It took several days before Kleet experienced his first success. He created a small fire. It was more of a proof of concept than his actual goal. For Kleet was an ice dragon, first and foremost, thusly he would focus his efforts on magics relating to his specialty. After he had mastered those magics, then he would begin to dabble in others. As of this moment, however, he needed to establish a foundation for the rest of his self taught learning.

And many a source had made known that fire was the easiest spell that most beginner mages could learn. It was due to these rumors that Kleet had spent the last several days trying to create a simple and small flame. Now that he had finally succeeded, he understood the basics. Something the human books had explained horribly in his personal opinion.

According to those books, magic was an arcane force that existed outside of the perceivable dimension, most of the time. The two ways it manifested were usually by use of a spell or by a creature being saturated in its energy, creating a monster.

The process by which one cast a spell, was one of will. It was the forcing of arcane energies into this dimension and molding them. At least, that was how the book had described it. Kleet, though, thought it more accurately as convincing the magic to give into his own will. Regardless, the next step was the same either way.

Molding it.

Through will one could give the vast energies of the arcane shape. Whether that shape be a complicated spell, a powerful blast of pure magic, or a simple fire. The only problem was that shaping magic was much harder than one might first assume. A truth Kleet was now well aware of.

Rather than discouraging him, though, it only bolstered his desire. For one of the things his mother had taught him, was that things harder to acquire were usually more valuable. Magic, he assumed, was no different. Therefore further proving its value to him.

Price aside, Kleet needed to prepare himself for further studies. A supply of food would be needed so that he would have no reason to lose concentration and leave his lair. His guards would need to set more traps, and he would need to make sure that none would disturb him. The first and second of these goals was far more achievable than the third. So he would focus on them first.

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All it took was a word to the head goblins to have them set more traps, and then he was off. His lair left behind as he ascended to the sky in search of food. Of which he had no shortage of. The valley his lair overlooked was ripe with cattle he had relocated and let prosper. It was the perfect place to gather a stockpile of meals for his coming "hibernation" of sorts.

But, as Kleet descending toward the biggest herd of cows he had, something approached. He barely had enough time to catch sight of it before it came hurtling into him. At first, as he was falling through the sky, he thought it one of his rivals come for revenge. Then he looked and saw that it was not a rival dragon, but an adventurer riding a griffin.

It was not the first time an adventurer had attacked him, and it probably wouldn't be the last. And like every time before, Kleet greeted his attacker with sharp teeth and a feigned smile.

"I will give you one chance to escape!" He growled.

The human flashed a smile back and laughed. "It is you who needs to escape foul beast!"

Kleet did not consider the human's word. He simply lunged, using his weight to redirect their fall so that the griffin was below him. Somehow the human held on his as he did so, a mere accessory in a battle between giants. As much as a fight between a griffin and a dragon could be called a fight, that is.

All Kleet had to do was unleash his mighty breath and the battle would be over. But he didn't. This was a perfect opportunity to test his ability to use magic mid-combat.

So, rather than annihilating the flying pest, he willed the arcane towards him. It collected like a dark cloud around his form, shimmering in his mind like the night sky. Then he tried to bend it, to make into something more. To give it physical form in the shape of fire, in an attempt to burn the griffins wings.

At first, it didn't work. The griffin clawed at him and he had to resist the urge to swipe back, crushing its skull. Then he tried again, imagining a great flame consuming his foe. Again, it failed. And it continued to fail until, at last, he pictured a smaller fire.

It bloomed into existence as if had always been there. Tiny, small, feral, and capable of more given time. This was Kleet's flame, and he willed to spread. To crawl up the griffin's wing and snuff it out, a command it was almost too eager to comply with.

Like a forest fire set ablaze, the griffin burned.

For only a single moment. Too quick, his flame had vanished after only dealing a pitiful amount of damage to his foe. And after that moment had passed, Kleet tore the pigeon holding on to him apart. It was a quick kill, nothing more than a claw slash across the griffin's neck. Endings it's life.

The aftermath was just as quick. As Kleet re-took to the air, he spotted the human. The human looked at him with surprise, shock, and concern. Then, before Kleet could catch him, the human vanished in a flash of light.

A teleportation crystal for sure. It spelled trouble.