“I have noticed that you are exceptionally smart for your age, so I want you to have the strength to back it up. After all, the strong rule this world while the weak are devoured.” said Tristan.

“I understand, father.” answered a little dragonman with black scales.

Then, before all else, you must learn how to fly. This way you can easily run away from pursuers if they aren’t skyborne.” he said, as his giant wings started moving. With one flap, he flew upwards. Raven looked up and realized that he could barely see his father.

After a while, his father flew down and landed safely by back flipping and flapping his wings lightly when he was right above the house. Raven saw that and realized that a dragon’s flight and a bird’s flight were 2 different subjects.

“Now, try to do what I did. You must flap your wings with as much force as you can when you lift off the ground. When flying, use your chest instead of your wings to direct yourself. Use the momentum to your advantage.”

Raven mustered all the strength he could get out of his wings and launched himself up. It resulted in him finding himself 5 meters above the ground.

“Nice going, now try to get the feel of flying until you can do it reflexively.”

“Okay.”

He navigated himself using his chest, and found it far easier than using his wings to do so.

After two hours, his flying became much smoother. After Tristan noticed, he flew up and motioned Raven to follow him.

They flew around the city twice, when Raven’s back started aching and his wings became unsteady. Tristan noticed it and said “So that’s your limit, so how some rest while eating?”

“Sure, but didn’t mother say that I can’t eat anything strange?” asked Raven.

“Don’t worry, this one’s on dad.” he said as they both descended.

It was the market district. There were many people selling goods and foods alike. Tristan led Raven to a stall worked by a Crocodileman. “How’s it going, Franco.” asked Tristan.

“Same as always. Woah woah, do I see a little one behind ye?” asked the hoarse-voiced beastman.

“Yeah, he’s my son. Anyways, we’ll take 3 bronzefish skewers.”

“Comin’ right up. So, who’s the lucky girl that got our Tristan?”

“It’s more like I’m the lucky boy who got her.”

“To hear our ‘Proud Dragon’ say that, she must be a real beauty.”

After some chatting, the skewers came out. The skewer entered through the mouth of the fish and came out from near its tail. The scales were peeled off, so it was just meat in the shape of a fish. It gave off a smell that screamed delicious, and looked the part.

He took a bite. It was a heavenly taste. It had the right amount of crunchiness and was juicy on the inside. Then he noticed that the middle part tasted even more delicious and it lacked bones.

Surely enough, the fish had been cut and the bones were taken out. Then it was filled with something that tasted like the mixture of pepper and cumin, and it had the texture of a cheese.

He quickly devoured the fish and for the first time in his life, wanted to be fat. That way, he could eat more of this.

“Delicious, right?” asked Tristan.

“Let’s come here more often.” answered Raven.

“As long as you can get the hang of what I’m teaching.”

“Believe me, I’m a good student.”

“We’ll see about that.” said Tristan as a wicked smile appeared on his face.

After they both ate their fill, Tristan suggested going home and Raven took up the offer. Tristan launched upwards, followed by Raven. The sky had turned red as daybreak approached.

They flew homeward, to the edge of the city. Raven had already learned how to fly, but couldn’t do complex maneuvers like his dad.

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Middle-sized 2 story houses with a red roof stood around the north edge of the city, near other buildings of the same architecture. These houses were separated by a short fence, providing vision of the other yards. On one side, they could see the city and on the other side, they could see mountains. Raven’s house was the fifth one from the left and the third one from the right.

They jumped over the fence and opened the door, but were met with an angry Elenora.

“Where were you all day?!” she shouted out.

“Err, we were training.” said Tristan with a wronged expression.

“You should have said something before you left. Do you know how worried I was, when you two disappeared just like that?”

“Now that I think about it, I should have done just that.” he said innocently.

“Mom, don’t blame dad, he was just teaching me how to fly.” Raven butted in.

“If you say so.” said Elenora, trying to calm down. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t bring herself to be angry at her son.

After a while, they calmed down and they spent the evening like many before it. Elenora was cooking; Tristan and Raven were lying on the sofa. Dinner was served, the usual fried meat with a new kind of seasoning. Dragonmen needed meat to grow up, so Elenora insisted that they eat meat every day. Money wasn’t a problem, considering that his father was a Crystal Smith.

Just like that, Raven went to bed.

…

He woke up in his bed. This was strange, as he spent the whole night in the black room. He just shrugged it off as the goddess having something else to do.

It was early, the sun shining its first lights. The door was kicked open by a sleepy dragonman. “Wake up!!!” he shouted.

“I’m awake,” said Raven and asked as he sat up “what’s the matter?”

“Today, your mom will be teaching you magic.” Tristan said with a sleepy voice “When I mentioned it yesterday, she got all fired up. This morning she kicked me off the bed and told me to call you.”

Raven’s sleepiness faded as he heard the mention of magic. He couldn’t get far without a teacher even if he had the guidebook. The goddess was too lazy to teach him, and only lazed around.

He jumped out of the bed and ran past his father and down to the living room.

Elenora had already made breakfast and was waiting at the table. She saw Raven and her eyes gleamed with excitement. “Are you ready to learn magic?” she asked.

“Yeah.” he answered as he nodded his head.

Elenora’s tail started wagging in excitement, not letting her down, Raven devoured the steak. His mother grabbed his hand and dragged him outside.

For some reason, she became too excited when she heard about magic. It happened once before, when she heard that a famous mage was coming to town.

“First up, you have to learn how to collect the mana particles. Without doing that you can’t use magic.” she said, with a know-it-all tone “You must use your inner strength to call it forth.”

Raven had already learned this part, so he willed for the mana particles to gather around his fingertips.

Elenora’s eyes almost bulged out. Even the most talented would need at least an hour to get it right. This made her happy, but jealous.

It took a while to hide her shock, but she continued her lesson “If you can gather the mana particles, the rest is easier.” she ran into the house and came out with a crystal ball. “You can know your Magic Talents with this.”

The ball started glowing and 2 orbs appeared within it. One was black and the other was grey. “These two are my talents, the black represents [Shadow] and the grey one represents [Death] magic. Having 1 talent means you can use magic, having 2 means that you’re talented and having 3 means you’re a genius, having 4 means you’ll be counted a mage even without training.” said Elenora proudly.

“Then that means you’re kind of awesome, right mom?” asked Raven, feeding her ego.

“Of course I am.” she said, puffing her chest and gave him the ball “Now, let’s see yours.”

When the ball touched his hand, he could feel an energy running through his body. It felt like an ant running around inside his body, making him uncomfortable. Seeing his expression, a smile appeared on Elenora’s face.

Finally, the glow disappeared, the energy with it. There were 4 orbs, cycling around. They were black, blue, grey and one was a mixture of yellow and white. The last one was significantly bigger than the others.

Elenora shouted out for Tristan, and surprised at her sudden scream, he rushed out. She was looking at the crystal in Raven’s hand while rubbing her eyes. Tristan walked up at them, and he felt a joy unlike any other. Their son was a genius.

Tristan and Elenora started hugging each other and crying. It took almost an hour for them to calm down.

…

They were now sitting around the table in the kitchen. Raven’s mother was the one to break the silence. “I’m sorry that you had to see us crying, but having four elements means that you’re a mage. We were too happy just now.”

“I know mom, I was surprised too.” Raven said.

“Now then, let me tell you the meaning of those orbs.” Elenora cleared her throat “You know what the grey and the black signify, the blue one is for lightning, the same one as your father. The big one means that you have the [Soul] attribute. It means that you can’t be truly killed unless you fight someone who uses the same magic and shatters your soul.”

“So that means I’m immortal?” Raven asked, shocked.

“Yes, as long as your soul isn’t destroyed, you can recreate your body as you wish by using an elemental magic.”

“That’s unbelievable, so what is an elemental magic?”

“It’s a type of magic that you use to manipulate something that makes up this world. Both [Shadow] and [Lightning] are included in this. With your [Soul] magic, you are practically immortal and you can kill those who are deemed immortals.”

(And this is all thanks to a certain goddess that reincarnated you into this world.) resounded a familiar voice inside his head.

‘What the fuck?’ he thought to himself.

(I’m inside your head) she said.

‘Are you reading my mind?’

‘Yep.’

“Are you fine?” asked Elenora.

“Yeah, I’m fine, a little shocked is all.” he answered.

“Well, let’s start your magic lesson.” she said and once again dragged him outside.

…

“To use shadow magic, you must will the mana particles into your shadow and control it from there.” she said.