my two future minions. Steel was shining with a faint green aura, holding Kory by the shoulder, while she coughed. Already, I felt a headache crawl by.

  “Hi, Kory. Hi, Steel. What’s going on?” I didn’t waste any time on small talk.

  Kory tried saying something, but her voice caught, breaking into a series of coughs.

  Steel looked at me with a frown. “Kory feels bad.” I could see that myself.

  “Dammit.” Nobody else gave her any attention; do they have no child safety here? Stupid dragon school. “Kory, look at me,” I said confidently and used a detection form, trying to focus the field on Kory.

  “I’ll be okay…” She coughed again. “It just happens.” Blood started dripping from her nose, which she awkwardly wiped.

  Her starpower didn’t look good. Kory’s standing emissions dropped to 12, and the patterns looked incomplete, as if it wasn’t reaching her whole body. “I’m going to try something. Don’t resist.” I walked behind her and put a hand on her back, while constantly keeping up a detection form.

  “J-just let me be. You’ll get in trouble.” Kory mumbled deprecatingly.

  Steel shook her head. “Help her!” She clenched her fists, keeping the other girl standing.

  I let my starpower emit unconstrained. The flow of her energy didn’t look right. I could see the differences in my memory. There wasn’t a limit on what strengthening could be used on. The solution was simple.

  “Do the strengthening breathing and don’t resist.” I started doing the pattern too, and faint purple light emanated from my arm. Pressing my hand tighter on her back, I let the energy brush against the edges of her body. “Did you feel that?”

  “Y-yes…” She said, whispering.

  “I’ll strengthen your body and hopefully that will help you.” Without waiting for an answer, I forced my way in. My focused ray of starpower easily went through her skin and started fusing into her flow. It felt… scary. I felt scared of something.

  I couldn’t be scared! I wasn’t the one dying. I resolved myself and felt the flows separate. The dread disappeared immediately.

  “What was that?!” Kory said louder than before. Steel raised an eyebrow, surprised.

  “I think I sensed your emotions through starpower.” I let the flows mingle again, and the dread returned. The sensation sent shivers down my spine, but it was far too weak to shake someone who had died before. “This is an issue, Kory. You should never falter! That’s how you lose your power.” I spoke, trying to suppress the fear, straighten out the flows.

  It worked to a point… “H-how can you be like that?” Kory’s voice was pleading.

  “How can you not be like that?! Keep it together.” My anger completely overshadowed the dread. How dare my future servants act so weak? The pathway in her lung seemed better. Even her breathing became clearer. “Alright. Remember to use strengthening, it should help you stay in one piece while we visit the biocrafter. It’s closer than the medical hall.”

  I removed my hand, leaving the energy inside of her. It was strange… the dread still lingered inside of me. I wasn’t worried; it was nothing compared to the Betrayer’s presence.

  “How do you feel?” I asked the girl.

  “Better…” She mumbled, pushing away Steel’s hand. Kory faced me, her face dead serious. “I have to tell you something-”

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  “Thank you!” Steel interrupted her and hugged me.

  “Ouch, ouch. Don’t crush me.” Her power was so much greater with a constantly active form.

  “Okay!” She nodded and let go, looking at Kory with a smile.

  “Now what did you want to tell me?” I turned back to Kory, who looked pale.

  “The reason why I wanted a study group.” She gulped, looking around. No one was interested in us. “It’s because-”

  The door inside slammed open. “Magnus Glanzvoll!” A stern, annoying voice interrupted the revelation. It was Dean Varaxis. “What are you doing?” She seemed oddly focused on me.

  So annoying, I shook my head, suppressing the feelings. My two allies remained rooted in place, and fear welled in their eyes. “I’ve just been training my strengthening form, nothing more. Is there an issue?”

  Her eye twitched. “You have spoken words in defiance against Lord Rame! Tried supplanting the cause.” She shouted at me in outrage. What the hell was that?

  My mind spun in circles trying to figure out what she was referring to. Could it be that Varaxis heard my recruitment speech? Or maybe there is something I don’t know happening under the surface. I had to act on the side of caution. “Count Varaxis, there has been a misunderstanding. I was simply bonding with my new study group. Isn’t that good for the school?”

  “You were trying to turn them away from Lord Rame. I will give you one more chance to explain.” She was insufferable.

  I turned to my companions and said to them. “Tell Count Varaxis that you truly do follow Lord Rame.” Stupid, idiotic school. They immediately tried to disrupt my plans.

  “I follow Lord Rame.” Steel nodded without a doubt in her voice.

  For some reason, Kory hesitated, her eyes darting between me and Varaxis. “I-i… I follow Lord Rame.” The words came out with difficulty, as if she forced herself to say them.

  “See, Count Varaxis? We’ve just had some bonding activities, not tried to stage a coup or something ridiculous.”

  I looked closer at the other students. All of them, even Ivaldie, looked at me with disdain. That wasn’t good. I couldn’t let her turn everyone against me, too. “Are you being suspicious of me, just because I’m a human by blood? I’m an honorary dragon too! You didn’t accuse Goile and Sarei when they proclaimed friendship for life.” Immediately, the two girls opened their eyes wide. “Neither did you frown at Nillie’s study group saying they would rule the world.” The black-scaled girl blushed immensely. “It’s the nature of dragons, so why are you prejudiced against me?!”

  The students didn’t look comfortable at all. Their eyes darted between me and their friends. Perfect memory made recalling all the previous conversations easy. I spread my hands wide and took a deep breath. “How about you, classmates? Would you like to be accused of treachery when you were just helping your peers?!”

  Silence enveloped the room as Varaxis steamed with anger, unused to someone defying her authority. Kory raised her hand first. “Magnus was just helping us! We are friends.” There was a knowing glint in her eyes. Steel nodded too. “He helped me become stronger!”

  “How dare you-” Varaxis shouted, but another voice interrupted her. “This is not right!”

  “Who?” Varaxis’s eyes turned to Ivaldie, the golden-scaled girl.

  Ivaldie took a step forward. “Count Varaxis.” She said loudly. “As the leader of the class, I can’t condone these accusations. Magnus is troubled, but he is no traitor.” She crossed her arms, staring.

  The class leader protected me? We barely knew each other. Silence enveloped the room as Kory nervously hid behind me. What caused Varaxis to start shouting like that?

  The crimson dragon took a deep breath, fixing her uniform. “It seems I overstepped my boundaries.” She straightened her back. “I apologize to the class for going against the tradition.”

  My eyes opened even wider. Varaxis apologized. Wasn’t that out of character?

  Ivaldie nodded approvingly. She looked around the room and raised her hand. “Form the line!” The command was clear, but effective. The students started to move quickly in their respective positions.

  “L-let’s go.” With a shaking voice, Kory tugged my cape, and we walked towards the end of the forming line. Steel hugged the frail girl and ran towards the middle. I joined Kory in the back. I clenched my teeth, conflicted between rushing Kory to the healer and obeying the commands. “You should ask for healing,” I whispered to Kory...

  “N-no... I can’t.” Her legs shook as she struggled to stand. “I can withstand this.”

  What was she talking about? “I will tell Varaxis myself. This is unacce-” Kory put a hand over my mouth.

  “Please, please don’t tell her.” Her voice trembled; there was desperation in her eyes.

  What did Varaxis do to her? This was not the face of a normal child. What could be worse than spitting blood and dying while standing? Everything in me screamed to do something, to run to Avennture or to the medical hall. Kory’s terrified gaze stopped me. “Fine...” If she were going to die, I would not forgive myself for being silent.

  After the line was formed, Varaxis stood in front of us, taking a tall stack of folders from her back. “From now on, we will only be meeting once a week for growth evaluation, and you will be free to join any course in the school.” She said calmly, not even looking at me. “I have made the appropriate recommendations. Come here to receive them.”

  She grabbed the first folder. “Ivaldie.” The girl quickly approached and took the folders. “Ixis.” She continued to call everyone on the line. Soon, my turn came. Except that instead of a folder, I received one paper…

  Varaxis spoke quietly, “Magnus Glanzvoll. Your performance during the exam was pitiful. I deemed you unsuitable for continued training. You will have no recommendations.” There was a kind of cold cruelty in her voice.

  I didn’t need her. “Thank you.” I didn’t bother putting any emotion in my voice. It was clear she was going to be an enemy. I moved back in line, quickly looking over the paper. Combat skills: null. Strategy: hectic. SE: low potential. It was basically the worst thing one could receive. I’ll burn it to ash once I learn how to do it. I was more worried about Kory, but she already looked better.

  “I will be going now,” Varaxis said, shaking her head. “Be proud and grow strong, dragons! For the glory of dragonkind.” She said it softly and started walking away, entirely unashamed about her previous display.

  Celebration and talking immediately filled the class as all of the students discussed their regimen and courses. I listened carefully. “Hey, Kory, you aren’t going to die on me, right?” I looked at her. She wasn’t that pale anymore, but her hands still shook.

  She looked past me . “Dean recommended me to the war strategy course…” Her voice was shaking.

  “I wasn’t talking about that.” I sighed. Putting a hand on her shoulder, I said. “What did you want to tell me?”

  She lowered her eyes as if trying to escape my presence. Her breathing became rougher. “Well… I-”

  Nobody interrupted her this time.

  “I’m dying.” Her face became puffy as she sniffled.

  I suspected something like that. In the cloning business, there were bound to be defects. However, I couldn’t hold back my surprise. “Why weren’t you healed yet?”

  She sniffled again, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “T-the biocrafters said it was worth more to make a new one than to fix me… T-they said I had to prove myself worthy.”

  I put a hand on her shoulder. The dragons were just as ruthless as they were majestic. I couldn’t let a child die like that, especially not one who spoke against authority for me.