Prepare for Vengence

Brian and Nadia shake hands with Artoria. Brian, being a stupid person, stayed his hand for too long.

Nadia, of course, didn't see it as something wrong. But Ray said otherwise.

Before Ray wanted to separate Brian and Artoria's hand, she already let go of her hand from his as fast as possible.

"Ah, sorry about that," Brian said.

Artoria responded with silence and not even a smile. The moment Brian shakes her hands was when she knew what kind of person Brian is,

A scum.

"Since you bring Brian to our supposed date, I will bring my teacher too."

"Eh, but that's-" Nadia wanted to refuse but Ray was faster, "She's still not from here. So I want to take her to a tour, at least around this city."

Brian and Nadia didn't suspect anything. Normally, you would at least question the identity of the person if he or she is not from around the area when the said person is close with your significant other.

But their brain was shut off due to fear being near the new Ray.

"So, let's get going, shall we?"

**************

While the four of them are talking, Christina already left the scene because she has something to do.

She opened her phone and made a call,

"Is the place ready?"

"Yes, mam." The sound coming from the other side was a deep male voice.

"Be on standby, I'm going to make a move in 2 weeks." Christina then ended the call.

She opened a wardrobe near her. If people saw what's inside that wardrobe, they will be afraid of the contents.

"Brian and Nadia, I will destroy you!" She mumbled angrily.

Christina was known to be the daughter of an infamous underground criminal gang. Although her father was the reason for the infamy because of his ruthlessness even towards allies, he doted on his daughter too much.

He always gave her whenever stuff that she wanted or he thinks that she will need them, despite having it gathering dust in the end.

Although he was afraid of his daughter being with a bad man, he didn't make any marriage arrangement because he believed that a person needs to find their significant other on their own.

Also, it's not known to even Christina's husband, but she was the heir of that gang now turned into a mafia family.

The family itself ruled the entire underground with an iron fist. Some of the government officials were 'sponsored' by them as well.

The family also can hide very well even when owning clubs around a nation in which its citizen is very Islam-oriented. Some of the clubs that they own have 2 to 3 floors for prostitution, which needs a special card just to enter the viewing area to see the prostitutes.

Although they have faced a setback in recent months because one of its clubs in Jakarta was closed due to some politics, it didn't make a dent on their power.

Not only in Jakarta, but they have at least a commander in other big cities such as Surabaya, Jogjakarta, Bali, etc.

Christina has been managing Jakarta as a commander for almost 13 years. If her father dies, everyone will know who is the next one in charge.

Suddenly, a car engine started at the parking lot of the boarding house. It was Brian's- no, it was Brian's parents' car.

Christina moved the curtains a little bit to see the inside of the car from her room.

Brian and Ray were sitting on the front while Nadia and Artoria on the back seat.

"Now that I think about it, I don't know what Ray will do to them. I hope it's not as bad as what I'm planning to do with them," Christina said to no one in particular.

She then closed the curtains and went to the bathroom.

"I wish I was 20 years younger..."

**************

It was a silent road trip from the boarding house to the famous mall in Bogor, Botani Square Mall.

In Ray's mind, it will be a boring "double date" if they are planning to this mall. It's not a bad mall but, bringing Artoria here will make her bored and Ray didn't even like crowds in the first place.

Ray told them that going to the Kebun Raya Bogor is better than going to the mall but Brian insisted. (A/N: Bogor Botanical Garden was where Ray and Artoria had a small date for those that don't remember.)

Since Ray just wanted the 'date' to finish as possible, he didn't force on the matter.

Inside the mall was like your typical mall. Restaurants such as Pizza Hut, Starbucks, etc. And boutiques like Yongki Komaldi and Planet Surf are available for the people living in and near Bogor. There's also a fitness center on the 3rd floor, which is also the top floor.

They were walking together like how best friends would. Well, Ray was faking it while Artoria was silent all the way and only talk when Ray initiated it.

Brian tried to create small talks with Artoria but only met with either a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes or just silence. And being a dumb boy, he keeps trying to have a conversation with her.

Nadia was walking beside Artoria and she can only feel jealous of her for being close with Ray, taking Brian's attention, and also her beauty.

Whenever they passed a man, the said man will look at Artoria. Some even tried to get her phone number but before they do, Ray's frown already made them ran out for their lives. It didn't even matter if the man was with a woman.

Seeing Ray frowning also stopped Brian's futile attempts.

They then bought movie tickets at the cinema on the top floor and watched a romance movie. Artoria sat beside Ray, Brian sitting next to Nadia, and Nadia was sitting next to Artoria. When the movie was playing, Brian didn't even focus on the film. He was thinking of something bad, like before he deceived Nadia to cheat with him.

Ray already knew what the backstabber was thinking.

'Hahaha, poor Nadia. Not only you will be the one that will feel the brunt of my revenge, but your other lover seems to be infatuated with someone else now.' Ray thought in his mind.

Then, he remembered something, 'Hana, how can I enter the dragon's space?'

[Just meditate deep enough and you will be in your inner mind. It is similar to what Bleach anime have.]

'Hmmm... I guess I can't exactly make Artoria follow me then. Thanks, Hana.'

[Your welcome, Ray.]

'I'm sorry, Artoria. I'm going to go somewhere first.' Ray thought before he emptied his mind.

After a long time of deep meditation, courtesy of a loud crying sound from a baby, he managed to enter his inner mind.

"Ah, I guess you are ready for me to teach you magic." Said the dragon without opening his eyes.

"Yes, I'm"

"Can I know why you desire to learn magic?" Although people may think of this as a test of sorts, it is not the truth.

The dragon already knew what Ray wants, but he wanted to hear it straight from Ray's mouth.

"Because I need to get stronger faster."

"Is that it?" Said the dragon with, irritated by Ray's answer.

"Uhhh... Yes."

The dragon opened both of his eyes, frowned and said, "Don't you dare lie to me. Speak!"

"I want to get my revenge! I want both of them to suffer! I want both-" There was a red aura coming out of Ray's body. Before it can cover Ray's whole, the dragon managed to calm him down,

"Relax, Ray. Those are the words that I want to hear from you."

"...I'm sorry for getting worked up like that," Ray said to both the dragon and Excalibur inside of him.

Excalibur tried to soothe him, but the red aura was suppressing the holy energy from it. While Excalibur answered with warmth, the dragon said,

"It's okay. If you don't want to get your revenge after all those things that you have been through, I will be very disappointed. Now, let's make the place a little bit more... educational." The dragon changed back to his human form like last time and snap his fingers.

The scene changed into a big library.

The room was circling both of them. The wall was covered with many books with different languages that are not from Earth. In the middle of the room were a table, a chair, and a blackboard across the table.

Ray sat down on the chair while the dragon turned man went to the blackboard.

Ray didn't need to write anything. With his [Eidetic Memory], he can easily memorize it and watch the memory again if needed.

"So let's start from the basics. Magic is a system where a caster can enact supernatural powers onto the world. Normally, the spell that magicians can use can be recreated using science. Where magicians can fly through the air by manipulating wind and friction around the body, normal humans used airplanes. Where magicians can destroy houses by casting explosion spells, normal humans used bombs.

To cast spells, magicians used incantations, calculation, theories, and sometimes body movements. There is an exception to this which I will explain later."

"Hmmm, can magicians cast spells without incantations?" Ray said as he lifted his hand like a diligent student.

"Yes, but it will decrease the overall power of the spell. But, this is where the exception comes into play. But first, we need to understand what mana is.

Mana is the energy that fuels a spell. There are 2 types of mana, external and internal. External mana is sourced from the environment which you need to use to cast spells. But, external mana won't just come to you. You need to subdue it by using your will. This is where your cheat existence plays its role, which also serves as this exception.

With that *sealed* race that you have, not only that you can command mana across a 10-meter range as easy as controlling a robot, you can also cast spells without incantations with the power similar to a normal mage that needed to use incantations."

"How come?"

"Honestly, I don't know. You can either get your answer from God or try to find out for yourself. There is something special about that *sealed* race of yours. Although we are technically the same existence, I can't seem to figure out this problem."

Ray already suspected something about his *sealed* race. But even with his assumptions, he can't put a finger on the problem either.

"Let's continue our lesson. Internal mana is the mana inside your body, which is contained by a container of sorts. Like almost any magical world, you can increase the said container by emptying it. So the more you cast spells, the bigger the container will be.

It can also be increased by doing a certain regiment. I will give it to you after I'm done explaining theories to you.

Now, before we continue any further, I want you to check your [Status]."

With that, Ray checked his [Status]. When the board was in front of his eyes, he was surprised at what he saw.

===============================================================

Name: Ray Purnomo

Race: Human, Dragon, *Sealed*

Strength: 10 -> 40

Endurance: 9 -> 45

Agility: 9 -> 40

Luck: 10 -> 23

Magic: 1 -> 35

System Points: 111.287

Skills:

[Eidetic Memory: ?] [Cooking: C] [Instinct: C] [Programming: G] [Pain Tolerance: B] [Reinforcement: C] [Fire Breath: F] [Mana Bullet: F]

================================================================

'Hana, when did I get so many points and skills?'

[When you sparred with Artoria.]

Ray didn't expect such a short answer. So, he moved to 'Ray' in front of him.

"Hmmm? Oh, confused about your status points huh. Well because you have Dragon as your race, you have their characteristics like fast development and stuff. And about your skills, you can thank our Dragon race as well.

Now all that is out of the way, let's get to the more technical stuff."

From then on, Ray learned the basics of geometry once more. For him, it was interesting to see a simple triangle that can have a different meaning, at least from the perspective of casting spells.

He also learned about magic circles and what makes it so special when casting spells. From what he learned from 'Ray', magic circles won't come out of thin air when casting. Instead, magicians draw it on either their hand with ink or manipulate mana to draw on air.

Like what some magic-themed anime, 'Ray' told him to start by bending mana to his will. Because he already cast spells more than once, Ray can sense it. Just like the earlier lecture, Ray can easily control mana across a 10-meter range. But his control broke as soon as 'Ray' tried to control mana around them.

"How far can you command mana to your will?" Ray asked.

"I think it's almost 1 km." That sentence shocked Ray. He needed to put his focus control more when he first tried it.

As he saw 'Ray' casting spells, Ray questioned how long he can do the same feat as him. Because 'Ray' not only casts from his hands but also casts from as far as 1 meter from outside of his body. The weird thing was, the books around them didn't get destroyed when a fireball the size of a house hit them.

'And this pressure too.' It felt like a boulder was on his shoulder. Ever since 'Ray' started to bend mana around them, he felt that something weighed him down.

"I think you've realized that you're being pressured because I'm controlling mana around us. It is a side effect of that. So I won't recommend using magic as a stealth option. But..." Suddenly, the pressure eased off like it was not there the whole time. Then 'Ray' continued,

"If you are masterful, you can cast spells without anybody knowing." He said as he moved his hand and made movements with his fingers. Then, blue dots of light started to circle on top of his hand.

It was a beautiful sight.

'Ray' made the dots disappeared and said, "That's the basic theory. Now, I want to address an issue which bothers me for some time."

"What is it?" Ray said as he got up from his seat.

"You are now a dragon, but why is your core still sealed? I thought the seal would break as soon as your dragon blood awakened." 'Ray' touched the center of Ray's diaphragm and sent a thread of mana straight to Ray's core.

He was trying to forcefully unseal it. But the seal instantly got reinforced, making it impossible for him to do anything about it.

'Ray' sighed and said, "I will try to look at this more in the future. But for now, before you get out from here, I want you to at least can draw magic circles on-air and teach you the basics of illusions."

And so it began. Not a grueling training like what Ray usually has with Artoria, but it was still a tough one.

'Ray' drew a magic circle on a piece of paper, then told Ray to draw it on air using mana that he controlled. As easy as it sounds, it was not because 'Ray' kept trying to screw up Ray's control every time.

Even after Ray had done it, the speed of drawing it was not up to 'Ray' standards. It got to a point where 'Ray' would start punching him when Ray cannot draw the magic circle less than 0.5 seconds.

As bad as it sounds, the outcome was better than anyone had expected.

Ray can now basically control mana in a 5-meter range when 'Ray' commanded the surrounding energy. And he can at least put pressure on 'Ray' whenever he was doing it.

If Ray did it on the outside world, the earth that encircles him will start to shake like a 6 magnitude earthquake.

On a side note, 'Ray' in his full power capable of destroying a planet while a half-power will destroy tectonic plates. So when they were 'sparring', 'Ray' was doing his best not to kill his original*. It also makes Ray's developments seemed monstrous for some.

(A/N: *Original = Ray)

Months later, Ray can finally draw a magic circle with supersonic speed and also have decent enough control to not disturb his surroundings when doing it.

"One last thing, I'm not asking you to stop your revenge. But you have to remember that not only you will destroy their lives, but the lives around them as well. What you did is not justice, it's selfish and evil. Don't forget that." 'Ray' said as he turned around and walked away.

As Ray stared at him, vengeance was all on his mind. 'Ray' taught him illusions because he knew what Ray wanted the moment they were done with the lecture about magic. They are essentially the same person.

'I already knew that. It hurts me to do this, but I won't have my peace if I don't do what I'm about to do. Besides, justice is all but a vague idea. There is no justice in this world or any world for that matter. People would hurt each other. I'm only doing what the cycles have been doing in the last millennia.' He thought as he exited his inner mind.

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Hello Readers,

I guess I have to clear something up in case you are confused. Because 'Ray' is basically Ray, he knew about Hana and her features.

I think I will give 'Ray' a new name just so that I won't create more confusion.

The magic theory explanation can be better, but I can't exactly make it better than what I have now. It's not really complicated though, but much more... restrictive compared to... what... LOTR?

You can blame my lack of writing to me and also MHW because... ICEBORNE BABY!!! Spoilers and rant below.

God damn those master rank monsters, keeps fucking me in the ass to a point where I'm exhausted just hunting one. Like, imagine a 30+ fights every hunt solo. Then again, I'm fighting stuff like Viper Tobi-Kadachi, Barioth (damn that slippery bastard), and Glavenus. I had to fight Barioth using the weeb sword and back to using my main CB to fight Glavenus, the master of swords.

My Iai slashes won't hit or even if it hits, it's because I'm either too late or too early making it take one sword charge. I'm half-decent at guard pointing, but Glavenus can still suck my dingdong because he hits like a truck. Imagine where you're literally at 1 HP, 2 faints, and Glavenus doing the double hit attack (where he stabs his sharp, boiling hot tail and did a slam right after). My heart literally thumping quite fast even after I successfully dodged it LOL.

Also, although Palico is cute af, they disturb hunts, at least for me. They heal and take aggro from you for some time, but the latter kinda makes it harder for me to hit monsters. Especially the fast ones like Barioth... As you have probably guessed (or not), I have deep hatred towards that white furred shit. He makes me hate him more when I knew the best looking weapons in-game can only be crafted when I got a certain item from killing him in a certain quest.

Internet in my boarding house sucks so I can't really play multiplayer after Iceborne launched.

Anyway, thanks for reading the chapter.

P.S.: Lucky Stars Character Music for Kanata is sad af :(. I haven't watch the show, only clips. But that clip when Kanata visits the family is really sad and made me cry like when Guilty Crown killed a girl that made the MC became a tyrant. Forgot the name of the characters from GC though.