The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL]-Chapter 269: The Dragonling’s Curriculum

Actually, it started out really well.

Renee did not simply hide the bone. She went a step further and erected a barrier that neatly enclosed Riley, Liam, Orien, and even Thyrran within a defined space of the estate.

The moment the barrier settled, the normally unaware aide noticed how the air changed.

No wonder everyone else in the meeting rooms always seemed on guard. To think he hadn’t really considered the barriers at every corner of the MBE.

More than that, just how dizzying would it be to go to the place where magical beings gathered?

But his thoughts were put aside because Thyrran, much to Riley’s surprise, even made a point of swearing neutrality.

The ex-guardian coiled himself near the edge of the barrier and promised not to assist Riley in any way during this particular hunt. If they wanted to really speed up his training, then it had to be through his own perception rather than borrowed awareness.

They could simply work on that when the black dragonling had figured out his basics.

And sure enough, all their training had actually paid off.

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Over the past few days, ever since Orien had first forced them to confront the question of what mana actually felt like, their training had progressed in small but noticeable steps. They had moved past vague guesswork and into more concrete exercises.

At one point, Orien had them predicting which hand was leaking mana.

Sometimes it was the left. Sometimes the right. Sometimes neither.

It sounded simple.

It was not.

At the beginning, they failed constantly. The entire estate was saturated with mana. Ancient wards. Dragons coming and going. Residual signatures layered over one another until everything blurred together. It was like trying to smell a single flower in the middle of a forest after rain.

Orien, the great golden dragonling, didn’t like how it was making his lessons ineffective.

So the stern professor planted his stubby feet firmly on the ground, puffed out his chest, and dragged his tail behind him as he stubbornly maintained a secondary barrier inside the first one. The intent was clear. He was blocking out the ambient mana of the estate itself.

The result was immediate.

The moment the background noise disappeared, everything else became sharper.

Riley realized then just how much interference he had been fighting against before. In that near vacuum of sensation, the presence of someone else’s mana stood out clearly. It had weight. Texture. Direction.

All of a sudden, he could tell when mana was gathering in a hand rather than simply existing somewhere nearby.

Liam reacted similarly.

He lit up every single time he felt even the faintest brush of mana against him. His eyes would widen. His shoulders would straighten. He would announce it with delight, even when he couldn’t yet identify the source.

Back then, he still needed it to be very close. Almost touching. But he was happy regardless.

As someone who had grown up entirely human, Liam said he could definitely tell that something was different now. That alone made him feel like he was finally stepping into a world he had only read about before.

They kept at it until the cracks started to show.

Not in the training.

In Orien.

The golden dragonling never complained. He never asked for a break. He simply reached a point where his legs stopped cooperating, and he plopped straight down onto the ground mid-exercise, tail thumping once before going still.

Every time it happened, Riley would sigh, scoop the stubborn little dragon up, and carry him to bed despite Orien’s muttered protests about being perfectly fine.

It was Kael who eventually put his foot down. Or, well, at least a finger down. He didn’t particularly insist on it but was very pointed in his opinion.

He acknowledged that the exercise would work for expanding the mana pool. However, considering how long they had been training each day and how dense the mana around the estate already was, Orien shouldn’t be maintaining that kind of barrier on a daily basis.

The reaction was dramatic.

The golden dragonling almost fainted on the spot, clutching his chest in visible anguish.

He only recovered after Kael shrugged and informed him that if he ever wanted a chance to enter the golden dragon’s crypt, then he would use his brain to decide.

Orien froze.

Then nodded with grave seriousness.

The point was definitely made.

Therefore, for the next few days, they had asked different people for assistance.

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It was surely an unexpected request.

As most beings would never have been able to do what Riley did. After all, those beings who loved their lives wouldn’t suddenly go up to ask for assistance for something admittedly bizarre.

Kael, Lord Karion, Lady Cirila, and even his mother were politely requested to leave faint mana traces on random items throughout the estate.

The dragons, understandably, asked why.

Riley explained that according to Orien, they apparently needed to step up their game by adding noise.

Not literal noise, but some sort of realism to their training. If Liam and Riley could only sense mana when it belonged to Orien, then that wouldn’t really help them progress when it comes to sensing their own mana.

Not only would they be used to looking for one particular strand, but they would also only be able to do it under particular circumstances. And the stern dragonling didn’t want to instill bad habits in his students.

What if they became too picky next time? What if they didn’t want mana that’s not as fabulous as his?

Not possible.

Therefore, Orien himself had pointed out that if they couldn’t handle more than one mana signature lingering in the same space, then they would forever need to rely on barriers just to feel their own mana.

"Huh?"

Clearly, that surprised both Liam and Riley.

It was an interesting take. The newbie immortal had not even considered that such a relationship would exist in the first place.

Orien, standing with his arms crossed and tail flicking lazily behind him, answered that question with something so simple it almost hurt.

"Can you see your own nose without using a mirror?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I asked if you could see your own nose right now?"

"!!!"

Oh.

OH.

The realization hit all at once.

Orien shrugged, expression smug despite his small size. "It’s not impossible," he said casually. "But it takes more effort. Because it’s always been there. And there’s really no particular need to consistently check if your nose is still attached to your face. So your brain simply prioritizes other more important things."

Orien had learned that the hard way after Lady Cirila said she took his nose, and he panicked. But he was never going to say that, especially when the little sprite just learned something new from him.

Liam clapped.

Actually clapped.

His eyes went wide as he lifted his hands to his face and squinted hard, trying with all his might to look at his own nose.

"I can’t see it! Oh wait! Now I can!" he exclaimed in genuine shock while his eyes were crossed.

"Yes. That’s just like your own mana. It’s considered a given so it’s harder to tap into your own than for your body to be wary of mana that could be dangerous." He nodded ever so slowly.

The lesson obviously stuck and Riley felt like it made a lot of sense.

With renewed energy, they began again.

They identified the chair marked with Lord Karion’s mana. The vase carrying Lady Cirila’s lingering signature. The handrail infused faintly with Renee’s presence. Each object felt different. Subtle. Distinct. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Slowly, their familiarity with foreign mana improved.

But another problem surfaced.

They were always close.

Everything they were detecting was within arm’s reach.

So once again, the training shifted.

To the mild surprise of the elder dragon lords, the exercises expanded outward. Detection at a distance. Tracking without line of sight. Following faint impressions that grew weaker the farther they moved.

It was surprising to watch.

And they were pleasantly surprised by Orien.

The golden dragonling was genuinely good at teaching. His methods were strange, direct, and entirely practical. He didn’t wait for realizations to happen naturally.

Lord Karion even remarked that the child was likely more effective than most instructors back at the nest. He went straight to the core of the problem instead of letting hatchlings stumble around until they figured it out on their own.

So when the learners suggested turning the exercise into hide and seek, the elders agreed.

They opened up more spaces. Expanded the permitted areas. Adjusted the wards so movement could be tracked without danger.

Riley appreciated that more than he could say.

While it looked like they were running all over the estate, the truth was that they never entered a single area that had not been personally warded by the golden dragons.

Over Kael’s dead body, apparently.

Riley understood the concern. Given the past events, none of them should have been occupying the dragon estate at all for a long list of safety reasons.

But with layered wards and constant oversight, it should be fine.

Should be.

So they began their modified game of hide and seek.

But just as they were searching for what his mother had hidden, the three unexpectedly and promptly had to hide like thieves.

Because of an unexpected "visitor."

And really, nothing says faster learning than having to wing it because of fear.

Because what in the world was the Chancellor doing there?

And more importantly, why in all the hells was he refusing to leave?