Xiaoyue's eyes shined with excitement as she skipped along the stone path, greeting various owners of shops and stalls. The shopkeepers seemed to be familiar with the girl, returning the greetings with kind smiles; some of them even offering her free items. By the time we reached Mister Li's shop, the girl had her arms filled with toys and snacks.

Yunshu laughed as we stopped in front of the shop. "I'll hang onto these for you," he said as he opened a small portal below Xiaoyue's arms. The girl dropped the things she received from the shopkeepers into the misty void, waving goodbye as it closed.

I pushed the door impatiently, wondering why we hadn't entered yet. The door refused to budge. Yunshu put a hand on my shoulder and pointed to the sign hanging off the door.

"I'll be right back," he read.

"Oh." My cheeks flushed. How embarassing. Yunshu wasn't laughing at me, but Xiaoyue stifled a giggle with her hand. I wasn't sure which one was worse in my eyes, considering the girl was a personification of a literal mouse. She flinched at the slightest noise, but despite that, all of the people in the marketplace seemed to like her.

"You two wait here," Yunshu said, sitting us down on a couple of chairs he pulled out of a portal. "I'm going to go get us something to eat."

I sat on the chair, wringing my hands together, cracking each of my knuckles individually out of boredom. It wasn't as if I could really make conversation with Xiaoyue. There wasn't anything I had in common with a cowardly human child anyways. 

I clicked my tongue in frustration after I couldn't crack my knuckles any further. Instead, I chose to focus on the scenery in front of me. The marketplace had changed so much since I had last been here. I admired the beautiful craftsmanship of the stone path; the way the white marble almost shimmered under the sunlight reminded me of my home. Compared to the sandy dirt path that existed during my time, this was a huge upgrade. 

The next notable difference that I loved was the addition of actual buildings. The marketplace no longer consisted of just small booths, it now had buildings with signs hanging outside of them, like a very tightly-knit village. The street was bustling with people, entering and exiting various shops. It seemed that the majority of these shops were selling some sort of product, whereas the remaining booths and stalls were focused on food.

I was snapped out of my reminiscence by Xiaoyue speaking to me.

"Prince Xuefeng, what was it like when you couldn't talk?"

I turned to face her. "Why do you ask?"

She quickly flinched and snapped her head away, turning to face directly in front of her instead of making eye contact with me. Her silver hair fell over her face, covering it from my sight, but not before I noticed her expression.

Despite not making eye contact, and her hair covering most of her face, she wore a determined expression. Her eyes were steeled directly at the ground in front of her, and her face was red, but her jaw was tight, as if she had made her mind up about something.

Again, a familiar feeling tightened in my chest. 

"U-um! I want to get to know you better!" she said, her hands gripping the edge of her chair. 

"Well, I was very obviously still alive, despite not having a heartbeat. I remember most of the details of what happened. I still had feelings about those details, it's just that I was unable to express them," I admitted.

At that moment, I was reminded that I was still living someone else's life. Despite not having a heartbeat or being able to react to anything, Xuefeng Wang still had memories, and with those memories came feelings. 

Feelings. A foolish concept according to the dragons. Despite being one of the dragons, I had more nuanced feelings than others when I was young and naive. At a certain point, I even desperately wished for a family. All of that disappeared when I discovered my talent in magic. Despite being unable to use earth-type mana, I was the first to mix and refine mana to create new types of magic. 

That talent taught me about jealousy. It wasn't something I experienced myself, but the other dragons shunned me for it. They rejected me, said I was too human, as if I was a lesser being, despite being magically superior to them. 

As I sorted through Xuefeng's memories, I understood more what it felt like to be jealous. It was a mix between anger and sadness, directed at himself and others. 

Guilt was another feeling I was familiar with, thanks to Donghai. Xuefeng felt guilt for the first time when he watched as Yichen would break down in front of him after locking himself in his room, thinking nobody who would remember it was around. 

The final feeling that Xuefeng associated with a lot of his memories, specifically with Yichen and Xiaoyue, was one that I didn't know the name of. It was the same feeling I got when looking at Xiaoyue; the feeling I remembered, but couldn't name nor quantify it.

"And what's it like now?" she asked me.

"Not much has changed, I guess. I don't really know how to express myself well," I admitted. 

"I guess we're the same then." She turned and smiled at me for a second, before her expression reverted to a gloomy one.

"I think you're plenty expressive." 

She tilted her head in confusion.

"I wish I was more like you," she muttered.

"Why?"

"Because you're strong."

My eyes widened. For the first time, somebody in this world had recognized me as strong. I was speechless.

                                                                                              ***

"I wish I was more like you," I said, reverting to my human form.

"Why?" the massive black dragon in front of me snorted.

"Because you're strong." 

"Forget about it. You're too human. How is it possible that you're incapable of any magic? Dwell on that until you figure it out." 

"But- Fath-"

"Do not call me father!" Iadra thundered. "Get out of my sight before I erase your existence."

                                                                                             ***

I was snapped out of my memory by Xiaoyue starting to break down.

"I-I wish, I- was like you or Huotian. It's- it's not fair," she choked out in between tears. "Even Xiaolong is strong now, and he- he's younger than me."

I felt a wave of annoyance wash over me.

"Get up," I demanded. "Stop crying."

"H-huh?" The meek voice of the little girl barely reached my ears. I wasn't sure if I was still talking to her or if I was lost in my own memories.

"Throw everything away. If you want to get stronger, lose everything. The only thing you need to do is learn from others. Steal their techniques, copy them, even get on your knees and bow your head to the floor if you have to. Quit whining and pick yourself back up. You will be strong, or else you'll die. Once you become strong, forgive nobody. Beat everyone into submission. That is the one rule of life."

I was snapped back to reality by Xiaoyue's whimpers. I was currently standing over her as she shielded her face with her hands.

"S-sorry," I mumbled, stepping out of the way. "I don't know what that was." 

She burst into tears, wailing as she sprinted away from me and ran right into Yunshu's massive frame. The man lifted her up into his arms and bounced her around, shushing her quietly while reassuring her. He flashed me an apologetic grin, mouthing, "Don't worry," to me.

The stocky man following him did not do the same. He ran right up to me, picking me up by grabbing me under the arms and pinned me against the wall at his eye level. It was times like this that my hatred for Uriel burned brighter. Couldn't he have at least sent me to the future in my own body?

"You listen here, Prince Xuefeng-" he began.

"Oh, so you know I'm the prince? Unhand me then, before the king reprimands you."

"Shut it!" he thundered. "Let me finish!"

I was seriously resisting the urge to spit in his face. 

The man stared me directly in the eyes, his brown eyes locking with my blues. "If you ever make Xiaoyue cry again, I'll make sure you don't get off easy, is that underst- OW!"

He yelped in pain as I grabbed his brown beard and pullled as hard as I could, causing him to drop me.

Yunshu howled with laughter as the burly man rubbed his chin. "I told you he was feisty! You're lucky he didn't just spit in your face; that's what he did to me."

"Yeah, no kidding. Although, you probably deserved it." The burly man glared at me. "Come inside, I suppose. You can pick something out for the young miss as a token of apology. I'll just charge Yichen for it."

The shopkeeper, who I assumed was "Mister Li," herded Xiaoyue and I inside, Yunshu following behind us. 

"Ow," Yunshu muttered.

I turned around and saw him rubbing his forehead, a small welt beginning to form. He probably hit his head on the doorframe. It was amazing how tall he was for a human. I wouldn't be surprised if he was the same size as some of the Orrostuman beastpeople.

"Oi, Hanchen. I visit this place so often, you think you could at least raise the height of the door?"

"If you used the door more often, then yes, I might consider it, but until you stop teleporting in, you can keep hitting your head on that door when you decide to use it." Hanchen said as he took a seat behind the glass counter.

"Prince Xuefeng, this is Hanchen Li, the royal blacksmith. You probably haven't seen him around too much, considering he never spends time in the royal forge unless he's visiting Xiaoyue or the barracks need a lot of repairs." Yunshu said.

"Pleased to meet you finally. Although this isn't the first time I've seen you, it is the first time I've seen you since you were able to talk." he said as he shook my hand. I noticed that his hands were rough and calloused, likely from working the forges for so long. 

"Wow! So shiny!" Xiaoyue exclaimed, her face practically pressed against the glass display.

"Ah, those. You like them?" Hanchen asked, sliding the display open and taking out two gemstones.

One was black, but shimmered with different colors when it reflected light. The other was pure white, like a completely blank slate. Both of them were opaque, which meant that they weren't good for holding mana, but despite that, I could feel an immense amount of mana resonating within both of them.

"They've been absorbing mana for three thousand years, maybe even longer, because of how time works in Dralossle. They were found in the recent dive, taken straight from the Synagogue of Sorrow. A guild that I helped out for free gave these to me as a token of appreciation."

"They found it?" Yunshu asked.

"First time in history," Hanchen confirmed.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You don't know?!" Both of them asked simultaneously.

"Can you make these into earrings?" Xiaoyue asked, completely oblivious.