If I was to compare my frame to a dog species, I would go with a pit-bull because of its bulky nature and its short legs relative to its body. This bulkiness was a major hindrance in mobility. My visibility was also hindered due to the rigidness of my neck. Unlike the fire dragons who had lo protruding necks, mine was short and rigid and due to my bulging body, it was a momentous tsk to see what was behind me. The sparring session with Zari had gone on for three hours and in that period of time I had identified a few issues. First my neck was too short and rigid. Second, my wings were too thin and weak to support the flight of my frame and offer any protection against attacks. Third is that my scales have a very inefficient energy conversion rate. Fourth is my body is too large for effective mobility. Fifth is that my legs are not suitable for sprinting, and finally the sixth problem was that my tail has a weak spot at its tip. I needed to convert my body's shape from that of a pit-bull to that of a greyhound. The chest larger than the stomach and feet longer than the body's height. I had been enduring an onslaught of various attacks from Zari ranging from magical to physical ones. My wings were now shredded and I was in a fair amount of pain. But the most embarrassing moment was when Zari stood behind me and began using her claws and by the time I managed to turn around, she was behind me once more. It felt like playing a game of tag with a toddler. Here I was, a very powerful dragon getting embarrassed like this. Zari did not have an attack that could penetrate my scales and I had only accumulated enough electric energy for one major attack. With Zari's guerilla tactics and my defective frame, it was impossible to find the right opportunity to land that attack. We were now at a stalemate. "Chrono, do you want to make it a draw?" Zari asked. She had just tried her most penetrative attack yet but it shattered once it came into contact with my scales. She could not win and neither could I. "Yes, for today let's stop it here." I said as I turned to dragon form. Zari did the same and made an ice chair to cool off. She was panting heavily and looked tired overall. "You know Chrono, you are very powerful. Maybe you should try sparring with my brothers to get better. I don't think sparring any longer with us will do you any good." Zari said. I had sparred with Zora a while ago and won due to Jenga's power but this time around I didn't think he could beat me with or without Jenga. For the emperor dragon Zurin, we had never sparred even once. He was the second most powerful dragon after me boasting mana reserves of around 13 million. Zari was at 1.5 million in mana reserves, strong in a normal setting but as my sparring partner, that was not enough. Maybe Zurin and I could help each other in training. "How powerful is Zurin?" I asked. "Ha. Look at you now. You have grown powerful enough to address him by his name. When you first met him you groveled at his feet." Zari teased. Of course I did, I had little over 100,000 in mana reserves back then while Zurin had over 4 million. I was not dumb enough to show disrespect in front of him. "But to answer your question, I don't know for certain. However, he faces the same problem as you. He trains the dragons by sparring with them but he never really gets to go all out unless when facing Zora. With his new power you granted all of us, rumors say that Zora is also not strong enough to keep up with him any longer." Zari said. Yes this was the problem of being peerless in the world. Before meeting and knowing about FC, The Hydra and its generals, I faced the same problem. In a way I sympathize with the guy. "I think I can help with that. If he agrees to spar then I will thoroughly thrash him so that he aims higher to get stronger." I said. Zari looked at me with a bewildered face. "You do know that he is our emperor right?" Zari asked. Who's Emperor? "What are you talking about? I am not Zurin's subordinate." I asked. "No I mean the dragon's in general. I don't think they will take kindly you embarrassing their leader." Zari said. "I had not though about it that way. For me, the desire to grow stronger was realized when I was humiliated by FC so I thought about doing the same to Zurin to get his spirit burning. Of course I am still going to thrash him but this time in a private setting." I answered. "I don't know if you know this but my brother has a very dark side to him. He is very competitive." Zari said. "The desire to win is meaningless. Only true strength counts. If Zurin manages to meet a wall like I did when I met FC, he will train and retrain himself until he can't stand. He will be in deep thought for a long time trying to develop strategies on how to defeat me. This will subsequently lead to his growth." I answered. I did not have any love for Zurin like I did for his siblings. Zurin had a subtle arrogance that I disliked and if I get the chance to pummel him, then I shall pummel him till I can't do it anymore.Zari tried to convince me to go easier on her brother but I was adamant about handing Zurin a sound defeat. "Okay Chrono. I hope you know what you are doing." Zari said. After our conversation ended I went to a secluded area and made a stone shelter.
I listed my problems and Jenga gave out some remedial measure. We debated with each other for a few minutes until I was satisfied.
[20 million in mana reserves, 50% of all your attributes and 48 hours starting from the time the process begins.]
20 out of my 37 million mana reserves. Well I think it was worth it. Unlike last time, I placed my clothes in a separate area within the stone shelter and the process began. Zari was well aware of what I was doing and stood by to protect me in case of anything. It took a few more hours before Zari's subordinates began waking up one after the other. "How long was…" "My head feels so heavy." On and on they said. Ari then began questioning her fifth subordinate who hd joined them late. "Your brother princess is getting out of control. He is pushing the troops too hard. Most of them can't keep up." Fifth subordinate said. Zari asked for further clarification and was stunned to hear what was going on. Some midlevel spiders had bitten a dragon child while he was in human form. This was back I the Island and the child was in critical condition for a few days before a representative of the fae came and healed him. Zurin looked at this occurrence and grew mad and compulsive. For the last one week, dragons of all ages have been ordered to train from sunrise till they drop. Children and the elderly dragons have been having a difficult time trying to keep up with this routine. Zari understood that her brother was willing to go to any lengths to protect the dragon kind but she believed that this was going too far. It was impossible for her to disobey her brother's orders. "Once we are done here, I will go and try to convince him to take it easy." Zari assured her subordinates who had family left back on the island. Zari then sent her subordinates back at the temple and insisted on staying behind to watch Chrono. They went back to the temple and came back a few hours later with food. A human form was more efficient for dragons because it required less food to maintain it. This was why their habitats were human sized because otherwise, they would need to hunt various animals to satisfy their appetite in dragon forms and make large structures as their homes affecting the eco-system. It took a few more boring long hours but Chrono was now awake. I opened my eyes slowly and stood up from the makeshift bench I was sleeping on. I asked Jenga to turn into a reflective mirror surface which it did. There were strange markings on my arms. I asked Jenga what they were and received a detailed explanation. This markings on my skin would act like the energy absorbing scales in my dragon form. Apart from the markings, there was nothing else strange about my human form. I put my clothes on and walked outside the structure. It was noon and my eyes hurt before adjusting. I walked over to Zari who was sparring with her subordinates. "Chrono! Did you improve your body? Come let's test it out." Zari shouted.