158. Upheaval
158. Upheaval
As far as I knew, dragons were extinct in this world.
Of course, a few dragons might be hiding somewhere else.
But the dragons I had seen, heard of, and known were all killed without exception in the Demons' Dragon-Slaying War four hundred years ago.
What I saw every time was that Dragon Heart.
Given the Demons' nature of converting Mana into Demonic Energy to amplify their own power, a Dragon Heart was to them what an Elixir was to us.
So whenever they killed a dragon, they split its hide, tore through its flesh, and took its Dragon Heart.
Dragon Heart.
Of course, we... had also made a few into Elixirs and consumed them. But we did not kill dragons and take them by force.
Some dragons who entrusted their future and vengeance to us simply removed their own hearts and gave them to us.
"Well?"
I had roughly figured it out when I saw Leona's steps leading underground beneath the academy.
She meant to show me the Dragon Heart underground. Why? Well, I didn't know the reason.
But I would not be surprised.
That was what I thought.
"That's fucking insane."
"Nyahaha!"
I was wrong. I was surprised.
A Dragon Heart that large, that pure, and... still seemingly alive—I had only ever seen two like it in my Past Life.
"Where did this... come from, that you'd leave it in an academy basement like this and waste it on nothing more than a barrier?"
"My master brought it once. She was away for about fifteen days, and the day she came back, she was dragging it along the street."
I nearly let a curse slip out.
Arisa, who had poured out the most rage even during the Beastkin Liberation War.
That much.
Even in the Dragon-Slaying War, Arisa had poured out rage beyond what she herself could handle.
And that Arisa took a Dragon Heart?
"Arisa... did?"
"Yeah. She said she didn't kill the dragon. She also said that by then the Dragon-Slaying War was already over, so there were no dragons to be found anyway."
"Then what, did she pull it out of the ground because it looked like a rock?"
"Hmm... I don't know why you're so angry, but my master didn't kill a dragon."
"I'm not angry."
"You are. Anyone can see your eyes are all slanted up like this and your lips are pressed shut like hup!"
Leona lifted the corners of her own eyes with both index fingers and pressed her lips firmly shut.
"Forget that. If she didn't kill a dragon, then where and how did she get that?"
"She said a dragon gave it to her."
"Those arrogant lizards would just kindly pull out their own hearts—"
"Theophilios."
"...Huh?"
"Theophilios. That's the name of the dragon who took out its heart and gave it to my master. She told me never to forget it, and to tell my own disciple someday too."
"Uh, um... A dragon named... Theophilios took out its heart and gave it directly to Arisa...? Really?"
"Yeah. What reason would my master have to lie about something like this?"
"Hmm... hmm..."
Facial expression. Control your expression.
What kind of face was I making? I didn't know.
Still, seeing that Leona wasn't calling me out on it, I seemed to have held it together somehow.
"I see..."
Theophilios.
A name I could never forget.
That bastard had abandoned his own kin and fled during the Dragon-Slaying War. Everyone knew where he had fled to.
But we didn't chase him.
His parents' wish was that at least one of their kind would survive who remembered the dragons' history, and our plan was to use the bastard as emergency rations someday.
Of course... we never actually intended to use him as emergency rations.
It was just... because it pissed us off that he'd abandoned his kin and abandoned us and run away, we'd only thought about it.
And yet, that Theophilios took out his own heart and gave it away? A bastard who ran for his own life?
I can't... imagine it.
The Theophilios I knew was a trash bin collecting every flaw of arrogant dragons, and a pathetic little shit with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
So rather than him giving it up himself, Arisa must have forcibly ripped out that bastard's heart... hmm...
No, that probably wasn't it.
Arisa wasn't crazy enough in the head for that.
-Ronan! Did you know? Demon hide has something like invisible tear lines!
She wasn't crazy...
-If you grab the tear line and pull it like this...! Ta-da! Look! It tears so cleanly, just like it was cut with a sword, right?
She wasn't...
-It's not that I'm just ignorantly strong, there really are parts that tear cleanly! It's not just Demons! People and dragons all have them! I can teach you if you want, Ronan!
Let's stop thinking about this.
"So why did you bring me here? It's not to brag that the academy has something like this, and it's not like you're going to split that thing open and give me a piece."
"If I split that open and gave it to you, the academy might split open too, so I can't do that. And of course it's not to brag. You see that space—the warped, crumpled space?"
"Yes. I learned it's because of the Dragon Heart's pure Mana..."
When exposed to a Dragon Heart's Mana for a long time—a very long time—the space itself warps.
However, I didn't know what happened when it warped.
I'd never left one out that long, and whenever dragons emitted Mana, Demons called Mana Eaters devoured it all.
"You remember well. So why did you bomb this exam? What, are you doing it on purpose? Rebellion?"
"...I didn't bomb it on purpose, that was... that was just a minor mistake."
"A score that tanked from just one minor mistake is 30th from the bottom?"
"43rd from the bottom... Ah, that's not the point. Stop with the pointless talk and tell me why you brought me here."
Leona laughed "nyahaha!" and nodded, pointing at the Dragon Heart.
"We're going in there from now on."
"Inside the Dragon Heart?"
"No, into the space the Dragon Heart created."
"The space the Dragon Heart created...? What is that?"
"My own... well, not anymore. It's our own private lecture hall and training ground."
"...Lecture hall and training ground? Really? In there? Training?"
"I could... explain it with words, but experiencing it yourself will be faster. Now, let's go!"
Leona snatched my wrist and, without any hesitation, walked toward the space warped by the Dragon Heart.
*****
"...Ugh, shit."
The moment I entered the space Leona had called a lecture hall and training ground, I understood at once what she had meant.
My Mana.
It wouldn't move properly. It felt like a massive boulder had settled into my Dantian. On top of that, my body felt heavy, as if gravity had intensified.
My eyes ached, and my head throbbed.
My breathing was a little stifled too. My thoughts kept cutting in and out.
Cold sweat—no, just sweat—was pouring off me.
How many minutes had passed since we came in? Ten? Five?
My underwear was already soaked through.
"Well?"
Unlike me, Leona was fine.
No... could I say she was completely fine? Leona's complexion wasn't great either.
Then what about her Mana?
My vision was too blurry to see the flow of Mana. Just looking straight ahead made my eyes tired.
The Dragon Heart's Mana. The space it had warped.
I roughly understood why it had this effect.
A dragon's Mana fundamentally possesses the Authority of Mana Suppression. It has the power to suppress all Mana other than the Mana dragons themselves use.
That was what made them arrogant and earned them the epithet of the strongest.
Of course, the word "strongest" disappeared after the Dragon-Slaying War... Anyway, they possess the Authority of Mana Suppression, which is like a natural enemy to humans.
And this space had been exposed for a long time to the pure Mana emitted by the Dragon Heart—the core of a dragon with that very Authority of Mana Suppression.
So, like this... the visible scenery and the space itself warp, and conditions that are like deadly poison to humans can be created.
"Fascinating... really."
"I wasn't talking about this space. I was asking about your condition. You still look like you're about to die. Want to leave if it's too hard?"
"Leave? No way. Hoo... ha, I'm fine."
That was a lie. I wanted to leave right this second.
Holding my breath underwater would be more comfortable than this place—it was uncomfortable, unpleasant, and irritating.
But I wasn't actually going to leave.
Why would I leave a space where merely standing still counts as training?
Originally, training, discipline, practice—those things had to be so awful that curses slipped out without me realizing and they showed up in my dreams before I could call them well done.
And training here—I didn't know if it would show up in my dreams, but curses seemed likely to come out on their own.
So I wouldn't leave.
"Hmm? Really? From now on, all lectures will be held here. So, can you do it starting today?"
"Hmm..."
My Mana was incredibly hard to move, but if I trained in this space the same way I normally did, the results would be enormous. My body too. I didn't know how long it would take, but if I could maintain at least half my usual condition...
If I did all kinds of training in that state.
I couldn't even estimate how many times the results would be compared to usual.
So this was.
"I absolutely have to do it."
"Nihihi. I love that answer."
Leona nodded in satisfaction and immediately plopped down on the spot.
"Now, first, you sit too."
I obeyed without a word. If I acted up even a little here, I felt like I'd get beaten like a dog without being able to resist.
"The first step is Mana control. I'm a Beastkin, so my Mana sensitivity is high and I managed it in three days, but you... hmm, even considering your overflowing talent, won't it take about fifteen days?"
"Mana control? Hmm..."
"Look at your face. I'm already being extremely generous. Even if it were Eurasia or Stella, who everyone in the academy and the world calls geniuses, it would've taken at least a month."
"Hmm..."
"Be satisfied with fifteen days. Honestly, there's no guarantee you'll be able to control your Mana within fifteen days."
"Ah."
"So relax your face, and first start with breathing—"
"Done."
"—...What?"
"Ta-da."
Cherry-blossom-colored Mana wrapped around both of my raised hands.
"Eh."
Leona's face went blank.