Draconic King of Shadows

Gasps resounded in the hall as the scene unfolded before their eyes, but Damion nonchalantly pulled out his laser blade, continuing forward without much care as the Mech crashed behind him.

"Dead," he voiced out again, this time, the students close to him heard what he said.

What they didn't know was that Damion received Exp for every Mech he fell. He had taken down 6 Mechs, including the one controlled by Lyra earlier, netting him 300 Exp in total. Now he was just 500 Exp away from Level 5.

Damion saw this as a godsend opportunity to farm Exp, and he didn't hesitate to do so. He didn't know how hard it might be to get a chance to level up, so he was very finicky about this sort of thing.

The two students he was approaching took a step back subconsciously, fear and shock masking their faces. They had seen a lot of ruthless people, but Damion's actions weren't just making sense to them. Adding the influence of Dragon's Authority, it resulted in the abnormal fear they felt towards him.

His aim for doing this eluded them. They had basically passed the test already, so why? Plus, the fact that Raymond hadn't interfered simply made them dread Damion more. It wasn't like they were going to die, but their minds didn't seem to register that thought at that moment.

Lyra stood to the side, hesitating. She knew butting her head into this would merely incur Damion's ire and lead to a disastrous situation, so she kept to mute. However, seeing Damion going for the rest of the students without reason struck a chord in her, and she made a decision to confront him.

As soon as she took a step forward, though, Damion froze. She stopped right after, and both of them turned at the same time to stare at the door.

There was silence for a moment before Raymond strode in, a frown etched on his face. He stopped just short of a Mech, staring down derisively at the metal machine.

He squinted his eyes, his stare intensifying as if trying to bore a hole through the metal. He reached out with an arm and pulled the Mech, flipping it onto its side. A minute later a student stumbled out of it, gasping for breath with a sweat drenched cloth and flushed face.

"Help out the others. The class is dismissed," Raymond ordered, turned around abruptly, and left.

The two students sighed in relief and looked up, expecting to see the defeated look on Damion's face when he stepped out of his Mech. Alas, they found him standing before them, his laser blades piercing towards their Mechs and destroying their cores.

They gasped, their jaws dropping as they… well, dropped to the ground, bouncing off the interior of their Mechs. The crash of the two Mechs attracted attention, and the students around shuddered.

Damion breathed out deeply, opening the hatch of his Mech and leaving.

"I might be good at this, but using a Mech sucks," Damion said out loud. "I didn't even get the chance to use my Ability."

Shaking his head lightly, he began to walk away, preparing to complete his third Daily Quest and find something more productive to do. Staying here for just one more second made him uncomfortable.

As he walked by, Damion found the students avoiding his gaze, looking down in defeat and fear, mostly fear. His display of strength had made them all afraid, after all, everyone in the Advanced Exosuit Prototyping Class had weak abilities and depended on Mechs to fight. But seeing an abilityless person defeat them in the thing they prided themselves in was quite hurtful.

Damion reached the door and pushed open, leaving the hall before taking a right turn. A flight of stairs led him up, and he followed it to a metal door, pushing it open to find himself on the roof of the building.

A strong, cool breeze hit Damion, and he took a step forward, closing his eyes and taking in the fresh air, a smile unknowingly creeping up his face. He had not experienced this calm feeling in a very long time.

A few minutes passed in silence, before the sound of the door opening behind him broke the serenity, and the footsteps closing in disturbed his peace.

Damion's eyes snapped open, and he asked without looking back to see who it was, "What did you want to talk about?"

Lyra's footsteps slowed as she approached Damion, her eyes fixed on his back. "I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier," she said, her voice wavering slightly under the pressure of Dragon's Authority.

Damion's gaze remained fixed on the horizon, his expression unreadable. "What about it?" he asked.

Lyra hesitated, unsure of how to bring up the subject and not piss Damion at the same time, because from what she had seen, he wasn't violent, but wouldn't hesitate to use violence if necessary.

"Why did you attack those students earlier, we had already passed the test, so why?"

Damion tensed slightly, his mind working to spin a believable lie. He couldn't tell her that he was getting stronger that way, it'll make him look stupid and ridiculous.

He cursed under his breath when he failed to come up with something, raising a hand to rub the bridge of his nose.

Lyra became uncomfortable. She felt like she had asked something she shouldn't have, and just when she was about to apologize, Damion's reply came.

"They were going to attack me," his voice came out in almost a whisper.

Lyra opened her mouth in shock after hearing that, but she reigned in her curiosity and didn't ask any more questions.

"Is that what you wanted to talk about?" Damion asked, his voice carrying a hint of fatigue.

Lyra quickly shook her, even though she knew Damion wasn't seeing her. "No, what I wanted to know was if you already have teammates for the Training Program?"

Damion raised a brow, and a frown appeared on his face.

"Teammates?" He repeated. "I'm hearing this for the first time. Since when were teammates needed?"

"Oh! It might not have been said, but when things like this come up, it's always best to have teammates to rely on. You never can tell when you might need the help of people, because no one can survive by himself, everyone needs people around them."

"...I see… am I your first recruit, or you already have some people with you?"

"Actually, I was thinking of creating a team and decided to approach you first."

Damion smiled. "I'll think about your offer."

"If you also need anything, you can tell me," Lyra responded with a smile.

Damion squinted his eyes, then dipped his hand into his pocket. He accessed the system, opening his storage and retrieving the Green Rose Poison Heart Core into the hand in his pocket.

"In fact, I might need something," he tossed the Orb over to Lyra, and she skillfully caught it. "Can you make something out of it?"

Lyra didn't immediately reply but studied the core in her hands. It felt warm to the touch, and she felt refreshed just holding unto it.

She had the urge to ask where he got it from, but she refrained from doing so after seeing Damion's slight frown.

She seemed to remember his question and hurriedly nodded her head. "Give me one week, and I'll be done."

Damion nodded, moved close to her and, without her permission, transferred all the credits he had over to her. "Then we're done here," he said. "We'll meet at this place exactly one week from now."

He abruptly turned around and walked away, while Lyra was still staring in shock, climbed over the Parapet, and leaped down.

[Daily Quest Complete]