Chapter 3. Family And Battle

 After that, Charles searched for a long time in the Imperial Dragon books, but the contents were mostly the same, and there was no unique information.

 It was already Ten O'clock at night when he returned to the dormitory.

 At night.

 "Go to bed early. We still have to watch grinwood at four in the morning tomorrow."

 Charles made the bed with a bitter face. Under the bedside cabinet, the young Frost Dragon had already fallen asleep in the shadow.

 It was impossible to associate such a small body with a mountain-like Dragon, so it was no wonder that no one could recognize it.

 "Whoosh! Whoosh!"

 Suddenly, a gust of evil wind came into the room!

 Charles's body froze, and he immediately became alert.

 The window by the bed was wide open, and the wind blew the curtains into the room.

 Under the bright moon, the black silhouettes of two men were leaning against the window.

 The two stood there without moving, but their pressure made Charles understand they were experts.

 We are killing intent!

 Traces of killing intent, like the tongue of a venomous snake, came out from the face of the man on the left.

 The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped by a few degrees.

 "Charles, your summoning ritual ended yesterday, right?"

 The man on the right strolled to the middle of the room. Under the candlelight, the man revealed a gentle smile, but the smile on his face was fake, giving people a very hypocritical feeling.

 "What's the rating of your familiar?"

 He ignored him.

 Charles saw the Dragon Claw-shaped button on the man's sleeve from the corner of his eye and recognized him.

 This was a member of his clan.

 The clan's way of growing up was sending out all their direct descendants to train independently. After ten years, they would be summoned back to the clan to fight one on one with familiars.

 The strong occupied the upper position and controlled the household!

 The weak would be inferior and become slaves!

 It was a simple rule. The weak were prey to the strong. This was a family rule that no one could escape. Those who disobeyed this rule would be executed regardless of their status!

 "Charles, rating."

 The man saw that Charles didn't say anything and repeated.

 Charles stared at him and diverted his attention. He quietly used his body to block where the frost dragon whelp was sleeping.

 "Ice-type, C-Class ..."

 "Chi!"

 Before he could finish his sentence, the man on the left suddenly attacked. With a flick of his wrist, a silver dagger was pointed at Charles's throat!

 "C Class? Trash, I don't think we need to wait another nine years for you. You'll be executed on the spot according to the family rules!"

 Charles's figure retreated rapidly, and the blade grazed his neck. He felt a few hairs on his neck being cut off by the blade.

 "Eton, don't go too far."

 The man on the right said.

 The dagger stopped and hovered in front of Charles's throat, licking his skin.

 Make a fuss?

 Charles sneered in his heart. The man just now was going to kill him.

 If his reaction had been a little slower, he would have been a corpse by now.

 The man on the right still had a kind smile on his face.

 "Charles, we're just following the procedure to understand your progress. You can continue with your training. But ..."

 The man changed the topic, and his tone became a little cold.

 "You have to be careful. After all, the weak can't survive in the family."

 "······"

 "Bang!"

 The window was closed. When Charles went to the window to check, the two figures had already disappeared.

 "The clan."

 Charles repeated.

 He touched his neck and thought to himself.

 Charles had been thinking about a question. Why was he sent to such a small village to learn about familiars when he was born into a big family?

 Wasn't this in line with the clan's philosophy of expanding and becoming more assertive?

 Now that he thought about it, there was only one possibility.

 He had been framed.

 In that cold family, there was no warmth between family members, only mutual deception and open and secret fights.

 The original owner was a dark horse in the family, so he would probably attract a lot of hostility and jealousy.

 Someone had arranged for him to be sent to a village with scarce resources so that he could defeat Charles in the family's internal competition ten years later or even kill him in one go!

 The original owner of this body must have been depressed in such a situation, and he was rated as a class C in the summoning ceremony last night, which was a massive blow to him.

 At the thought of this, Charles felt a little regretful. If the original owner knew that he had summoned a giant dragon, he wondered what he would think. He would probably survive.

 However, what if they survived? in the end, these juniors were just tools used to expand the power in the eyes of the family elders. There had never been any kinship in the family itself. Why did Charles need to discuss friendships with those people and be manipulated?

 "I'll return to the clan in ten years, too. However, I won't be returning as the clan's new Beastmaster but as a top-tier Dragon Master."

 Under the moonlight, Charles looked into the distance with a blank expression.

 ······

 Four in the morning.

 The empty field of the Grinwood Academy.

 Charles was dressed in simple sportswear and was running around the academy.

 The wind whistled in his ears, the leaves rustled, and Charles's footsteps startled many birds resting on the branches.

 They rushed out of the forest and circled in the sky, chirping softly as if they didn't understand why someone would run so hard to exercise at this time.

 A Frost Dragon Whelp accompanied him.

 Perhaps it was because it had been sleeping the entire day, but the young dragon was not tired. Instead, it was very energetic, and its big eyes were bright and full of spirit.

 "Hu hu hu~Hu~~~~~~~the ninth lap~~~~."

 Charles was already out of breath, and his sportswear was already drenched in sweat.

 In this world where the strong ruled, strength was the true eternal power.

 The most important thing now was to get the reward and improve his strength.

 On the 20th lap.

 The scene before Charles was already a little blurry, and his consciousness had also been pulled out. His whole body swayed as if he was about to fall.

 He miraculously made it past thirty laps.

 After 40 laps, his vision turned black, and his body was numb. He couldn't feel any pain anymore.

 Finally ...

 Charles rushed past the end point of the 50th lap. He bent over and took in deep breaths of air.

 He realized the sky was already bright when he raised his head again.

 "Clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang clang"

 The echo of the morning bell reverberated throughout the campus.

 The light of dawn shone from the horizon.

 [Congratulations! [Basic mission completed: Grinwood at 4 am!]

 [You've been rewarded with 30 discipline points!]

 On the system's interface, 30 points of self-discipline value were displayed.

 Back at the dormitory.

 Charles opened the system store. There was only one item available for purchase.

 "I'll use 30 self-discipline points to buy the growth potion!"

 Before he finished his words.

 A large pile of glass bottles appeared out of thin air on the table in front of Charles. They were filled with sparkling orange liquid.

 "Quick, drink it now. If anyone sees this big pile of potions, they'll think I've robbed the potion shop."

 On the other hand, the frost Dragon whelp didn't need Charles's reminder. It jumped onto the table, picked up the glass bottle, and gulped big mouthfuls.

 [Ding! [Congratulations, host! Your familiar, the frost Dragon whelp, has been promoted to tier two of the lineage!]

 The system's voice sounded.

 The frost Dragon whelp's body emitted a faint glow, which lasted for a while before gradually dimmed.

 Charles found that it seemed more prominent than before, and its scales were harder and shinier.

 At the same time, Charles also clearly felt that his body had become more robust and his muscles were whole. All the fatigue from before had been swept away!

 As expected, the strengthening of a subdued beast could be fed back to The Beastmaster!

 Charles was thrilled but also a little surprised. If other first-tier familiars drank this growth potion, they would only need one bottle to reach second-tier.

 He didn't expect the young Frost Dragon had drunk 30 bottles of the potion before it reached Tier 2. What a terrifying appetite!

 After breakfast, the empty grounds of Grinwood Academy.

 The principal stood in the middle of the field, and front of him were students standing in an orderly manner.

 "I have an important announcement to make."

 The moment he said that.

 The empty field instantly fell silent.

 Many pairs of eyes were focused on the principal—their first time participating in a school activity since they summoned their familiars.

 The principal cleared his throat and said,"

 "I'm sure everyone knows that the beast taming school has an annual evaluation. It concerns the school's honor, students, and my income."

 "In half a year, our Grinwood beast college will participate in the battle to keep us in the top 10."

 "The last time, our score was still C+."

 When the principal said this, it was as if he had been hit on a sad matter and was a little excited.

 "Ahem, to prepare for the exam, the school has decided to hold a battle ranking competition every week. All Beastmasters have to participate. The one who succeeds will receive a precious ice crystal from the snow Mountain of the Jade Dragon. It contains growth factors. If you melt it into the water and consume it, its effects will be comparable to a third of a bottle of growth potion ..."

 The moment he said that the students immediately went into an uproar!

 One-third of a bottle of growth potion!

 This was a generous reward that had never been seen before.

 If he were to melt it and let his familiar drink it, it would be equivalent to a month's worth of hard work!

 "Ah, ah, ah, I'm determined to get it!"

 "The principal is generous!"

 "Hurry, hurry up and train!"

 Charles was drinking sugar water under the shade of a tree and wasn't very interested.

 As long as he could stick to self-discipline every day, he would be able to drink one bottle of growth potion after another!

 However ...

 Just as the principal took out the tiny ice crystal from the container ...

 The originally listless Ice Frost Dragon whelp beside him suddenly seemed to have sensed something and cried out in excitement!