“Hnghh…”
Seeing the Minotaur struggling, I pressed my claw harder onto his back, increasing the load.
Stone cracked beneath him.
Tranx strained, muscles trembling as he tried to rise. His hooves scraped against the cavern floor, legs shaking violently under the weight I applied.
Good.
After Strata’s relentless feeding and supervision, the little bull had finally regained a healthy body.
Once flesh returned to his bones, I shifted my focus from gravity rune experiments to personally overseeing his training.
I pushed him to his limits—forcing his body to adapt to the premature awakening of his aura.
After all, the basics of aura training is all about strength training.
Since I was already overseeing his training—and the Troll King’s display of aura had sparked my motivation—I resumed training my own aura as well.
The past few years had pushed my aura reserves to their limit.
More than enough to form an Aura Heart.
And yet… it refused to manifest.
Under normal circumstances, once aura accumulated to the required density, it would naturally condense within the body—
Just as mana naturally forms a Mana Heart.
But for some reason—
Nothing.
The heart simply refused to appear.
Leaving me no choice but to continue strengthening my body in the meantime.
I inspected Tranx.
Name: Tranx Ashfox
Species: Minotaur
Attribute: Fire
Age: 13
Mana: 0
Aura: 18
Prana: 0
Eighteen.
From two to eighteen in a single year.
All without treasures, pills, or any external infusions.
Just brutal training and relentless pressure.
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
“Tranx.”
The Minotaur immediately straightened.
“Yes, Master Dragon.”
“I have taught you all the skills you require. From today onward, you will continue your training without my supervision.”
Uncertainty flickered across his face. His hooves shifted slightly against the sand.
For a moment, it seemed as if he wanted to say something.
But in the end, he simply lowered his head and bowed.
“Yes. I will heed your guidance.”
I gave a small nod.
“You may leave.”
He exited the cavern with steady, measured steps—no longer the half-dead child the desert had delivered to my lair.
I watched him go.
A faint irritation stirred within me looking at his back, in a few decades, he might surpass me… while I would still remain trapped, struggling to form my Aura Heart.
I turned my attention inward.
Name: Muzafir Varkun
Species: Dragon
Attributes: Water, Gravity
Age: 362
Mana: 223.10
Aura: 199.99
Prana: 102.95
My inherited bloodline memories offered little guidance on forming an Aura Heart.
Most dragons relied almost entirely on mana. To them, aura was crude and primitive—
A tool used by lesser races too weak to properly manipulate mana.
Because of that, the only path left to me was the most direct one.
Strengthening my body.
Fortunately, gravity magic made this possible with a recent inspiration.
With a thought, I increased the crushing force surrounding my body, turning the cavern itself into a relentless training ground.
The air grew heavy. The sand beneath me shifted and groaned.
And my body endured it all.
-----
Days passed.
And then, one day—
“Hm?”
The monitoring runes scattered across the desert began to trigger.
One.
Two.
Five.
Twelve.
In rapid succession.
Each pulse echoed faintly through my senses, the warning signals stacking over one another.
My eyes narrowed.
I immediately activated the clairvoyance spell, linking it to the nearest anchor rune buried beneath the desert sands.
My vision shifted.
The endless wasteland unfolded before me—dunes stretching to the horizon beneath a blazing sky.
Something was moving through it.
Fast.
The sand rippled and scattered in its wake as the intruders crossed the desert with terrifying speed.
I did not have to wait long.
Three massive figures soon entered my vision.
Dragons.
Fire Dragons.
Each of them radiated a pressure greater than my own.
Name: ???
Species: Dragon
Attribute: Fire
Age: 230
Mana: 672
Name: ???
Species: Dragon
Attribute: Fire
Age: 122
Mana: 300
Name: ???
Species: Dragon
Attribute: Fire
Age: 132
Mana: 321
One Dominion-level. Two Conduits.
Ahhh.. troublesome visitors.
Why couldn’t they remain within their resource-rich territories instead of wandering into desolate wastelands like this?
I carefully analyzed their flight path through the clairvoyance link. Their course shifted slightly as they flew—toward the oasis.
Normally, travelers avoided triggering monitoring runes. The moment one activated, the intruder would immediately sense the presence of the surveillance magic as well.
Most intelligent beings avoided activating more than a single rune. It was a simple courtesy—a silent declaration that they meant no harm and were merely passing through.
But these three deliberately triggered every rune they encountered, one after another. Each activation pulsed through my senses like a taunt.
They were announcing themselves.
My eyes narrowed. Perhaps leaving the cave would be the wiser choice. If they were merely passing through, I have no intention of fighting three dragons over territory—even if I had spent decades slowly shaping this oasis into a habitable refuge.
I shattered a signaling crystal beside the lake. The crystal burst with a sharp crack, releasing a faint pulse of mana that rippled through the cavern—a signal for Strata to hide, created for situations like these.
Then I leapt from the cavern entrance and spread my wings.
Below me, the oasis shrank rapidly, its pool of water a rare glimmer of blue amid the endless gold of the wasteland.
I flew north while the three fire dragons approached from the west. After putting some distance between us, I checked the monitoring runes again. My vision shifted as the clairvoyance anchor activated.
The result was not surprising.
They had changed course.
Toward me.
They were tracking me.
Ahh… after fleeing to the far edge of the continent to escape violence, it still comes to this. There is no way out of this without a fight.
I turned immediately and flew back toward my cave. If battle was inevitable, that was where my chances were highest.
The cavern was layered with hundreds of rune spells carved into the stone over years. Inside the cave, the advantage belonged to me—unlike the open desert where their superior mana reserves would end the battle in their favor.
Just before they arrived, I slipped back into the cavern and started activating the hidden spells embedded throughout the oasis.
Subtle currents of mana stirred through sand and stone as the runes awakened one by one. At the same time, water from the lake surged through hidden channels, slowly flooding the cavern.
Then I waited.
Time stretched in silence.
Then—
The ground trembled as three massive bodies descended from the sky, landing near the cave entrance. Even through layers of rock, the heat of their mana seeped into the cavern.
“Is this the place?” one of them asked, her voice carrying inward.
“I have to admit…” another voice followed, smooth and dismissive. “Seeing it flee, I expected something more impressive. Alas…”
So… they really did have a way to track me.
Returning to the cave had been the right choice. Out in the open, they would have hunted me down like prey until I collapsed from exhaustion.
ROAAAR
A roar tore through the entrance.
The sound echoed violently through the cavern, sending ripples across the water—meant to intimidate, to flush me out into the open.
I remained still.
I had no intention of abandoning my advantage.
“No response,” one of their voice echoed.
After a brief pause, all three stepped inside. The water pooled across the floor began to react immediately—thin wisps of steam rising as their heat bled into it, the surface trembling with a faint hiss.
Even with their massive forms filling the space, the cavern still felt vast—large enough to house a dozen dragons of my size, just as I had intended when I carved it.
Yet the Dominion ranked dragon's presence bled into every corner, filling the cavern despite its size, warping the air itself under its weight.
Oppressive.
Our eyes met as they moved deeper inside.
In that brief moment, I felt it—
The difference in power, not just in number.
“Why are you here?” I asked sharply, tightening my control over the hidden spells so their mana signatures blended seamlessly with the lake and surrounding stone.
As expected, they ignored the question.
Instead, their gazes swept over me slowly.
The way predators examine prey before deciding how to kill it.
“Color me surprised,” one of them said at last. “A non-defective one.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“And stronger than expected.”
Another dragon exhaled, a thin stream of smoke curling from its nostrils as its gaze shifted toward the lake behind me.
“If you don’t give me a reason for this intrusion,” I said, my voice low, “I’ll consider it an act of hostility.”
Silence fell.
For a brief moment, the cavern held its breath.
Then—
Laughter.
Low at first.
Then swelling, louder, echoing off the stone.
“Listen to it,” one mocked. “It actually thinks it has a chance against us.”
Their laughter rolled through the cavern, heavy and cruel.
“You definitely are strong,” the largest finally said, her voice laced with amusement. “At least compared to the defects we’ve hunted so far.”
The others chuckled, softer now but no less condescending—like hunters entertaining themselves before the kill.
I said nothing and let them continue laughing.
“How did you find me?” I asked again, my tone measured, deliberate—seeking a real answer.
“Ohh… you see, one of the Queen’s pets we were hunting mentioned a lone dragon hiding in the desert,” the smallest replied, wiping a tear from the corner of its eye as its laughter subsided.
Dareth.
I should have abandoned this lair the moment that lunatic managed to sniff me out.
Enough talk.
They aren’t going to keep me alive anyway.
So I attacked first.
<Water Jet>
The moment they saw me cast, the two Conduit-ranked dragons split apart, spreading out—while the Dominion-ranked one remained where she was, completely unmoved.
A dozen compressed spears of water formed around me and launched forward.
They cut through the air with lethal speed, adjusting mid-flight to track their targets. The sudden shift left the two Conduits with barely a moment to react.
But the attack never reached them.
A thin veil of mana flared into existence—quiet, almost effortless.
The spears struck it and shattered, dissolving into harmless mist.
Amused expressions spread across their faces as they looked at me.
My “attack” hadn’t even scratched them.
I had expected that.
The attack was never meant to harm them—nor could it.
It was meant to force them apart, with the added benefit of making them underestimate me.
I moved the instant the mist bloomed—charging the weakest of the three, now separated from the others.
I kept low, my approach deliberately unthreatening and slow.
The target barely reacted, an amused expression lingering as it watched me close the distance.
Then, the moment I was within reach, I surged.
Every muscle exploded into motion as I condensed every drop of aura into my claws. Power roared through me in an instant.
The sudden spike caught her off guard. Panic flashed across her face as she tried to reinforce her barrier—
But it was too late.
The hastily raised shield shattered on contact.
My claws tore through her chest with a wet ripping sound. Scales broke. Flesh split. The force sent her collapsing sideways, a massive gash carved from shoulder to abdomen.
Silence fell.
But I didn’t get to savor it.
The instant my claws left her body, my back was exposed.
The other two didn’t hesitate.
I felt heat surge across my back—
〈Displace〉
I activated my next spell.
My vision twisted—and in the next instant, I was behind the second Conduit dragon, my position swapped with the nearest mass of water.
It barely had time to react before I carried the momentum of my earlier charge through the displacement and slammed into it, pinning it to the ground.
“What—?!”
It noticed, but too late.
Mana gathered between my jaws.
In the next instant, I unleashed my breath at point-blank range.
BOOM
The explosion detonated between us.
But at the last instant—
〈Explosion〉
The dragon unleashed its own spell between us.
The two forces collided violently, tearing the air apart. A shockwave erupted from the impact, blasting me away like a rag doll. The recoil shattered my teeth and tore my jaw apart, but that was a small cost to pay.
That’s two down.
It had all happened in an instant—too fast for the last dragon to fully process my suicidal assault.
〈Fire Storm〉
She roared in fury as mana surged violently around her, the cavern trembling under the pressure.
From her reaction, it was clear the other dragon hadn’t fared well.
〈Displace〉
I activated the spell again—this time to put as much distance between us as possible.
Unlike the other two, I has no chance of defeating a Dominion-ranked dragon through surprise alone. Not at my level.
I activated every rune embedded throughout the cavern.
Hundreds of spells stood ready to trigger at once, all aimed at the last remaining dragon.
“You should think carefully about your next move,” I said, my voice low and threatening. “This cavern is lined with hundreds of spells. One wrong step—and I’ll release them all.”
She scoffed, a curl of flame licking her maw. “You think I can’t bring this cavern down?”
Mana surged around her as she unleashed a breath attack directly at the walls.
“—!”
But the expected collapse never came.
The flames were swallowed—with water and stone pouring out at the point of impact, with no real damage on it.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t account for that?” I said flatly, my gaze boring into her.
Her eyes narrowed, incredulous.
“〈Displace〉…You carved it into the entire cavern?” she asked, staring at me as if I had lost my mind.
“I know,” I said, a smug grin spreading across my face. “Even I have to admit—sometimes, I impress myself.”
Every inch of the cavern was etched with displacement runes, all linked to the lake outside.
Over the years, I had steadily deepened and expanded that reservoir, reinforcing the system day by day.
Any attack on the cavern would trigger a reaction—displacing an equal amount of water from the lake into the cavern.
“Believe me when I say—you can’t destroy this place. Even if you burned through all your mana, it wouldn’t be enough. I’ve spent decades building this.”
In truth, there was a good chance she could.
But that wasn’t the point. The words were meant to make her hesitate—to discourage her from even trying.
“Grrr…”
Killing intent spilled from her in waves, heavy enough to suffocate.
“Relax,” I said, unfazed. “I don’t want your life—or your lackeys’. Unlike you savages, I’m a civilized dragon.”
A tense silence followed, the air thick with restrained violence.
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