Bwah ha ha ha ha! Aisa has an army now!

A sudden, endearing, bell-like voice echoed menacingly in Kairos’ mind, almost causing him to stumble.

When Aisa revealed herself to the Cave Trolls they sworn allegiance to her at once. The presence of a primordial dragon is enough to make any mortal realm creatures bow down unchallenged.

But her gleeful cheer finally made Kairos curious, “Aisa, why are you collecting pets?”

Remember Aisa told you about the Primordial Dragons?

“Yep? Only sixteen of them, and one for each element right?”

Yessssss! Aisa will build an army, wreck the heavens and beat them all up!

“Ah, I remembered you saying something like that before. There was a fierce battle between the primordial ones. Aisa was killed back then right?”

Hmph!! Those cowardly ones ganged up on me. If not because the True Lord asked Aisa to wait, Aisa would have already returned and chomped them all down.

She roared squeakily in his mind. If the others could hear, they would be in awe and enamoured by her at the same time.

There was an ancient bestial fury that could cause entire realms to tremble. Lesser beings would’ve crumbled instantly or went insane, but Kairos only consoled her gently.

“Aisa, I’ll be there for you the day you wreck the heavens.”

It instantly caused the primordial dragon to calm down. Though he is still far from the celestial level, his offer made the True Holy Dragon exhilarated.

If Kairos would be there, Aisa will definitely win!

Since their conversation took placed in the mind, it only required a split second to finish. For the others, Kairos appeared only briefly distracted.

With their main problem now fixed thanks to Aisa controlling the Cave Trolls, there is little to worry about to leave this place with the monster king’s treasured spirit ore. As their new master, she holds absolute power over them. Of course, the others in the group did not know this and stood nervously around.

Calculus snapped out of his stunned surprise and began asking questions, but Kairos merely smiled and promised that nothing is going to happen.

“There’s no way I’m trusting you,” the boy said.

Alucard rolled his eyes, “Look, you’re free to stay, but if Kairos was wrong, I rather be running than standing here surrounded by these uglies.”

When they were about to leave, a thought from Aisa suddenly entered Kairos’ mind, and he retraced his steps back to the troll king’s throne.

“Leaving like this won’t do. Just like us needing a chance, we cannot take away the trolls’ hope to become the next king…”

He can understand that every creature has their way of living. If they left just like this, the trolls would have no target to move towards. Aisa is an unimaginable existence that even dumb creatures like them know she’s impossible to challenge.

Unfortunately, taking away a core part of their social structure would cause unimaginable destruction to them as a species. Without something to challenge, eventually the Cave Trolls would lose their combative spirit and die out, but Kairos has the perfect candidate for the job.

“Come Wyrmy!”

The earth near them ruptured as the draconic beast appeared. Its wide eyes and joyful panting made it seem more like an oversized sloppy puppy than a descendent from the legendary dragons.

“Wha… this is a land wyrm! My goodness, by the looks of it, it is merely a step away from a true dragon. You have it under your control?” Alucard asked, “Why didn’t you summon it during Tamer Class?”

Kairos shook his head slightly. The land wyrm had recently undergone a transformation after it was nearly fried by lightning, becoming more savage looking with additional spikes and armoured plates covering its body.

Bringing it out in front of the tamer class would cause a stir by the strong draconic bloodline it now possesses, but with a little check, they will realise that it is the land wyrm belonging to the Training Grounds.

And, after a little more investigation, the fact that it has evolved into a far superior form will become exposed. At that time, Kairos would face endless questions.

Knowing that, he had held back from summoning it in class in the past, but now the time has changed. With the protection from Lord Yue and the Dark Gods family, such problems are no longer an issue for the Snowdrifts.

Too bad, putting the land wyrm in this place means that summoning it for the Beast Taming Class has once again become a dashed dream.

“Wyrmy, stay here and grow strong. If there are any challengers, take them down for me. I won’t be interested in fighting any Cave Trolls if they can’t even get pass you, got it?”

This magnificent beast had followed him throughout all his adventures, hiding underground and coming out whenever he summons it. Now that they have to part for a while, he did feel somewhat sentimental. After Tommy, now Wyrmy, each of them must walk their own way forward, until one day their paths intersect again.

At the same time, since Wyrmy is going to be here for a while, Kairos had thought up the methods to help it grow. The celestial dragonlings might not benefit much from the treasures found in the Mortal Realms, but these things are invaluable for the land wyrm.

Making sure that no one was looking, Kairos took out the Lightning Core Fruit and the Origin of the land, masquerading those treasures by hiding them in a giant slab of meat and threw it to Wyrmy who instantly swallowed it.

The former item is a spirit fruit he picked out from Friztgen’s treasury to unlock the Lightning Dragonling within himself, but somehow, he managed without needing it. However, the fruit, if properly taken care of, will grow up into a tree and convert the land’s nutrients into lightning elemental energy. The lair that is filled with animal remains, filth and even the lack of direct sunlight, makes it perfect for this spirit plant

The latter item, the Origin of the Land will encourage Earth element spirit ores to appear. Although wyrmy is Earth element-based, it had adapted to lightning element. If nurtured properly, it might become a dual-affinity creature. A mighty beast that would be feared in the mortal realm.

Kairos patted it on its head before the group left.

“That’s your guarantee? A big fat troll is going to smack it unconsciously in a single move, and come after us,” Calculus said, genuinely worried. The land wyrm is only A ranked, and there are plenty of S ranked Cave Trolls around.

“It’s fine; it has draconic bloodlines after all. These trolls are still far from a match against it.”

The average troll would be unable to withstand its draconic aura, and with Aisa in the background, none will dare to revolt.

“Hmph, it doesn’t look all that trustworthy. I’m not going to wait and see if it survives.”

“Well, it’s usually as friendly as a pup,” Kairos agreed with Calculus. Wyrmy truly lacked the fearsomeness that wild wyrms would have.

The latter unexpecting such candid acceptance coughed unnaturally, “R…right, you also think it’s too gentle and mild… Are you sure?”

“It’d be fine. Do you want to go or not?”

“If these hideous things run after us, I’m going to use you as bait and get away.”

Kairos rolled his eyes at the faithless Calculus, and they hurried away.

After their group left, the land wyrm regurgitated the meat and took out the two items from within. Then, promptly ate it again.

The ugly Cave Trolls looking at it stared enviously.

Meat!

Ignoring those drooling creatures, Wyrmy buried the two treasures entrusted to it, and then went to the Troll King’s Throne and fell asleep.

But before long, the first fearless, foolish one is already preparing to challenge Wyrmy. If it could defeat this big oaf, it will earn the right to challenge their new queen, Aisa.

An S ranked Troll snarled and charged forward without warning.

…..

The group returned to the mining centre without any obstacles, the Cave Trolls’ presence meant that there are no dangerous creatures in the surroundings.

Many in their group felt relief to have re-entered civilisation. Perhaps only those that waltzed through the battlefield wouldn’t be affected by such bloodied combat.

They are the last to reach, and many of the other students shot them with dirty looks.

“The juniors this year sure are privileged, making us wait.”

“Hah, that’s the famous group with all the rich kids, it’s no wonder.”

“Shhh… Don’t you see Earl Kairos in the group?”

“The new Astroire family?”

“Yes, if you are a master artisan like him, even you can be late.”

“That doesn’t matter… Let’s see what the instructor says. I’m sure he won’t tolerate tardiness.”

“Of course, he can’t! You’d lose the same percentage of score you receive for every minute late in any class, and if a hundred minutes passed, you'd get expelled from the course. Being almost two hours late, they might as well go home now.”

Arriving late on the battlefield is a severe misdeed and cost lives or sometimes even a critical victory. The academy which trains future officers in the army takes tardiness seriously and will not hesitate to mete out punishments.

“Wasn’t Lord Kairos and his group given the special rights to be late or skip classes?”

“No, it doesn’t extend to skipping class half-way after attending. He was given that right because of his exceptional abilities in every field that made all instructors wanting him as their student, and it’s physically impossible to be present for every course. They even granted his teammates the same benefits so that he may continue to grow in his preferred environment, but unless he has a perfect excuse, being unable to make it back in time is a serious offence.”

Of course, the group that defeated the trolls were unconcerned. If anything, they would be commended for their deeds, but no one expected a thank you from the instructor.

The group were surprised for a moment until Er Tian gulped down his last drink then they realised, this old man had been treating this excursion as a job retreat!

While they were crawling through dirt and blood, their instructor had been spending quality time for rest and relaxed and their lateness only meant more time for him.

The lot of them couldn’t help but roll their eyes. They had forgone searching through the emptied dungeons for more spirit ores because they were already terribly late. Though they could explain it away because they had subjugated the trolls, the other students were aware of the time when monsters disappeared from underground and could easily deduce if they tarried.

However, things did not even reach that step. Those that wanted to voice their complaints took a good look at their unreliable instructor and swallowed back their words.

They could tell that Er Tian will probably only answer them with a, “Eh, is that so?” and carry on with the lesson. No, they were almost certain. Besides, none actually dared to stand up against a bunch of young heirs from top noble families and – even worse – a self-made Earl.

The students hurried to hand in their findings by lining up, but Er Tian waved them off with a scowl, asked everyone to take out their items where they stood.

“Kids, why are you worrying so much about the little details? If you act this way, your youth will pass before you know it… Wait whoa, you there! You found such a beauty?”

His words confirmed the suspicions of the seniors that he is completely unconcerned. However, when one of the students who took out an egg-shaped stone that stood on the ground taller than a grown man’s knee, the instructor’s aura suddenly sharpened.

It was like he had become another person, his passion seeping through his lazy exterior.

But a grimace soon appeared on his face. He squats next to the stone egg and rapped it lightly with his knuckles on one side, then repeated the same on the other side.

After a moment, he shook his head, “Unfortunately, its beauty seems limited to its surface. If I guessed correctly, it only holds a small spirit ore within.”

“Sir, how can you tell?”

“Well, see these patterns on the rock?” the Head of Student Affairs Instructor pointed, “They are formed when a spirit ore appears. But, once in a while, the spirit ore may lose its power and shrink if there was a flaw in the shell.”

Er Tian turned the stone egg around until the student could see a tiny darker shaded patch, which he taps with a finger, “This is the flaw in the shell’s formation. Although there is also a chance that the ore could be a naturally stable-type that would stay intact, there wasn’t much of a reaction when I knocked on the rock.

I could still be wrong since there is no sure-proof way to tell. Well, good luck.”

Almost sure that it was a dud, Er Tian quickly lost interest, and he stood up to see if he could spot other exciting finds.

The student who was happy with his large stone egg turned crestfallen, but he was not overly concerned about his result. Ore finding is only a small part of Blacksmithing and not even important. It is more accurate to say that this is an introductory lesson for them to understand the environment miners works in to secure crafting material, and also a chance for students like them to be introduced to potential suppliers.

“Hooo?!”

When the instructor spotted the finds from Kairos’ group, he whistled and made his way over with swift steps.

This small group of students had been bringing out knee-height stones as though they were ordinary pebbles by the sidewalk.

Calculus proudly took out a waist height stone that looked perfect from the outside. The moment he set it on the ground, the rock stole the breath of all onlookers, including Er Tian.

“T.. this… This treasure!” as a blacksmith, Er Tian couldn’t hold in his excitement and ran to Calculus with a wide smile, “If the shell is thin, you have on your hands a real treasure. But, let’s hold on, for now, such beauty must be cracked open before everyone.”

It wasn’t just Kairos’ group that had excellent sized stone eggs. The students discussed among themselves excitedly with surprise coloured on their faces, “Isn’t the result for this year a little too good?”

“Yeah, for some reason the subterranean creatures were lacking, I’ve even found a freshly abandoned nest.”

The spirit ores were both in abundance and larger than usual, with this, they could have a lot of materials to be used later on. This means that they could create a second or third piece of weapon or armour and choose the best for a better score.

However, there was one student that did not take out his prize, yet.

Kairos sighed. A carriage-sized stone is simply too eye-catching, and furthermore, he is confident that the spirit ore within is high-grade. After all, even before cracking it out, the elemental energy that was leaking out is already significant.