The Monster King's Legacy-Chapter 130: Practice grounds

"While we work on finding a way for you to improve your reserves, you can throw yourself into strengthening your body. You've been able to grow this strong so far in your life, so perhaps, with training alongside dragons, you may even hit new heights. I'd say, in three years, you will be as strong as the human king who fought the demon lord… what was his name?" Aelyndra wondered.

"King Cervic Vermond." Lance said.

"Yes, yes, that human king. Well, perhaps, not as strong, but close. Unfortunately, the strength of the other races appears to have been declining for millennia now. Perhaps, they lack the proper motivation? Or there's something else wrong." Aelyndra said.

"That is not strong enough?" Lance muttered, and he meant it as per for a human, not in general.

"Well, not exactly. While magic brings the possibility of causing great destruction, amongst other things, the most powerful when it comes to combat, are mostly those who fight using their physical bodies. This is why races that are born with an innate strong physique tend to stand higher in the hierarchy of strength." Aelyndra explained.

"Right? Not only will they be stronger physically? Their stronger hearts would guarantee a more developed magic system in future." He said.

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"Well, there are a lot of things that go into development when it comes to magic, but fundamentally, you are right." Aelyndra said as they landed in her private quarters. "Tomorrow, you should visit the equivalent of a human's academy, where you can start training and learning. Luckily for you, there are a few young ones who were birthed not long ago, so you will have company."

Lance understood what she meant, after all, from what he learnt, dragons were such creatures that only gave birth to younger ones once every couple of centuries, sometimes even millennia. In Aelyndra's generation, there were only about six dragons. The generation before them were ahead of them with over four-hundred to five-hundred years.

…

The next day, as soon as Aelyndra left for her own personal training with Elder Naerys, Lance made his way to what would be the dragon academy.

When he got there, he realized he truly hadn't been to the area yet even through all his exploration. The sprawling grounds of the "dragon academy" stretched out before Lance like a vision from a mythic tale, truly fascinating. Towering stone spires glittered with embedded crystals that pulsed faintly with energy, and the air buzzed with the hum of latent magic. Lance could spot a couple young dragons around, though, as they flew through the air, he couldn't tell if they were playing or training.

He made his way to what appeared to be a training field, watching in quiet awe. The sheer scale of the place was overwhelming, a testament to the dragons' commitment to cultivating their strength and knowledge. It was just like everything else, enormous and imposing.

"This place truly is incredible," he muttered under his breath.

Beside him, the elder dragon from before smirked as he walked towards him, seemingly undetected despite his size. "This is where the next generation of dragons learns to master their abilities. Every flame, every spell, every strike, it's all refined here." He explained, causing Lance to almost jump out of his skin, though nobody would know, since he just controlled himself in time.

Lance nodded, his gaze following a young silver-scaled dragon as it launched a dazzling arc of lightning across the field, the bolt striking the ground as it missed the other dragon. Clearly, he could now tell that they weren't playing.

As impressive as the scene was, Lance couldn't help but feel a pang of inadequacy. The dragons' mastery of magic and raw physical power was a stark contrast to his own limitations. While they conjured flames and bent the elements to their will, he remained bound by his simple healing magic, a skill that, while useful, felt woefully underwhelming in comparison.

Despite not letting everything get to him, now that he lived amongst such heavenly blessed creatures, there was no way it wouldn't get to him, at least twice or three times.

…

The pair moved through the academy grounds, stopping to observe various training sights.

Lance's curiosity grew with each display of skill he came across. Not only the young were here, even bigger dragons were present, some he had seen before, others he had not. "So, what's the key to all of this?" he asked, gesturing to a dragon weaving intricate runes in the air with its claws.

The elder dragon glanced at him, his expression thoughtful. "It's about control. Raw power means nothing if you can't direct it. That's also part of why we train, to refine our abilities and learn to wield them with precision. Perhaps, if the wyverns trained themselves a bit, they would amount to a bit more." The elder dragon said, half talking to himself in the final moments of his sentence.

"Control, huh?" Lance mused. "Seems like that applies to more than just magic."

The elder dragon then smirked. "Exactly. Strength without control is just chaos. You must have seen it yourself in battle."

…

The elder dragon slowly led Lance to a quieter corner of the practice grounds. A small training area was nestled between two towering peaks.

"Alright, human," the dragon said, stretching his wings before making himself comfortable. "Let's see what you've got."

Lance blinked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Training," he said simply. "You didn' just come here to sight see, did you? Then stop standing around and start doing something about it."

Lance hesitated, glancing at the training area. "I don't exactly have the same... tools you do."

The dragon closed his eyes briefly. "Stop making excuses. Strength isn't just about "tools". Show me what you've got, and we'll go from there."

Lance couldn't help but wonder is this elder dragon was the tutor in that place, but he didn't mind at all.

Under the dragon's watchful eye, Lance began practicing basic combat movements and techniques, the same ones he always did by himself back in the goblin settlement, which he had learned from Rynne and later incorporated a few things from Rusak.