I Alone Breed Dragons

"Daniel, nock an arrow."

Promptly he did as so, took out the bow, and a nocked an arrow, holding a long both strings. He pulled. The strings stretched, his aim pointed at the rock.

"Hold. Hold. Release."

The arrow flew by on command, leaving a trail of blue, as it whistled to the rock, on contact—

Boom. It exploded, deafening, moving past our location in a gust of wave. The rock was left destroyed, place of contact smoked, when it cleared it revealed a wide hole in the rock.

"That was effective."

Daniel lowered his bow, remained in silence. It bugged me how quiet he had been lately, different from the slight arrogant kid I met at the forest.

"Does your father still give you a headache?"

His lips curled up. "A bit, but at least I’m on holiday, so I get to see my mom. She told me about meeting Walter, the village chief, so I decided to come see you."

"Then what is it that bothers you?"

His mood soured. He lifted his bow reluctantly. "The weapons... do you really believe such weapons will help with peace? Like they are meant to kill, dragons or humans alike. I don’t believe creating weapons is a good idea."

"Weapons made are for a good cause, to protect."

"Seriously? I believe the first person to smith a blade didn’t do so for protection, and even if he did, hundreds die by the sword daily. These weapons, in the wrong hands, will cause deaths of far more."

"If you could destroy these weapons, would you do so?"

"...Yes, I will. Everything that would prevent wrong use."

"And death tolls and the chance of war with them will reduce?"

"I believe so."

I shook my head faintly. "You’re completely wrong. Mankind, long before swords and guns, killed their own kind — strangling, burying alive, drowning. Those didn’t need any weapon, just things around them. If there wasn’t a weapon around, you think they’d simply forget? No. Humans will find other means just to accomplish what they want. In the wrong hands, yes, this weapon will be destructive, but you don’t think about the part where it’s entrusted to the right people."

A moment of silence passed. Daniel then exhaled sharply. "You’re right. There’s always the bright side." Even from his words, his tone wasn’t that bright.

"Anything else?"

"Nothing, just realized something. I believe I’m on the bright side, and for that case, I shouldn’t give up. Can’t let vengeance win."

"...And what’s that supposed to mean?"

"My best friend at the academy — he’s consumed by vengeance. He wants to avenge his father, and for that case, he’s been working on the magic-amplified weapons more thoroughly than anyone at the academy. I gave up on putting much effort into the building because of him. I didn’t want to end up aiding him to kill someone. Now I have my own goal — my weapons will be solely to protect."

I smiled, ruffled his hair. "That’s an honourable goal." But deep down, if only he knew my purpose for the weapon — still, he was a child, too young to begin explaining it all.

"Nock another arrow, for a final test."

He did as so, next targeted another rock.

"Release." I commanded. The arrow whistled by and struck the target. Silence. I prepared for the explosive nature of the arrow, but nothing followed. The arrow remained, driven into the rock.

We exchanged glances. "What’s happening?"

"Well, it’s the prototype, we’re still working on it. Don’t—"

Daniel grabbed my arm. I took a step with intention to retrieve the arrow, but halted immediately from Daniel’s caution.

"If you grab the arrow, it’ll explode in your face. Turn your hand to bits. You don’t want that."

"Don’t worry about that, I’ll be fine." I pulled my arm from his grip, continuing forward.

[Adapt Initializing: Genes modifying and preparing for further magic adaptation]

[Absorb Activated]

[Dual Ability: activated, increased effectiveness]

By combining adapt and absorb, it made adaptation to harmful acts better. By absorbing part of the magic, and adapting to the rest of the damage, I reduce harm to myself by 90%. Now I didn’t need to worry about being killed before adapting to a powerful magic, and this arrow, on second look, its magic wasn’t yet at that par. I gripped the base of the arrow and pulled.

The wood turned hot, burning at my palm, the metal reddened in slow motion. I held the tip of the arrow. The arrow pulsed, then dulled back, without explosion.

Absorb: Fire magic; explosion technique (B rank)

Adapted magic: Flame (zero effect)

Lucky me, as the explosion was taken as a technique, which to natural magic was normal to consider — the explosion technique, which made my day brighter, to gain a new ability. With adaptive learning, fire will be the last affinity in my core.

I released the rest of the arrow, dropped it to the ground.

Daniel stared at the arrow, then shifted his gaze to me, his jaw went slack. "It didn’t even explode."

"I absorbed the explosion. So it didn’t have any effect on me. Let’s return, your professor will be wondering if I kidnapped you." I turned around and walked back to the camp.

"Funny," Daniel blurted out, fixed the arrow back in its case and followed.

"Once everything is ready, we’ll ship the weapons to the Peace Knights, ready to use."

I escorted Edward back to their carriage, with his students already seated, waiting inside.

"Thanks for entertaining us. Looking forward to our next meeting." He stretched his hand out again for a departing handshake.

Reluctantly, I accepted. This time, firmly, I shook his hand. He clamped his palm on mine, shaking with both hands, a dumb smile on his face. "It’s an honour meeting you. I wish to see what great knights you’ll lead, the peace you’ll keep."

Politely, as I could, I slipped my hand away, pocketing it. "Thank you," I said briefly.

The lashing sound of the reins resounded. Horses neighed, their carriage rolled away.

I stood and watched. Daniel looked through the window, waved. I nodded in response.

A lot of ass-kissers the moment you’re in power. I shook my head and walked away, not a single hint of my intention, yet it’s an honour to meet me.

A full month passed, faster than I had expected. I left my chamber and returned back to the training ground, and I’ll admit this was taking longer than I had expected — maybe I was impatient. And the fact the goblins hadn’t made any move till now really bugged me. Four weeks passed, not a single attack had happened, neither had Maltie returned with any info.

Until..