A cold silence rushed in to fill the void within the stoks and hearts of the students. It brought in a mildly chilling degree of terror, shock, and then awe, all in varying measures.

Ginger seemed to have the first two in roughly twice as much of a measure when compared to everyone else because unlike them, he didn't understand what had just happened.

He expected everyone to look as pale as he was, but once again, he was proven wrong. The dwarfish dragonling beside him only added to the feeling of odd ignorance Ginger had always felt in times like this.

Reiss beamed while looking at Professor Lyall.

Ginger looked in the portly woman's direction too, hoping that there would be an answer on her face, but he only met her taut lips and the cunning look behind her round-rimmed glasses.

Having learned to discern her actual emotions from her eyes, Ginger shook at how his Prime Instructor was gazing at all the First Years. The tender glow she had displayed when he came out of the Rebounding Seether earlier, was gone.

Instead, she seemed pleased that all the students' sprouting bravado and confidence spurned by awakening their Kardia, was subdued – or totally gone, in Ginger's case.

The plump dragonling had the sneaking suspicion that she was especially motivated by Vassilis' demonstration just now.

But how did she do that?

Ginger could have sworn the thick woman simply sighed, and left them all defenseless.

Even Vassilis looked to be sharing the same fate, though with a more composed visage.

Professor Lyall then spoke, cutting off Ginger from his rapid, entangled thoughts.

"As your teacher for Dragon Biology and Kardia Studies, it is my duty to control how you develop as dragons. However, the first thing a dragon should learn, even if they are not admitted to this institute – even if they are born in some desolate wilderness..." Ginger gulped at this line, "...is that Kardia is not simply a source of world-breaking might. Its primary strength lies in empowering your body. That is why our ancestors slept for centuries in secluded spaces without moving an inch. Yet, with the built-up energy, they then awakened as powerful beings," she said, her brown eyes gleaming hazel from time to time.

Ginger thought she was getting hyped by her own words.

"Understand what Kardia is. What we call in full, Kardia Aeras. The heart's air. Appreciate it as sustenance before anything else. And also, appreciate the fact that it grows and restores itself too."

At that moment, all the First Years felt within their stoks their Kardia begin to get generated again. The slightly tickly energy flowed differently and had varying degrees of potency and volume from dragon to dragon, but it brimmed in the stok all the same.

Ginger felt his stok begin to inflate with Kardia too, slowly but surely. Once a certain amount of it gathered, it rushed to his second heart, sticking to its very center until Ginger willed it to move.

He was relieved.

Professor Lyall's words gained profound meaning when combined with what he was feeling right now.

Such impeccable timing...

Joyful sounds whirled about the First Years. Even if they didn't pay much attention to Professor Lyall's words, they were inspired to look at their Kardia differently now.

For some, it began to leak from their hands or mouth, seeping into the air.

For others, it cradled shyly within their bodies, forming small, rigid shapes.

For the rest, it gushed to cling to the skin as a bold stroke, awaiting contacts close by.

It felt different with a new outlook.

"Now, there's more to Kardia than meets the eye. I mean that literally. For you First Years, I imagine you can't even see that I'm using my own Kardia right now, can you?" Professor Lyall said as her lips retracted to a small, V-shape.

"What?" Ginger muttered.

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Several others seemed to be guessing the same as he was.

Ginger couldn't see the Professor's Kardia at all.

He saw no haze around her whatsoever.

"Oh, right!" Reiss beside him suddenly said, his eyes close to turning into stars. He pulled on Ginger. "Of course, I completely forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

Before the short dragonling could answer, Professor Lyall had already done it for him.

"You see, while we all use Kardia, there are two main factors that dictate differences between all dragons. Between all Cinder-Born for that matter," the portly dragon said while raising her finger, and poking her glasses up her nose.

"The first is age. The growth spurts we all share make all the difference. The duration a Cinder-Born has been alive refines their overall strength. For instance, all students up to the Fifth Year – you lot included – are yet to experience their first growth spurt. Every growth spurt gives you an immense increase in strength and quality. That means, for someone like me, who has already experienced their third growth spurt, blowing away your Kardia with a mere breath is as easy as eating jelly toffee."

Several things clicked within Ginger's head as the dragon spoke.

He recalled Professor Lyall speaking on growth spurts before.

The first happened between the ages of 24 and 45, and thus, as soon as dragonlings matured to earn their scales at around 14 years, they were sent to dragon institutes to refine themselves so as to increase the upper limit of the boost in power they would gain from their first growth spurt.

Merging this context with what Professor Lyall said, certainly made for interesting conclusions, however, this also made Ginger feel a little conflicted.

Since no dragon from First to Fifth Year could harm a Professor, did that mean his incident with Professor Alexandros had truly just been Reiss mistaking what he did to the old dragon?

He and Reiss had already come to terms with the fact that they misunderstood something back then, worrying for nothing, but...

"The second..." Professor Lyall said dramatically, interrupting Ginger's thoughts, "...is your kill count."

"Uh..."

The group of First Years turned completely silent once again, however, as Ginger had come to know, most knew what Professor Lyall was talking about, and were only paying rapt attention.

The portly dragon seemed to face Ginger as she explained, as though catering to his ignorance.

"Your Kardia at the moment, is unrefined. As you can see even now, it's light and prone to leak out from your body – if it isn't pooling – through Permeation. It leaves from your pores," she said, before pointing to a student whose Alien-type Kardia was rising from his fingers.

"Refined Kardia is more controlled and more potent. At this stage, you can't even see it, and can only feel its effects. Your Kardia needs to be taught how to refine itself. For that, you have to steal the Kardia of other Cinder-Born creatures. The Blighted, and the Condemned."

Excitement sprang about.

Ginger had expected the opposite reaction.

They were supposed to kill to get stronger?

He had learned about these Blighted and Condemned as kind of outcasts among Cinder-Born, but he didn't think as a student, he'd actually be encouraged to kill them.

"Blighted and Condemned, even before their growth spurts are formidable creatures. They get stronger faster than us, mainly because they still go into long slumbers to build up energy. Each kill earns you a portion of their Kardia, and in some cases, can permanently increase the capacity of your stok. In any case, your Kardia refines itself by learning from these external sources of Kardia."

Ginger nodded slowly.

So you got stronger by killing these Cinder-Born?

'If only it was the same in the Wild...' he thought sullenly.

There were no benefits to be gained from killing a beast in the Wild, except for perhaps vengeance and the guarantee of life until you met another powerful beast.

But that wasn't the case in Ravi.

Ginger felt a little excited.

'I can increase my capacity too? That would really be helpful,' he thought.

"At the end of this Stride, on the first day of the Breather, I will be having you each slay a Blighted. We have an assortment of weak ones that don't take much to kill, however, there will be several intense classes before then. Mine – naturally – Equipped Armament and Usage; and Mana Essence Mechanisms and Manipulation."

Grins and yeses polluted the fields temporarily before a foreboding atmosphere took over. The students were happy about slaying their first Blighted, but the intensity from each course they took seemed to be about to skyrocket.

Even Mana Essence Mechanisms and Manipulation was finally commencing this Stride.

Professor Lyall went on to explain that the mana-centric course was being introduced in order to cater to everyone other than the Affix-type Kardia users – Affixers – since they couldn't empower weapons with their Kardia, as naturally, to slay their first Blighted, the First Years would need a weapon first.

She went on to explain in greater, tedious length about Kardia types, and emphasized once again about Out Courses, encouraging the First Years to refrain from registering for too many.

An hour later, the students were dismissed, and they began walking to their respective classes.

Ginger wasn't in a hurry, he had a lot to think about. As did Reiss.

The dwarfish dragonling was thinking aloud.

"...so I have an innate advantage for the slaying this Breather. But good grief! Is my Breather going to be eaten away again? I wanted all three days to study!" Reiss said begrudgingly.

"It's only for a day or even less," Ginger said, attempting to bring in some optimism.

"Every day counts, Ginger! Have you forgotten that we wasted a whole Breather last time?"

Ginger awkwardly replied with an, "Oh yeah."

That one was on him.

Even though they were friends now, Ginger didn't think he could ever throw under the rug the fact that he had sentenced Reiss to three days of punishment for a fault that wasn't his own.

He tactfully attempted to sway the conversation to something else.

As he did so, he suddenly felt someone approach him from the side.

It was a pretty girl with springy red hair and unfocused baby blue eyes.

She looked tired and lanky, but as soon as she reached him, she managed a polite smile before addressing him.

"Hello. I'm Caron. We're in the same class. Mind if I join you guys?"