Training

The next morning, Turro woke up completely oblivious to the scene the three of them witnessed last night.

Arlitos had visible bags under his eyes, Fallios was more sluggish than usual, and Ria.. Ria actually had a good sleep. It wasn't in her nature to lose sleep over something that could be fixed later.

"Are you okay, Prince?" Turro worriedly asked. It wasn't like him to care about the affairs of others, but Arlitos was the first prince and truly looked horrible enough to grab his attention.

Arlitos sluggishly waved his hand. "I'm fine, I just couldn't sleep." He half-heartedly said, rubbing his eyes with his other hand.

Turro tightly pressed his lips together, but stopped trying to pry. Their difference in status meant he couldn't ask questions to the first prince of the Empire so casually.

Ria squirted a stream of water on Fallios's cheek, blatantly ignoring the cursing flowing into her head. [Fallios, it's not the time to laze about] She said in all seriousness.

Fallios groaned but still sat up and listened to what Ria was going to say next. [What is it?] He asked.

She sighed and stretched her right leg out. [Don't you think we've been slacking off lately? You're literally a dragon but all you do all day is sleep and roll around] She said, poking at all of his sore points.

[Don't you do that as well-] Fallios was cut off by Ria's glare. She took a deep breath and sighed. [Yes, me too. But that's not the point I'm trying to make]

[Then?] He gestured for Ria to continue with a flex of his wing.

[From now on, I'll set a plan for us to do. For you, you need to start training the wings in your muscles so you can fly. Also, we both need to cultivate more frequently so we can grow stronger] She said.

Both of them had only cultivated a few times in the pet shop, mostly because they didn't like being watched doing it. But once they were taken away by Arlitos, they haven't done it at all for fear of burning something down.

She developed as sense of crisis after learning about the danger looming over her and this world. It went without saying that Ria didn't want to die for a second time because of unnatural causes again.

Fallios sighed and nodded. He was an adult, he could see that Ria was wholeheartedly trying to help him and herself.

[Alright, let's do it]

-

(One Week Later)

Ria and Fallios laid side-by-side as the temperature rapidly fluctuated. On Ria's side, the grass around her was scorched, but her body was cold as ice.

Fallios was the complete opposite. The grass around him had formed ice crystals from the sheer cold he was emitting, but his body was burning hot.

Contrary to the beliefs of Ria and Fallios, they were not just absorbing the 'hot' and the 'cold' out of the air. It was a common misunderstanding which easily could've been solved if they had a method of communication with Arlitos.

Arlitos watched this scene in amazement. It wasn't like this kind of concept was unknown, but normally, two animals of differing species would never do this in the wild.

The number of mages in the Empire was extremely low, and each one was a rare asset, so normally two mages with opposite abilities would never do this.

Instead, they would cultivate in areas where they could directly take that element away. Dragons lived in hot areas like deserts or volcanoes, creatures with water-based abilities would live near water… It was the same principle with humans.

Unfortunately, being a mage wasn't hereditary. Humans were just like deer and bunnies, although they normally wouldn't have abilities, some slip through the cracks and gain them anyways.

Still, there was a difference between magical creatures and deer and bunnies. A species could be born to have a specific type of magical trait, like dragons have the ability to breath fire.

But that also means dragons as a species can only have fire abilities, unlike humans who can unlock any ability because they are not a magical species.

Arlitos sighed as he recalled the report he had read. It was the report of how Fallios and his parents were hunted.

Since the dragon pair were still young, they didn't live in a volcano or a hot desert, but instead chose a spot in an uninhabited valley.

In fact, the pet shop, along with a few other mercenary groups who participated in the hunt didn't use their own strength to kill the adult dragons. Instead, they used extremely expensive artifacts to bind the dragons inside of their cave to kill them.

Anger flashed through his eyes. It wasn't anger at the pet shop and the mercenary group, but himself.

The Empire was one of the largest Empires on the continent and perhaps even the world, but they had poor control over their distant kingdoms.

It was because of that, that it made Arlitos angry. Because he couldn't be wholeheartedly angry with the mercenary group for killing the dragons and putting Fallios on the black market.

They needed power, and they needed it even more badly when he took the new unexpected factor of the demons into account.

That was why Arlitos was mad at himself. He felt guilty that he was being selfish, even though the Empire so desperately needed Fallios and Ria's help to keep the Empire intact.

Arlitos bit his lips and lowered his head to hide his awful expression. "This is why.. I hope we become lifelong friends. So you can wholeheartedly protect the Empire, and so you won't feel mad at me for being selfish." He whispered, and just like on the carriage, he deeply bowed to the two future protectors of the Empire, who were deep in cultivation right now.

-

Ria let out a deep breath in and sighed as she finished cultivating. Each time she did this, she felt a little better, but not particularly stronger.

It was like a workout. She would push her body to the limits, but the real gains wouldn't immediately come and fall into her lap.

Ria glanced at Fallios. He seemed just as exhausted as her, splayed out flat like a pancake.

Right now, their limit seemed to be thirty minutes per session. If they kept doing this multiple times in one day, their cultivation time would continue to decrease.

It was extremely similar to a workout in that way.

"Alright! It's time to move again!" Arlitos said as he clapped his hands twice. He approached them with a grin and picked Fallios up, placing him on his shoulder before holding Ria like a dinnerplate.

[Ugh, I always hate this part] Ria complained. Somehow, even though they once again grew like an endless water balloon, Arlitos was still able to perfectly balance them with minimal difficulty.

The only thing was, Ria was way too heavy to be held like she was weightless!