[Dragon peaks]

  As soon as she stepped out of the portal, Alicia's eyes widened in amazement as the vast ndscape atop and around the mountains came into view. And as her eyes wandered across the horizon, she stood frozen in pce while her lips slowly curled up into an excited smile.

  “Holy-.”

  Not even ending her excmation, Alicia stared at the form of the dragon that suddenly came into view. Reaching multiple hundred meters in length, even this random Locis cn member dwarfed all of her expectations.

  At the same time, Vika followed after her, simirly freezing up when she stepped through the portal. After having met Ceretar she had assumed that there would be little that could still shock her, though she now was proven wrong. The ambient dragons' fear in the area was enough to instill terror into her for a third time in just a few days, even with most dragons not even actively spreading it.

  Sonita who followed shortly behind her fared slightly better, with her phoenix bloodline at least preventing her from freezing up in fear. Instead, it started thrashing around in a metaphorical sense, resulting in a pained expression from Sonita as she forcefully suppressed her power to keep it exploding uncontrolled.

  To her relief, this sted barely a second as Darganth reacted and pushed the auras of the other dragons away with his own. In an instant Sonita's phoenix bloodline stopped its struggle, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Holy hell, what was that?” She asked a few moments ter, clearly spooked by what had happened

  “You're bloodlines will, never experienced it?” Daranth answered.

  “No. I hadn't even known that bloodlines can possess a will of their own, is that normal?” She asked worried.

  “Completely, though it sounds worse than it is. Every bloodline carries with it the instincts of the species it originates from. The stronger the bloodline, the stronger the influence it has on the person until he or she possesses the same instincts that the said species has. What you experienced is a temporary spike of this influence that, while rare, happens under certain circumstances.”

  Darganth's reassuring words calmed Sonita significantly, though the shock of losing control still remained. It took seconds until she could finally bring herself to look down at her shaking hand and she continued to hesitate for a short while before attempting to call upon her fmes.

  Once she gathered the courage for it they sprung to life nearly instantaneous. Feeling her control over them to be at the same level as she was accustomed to, Sonita felt at ease.

  Around the same time, Jennia and Alire also crossed through the portal, allowing Darganth to close it behind them.

  “Ahh, how I missed it here.” Jennia said with a rge sigh when she felt the significantly higher density of mana.

  “Me too, some peace and quiet after these hectic weeks will be great.” Alire responded.

  “I can only second that. Still, I pnned to use some of the time we still have until the meeting of the Emperors to prepare for it, meaning helping you two and Alicia train. And it would be a good opportunity to take a short trip back to the beast continent to meet up with Serania, so it won't be only rexation.” Darganth told them.

  Shrugging, neither Alire nor Jennia had anything against this pn. Thus turning to Alicia for her answer, Darganth saw her nodding in affirmation.

  “Do the two of you want to join?” He asked Vika and Sonita, bringing the two out of their stunned states.

  Hesitating for a moment as she thought about the offer, Sonita soon nodded in agreement. Vika had meanwhile turned to Alicia to gauge her reaction to Darganth's offer. Noticing her seemingly indifferent attitude, she thought for a moment before also agreeing.

  “Alright.” Alicia said, her small smile betraying that she had hoped for this answer.

  “Now then, we should go and meet Irsyr so that-” Darganth started only to pause for a moment, “Or he'll come to us.”

  A moment ter Irsyr appeared in his humanoid form, having teleported to them. As soon as he did, Vika jumped up in fright from his sudden arrival, much to Sonita's delight.

  “Oh, interesting.” He murmured when he turned his gaze towards Alicia.

  Looking back at him with furrowed brows, her face expressed her confusion over his words.

  “Your gravity magic, it isn't just a sub-element of space with time element traces but a perfect fusion of the two.” Irsyr expined.

  “Oh, that, Darganth mentioned it.” She answered him.

  With Irsyr nodding in response, an uncomfortable silence descended over their conversation.

  Holding out her hand for a handshake in an attempt to end it, Alicia took the initiative to introduce herself.

  “Alicia, don't know whether my brother mentioned me.” She said

  “Irsyr. And yes, he did.” He replied, taking her up on the handshake.

  As he withdrew his hand, he finally acknowledged the presence of Vika and Sonita. Turning towards the two, he mustered them with a critical eye.

  Barely reacting with Vika, his attention rose when he looked at Sonita.

  “One of Ceretar's descendants, didn't expect this situation to ever occur.” He mused.

  “?hh, I didn't- I don't-” Sonita stammered in response to his gaze bearing down on her.

  “Heh, you didn't do anything wrong. It brings me back to old times.” Irsyr answered amused.

  As Sonita released the breath she didn't even realize she had held before taking a few steps away from Irsyr, Alicia walked toward him.

  “Was that necessary, with how often the two get intimidated by powerful beings I'm starting to feel sorry.” She said.

  “It wasn't my intention, but I apologize. It's been a while since I met beings not closely connected with our kind so I still need to regain the feel for the effect our reputation has on them.” Irsyr answered her.

  Nodding, Alicia put the matter to rest.

  “Anything important that happened while I was away?” Darganth asked a few seconds ter.

  “No.”

  “That's good, then there's nothing in the way of how I pnned the next few months. On that matter, I would guess that you still have somewhere where Alicia and her two subordinates can stay but I still wanted to ask.” Darganth said.

  “Of course.”

  Having Irsyrs confirmation, Darganth nodded in satisfaction. Without further ado, he conjured up a new portal that led straight to the main mountain.

  A minute or so ter their group of six, led by Irsyr, arrived in the main room of a house that was built inside the mountain. Being positioned right next to the ir of Irsyr and Edylia, it served as a dwelling for them, their children when in humanoid form, as well as any guests they might have.

  “Oh, this is a surprise. Your idea or did Edylia convince you?” Darganth said as they stepped into the building.

  “It was originally Zephyr's idea, but yes.” Irsyr answered with a tone that betrayed the reluctance with which he must have agreed.

  Letting out a light chuckle at this, Darganth didn't comment further on Irsyr's distaste for remaining in a transformed state for extended periods of time.

  As they continued down the hallways, they soon reached a corridor with a series of doors on both sides.

  “Here we are. Each room is fully enchanted, whether it be room durability, helping people recover, self-cleaning, and blocking even the senses of even the most powerful beings, they have everything. Each of you can just pick one, it has been a while since the st time one of them was used so they are all free.” Irsyr said.

  “Thanks, just one st thing, is Yldra currently here?” Darganth said.

  “I was just about to go to her, Edylia is trying to help her catch up on the years of training she skipped. The reinforced rooms are one floor down, can't miss it.” Irsyr said.

  Waiting for a couple more seconds to make sure that Darganth didn't have any more requests or questions, Irsyr turned to leave.

  “If you need me for anything, you know how to message me.” Darganth told Alicia who nodded in response.

  With this, he followed after Alire and Jennia who had already picked a room and stepped inside. As soon as he did, he noticed Jennia looking around the room while Alire was sprawled out on the bed as she wallowed in its comfort.

  “Already tired, we spend the st few days doing next to nothing.” He commented with a grin.

  “We still were in potentially dangerous territory, but no. I just missed having a bed, has been a while since we spent this long traveling.” Alire answered him.

  “Nonetheless still up for a quick trip to watch Yldra train?” He asked.

  At his question, Jennia spun around to him with an excited grin and nodded.

  “If I remember correctly she was promised a hellish training regiment, I'm interested in what exactly that entails.” She said.

  “And you'll get a preview of what sort of training you'll go through in a few days.” Darganth added.

  At his words, Alire shot up into a sitting position and looked at him to gauge whether he was serious. As the realization that he was set in, the corner of her mouth rose slightly as she looked at him in disbelief.

  Jennia on the other hand had initially ughed it off as a joke, though when she noticed the silence from both Darganth and Alire her ughter died down. Instead, it was repced with a slightly confused look.

  “What, do you think I won't do it?” Darganth asked when he saw the looks they were giving him.

  “Well, after what Yldra told us of how she trained-” Alire said.

  “Yup, I do.” Jennia interrupted.

  Hearing both voicing their thoughts out loud, Darganth couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

  “Don't misunderstand, I just think you love us too much to train us that intensely.” Alire expined.

  “I know and it warms my heart.” Darganth said with a smile, “But sadly I must disappoint you because I will pull through as much as it will pain me and I know that it will. While I train you I won't coddle you because I love you, rather it gives me more reason to push you to your extremes.”

  At his words, their smiled slowly faltered as they noticed the seriousness with which he spoke.

  Alire managed to process it the best out of both of them, simply nodding in acceptance as she understood the reasons. Jennia reacted with a bit more disappointment, though she too quickly accepted it rather quickly.

  A few minutes ter the three made their way towards the stairway to the lower floors to meet Yldra again.