By the end of the training, I collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted.

“How do you feel, recruit?” Grynoth asked.

“Pain.”

He only laughed.

“Trust me, it will feel much better afterwards. And, have to say you have done well for the first training.”

“Well, I tried… I still feel like a couch potato though…”

Kinda weird considering I, somehow, managed to cross quite a lot of distances during my year of adventuring. I guess I wasn’t training all my muscles equally, huh?

Grynoth sat down next to me, continuing: “In the army, I had these routines every day...”

I groaned, letting him know I didn't want to hear it.

“I'm kidding. It's a lot more serious in the army.”

“Dude...” I begged.

“More energy, recruit. You have to take advantage of me while you have the chance.”

“That... sounded really weird.”

Aside from innuendo because of my dirty mind, I felt this phrase carried some sort of melancholy in it… almost like…

“In what way?” Grynoth asked inquisitively.

“More than one… but the thing that bothers me especially is the implication like you are going to die soon.”

“Well, like I said two days ago, you never know the way a life can turn out.”

“Way to make things depressing…”

“Besides… correct me if I’m wrong, according to the cliches of your human stories, whenever a mentor figure is introduced to a character, that mentor ends up dying in the end… or even sooner.”

I laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“Your maw.”

“You are pushing your luck again, human,” said Grynoth, half-menacingly, half-jokingly, “I have an extra push-up waiting for you.”

“Point taken. Oh, and also? According to modern tropes these days, the mentee character is quickly killed off and a mentor becomes a protagonist himself”.

Grynoth cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh? Are you serious about that?”

“Yup. Welcome to a post-modern, baby! An age when subverting tropes became a trope even of itself.”

"Post-modern, huh?" Grynoth said, a glint of amusement in his eyes. "Sounds like your human stories are getting more and more convoluted, as if trying to outsmart yourselves."

"Well, that's what happens when you've got centuries of storytelling to build on and we have nothing to think about anymore," I said, sitting up with a groan. "Everyone really wants to keep things fresh except, probably, me."

“Oh? I thought you were all in for storytelling innovations.”

I shrugged, picking at a blade of grass. "I mean, I appreciate a good twist now and then. But sometimes it feels like stories these days try so hard to be clever that they forget to be, you know, good."

"Well, for this one I am inclined to agree.” Grynoth nodded thoughtfully. “I too find the idea of the student dying off first, if at all, a very counterintuitive and illogical one, as they are supposed to be the ones carrying on the legacy. On a more positive note, if you have time and energy for things like that, it means your civilization is prospering indeed. And I would take the suffering of fictional people over real ones any day.”

“You said it.”

I felt the urge to do what I have never done before, to not only listen to what an adult has to say but to take up my notebook and start actually recording it. I guess there is a first time for everything.

"Well, if *you* have the energy for a lecture, you've got the energy for the conclusion to out lesson. Time for a bit of sparring.”

“Seriously, master? Come on, you will just one-shot me. Also, I don’t have any protective gear for that.”

“I will go easy on you. As for protective gear, I have a workaround. Now, undress.”

“Huh!? I mean… okay?”

There was something charming about Grynoth’s ignorance of our social cues, as well as the way my personal dirty mind works. Nevertheless, I obeyed, curious as to why he needed me naked.

‘Well, that sure escalated quickly…‘ I thought as Grynoth touched my shoulder, chanting magic words. Even though I was quite confident he didn’t have any impure intentions, my brain couldn’t help but think of certain other things that could be happening right now.

Regardless, I waited for some time… and suddenly felt something wrapping my body.

Upon glancing downwards, I saw a layer of scales starting to form around my skin, enveloping me fully, concluding with a narrow helmet.

“This is…” I tried to speak, observing my new form, “Holy crap! This is amazing!”

“This is called a ‘Pact Armor’,” Grynoth explained, “While we have grown accustomed to relying on actual armour, Pact Armor can also be useful… in certain circumstances.”

I marvelled at the Pact Armor, running my hands over the smooth, iridescent scales. It was like a second skin, light and flexible, yet undeniably sturdy. "This is incredible, Grisha. I feel almost like a Power Raptor! Like I could take on the world in this getup!"

Grynoth chuckled, a deep rumble in his chest. "Don't get too cocky, recruit. The armour may protect you, but it won't do the fighting for you. That's still on you and the skills you're learning."

I nodded, assuming a fighting stance. The Pact Armor felt strange yet empowering, like it was amplifying my strength and reflexes. I bounced on the balls of my feet, eager to test my new abilities.

Grynoth circled me, his posture relaxed but eyes alert. "Remember what we practiced. Keep your guard up, watch for openings, and don't-"

I lunged forward with a punch, aiming for Grynoth's jaw. He sidestepped easily, catching my wrist and using my own momentum to flip me onto my back. I landed with a grunt, the wind knocked out of me.

"-get overconfident," Grynoth finished, standing over me with a smirk. "You're not invincible, Gran."

I rolled to my feet, shaking off the impact. "Oof… yeah, haha… sorry, my bad. Let’s try again."

We sparred for what felt like hours, Grynoth patiently correcting my form and technique between bouts. Despite the armor's protection, I accumulated plenty of bruises and scrapes. But I could feel myself improving, lasting longer against Grynoth's assaults and even landing a few hits of my own.

As the sun climbed higher, Grynoth called for a break. I collapsed onto the grass, panting and drenched in sweat. The Pact Armor dissipated, leaving my skin tingling.

Grynoth tossed me a waterskin, which I guzzled gratefully. "Not bad," he said, settling down beside me. "You're a quick study, Gran. With more training, you might actually stand a chance against a real opponent."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," I said sarcastically. Hearing this was bit frustrating at first, but Grynoth didn't strike me as someone who doled out compliments lightly anyway.

“I’m just stating as things are. Remember, since you aren’t a dragonkin, you will have to always thin how to outsmart your opnent first. But we are going to work on that later. For today. I suppose that,” Grynoth said, “Feel free to rest. As for me, I have to do a couple of more exercises for myself.”

As Grynoth began his own training routine, I watched in awe from my spot on the ground. His movements were fluid and powerful, with each strike and kick delivered with precision and grace. It was like watching a deadly dance, the way his muscles rippled beneath his scales, his tail whipping through the air for balance.

I couldn't help but feel a twinge of envy at his skill and strength. Here I was, struggling through basic drills, while Grynoth made it look effortless. But there was also a sense of admiration, a desire to someday reach that level of mastery myself.

I would watch him more, but, feeling my own fatigue catching up to me, I couldn’t resist taking a small nap.

***

I awoke not so long after that, and…

…Suddenly, I noticed Grynoth was nowhere to be seen.

“Um, hello? Are you there, my dragon overlord?” I asked loudly but got only silence in response. “Huh, that’s weird… talking about overused tropes…”

I quickly became nervous. Some told me to expect the worst. I decided to track Grynoth myself.

The first thing I did was to trace the footprints of his huge bare feet. Since they were like those of an overgrown lizard, I found them in no time and immediately followed. The tracks followed beyond a makeshift training ground, and after just a minute I suddenly heard heavy, stifled breathing nearby.

Turning around, I saw the gruff figure of Grynoth... leaning against a tree, breathing heavily.

“Grynoth!!!”

I immediately ran up to him and tried to support him.

“I… moment…”

With his face turned away, he coughed. I suddenly remembered that he was a heavy smoker.

He was unbelievably heavy, but somehow, I got him on the ground and took a breath.

“Are you okay?”

After a while, Grynoth seemed to recover.

“Yes. I felt a stake in my chest all of a sudden. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

Helping him lower himself to the ground, I immediately asked:

“It's the cigarettes, aren’t they? They make you feel like this?”

Grynoth sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly as he caught his breath. "Yes, the cigarettes likely played a role. I've been smoking for far too long. Old habits die hard, as they say."

I frowned, concern etched on my face. "You know those things are terrible for you, right? They'll kill you slowly from the inside out."

"I'm well aware," Grynoth said, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "But when you've lived as long as I have, you tend to pick up a few vices along the way."

“I can see that… don’t scare me like this, alright? I almost thought you had jinxed yourself when we were having this stupid conversation about tropes before.”

Grynoth chuckled, the sound rumbling deep in his chest. "Apologies for the scare. I should know better than to tempt fate."

He pushed himself up, brushing off his scales. I hovered nearby, ready to catch him if he stumbled.

"I'll try to cut back on the smoking," Grynoth said, meeting my worried gaze. "Can't have my star pupil fretting over me, instead of focusing on his training."

"You better," I said, trying to sound stern despite the relief flooding through me.

Grynoth placed a large, scaly hand on my shoulder, the weight comforting. "I'm not going anywhere, Gran. You're stuck with me until you're ready to face the world on your own."

“I hope you can stay with me for more than that…”

I suddenly flushed with embarrassment, recognising how weird that sounded. Grynoth, however, seemed unperturbed.

“I’m flattered by your concern. Really. But as I said, I’m a tough nut. Well, enough about that. I presume you have finished all the exercises?”

“Yes… yes, I had.”

“Good. Then, it's enough for today. Let us go home.”