Why do you pursue power?

[One year later]

{1st POV, Ethan}

Slash! Slash! Slash!

'Whol..! Whol..! Whol..!

[Killed 3x adapt wolves,

15000 KP, 10000XP]

"Hahahaha! No matter how many times I use this move, I couldn't get enough!"

Currently, I'm fighting or more precisely cutting a pack of wind wolves inside a forest. This forest is located in one of the mountain ranges of Tiamat's Island. The wind wolves have grey fur covering their body possess green eyes. They are about three meters in height. They can use wind blades, they are also very agile because of the wind magic. They are primarily D-rank but can achieve C-rank, given enough time. Which is equivalent to the master stage in strength.

A whole year has gone by, I'm a lot more powerful than I was last year. The speed at which I levelled up was like a rocket. Not only my level but also my combat experience, magic and passive skills improved a lot. I'm like an entirely different person from back then.

My status is...

[Status-

Name: Ethan

Age: Eight years

Level: 25

Race: Chaos dragon

Major sin: Pride

(Pride has a 20% debuff effect on the opponent and bestows 30% buff when fighting against someone stronger than you.

The debuff ability may or may not work depending on the mental fortitude of the opponent, it can also make them lose the will to oppose you.)

Title: Empty

Class: None

Sub-class: None

Strength: 710

Speed: 800

Endurance: 860

Vitality: 1960

Mana: 1160

Intelligence: 120

Luck: 80

Charm: 110

Active skills-

1. Destruction magic ( 1- order, Lev.1)

{Ability to use destruction magic}

2. Space ( 2-order, Lev.5)

{Ability to use and control space using magic}

3. Super control (Super-rare, evolution not possible)

{Ability to completely control the molecules of the user's body to a subatomic level}

Racial abilities-

Chaos magic { As a chaos dragon you can use every spell under the chaos magic}

All magic immunity { As the dragon of chaos you are immune to every kind of curse and magical attack.}

Passive skills-

1. Thought acceleration (Lev.6)

{Increase the users processing power to 35x than normal}

2. Multi-tasking(Lev.5)

{Allows the user to work on more than one task at the same time. Limit: 5}

3. Super comprehension(Lev.4)

{Let's the use to understand everything 20x faster than normal}

Free attribute points: 50

Free skill points: 10

Affection points: 100000, Battle points: 500000]

'Growl..! Growl..!'

"What happened? Hehe, afraid? What you'd accept from dogs!"

I teased them. Noticing they stopped jumping at me but only growl.

There are a total of 12 wolves in the pack, seeing three of their members getting cut apart like tofu made them somewhat wry of me. So they stopped attacking without contemplating. The pack was not much strong, most of them are adapts and there are only 3 master stage wolves.

'Howl..!!'

One of the master stage wolves howls loudly. Although they don't understand words, still they understand my intention to humiliate them, by my body language and facial expressions.

"What? You are scared? Then it's my turn to make my move."

Saying this, I used my new movement technique called flash steps to get near one of the adapt wolves instantly.

[Flash steps: It is a movement technique that allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow. As speed is the main factor of the technique, the method is best characterized by how fast one can get from point A to point B in the least amount of steps.]

Slash!!

Snip! Snip!...!

[Killed 1x adapt wolf,

5000 KP, 3450XP]

The wolf got cut into several small pieces with one slice. The more I use this technique the more I fall in love with it, I always liked cutting and slicing more than breaking and tearing things apart. So, the technique is tailor-made for me.

If you are wondering why I need a movement technique when I can use space magic to teleport? Then you are dead wrong. First, the instantaneous short distance movement is called blink, not teleportation, and the long-distance travel is called teleportation. The problem is I'm simply not strong enough to break the space to blink or teleport. The astral realm's space is too rigid for the current me to use any of those skills. Demigods can fight at full power in the astral realm so the atmospheric space is very durable.

Second, they have a long casting time. I'm not Tiamat who uses teleportation as if walking, she has been using space magic for several centuries if not a thousand years while I'm just a noob. I'll need some time to cast blink and a long time to cast teleport, which is not an option in the middle of a fight.

'fshhh!!..fshhh!!..fshhh!!...'

The other wolves didn't stay still and lunched wind blades at me from the side, only to hit nothing. With my level 6 thought acceleration, the otherwise fast wind blades appear as slow as turtles. I easily dodged them all and countered with a series of slices, cutting two more wolves.

Not wasting more time I moved to another wolf's side, it also got cut off into pieces. Then another one, then again, then again...

[Killed 5x adapt wolves, 25000 KP

17250XP]

I can control the trajectory of the blades by my finger or hand movements according to the distance between the target and my position. However, I can slash closer targets with just my thoughts making the slice an even more deadly move. You will be cut before you know it.

'Only three more left..'

The only ones left are the three master stage wolves. I deliberately left them for the climax, they are my precious desserts after all~

"Uuu..uuu.."

The three wolves after witnessing me slaughter all the other wolves like pigs lost all their previous fierceness and began to squirm showing their subservience. As monsters, they can instinctively feel they are not my match. So they choose the best option to stay alive; become my servants.

"Unfortunately, I have no interest in keeping weak servants,"

I spoke while shaking my head and all three of them got cut into many pieces.

[Killed 3x master stage wolves,

30000KP, 50000 XP.

Level up 1x]

'Sigh.. levelling up has become a lot harder than before.'

I said inwardly. Even after killing three master stages and nine adapt wolves, I only levelled up once.

"I still can not understand this technique of yours?"

I heard a feminine voice from above. Even without looking back, I can recognise the identity of the woman.

Looking up at the sky, I saw Tiamat wearing her signature style silver dress, looking at the corpses of the dead wolves chopped apart in hundreds of pieces. This is not her first time saying those words. From the first time she saw me using the slice, she's been nagging me to clarify how I did this. Left with no other choice I just said some bullshit about it. I only explained that I manipulate the space near the enemy to create sharp blades and slash them apart. After that, she tried to use slice too but failed miserably still she didn't give up and kept trying, and complaint whenever she fails to use slice. After all, I never told her about the auto-adjustment feature of the slice.

"What can I do? I'm simply more intelligent."

I shrugged at her comment and said cheekily. Earning an ominous glare from her.

"Are you calling me dumb? Why don't you say that to my face~"

Veins began to pop over her head, as she released her aura as vast as the endless sea while cracking her fists.

"No-no!..when did I say that? It's just our visions are different so you are having a hard time understanding my technique.."

I shudder at the threat and quickly change my words. Even if I'm much stronger than I was a year ago. I still have nightmares whenever I recall that fight I had with her four months ago. I'm not even close to 10% of her true power. Technically I'm still adept with more base power than some of the early expert-stage as I have yet to master any force, let alone intent.

{Flash back, Start}

"Hahahahah!!!"

Today, I am very happy as I managed to hit Tiamat on her right shoulder in a fight. Even if I didn't manage to deal any damage, I am still satisfied. She has been beating the shit out of me for more than eight months. So, hitting her even once pleased my ego.

"Hahaha, you are not as fast as you were before~"

I said in a haughty tone, I was excessively happy to the point to think about minor details such as her major sin is pride too. And looking down on her is akin to seeking death...

"Ohh~ you think I am too slow?"

She asked while displaying a vicious smile. My expression froze sensing the gloomy vibe oozing out her.

"Than, why don't you try invading now~"

She vanished from my sight after leaving those words. The next thing that happened to me would be embedded deep in my mind for years to come...

She just punches me on the abdomen. One hit! my insides churned then crumbled to pieces. Forget about dodging, I couldn't even see her fist coming at me. Thought acceleration was completely useless.

"Puff..!!..cough..!!..cough..!!"

I spit a puddle of blood from my mouth and nose as I flew back while tumbling on the ground and spraying blood like a fountain. My brain is buzzing, I am at the brink of losing consciousness as blood kept flowing out of my mouth and nose. Just a single punch from her and I'm severely injured thrown like a raged doll. Merely a step away from death.

Tiamat walked up to me as I am lying on the floor still bleeding and said coldly. She is my grandmother but she has her pride too, she can't allow anyone to look down on her not even me.

"Now, you see the difference? What I was doing with you till now was barely throwing my hands and feet casually. I never put any strength on my moves. I hope you haven't forgotten that I'm the strongest."

Saying that she crouched down and put her hand over my stomach and began releasing some mana to help me heal, we dragons don't need healing spells to recover just pure mana will get the job done.

Soon, I recovered completely my bleeding stopped and my internal organs returned to normal, thanks to super control enhancing my regeneration. Yet, all I feel is extreme fury and deep resentment, my anger is very uncomfortable it is burning me from the inside making me want to just destroy everything, kill anyone to get rid of this rage. It is like something is not right and I need to eradicate everything to fix it. I never felt such anger before, it is taking away my senses; Making me go insane.

"That's your wounded pride, don't let it take control over your senses."

Tiamat's voice brought me back from that unstable state of mind. But I didn't understand what she is talking about? What is wounded pride?

[Warning master, the wounded pride is the hidden side effect of the sin pride. The skill grant's the individual a boost of 50% in exchange for their sanity. The berserk state only wears off when the one who made the skill active is no more.]

Hearing the explanation from the system made me sweat hard. This skill will turn me into a mad beast!

"Don't worry, This happens to all young dragons. Wounded pride mostly occurs when a young dragon is utterly or unexpectedly defeated. They simply cannot accept truths and turn berserk. As you grow older and experience more unfavourable situations you learn how to control yourself."

Tiamat's words brought some relief. So, I'll probably be good if I keep my arrogance in check and don't become too overconfident. Still, today made my resolve to get strong strengthen even further.

{Flash back, End}

Thinking about that incident still makes me tremble.

"Umm, ..listen Ethan we need to talk."

Hearing Tiamat's word I frowned. She never stumbles when talking but this time she seems hesitant.

"Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

I asked as she landed on the ground.

"Let's go home before we begin our conversation."

Saying that she brought us to the balcony of her palace. She looked at me deeply and spoke.

"Ethan do you want to be the king?"

'Huh..? What is she talking about..?'

"What do you mean, I don't understand?"

I asked her with evident confusion. Why is she suddenly bringing up this subject?

"What I am saying is do you want the title of King of dragons?"

Her words left me baffled, why does she want me to be a king.

"Why do you want me to be a king? Why should even become one?"

I asked her back, I see no benefit in being a king. All there is to it is necessary responsibility and expectations weighing you down. I want to be free, I want to roam the world discover its wonders and met more targets too.

"Why not? Don't you want supremacy, authority over the masses?"

She again answered me with another question.

"Why would I want to be a king? There is only more burdens and stress."

I spoke dismissively, under no circumstances I will ever what to be a king; never!!

Hearing me speaking so serious about not wanting to be a king seems to have caught her by surprise as she kept eyeing me.

Silence reigned over us. As none of us said a word.

Tiamat is the one who broke the ice first and throws me a question that I truly don't know how to answer.

"So why do you seek power? If you don't want to take any responsibility, why try so hard to become strong? I don't see the reason."

The first answer that came to my mind was because I'm supposed to?..because I have the system? I have a mission to accomplish? No..! These are all the events someone else decided for me. Then why do I want strength..?

[ This is one of the best interactions between Tiamat and Ethan, the next chapter will contain the whole story of Vritra, some hints of the future plot too. Hope you like it.

Like my story give me power stones and comment. Don't forget to add to your library.]