“What do you mean that you don’t have money?” shouted out a lizardfolk with a white suit. He was in a weapons shop and was shouting at the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper was a bearman, by no means weak, but he was surrounded by several other lizardfolk.

“P-please give me 1 week.” begged the bearman. He had borrowed money from The Green Tail gang to start his shop, and they were here to take it back.

“We waited for a month, that’s enough. Now, be a good boy and give us the money or I swear I’m gonna make it hurt.” he licked his lips while saying that, and a shiver ran through the bearman’s back.

“Daddy, dinner’s ready.” said his daughter. The lizardfolks’ eyes turned towards the girl, as she ran away. However, she was blocked by one of the gang members, and she was grabbed by the collar.

“I’ll do anything, don’t hurt my child.” said the bearman, now scared. The lizardfolk grabbed a dagger from a stall and stabbed it into his stomach. The bearman’s body grew in size and he leaked a bloodthirsty aura.

“Hey, hey big guy, calm down. If you resist, your daughter dies.” threatened the leader of the gang. He helplessly shrunk to his old size. Another dagger stabbed into him, but this time it was his sides.

A robed figure entered the shop and quietly looked through the weapons on sale. The gang members were dumbstruck at the ignorance of the uninvited guest.

As if not noticing the hostile glares from the lizardfolk, he grabbed a sword and turned towards them. “Which one of you is the shopkeeper?”

The leader asked as he approached him “Do you know who I am?”

“Are you the shopkeeper, if so, how much for this sword?” said the robed man. Now that the lizard was near him, he saw that his height was near his own, a person deemed tall. But he was skinny, so the one in the robe supposedly had more body mass.

“I’m Darius, the leader of the Green Tail gang, and you dare mistake me for a mere shopkeeper?” he shouted out as he unsheathed his blade. It wasn’t a normal one, it grew increasingly wider as it neared the tip. He held the sword in one of his hands and he used the other one to rip off the robe.

He saw that it was a dragonman with pitch black scales. But he was young, a teenager. This was the 4 year old Raven. Although shocked, the lizard slashed his sword at him. By then, he had already dropped the sword he was about to buy.

He easily dodged it by moving to the side and a fist dug into the abdomen of the wielder, resulting in him coughing blood.

Enraged, he moved back and pointed his sword at the dragonman “Kill him!!!” The minions quickly charged at Raven, each with the same sword as their leader.

Raven straightened his hand uttered [Shock Blade] as a static lightning covered his hands, in the shape of a triangle. He dodged a slash by ducking and slashed 2 of them with the blade. It served as a taser and knocked both of them out.

‘2 down, 4 to go’ he thought to himself.

He used his tail hit one’s hand and he dropped the blade, and was easily defeated. One tried to launch a sneak attack, but failed horribly by being hit by his muscular wings. The other two attacked together, blocking each other’s openings. But Raven was their opponent.

He used [Shadow Step] and disappeared. Having hit nothing, they stumbled down. By then, Raven had appeared out of their shadows and hit them with his [Shock Blade].

Fearing for his life, the leader ran away, but tripped on nothing. Raven shocked him too and proceeded with his business. He took up the ring he had dropped and walked towards the shopkeeper.

“How much for this?” he said and showed him a two-handed claymore he was holding.

“As thanks for your help, I’ll give it to you for free.” said the shopkeeper.

“Are you for real? Then I’ll take up your offer.” said Raven happily.

“It’s nothing, you saved my daughter’s life after all.”

“So, what are you planning to do to them?” asked Raven, looking at the lying bodies.

“You don’t have to worry yourself about that, I’ll take care of it. If a bear doesn’t show his might, others might think that he is a sick weasel.” he said, with a gleam in his eyes.

“Okay, I’ll take my leave.” said Raven as he left the shop. He launched upwards, not nearly as good as his father. It’s been 2 years since his father left, but not before teaching him how to wield a sword and hand-to-hand fighting. The goddess had left to after telling him not to fight others with the same mark as him.

She left a purple tattoo on his neck, in the shape of a bird with a crown. He now covered it with a red scarf, sewn by his mother. It was enchanted so it wouldn’t burn, get wet or be torn. Also it had a magic layer that protects it from being dirtied. How she could get it enchanted, he didn’t know.

He arrived home and opened the door. His mother was watching the CV as always, she became like this since Tristan left as she had nothing else to do.

“You’re back, how did it go? Could you bargain enough?” she asked.

“Nope, I got it for free.”

“What, did you steal it?!” she shouted.

“I just helped the shopkeeper settle something.” he said in a matter of fact tone.

“You fought didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but they were weaklings.”

“But you should be more careful about it, what if they happened to have a strong backer.”

“Sorry mom.” he apologized.

“Anyways, you’re going to leave tomorrow.” she said.

“What do you mean mom?”

“I mean, you’re going to take the exam for a magic academy.”

“I don’t want to trouble you. I heard the tuition fee is very high.” he said worriedly.

“Idiot, do you think they’ll turn down a 4 talented student? They’ll actually beg for you to join their academy.” she shouted. In truth, he had 5. It’s just that his parents were unable to read it. [Body Modification] magic talent is signified by the orbs cycling around, but they were too caught up in their joy they didn’t notice.

Thanks to his parents he had already learned 5 skills: [Shock Blade], [Shadow Step], [Shadow Pull] was strengthened, [Lightning Movement], [Lightning Bolt]. And thanks to the goddess, he learned 2 skills: [Steel Claw] and [Soul Recovery]. The first makes his claws as tough as steel, the second one lets him recover his soul in case it’s damaged. If it’s not damaged, it would make it stronger, thus harder to break.

Although shocked, he was happy that he was going to study at a magic academy. And he was going to leave home.

“So which academy am I going to attend?”

“With your talent I’m sure you can attend any of them, so I’ll send you to Trouxorth Academy. It’s the school I graduated from.”

“The academy you graduated from? Then it must be good one.” he had learned that his mother was an arch-mage, a title granted to mage who has mastered one school of magic. For Elenora’s case, it was Shadow.

“Yes, it’s the number 3 academy in this world.”

“Then why can’t I go to the first?” asked Raven, curious.

“Because the number 1 is Flamewing Academy, only attended by those with the Fire Attribute and the number 2 is Serene Academy, an all-girls school.”

“So that’s it. So how do I get there?” he asked again.

“By flying. It’s in the next city over.”

“But it’s hard to find my way.” Raven complained.

She smirked and said “It’s easy to use maps when you’re flying and you’re leaving tomorrow.”

This was true, considering that maps show things from above. “Okay, let me pack my belongings.” he said and ran up the stairs.

He was quite surprised at the lack of attachment that his mother had, but soon remembered that his sister was already travelling the world, maybe that deafened her or are all dragonmen like this?

He didn’t need much, just his clothes, which amounted to not that much. After all, he was a dragonman so he didn’t need many clothes. He packed 3 underwears and 5 trousers, which had holes for tailed people. This world was convenient for stuff like this. Now that his clothes were done, he thought of it and couldn’t think of something other than food supplies.

Raven descended the stairs and asked his mother “What should I prepare anyways?”

“Here, everything’s in this.” she threw something at him. It was a normal looking black ring, with no decorations. Once he put it on, it was almost indistinguishable from his scales. “That’s a storage ring with 5 cubic meters of space. Don’t lose it, that cost a fortune.”

‘How typical.’ he thought but came out as “Thanks mom, I’ll treasure it.”

“It’s nothing, you’ll become a famous mage so it’s worth it.” she said and shooed him into his room.

Night quickly came as he thought of the countless possibilities.

…

It was noon, he quickly got up and ran down the stairway, his mother was already making lunch and she motioned for him to wait. She was frying some unknown fish meat and had rice as a side dish. An alluring aroma emanated from the dish in process the process of making.

The taste was as expected, delicious. It was marinated in a substance like honey and there was a sour taste, the fish itself gave a unique taste, making it even tastier.

He quickly finished it. Her mother dragged him outside. “Well, it’s time to say our goodbyes.” she said and gave him 2 bronze bracelets. “They’re your father’s. It’s called lightning bracelets and can help you use magic. And this is from me.” she said and gave him a pendant “It’ll help you in times of need.”

He put the bracelets on and examined the pendant. It was in the shape of a diamond and it was a black gemstone, edged by metal. He put it on, under his scarf. None could see it.

“Thanks mom, and say thanks to dad too.” Raven said. It seems although advanced, they didn’t create phones. “And take care.” he turned his back to her, but was hugged from behind.

“Take care, my son.” she said with a shaky voice. It seems she was actually quite attached to him. Raven hugged her too; after all, she was the one who raised him through his childhood, although short.

He launched upwards and said his final goodbyes to his childhood home.