Leaving the guild was easy enough, and Mash went to a nearby park. The location was familiar, it was where he spent a lot of time as a kid. Despite being relatively small, it was his favorite place to run to whenever he was training. It was towards the center of town on the border between the noble district and knight district. His family lived in the knight district, it being where most of the kingdom’s army men lived. This Park was a clearing that separated the two districts, and he went to his usual spot. It was a small opening, in the center rested a shallow pond, one he could easily walk through. There was nothing else in this park but open space, which would be perfect to grow his wings.

He didn’t need them to be as large as before and opted for a sleeker design. Despite being smaller than earlier, they were still bigger than he was. Rather than the snake’s wings from earlier, he molded his new design after an insect. Growing four straight wings, akin to those he’s seen on dragonflies. The wings ended up disfigured by scales and scars, which made them even more horrific than the larger ones from earlier. If he had made something like this before, the knights likely would have attacked.

Dragonflies though, were sacred creatures in most places and the guards might have been apprehensive to strike. The creatures received their name long before the rise of the kingdom, and with it had been treated with significance. Names had power and having the title “dragon” gave them a certain level of divinity. They came to his mind since they were already flying around the pond. A spatter of blue and green insects, giving color to the air. Imitating their flight, he started moving his wings in a similar motion.

He lifted off the ground with surprising ease and shot upwards towards the sky. He heard shouts from the nearby streets as he left the park. Ignoring them, he reveled in the freedom of flight. He just flew upwards for now, wanting to penetrate the clouds. He didn’t know how high up they were, but it didn’t matter, not with his persist skill allowing him to fly endlessly. He flew faster, as he got more used to the wings. He didn’t know how long it had taken, but he noticed another problem.

He was finding it harder to breathe, but he didn’t understand why. Others with flight skills could certainly fly higher than he did, and he never heard of such problems. He could still breathe and decided to push onward. With all his improvements and changes his body would be able to handle the strain. He reached the clouds, and crashed through them, raising his hands to brace for the impact. He knew that he would be able to pass through them, but they looked more solid as he drew closer. He was expecting some resistance, but he passed through them easily enough.

The world felt different from this height, the clouds encompassing everything below. The sun shone on him unobstructed, but he felt strangely cold. He figured it would be warmer, but instead shivered a little as he hovered above the clouds. The clouds below seemed like an ocean; his flight having sent visible ripples through the mass. He closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath, although it proved impossible to get a lungful of air at this height. It took him a second, but he managed to regulate his breathing. He was struggling but could manage now.

Opening his eyes, he took in the scene in its entirety. He just stared blankly, realizing that he wasn’t alone at this height. In the distance he could see small specs and could make out the flapping of their wings. Those were just at the edges of his vision; his attention was drawn to the creature flying directly above him. it took up his entire vision and its beating wings seemed to shake the sky itself. It was a dragon.

Mash stared at the creature in wonder, regretting his class decisions for the first time. The creature’s scales were painted in a metallic cobalt shade, and they warped the light around them to give the monster a distinct outline. Its wingspan was easily bigger than the city below, its head was larger than the biggest houses. Having thick arms and legs, like a human. Although, its hands and feet were not similar, each hand having seven fingers that sprouted long claws. The claws were longer than trees. The tail was spiked with horns and extended far into the distance. It could crush the town merely by descending, doubting that any other being could stop it.

Mash just stared motionlessly as the creature flew by him, grateful that he wasn’t relying on his persist skill yet. Rather than fear, it was inferiority which made him wait for the creature to move past. He had passed up on the dragon observer class because he wanted to surpass them but that seemed foolish now. Even a taste of this being’s power would be more than he could imagine. Mash watched as the creature flew beyond his sight before descending, knowing that he was not ready for this place. It was the domain of creatures beyond the world, and he didn’t know if he would ever get there but would try.

His persist skill triggered during his descent, and he needed to find a safe place to pass out. Guessing that his friends would be at Jill’s house, he thought that would work. He landed in front of the shop, crashing into the door as he lost consciousness, relieved to hear voices from the inside.

Waking up, he found himself lying in a couch. He was in Jill’s living room, recognizing the familiar space. Getting up, he noticed that everyone else was in the room. He recognized all the faces in the room, and grinned as he told them of his story.

“You won’t believe it, but I saw a dragon. It was enormous, easily bigger than a city and it- “

“You did what! Are you crazy?”

Red was screaming, a mixture of indignation and rage intermingled in her voice. He didn’t understand what the problem was, his earlier class had been a signal that observing the beings were unlikely to cause trouble. Also, it’s not like he knew that dragons would be there, but she had more to say and continued.

“What could you or anyone have done if it decided to attack? Don’t just casually talk about it like a new shirt, you were seconds away from getting everyone killed!”

“Look, I didn’t know it would be there, and it’s not like I could make it do anything. Stop freaking out, I saw it fly away.”

He knew that he wasn’t being fair to her, but didn’t care, he was excited to share his experience and was rudely shut down. She looked slightly apologetic but didn’t apologize, and he took the opportunity to describe his experience more accurately. He even made a wooden figurine of the dragon but couldn’t capture its majesty in the slightest. Unable to add the fine details necessary and his markings blemishing the creation resulted in a rather pathetic imitation. It was good enough though, and everyone was listening attentively.

After the story, they made and ate dinner. Jill’s mom happy with the surplus of nice ingredients. The other’s must have bought nicer food since they would soon be getting an influx of gold. It was bit of a celebration for leveling and completing the dungeon, and he ate his fill of the food. There was no lizard meat available, instead there was a lot more high quality meat like cow and goat. He was happy to appease the hunger, and rested comfortably, telling Jill’s siblings about their adventure while waiting for the auction. They left early, not wanting to miss out on any of their items selling.

The sun was down now, and not many people were on the streets. Walking, Mash remembered to talk to Jill about her siblings. Speaking with confidence, he offered her the advice he wished he received when he was younger.

“You should tell your siblings to allocate their free stats. It helped me get a better class, and I think it would help them too.”

“That’s not a bad idea, I can talk to my parents about it later.”

Jill replied while nodding in agreement. They were walking slowly but came to a complete stop as they noticed Red lagging behind. Examining her expression, Mash knew that he had done something wrong. He waited for her response, as did the others. Eventually she seemed to organize her thoughts and started speaking very cautiously, sounding like she was trying to calm him down.

“You should brace yourself for this. Well, this is another one of those things that only nobles would know. So, when kids use their free stats early and break through certain thresholds, they are likely to seriously damage their mind or body. It causes them to lose control of themselves in one way or another. It’s true that you could get a better class, but the risk is too high.”

Mash needed to stop himself from shaking, her words having brought up some unwanted questions. He considered the damage he did to his own mind before, but only thought that meditation was the problem. Now, it seemed like he did some damage, back when he was a kid. What would happen to him if he had problems even before using his free stats? He knew that his mindset when killing Jason was unnatural, but what happened afterwards. Was the damage healable, did his meditation help or make it worse? His frustration grew with each question, with his inability to answer any of them. He asked Red some questions desperately; he needed some way out or someone to blame.

“Why is that hidden? What could you gain from something like that?”

His voice was a mess of emotions, anger and fear mixing randomly. He was afraid of the potential damage, and what it would do to their group now that the others knew. He was angry at the nobles, at the kingdom from keeping the information from the public. Eager to find somewhere to direct his anger, he stared at Red, waiting for any response. There was a long stretch of silence before she found the words.

“It was done for two reasons, as far as I know. Apparently, everyone knew in the past, but many families would risk their children’s future in hopes of getting them a powerful class. That just caused chaos, where those who took the risks would find power, but also lose their minds, which was obviously a bad combination. The other reason was to maintain the order in society. Nobles have other methods to get powerful classes, and most people are unable to match them. When commoners used this method, there were powerful individuals who resented the nobles and caused several wars. The current system has been in place for hundreds of years now.”

She was trying to calm Mash down, but it didn’t work. Unintentionally, she gave Mash someone to blame. It sounded like an elaborate scheme to maintain the current class standings. They have methods to get better classes and should have shared those with the commoners. The only reason they didn’t was to maintain their worthless positions. Without even knowing of Mash, they limited his classes. He could blame them for so much more than just his current issues. His frustration building with each thought, the fear being burned away with anger.

Slowly he began taking deep breaths, needing to calm himself down. Even if his anger was justified, it wouldn’t do him any good right now. It wouldn’t accomplish anything, just serving to ruin his day. He wanted to meditate, to calm his emotions, but held himself back, knowing that it would do more damage. There was another concern that he needed to air out, his friend’s cautious expressions reminding him that he needed to hear their responses. Steadying his voice as much as possible, he asked them a question. His voice still shook, unable to control all his emotions.

“What do you guys think?”