Noah had a hard ti sleeping last night. Anyone would, really. It was hard to sleep when the thing you’d trained so hard for—waited so long for—was finally about to happen.
He rembered participating in tournants as a kid. Mostly martial arts tournants, but also others—races, track and field—back when he was younger and still in school. He used to win pretty easily back then. But as he started getting sent to bigger tournants, the victories started coming less easily. He still almost always placed in the top three, but before long, he had to start putting in real effort, or else he would not win anymore.
He’d always known he was good at things that involved using his body. Fighting ca naturally to him—he’d been good at it since before he could even properly rember things. But back then, being “good” ant everything needed to be easy. And the mont it wasn’t? It beca easier to just quit. To just not put in the effort. Because if he didn’t try, he didn’t have to justify anything. Didn’t have to admit that maybe he wasn’t that good. That, maybe his talent had limits.
Sohow, this mont reminded him of that.
Noah rembered one tournant in particular, the only one where he’d actually put in effort. It was a track and field event, back in elentary school. He had been running for his state, or sothing like that—he didn’t really rember the details. What he did rember was how excited his mother had been. And how, for the first ti ever, he’d actually trained. He’d put in the work, because it was going to be covered on the news, and his mother had wanted him to give it his best.
He rembered the race. Rembered running as hard as he could. And he rembered coming in second.
That had been the first ti he’d ever truly pushed himself and still failed.
There would be many other kinds of failures in his future—especially when it ca to people, especially when it ca to making good decisions. But that race had been the first ti he’d failed at sothing he’d always believed was his strength. Sothing he thought he was naturally gifted at.
Now, he pushed those thoughts away. Things weren’t the sa anymore. For one, he was in an entirely different world—one with magic, dragons, and literal gods.
But sohow, this still felt very similar to that race.
And a part of him felt excited.
He was surprised by that feeling. But after everything he’d been through, he finally understood the difference. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been talented enough. It was that, back then, he simply hadn’t worked hard enough. And talent alone only takes you so far.
But this ti—here, in this brand-new world—he had put in the effort. He’d fought tooth and nail. Survived near-death experiences. Endured more than he ever thought he could. And now, even with his shackles still on—even with so of his core abilities suppressed—he felt calm. Confident. Ready for what was to co.
As the morning suns rose over the horizon, Noah silently thanked the fact that, at this point, he barely even needed sleep anymore. His constitution was high enough to go for weeks without rest.
And with that, he stepped out of his resting chamber to et the rest of the group before they headed out.
***
As Noah headed out, he realized the others were already awake—and from the looks of it, none of them had slept much, if at all. Well, everyone except Seraphina, who was completely missing. Probably sleeping. Or researching so obscure, arcane magic. Honestly, he gave it fifty-fifty odds.
“Did you guys not sleep at all?” Noah asked as he entered the chamber.
He still had a hard ti resisting the urge to use Arcane Step to teleport around freely. More than once, he’d found himself ntally tugging on the ability, only to rember it wasn’t available to him right now. In a strange way, being forced to walk was refreshing. If he’d been teleporting everywhere like usual, he probably wouldn’t have taken the ti to actually look around. He might’ve missed the training chamber the rest of the group had gathered in.
“Oh hey, it’s Noah,” Valeria said, pausing her spar with Erwest.
Kaelan and Aurelia, who were nearby discussing sothing, looked over at the sound of her voice and noticed his arrival.
“I guess that just leaves Seraphina now,” Kaelan said. “I’ll make sure she wakes up and is ready to head out on ti.”
Noah walked further in, toward Valeria and Erwest, who were toweling off after what looked like a rather intense sparring match. The magic ward around the chamber was still slowly repairing the remnants of damage.
“Looks like it was a serious spar,” he said, glancing at the lingering magical residue.
“Yeah, we’ve been training,” Valeria replied, giving a sideways glance toward Erwest. “Since you guys were off chasing down that whole Vibrant thing, we set up a daily training schedule. It’s been great having another paladin to clash blades with and bounce bones off of. Don’t get wrong—Kaelan’s decent, too—but he’s… him. It’s hard enough to get him to focus, and even harder not to toss him across the room when he starts losing and gets annoying.”
“As if I would ever lose,” Kaelan muttered.
Valeria ignored him. “You didn’t sleep? Would’ve thought you’d have no trouble resting, as confident as you were.”
“Oh, I’m still confident,” Noah said, grinning. “But no, I didn’t sleep. Too many thoughts bouncing around. And to be fair, after gaining so many levels so quickly, the boost to my Constitution makes sleep… kind of optional. My body’s not fully adapted to its new state yet, but I’m getting there.”
“Ugh, you and your absurd growth. I still can’t believe you guys reached level 200 in six months. Do you know how long it took to go from Rank D to Rank C? Forget it. I don’t even want to talk about it,” Valeria groaned.
There was a knock on the door before Seraphina wandered in, still in her pajamas, rubbing her eyes and mumbling.
“What’s going on? Why did soone wake up?”
“Oh. That was my own alarm.” She yawned—a long, slow one. “How much ti do we have before this starts? I think I’ll take a short nap.”
“Clearly she doesn’t have any trouble sleeping,” Valeria said, shaking her head. “She told her attributes a few years after we got close—once she decided she trusted not to stab her in the back. And oh boy, I had to force her to raise her Constitution. Kaelan actually pulled a spear on her and leveled it at her throat before she finally agreed. She was crying, begging not to ‘waste’ precious attribute points on such a ‘useless’ attribute.”Valeria chuckled at the mory. “We were seriously worried she was going to explode from all the mana she had and how little durability. I swear, I was convinced that if she ate even a single mana stone, she’d go up in flas. No sane or healthy person should have that unbalanced a stat sheet.”
anwhile, as Noah and Valeria talked, Kaelan walked over to Seraphina and grabbed her by the collar, dragging her in like a kitten being carried by the scruff.
“Seph. I know you can make sleep-cure potions—or cast spells, for that matter. Just use one. We need to get going. The entry hall opens in an hour, and with how many people there are this year, there’s going to be a long line. I’m not standing around just because you didn’t get ready on ti.”
Seraphina grumbled but didn’t argue. She pulled a potion from her storage ring and chugged it down. She gagged once, then again, her eyes dilating and her face flushing red for a mont. She shivered, then tossed the bottle back into wherever she’d pulled it from.
“Ugh. I hate that potion. But I’m awake now. Gross.”
She glanced down, snapped her fingers, and in a swoosh of magic, her outfit changed into her robes. Another snap and her long, silvery hair braided itself neatly behind her.
“There. Ready.”
Kaelan gave a nod and looked around the group. “Alright, I’ll use a bit of the advantage that cos with having an uncle and father in high-ranking positions. Might be able to help us get a bit of a head start—at least with registration. That said, let’s not dawdle. There are a lot more applicants this year, and being at the back of the line doesn’t do your chances any favors.”
Everyone nodded at that, and the group began making their way out of the chamber.
Aurelia elbowed Noah in the side. “So, feeling nervous?”
Stolen story; please report.
“Not really,” Noah replied. “You beat hard enough during our spar, but I still didn’t lose.”
“Oh please. You didn’t win either. And I almost won.”
“Almost,” Noah echoed, smirking.
Aurelia just laughed. “It’s really wild how far you’ve co in such a short ti. I still rember when I first t you in that cult—you were so… well, not helpless, exactly, but so new. You didn’t even know what ditation was. Didn’t know how to recover mana. Had no clue what an aura was. You were so cute.”
“Are you saying I’m not cute anymore?” Noah asked, raising an eyebrow.
Aurelia chuckled. “You sure you want to be cute?”
Noah humd, rubbing his chin in thought. “I don’t think I need to be. But it’d be nice. I do prefer handso, though.”
“Hah. Well, I’m afraid Erwest has you beat there,” Aurelia said, snorting. “Although his personality is…”
“Exactly. And that’s why it’s the funny guys who end up more popular. And I am really funny.”
Aurelia rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue. And Noah smiled at that as the group stepped out.
***
As the group arrived at the trial facility, Noah took note of the military grounds they were in. The entire trial area was rather close to the Royal Palace, which itself was built much like a fortress rather than sowhere you’d expect a king to be living. The trial itself wasn’t within the Royal Palace grounds, but it was right outside, in the designated military training area where he had previously seen many of the Drakonian soldiers training.
There was a building—a rather nondescript looking one—where the entrance to the trial was being held. Not a whole lot of people seed to be paying attention. Soldiers were still marching in the skies. You could see Drakonian warriors flying around, spears in their hands, as they fought, dueled, and trained together. More or less, everything seed like a rather normal day overall.
Besides the fact that he could still hear whispers, murmurs and such coming from people nearby about the whole Great Race thing, which had stirred up a lot of excitent and concern from many different people. Noah could already imagine a ton of diplomacy and politics happening because of this whole ss. He could picture Nye running around in the Windrush Guild, dealing with all sorts of things. He was surprised they hadn’t contacted him or his team yet for details. But he supposed they couldn’t really know in any certain way that he had anything to do with it at all.
Still, it wasn’t going to be fun when she found out. That really wouldn’t help his track record—or her accusations of his involvent in any significant events and problems happening around him.
As the group walked forward, one of the soldiers on guard duty noticed Kaelan and gave a nod, allowing their group passage without having to go through the long line. Noah felt a little guilty, but he didn’t pay it much mind and ignored any looks they might have gotten from the others as they entered inside.
Inside, the place looked an awful lot like an adventuring guild—except more barebones. It wasn’t that it was empty, but the Drakonian preference for lack of decorations and anything that wasn’t entirely practical showed in the design.
The group walked up to a woman handling the entrance requirents. It seed simple enough. People would place their hands on a crystal ball, much like the truth-token crystal he’d seen in Windrush. This one would take so basic details—like their level, na, and path—and register them.
“Well, I will not be heading any further in with you guys,” Kaelan said. “But I do wish all of you the best of luck, and I hope to see you in the upcoming trial.” He gave them a nod and a wink before walking out of the chamber.
“I guess it’s just us then,” Noah said, looking around. “Let’s get this over with.”
He walked forward, joining the line further inside at one of the counters handling registrations. The group split across the three different counters to save ti, and after a few minutes of waiting, his turn ca up.
Noah placed his hand on the crystal ball. It lit up—glowing a little brighter than he had expected. His paths showed up within the crystal, displaying his level: 200.
“Noah Brown, you will be going to Hall Number Two. Please head there and wait for the start of the trial. Please keep in mind that people from outside Preconius only get one attempt at the Dragon Warriors’ Trial. If you are not confident or not serious, please withdraw before going any further.”
Noah nodded and continued in the direction the woman had pointed, following the other people heading toward their respective halls.
After walking for a while, he found the chamber he needed to be in and stepped inside. There were already roughly three dozen people standing within the hall—closer to fifty after he recounted. Kaelan had said there were a bit over two hundred people participating, if he rembered right. But if the line outside was any indication, he suspected the man had underestimated, and it was likely sowhere around three hundred or more.
A quick look with Identify showed him a variety of different paths he’d never seen before—all at level 200. There were teams, groups, and various people of all different kinds, sizes, types, and varieties. He noticed humans, Celestians, Drailith, and so other races he wasn’t familiar with. There was a woman who looked like a tree had sprung to life and taken on a humanoid shape. Another sharp-featured man had pointed ears and a narrow jaw. There were so of the blue-skinned people Noah had seen in Hartilia from ti to ti. The rest—roughly half of the total group—were Drakonians.
Most of the Drakonians seed to be wearing uniforms of so sort—looking like they belonged to a school or military guild. Many of them seed familiar with one another.
As he made his observations, Erwest walked in through the door behind him.
“Guess we got assigned the sa hall,” Noah said.
Erwest nodded but didn’t say anything further.
Noah continued silently observing the chamber, listening to the Drakonian groups, particularly. Many others were doing the sa—trying to glean any information they could.
“My brother cleared the trial last year,” one Drakonian boy whispered. “He says the only thing to really focus on is being fast.”
“Well, your brother was also on his third attempt before he finally qualified,” another boy said with a laugh, not bothering to be quiet. The first boy scowled.
There was similar chatter all around. Noah noticed that while the Drakonians were familiar with one another, they weren’t necessarily friendly. There seed to be rivalries between different groups. Noah spotted three distinct symbols dividing them.
The first group—leaner, more agile-looking Drakonians—looked like they’d be fast in the air. They were the smallest group, but also looked the most serious and professional.
The second group—the one with the boy talking about his brother—had a more mixed composition. Not all of them had wings, or full-fledged wings. If Noah rembered right, there was sothing about purity of lineage. It all sounded complicated—and like an excuse for discrimination—but it wasn’t unfamiliar, so he didn’t judge based on limited knowledge.
The final group—the largest—had less of a mixed composition, but still seed to have people fulfilling different roles and niches. They gave off a more casual vibe overall.
Before Noah could analyze further, a man—a Drakonian soldier—walked in, slamming the doors shut behind him.
“Alright!” the man shouted, grabbing everyone’s attention with a loud clap. “Everyone who’s going to participate is already here. I’m Lugrin, and I’m going to be your conductor and invigilator.”
“Most of you should already be familiar with this trial, but I’ll explain it anyway. This is the Dragon’s Breath Trial—the first round to qualify for the Tournant of Dragon Warriors, and for the honor of gaining the title of Dragon Warrior.”
“But not all of you will succeed. Most of you will fail right now, in this trial itself—much less the upcoming ones. So of you will never get to try again,” he said, eyeing the non-Drakonians. “The rest will have their shot next year—assuming you’re okay with waiting on your progress until then.”
“But for those who have the necessary skill, you’ll move on to the next trial—where your ttle will truly be tested.”
“But that’s for later. Today’s task is simple. You see that chamber?” The man pointed behind them, at the large chamber they were in. A glowing barrier warded them off from the rest of the segnt.
“That is going to be on fire,” he said, snapping his fingers. Dark red flas flickered and burst into existence in all sorts of colors.
“What you have to do is cross it. You can fly, you can run, you can crawl if you want—it doesn’t matter. Use whatever abilities you have.”
“I will note that for those of you with teleportation or incorporeal abilities—there are wards in place that will suppress them. If you try to use them, you will fail. If you can surpass those wards and make it through, congratulations—you qualify.”
“The only rule is that the first twenty-five to cross the line at the end will move on. The rest will not. There are no other rules. Am I understood?”
The Drakonians replied in unison, “Yes, sir!” The others followed along. Noah nodded as well. He already knew all of this from Kaelan, but it was still good to hear it laid out plainly.
“Good,” Lugrin said. “You may now take your positions. There’s no ti limit, but of course, you don’t want to be too late—or too slow. I’ll count down from three. On my signal, the barrier will drop and the trial will begin.”
People moved quickly, taking up positions near the barrier. Noah walked forward, staying just a little behind the front. Erwest stood alongside him.
Noah glanced at Erwest. “Do you have a plan?”
Erwest, to Noah’s surprise, thought for a mont, then said. “We move fast. We move quickly. We take down anybody who attacks us—and we win.”
Noah grinned. “Sounds like my kind of plan.”
Lugrin flew up to a stand built for overseeing the arena. He raised his hand and his booming voice rang out:
“Three… two… one…”
Noah could feel the tension in the air as the man’s hand fell and he shouted the signal—
“Go!”
The barrier blinked out in a second, and a flood of people rushed forward through the flas.
The first to shoot ahead were the smallest Drakonian group. They moved together in the air, flas drenching the arena, shooting from the walls. Fire burned fiercely—Noah could feel the heat even behind the starting lines.
As he watched, the flying group crossed the first fifth of the arena in a second. But just then, a swirl of flaring flas shot up—multiple spells of dragon fire surrounding them. Monts later, attacks launched from the group behind them, targeting the fliers, who raised barricades behind them as they tried to move past quickly.
Not wasting any more ti, he reached for his abilities, channeling Abyssal Inferno, sucking in the heat from the dragon flas and building it inside himself.
Then, with a burst of fire from his feet, Noah shot forward.
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