CHAPTER 50: FIRST DAY TRAINING

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"Today, we push those higher."

Star flicked his tail, nostrils flaring as if accepting the challenge.

Fenna had already driven the first tent stake into the ground and was lashing it with tar-threaded cord. "I’ll scout the perimeter," she said, adjusting her dagger belt. "Thirty-pace radius, mark chalk sigils for direction. We don’t want to get spun around in this oven."

She pointed her chalk stick at Star. "Try not to burn the forest down before lunch."

Zephyr cracked his knuckles. "No promises."

Fenna smirked, then vanished into the brush. She was quiet as a shadow.

Zephyr exhaled slowly, then looked at his partner. "Alright, Star. Let’s start light."

He pulled the staff from his back. Emberforged wood, iron-laced runes glowing faintly and used it to trace a wide circle in the soot-dusted soil.

"Combat drill one. Target: motion, agility."

Star crouched, eyes locked on his movements. Zephyr bolted left, flicking the staff with a twist. "Dash!"

With a chirp, Star surged forward, claws kicking up ash. A flash of fire flared behind him, Spark Dash activated but it was raw, uneven. He skidded through the circle’s arc and overshot.

"Too wide," Zephyr called. "Reset. Again!"

Another dash. This time tighter, faster, but his right wing dragged, still sore from earlier.

"Wing power, right side compensation. Twist it in midair before landing!" Zephyr gave guidance.

They repeated it twelve times—dash, pivot, burn, adjust. Each time Zephyr called out the stat in focus: Agility. Wing Power. Sense.

After that came the fire drills.

Zephyr built a training dummy from tied reeds and scorched leather scraps. He set it upright and backed off. "Ember Trail. Burn pattern, cone, not fan."

Star opened his mouth. The first blast scorched one side of the dummy, but too shallow.

"More focus. From your core, not just your mouth."

The next blast was tighter. Zephyr watched closely as the system pinged a soft internal pulse, Fire control +2.

He nodded. "Again."

Hours passed.

Each move layered on the last. From Spark Dash into Tremor, a tail slam that sent up bursts of grit. From a jump into Dominance, a roar that sent birds flapping from the treetops. Zephyr marked every improvement, praising every success and correcting each misstep.

His shirt clung to him with sweat. Star’s chest rose and fell rapidly, sides steaming.

"You’re doing good, partner," Zephyr said, placing a hand on his scaled forehead. "I see you. I see the strength you’re growing."

A distant cry interrupted them.

Zephyr turned. Fenna reappeared between two black-rooted trees, hands on her hips. "Perimeter’s set. No beast traces yet. Though something big’s been through here recently. I found prints like a boulder’s feet." The main reason she was patrolling was to tame a beast.

Zephyr’s eyes narrowed. "Direction?"

"Northwest," she said, frowning. "But it’s old, at least two days. By the way did find any beast to tame?"

Star sniffed the air and gave a low growl.

Fenna approached the camp, crouching beside the map parchment they’d staked into a flat rock slab. She tapped a nearby circle she’d drawn. "This grove’s where I’ll start tomorrow. I want something nimble. Climber type, maybe." Her eyes shone. "Do you think... maybe something birdlike? A rook-hawk?"

Zephyr shrugged. "Fate doesn’t give what you want. Just what you got the affinity for. But I promise you, me and star will help."

"Still," Fenna said softly, "I want to try. I don’t want to be the one left behind. I want something that can fly. That way we can fly together. I am not taming anything which doesn’t know how to fly."

Zephyr stared at her, at the steel in her voice, the fire in her gaze and nodded. "You won’t be. Not while I’m breathing. We will find a flying for you. If necessary I wil..."

Star chirped and flopped onto his back, smoke trailing from his mouth in lazy puffs.

Fenna laughed. "He agrees. He wants us to find a play mate for him."

They shared a meal of pulsed root cakes warmed over embers, and dried mint leaves brewed into a bitter tea. The sun dipped behind the canopy, staining the horizon violet-red.

By twilight, they reviewed the day’s drills, marked progress on the training slate, and watched steam curl from the sulfur pool just beyond their clearing.

Then system added a final line beside Star’s stats:

[Progress: Fire +2, Wing Power +1, Dominance Lv2 → 35% to next level.

Condition: Stable. Energy: 70% remaining. Rest recommended.]

When Fenna climbed into her tent, she paused and turned. "Zep, what if we could live like this everyday? Just you and me alone in a remote mountain."

Zephyr’s answer came without thinking: "I also wants that, but if we aren’t strong enough we can’t protect our self. Think about our family. We can’t abandon them. We will get stronger, we will become legend, then we will live how we want. Nobody can harm us. No one will dare to disturb our peaceful life."

She smiled, then vanished into canvas folds. "Yes, we will. I am happy as long as I am with you. I just want a happy family with you. You me, our children and our family." She murmured by herself.

Under the stars, Zephyr sat with Star curled beside him, the warmth of dragonhide seeping into his ribs. The wind smelled like ash and wild honey. Somewhere far off, something howled, long, low, and entirely inhuman. His dragon senses was trying to warn him of something.

Zephyr didn’t flinch. Let it come.

The firelight cast bronze glints across the fledgling’s scales, making Star look like he was carved from living ore.

Fenna emerged from her tent with a wrapped satchel of salve and spare bandages. "One last check," she said softly.

Zephyr nodded, watching her kneel beside Star. She spoke to the drake in gentle tones, fingers skimming over each limb, checking joints, wings, tail.

"I think his muscle tension’s down from this morning," she observed.

"He’s adapting," Zephyr said, stretching his legs. "We’ll see how much in the morning."