A frown was set on Kai's face as he sat on a soft, luscious seat and gazed out of the strange, glass-like window of the driverless carriage and watched the world go by.

Crowds of sentient creatures, mainly human, swarmed like a nest of angry ants as they pushed and shoved each other, attempting to get closer to the vehicle he was in and take a picture with the strange, yellow stones that they all seemed to have.

Luckily for him, he no longer had to suppress his senses, the carriage doing a good job in blocking out most of the sights and sounds yet, Kai could not help but release a small growl as he shifted his focus to the five drakes in human form, sitting opposite him.

Not only had the young dragon been cooped up inside a small cell for almost a week, stuck in the human form, but he had also been interrogated almost hourly as those who were questioning him became more and more excited.

Towards the end, their gazes almost matched the five drakes however, they were a lot less respectful and... intrusive.

Kai's left hand fiddled with the collar at his neck, its weight, although extremely light, feeling like a milestone. "Have you secured and destroyed all the samples they took?"

A low embarrassed cough rippled from the old, grey-haired man, the red-scales on his neck muted compared to the too those of the two young men and women sitting on either side of him. "We have retrieved all of the logged blood and saliva samples.

The old man took a deep breath. "However... the few scales you shed upon landing at the centre have been... lost."

Kai shrugged, having not even thought about those scales but been more concerned to reclaim some dignity and, even if it was nothing more than a pointless gesture, strike back at those who had treated him like an exotic test subject.

The old man coughed again, this time to attract Kai's attention while revealing a helpless expression on his face. "My Lord. I am truly sorry I did not make it in time to suppress the information about you. As you can see, until we get back to the clan estate, we are likely to be hounded to death by those overzealous reporters and information brokers."

While he said this, it was, in fact, a lie.

The clan had purposefully revealed nearly all of the information they had gained through various channels to try and ensure that Kai would look to them for refuge.

The drakes, as well as those nearby the carriage felt a terrifying, unexplainable danger for a split second, a cold sweat appearing on all of their brows.

However, the sensation disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

"Forget it, Elder Han," Kai's raptor-like gaze softened slightly, the killing intent he was released at his own stupidly rapidly being suppressed.

Han looked relieved and, at the same time, awkward. "I'm glad. I hate to do this after your traumatic experience but-"

Kai's freezing gaze locked onto Han, his pupils, the narrowest of slits, causing both the Elder and those around him to involuntary inch backwards. "Somethings are better of knowing. Both for you and your clan."

While Kai's tone was cold and emotionless, giving him the appearance of being calm and aloof, inside Kai was worrying about those from the Frozen Forest discovering his location and so, wanted to warn people away from asking him too many questions.

He was also hoping that as one of the main powers of Netherspire city, at least according to the words coming from their own mouths, that the Flaming Scale Clan would offer some level of protection until he had gathered the information he needed and so, tried to maintain a civil approach to Elder Han.

However, it seemed as if things did not go the way he wanted them too.

"Such insolence," hissed one of the males, his features, appearing almost completely human with blond hair and brown eyes, twisted in anger. "Elder Han has spent a lot of time, effort and wealth on you, yet you sit there like an overlord, talking down to him."

Kai's eyebrow rose slightly. "And you are?"

The four drakes in human form, dressed in luxurious clothes, were momentarily stunned. This was the third time that they would need to introduce themselves.

While they were excited to be given the important task of welcoming the black drake variant that had caused such an uproar in their city, they were prideful creatures and each perceived slight constantly chipped away at their goodwill.

"Ron Flamescale. Son of th-"

"Knowledge is dangerous. Once you know something, especially the things that are best left forgotten or desired by others, you can't get rid of it. You have to carry it for the rest of your life," said Kai in a slow, disinterested voice.

Kai believed that he had learnt his lesson and unless it was the information that was already revealed, would not divulge anything else about himself. No matter who asked.

"But you have already revealed so much?" responded Ron, anger clear in his scowl. "You come from another world, are a variant and have a physical difference between purebloods."

"Clearly he is trying to act mysterious," said one of the females, her red hair matching the scales on her neck perfectly. "A spoilt child that, if we believe the far-fetched story about his origins, was probably dropped on this planet to remove the embarrassment from his clan."

"Ron, Reia, please refrain from offending our guest," said Elder Han with a composed tone. While he didn't disagree with them and was slightly offended that no matter what he asked Kai, he seemed to flatly refuse to answer, giving some mysterious, roundabout answer, he had been ordered to bring Kai back to the clan and build a good relationship with him.

"Urg," Ron rolled his eyes as he released a small growl, though nothing in comparison to the one Kai revealed earlier. "Just because he has a mutated bloodline, we have to let him stomp all over our pride?"

"Mutated bloodline..." Kai's eyebrow twitched violently as the small carriage turned icy cold due to the mana being sucked out of the air by Kai as his core started rotating.

Even though the drakes showed surprise at this, having never seen someone who could almost absorb all the mana in the area in such a short time, Ron grit his teeth and leant forward. "Yes, mutant. That's all you are. The purest bloodlines of our species all have red scales and brown eyes yet you have black scales with golden eyes... I doubt you even have fifty per cent of our noble blood in you."

Elder Han looked worried but did not stop Ron, hoping to glean some more information from the argument.

Ron, noticing emotion seeping into Kai's eyes grinned and tried to ignore the cold, thinking that he was winning the verbal spar. "Was it your mother who shamed her ancestors and slept with a lesser being or your fath-"

A loud thud erupted as Ron crashed back into his seat and immediately started cradling his shattered nose as thick red blood drenched his clothing.

Elder Han and the others couldn't help but blink in shock. They hadn't even seen Kai move but it was obvious that he had struck Ron heavily enough to injure him without expending much effort.

They quickly sucked in air through their teeth as their eyes darted back and forth. Even in human form, drakes maintained one of the strongest defences of the natural world and yet, without any effort, the young man before them had swatted one of their own as if they were nothing more than a fly.

"Duel, I demand a duel," screamed Ron as he finally overcame the shock and pain.

"I accept~" The others looked to Kai and shivered. The grin on his face was so wide his teeth were revealed yet, not a single hint of amusement or joy could be felt. Instead, it was if an ancient beast had locked onto its prey, debating whether to play with its prey before devouring it.

The young dragon had been in a terrible mood, even before his parents were insulted, and was looking for a way to release some of his pent-up frustration so he could return to being somewhat level-headed. The drake in front of him had provided the perfect opportunity.

Ron's temper quickly cooled, his instincts screaming at him that he had made a terrible mistake.