Jisue’s words caused a warm feeling to grow in my heart. I hugged her tightly and whispered affectionately, “I know that you are worried about me, but please calm down a little. The principal just told us that there wouldn’t be much danger: we are following the Dragon Knights after all. Please,don’t worry, we will definitely return very soon.”
Jisue disagreed, “You are going to be gone for so long, what if you are charmed away from me by the other beautiful girls? All of the top four beauties are going on this trip, and they are all prettier than me… ”
I pinched her nose and said, “Don’t you trust me? Well, your sister is coming alone anyways, you can maker her supervise me. Do I look like someone who changes his mind on a whim?”
Jisue said, beating my chest softly, “only you can be so certain of something. Hmm… maybe I really will make my sister supervise you.”
A cough came from behind Jisue. I quickly pulled Jisue up with me, thinking, “Oh, it is the Vice Principal.” I smiled in embarrassment and said, “Sir, why are you here?”
The vice principal pointed at me again, whispering, “You brat, I caught you again. You are lucky that the principal hasn’t seen this yet. If he had, he would have taught you both a harsh lesson! Anyways, I am here to talk to you; I am the one leading the team to the front lines.”
I asked in surprise, “Aren’t we going with the Dragon Knights? Why does sir need to lead the team as well?”
The vice principal sighed and said, “You guys are the school’s elites, of course we must work hard to ensure your safety, and how could you be safe without a powerful teacher?”
Jisue was delighted and said: “Then sir must really look after Layson! If there’s any danger, please protect him, I will be asking for person when you come back~”
The vice principal laughed, “Fine, don’t worry, I can’t possibly offend your father, he’s a duke.”
I asked, “Why did the school suddenly decide to send us to the frontline?”
The vice principal sighed, “Jisue should already know about this, but I will explain it to you Layson. A few days ago, the principal sent the elites of the fifth year to compete in a friendly tournament between the four great academies. Since Liwa had just graduated and joined the Dragon Knight troop, our academy’s strength had been greatly diminished. When the competition ended, our school was ranked last. The principal was furious; he reviewed our current teaching methods and found them unsatisfactory. He held meetings for two days trying to find ways to improve your combat strength. Finally, we decided to send you guys directly into battle. Over there, you will be baptised by the blood and flames, allowing you to become even stronger. Only by participating in a true war will you understand that the more time you spend training, the less you have to fear during a battle.”
I secretly thought to myself, “Huh, this is all bullshit. In truth they just want to uphold the academy’s reputation. Honestly, I really don’t want to go; I am afraid of confronting the beast clan. I shuddered just thinking about what would happen if father brought his beamon army to the battle. While I was interested in seeing the demon clan, that was just to compare their Fallen Angel to mine.”
The vice principal said, “Oh Layson, you should go back to your dorm and prepare yourself. Although you have recovered most of your powers, the injuries you had were not light. You should try and fully recover as soon as possible. Also, please restrain yourselves more in school. Especially around the teachers. If they see you, it would be very difficult for me to help you guys out.”
Seeing the vice principal’s shrinking silhouette, I said to Jisue: “Rest assured, this time, I will definitely return safe and sound.”
Jisue nodded and said: “The sky is dark; I should go back.”“I’ll walk you home.” I replied.
I walked Jisue all the way to the entrance of the Duke’s mansion. After making sure that she had safely reached the mansion through the courtyard, I returned to school thinking deeply.
It seemed that my destiny was not to attend school. Over the terms, I only attended class for two months, and now I am leaving again. If I meet father during the war, should I attack him? Grandmother’s death has always pained me deep down in my heart. I will get my revenge for her death one day. Even if he is my father, I will never forgive him for what he has done. My identity may now be that of a beastman spy, but I will make my own decisions. I refuse to be controlled by anybody. I am independant, I will only do what I want.
M2: Italics is internal thought monologue
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, one week had passed. During this week Jisue and I were inseparable, only reluctantly parting at night. Our lovers prattle continued on for hours uninterrupted. We were stuck together like glue.
Before I left, I visited Sister Zhuang so that she could take off the bracelet she gave me. Since the bracelet had no effect on dark magic, it was useless to me. I gave it to Jisue, in return she gave me a black breastplate. It was an artifact that had been passed down for generations by her father. Even though it weighed next to nothing, it had an extremely sturdy defense. It could be joined to any light leather armours, so I can wear it easily while showing off the muscles on my robust arms. Together with Black Sable, I gave off quite the intimidating aura.
……
The Vice Principal called, “Everyone assemble.”
The 100 students who had signed up to aid the frontline quickly lined up in the field. Every one of them wore high class white armor that the school prepared for us. At the vice principals’ command we formed a cross formation, with the vice principal in the front. He shouted, “Little brats and little girls of Sky City Academy, soon, all of you will participate in this war, to become the future pillars of our school! Let us eliminate our enemies, and let our blood boil for the sake of defending our homeland!”
His words instantly aroused everyone’s fighting spirit, everyone in the team was shouting “Kill the enemies!!!”
The vice principal said: “Very well, let us depart, the Dragon Knight Squadron is waiting for us. To be able to fight alongside them is a great honor, now march!”
Everyone shouted in unison: “Forward!”
We marched in unison, following the vice principal as we travelled through the city, finally reaching the city entrance. We then marched a short distance to a field where ten dragon knights were waiting upon their dragons. They were charged with protecting and delivering additional soldiers and the needed supplies to the battlefront. The supplies consisted of all kinds of defensive equipments and arrows, while the soldiers consisted of eleven hundred guards and us students. Since these supplies and reinforcements were much needed at the battlefield, Dragon Knights were assigned to protect them from ambushes and prevent them from getting lost.
For many students, it was their first time seeing a Dragon knight, so naturally they were all very excited. Some started to boast loudly about their accomplishments, hoping the Dragon Knights would notice them. While others quietly set the Dragon Knights as their goal, hoping to become one through their own strength.
The whole team had completely assembled, Jiyan was standing next to me; she had coaxed and pestered the vice principal unceasingly to let her stand by my side. All the other students were very jealous, but I just secretly mourned in my heart. The academy prepared horses for us. My horse was of course, Black Dragon, the vice principal arranged for me to be in the back of the formation, while Jiyan was on my left.
After travelling around a hundred miles away from the capital, Jiyan asked, “Layson, did your injuries recover?”
I replied plainly: “Almost. What do you want from asking about it?”
Jiyan glared at me, “Why, can’t I just ask without a reason? Don’t forget, I’m here to supervise on behalf of Jisue. If you treat me badly, I’ll tell Jisue and she’ll ignore you.”
Geez I really can’t understand her. I had to get this straight, “ Sister what exactly do you want? You insisted that you ride next to me, instead of joining the female team, making me the enemy of every single male in this group. Just look at their eyes, every single one of them looks like those of a tiger or wolf.”
Jiyan chuckled softly and said, “Are you scared? Why do you treat me like this? Well, anyways I’m purposefully acting like this, and there is nothing you can do about it.” Her smile was like that of a hundred flowers in bloom. Although her beautiful smile stunned me, her words made my face go stiff. I looked to the side, ignoring her. After all, Jiyan was an unsurpassed beauty, I couldn’t let her looks move her heart, or how could I face Jisue?
The day passed very quickly, and it was soon time to set up camp. The vice principal and the chiliarch of the eleven hundred soldier troop talked to each other for a while before deciding on an area to set up our encampment. They finally decided upon a clearing in a closeby forest. The Dragon Knights didn’t even look at us, the just rested by the edges of the clearing, making sure that there were no threats to us.
Everyone sat around the campfire, as it warmed us down to our bones. Jiyan sat down next to me and took out a small box from her bag and passed it to me saying, “This is for you, it’s something good~”
I received the box from her, opened it and took a look inside. Inside was surprisingly, a delicate pastry! I frowned and said: “Thank you, but I can’t accept this, you should eat it yourself.”
Jiyan curled her lips, turning to me and saying, “this was personally made by Jisue, if you don’t want it then forget it, give it back.” She reached out and tried to take it back.
The moment I heard that Jisue made it, I immediately kept the box of pastry to my side, and said: “Since Jisue gave me this, how can I let you take it back?”
Jiyan did not tease me any further, and she promptly took out a piece of fruit from her bag and began to eat. I carefully put a small piece of the pastry in my mouth. The pastry had a slight aroma of rose, and the fragrance quickly spread throughout my mouth. It was impossible to call this pastry anything but delicious.
When Jiyan looked at me, her eyes showed a trace of gentleness.
After everyone had finished eating, the vice principal instructed us to return to our tents. I smiled at Jiyan asking, “Do you wish to sleep with me as well? If so, I won’t oppose you, hehe.”
Jiyan’s face flushed, and said while covering her face: “You have no shame.” However before running to her tent she said, “You look very good when you smile.”
I couldn’t help but shake my head after hearing what Jiyan said. I felt that Jiyan had changed a lot recently, she no longer felt like cold, proud, and aloof women she was when we first met. Instead she seemed to want to stay close to me. I should keep my distance from her, I don’t want to create another misunderstanding between Jisue and I.
I ducked into the tent, and Fenwan said to me, “Man you really did it, you killed two birds with one stone. You had Jisue, but you couldn’t give up on Jiyan either, and now you have two of the school’s top beauties. Impressive, impressive indeed.”
I attempted to slap him, but Fenwan blocked with his hands. I scolded while smiling: “Don’t talk nonsense, if Liwa heard of this, he would seek me out for a death match! Are you trying to kill me? Really there is nothing between Jiyan and I, she is just concerned about me because Jisue asked her to look after me. Do you think I wanted her to follow me everywhere? She annoys me to death, she wouldn’t let me get a moment to myself. The only times I got some privacy were when I went to the bathroom, and when I came here to sleep! She was stuck to me like a rice cake. She seemed really devoted to her ‘duties’ *sigh*.”
Fenwan chuckled with amusement, “That’s because Jiyan and her sister have a good relationship, so how could she explain it if you ran off with one of the other girls on the team”
I said. “Humph, do I look like that kind of person to you? Stop spreading baseless rumors, you are almost as bad as Fenyun!”
Speak of the devil, we heard Fenyun chuckling from outside the tent, “Who was gossiping about me? I bet it was all lies.” Fenyun lifted the curtain to the tent and entered. The tent was made for only one person, after Fenyun sat down, we could barely move a finger.
I replied, “I was talking about Fenwan’s ability to create rumors has almost reached your level.”
Fenyun looked surprised, staring at Fenwan, and said, “How come I was not informed of this brother? To think that you were secretly training in my peerless god level skill.” Fenyun’s comment made us immediately burst into laughter.
Fenwan softly said, “Too bad we don’t have any alcohol, if we did, we brothers could secretly drink a few glasses and enjoy ourselves.” He even belched after saying this.
I asked, “Since when did you become a drunkard? Is the taste of alcohol really that great?”
Fenwan nodded repeatedly and said, “Alchohol is an essential drink of life, the more you drink, the younger you become. Did you not know about this fact?
I shook my head, I have never enjoyed alcohol. I usually avoid the drink except for a few special occasions. The taste did not interest me, it just burned on the way down your throat, nothing that was particularly special.
Fenyun suddenly stuck half his body outside the tent without warning. We couldn’t see what he was looking at. Startled, Fenwan asked, “What are you doing?”
Fenyun came back inside and raised his index finger to his lips. He said, “Shhh, be quiet, look at this!” As he spoke, he held out a small flask in front of our eyes.
Fenwan’s eyes instantly brightened, and asked with delight and surprise: “Where did you get all that alcohol?”
Fenyun smiled smugly while saying, “Hehe, I’m in the magic department, so I requested someone in the class to bring some with him in an interspatial pouch. Hehe, what do you think? I’m pretty good at thinking ahead, right?”
Fenwan nodded repeatedly, snatching the wine flask from Fenyun. He said, “That is great, come, let us drink!” As he opened the flask, a rich sweet fragrance swept over us. Fenwan couldn’t hold himself back and he took a long swig from the flask. When he finished drinking, his face was full of glee and he exclaimed “Great!” He then passed the flask to me and said, “Here, have a drink!”
I was going to refuse, but looking into his ardent eyes, my heart softened, and I couldn’t refuse. I took the flask from him and took a swig. The alcohol burned my throat as I swallowed it and caused me to cough repeatedly. Fenyun smiled saying, “Layson Brother, am I seeing things? I can’t believe that a robust guy like you doesn’t even know how to drink!”
I smiled awkwardly and said, “Unlike you guys, I don’t drink myself into a stupor every day.” As I spoke, I felt a strong heat gush up from my stomach, heating my internal organs comfortably. I became excited, and I guided the heat to an injured meridian channel alongside some mad god chi. Unexpectedly, the previously fractured meridian channel was healed a little. I was pleasantly surprised, and drank a little more alcohol. Fenwan moaned, “Drink slowly, I didn’t bring that much!”
I said with a serious expression, “This wine seems to have a healing effect on my meridian channels, let me try again.” After taking another two gulps of the wine, I passed the flask to Fenyun and closed my eyes, training.
Using my own power, and that of the two sips of strong alcohol, in one night, I managed to dredge out a meridian. I was surprised, with that channel dredged, I had successfully recovered seventy percent of my original power.
The next morning, I woke up to Fenwan’s questions, “How was it? Was it helpful to your injuries?”
I nodded and replied, “I never even thought that alcohol could have this kind of effect, it actually healed one meridian channel, and recovered some of my powers.”
I immediately grabbed Fenyun’s shoulder and sincerely said, “Brother, thank you.”
Fenyun laughed and said: “Since we are brothers, there is no need to say anything, let’s go, we have to depart soon, let’s quickly pack up the tent.”
……
Although I had insulted Jiyan last night, it seemed as if she had forgotten about it after sleeping. She still rode her bayhorse by my side, occasionally glancing at me. These glances made me feel extremely awkward. I frowned and asked, “Why do you keep looking at me? is there a flower on my face?”
Jiyan smiled and said, “There isn’t a flower, but your complexion seems to have improved. It even seems like your skin has been moisturized.”
I didn’t dare tell her that I recovered my meridian channels using alcohol, as alcohol was strictly forbidden on this trip. So I plainly said, “I just recovered my powers a little last night.”
Jiyan was delighted and said, “That is great, you should continue! Recovering your powers is the most important thing at the moment.” She seemed to be more excited than I was, she really was a women who worshiped power. But was that really the case?
TL: words in italics and bold were meant to be there. It was not by me nor my editors.
After 10 days of camping, I had drunk half of Fenyun’s wine. In this period of time I had miraculously recovered all of my powers. I was quite satisfied, I had recovered all of my meridian channels and my body was filled to the brim with power. Fenyn and the others said that just my presence emitted a powerful aura.
Every night I would train a considerable amount of my Mad God and Demonic Arts. Fenwan said that I was a nutcase, training everyday. However he didn’t know that the best way for me to rest was to train. During these training sessions I did not hope to breakthrough any levels, I just wished to help my previously injured meridian channels get stronger, and consolidate my tier three Demonic and Mad God arts. Only by solidifying the basics is improvement possible.
Since we traveled in a carriage, our journey, which usually takes twenty days, took us about a month. We finally arrived at the fort, Stelu Fort, which was built at the edge of Stelu City. The commanding officer of this fort was Liwa’s father, Dragon General Liwo. According to the vice principal, this base had a total of 60 Dragon Knights, including the ten who escorted us here. Making this the largest stronghold of the Dragon Empire. There were 10 infantry corps, five cavalry corps, 5 heavy cavalry corps, and 8 magician corps. Each corp consisted of thirty thousand troops and the total number of all the corps together was close to one million people. One could say that the entirety of the Dragon Empire’s power was concentrated here. The remaining borders of the Dragon Empire were supervised by the reserve forces. As of now, there was an uninterrupted stream of reserves coming to the front lines.
Regarding individual fighting ability, humans weren’t only inferior to demons, but also inferior to beastmen – who were born natural fighters. However, since humans have powerful magicians as well as dragon knights as their shield, maintaining their advantage was an easy task.
The Dragon General Liwo welcomed us himself, along with Liwa who had just transferred here.
Liwo guided us to his mansion, and held magnificient welcoming feast for us. Naturally, Liwa sat with us, nobody would fight Liwa to sit next to Jiyan. I noticed that Jiyan treated me much better than she treated Liwa. Whenever he tried to approach her, she turned a cold shoulder.
The Vice Principal sat with all the high ranking officers of the army at the top of the hall. They were all graduates from Sky City academy, and from the way they conversed excitedly we could tell that our future prospects were not bad either.
I glanced at Liwa who had put all his body and mind onto Jiyan, and asked the question that had been pressing my mind the most, “Liwa, how’s the situation at the front-lines?”
Liwa stalled for a second before replying, “As of now there haven’t been any large scale battles yet, there have only been small probing attacks. However the beastmen tribe has sent their Beamon army forces to join the main army. If they initiate the attack, I’m afraid that we would have to dispatch some dragon knights to fend them off. But don’t worry, you all are my juniors, when the times comes, we will definitely arrange for easier opponents for you to handle.”
Besides I, who had sunk into deep thoughts and Jiyan, who was absent-minded and therefore wasn’t paying attention; all the other people thanked Liwa: “Thank you senior for taking care of us.”
Liwa asked Jiyan, “Why did the school send you guys to the frontlines?”
Jiyan rolled her eyes at him and asked, “Why would I know, ask the Vice Principal yourself.”
Liwa was rebuffed, he then said to everyone, “Everyone, feel free to eat anything, help yourself, I and my personal guard hunted these animals nearby and brought them back for the feast.
Fenwan asked: “Senior Liwa, I heard that you have already received a dragon’s recognition, and have become a real dragon knight, can you tell us about the gigantic dragons?”
Fenwan’s question immediately aroused everyone’s interest.
Liwa smiled, said humbly: “Actually it’s nothing much, you all will have a chance to see him soon, the dragon that has acknowledged me is a wind element high speed dragon, we rely on its’ speed to attack enemies, and it’s wings are it’s best weapon.”
A school member from the third year said: “I really admire you, senior, it would be great if in the future, we could also posses a giant dragon!”
Liwa laughed and said: “Not just you guys that hope so, the country hopes that even more so, the more dragon knights the stronger our dragon empire will become.” Liwa’s words revealed a intention that was a notch above others, although it didn’t say much about anything, but everyone can tell that he was arrogant from the look of his face.
(M2: SORRY THIS PARAGRAPH HAS TO BE EDITED AGAIN)Liwo arranged for us all to stay in the Stelu Fort. These quarters showed how important we were to the General. After five days of rest, we had our first taste of a real war.
The Vice Principal brought us to the top of the wall of the fort outside the city. Liwo stood beside us and continuously gave out orders. The fighters of the three great races blotted out the sky and covered the lands. The Vice Principal explained the battle to us “ Everyone, look closely, the main forces of the Beastman Tribe consist of Heavy Armor units to defend against attacks and Cheetahmen Assault Troops to attack. Their trump card is the Beamon Army and the Royal Beast Wild Lion Army. The Demon clan uses a combination of attacks from all kinds of races. Their most powerful soldiers are the Dark Magicians and Fallen Angels.
Liwo commanded his army, “Dispatch orders; the Third, Sixth and Eighth Infantry Units shall immediately go to support our left wing of heavy infantry. Second Light Cavalry Unit, charge, cut straight into the center of their Magician Unit. Fourth and Fifth Magician Units, support them with all your firepower!”
The battlefield was filled with all kinds of magical spells, flying out in all directions. The battle continued throughout the entire day. At the end of the day, our losses numbered 10,000, but the Demon-Beast Alliance suffered even larger losses. There seemed to be a tacit agreement that day not to send out each side’s trump cards.
Each of the 100 students that came to the battlefront, excluding me, where horrified. But It was not their fault, all of them were students younger than 20, who had never seen such a bloody scene. The fort was like a meat mincer, and deaths piled up outside the walls minute after minute. As the war had been going on for many years, there were next to no prisoners of war, those who didn’t make it back at the end of the day were likely dead.
I had killed hundreds of people with my own power, so I was used to seeing such gory scenes, and I didn’t mind seeing the slaughter going on below us. Even Jiyan who stood next to me, vomited multiple times and called me cold blooded.
The Vice Principal made us stand in formation, and said to us in a grave tone, “Today, you all experienced a real war. In a battle, being merciful to your enemy means you forfeit your life. Only by taking your opponent’s life as soon as possible will you survive. I spoke to Liwo during today’s battle, and tomorrow you all will participate in the war! I will not protect you! Whether you come back alive is up to your own strength!”
The vice principal speech caused a panic among the students, everyone realised that war is not a game; it is completely different from the drill training at school. Jiyan’s face had become deathly pale, I tried to reassure her saying, “Tomorrow, if you follow me, there won’t be any problems.”
Jiyan looked at me with confused eyes, but nodded lightly.
A student asked: “Vice principal, can we not participate in this war?”
The vice principal angrily shouted, “Do you think this is a game? Since you voluntarily to signed up, you should have prepared to participate in this battle. Right now, you aren’t a student of the Sky City academy, but also a unit of the Dragon Empire’s army, deployed to resist the invasion of foreigners! To be a coward is to be the most disgraceful and shameful person in the army! Do you understand? If someone ever asks of to be exempt from the war, they will immediately receive punishment equal to that of military law.” The Vice principal was red in the face as he finished his tirade. While he was harsh, I understood why he wanted us to participate in war. We could only experience real growth through real battles.
After dispersing, I called my brothers, Fenyun and Fenwan, to my tent, and said to them: “Tomorrow will be our first time participating in a real battle, make sure you guys do not panic. Remember, as we start to engage the enemy, quickly separate to my sides, I will handle the enemies in the front, while you guys will be responsible for those on the two sides, while Jiyan will support us with magic from the rear. Attack boldly! The Vice Principal was right cannot show any mercy.”
Fenwan nodded and said, “Boss, we will definitely come back alive tomorrow!”
Fenyun who had been larky the entire trip also became serious, he said: “We three brothers will survive this together!”
Fenwan and Fenyun were truly sincere to me, of course I will do what it takes to protect them. Jiyan is Jisue’s sister, and also a beauty, I will also protect her. But I can’t afford protect anyone else, the others in the class must survive by relying on their own strength. With my powers now, there should be nothing to fear of as long as the Demon-Beast Armies don’t dispatch their strongest troops- the trumps cards.
I walked outside, appreciating the pure moonlight, suddenly, I heard the sound of an argument close by, listening carefully, I overheard Jiyan and Liwa talking fiercely.
-end-
Jisue’s words caused a warm feeling to grow in my heart. I hugged her tightly and whispered affectionately, “I know that you are worried about me, but please calm down a little. The principal just told us that there wouldn’t be much danger: we are following the Dragon Knights after all. Please,don’t worry, we will definitely return very soon.”
Jisue disagreed, “You are going to be gone for so long, what if you are charmed away from me by the other beautiful girls? All of the top four beauties are going on this trip, and they are all prettier than me… ”
I pinched her nose and said, “Don’t you trust me? Well, your sister is coming alone anyways, you can maker her supervise me. Do I look like someone who changes his mind on a whim?”
Jisue said, beating my chest softly, “only you can be so certain of something. Hmm… maybe I really will make my sister supervise you.”
A cough came from behind Jisue. I quickly pulled Jisue up with me, thinking, “Oh, it is the Vice Principal.” I smiled in embarrassment and said, “Sir, why are you here?”
The vice principal pointed at me again, whispering, “You brat, I caught you again. You are lucky that the principal hasn’t seen this yet. If he had, he would have taught you both a harsh lesson! Anyways, I am here to talk to you; I am the one leading the team to the front lines.”
I asked in surprise, “Aren’t we going with the Dragon Knights? Why does sir need to lead the team as well?”
The vice principal sighed and said, “You guys are the school’s elites, of course we must work hard to ensure your safety, and how could you be safe without a powerful teacher?”
Jisue was delighted and said: “Then sir must really look after Layson! If there’s any danger, please protect him, I will be asking for person when you come back~”
The vice principal laughed, “Fine, don’t worry, I can’t possibly offend your father, he’s a duke.”
I asked, “Why did the school suddenly decide to send us to the frontline?”
The vice principal sighed, “Jisue should already know about this, but I will explain it to you Layson. A few days ago, the principal sent the elites of the fifth year to compete in a friendly tournament between the four great academies. Since Liwa had just graduated and joined the Dragon Knight troop, our academy’s strength had been greatly diminished. When the competition ended, our school was ranked last. The principal was furious; he reviewed our current teaching methods and found them unsatisfactory. He held meetings for two days trying to find ways to improve your combat strength. Finally, we decided to send you guys directly into battle. Over there, you will be baptised by the blood and flames, allowing you to become even stronger. Only by participating in a true war will you understand that the more time you spend training, the less you have to fear during a battle.”
I secretly thought to myself, “Huh, this is all bullshit. In truth they just want to uphold the academy’s reputation. Honestly, I really don’t want to go; I am afraid of confronting the beast clan. I shuddered just thinking about what would happen if father brought his beamon army to the battle. While I was interested in seeing the demon clan, that was just to compare their Fallen Angel to mine.”
The vice principal said, “Oh Layson, you should go back to your dorm and prepare yourself. Although you have recovered most of your powers, the injuries you had were not light. You should try and fully recover as soon as possible. Also, please restrain yourselves more in school. Especially around the teachers. If they see you, it would be very difficult for me to help you guys out.”
Seeing the vice principal’s shrinking silhouette, I said to Jisue: “Rest assured, this time, I will definitely return safe and sound.”
Jisue nodded and said: “The sky is dark; I should go back.”“I’ll walk you home.” I replied.
I walked Jisue all the way to the entrance of the Duke’s mansion. After making sure that she had safely reached the mansion through the courtyard, I returned to school thinking deeply.
It seemed that my destiny was not to attend school. Over the terms, I only attended class for two months, and now I am leaving again. If I meet father during the war, should I attack him? Grandmother’s death has always pained me deep down in my heart. I will get my revenge for her death one day. Even if he is my father, I will never forgive him for what he has done. My identity may now be that of a beastman spy, but I will make my own decisions. I refuse to be controlled by anybody. I am independant, I will only do what I want.
M2: Italics is internal thought monologue
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, one week had passed. During this week Jisue and I were inseparable, only reluctantly parting at night. Our lovers prattle continued on for hours uninterrupted. We were stuck together like glue.
Before I left, I visited Sister Zhuang so that she could take off the bracelet she gave me. Since the bracelet had no effect on dark magic, it was useless to me. I gave it to Jisue, in return she gave me a black breastplate. It was an artifact that had been passed down for generations by her father. Even though it weighed next to nothing, it had an extremely sturdy defense. It could be joined to any light leather armours, so I can wear it easily while showing off the muscles on my robust arms. Together with Black Sable, I gave off quite the intimidating aura.
……
The Vice Principal called, “Everyone assemble.”
The 100 students who had signed up to aid the frontline quickly lined up in the field. Every one of them wore high class white armor that the school prepared for us. At the vice principals’ command we formed a cross formation, with the vice principal in the front. He shouted, “Little brats and little girls of Sky City Academy, soon, all of you will participate in this war, to become the future pillars of our school! Let us eliminate our enemies, and let our blood boil for the sake of defending our homeland!”
His words instantly aroused everyone’s fighting spirit, everyone in the team was shouting “Kill the enemies!!!”
The vice principal said: “Very well, let us depart, the Dragon Knight Squadron is waiting for us. To be able to fight alongside them is a great honor, now march!”
Everyone shouted in unison: “Forward!”
We marched in unison, following the vice principal as we travelled through the city, finally reaching the city entrance. We then marched a short distance to a field where ten dragon knights were waiting upon their dragons. They were charged with protecting and delivering additional soldiers and the needed supplies to the battlefront. The supplies consisted of all kinds of defensive equipments and arrows, while the soldiers consisted of eleven hundred guards and us students. Since these supplies and reinforcements were much needed at the battlefield, Dragon Knights were assigned to protect them from ambushes and prevent them from getting lost.
For many students, it was their first time seeing a Dragon knight, so naturally they were all very excited. Some started to boast loudly about their accomplishments, hoping the Dragon Knights would notice them. While others quietly set the Dragon Knights as their goal, hoping to become one through their own strength.
The whole team had completely assembled, Jiyan was standing next to me; she had coaxed and pestered the vice principal unceasingly to let her stand by my side. All the other students were very jealous, but I just secretly mourned in my heart. The academy prepared horses for us. My horse was of course, Black Dragon, the vice principal arranged for me to be in the back of the formation, while Jiyan was on my left.
After travelling around a hundred miles away from the capital, Jiyan asked, “Layson, did your injuries recover?”
I replied plainly: “Almost. What do you want from asking about it?”
Jiyan glared at me, “Why, can’t I just ask without a reason? Don’t forget, I’m here to supervise on behalf of Jisue. If you treat me badly, I’ll tell Jisue and she’ll ignore you.”
Geez I really can’t understand her. I had to get this straight, “ Sister what exactly do you want? You insisted that you ride next to me, instead of joining the female team, making me the enemy of every single male in this group. Just look at their eyes, every single one of them looks like those of a tiger or wolf.”
Jiyan chuckled softly and said, “Are you scared? Why do you treat me like this? Well, anyways I’m purposefully acting like this, and there is nothing you can do about it.” Her smile was like that of a hundred flowers in bloom. Although her beautiful smile stunned me, her words made my face go stiff. I looked to the side, ignoring her. After all, Jiyan was an unsurpassed beauty, I couldn’t let her looks move her heart, or how could I face Jisue?
The day passed very quickly, and it was soon time to set up camp. The vice principal and the chiliarch of the eleven hundred soldier troop talked to each other for a while before deciding on an area to set up our encampment. They finally decided upon a clearing in a closeby forest. The Dragon Knights didn’t even look at us, the just rested by the edges of the clearing, making sure that there were no threats to us.
Everyone sat around the campfire, as it warmed us down to our bones. Jiyan sat down next to me and took out a small box from her bag and passed it to me saying, “This is for you, it’s something good~”
I received the box from her, opened it and took a look inside. Inside was surprisingly, a delicate pastry! I frowned and said: “Thank you, but I can’t accept this, you should eat it yourself.”
Jiyan curled her lips, turning to me and saying, “this was personally made by Jisue, if you don’t want it then forget it, give it back.” She reached out and tried to take it back.
The moment I heard that Jisue made it, I immediately kept the box of pastry to my side, and said: “Since Jisue gave me this, how can I let you take it back?”
Jiyan did not tease me any further, and she promptly took out a piece of fruit from her bag and began to eat. I carefully put a small piece of the pastry in my mouth. The pastry had a slight aroma of rose, and the fragrance quickly spread throughout my mouth. It was impossible to call this pastry anything but delicious.
When Jiyan looked at me, her eyes showed a trace of gentleness.
After everyone had finished eating, the vice principal instructed us to return to our tents. I smiled at Jiyan asking, “Do you wish to sleep with me as well? If so, I won’t oppose you, hehe.”
Jiyan’s face flushed, and said while covering her face: “You have no shame.” However before running to her tent she said, “You look very good when you smile.”
I couldn’t help but shake my head after hearing what Jiyan said. I felt that Jiyan had changed a lot recently, she no longer felt like cold, proud, and aloof women she was when we first met. Instead she seemed to want to stay close to me. I should keep my distance from her, I don’t want to create another misunderstanding between Jisue and I.
I ducked into the tent, and Fenwan said to me, “Man you really did it, you killed two birds with one stone. You had Jisue, but you couldn’t give up on Jiyan either, and now you have two of the school’s top beauties. Impressive, impressive indeed.”
I attempted to slap him, but Fenwan blocked with his hands. I scolded while smiling: “Don’t talk nonsense, if Liwa heard of this, he would seek me out for a death match! Are you trying to kill me? Really there is nothing between Jiyan and I, she is just concerned about me because Jisue asked her to look after me. Do you think I wanted her to follow me everywhere? She annoys me to death, she wouldn’t let me get a moment to myself. The only times I got some privacy were when I went to the bathroom, and when I came here to sleep! She was stuck to me like a rice cake. She seemed really devoted to her ‘duties’ *sigh*.”
Fenwan chuckled with amusement, “That’s because Jiyan and her sister have a good relationship, so how could she explain it if you ran off with one of the other girls on the team”
I said. “Humph, do I look like that kind of person to you? Stop spreading baseless rumors, you are almost as bad as Fenyun!”
Speak of the devil, we heard Fenyun chuckling from outside the tent, “Who was gossiping about me? I bet it was all lies.” Fenyun lifted the curtain to the tent and entered. The tent was made for only one person, after Fenyun sat down, we could barely move a finger.
I replied, “I was talking about Fenwan’s ability to create rumors has almost reached your level.”
Fenyun looked surprised, staring at Fenwan, and said, “How come I was not informed of this brother? To think that you were secretly training in my peerless god level skill.” Fenyun’s comment made us immediately burst into laughter.
Fenwan softly said, “Too bad we don’t have any alcohol, if we did, we brothers could secretly drink a few glasses and enjoy ourselves.” He even belched after saying this.
I asked, “Since when did you become a drunkard? Is the taste of alcohol really that great?”
Fenwan nodded repeatedly and said, “Alchohol is an essential drink of life, the more you drink, the younger you become. Did you not know about this fact?
I shook my head, I have never enjoyed alcohol. I usually avoid the drink except for a few special occasions. The taste did not interest me, it just burned on the way down your throat, nothing that was particularly special.
Fenyun suddenly stuck half his body outside the tent without warning. We couldn’t see what he was looking at. Startled, Fenwan asked, “What are you doing?”
Fenyun came back inside and raised his index finger to his lips. He said, “Shhh, be quiet, look at this!” As he spoke, he held out a small flask in front of our eyes.
Fenwan’s eyes instantly brightened, and asked with delight and surprise: “Where did you get all that alcohol?”
Fenyun smiled smugly while saying, “Hehe, I’m in the magic department, so I requested someone in the class to bring some with him in an interspatial pouch. Hehe, what do you think? I’m pretty good at thinking ahead, right?”
Fenwan nodded repeatedly, snatching the wine flask from Fenyun. He said, “That is great, come, let us drink!” As he opened the flask, a rich sweet fragrance swept over us. Fenwan couldn’t hold himself back and he took a long swig from the flask. When he finished drinking, his face was full of glee and he exclaimed “Great!” He then passed the flask to me and said, “Here, have a drink!”
I was going to refuse, but looking into his ardent eyes, my heart softened, and I couldn’t refuse. I took the flask from him and took a swig. The alcohol burned my throat as I swallowed it and caused me to cough repeatedly. Fenyun smiled saying, “Layson Brother, am I seeing things? I can’t believe that a robust guy like you doesn’t even know how to drink!”
I smiled awkwardly and said, “Unlike you guys, I don’t drink myself into a stupor every day.” As I spoke, I felt a strong heat gush up from my stomach, heating my internal organs comfortably. I became excited, and I guided the heat to an injured meridian channel alongside some mad god chi. Unexpectedly, the previously fractured meridian channel was healed a little. I was pleasantly surprised, and drank a little more alcohol. Fenwan moaned, “Drink slowly, I didn’t bring that much!”
I said with a serious expression, “This wine seems to have a healing effect on my meridian channels, let me try again.” After taking another two gulps of the wine, I passed the flask to Fenyun and closed my eyes, training.
Using my own power, and that of the two sips of strong alcohol, in one night, I managed to dredge out a meridian. I was surprised, with that channel dredged, I had successfully recovered seventy percent of my original power.
The next morning, I woke up to Fenwan’s questions, “How was it? Was it helpful to your injuries?”
I nodded and replied, “I never even thought that alcohol could have this kind of effect, it actually healed one meridian channel, and recovered some of my powers.”
I immediately grabbed Fenyun’s shoulder and sincerely said, “Brother, thank you.”
Fenyun laughed and said: “Since we are brothers, there is no need to say anything, let’s go, we have to depart soon, let’s quickly pack up the tent.”
……
Although I had insulted Jiyan last night, it seemed as if she had forgotten about it after sleeping. She still rode her bayhorse by my side, occasionally glancing at me. These glances made me feel extremely awkward. I frowned and asked, “Why do you keep looking at me? is there a flower on my face?”
Jiyan smiled and said, “There isn’t a flower, but your complexion seems to have improved. It even seems like your skin has been moisturized.”
I didn’t dare tell her that I recovered my meridian channels using alcohol, as alcohol was strictly forbidden on this trip. So I plainly said, “I just recovered my powers a little last night.”
Jiyan was delighted and said, “That is great, you should continue! Recovering your powers is the most important thing at the moment.” She seemed to be more excited than I was, she really was a women who worshiped power. But was that really the case?
TL: words in italics and bold were meant to be there. It was not by me nor my editors.
After 10 days of camping, I had drunk half of Fenyun’s wine. In this period of time I had miraculously recovered all of my powers. I was quite satisfied, I had recovered all of my meridian channels and my body was filled to the brim with power. Fenyn and the others said that just my presence emitted a powerful aura.
Every night I would train a considerable amount of my Mad God and Demonic Arts. Fenwan said that I was a nutcase, training everyday. However he didn’t know that the best way for me to rest was to train. During these training sessions I did not hope to breakthrough any levels, I just wished to help my previously injured meridian channels get stronger, and consolidate my tier three Demonic and Mad God arts. Only by solidifying the basics is improvement possible.
Since we traveled in a carriage, our journey, which usually takes twenty days, took us about a month. We finally arrived at the fort, Stelu Fort, which was built at the edge of Stelu City. The commanding officer of this fort was Liwa’s father, Dragon General Liwo. According to the vice principal, this base had a total of 60 Dragon Knights, including the ten who escorted us here. Making this the largest stronghold of the Dragon Empire. There were 10 infantry corps, five cavalry corps, 5 heavy cavalry corps, and 8 magician corps. Each corp consisted of thirty thousand troops and the total number of all the corps together was close to one million people. One could say that the entirety of the Dragon Empire’s power was concentrated here. The remaining borders of the Dragon Empire were supervised by the reserve forces. As of now, there was an uninterrupted stream of reserves coming to the front lines.
Regarding individual fighting ability, humans weren’t only inferior to demons, but also inferior to beastmen – who were born natural fighters. However, since humans have powerful magicians as well as dragon knights as their shield, maintaining their advantage was an easy task.
The Dragon General Liwo welcomed us himself, along with Liwa who had just transferred here.
Liwo guided us to his mansion, and held magnificient welcoming feast for us. Naturally, Liwa sat with us, nobody would fight Liwa to sit next to Jiyan. I noticed that Jiyan treated me much better than she treated Liwa. Whenever he tried to approach her, she turned a cold shoulder.
The Vice Principal sat with all the high ranking officers of the army at the top of the hall. They were all graduates from Sky City academy, and from the way they conversed excitedly we could tell that our future prospects were not bad either.
I glanced at Liwa who had put all his body and mind onto Jiyan, and asked the question that had been pressing my mind the most, “Liwa, how’s the situation at the front-lines?”
Liwa stalled for a second before replying, “As of now there haven’t been any large scale battles yet, there have only been small probing attacks. However the beastmen tribe has sent their Beamon army forces to join the main army. If they initiate the attack, I’m afraid that we would have to dispatch some dragon knights to fend them off. But don’t worry, you all are my juniors, when the times comes, we will definitely arrange for easier opponents for you to handle.”
Besides I, who had sunk into deep thoughts and Jiyan, who was absent-minded and therefore wasn’t paying attention; all the other people thanked Liwa: “Thank you senior for taking care of us.”
Liwa asked Jiyan, “Why did the school send you guys to the frontlines?”
Jiyan rolled her eyes at him and asked, “Why would I know, ask the Vice Principal yourself.”
Liwa was rebuffed, he then said to everyone, “Everyone, feel free to eat anything, help yourself, I and my personal guard hunted these animals nearby and brought them back for the feast.
Fenwan asked: “Senior Liwa, I heard that you have already received a dragon’s recognition, and have become a real dragon knight, can you tell us about the gigantic dragons?”
Fenwan’s question immediately aroused everyone’s interest.
Liwa smiled, said humbly: “Actually it’s nothing much, you all will have a chance to see him soon, the dragon that has acknowledged me is a wind element high speed dragon, we rely on its’ speed to attack enemies, and it’s wings are it’s best weapon.”
A school member from the third year said: “I really admire you, senior, it would be great if in the future, we could also posses a giant dragon!”
Liwa laughed and said: “Not just you guys that hope so, the country hopes that even more so, the more dragon knights the stronger our dragon empire will become.” Liwa’s words revealed a intention that was a notch above others, although it didn’t say much about anything, but everyone can tell that he was arrogant from the look of his face.
(M2: SORRY THIS PARAGRAPH HAS TO BE EDITED AGAIN)Liwo arranged for us all to stay in the Stelu Fort. These quarters showed how important we were to the General. After five days of rest, we had our first taste of a real war.
The Vice Principal brought us to the top of the wall of the fort outside the city. Liwo stood beside us and continuously gave out orders. The fighters of the three great races blotted out the sky and covered the lands. The Vice Principal explained the battle to us “ Everyone, look closely, the main forces of the Beastman Tribe consist of Heavy Armor units to defend against attacks and Cheetahmen Assault Troops to attack. Their trump card is the Beamon Army and the Royal Beast Wild Lion Army. The Demon clan uses a combination of attacks from all kinds of races. Their most powerful soldiers are the Dark Magicians and Fallen Angels.
Liwo commanded his army, “Dispatch orders; the Third, Sixth and Eighth Infantry Units shall immediately go to support our left wing of heavy infantry. Second Light Cavalry Unit, charge, cut straight into the center of their Magician Unit. Fourth and Fifth Magician Units, support them with all your firepower!”
The battlefield was filled with all kinds of magical spells, flying out in all directions. The battle continued throughout the entire day. At the end of the day, our losses numbered 10,000, but the Demon-Beast Alliance suffered even larger losses. There seemed to be a tacit agreement that day not to send out each side’s trump cards.
Each of the 100 students that came to the battlefront, excluding me, where horrified. But It was not their fault, all of them were students younger than 20, who had never seen such a bloody scene. The fort was like a meat mincer, and deaths piled up outside the walls minute after minute. As the war had been going on for many years, there were next to no prisoners of war, those who didn’t make it back at the end of the day were likely dead.
I had killed hundreds of people with my own power, so I was used to seeing such gory scenes, and I didn’t mind seeing the slaughter going on below us. Even Jiyan who stood next to me, vomited multiple times and called me cold blooded.
The Vice Principal made us stand in formation, and said to us in a grave tone, “Today, you all experienced a real war. In a battle, being merciful to your enemy means you forfeit your life. Only by taking your opponent’s life as soon as possible will you survive. I spoke to Liwo during today’s battle, and tomorrow you all will participate in the war! I will not protect you! Whether you come back alive is up to your own strength!”
The vice principal speech caused a panic among the students, everyone realised that war is not a game; it is completely different from the drill training at school. Jiyan’s face had become deathly pale, I tried to reassure her saying, “Tomorrow, if you follow me, there won’t be any problems.”
Jiyan looked at me with confused eyes, but nodded lightly.
A student asked: “Vice principal, can we not participate in this war?”
The vice principal angrily shouted, “Do you think this is a game? Since you voluntarily to signed up, you should have prepared to participate in this battle. Right now, you aren’t a student of the Sky City academy, but also a unit of the Dragon Empire’s army, deployed to resist the invasion of foreigners! To be a coward is to be the most disgraceful and shameful person in the army! Do you understand? If someone ever asks of to be exempt from the war, they will immediately receive punishment equal to that of military law.” The Vice principal was red in the face as he finished his tirade. While he was harsh, I understood why he wanted us to participate in war. We could only experience real growth through real battles.
After dispersing, I called my brothers, Fenyun and Fenwan, to my tent, and said to them: “Tomorrow will be our first time participating in a real battle, make sure you guys do not panic. Remember, as we start to engage the enemy, quickly separate to my sides, I will handle the enemies in the front, while you guys will be responsible for those on the two sides, while Jiyan will support us with magic from the rear. Attack boldly! The Vice Principal was right cannot show any mercy.”
Fenwan nodded and said, “Boss, we will definitely come back alive tomorrow!”
Fenyun who had been larky the entire trip also became serious, he said: “We three brothers will survive this together!”
Fenwan and Fenyun were truly sincere to me, of course I will do what it takes to protect them. Jiyan is Jisue’s sister, and also a beauty, I will also protect her. But I can’t afford protect anyone else, the others in the class must survive by relying on their own strength. With my powers now, there should be nothing to fear of as long as the Demon-Beast Armies don’t dispatch their strongest troops- the trumps cards.
I walked outside, appreciating the pure moonlight, suddenly, I heard the sound of an argument close by, listening carefully, I overheard Jiyan and Liwa talking fiercely.
-end-
