Elite Assembly Council Room.

A tanned youth with long red hair that dropped to his shoulders sat at the center of a gigantic round table along with four other individuals.

“Streth, were there any accidents regarding the Sloveus expedition this year?” The red-haired youth asked.

A skinny, pale teenager with the height of a twelve-year-old replied, “Apparently Heath tried to extort a commoner but an earthquake interrupted him. The commoner, Astra Gale, and several other nobles fell off the cliff and into the fissure, I would assume that they are dead.”

A girl with blonde curly hair that was tied up in a ponytail laughed haughtily, “Uriel, I thought you had everything under control in this academy. Why are there nobles dying to a commoner?”

“Flora, The loss of many human lives is no laughing matter,” A girl with long chestnut hair said softly.

Flora laughed again, “Oh Sherry, just because you saved a couple of lives here and there doesn’t mean that you’re some sort of saint now.”

“Enough, the commoner is already dead. Let’s move on to the next topic unless you want to pick up scraps from their house,” said a youth with short blond hair and orange colored eyes.

“Although Dio may be a bit insensitive, he has a point. Let’s move on,” Uriel said with indifference.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the council room door.

“Heath Nightbend, may I come in?”

“You may enter,” Uriel said.

Heath opened the doors and bowed down slightly to greet the five leaders of the Elite Assembly.

“Speak,” Uriel immediately commanded with a domineering tone.

“Have you heard of the incident in Sloveus’ dimension?” Heath asked politely.

Streth chuckled, “Of course we have, that was the first thing that I brought up. Aren’t you taking my connections too lightly?” Streth was from the Pierce family who was famed for their archery and stealth prowess which allowed them to gather information with haste and efficiency.

“Ah, then you must know that Astra Gale is still alive,” Heath said.

Flora burst out into maniacal laughter, “HAHAHAHA! The commoner killed several nobles and yet he still lived? What a joke!”

Heath continued, “But he is still in Sloveus’ dimension, I have placed some of my men at the entrance to see if he will come out.”

Uriel nodded,“If that is all, you may leave,”

“I will excuse myself,” Heath bowed politely before heading out.

Uriel turned to the four of them and said gravely, “This changes things,”

“This changes nothing!” Dio said heartlessly. “The fissure in Sloveus’ dimension is thousands of meters deep! There’s no way he could get out of there even if he is alive. He’s probably dangling on a piece of protruding rock.”

Sherry shook her head, “We should make our decision after the dimension closes for good. After all, right before the dimension closes, space starts to become distorted. The exit portal might appear right before him.”

Streth chipped in, “If Astra does survive, It’s just going to be a bunch of he said she said, we will have to pick a side to support.”

“Naturally, you will support the nobles, won’t you?” Flora glared at Uriel. Unlike the rest of them, Flora Avonal didn’t hold a real position in the Elite Assembly and naturally had no responsibilities. She was only recruited into the Assembly because the Avonal Family had relations to the royal Ascelyn Family. All Flora really had to do was to attend the daily meetings but even then, she was frequently late. Flora spent most of her time strolling around Ascelyn Academy in skimpy outfits, reveling in the perverted gazes that would surround her.

Uriel cleared his throat and got everyone’s attention, “If he lives, we will listen to his story before we decide what to do with him. Streth, have your people patrol near the entrance of Sloveus’ dimension until it closes. Bring Astra in if he manages to get out.”

“Understood,” Streth nodded.

Flora grimaced. Even though Flora had relations to the royal family, she was no royalty. Uriel was from the Draconian family who was known for having strong combat prowess and its abundant connections to military and mercenary services. The Draconians even had an extremely loyal private army at their beck and call. If the Draconians mustered all their power and connections, even the royal Ascelyn Family wouldn’t be able to destroy them without harboring heavy losses.

…

..

.

Bottom of the Fissure.

“Sit down and rest for a while, you’ll be scaling this fissure soon,” Dahlia instructed.

Astra nodded but first, he looked for his Sword of Gale. Surprisingly, the sword was only several meters away from him. He picked it up and stored it in his space ring before laying down on the ground to rest.

Dahlia walked up to the dragon.

“We’re going to leave soon, is there anything you want me to do for you?” Dahlia asked softly.

The dragon half-opened its eyes and shook its head, “.Being able to meet the deity that allowed my ancestors to prosper is enough for me. However, there is something more that I can do for you and that boy,”

“And what is that?” Dahlia raised an eyebrow.

The dragon sighed deeply, “I have but several hundred years left. That time will pass in a blink of an eye. I might as well be dead right now. I will give you the remains of my body, it will help you greatly in the future.”

Dahlia gaped as she was slightly shocked inside.

“But before that, allow me to soften his mana channel entrances,” The dragon continued.

Dahlia said with a solemn face, “You are truly rushing to your death.”

As the name implies, mana channels are channels within the body that allows a person to channel their mana. The more channels a person has open, the faster one can absorb and circulate mana within their body. Most mana channels are naturally opened when one breaks through to White rank and so on, but there would always be leftover mana channels that weren’t opened during the breakthrough and would require one to spend an arduous amount of time absorbing mana to break open the channel.

To forcefully tone down the resistance of mana entrances requires an enormous amount of skill and knowledge regarding human anatomy and mana channels. If the dragon was in its prime, it would be able to do this without sacrificing a second of his life. But now that the dragon was severely exhausted and lacking in life force, even weakening one mana entrance would require him to sacrifice several days of his life.

“ASTRA! WAKE UP! GET OVER HERE!” A thunderous voice came from Dahlia that shook Astra’s very soul.

“Wh-What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Astra looked around worriedly. It hasn’t even been five minutes since Astra laid down. He quickly trotted to Dahlia’s side.

The dragon raised his claw and gently placed it on top of Astra’s forehead.

“Relax, young child,” The dragon whispered.

Astra calmed his breathing. Just like the first time, if the dragon wanted to kill Astra, it could’ve done so already.

A violet light came from the claw and penetrated Astra’s forehead.

“Hm...What’s this?” The dragon mumbled to itself.

Dahlia raised her eyebrow in curiosity, “What is it?”

“There’s an imprint in his body...It’s a two-step imprint that requires an external and internal force. It appears to be some sort of tracker and bears some effect on the mind as well.” The dragon replied.

“An imprint?...When was this?...” Dahlia murmured to herself.

“I will erase the imprint while I am opening his channels,” The dragon said.

Dahlia nodded in approval.

“Ugh,” Astra grunted as a weird feeling overcame his body. It was as if thousands of needles were trying to escape from inside his body and out through his pores. Suddenly, microscopic holes appeared all over Astra’s body and blood squirted from all of the holes. Astra’s breathing became heavy and rapid as he became rigid.

“It is done,” The dragon retracted his claw.

Dahlia nodded and lightly pushed the statue-like Astra who fell onto the ground unconsciously.

Currently, most of Astra’s mana channels were tightly closed since he had yet to break through to White rank. If the openings of a mana channel were compared to a steel door, then the breakthrough to White rank would be comparable to drilling a hole through the doors. Right now, the doors were being poked through by thousands of small needles.

Blood started leaking from Astra’s mouth, a small river formed beneath his body.

Dahlia waited for the process to end.

…

..

.