Beneath the Red Dragon

”Erikson, what are you daydreaming about in class again?”

On the podium of the classroom, Teacher Natarili held a pointer, rapping it against the blackboard with severity, loudly rebuking him.

Erikson sat somewhat dazed in the classroom. He didn’t know why this room was called a classroom, but he just knew it was called a classroom.

He also didn’t know how many times he had come to this classroom, but he vaguely felt it was familiar, very familiar, familiar to the point of knowing Teacher Natarili’s name and character.

Familiar to the point of knowing the name of every juvenile dragon sitting in this classroom.

Erikson habitually lifted his paw, very small, so small that it was just like the other juvenile dragons obediently sitting behind their desks, still a soft pink little paw.

So he scratched his head and looked towards his teacher, Natarili.

”Answer my question, Erikson. If you were one day able to rule a giant dragon civilization, what kind of laws would you use to restrain the civilization, to shape the will of the civilization?”

A familiar thought flashed through Erikson’s mind, and without needing a moment’s thought, he replied, ”When I am able to rule a civilization, I would certainly be strong enough.”

”Then I would capture all those demons skilled at exploiting loopholes and weaving contracts in hell, and have them weave the most perfect laws for my realm, to use these to restrain my civilized realm.”

The golden dragon hatchling Erikson proudly spread his wings, demonstrating his ambition and wisdom to the surrounding female juvenile dragons.

The admiring gazes of the young ones around him greatly satisfied Erikson’s vanity.

With a loud bang, all the juvenile dragons couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

Teacher Natarili swung her pointer, looking coldly at this golden dragon, speaking in a chilling voice.

”Not bad, though you are very foolish, you do at least recognize your own foolishness, and use your power to subdue demons, using the strength of others.”

”But your foolishness lies in this aspect,” Natarili coldly said, ”The law is the embodiment of the ruler’s will to govern the nation. Without your own thoughts and will, what use are those demons? Where in the world is there a perfect law? There are only laws that are practical and suited to the present.”

”Without your own will and thoughts, no wonder your will is so weak, only barking aimlessly like a dog in heat, displaying your male instincts.”

Natarili coldly asked, ”I ask you again, if under your ’perfect’ laws there are still many officials breeding greed and corruption, what would you do?”

The golden dragon hatchling Erikson, both angry and indignant, said resolutely, ”I would kill them. I would use the noblest paladins as the representatives of the law, to execute all those officials!”

”Hell is the only destination for these greedy fellows!”

The righteous golden dragon hatchling said proudly, looking at the admiring eyes of the juvenile and female dragons around, he felt he was indeed capable.

”Human nature is eternally unchanging, greedy officials will always exist. Even if you kill them, you can never exterminate them entirely.”

”Then I shall continue killing, kill one if there is one, kill ten if there are ten, kill a hundred if there are a hundred, no matter how many, I will kill them all.”

”My future lifespan is nearly infinite. As long as I persist in killing, I will certainly achieve the effect I desire!” the golden dragon Erikson said proudly.

Bang,

The whip cracked loudly in the air, the teacher on the podium, Natarili, could no longer tolerate this self-righteous yet stubbornly foolish student, and screamed, ”Get out, get out of this classroom. After teaching you so much sociology and political history, this is the answer you give me?”

”Get out, and never again tell other dragons that I, Natarili, am your teacher, Erikson!”

The golden dragon Erikson left his seat in anger and grievance, sulking as he walked out of the classroom.

But outside the classroom was a void of chaos. As he opened the classroom door, the world reverted to chaos, taking Erikson along into the void of chaos.

In an instant, within the chaos, reincarnation occurred, and Erikson found himself sitting in the classroom once more, listening to Natarili teaching from the podium per piece of knowledge.

An inexplicable sense of familiarity struck Erikson’s heart once again, while the spirit of the ancestral golden dragon Erikson himself, unbeknownst, faded ever so slightly.

Yet these dragons outside were not enough to perceive such a subtle change, and they began to stand guard by the ancestral golden dragon Erikson, wary of Silver Dragon Chris, Bronze Dragon Gross, and Natarili escaping.

Time passed, and an hour went by. Initially, these dragons did not mind, only in the long silence did their hostility, unbeknownst to them, fade away like the spirit of the ancestral golden dragon Erikson.

Two hours passed, and the female Golden Dragon Naloya finally couldn’t resist her curiosity. Turning to the adult Silver Dragon Chris, she asked, ”Chris, what magic did you use just now? I’ve never seen it before. As far as I know, there seems to be no such magic in the heritage of the Silver Dragon clan.”

The adult Silver Dragon Chris maintained a calm expression, softly smiling as she said, ”This, of course, is not magic inherited from the Silver Dragon clan itself, nor is it any magic recorded in the Mage’s Book. It’s magic I created myself.”

The adult Golden Dragon Naloya was taken aback, asking in surprise, ”Magic you created yourself, able to possess such marvelous ability? What kind of ingenious imagination is this!”

”Heh,” the adult Silver Dragon laughed softly, ”True Dragons of the Golden Empire all understand deeply a truth, the power of magic derives from the wisdom behind the creator of a spell, the purpose of magic need not be constrained by the form of the spell, magic has no set form.”