Dragonlord

Ep 28. I Tend To Pick Favorites. (4)

Ep 28. I Tend To Pick Favorites. (4)

“Hey…you really gonna take this exam? What’re you gonna do if people find out that you’re a dragon?”

“Do not concern yourself over an impossibility, Patrick. At this moment, I am not even a dragonkin to begin with.”

After Serenis had suddenly announced her decision to participate in the upcoming special exam, Patrick had taken the liberty to check what this ridiculous exam entailed; after all, early advancement exams like this had never, ever been a thing when he attended the institute.

He couldn’t even begin to phrase the shock he’d felt when learning that the exam’s highlight was a mock duel against the Magic Institute’s headmaster, Gio Dugrin.

“Serenis…the headmaster’s an ARCHMAGE. He’s a mage that’s well past the 9^th circle. He’s challenging the 10^th!”

“The circles were your custom of measuring magic users, yes?”

At least she’d learned something from all the institute lectures she’d attended. But Patrick was not in the mood to celebrate what little Serenis had learned from her classes.

“Yeah! Do you get it now? He’s challenging the 10^th circle! 10^th! That’s a level that can practically make dreams into reality!”

“You’re far too worried, Patrick. By that standard, I would be at the 50^th circle.”

“…”

The mage then looked towards his little sibling with a curious gaze. Serenis neither seemed excited, nor anxious; she seemed herself, just like she always had been. Even the possibility of a duel against one of the continent’s leading mages couldn’t shake her mood. And maybe it made sense that a dragonlord wouldn’t perceive a mere human mage as a threat.

The problem was, Serenis was still just an oddball of a sibling to Patrick. He’d never seen her in combat, and true to her words, the dragonlord wasn’t exactly a dragon right now.

‘So the king of dragons reduced to a little kid…versus the epitome of human arts.’

Huh. That actually sounds kinda fair.

Patrick cleared his throat. He nervously looked towards his sibling, trying to remain as straight-faced as possible.

If there was no stopping it, he might as well enjoy it. Besides, it’s an archmage; surely he’ll take necessary safety precautions.

“Say…”

“Hm?”

“Do you know if they’re selling any audience tickets this time? They did during admission exams.”

✧   ✧   ✧

On the day of the promised advancement test – which Karas had done the application in her place – Serenis found herself in a line of hundreds of students in one of the institute’s gymnasiums, waiting their turns to use the scaling device that would decide whether they’d move onto the second portion of the exam. Unfortunately, students were being weeded out left and right at the forefront, all of them being sent away with a disappointed expression on their faces.

At the very front of their long line were several older students stationed behind a table: senior years that had volunteered to help with the examination process. They were facilitating the weeding process for juniors not meeting the affinity threshold. So far, a grand total of zero students had met the criterion of 90; the highest had only gone up to 86.

When Serenis was finally the first in line, a temporary testing booth stationed by several seniors came to view. A colorless cube-shaped crystal was resting on the table they were at, attached above a thick silver plaque. The metal’s surface was engraved with a translucent display, showing the number zero.

One of the senior students beckoned at Serenis to come closer, waving towards the dragonlord.

“Next! Would you like an explanation?”

“I would. What exactly is this assessment?”

“Sure thing! This is an elemental affinity test. All you gotta do is place your palm above this crystal, and synthesize the element you’re most confident in. It’ll measure your affinity with the element in a number, ranging from 0 to 100. 90’s the minimum requirement to pass.”

‘Interesting. “Most confident,” is it?’

Other students that knew her rather peculiar history with instructors curiously watched the assessment process; with the numerous elements she’d already demonstrated mastery over in their lectures, everyone was curious to find out which element their strange peer would test the scale with.

Serenis placed her hand above the smooth surface without delay, beginning to channel the element she was “most confident in” as told. However, what she’d failed to consider was that this was a manmade device, designed for measuring attributes among mankind – which wasn’t exactly a category Serenis belonged in.

Did anyone point this out to her? Of course not.

To begin, the crystal simply turned white in color like it would with any light element user; the device was supposed to change color according to the element being synthesized, and this was nothing noteworthy.

But the glow soon began to shudder, then diverge. The light cracked and split into thinner beams, weaving a dim kaleidoscope over the entire gymnasium. What was once a mere colorless shine became millions of prismatic rays, intensifying in its spectral colors as Serenis continued to channel bits of her mana into the crystal.

Students, juniors and seniors alike, furrowed their brows and worriedly stared at the display. Something wasn’t right about that light.

‘Light? That’s light element?’

‘What the hell is all this? A rainbow?’

The number on the scale rapidly began to increase, hitting 100 in a matter of seconds. But when the device itself began to shudder, everyone slowly began to realize that something was amiss.

Crack.

“…Huh?”

The seniors facilitating the process watched in confusion as a large crevice form over the crystal. One of them hurriedly poked their heads out and began shouting at the dragonlord.

“Let go! Let go!”

When Serenis let go of the crystal, the surface was letting out heaps of steam; the prismatic light refused to die away, retaining its brilliance long after Serenis had taken her hands off. The scale was still reading 100, and the number refused to go down – even though the scale had immediately reset to 0 when other students had let go of the crystal.

The seniors stared at the device, wondering what the white-haired student had just done and, more importantly, whether they’d just screwed up an expensive scaling tool.

On the other hand, Serenis merely waited for their response; when none was given, she prompted them first.

“Was that satisfactory?”

“…Wha?”

“I believe you lot mentioned that this was a test of one’s affinity.”

“Uh…”

100. Still not going down.

“Uh, right. Yeah, you passed! You scored…well, maximum. I…actually don’t know what element you were attuning it with, but…looks like you’re a perfect adapter.”

Perfect adapter. It was a rare label only given to individuals who attained maximum affinity with a given element, accounting for less than one in hundreds, if not thousands, of proficient mages.

One of the seniors picked up the broken scale into his arms. It was still refusing to go back down to 0, and simply waiting didn’t seem like a plausible solution to fixing the problem at hand. He faced the lined students, shouting loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay, but we’re going to need a new device. Please wait in line!”

Assuming there even is one. Hopefully there is.

Serenis watched the student hurriedly run off with the device she had supposedly broken. Even though she’d only done as told, she could feel a tiny sliver of guilt weighing down on her.

‘…Perhaps a star element wasn’t the best of choices.’

But then again, they did tell her to choose the element she was most confident in.

When Serenis turned away to walk out of the gym and wait for the next stage of the examination, she couldn’t help hearing the lined students chatting about her – though to be fair, it would’ve been odd if everyone remained silent about the sudden appearance of a perfect adapter among their peers.

“A perfect adapter? What element even was that? It wasn’t light, was it?”

“I think it was? What else could it be, some weird mana type? Or a synthesized element?”

“Who even is that?”

“Don’t you know? It’s that kid who blew up the stage during the admission exams. Zion.”

“That’s him?”

“Yeah, that’s him! He’s in one of my classes!”

After a while, the dragon’s steps came to a pause beside a peculiar group of students. She turned her head to faced them, addressing their misinformed rumors herself.

“I did not ‘’blow up” the stage.”

“Oh gosh, you heard that?...From all the way down there?”

“S, sorry…that’s just what the rumors said…”

Serenis neither accepted nor declined the apology. She simply corrected them once more.

“Again, I did not “blow up” the stage. I could, but I never have.”

“…”

The gossiping group faced momentary silence at the dragonlord’s indifferent confidence. Though, from her perspective, she was merely stating a fact like any other.

With growing excitement, several nearby students joined into the conversation.

“Hey, what element did you use just now? I thought I saw lights, but then I started seeing like, rainbows.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Maybe a perfect adapter’s light is different from ours?”

“That element was-“

Serenis cut herself off as her human brother’s voice began to echo in her head…again.

- ‘You absolutely cannot let anyone know you’re a dragon, okay?’

Star was an exclusive affinity to the dragonlord; it probably wasn’t a good idea to speak of an element that could serve as an identifier in singling her out.

Once again, the dragonlord found herself lying against her will to acquiesce to her dear human brother.

“...Light. It was light.”

“Damn, really? Your mana must be special in some way then! I’ve heard stories of people with special mana types, but I’ve never seen one in person!”

“And you thought you were a genius, Doran.”

“The real monsters were elsewhere all along, I guess.”

Serenis couldn’t help smirking at the last remark.

‘I suppose I am a monster in your standards. Quite literally.’

But before the dragonlord could continue her way out of the gymnasium, another student blocked her way with more questions at the ready.

“So you passed, right? Are you scared about the mock duel? It IS against the headmaster…an archmage!”

“I don’t understand why I should be scared.”

“Huh?...I mean, you know that he’s a 9^th circle archmage, right?”

“I’ve said this to others before, but in that standard, I’d be at the 50^th circle.”

“…? Is that a joke?”

“No?”

The girl that had asked the question confusingly looked around. Everyone else looked just as confused as her.

“…Is he serious? What’s up with him?”

“You believe that? That’s just being arrogant. Circles don’t even go up to 50…”

“You might be a perfect adapter, but headmaster’s an archmage! His whole life may as well be magic. Unless he’s holding back, he’s not someone we could ever beat.”

Serenis shifted her gaze over to the boy that had last spoken. Her eyes now carried a hint of disappointment, as well as bits of mockery.

‘Whole life, he says. Your whole lives span less than the tiniest fraction of my own.’

“For what reason do you assume that I belong in this “we” you speak of?”

“What?”

The dragonlord looked around. Practically everyone around her was a student; they were children, hatchlings among hatchlings. She hadn’t minded being with them to attain the knowledge she sought, but being grouped into the same category in terms of ability was a different matter.

“True arrogance is to equate yourself to others. Not all beings grow alike, or behave alike. Some don’t even think alike. When you realize that your vision of another has been nothing more than a hopeful dream, it’ll be far too late.”

When the crowd fell silent, Serenis finally continued her way out of the gymnasium. A bitter taste filled her mouth as she briskly walked past the students around her.

She might as well have been talking to a mirror.