CHAPTER 39: VAELORA

Midway up the sky, that same kinda sleep that always claimed you when you’re sitting at the window of a fast vehicle found Jayden.

Jayden’s eyes slowly fluttered open. His vision was blurry at first, but it became clearer over time.

The sky hung above with pure white clouds and different mana beasts soaring through it.

Jayden saw a herd of salamanders fly past the sky in a triangle shape.

Then he sprouted up in realisation, "This-this is the dragon realm. What insane mana purity let alone its concentration."

He looked at his hand, feeling the immense flow of mana that was gushing into him at a time.

"You’re finally awake." SSS-RANKED Draco muttered from behind where he sat, sketching a diagram on the ground.

Jayden looked at him, then glanced around him. He was at the top of a bare rocky mountain.

"Welcome to Vaelora." SSS-RANK Draco muttered, "This is the most isolated path between the borders of the flame and water clan, so we have all the good time to ourselves.

Jayden slowly walked up to SSS-RANK Draco, "So you’re really gonna kill your own brother?"

SSS-RANKED Draco glanced at him, then back at his drawing, "Look at this."

Jayden walked behind him to get a clear view of the drawing, "Who’s she?"

SSS-RANKED Draco smiled, "That’s the water clan princess."

"How could you make such a perfect drawing with just a stick and soil?" Jayden leaned in.

SSS-RANKED Draco scoffed, "It’s usually better than this, but when was the last time I saw her?"

Jayden took a deep breath; he knew that question had a deeper meaning. "I see you’re missing her, that’s why you just want to end things quickly."

SSS-RANKED Draco smiled and brought in a hand for a handshake, "I’m glad you understand, man."

Jayden shook him, nodding his head, "You’re a good person, brother, at least you gave me a chance to fight back."

After that, he turned and left SSS-RANK Draco to sit on a rock steps away.

’I can’t just give up like this’ Jayden bit his lips and glanced back for a second, he couldn’t run since his brother was many times his speed.

The only option now was to fight back and not lose, and the chances of winning weren’t just slim, they didn’t exist.

"Hey, geni," Draco whispered in Jayden’s mind.

Jayden smiled enthusiastically like he was just remembering he wasn’t in this alone.

’Why the hell have you been quiet?’ Jayden roared in thoughts.

’Keep it low dude, my brother might hear us.’

Jayden calmed himself.

"I have an idea Jayden." Draco winced.

Jayden raised an eyebrow, "What’s that?"

"I’m the one my brother wants to kill, not you, so you can unfuse with me then—"

’Say no more!’ Jayden, prompted by sharp thoughts, said, "You’re the one who saved me from that gator without me asking, so I’m not gonna leave you now."

"But we have separate lives." Draco sparked, "Mine is for my father to control and yours—you’ve got grandma, mum, Ryan, Tyler and Zoe. I know you’ve been plotting on how to land a first kiss before telling her how you feel."

A vein bulged on Jayden’s temple, ’Hey, that’s top secret."

Draco laughed, "You’ve got a life, Jayden, let mine end here and save yours."

Jayden hissed, "idiot, you’re part of that life and I’m not leaving you behind."

"Ohh, great" Draco purred.

Jayden raised an eyebrow, "Why the sudden change of mind?"

"What? Were you thinking I’ll let myself get killed while you run away? I just did that to free my conscience."

Jayden hissed.

Draco’s voice turned serious, "If you’re gonna stay, you’ll have to use that brain of yours and think a way to rank up faster than you normally would, maybe then we might stand a chance."

Jayden took a deep breath. ’Draco’s right. If I can rank faster than expected, I might be able to take Big Brother.

But no high hopes, he’s an elderly dragon, there’s no way I could beat him with just a day of cultivation.

Jayden noticed that the air here was transparent, unlike that of Earth, where the blue colour intensifies with mana concentration.

If this here was pure mana, then what saturated the earth seven hundred and fifty years ago wasn’t just mana, it had an extra substance.

That would be a mystery for another day.

He searched his mind for another of his genius strategies and it didn’t take him long to find one.

He was lucky he didn’t play off his secondary school days, because now it was saving his ass.

Remember Graham’s Law of diffusion which states that gases spread from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until they are evenly distributed.

Normally Jayden would allow the mana to flow into his body and then slowly find its way to his cores, meaning that there was a certain amount of mana he absorbs in a second

But what if he manually carries the mana in his body into the core, creating space for more mana to enter his body?

The results would be faster diffusion, equal to faster cultivation.

"I knew you could figure something out!" Draco said in awe.

Jayden shut his eyes, "Let’s put it into practice then!"

He began pushing the mana in his body to his chest, where they were absorbed and repeated the same pattern over and over again.

Although the one downside was that SSS-RANKED Draco would easily notice the faster flow of mana into Jayden.

Let’s just pray he keeps on dwelling in that’s his water clan princess dreams.

And then all of a sudden, BOOM.

Jayden felt the air around his skin turn ice and the mountain shook as though a meteoroid had just crashed into it.

He immediately sprang up, with eyes open wide.

Two male humanoid figures, clothed in blue dragon scales, were pointing right at him.

They probably had manipulated a gust of ice to slam into him, but then...

"Bother protected me?"

SSS-RANKED was held trapped within the ice which was meant to be Jayden’s coffin.

But in a moment, the ice burst away, and the steaming pressure from SSS-RANKED Draco doubled.

"Isn’t that the forbidden hybrid the emperor seeks to kill? Why the fuck are you defending him?" Prince Yami of the water clan roared.

SSS-RANKED Draco’s aura blazed with murderous intensity. "His my prey, don’t you dare touch him."