Differences in the Sense of Time

"Huh? Wouldn't that be a bad idea?" The moment Petty heard that Zheng Yichen wanted to go out, she grew anxious. If she could help it, she really didn't want to expose his existence, not even for a fight... No, she barely encountered any fights now, and that would remain true until she had a summon that could actually fight!

As for that Half-Rabbit, calling it a combat summon was a stretch. It was better at looking cute, serving tea and water, and even cooking a meal. Fighting... its timid nature made it clear it would never be any use in battle.

"No one will notice if I stay like this, right?" Zheng Yichen waved a hand, pulled open Petty's pocket, and slipped inside. "There. That'll do."

Seeing that Zheng Yichen had no intention of changing his mind, Petty nodded hesitantly. It was his decision, not hers. If he truly wanted to go out, she couldn't make him change his mind anyway.

At most, she could voice her opinion. Defying him was another matter; she had neither the strength nor the standing for that.

"Lord Dragon, where are we going?"

"Oh, the library first... And call me..." Zheng Yichen hesitated when it came to his name. Use his real one? It would sound rather out of place. His name felt perfectly natural to him, but in this world, it was unusual...

"Call me Connor. And drop the 'Lord' stuff. It sounds awkward." He was a dragon, after all, and a young one at that. Borrowing the name couldn't hurt. One of these days, he would find a way to get himself a suitable hand axe.

"Huh? Is that all right?" Petty paused. She didn't think Connor was his real name, but since he had asked her to call him that, did it mean their relationship had taken a step forward? Had she at least earned his initial acceptance?

"It's fine. Let's go with that." Through a gap in the pocket, Zheng Yichen looked at the building ahead. A library—especially an academy library—had to be grand. In every sense, it represented the academy's foundations. If it looked too shabby, the academy would lose face.

"Connor, what kind of books do you want to read?"

"Hmm, let's start with ones about the Dragon Race. I want to see what you humans think of us," Zheng Yichen said. To hell with what they thought—what did their opinions have to do with him? Lolise had mostly told him about Cursed Dragons, and very little about ordinary dragons.

Being a Cursed Dragon was no easy life. Some were immensely powerful, but even they were left at a loss when the Dragon Race threw its full strength into hunting them down. And once someone became a Cursed Dragon, there was no way back. A dragon's unusual body would gradually assimilate the soul of the one who had seized it, yet it could never turn that soul into a true dragon soul. At best, it became some neither-fish-nor-fowl thing.

It was almost like a curse for stealing a dragon's body. Once twisted, the soul could never seize another body. Even if the new body was highly compatible, the attempt would ultimately fail!

As for Zheng Yichen, his soul was still normal so far. It still looked the way he originally had, without the slightest change. Lolise had stressed that he must not forget his original appearance. If he forgot what he had looked like, even a soul as unusual as his could very well be twisted.

That was why Zheng Yichen used magic every day to enter his own dream space... and look in a mirror. No matter what angle he checked, he... was still as handsome as ever!

Ahem!

Hidden behind Petty, Zheng Yichen leafed through the books about the Dragon Race that she had brought over. He skipped the irrelevant passages and focused only on what he wanted to know, and his reading speed shot up. He ignored every description of how mighty the Dragon Race was!

He already had a dragon's body, so he knew perfectly well how strong dragons were. As for how strong he would become... Apart from the fact that he seemingly couldn't grow bigger and hadn't yet advanced in rank, Zheng Yichen already felt plenty strong. What he mainly wanted was the current state of the Dragon Race, which let him set aside another portion of the books.

He checked the date in the last book he held. Hmm, written twenty years ago. "Are all books about the Dragon Race this old?"

The corner of Zheng Yichen's mouth twitched as he stared at the date. This one wasn't so bad. The previous book had been written sixty years ago, while several before that went back a hundred or even two hundred years.

"Because dragons live a long time," Petty said after a moment's thought. "A few years for an ordinary person might be just a few months to the Dragon Race, or even less. Long-lived races all live at a slow pace, especially dragons. Once they settle into a routine, they can go decades without changing it if nothing else interferes. They might even sleep for more than ten years in one long stretch."

"So... this book is already twenty years old to you humans, but to the Dragon Race, it's only from a few months ago at most?"

"Mm." Petty nodded enviously. Besides growing stronger, wasn't living longer one of the reasons people trained?

From the moment they were born, dragons had something other races could strive for their entire lives and never obtain, without having to do a thing. All anyone could do was envy them.

"..." Petty watched Zheng Yichen read intently, puzzled. What she had said was hardly obscure; if even she knew it, how could he not? Adult dragons were no less intelligent than humans. They were an extraordinary intelligent race, enviable beyond belief.

Judging by Zheng Yichen's size, he had grown quite a bit already. Surely his mother or father would have taught him things like that?

Living a long time didn't mean dragons took nothing seriously. They cared deeply about their offspring, at least. Young dragons were bound to receive a proper education. Otherwise, what if one of them was lured away someday?

There were many kinds of contracts. The contracts Petty had told Zheng Yichen about were only the ones she could currently access and study. There were others beyond them, such as the Symbiotic Contract, which a Summoner could sign only once in their lifetime.

Among the materials Petty had read was an account of someone who lured away a young dragon and signed a Symbiotic Contract with it. If either party died, both would die. The person who signed it thought that would force the Dragon Race to compromise. But after the Dragon Race discovered the underhanded means they had used, things ended quite differently!

There was no legendary tale of a dragon and a dragon rider beginning their adventures together, like in a novel...