The creature covered in blood-red scales was known as the red dragon, while the one with a dark blue body and three horns on its forehead was the blue dragon. Each one of them possessed the element of flame and lightning, respectively.
And now that I had no means of resistance, these dragons were akin to flying natural disasters.
Perhaps I should say that it was a silver lining in an otherwise dire situation. The two of them seemed more interested in attacking each other than in paying any attention to me.
“Grawrawraw—!”
“Guooooo—!”
Every clash between the two dragons sent shockwaves throughout the area.
I quickly hugged a thick tree nearby to brace myself.
It was a very uncomfortable experience to be rocked back and forth by the shock waves, yet a look of excitement was spreading across my face.
This is an opportunity.
And not just any opportunity, but a golden one that might never come again.
How often does one get to witness two final boss-level monsters fighting right in front of them?
If I use [Copy] now to acquire their powerful traits, it will be helpful for a long time to come.
“————!”
The tide of battle was turning against the red dragon.
With each clash, it was receiving one-sided injuries.
Just moments ago, the blue one grazed past and left long claw marks on the red dragon’s wing.
Sparks of blue lightning crackled from the wound.
The red dragon roared in pain.
“Guooooo—!”
Are you angry? Then use your magic, just once.
As if hearing my thoughts, a red magic circle appeared near the redo dragon, unleashing dozens of fireballs at the blue one.
The latter didn’t bother to dodge or defend, as it took the full brunt of the attack.
Yet, astonishingly, there wasn’t a single scorch mark on its body.
Perfect.
I almost shouted in joy.
This is because I met the conditions to use [Copy].
The trait activated when the blue dragon took the magic attack head-on was [Elemental Resistance].
This was a trait that greatly reduced the damage taken from all elemental types such as ice, lightning, and wind, and since it was a dragon, its rank was naturally S.
[Activate ‘Copy-Trait’]
[Registering the target’s Trait ‘Elemental Resistance (S)’ in the slot]
▷Copy-Trait[1/1]
1. Elemental Resistance (S)
Since I only had one slot available, I had to relinquish the [Super Strength] Trait I copied from the ogre earlier.
Still, it was an S-rank rather than a C-rank.
I easily made the decision to discard the former and switched to [Elemental Resistance].
Now, it’s time to leave.
I’ve seen everything there was to see.
The slot for [Copy-Skill] was still empty, but it would be pointless to steal a skill from dragons.
The dragons were primarily using high-grade magic, which required an equivalent amount of mana power, meaning that without a high-grade [Core], those skills would be unusable for me.
So, without any regrets, I decided to leave the scene.
“Guooooo—!”
The red dragon, who was on the receiving end of the attacks, seemed to decide that this could not go on and abruptly retreated with a powerful flap of its wings.
It opened its jaws wide and then sucked in the surrounding air and mana at a frightening speed, causing its belly to swell like an inflated balloon.
It seems to be preparing for a final move.
The blue dragon responded in kind as it began gathering mana around the horns on its forehead.
A huge sphere of lightning began to grow in size, crackling with energy.
And there I was, watching from below, when I realized something important.
They were both preparing for their most powerful blow.
The mightiest blow a dragon can deliver?
That would be its dragon breath.
And what would happen when two breaths of different elements collided?
They would clash and cause an explosion.
Then what about me who was standing below?
I’m going to get caught up in this, right?
A wise person would have already been running at full speed upon realizing this.
The farther you got away from here, the greater your chance of survival.
But I was not one to die so easily.
Again, my experimental spirit kicked in.
After all, my [Elemental Resistance] was S-rank….
As long as I don’t get hit head-on, I should be able to survive.
The dragons wouldn’t aim their breaths at me, would they?
I decided to lean back against an old tree and watch the situation unfold.
Soon, both dragons had accumulated energy to their limits.
And without precedence, they both unleashed their breaths at each other.
Gwaaaaaa!
Pajiiijijijji!
A red beam of flame and a blue pillar of lightning collided, creating a huge explosion.
A white flash of light engulfed the area in an instant, and my vision turned dazzlingly white.
It’s getting quite warm.
Even though I should be somewhat within the range of their breaths, I felt only a mild warmth and that was it.
It was all thanks to my elemental resistance, which was on par with the dragons.
This confirmed one thing for sure.
Even if I were to die in the future, at least I wouldn’t perish by burning, freezing, or electrocution.
Of course, there were still various dangers remaining, like being pierced by an arrow or decapitated by a sharp sword, but reducing the risks to this extent was quite something, wasn’t it?
As I pondered these rather trivial thoughts, the white flash gradually subsided.
Swooooosh…
The landscape before me was drastically different from before the dragons unleashed their breaths.
In less than the time it took to drink a glass of water, the heart of the forest had turned into a barren wasteland.
The large trees, which were probably hundreds of years old, were now reduced to small, burning embers.
And the dragons responsible for this devastation had already flown off to an unknown destination, nowhere to be seen.
[Time Remaining: 0:00]
The remaining time of the tutorial had conveniently run out just then.
[Tutorial I Completed]
▷You have survived for the required time.
▷Reward: Dragon Slayer Academy New Student Kit.
[Dragon Slayer Academy Uniform (D)]
▷Convenient for daily activities and enchanted with D-rank defensive magic.
[Student ID]
▷Proof of being a student at the Dragon Slayer Academy.
▷Grants access to various facilities of the academy.
[Train Ticket]
▷Valid for boarding the train to the Dragon Slayer Academy.
Suddenly, I realized that my casual clothes had almost turned into tatters.
After all, the entire area was completely burned down and turned into a wasteland, so it wouldn’t make sense for the casual clothes, the lowest-level item, to remain intact.
As soon as I changed into the school uniform, the next quest appeared.
[Tutorial II]
▷Objective: Follow the arrow to the platform.
▷↗24.81km
A small arrow materialized before my eyes.
It pointed in one direction like a compass, and below it, the remaining distance was displayed.
I began to walk, following the direction indicated by the quest.
As I walked, the scorched and bleak landscape gradually began to turn green again.
I was moving out of the range of the dragon’s breath.
Then, in the distance, I faintly saw the silhouette of a person.
It seemed like the other party also noticed me as they started coming straight towards me.
The man greeted me first.
“Hello there?”
“Hello.”
I haven’t seen this one before.
This face was unfamiliar even for me who knew every character of <Dragon Slayer Academy> by heart.
A new character.
Perhaps it was an effect of the EX-rank quest.
The man appeared to be around my age, yet his attire and sword reminded me of a warrior from a martial arts novel.
Though he looked somewhat shabby as if he had emerged from some deep, remote place, his strikingly handsome face radiated an aura that made his overall appearance look far from shabby.
On seeing my school uniform, the young man’s face lit up.
“Oh, that’s the Dragon Slayer Academy uniform. Are you a freshman this year?”
“Yes, are you as well?”
“What a wonderful coincidence! I am as well.”
The man then took out a tie pin from his pocket.
The color of the pin varied with each grade, and the one he produced was the same white color as the one I had on my uniform.
It meant we were in the same grade.
With an even more cheerful expression, he continued to introduce himself.
“My name is Go Hyeon-woo. We might be in the same grade, but I’m probably a bit younger than huyng. Feel free to speak casually to me.”
“Sure. I’m Kim Ho.”
“Kim-hyung, huh? Since we’ve met like this, why don’t we travel together?”
“That’s fine by me.”
It wasn’t a bad idea for me.
On the way, I considered that encountering monsters would be a needless waste of time. Fortunately, this Go Hyeon-woo had a sword, so it seemed sensible to ride along with him.
I observed Go Hyeon-woo, who was leading the way, with increased attention.
From his stride to every minor movement, there was a remarkable restraint.
This suggested he had undergone grueling training over many years.
“He’s worth raising.”
At first glance, he appeared quite strong.
With such potential, he could reach an A-rank on his own, but with my help, achieving S-rank seemed entirely feasible.
Perhaps even beyond that.
There was another thing that stood out.
Around his waist hung a cheap iron sword, the kind one could find anywhere, and on his back, he carried a long, thin object tightly wrapped in cloth.
Judging by its length and thickness, it was likely another long sword.
“Is that a long sword on your back?”
“You’ve seen right. It’s a sacred artifact of our sect.”
“Why is it wrapped up so tightly?”
It was not just wrapped in cloth but also heavily secured with iron chains, almost as if it were sealed.
It seemed as if he had no intention of using it.
Go Hyeon-woo smiled bitterly and gently stroked the iron sword at his waist.
“Regrettably, I’m not yet qualified to unseal it. Until then, this iron sword remains my companion.”
“Is that so?”
“But worry not. So far, this sword alone has been more than enough. Of course, I’m not sure how it will fare at the Dragon Slayer Academy, haha.”
His confident declaration suggested he had considerable skill.
Go Hyeon-woo pointed to the place I passed by and asked.
“By the way, Kim-hyung, did you come from over there?”
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Just now, I saw two dragons flying around that area.”
“They were there until a moment ago. They’re gone now.”
“Oh, seems I’m a bit late. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of them as I passed by.”
A deep sense of regret crossed Go Hyeon-woo’s face.
Then, as if struck by a thought, he tilted his head.
“Did you see anything at that place, Kim-hyung?”
“I saw as much as I needed to.”
“Oh, how was it?”
I portrayed the battle between the two dragons as realistically as possible, adding just about 2% of embellishment to the tale.
Go Hyeon-woo listened with eyes shining like a child hearing tales of heroes’ valor.
“—And then, in the end, they started ripping into each other with their breaths.”
“Breaths? What are those?”
“Put simply, they’re like secret techniques or ultimate moves.”
“Ultimate moves! Indeed, that must have been the massive explosion I saw earlier.”
Go Hyeon-woo nodded thoughtfully.
Then, seemingly struck by a new question, he asked again.
“So, Kim-hyung, did you witness this breath from a fairly close distance?”
“If you call it close, yes, I did. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just that for an attack that caused such a huge explosion, you seem remarkably unscathed.”
It was definitely a point worthy of raising questions.
If I had been close enough to witness two dragons exchanging blows and even their breaths, I should have been affected to some degree.
Then how come there wasn’t a single scratch on me?
In such situations, it’s beneficial to keep my cards hidden.
“I have a trick or two up my sleeve, just like that long sword on your back.”
“I see. They say the world is teeming with mighty warriors, much like grains of sand. And yet, here I am, already crossing paths with you, Kim-hyung. If the chance arises, I’d like to ask you to teach me a thing or two.”
“There will be plenty of opportunities in the future. For now, let’s go. We’re going to miss the train.”
“Oh, look at me losing track of time. I completely forgot. Let’s hurry.”
Go Hyeon-woo took the lead with energetic strides.
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