With disbelief in his eyes and a great smile on his face, Vouno gently shook his head and asked, “My son, these are dragons? You have got two dragons?”
It couldn’t be helped that he would repeat his questions when Kairos did not answer since dragons have long since disappeared from Saint Empire. The current decedents of dragons have so little dragon blood they can’t even be called dragons; at most draconic beasts.
“Oh no, not just two. I also have Aisa.”
Hearing her name, the white dragon flew out from his pocket and landed on the table.
*rawr!!*
She roared majestically but with a tiny voice. Her small figure gleamed, basking in the candlelight and the golden patterns on her snow-white scales glowed brilliantly.
“What is this? Is this a dragon too?”
Nooo~ Aisa is a primordial dragon~! Hmph
“She… she… spoke? She can speak!!”
What’s there to be surprised about, silly human~
Even if Vouno is a ranger with more knowledge on beasts than most, this is the first time he had seen dragons, and it’s not odd that he could not differentiate between the many types. Kairos smiled at his father and explained briefly.
The frost and fire twin dragons that looked like snakes are True Dragons and progenitors of the serpent and wyrm race.
Aisa however, looks completely different with four strong limbs, a powerful and thick and long tail and a pair of dragon wings. Her kind is the ancestor race of the wyverns. However, the Primordial Dragons are even more ancient, and few people know that they are the ancestors of True Dragons.
Unfortunately, even though these three dragons are pure-blooded dragons, they are still very young and have not yet grown past the infant stages.
While they will need to slowly strengthen their combat ability from scratch, the twin dragons require a lot more heavenly energy than what the land of Saint Empire could provide to grow.
On the other hand, as a primordial one, Aisa’s condition is a little more special. She is the embodiment of the Holy Element made sentient and could feed on power from the heavenly laws itself without depending on the land she is on. It is not an exaggeration to claim that cosmos converge at where she goes, nurturing her slowly but steadily.
Even if she is not at her full strength currently, she is still incredibly formidable. Her growth could be considered a type of rebirth, and she holds the full knowledge of all her abilities.
Aisa has no problems facing powerful immortals or even some weaker divines.
“Father, all of them are true dragons. Well, Aisa is a bit more special, she can be considered the ancestor of the dragon race and is called Primordial Dragon.”
“True Dragon, ancestor of all dragons? Did A..Aisa create these two?” He pointed at the frost and fire dragonlings.
“No, they came from me.”
A moment of silence loomed in the air in the tiny wooden hut as Vouno blanked out. Kairos waited a while for his father to recover from the shock before continuing.
“Remember I told you I infused the weapon I refined with my dragon Ki, and they came out of my weapon when it broke?”
“I…I thought you were kidding.”
“No”, he shook his head, “what I said is true. I have no idea how they could’ve have taken a physical form with flesh and blood, but they are no doubt actual dragons.”
“Does that mean that every time a weapon you refined broke, you will gain another one of these little fellows?”
Kairos nodded his head. This is the subject he wanted to bring onto the table, but he just had to get his father’s amazement out of the way first.
The meaning of being able to create dragons is colossal. After many years that the dragon race had disappeared from Saint Empire, people had been speculating that they left for another realm or went deep into the Savage Lands.
Now the dragons have reappeared, and they are revolving around his son. There’s no need to think about it, but if this news goes out, it would not be a good thing but a total calamity.
There are simply too many things about his son that will cause others to burn with envy.
Yet none of those things gave Kairos enough power to protect himself and his friends and unfortunately, the young boys have already gone and stirred up the hornet’s nest.
“I have placed a batch of refined weapons in my shop at the capital and instructed the Dragon Ki within to seek me if their vessels broke. I intend to rear every dragonling that forms their own flesh, and to this end, the little ones must not to improve the materials.”
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“Oh, right… those little ones could upgrade the weapons they live in. Say, would you make your dad a large hunting knife and a bow with one of these things?”
“Already done, father,” Kairos pulled out two weapons onto the table. Both made from equally rare materials as his own Swallow.
The tiny Dragon Ki that was infused into the weapons treats it's as its home and will be tempted to steal materials if it clashes with a weapon of higher-grade to remodel its home.
When Kairos’ steel sword struck Calculus’ black-gold sword during their bet at the trade fair, that was exactly what happened. The tiny fire dragon took a large bite out of the metal and tried to use it to upgrade the steel sword.
Perhaps it was because the material at that time was only Black gold, but who knows till what grade of ore that a dragon Ki can bite through?
Since then, every sword he refined to be placed on sale in his shop Kairos instructed those dragonlings not to upgrade their vessels. It is expected that sooner or later the dragon will grow too large for its home and break out of it, or the weapon destroyed from wear and tear.
When that time comes, it will manifest flesh and blood then fly to wherever Kairos is as an actual dragon. Though their combat power as infants is weak, these celestial beasts have incomparable speed, and he has little worry about being exposed.
Although, Kairos had not understood how dragons could transform from insubstantial forms of Ki into physical bodies, and this subject sounded totally crazy, but when he saw Aisa on the table he had a revelation.
As an Origin Energy user, he knows that the forming of flesh from energy is merely the transfer of one form of energy into another form just like how he refines life force into Ki. And in fact, creating a body from pure energy is not without precedence. The dragon’s race itself had started with the Primordial Dragons wishing themselves into existence. Somehow, this time this race appeared through Kairos instead of from the heavenly laws.
Aisa however, did not seem surprised at all and merely licked at her paws while staring at the two of them with a bored expression.
“What is your plan for these dragons, son?”
“I wish to create a stable for them at our manor in preparation for the future.
The lair needs to be well hidden and large. And to do that I had to refrain from using the funds from the empire so that we may secretly build the construct away from prying eyes.”
“Got any dependable builder in mind?”
Kairos sighed before replying, “The Snowdrifts may be filled with reliable people, but none of them could design it.”
“Alright, your father got this covered! I know someone who could help. It is good to start building your strength early, and a Viscount should have some guards.
Hmmm, but your dragons are a little too flashy, we will need to find a way to disguise them if we are to use them as our force. Also, do you have a way to mass produce these weapons?”
“Mass production is not possible at this moment, only I have the Dragon Ki, and I have to refine them by myself. It takes me roughly an hour to finish a single weapon.
And also, I had been keeping this a secret from my friends so they would not worry, but I realised that each time I send a dragonling into a weapon, I lose a bit of my cultivation level. Fortunately, the amount of cultivation I lose is very minor, but I suspect this is because the vessel I put them in is weak. I’m quite certain that when I start refining weapons of more powerful materials, the amount of power of the Dragon Ki will need to increase to match the grade.”
Vouno nodded, “Don’t overdo it.”
They both know the implications, but this is a measure they must take especially since the Snowdrifts is in its infant stages.
After that is settled, they hammered out a concrete design for the stable that can conceal the little dragons properly. It would be something difficult to uncover even for the Emperor’s men checking their manor.
Finally, the conversation ended with Kairos’ end-year aptitude test results, as well as the invitations he received from the other students to visit their homes.
A sudden memory surfaced, and Kairos with his eyes shining brightly almost shouted excitedly, “Father! The principal said that my soul power is unmeasurable by the aptitude crystal, and it’s especially strange when my bloodline talents were tested to be underwhelming. He thinks that there might be an ancestor of ours who could be a legendary hero or even of royal blood!
Did we really have a hero in our family?”
He leaned forward with his voice almost higher by an octave.
The story of the heroes of old with might that matches valour truly set a boy’s heart beating with exhilaration and wonder. Just the thought that one of his ancestors could be a might hero was too exciting. It would mean that he has the blood of a great person in his veins!
Could that hero be a powerful conqueror?
Or perhaps a champion of the land?
Maybe an adventurer that roamed freely throughout the dangerous savage lands?
“Do we have one?” He asked again even before his father could reply.
“Hmmm. From what I know, the previous eighteen generations of our family’s ancestors are all owners of pig farms. In fact, your dad also inherited a pig farm from your grandfather. Sadly I fed them all with something spoilt and we lost our business. BWAHAHAHA!”
“Whaaaaat?” Kairos jaws dropped. His shock is comparable to what Vouno felt the entire day.
How did his father manage to bankrupt a family business that rears swine? Such animals are hardy and would not flinch after eating a spoilt morsel or two. Just what kind of rot… no, poison… did his father feed those swine that they could have all died?
Not just that, but all his ancestors from his father’s side are farmers?
“All of them? Not even one of our ancestor did something else?”
“Hmm, now that you mentioned it, there was one who did not want to inherit the farm and left the family line.”
“OHHH! What did he do?” A new hope entered the boy’s eyes.
“He is a weirdo that wanted to do something rather different but ended up still rearing animals. He became… a pet shop owner,” Vouno looked at his son’s funny face and snickered. But, come to think of it, he himself has not fallen far from the family line by being a ranger.
Kairos shook his head sadly. The news is just too depressing. “Is it at least a magical beast shop?”
“Of course not. He only breeds those domestic pets that are unable to cultivate. With our family’s bloodline, don’t expect us to be able to control beasts that are too powerful. BWAHAHAHA.”
“That’s not something to be proud of, father!!”
Is the bloodline of their family truly so bad? Out of curiosity, Kairos have to ask, “Father what was your ranking during school?”
“Hey you little rascal, that’s rude to ask! But I’m not afraid to tell you that your dad is the second rank. Counting from the bottom of course!”
“Sighhhhh. Wait… what about mother? Was there a hero from mother’s side? Maybe that’s…”
“Nope, no way”, Vouno cut him off before he could finish, “I know that your mom’s previous eighteen generations of ancestors are also all pig farmers like us, but just from the neighbouring village. Not only that, she is the only person who managed to lose to me in all subjects during school and is the true bottom rank. HAHAHA! Wasn’t she impressive?”
Kairos’ head slipped off his hand and hit the side of the table, but he found himself unresponsive to the pain. Looks like his dream of having a hero’s bloodline has shattered cruelly.