"I know this isn't your Expired Times and Diluted Histories class, but you should know that dragon-kind has been through some dark times, especially since after the Five Ancient Elders passed on. Many prominent dragons rose in those dark times, claiming to be the second coming of the most prestigious of our kind there had ever been. They flashed their great casts, their unique Marka, their masteries of niche powers unseen to sway the frail of will. In those times, some grew to be seen as gods. Well, only by lesser races, that is," Professor Lyall said.

The First Years paid rapt attention. Considering that most of them had reached and wondered about the small pedestal, they were more than willing to learn about the story behind it, which, apparently proved the pedestal to be special.

"The Great Godling – only a moniker, of course – was one such dragon. He was the pioneer of a special technique of denaturing that cast away size and multiplied supernatural powers by nearly a hundredfold. The cult he made consisted of twenty dragons that he taught this technique to, and thousands of other lesser races that worshipped him like a god. Because he became exceedingly popular, the Great Godling inspired many more dragons to try and take a swipe at being seen as divine beings as well, which created chaos in those days. That little pedestal you saw, is where the Godling would rest while denatured, as his followers gave him offerings and praised him."

Murmurs of several different emotions and thoughts rumbled among the students.

The Great Godling's pedestal.

Ginger remembered vividly the size and shape of the thing.

It only reached up to his knees and was roughly as thick as his arm. It had a pentagonal shape and was made from the same blue stone that made the cavern walls.

To think the Godling could fit on top of that thing while denatured.

As Ginger understood it, denaturing was the process of acquiring a true draconian body. Naturally, it meant the humanoid form of a dragon would grow in size, change shape, and become stronger. This was something dragons could learn before having their first growth spurt. If enrolled into a dragon institute like Draggard-Phoenix, they would learn to denature by the Fourth Year.

Pretty much every dragonling looked forward to this. Who wouldn't one want to attain that large, powerful form? To be able to turn into it at will was a marvel.

But then…

'The Godling became so small after transforming that he could fit in my palm. I wonder how dangerous he could possibly have been,' Ginger thought.

It was certainly interesting to think about.

He glanced at Reiss.

The dwarfish dragonling had a complex look to his face that fit somewhere between excitement and apprehension.

'What's got him so excited?' Ginger thought.

Professor Lyall continued.

"Hmm. Hopefully, that recontextualizes how you see that thing. And indeed, this cavern was one of the many places the Great Godling met with his cult members in the past. It also goes without saying that you may find many other similar pedestals around Ravi if you explore it hard enough, but it's all irrelevant now. That age when this was something significant has long passed."

This bit of knowledge caused a few to feel a bit uncomfortable.

If this truly was some hideout for dark cults, the many questions to spring into the heads of the students were what heinous crimes the cult committed and whether or not they had a… bloody end. However, the fact that the Exalted Names of the five dragons were branded onto this place was rather calming.

"Now, as you may have experienced, refined Surging Kardia meeting Collapsing Kardia creates a rather powerful reaction. The scope varies from group to group, pair to pair, but it's largely within a certain range. In my many years, Tallies and Cycles of teaching, I've found that having young dragons learn how potent, flexible, and sentient Kardia can be in harsh practice, is the most effective way for them to truly understand the nature of what they have coursing through them," the thickly Professor's lips drew a bit wider.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I'm certain you can feel your Kardia showing more active traits now that it has learned to be refined. It's healing you, it's forcing your body to be more sensitive to things it hadn't even been able to pick up on. That is what Kardia is. It is an active energy, vastly different from Mana Essence."

Ginger looked at his hand which had been healed.

Professor Lyall was right.

He hadn't even noticed it when his body closed up its wounds and replaced the burnt skin.

His Kardia, embodying Alienating and Pooling traits was brimming with life. He felt the portion of it which was produced within his stok and whatever remained within his body constantly pulsing with a desire for action.

No wonder this energy was named after the heart.

Ginger saw Caron beside him flexing her fingers. Her Kardia danced around them. It was potent and vivacious, more so than his. It was also more voluminous.

A small smile broke on his face.

That was to be expected. He still couldn't produce that much Kardia, even when considering that he received some from the Blighted he killed.

What made Ginger happy, was the fact that he was actually growing.

He was making progress.

"I hope you will forgive my methods for this morning. You will also have to forgive me for my future methods as well. After all, discovering how we function as Qin Asha is best explored in the most uncanny of ways. At least that's what I believe," Professor Lyall said. "Ah, and from now on, don't get too excited when you're making physical contact with a friend who has Kardia which opposes yours. Many of you saw how devastating that can be. Of course, while you're at the school, it's highly unlikely for anything to happen, but nevertheless, be careful."

***

Ginger was tempted to just slam himself onto the bed, but he quickly reined in his reckless urge.

He needed a long bath first. Reiss did too.

After leaving the damaged and torn Light Gear at the Garbing and Accoutrement building, and returning their weapons to the Ample Forge, the two boys, as well as all the other students had dragged their tired bodies to their dormitories. Today was the first of the three-day Breather, but none of them had energy enough to head out of the school. Some rest was in order, not just for the body, but also for the soul.

Even though Professor Lyall didn't mention it, and no one had bothered to ask, the thin, spindly figure in the chamber was still perhaps the most unnaturally terrifying thing most of the students had seen. A good stretch of sleep over several days would probably be required to rid the image from the dragonlings' minds. Hopefully.

After a nice bath where Ginger thoroughly confirmed that he didn't have any more scars than he did before he went for the day's exercise, he rested on his bed and rummaged through the sling bag Ancor gave him to draw out something.

It was strangely peaceful in the dorm. Normally, there would be a snide remark or two thrown his and Reiss' way, but there was barely any chatter at all.

All the heated discussions had ended on the way back from the Beginner's Den, when Professor Lyall had chanted 'Along!', once again dragging all the students through the air back to the school.

Only then had he heard a few insults thrown at Reiss for supposedly being carried by Vassilis, which he snarled at.

"Good grief."

"What?" Ginger responded to Reiss' motto of stress.

The dwarfish dragonling was on the top bunk, lazily waiting for the full force of exhaustion to press him into sleep – a very rare sight.

"Professor Mara is going to eat me alive for breaking that hammer. We have his class early after the Breather."

Ginger sighed.

"Already thinking about future nightmares?" he said.

"Might as well! It's Professor Mara! I think he might make me forge another one from scratch. Or worse yet, what if I find that he's somehow gathered the broken bits of my hammer, and then he makes me put them back together… and use whatever I manage to recreate as my weapon for the rest of the year?!"

"That's stupid. You're not the only one who broke or damaged your weapon. It's something that's probably expected. Besides, we haven't even learned how to forge weapons."

"It's Professor Mara!" Reiss hissed.

Ginger laughed, though, he didn't know if Reiss was just kidding or if he truly believed that something like that would happen.

"Think about something else for now. Aren't you meeting your dad tomorrow?" he said.

"Yeah," Reiss immediately started to sound a little more cheerful. "If today went badly, I was really hoping I could use tomorrow as a trump card to calm myself. Thankfully, it's just a lucky break. Ah. Have you made up your mind? My invitation is still open, you know. You can come with me to meet my dad."

Ginger didn't answer immediately.

He had thought about it for a bit. It would be nice to meet Reiss' father. He wasn't too worried about how that would turn out if he was revealed to be a halfling given how Reiss had taken it.

Ginger wasn't so shallow that he would believe that everyone would be prejudiced against him. That was one of the perks of living with an eccentric character like Ancor.

If there was anything that made Ginger hesitate a little, it would be the fact that it felt like Reiss was a lot more open with him and would continue to be while he (Ginger) only continued to withhold a lot about himself, including almost everything to do with his family.

That... he couldn't talk about freely even with Ira who knew his whole story. For now, he felt like keeping some measure of distance was a good thing.

And besides all that…

"Um, I can't. There's something I need to do tomorrow. It's a little important. Sorry," Ginger said while grimacing.

He wasn't lying.

He did have something he wanted to do sooner rather than later, and it all had to do with the pamphlet in his hand. The more he had read through this since a few days ago, the more he had felt eager.