[Seryanna's point of view]

After Alkelios left, I was laying down on my bed, with the thin blanket being the only piece of fabric covering my body, when a sudden headache struck me. I felt dizzy and my temples pulsed, but I thought it must have been from exhaustion after we did it so many times.

There was one more healing potion on the table, so I gulped it down and laid back on my bed.

My eyes felt like they were burning and my stomach was heating up as well. I didn't panic because I didn't feel in danger at all, however, something was happening to me...

I blamed it on exhaustion and maybe a slight case of potion indigestion, but when I opened my eyes, I saw everything a bit blurry. A flap of wings caught my attention, and when I looked out the window, I saw Kleo in her beast form, a beautiful black dragoness, as she flew away from the Palace.

Is she with Alkelios? I wondered and then closed my eyes.

After that, I fell asleep.

When I woke, it was already close to noon. I opened my eyes and the blurriness was gone. I felt refreshed and filled with energy.

I must have been tired. I thought and then looked around.

The scent of love-making was still strong in the air around me. I giggled to myself and then got up from the bed. Later that day I would have to clean the sheets. Not only did they smell now, but they also had a small stain of blood on it from my first time.

As I walked to the bucket of water, I washed my face and neck, but then... I noticed something strange in my reflection.

What's this? I thought.

Surprised, I got up and rushed over to my sword and took it out of the scabbard. Using my cleaning cloth, I wiped it a few times and then I looked into the blade. On it was reflected a sight I never thought I was going to see...

“Red eyes...” I said and gulped.

When a dragon experienced their Awakening, the first thing to change would be their eyes. They would turn slit and most of the times even change color. Mine were now slit and red, just like those of any other Awakened dragon.

As I lowered the sword, I was happy, but I couldn't figure out how or why...

My gaze fell on the bed and then I remembered what Alkelios told me one time.

Two conditions out of four were met... Then... I met the remaining two? What were they? I thought and then remembered what Kataryna told me about the Awakening process as well, Awakening means to be true to yourself...

Almost immediately, the answer to my question came to my mind, and I realized what those two other conditions were.

I laughed when I thought about it. I laughed hard.

When I stopped, I was looking up at the ceiling with tears of happiness flowing down my cheeks.

Alkelios, you foolish little human... You are definitely underestimating how great of a man you really are... I thought.

After all, if it wasn't for him, I might have never Awakened at all.

The other two conditions for my Awakening were simple. The first one was about allowing myself to break free from the cage I locked myself into, the world of politics, of laws and rules, of orders and dictated justice. I completed this one when I stepped over the King's supreme orders and allowed myself to be taken by Alkelios even though I was promised to Draejan. Actually, that man had no claim over me right now...

The last one was probably even harder... To accept that someone could love me and wish to be with me despite being an Unawakened dragoness. However, I had to be 100% sure inside my heart that this was true and proven in ALL ways. Alkelios did this by breaking the laws, risking death or life imprisonment, all to be together with me for this one night... He even proposed to me, so by all means... the one I was actually engaged to was him, not Draejan. The nobles might see the latter as my fiance, but in truth... Alkelios overwritten him tonight.

Yes... I belong to Alkelios now, and he's mine... and... I won't let anyone change this FACT. I thought and summoned with ease a small fireball.

I didn't even need to use a chant this time... because this was my element.

[Alkelios' point of view]

“Are we there yet?” I asked.

“If you ask that one more time, I'm tossing you off my back.” Kleo grumbled.

After my talk with the King of Albeyater, which ended surprisingly well... in the sense that I still had my head on my shoulders, I called over Kleo as we planned and then flew off together with her out of Drakaria. Since both her and Kataryna were recognized as part of the Third Princess' party by now, the guards didn't raise any questions regarding who they were and where they were going.

As such, they were able to take me away from there with ease.

Now, two days later, this was Kleo's second time flying, and we had the Seculiar Forest within our sight. In half an hour or so, we would reach it.

“Are you ready?” Kataryna asked.

“We did the last checks this morning. Everything is in here.” I patted the [Purse] ring, which chant wasn't all that easy to learn as I initially thought it would be.

At least Kleo had a blast with my mistakes.

“I wasn't talking about that... But here.” she then placed her hand on my chest.

I nodded and smiled.

“Thanks to you, I was able to wake up... and I believe I did the right thing with Seryanna... Now all that's left to do is become strong enough to wipe the dirt with Draejan.” I said with smirk.

“Good then.” she nodded.

About twenty minutes later, we were finally above the forest. Indeed, flying was far better than using Khosinni.

“Why didn't we do this in the first place?” I asked as I got ready to jump off.

“Because I didn't want to hurt sister's feelings... She's unawakened, you know?” Kleo replied.

“Dragons, especially dragonesses are very mindful about who they carry on their back. Besides, you two never asked.” Kataryna replied and shrugged.

“I see... Makes sense...” I nodded.

“Oh, before you go.” Kataryna stopped and then pulled me towards her.

She wrapped her arms around me and covered us with her wings.

“A little farewell gift.” she told me with a smile and then kissed me.

I was surprised by this sudden 'attack', but since it was her... I accepted it. When our lips parted, she pushed me off Kleo's back.

“Come back strong, young whelp! Make me tingle with excitement the next time I see you!” she shouted.

“I will!” I made a thumbs up and then I fell through the trees similar to a cartoon character... “Ouch! Omph! Ow! Ugh! Not the face! Ouch! Gah! Ouch! Omph! Ugh! Owie!”

THUD!

“Are you alright?” Kleo asked a bit worried.

I probably hit every single branch on the way down...

“I'm alright! My face dampened the impact with the ground!” I replied.

[Kataryna's point of view]

“Let's fly away... He'll be alright.” I told her.

“Are you sure? I'm a bit worried.” Kleo replied.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Besides, we two need to go train as well.” I told her.

“Huh?! Why do I need to train?” she asked surprised.

“Because the Third Princess needs every bit of fighting power she can get her hands on. Also, as long as you are still weak like you are now... Everyone will kick you around for being a black scale. You need to prove them that they can't do that. After all, you are a Draketerus as well, right?” I replied.

Kleo remained silent afterwards and continued to fly us back towards the capital. Now that Alkelios picked up his training seriously, I was thinking of training this little girl until he returned. Still, it made very curious to see how much he was going to rise in strength in the next several months.

Show me something fun, Alkelios... I thought in my mind as I smirked.

[Alkelios' point of view]

After I dusted my clothes, I changed into my newly acquired enchanted Draconitium Armor and equipped my enchanted Draconitium Sword. The stats on these things were ridiculous, but what I was about to do required this ridiculous factor...

Taking a deep breath, I shouted at the top of my lungs: “I WISH TO SURVIVE ALL THE DANGERS IN THIS FOREST! I WISH TO LEVEL UP AS FAST AS I POSSIBLY CAN BY KILLING MONSTERS AND CRAFTING ITEMS IN THIS FOREST! I WISH IN THE NEXT 9 MONTHS TO REACH AND GO PAST LEVEL 1000! YOU HEARD ME?! NOW COME AT ME! SEND YOUR WORST!”

When I finished, I gulped and clenched the hilt of the sword.

“RAWR!”

“GRAWR!”

“KYAKAKA!”

Countless roars were all of sudden raised to the sky. The ground trembled and the air stiffened around me. It was like the whole forest heard me and was now answering my wishes.

In front of me... I saw a horde moving in...

I gulped.

“Here they come...” I told myself and took a deep breath.

[Seryanna's point of view]

One week after Alkelios left and Kleo started training with Kataryna, I was on my way to the Third Princess when Draejan suddenly called me out from behind.

“Sir Seryanna! A pleasure to see you after all this time!” he said, but I didn't turn around.

I stopped and looked down at the floor. Inside me there was a vengeful fire that wished to burn him to cinders, so I was doing my best to calm it down. With my Awakening in progress, I was a bit on the edge, and looking at this bastard's face was the last thing I wanted to do.

“Sir Draejan, a pleasure it is not, I will assure you of this. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to be going.” I said in a slightly annoyed tone of voice.

“Wait a second.” he said and placed his hand on my shoulder.

I froze on the spot and clenched my jaw.

“I'm just going to tell you this out of the goodness of my heart, but you should forget that worthless human. He's nothing when compared to us. You are destined for a place by my side leading the great Brekkar Army and turning it into a gem of the Albeyater Kingdom. A human like him would have only brought you shame.” he spat.

I closed my eyes for a moment and placed my hand over his.

“I was certain you would come to your senses... Ungh!” he said and then groaned.

Of course it would hurt, I clenched his hand and applied heat on it. Turning around slowly, I looked back at him and saw what a worthless dragon he was.

I can't believe I was afraid of him... A rank higher mine? As if I care anymore... I thought.

“S-Sir Seryanna?” he blinked surprised as he looked at my red slit eyes.

“Draejan... I'm telling you this out of the 'kindness' of my heart. If you dare to touch me again... I'm going to kill you.” I then let go of his hand and left.

I was certain my sudden change was both a surprise and a shock to him, but I didn't care. As long as I was within the Palace and had Kataryna as my friend, this dragon would not dare try anything foolish.

[9 months and 1 day after Alkelios left the Palace]

[Alkelios' point of view]

“Its Bitsy BOOM!” I shouted at the top of my lungs as I unleashed the devastating attack from the top of the clouds.

The sphere of about 3 meters in diameter of bright red fire flew out of my clawed hand and headed towards the center of the army I targeted on these barren lands. I was smirking when I unleashed it... It was one of my most powerful attacks, and also my most deadliest one yet.

“I'm quite curious to see what it will do...” I told myself.

Too bad their armors and materials will turn to dust after the boom... I thought and slightly regretted it, but it wasn't like I didn't warn them.

They were a bunch of insect-like creatures who arrived on the north shores of the continent all of a sudden. I knew this place was barren, but the monsters here were no joke. All of them were past level 700. Unfortunately, because I used this place to hunt for materials and tasty meats, I ended up almost wiping out the entire fauna... Thus, granting them a free passage to Albeyater. Oops!

Anyway, when these monsters arrived, I first tried to negotiate with them. I flew over and had a little chat with their commander, who was speaking in a broken draconian dialect. I told them that beyond this place was the Seculiar Forest which belonged to Albeyater Kingdom. Continuing with their armies like that would only breach their borders... Apparently that was their intention... Bloody bastards tried to kill me afterwards. If I didn't wear my armor, I would have been dead!

Well... so much for their army, the whole 40000 of them.

The attack I launched at the army was aimed at their center. Of course, I was outside of its 25 km range, to be more precise, I was flying through the air at about 2 km altitude and a distance of around 30 km away from their vanguard line.

“3... 2... 1...” I said as I counted down until the impact.

BOOOM!

The three containment domes were deployed instantly and the devastation caused by them could be seen quite clearly. It engulfed their whole army in the blink of a second and ravaged the barren lands, although... there wasn't much that could be destroyed here anyway.

To be noted, the blast also included the majority of their boats too, but the survivors would probably die out because of the radiation. Luckily for me, I was wearing lead underwear. It was extra precaution, but they were damn itchy against my scales.

“That was... awesome.” I said.

I held no regret over wiping out the army of insects. If I didn't do it, Seryanna and the rest would have engaged them, but until that happened, they would have reached Tomeron, where my friend Brekkar was currently living. The number of dead dragons as a result of this sudden attack would have certainly spelled out great losses for the kingdom.

Now, from the great army of 40000 bugs, there wasn't enough even to send out a scout force. I seriously doubted they could even return to their homeland, wherever that was.

With a shrug, I was about to leave, when suddenly...

“Shiny?” I asked.

Yup... The explosion revealed a hidden deposit of minerals. Several of them actually...

“SHINY!” I screamed and flew towards it.

Of course, I changed armor mid-flight to the anti-radiation armor I had developed in my free time just in case I ever had to use this skill. I also took out a Draconitium-Dregaryum Alloy Pickaxe I had created with my blacksmithing skill.

Well, there was no rush to get back to Drakaria. I could reach it in 4 to 5 days, depending on how much it would take me to pack all of my things, but until then... it was mining time!

Yup! There was no shame in admitting the fact that I was a hoarder gamer... half-dragon!