Read I Was Reborn As A Dragon :: Episode 16

I'll be five years old in a week, my naming ceremony is meant to take place two days from now at the academy courtyard. Koran was telling me yesterday about what the ceremony entails. According to him, the ceremony is usually one of most important events for most kids in this part of the country. Without much money, the country can only support promising mages, so any child that has little talent doesn't have much chance to excell in life. It takes 9 tier 3 mages to perform the ceremony, each one channeling a different element. They start by channeling a pure elemental beam straight up, then slowly bring the beams down together towards the child who is the subject of the ceremony. As the beams get lower, specific elements will get brighter depending on what affinities the child holds. Then, after the affinities are gauged, the mages direct the elemental beams directly at the child. At that point there is supposed to be some sort of rebuff that cancels the beams and leaves behind a single name that echoes through the atmospheric mana. He expects that with my dragon bloodline, the effect of the ceremony will be somewhat exagerated, but nothing too serious as to suspect people of my true race.

I leaned back on my bed against the pillow I had propped up against the wall. Letting out a sigh, I activated Thunderflame Manipulation. This was an ability that was learned by accident. In the attempt of adding heat to my primal charged energies magic, this was created. I let the thunderflame dance around my palm while also activating Aethric Intent to see the mana in action. In the past few weeks of training I discovered that while channeling Aethric Intent I can do something very similar to what Jesper can do. I watched as the mana vibrated with both heat and primal charged energies, each vibration being unique but also merged with the others. It isn't simply fire with lightning inside of it, it is the perfect unification of both elements. The lightning is on fire as much as the fire is electrified. The downside of this, sadly, is that it is a very expensive ability to keep active. Even keeping this small wisp alive for a minute has drained a small portion of my mana. However, the cost seems to be well worth it.

I used the thunderflames for the first time during training with Jesper, using them to make a wall in mid-air to block some incoming stone spears. I mostly used the flames as a means of distraction. I meant to throw up the wall of thunderflames, then use my enhanced speed to get behind Jesper for a decent melee strike. However, the flames barely stayed active for enough time to fully defend from a single spear, and i wasn't able to channel static fusion for the extra speed. In the end, that single wall of thunderflames drained my entire mana reserves and left me with a broken rib from the second stone spear making it through. The rib healed in about a week with only one visit to a healer and quite a few naps. Turns out, if a dragon simply eats, then sleeps, they'll heal quite fast.

Shaking myself out of my daydream, I cancelled Thunderflame Manipulation before Aethric Intent; watching as the mana receded back into me undoing the spell. I stood up and headed out of my room and into the hallway. The manor is always pretty quiet, Koran doesn't keep many servants. The whole place was made of stone, with prominent doorways and hand railings on the stairways. I jogged down the winding staircase leading to the ground floor, hoping to catch Jesper in the training grounds out back. I could use some stone targets to shoot spells at. Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I took a sharp left turn and shot out the back door. Instead of Jesper, I found six kids, around ten to fourteen. I could feel the mana, I could smell metal on the air, something wasn't right. Looking around the courtyard, I found the source of my worries. Behind the kids, who were easily twice my age; I saw splatters of blood, and the body it all came from.