The forest turned into a blur. I sensed her right at the edge of my perception field. Ivaldie blinked with short delays covering far more distance than I could. However, she waited for me.

  I pushed harder. My legs ached, but I remained calm.

  “Stronger than the memories…” The voice mumbled.

  “She’s always getting stronger. We can catch up. That’s what matters.”

  “No. She runs too fast.”

  Ivaldie blinked again, leaving my field of perception.

  I suppressed a giggle. Shortly, I was at the edge of the forest.

  “I missed some sired flesh back there. I wanted to hunt some of the stronger birds above the treetops. What’s the rush?”

  She just pointed at the mountain. I narrowed my eyes. There was a group of first-years there.

  “So? There’s still a lot of time to hunt.” I stepped forth, calmly walking down the bones. Double detection form allowed me to sense things. There were sired bones hiding beneath, but the group didn’t fight through them.

  Fully empowering my leg, I stomped on the ground.

  “What are you doing?” Ivaldie asked.

  The ground shook. A massive bone centipede erupted from the ground and charged at me.

  White light burst. Ivaldie blinked. A massive sword appeared in her hand, and she cut the centipede in half. The monster didn’t even have time to roar – it turned into a small core.

  “Ivaldie! I was going to disassemble it.” I sighed and levitated the core and stashed it into my bag.

  “Apologies… I wanted to protect you.”

  “You know as well as me, I don’t need protection.” I dashed to a different spot and stomped there. “Stop flaring, you’re scaring them.”

  She nodded and dispelled her sword. I stomped again. The ground ripped apart, and an even bigger one charged at me. I stood calm, waiting for it to reach me.

  Its jaws were about to crush me, so I struck against the mandibles. The sharp bones cracked, and I grabbed the mouth of the beast. My feet dug into the ground, and I stopped its momentum. This was so much easier than the first time.

  I kicked the bone centipede, its facial plates cracked, and it roared. Too late – I solidified chains over the monster, infusing them with absorption of force. The absorption fractal sucked out the force from its movements and rooted the monster in place.

  “See, Ivaldie, there is no need to go full nuclear.” I put my hand on the geist’s shaking head and flooded the insides of the monster with starpower. “Now I’ll get much more value out of it.” The loudness of its roars completely overshadowed my words, but I was sure Ivaldie heard everything.

  “Assistant?” I whispered. “Try using the form, I want to see if you learned it.”

  My mind went silent for a second, but then, with giddiness, the voice spoke, “Yes, master~”

  Alien intention reverberated through the starpower. It was like a mockery of the usual greed I channeled to break down the physical body of the geist. “What?!” I couldn’t hold back my surprise. Faster than the blink of an eye, the geist turned into a massive light.

  A core dropped on the ground. 53 SE. It raised the quality by 20 SE…

  That’s why Avennture wanted to get an assistant trait. This was ridiculous. “Good job!” I smiled and pulled the core into the bag.

  “Who are you talking to?” Ivaldie appeared in front of me, her eyes narrowed.

  “My trait.” I pat my bag.

  “Traits can’t talk.” She shook her head.

  “Mine can, it’s called an assistant trait. Dwarves use them.”

  Ivaldie crossed her arms. “This doesn’t sound like a trait you would pick.”

  I shrugged. “Happy little accidents.” The trait giggled. “Say, have you thought about what kind of trait you’d want at knight?”

  Her pupils narrowed in a serpentine fashion. She stayed like that for several seconds, while I awkwardly scratched my neck.

  “Something powerful.”

  My mouth opened wide. “With how long you’ve thought, I expected you to have a more precise answer. How can I make you trait if you don’t even know what you want?”

  She glanced behind her and turned back to me. Talking with her was always awkward. “I will be given a trait.”

  I accelerated my mind. It made sense. Of course, Rame would invest directly in someone promising. She was a once-in-a-generation talent, with that ridiculous trait. But something wasn’t adding up.

  The dots connected. Suspicion rose. “Is Varaxis giving you a trait?”

  Ivaldie broke eye contact. Her silence confirmed everything I needed to know.

  Varaxis wanted her to stay away from me, or else she might lose that “ideal” dragon. Bullshit.

  “I’ll give it to you straight. I can make a trait that’s far more powerful than anything they might come up with. I can give you something you truly desire, not a predetermined path.” I snapped my fingers. “Are you listening?”

  “Y-yes…” Her expression was calm, but I could feel awkwardness oozing from her. I read her like an open book.

  “For power, you’d want a synergy trait, something that’ll make your true dragon constitution stronger. But. A growth trait will always be more beneficial; brute force can’t solve everything. Maybe you want a trait that’ll make you a true leader, someone worthy of following.” I stared deeply into her eyes. “I can make that.”

  Her fists clenched. “I am worthy of following… I protect the dragonkind-”

  “You’re following someone else’s ideals, that’s what you do. Nobody wants to stand behind a lackey.”

  “I know what I’m doing.” There was no confidence in her voice, it was as if she repeated someone’s words.

  “Fine then. Stay where you are. Eventually, I’ll become stronger than you. and then there will be no choice but to accept my words.” I shrugged. “Look, your future followers are coming.” I pointed a finger at the group carefully threading through the field of bones.

  An onyx girl used a stealth technique to prevent sired bones from spotting them – they moved soundlessly. Even Ivaldie didn’t notice them. My detection form did.

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  “Weak~” Mumbled the trait. “Do they have cores too?”

  No, they don’t. Only geists have cores. Use the scouter.

  I cleared my throat and walked towards them with gentle steps. Didn’t want them to freak out over a sired bone.

  “I will talk to them,” Ivaldie said and got ahead of me.

  Leading a group was a familiar face – a second year. Illiaz and right beside her Olz was. It seems they led quite a big study group. Illiaz waved at Ivaldie with a dry expression.

  “We have already scheduled this boss, I’m sorry, Ivaldie, but you’ll have to-” Then she met my eyes.

  I waved with a smirk. The group turned silent.

  Then their starpower flared as one. “We will not have our cores taken. Stay away, human, we’re not like the other groups.” Illiaz shouted. They didn’t even look at Ivaldie.

  “So they have cores?” The voice said in shock.

  “Not those rumors again.” I sighed. “I only contested the right to fight the boss.”

  “We’ll leave,” Ivaldie said suddenly and gave me a glance.

  “No way, I won’t. It’s my right to contest the boss, I’m sure you want to do this for charity or something, but that’s not a good way.” I approached Illiaz and her followers.

  “Alright, kiddos, you’re pathetically weak and you’re probably here to get some tasty cores and raise your SE, very noble of you, yes.”

  “What are you getting at, human?” Illiaz materialized claws on her hands. She rose to 51 SE, pretty low growth for a whole month.

  “The best way to get stronger is to test your limits, so instead of fighting the boss in a safe and reasonable way, you’ll get to fight me and learn.” An evil laughter left my mouth. “What do you think, Ivaldie? We’ll get our boss, and they’ll get their deserved growth. It’s win-win.”

  Illiaz stared at Ivaldie, that pitiful stare just beckoned Ivaldie to make me leave.

  “That makes sense.” She was always easy to convince.

  “I won’t have that. There was a schedule!” said Illiaz.

  Olz conjured her glasses and said, “A schedule I organized.”

  The other shouted something too. They swore at me for bringing the geist, for torturing a student, for stealing cores. The rumors only got worse, and I had no time to fight them. The fear only festered with time.

  “So being in a group gave you confidence. Very well. Ivaldie, stay back for this. I will teach them a lesson.” My grin could only grow wider. Yes, it was bad practice to beat up kids, but I hated gossip more than anything. Especially when it was slanderous.

  I flared my aura. Silence. Fear fed my muscles and filled them with rejuvenating energy.

  Ivaldie nodded and stepped back.

  If this were Earth, I would’ve been scared shitless to stand in front of a group where everyone was larger or taller than me. But in Grey Path, size didn’t matter.

  “He’s using a compulsion trait,” Olz said.

  “Resist!” Illiaz shouted – a wave of light erupted from her, and their fear lessened.

  “He’s not different from the flesh sire. Surround him, prepare your projectiles.” Olz advised.

  “Battle formation: claws!”

  It was entertaining to watch the first-years scramble around, all using their little unique movement techniques to surround me. They weaved constructs, summoned weapons, and some even had actual weapons.

  “Att-” Illiaz met my gaze.

  “Watch out!” Olz was too late. Freezing gaze pierced through Illiaz’s starpower and covered her mind, body, and soul with frost. She dropped to the ground.

  All hell broke loose. Projectiles of fire, starpower, electricity, and darkness flew at me. Several of the bigger students rushed forward. Olz shouted to everyone not to look me in the eyes.

  It all looked so majestic in my slowed-down world. I calculated the trajectories of their techniques and threaded between them, dashing forward. The firebolts exploded, but my barrier absorbed them. Lightning snapped at me, but it barely hurt.

  Olz was too helpful. Now no one met my gaze. Worse yet, I could see a network of starpower empowering the weaker students – it must’ve suppressed their fear.

  A tall girl swung her mace at me, too slow – I punched faster than the mace. My punch dislocated her shoulder and sent he flying. Another student breathed fire at me, while someone tried striking me with a spear.

  I ignored the attacks and rammed through, the fire burned slightly, and the spear left a gash in my side. All of that didn’t impact my ability to fight. I rammed into the fire-breather and smashed her head with a loud crack.

  The spear-wielder lunged at me again; she knew how to manage her distance. More ranged techniques were fired at me. Olz spread light from her body, making the students just a smidge faster.

  I jumped. I flew like a bullet ten meters high, and that avoided most of the attacks. Those that hit me only made the barrier stronger. I gripped the ground with the force form in my feet and levitated.

  I conjured a necrotizing bullet and sent it flying at Olz. The bullet erupted with a sonic boom. Olz didn’t have time to dodge as the projectile struck her stomach. She dropped to the ground, and rot spread.

  Fear awakened in the crowd. A pleasant cool spread over my body, and the bleeding in my side stopped immediately.

  I gathered starpower in my legs and pushed against the ground. I flew behind the backline.

  The first-years screamed in panic, some gasped, some shouted. The strongest of them was only 21 SE. 8 of them were in the backline, four in the frontline. I had to defeat them before the frontline could reach me and before Illiaz recovered from the freezing.

  They scrambled away, weaving techniques in retreat. The simplest answer is the best. In a second, a bullet launcher constructs were in my hands. In another second, bullets flew through the air.

  My aim was precise, and the dragons couldn’t deal with the sheer speed. I didn’t infuse poison, as I didn’t want to kill them, only immobilize. Thus, my targets were their legs and arms.

  Five fell to the ground, screaming. The other three I missed. The second round got them, just in time for the frontline to turn back to me. The spear-wielder, the mace-wielder, some sort of pugilist, and a girl with a sword.

  Illiaz stood back on her feet with shaking legs. “D-don’t surrender.” Her voice carried starpower, one that removed the fear that fed me. It was just a bonus anyway.

  The students grew wise to my bullet launcher, dodging when I aimed my palm at them. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize I could tweak the direction of the force form.

  Two bullets hit the pugilist’s stomach. I sent three more at the sword-wielder; she managed to avoid two of them, but the pain staggered her.

  Illiaz dashed at me and swiped her claws.

  I redirected the strikes. “Your strategy was shit.” I struck her stomach with a force form, but instead of being sent flying, she only got pushed a little. “I’m not some mindless geist who can be taken with a barrage of slow projectiles.”

  I dodged another slash of her claws. The spear-wielder tried to poke me from the side, starpower shone from the spear, but an application of the force form sent it down.

  “For a mobile target, you need to pin it down.” I dashed into Illiaz and grabbed her hands. Shifting my center of mass, I lifted her over my head and hurled her into the ground. Something cracked.

  “No!” Screamed the spear-wielder. But she met my gaze and fell down with a frozen expression of horror.

  The mace girl lunged at me; her shoulder was broken, but despite that, she attacked. “Commendable.” I parried the strike, and cracks spread across my barrier. A bullet flew out of my palm, right into her side. She howled. “But you should’ve stayed down.”

  I kicked her stomach, and she fell. The fight was over.

  I cracked my shoulders. “Alright, people, you’ll be fine. I targeted only the non-lethal areas. You’re dragons, you’ll heal.” They weren’t in any condition to listen, but I knew they wouldn’t be able to forget my words.

  With a dash, I appeared in front of Olz. Her body was in a very bad state; she was pale, and the rot was getting worse. I forced a panacea into her mouth. “Eat this, it’s a healing thing.”

  I cleared my throat. “Alright, first impressions, you’re a pretty good group. Nice coordination and all, but the melee fighters should’ve surrounded me better. And you should’ve used your stealth.” I stared at the groaning sword-wielder who didn’t even get a chance to fight.

  “Your strengthening techniques absolutely suck. All of you, the fire-bomb guy especially, need to get it up to speed. It’s crucial for defense, offense, and mobility.”

  “Frontliners. Your defense is pathetic. No barriers, no pseudo-transformations, nothing. I know you expected to crush geists in one fell swoop, but it doesn’t work like that. You will take hits and you will have to resist them, at least to some extent.”

  The moans of pain got louder. Someone tried to rise again to fire a technique at me. I pinned her with force form.

  “You need to read The Basics of Knightly Combat – an absolutely enlightening book, it’ll change the way you view combat. I’ll list some for every one of you.”

  What followed was a small lecture, where I recommended the books they needed to read, weaknesses in their casting, techniques, and general style. I told the sword girl how to utilize stealth better, the mace-wielder how to actually tank shots, the spear wielder how to better utilize her distance, and oh so many comments about their general techniques.

  “As for you, Vasui, stop screaming. No, really, your techniques were pretty nice for your level, you need to learn how to optimize them. You were in the technique design course; why didn’t you apply recursion? It’ll turn you into a powerful asset-”

  The ground broke apart. A sired bone, bigger than all the others before, flew into the air, aiming right at Illiaz.

  I reacted before I could think. With a dash, I interposed in front of her. The sired bone rammed into me, it clenched its mandibles around my waist, and cracked the barrier. I pushed through and slammed the monster, despite the crushing pain.

  Then light. Ivaldie blinked in front of me, her sword shining bright. With a swipe, she cut the bone centipede in half. Then again and again and again, turning the monster into small bits, and then into light. A huge core lay on the bony floor.

  “Thank you…” I groaned and gulped a panacea.

  “No need. This was informative.” She simply stated.

  “Right.” Looked at the other students. They were mostly fine. Some bled from the bullet wounds, but it wasn’t that deadly. Olz was just sitting on the ground, clutching her knees.

  “Yo, Olz.” I dashed to her. She reeled back in fear.

  I opened the bottle of pills and counted 13. “Here.” I extended my hand.

  “From now on, you’re not allowed to gossip about me!”