Lu sparred with each of the knights at least a dozen times. It was pretty entertaining, looking at their numbers and trying to guess who would win each battle. I found out pretty quickly the limitation of my power though.
The stats I saw were a way of understanding the world, but by no means were they controlling it. In some ways, they were no different than looking at the stats of a sports team and betting on their next match.
Still, there were reasons for how the fights turned out the way that they did, and those I could see. Lu consistently won against most of them, her skill making up for any discrepancy in size or strength. Beyond heavily drilled flawless movements, she also had a natural talent for fighting… But there was something else about watching her fight too that almost reminded me of another little girl with an oversized sword, one made of glistening moonlight. Some of the moves Lu was using, weren’t ones that Mara had taught us either.
The knights she lost to tended to either win mostly because of their intelligence, or because their own skill was closer to hers, so she couldn’t completely make up for the difference in strength. After all, she was still only 13.
After a while things got pretty dull, although I admit, it was certainly interesting to see a lizard man for the first time… Or… a Reptilian, as he would be called in that world. From what I could tell, the girl with the curved greatswords was a half-elf, like Finlo, and the one with the hammer was an orc, but the others were all human.
I admit that I started a bit too long at a few of them out of curiosity. It was a little hard to believe they weren’t just really good at cosplay, then again, they were hardly the craziest thing I had seen that turned out to be real.
After a while, the man with the red lizard scales walked over to me and sat down. “You have curious eyes, little one.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare…”
“Not that, I meant your eyes themselves. They look like mine.”
I turned and gazed back into his eyes. They were bright gold and looked like those of a reptile. ‘That’s right… My eyes are pretty crazy now aren’t they…’
He let out a soft hum. “It’s a bit of a strange phenomenon, humans being accepted by dragon blood. I can feel it when I am close to you, we are kin.”
“What, do you…” I felt my head start to feel light as warm chils covered my face and a heat started bleeding from my eyes.
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He let out a deep groan. “Not only accepted you… It seems to like you quite a lot…”
Don’t tell me how, but I knew my eyes had changed again, everything around me continuously switched between tints of gold and white. “It burns…” I mumbled.
“Don’t close them, it will only make it worse.”
‘How does that make any sense…’ I tried to fight the reflex, but I had to close them, it felt impossible not to. Just like he said it made it worse. Still, it wasn’t nearly as bad as when I first used the dragons sight.
I opened my eyes again and waited another moment before it subsided. “What… was that…”
“Apologies… It would appear that the dragon inside of you was sleeping… And, my presence woke it… No breathing fire ok. I doubt your human throat could handle it.”
My head still felt like it was on fire, but I could feel my blood calming down. “You couldn’t have told me first…” I mumbled, standing back up on my own and walking toward the door. “I need some fresh air…”
He tried to go with me but I pushed him back. “I’m fine… But Lu’s sense of direction sucks so look after her…”
I couldn’t fully understand what he said back. My senses were fluctuating like crazy, but at least I was able to walk steadily… At least… I think I was. More than steady, it felt like if I wanted to I could have started walking on a tightrope across a canyon without a worry.
‘The dragon inside me? But like… In a literal sense?’ My head pounded again, but there was no pain, just this overwhelming heat that somehow felt almost comforting. ‘Who even was he? He never even told me his name…’ I started getting flashbacks of my father, and every time he acted without explanation, or waited until after to fill me in on what he was doing… It didn’t sit right with me at all. ‘I need fresh air… The ocean… I should be near the coast, right? The water will help me cool off.’
My sense of hearing spiked, sure enough, one of the knights was following me. It only made sense, letting me go off alone in an unknown state wasn’t a good idea, no matter what I said.
‘Dragons blood…’ I felt my old scars start to twist as if they were opening up again and the stitches that had long since been removed were being torn. In a flash, it was all over and I was back to normal. It was as if my whole body was pulsing, each pulse coming with different effects. ‘Just what exactly is happening…’
“You… Please can you help?”
‘What? He’s talking to me?’ Everything stopped all at once and my body returned to normal at the sound of a man's voice. “Help… You said you need help right? What’s wrong…” I asked, taking deep breaths as I tried to fully reorient myself.
“My wife, she’s really sick. I don’t need much, even just some food would help, she hasn’t eaten in days.”
I slowly looked at him and my senses shocked me again as my vision zoomed way in, even without my manna. In an instant, I examined every part of his body. ‘The dirty clothes match his story, but if it’s so hard to get food… Why does he have so much muscle… I know more than anyone… Just how hard it is to eat enough to sustain muscle like that…’
I lifted a hand to my face, shielding my eyes from the light. “And if I refuse?” I asked.
“Then I’ll have to keep asking until I find someone else that will lend a hand…”
‘A convincing act at least… Let’s see where this leads.’
Starting to get control of it my hearing heightened again and the armor clanking behind me confirmed that the knight was still close. “Take me to her.” ‘If she really is sick, I might be able to help with my magic. I’ll just say it was the food that changed her condition for the better, I only have traveling rations, but it’s better than nothing.’