Angil laughed and took up his own fish and started eating while watching Ajax. When the one he was eating was finished, Ajax reached for another fish, only pausing when he remembered that he didn’t know how manners worked in this new world. He looked up Angil, who smiled at him and nodded his head. Ajax took that second skewer and went back to eating. Though not long after he stopped and moved the fish from his lips.

“Angil, you really think I can be on your level someday?” Ajax asked.

“What suddenly sparked this question?” Angil asked in response.

“Well… remembering what you did yesterday with the darkness thing and how you parted the waters, I just wonder.” Ajax replied, “I just wonder if I can get there someday to be that impressive.”

“If you work hard enough, you may surpass me.” he replied and took a bite of his fish, “You just need to train and apply yourself, I suppose I could teach you the basics until you can handle yourself.”

“Are you for real?!” Ajax exclaimed and dropped his fish, “I wouldn’t want to waste your time.”

“Just know I am going to give you chores during this training stay.” he said, “Just sleep in one of the bedrooms not the couch next time.”

“Yes I will do that next time, thank you for teaching me.” Ajax said with a face red from embarrassment.

“Combat training starts tonight, and if the rain lets, learn how to fly and sensing aura starts tomorrow.” Angil said and fed the rest of his fish to his tail and then got up, “The rest of the fish is your lunch and dinner, catching breakfast tomorrow is your job.”

Ajax nodded and Angil left the room, Ajax got up from the fire once he finished the second fish he took up and he went back over to the couch. He yawned and laid down but then got up and outed the fire with a gust of wind from his wings since he didn’t want the fish to burn. When he went back to the couch he fell asleep again not long after laying back down. Hours passed before he woke again, this time from being punched in the gut by Angil.

“I know being brought here probably trained a lot of energy and you need rest but there isn’t time to waste.” Angil said, “Combat training starts today, you’ll learn to throw fist like that, now on your feet.”

Ajax got up and so his training began with a beating being delivered from Angil over and over again. It got to the point where he got tired of feeling the sensation of the ground from being tossed. When their session was finished he was covered in minor bruises as well as being too exhausted to move. He felt as if he would pass out at any moment. He felt himself being lifted off the ground and prepared himself to be tossed again but this time he wasn’t thrown, rather, he was being carried by Angil.

“Good try today, block more next time and time your attacks better.” Angil said.

Angil carried him through the archway he left through before and Ajax found himself in a hallway that had several other archways. Angil took him through a second archway away from the one they entered through and he felt himself being placed on a soft surface. However, before he could look at what it was he fell asleep. Ajax’s second night quickly came and went, and when the sun rose from the darkness, Ajax didn’t rise with it. His dreams were filled with images of his previous training and his constant beating.

“Hey wake up, wake up will you!” Angil shouted, “You’re in charge of breakfast remember!”

Angil’s tail lashed out and bit Ajax’s ear which made him spring awake and jumped out of bed. He landed on the hard ground and grabbed his raised backside in pain. He saw a pair of feet and his eyes slowly traced upwards towards Angil, who was fully dressed in the clothes he had on the day they met and had his arms crossed. Angil briefly grumbled and stepped away from him.

“You over slept, come on, you’re late on breakfast.” Angil said.

Ajax rubbed his eyes and yawned, he suddenly remembered that he was in charge of their breakfast and slapped his forehead. Ajax watched Angil sigh and left the room and he quickly ran behind him as not to make the situation worse. He watched Angil dive into the pool, and he jumped in shortly after. He couldn’t see Angil anywhere as he swam towards a light in the distance but soon he felt himself running out of air. Only then he realized why they entered the cavern in a bubble. He tried to swim back to the cavern but the current kept pushing him to the light.

His vision started to go black and after a few seconds he awoke with a deep breath. He found himself inside of a bubble that was carrying him towards the surface and on the outside of it was Angil swimming in front of him.

“Took you long enough to wake.” Angil said.

“You’re breathing…underwater.” Ajax said in disbelief.

“Yeah and your point, you are already behind on what you are supposed to do hence behind on training.” Angil said.

“Because last time you weren’t.” he said, “I’m so sorry for not waking up early.”

“Whatever, we need to get you something to cover your lower half today too.” Angil said.

Ajax quickly covered his little friend with his hands with an embarrassed look on his face. Due to everything happening all at once he had forgotten that he was naked the entire time. It was relieving to know that he was going to have something to cover himself up with. Once the bubble had broken the surface of the lake it popped, leaving Ajax to swim to the shore while Angil flew overhead.

The moment that Ajax stepped out of the lake he was flung into the air, much to his dismay and surprise. He was thrown so high he could practically touch the tip of the trees, he turned his head and saw Angil laying sideways, as if laying on a couch, infront of him and flicked his nose.

“Until you fly, you will be tossed and soaked.” Angil said and waved at him.

“Wait but.” Ajax said as he started to fall.

Ajax flailed his arms around, flapping them like wings, to encourage the wings on his back to flap as well. In seconds he slammed into the lake and floated back to the surface, before he could catch his breath, he felt a tightening around his chest as he was tossed back up. This time while airborne a group of curious birds casually flew by his face. After a few more attempts and failures, he was caught by a tentacle of water, looking over at Angil, who took delight in his failures to the point of restraining his laughter, he sighed.

“Seems flying isn’t your strong suite.” Angil said.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh up my suffering, not like I had wings my whole life like someone here.” Ajax retorted and squeezed the water out his hair.

“Well let’s see if you can learn to sense a creature’s magical aura.” he said.

“What is magical aura?” Ajax asked.

“Aura tells how much mana droplets someone has within them and can contain, hence how powerful they are.” he replied, “Even if all the mana within is used up, the aura will remain as a mark at how much you can hold.”

“Okay, so how do I sense it?” Ajax asked.

“Close your eyes and try to feel the mana droplets around me and use them to sense the droplets within me.” he said, “Try and get this skill, you’ll need it to catch breakfast.”

“Okay I will try.” replied Ajax and closed his eyes.

Ajax took several breathes and focused on his own mana, unlike before, the feeling was instantaneous. However, feeling his own mana wasn’t his goal, so he tried to use it to feel the mana around him. This proved to be more difficult than expected and he spent several minutes trying until he felt the sensation within his chest expand and enveloped his entire body. He felt like he did back in the space that he was in before coming to this world, his body felt as if it was gone again, but unlike before, he wasn’t sensationless. He felt, everything, as if his essence had become apart of everything around him.

Ajax opened his eyes and he saw small sparkling dots of light hovering around him. He gasped at the beautiful sight of them, he concluded that these must be what mana droplets looked like. They were beautiful to him, like small stars that can be seen un a clear silent night, a sea of shimmering diamond dust.

Ajax saw some of the sparkles moving in the one direction, and when he looked at where they were going, he saw that they were converging on and swarming around Angil. He focused all his attention on Angil, remembering what he was told to do, and he saw them moving, not gracefully but aggressively around Angil. He felt his heart skip a beat after a loud thump, he felt his knees buckle under him, and the urge to vomit erupting within his chest.

His eyes trembled because of what they saw, his breathing becoming strained, his chest rapidly tightened, his entire body was tossed into a panic and his instincts were telling him to flee. A projection that resembled a small tornado made of sparkles, that stood at the same height of the triangular trees, spun around Angil, who stood in its eye. It actively drew in the sparkles around him and Angil’s eyes took on a frightening glow. He wanted to run but he was petrified in place, left only to tremble while clenching his chest.

“I will take that reaction as you being successful.” Angil said with a smirk and then chuckled, “Try not to soil yourself.”

Angil’s words couldn’t reach Ajax, who was lost in the deafening fog of fear, and he walked towards him. The closer Angil got, the worse Ajax’s feeling became, and when Angil placed his hand on Ajax’s shoulder, only then did Ajax’s mind become clear enough to think. Ajax slowly turned his head to look at Angil, who leaned in to his ear.

“You’ve mastered the skill, now it’s time to turn it off.” Angil said and patted him three times, “Sleep now.”

Ajax felt his body go limp, his eyes became heavy and started to close on him, though it was confusing as to what the cause was. The last thing he saw was Angil moving his hand away and smiling at him before everything went black. When he awoke, he found himself laying on a bed made of leaves, and a familiar scene met him; that of Angil cultivating a fire with skewers of meat roasting around it.

“Good noon starling.” Angil said.

“Noon, but it was morning a few minutes ago!” Ajax exclaimed and jolted up.

“You gained the ability to sense aura but when you saw mine you were too paralyzed to turn it off, so I put you to sleep in order to do so.” Angil replied, “Check your skill set.”

“Thank you Angil.” Ajax said, he drew the A rune over his left wrist, and when the screen appeared he read it, “You are right, aura sense, there it is.”

“Good, now eat before it gets burnt.” Angil said and picked up one of the skewers.

“What type of meat is that?” Ajax asked and walked over to the fire.

“You don’t wanna know, just come eat.” Angil replied.

Ajax sat down next to Angil and picked up one of the skewers, he bit into the meat. As he chewed, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed in himself for not being able to do anything. It appeared that every time he tried to do something he ended up failing and making trouble for Angil. It all weighed on his mind, distracting him so much that he spent minutes chewing on the single bite he took.

“Look, no one is perfect, you’re certainly not a god nor are you a prodigy, so don’t beat yourself up.” Angil said.

“It is frustrating!” Ajax shouted, “Everything I try turns out awful and I end up making trouble for you!”

“You’re still learning and you were never born here so I can’t imagine this all comes naturally to you.” Angil replied.

“You’re right it is rath….” he said but sudden broke his sentence as his heart skipped a beat.

“You sense it too I see.” Angil said and stood up, “Quickly into the tree lining.”

Ajax quickly ran into the forest, crouching down behind some bushes, and Angil followed behind him shortly. The fire and skewers were left where they were in their haste to take shelter and Ajax gulped as he felt the presence get closer. It didn’t sense any stronger than Angil, rather far from it, though it was far stronger than himself. Angil placed a finger over his mouth and Ajax took it as a sign to not make any noise.

A large shadow appeared directly over where they were, and in a matter of seconds, a gust of wind extinguished the fire. Ajax heard a loud beastly roar followed by a pair of rather large, clawed feet, and he gasped when he saw the rest of the creature’s red scaly body. Ajax was astonished at what he was looking at, a creature he never expected to meet in any lifetime, a dragon.

The dragon resembled a small armless T-rex, it had large wings, with one on a respective side and rigged spikes that ran along its spine and down to its tail. Its face was rough and scaly like the rest of its body, with sharp fangs that showed from its upper jaw. Its underbelly was the only part that wasn’t red, rather it was yellow, and resembled a snake’s. They watched as it smelt along the ground and when it came across one of the skewers, it picked it up using its purple tongue and swallowed it.

“Holy shit, that’s a dragon!” Ajax quietly shouted.

“Technically not, the true dragons have been extinct since the end of the divine war three thousand years ago.” Angil said, “That is a proto-drake, a descendant and an off shoot.”

“Proto-drake, well it sucks hearing it isn’t a dragon.” Ajax said.

“You are going to fight it.” Angil said and pointed between Ajax and the proto-drake.

“I can’t fight that thing!” he quietly shouted, “I don’t have any skills for combat.”

“Well best time and creature to get some from since they don’t show up often this far from home.” said Angil and he stood up, “I am going to block its escape and then you come out to play.”