- Academy Courtyard -

"Since you've all already awakened your mana roots, you are now able to sense the mana around you.".

Urie arrived at the academy courtyard and joined the group of students forming a circle. In the middle, the instructor was giving his lesson. Urie stepped in a bit closer to listen, but he didn't notice that he had ended up standing beside Elicia Perid, who was taken aback by his sudden appearance.

"As I've explained earlier, mana circulation is the process of absorbing mana using your roots and compressing it towards your seed. After which you'll be able to use the mana you've absorbed."

The instructor held out his hands with his palms to the sky and closed his eyes in demonstration.

"Spread around and try to imitate what I do. Try to sense the mana around you, the feeling should come to you naturally."

The students all put distance between themselves and except for two people, they closed their eyes while holding out their palms to the sky.

“Now, hold this position and attempt to gather the mana around you. You don't have to do this every time, only until you get used to the feeling of letting the mana flow inside your body. ”

The instructor opened his eyes and came towards the students one by one, giving them pointers. He noticed the two students who still had their eyes open and asked,

“Student Elicia Perid, is something the matter?”

Elicia crossed her arms and spoke in an apathetic tone, “I can already perform mana circulation without having to do that embarrassing pose.” Her expression turned into one of pride.

Before the Harvest Festival, she already had a yellow-colored mana seed. They didn't expect anything other than the formation of her mana roots during the festival ceremony but even before her body had lit up with yellow light, she caused the surrounding dirt and gravel to levitate a few inches off the ground.

According to the officials, this meant that she had an incredibly high aptitude and that she had received a blessing from an earth spirit.

The instructor whistled in amazement. He turned towards Urie and asked with an expectant expression, “And? Are you the same, student Urie Loeth?”

A complicated expression arose from Urie's face as he thought about what to say to the instructor.

Elicia was at the side mumbling to herself, “He's from the Loeth House so maybe...” She shook her head sideways before resuming her usual prideful demeanor.

“Instructor, I can also perform mana circulation but...” Urie pondered for a moment and said, “You all need to stay a distance away while I do.”

He was neither arrogant nor embarrassed but his tone of voice was hesitant. This only served to confuse the instructor as well as the person listening at the side.

“Is there any particular reason you don't want anyone near you while you absorb mana?”

“Instructor, people may get hurt if they stay near.”

Seeing Urie's expression turn serious, the instructor decided to take his word for it and urged the other students to keep a certain distance.

Although a bit skeptical, Elicia followed after the instructor but sat down in a slightly nearer position than the other students.

Once Urie saw that they were at a safe distance, he sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Elicia felt a small feeling of victory the moment she saw him sit down and close his eyes but immediately lost that once she saw what had occurred a few seconds later.

“Unbelievable...”

Surprise, astonishment, and disbelief could be seen from the faces of the many students including Elicia and the instructor as a red hue had begun to envelop Urie's body before starting to flicker around like flames.

Just as the initial excitement had begun to die down, a wave of heat coming from Urie's body stirred the crowd once again. Elicia felt the air in front of her face grow hotter and she took a few steps back as she couldn't handle the heat.

Meanwhile, from a window on the highest floor of the academy, a pair of yellow eyes with narrow vertical pupils was watching the situation with excitement on a different level from those on the ground.

His mouth had curled up the highest they could and revealed two rows of sharp teeth. He slowly reached out his trembling right hand towards the window glass and from his index finger, a small red ball of light had appeared. He pinched it with his fingers and flicked the ball towards Urie's direction below.

***

- Urie -

For the past week, Urie spent a few hours each day performing mana circulation at the stone circle in the garden behind the Loeth Residence. He was familiar with the sensation so he had no qualms about other people watching from a safe distance.

“A little while longer should be enough.”

He thought about stopping his demonstration after a few minutes, but suddenly, he sensed a small, dense, hot orb of mana enter his body and go directly into his seed.

“What was that!?” He was startled.

Urie stopped actively circulating his mana just as it happened but was alarmed as his seed had continued operating on its own. An incredibly comfortable feeling rushed out from it, and his expression of alarm had turned into one of happiness. He was sensing changes within his body.

“Was it supposed to happen this early?”

The mana seed inside him had grown from the size of a grain of rice into the size of a small pea. The smile on his face grew wider after his discovery, and after a few seconds he regained control over his seed.

The moment he stopped absorbing mana, he noticed that the earlier noise from the crowd had disappeared.

“What's with that smile!?”

With his eyes still closed, the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar voice startled him. He slowly opened his eyes to a bewildering sight, reminding him of a certain fateful night.

Crimson red locked with his icy blue, he put on an incredibly dumbfounded face as he kept staring at the young girl who exuded a different sense of beauty from his mother.

Long flowing red hair with a few strands falling right between the bridge of her nose, neatly tucked behind her right ear. Her petite face, no longer obstructed by ripples from the water's surface, could be viewed in full detail as the light of the sun reflected on her face from the surrounding wall of ice.

“What are you doing!?”

The red-haired girl in from of him yelled in a cracked voice, unused to shouting. The sudden question had snapped him out of his confused stupor as he quickly took a look around him.

“Is father here? Elder brother? Second older brother??”

“They aren't here...”

Sitting down on the ground, the girl's cheeks were flushed as she tried to regain her breath. Sweat started to drip down from her face as she had just exerted a great deal of energy.

“Then who—“

His question was answered before it had come out as he noticed the layer of frost covering the girl's hands. His attention then turned towards the wall of ice which had thinned down due to the dissipating heat.

Along with a loud bang, the wall slowly started to crumble down as a bob-cut black-haired woman resembling Elicia appeared from the debris and hurried towards them.

“Are you alright?” The woman knelt down and examined the red-haired girl for any injuries. She turned to Urie and examined him as well to confirm that they were both alright.

“Aunt Merea!”

Elicia arrived with teary eyes and flew into the embrace of the woman that resembled her.

“Elicia, what happened here?” She asked. Elicia's skin was tinged red with a couple of strands of her hair curling up.

Merea placed both her hands on Elicia's face and wiped the tears that were about to fall.

With none of the arrogance on Elicia's face that she displayed earlier, she looked over her aunt's shoulder and stared at Urie.

“What did I do!?” Urie was alarmed. Finally realizing that something was amiss, his attention was drawn towards the scorched earth beneath them. The grass had disappeared leaving barren soil. He raised his head towards the location of his other classmates to see a majority of them peeking from behind academy pillars.

Urie saw their instructor approaching them from one of the pillars. A large portion of the previously straight, light brown hair covering his eyes was comically curled up. He also used to wear glasses but it seemed he had taken them off.

“Instructor Danny, what's going on?” Merea asked.

She tried to speak with a serious tone, but it was evident on her face that she was stifling her laughter.

Instructor Danny, blushing at the sight of Merea, replied with a strained smile, “Student Urie Loeth was demonstrating mana circulation. I thought he was exaggerating when he asked us to stay back, but it seemed I underestimated his warning.”

He turned his head towards Urie, “Student Urie, I apologize for not taking your warning more seriously.”

“No... That's not it—“ Urie wanted to say that that wasn't the case and that something had occurred in the middle of his demonstration, but a sudden thud caused alarm to surface on everyone's faces as their attention was brought to the red-haired girl lying face-up, down on the ground.

“It's fine, she's just asleep. She used more mana than she could handle earlier.” A deep resounding voice echoed across the courtyard as a scruffy, white-haired old man, with a short fluffy beard, approached from inside the building.

“Merea, bring the girl to the infirmary to rest. I told that stinky boy Sacha to go there. Danny, bring your class along and have them examined for any injuries.”

Merea wasted no time and carried the unconscious girl ahead towards the infirmary, with Elicia running right behind her. Instructor Danny gathered his class before also following along.

“Little boy! You stay here.” Urie was about to go with them but flinched in surprise as he was suddenly called.

He eyed the ground nervously as he heard the scruffy old man walking towards him.

The old man's red robe, even though the ends dragged along the scorched earth, didn't seem to get sullied by the dirt.

As the old man came closer, Urie slowly raised his head and saw the old man's appearance. His eyes looked unusual while his face seemed to be holding back great excitement.

“Little boy...”

Urie was frightened as the old man leaned down before his face and asked an unbelievable question.

“Would you like to kill a dragon?”