Chapter 13: Don't Be Discouraged
The room was enveloped in silence again, enough the point where one could hear a pin drop. Before the next words could leave Keeva's mouth she was to bear witness to the judging faces of Cornelius and Winstes.
This was only natural, Lucious had been overwhelmed recently and this extended to them as well. A request at a time like this would only elicit the scorn of the overworked elves as they were forced to watch her live her comparatively lavish life. She was aware of all of this. But chose to ask anyway.
"I can't claim that I want to be a wild flower and do nothing but wish it would happen!"
She cleared her throat before she spoke.
"I want to become an adventurer. And I want my first mission to be to hunt down the dragon!"
The eyes from Lucious' head began to bulge as his once tired demeanor was now completely erased and now substituted with an extremely awake, disappointed and confused grandparent. His jaw almost hit the floor as he nearly leaped from his seat.
"...What?"
"Are you trying to give master Lucious a heart attack?"
Cornelius shot a glare that was full of disdain towards her but she was steadfast on her decision to ask.
"I want to hunt down the dragon that has been terrorizing our village."
Lucious slammed his fist against the table
"You will hunt nothing! Do you have any idea how many elves are down below struggling to even feed their families! And during this time in our village you want to become an adventurer!? Those who become adventurers are constantly risking their lives and constantly poor! It's practically a death sentence!"
"At least I'll be helping our village instead of being like you! There is a dragon on the loose and instead of confronting it head on. You're clearly inside of your tower just sitting and doing nothing while it's allowed to roam free. I want to help the village."
"And what will you do against a dragon?"
"Defeat it."
Sweat began to drop onto the surface of the table as Lucious struggled to keep his composure. Though gritting his teeth and clenching his hands together he continued to hold up the lightning cage.
Though he was deeply insulted by his granddaughter's ignorance.
"When in the hell did she get like this?"
"Grandpa, I want to be a part of the search parties for the dragon. And I won't take no for an answer."
With a clearly annoyed tone Winstes groaned.
"Haven't you caused us enough grief lady Keeva. You should learn not to put your nose into adult business."
"It's my business too! I'm as much a part of this village as anybody else. It's my right to protect it! If I have to put my life on the line then so be it!"
"You won't risk this life I tried so hard to protect!"
Lucious shouted before being interrupted by the sound of something splashing across the table.
He looked down and saw a small pool of red liquid that spread across the furniture. His nose was bleeding.
"...Not good."
"Master Lucious!"
Cornelius then took a hold of a handkerchief that was placed in his pocket and proceeded to give it to the chief.
"You mustn't overexert yourself. We can't afford for this search to be for nothing."
The chief elder took hold of the handkerchief and wiped his nose with it. Now beginning to reach a state of necessary tranquility he preformed his next words carefully.
"Keeva… I will give you what you want. But not without a form of insurance for your safety."
The room remained quiet as a mix of emotions swelled within the area.
"You will go with and hunt the dragon, but only after your skills have been assessed, show me that you have resolve. Should you pass. Then I will let you hunt the dragon and you may do as you wish."
"Really?"
Keeva's eyes began to glimmer with hope. Disregarding the ominous aura that her grandfather was clearly exuding. She was undoubtedly surprised with how the conclusion of this conversation unfolded.
"Was it really that easy?"
"The person who will be monitoring your assessment will be sir Winstes."
"But master Lucious!"
Lucious hand was raised, signalling to him to stop talking. As this conversation had transitioned from a discussion to orders being given.
"Please wait outside as me and sir Winstes discuss the criterion for your assessment."
Keeva silently nodded her head before leaving the room.
"Take that Areon! I'm actually becoming a wild flower!"
A deep gasp for air left Areon's lungs as he was laid out on the ground once again after his fight with Krieus.
"Damn it all! I don't know how many hundreds of times we fought but I'm still no where close to lasting even a minute with him! I feel like I've tried everything."
Krieus began to make his way towards the dismayed boy. He could see that he was pushing his human body far passed the limits of what it was supposed to do at this age. He had been fighting and failing for hours yet he still kept his determination.
"Don't be discouraged Areon. You actually have made better progress than I thought."
Areon shook his head.
"Yeah, but it's not enough! I just can't seem to endure no matter what I come up with and I always get overcome in the end."
A sharp bit of pain hit Areon's body as it was starting to ache. Mister Puff Puff leaped over to where Areon was and began licking his face, as if to attempt waking him up, still wagging his tail as if nothing was wrong in the world.
"Also, I'm pretty sure that you're hitting me way harder than mister Puff Puff, like waaay harder!"
Krieus began to laugh.
"Indeed I am, the enemy is likely to be less merciful to you than to mister Puff Puff, they might even let him go thinking that he's some ordinary wolf. But they'll be sure to get rid of you, Areon. Besides, the only time mister Puff Puff gets hit is if you fail at your objective. So it is fair for him to get a less severe penalty."
"Damn, that does make sense."
"That answers that, but I'm still at a loss of how to complete the sixty seconds. The worse part is that I can tell that pops isn't even trying!"
"Don't look so glum. You're already at the point where you can last up to fifteen seconds, that is significant compared to before is it not?"
Areon forced his body from the dirt as he chuckled at the thought. He used the wall of soil behind him to aid in propping his body upright.
"Why are you so terrific at making me feel good about losing?"
A soft chortle left the dark dragon before he replied. "Because you should get used to it."
"That just lets me know I'm not close at all!!!"
He then pat himself down, trying to brush off as much dirt from his clothes as possible.
"Well that's true. But I still can't shake the thought that there's something I'm not thinking of."
"If you keep trying you'll find something that works eventually. That strategy you tried earlier to move into my blindspot in order to buy enough time to blink was not a bad idea, you gained a couple of seconds off of that alone."
"I see."
"Though you might find it wise to stop attempting use of the explosion fist. It seems that technique is much too far above your current skill level for you to proficiently execute right now. That, and you're currently too weak for it to do any damage against me."
"So basically, keep what works. Scrap what doesn't?"
"Exactly. But you're still adding seconds to your time. So keep that up."
"Damn nothing goes past pops unnoticed huh."
Whilst deep in thought Areon decided to sit down, putting his legs in a crossed position before placing his head on his palm once again.
"But I'm still not adding enough seconds…"
He began to tap his cheek with his index finger. Looking into the sky. He saw the reminder of what started this entire situation, the lightning cage that was still sparking fervently.
A couple of more seconds passed before Areon had an idea. He formed his hand into a fist and slammed in into his open palm.
"I got it!"
"Got what?"
Mister Puff Puff tilted his head to the left out of confusion.
"Going on the offensive is pretty much useless since you're so much stronger than me. But what if instead I created a technique that would be able to defend me instead?"
This caught the dark dragon's attention.
"Oh…?"
"I'm thinking about doing something like this cage that we're in right now? It'll be a formulation technique, but instead of trapping people it would defend me and mister Puff Puff before a counterattack."
"Interesting...But Areon, you haven't learned a single formulation technique. You have only used emission and amplification, formulation seems troubling for you."
Areon began to scratch the back of his head nervously.
"Yeah, this would definitely be my first formulation technique if I could pull it off. I know it sounds crazy difficult but I don't really have another plan at this point."
"Well the possibility isn't zero. If you're crazy enough to try it, I'll assist."
"Also pops, I don't know if this is overstepping. But how come besides the explosion fist you haven't tried to teach me any dragon techniques yet?"
There was a deep silence that hung inside of the valley before Krieus drew forth a sigh and responded.
"You are not going to like this answer."
"Oh no…"
"What is it, pops?"
"...There is no technique that I know of, simpler than the explosion fist."
"..."
"..."
"Damn I'm really a failure."
"Please don't be discouraged…"
"... I'll try. I think I'm ready to attempt the sixty seconds again."
"... Okay."