His name is Kael.
Kael?
Voidran listened to them and then said to Noah,
You should not believe a stranger this quick, Noah!
Noah looked back at Voidran and the girl said,
We are not monsters who want to devour your precious Noah, old dragon.
It was already night time and a cold breeze was flowing in the air.
Noah suggested them,
You guys should spend the night here as it would not be safe to go back during night. Other trainees can hunt you down.
Watch your tongue, we are not weak as you.
One of the guy in the group said that.
Noah was not surprised to hear that as he hear that everyday from everyone. Noah never had a friend in his life, he was all alone.
The girl said to that guy,
Shut your mouth Lee.
She asked to Noah,
What's your name?
Noah, Noah Astris.
Astris?
Yes. Is there something wrong about it?
No.. no, nothing.
It's all ready night, let me prepare a campfire and we can talk while eating.
The girl and the group liked the idea and they agreed. In few minutes, Noah prepared the campfire and was just going to light it but before he could, one of the girl from the group stopped him.
Wait, let me help you.
She pointed her finger towards the campfire and the fire lighted.
Noah was surprised to see that.
There were 7 people in the group, 3 girls and 4 boys.
All of them including Noah sat beside the campfire and started talking. The leader of the group gave her introduction first.
Noah, my name is Mari, Mari Redwood.
Noah was surprised to hear her surname and asked,
Redwood!?
Yes, Redwood.
But, Redwood is an institute, right!?
Well.. yeah. Actually, my father is the chairmam of the Redwood Institute and the Insitute's name is on our surname.
But I thought all the insitutes are under the control of the council.
Yes, that is true. But the council still appoints chairman in every insitute because they can't keep an eye on all of the insitute.
She further asked,
Are you from Redwood Insitute?
Yes!
Mari had yellow long hairs and eyes and she was shorter than Noah in height, atleast 3-4 inch. She was wearing casual clothes where as Noah's clothes were already torn and he was only wearing a rugged black pant and had numerous bandages all over his upper body. He was also wearing hand-wrapped cloth gloves and was barefoot.
Noah asked,
How are your clothes still fine?
Well, that is because I am strong.
Oh.. I see.
Another girl from the group said,
Dude, you are all messed up. I just noticed your body and you have bandages all over your body like you just came back from a war.
Well.. haha.
Noah could not say anthing except a small laugh.
Everyone introduced themself and Noah felt like he was the weakest even among them. He was hopeless.
The group leader asked,
Say, did you encountered Kael?
No, I didn't see him.
Oh, can you tell me about the incident which took place a year ago?
Yes, I was training with Voi-
But before Noah could finish, Voidran stopped him and said,
Shut your mouth, child!
What happened, did I say something wrong?
Yes! You did! I do not want you to share my name with these strangers and I do not trust them at all!
But I do not think they are bad peop-
Shut your mouth and don't tell them anything related to your power and me, do you understand!?
Yes, I do.
Noah continued,
I apologize for the commotion. So as I was saying, I was training with my dragon and we heard a very loud voice from outside, it was like two big things collided with each other with very great force. When I went to check, I found numerous dead bodies and one of them was still alive. I went to her but before I could ask about anything, she passed away too.
Oh, what a rough thing to see.
Said the leader.
After that, they had couple of chit-chat and ate the fruits Noah brought to them. After eating, they went back to their base. Noah tried to stop them but they didn't listen and went back.
Noah said to Voidran,
They truly were nice people.
I do not think so, humans and nice? What a joke.
I am a human too, Voidran.
You are just a special case, child. Now, focus on your training and no sleep for you tonight.
Ehhh, that's not good.
Noah trained that whole night to develop an offensive technique but still failed.
The next morning arrived. Noah was thirsty and he collected large amount of fresh water from a nearby lake to drink and when he went to drink some water he found that all the water was gone.
He questioned to Voidran,
I had bring so much water, where did it gone?
Well, we dragons have a large appetite and so I drank it all.
The hell you saying Voidran!?
Stop complaining and go and bring more water.
Noah could not do anything except listining to Voidran. He went to the nearby lake to collect the water and while he was filling the water in a big container he made using the branches of trees, he heard someone calling his name. He looked towards the voice and there was Mari.
He greeted her and she greeted him.
She asked,
What are you doing here, Noah?
Nothing, I just came to collect some water.
Oh, you also collect water from here?
Wait, you also?
Yeah, I collect water for my whole group from here.
Oh, that is good.
So, were you training with your dragon, Noah?
Yeah, I was.
Can you tell me about your element?
Noah hesitated for a moment and said,
Sorry, my dragon has restricted me to tell about my element and him to anyone.
She was not even a bit disappointed to hear that and despite that, she had a smile on her face.
She said,
Oh, that's okay.
Ah, I hope you understand, um..
You can call me Mari, Noah.
Oh, okay, Mari. Well, it's time I should go back or my dragon will get mad again.
Mari gave a small laugh and said,
Okay, take care. I hope we meet again.
Yes, I too.
Mari came closer to Noah and kissed him on the left cheek and Noah, he looked flustered. His face turned red and Mari, she again gave a small laugh and went back to her way.
Noah was blushing too hard and came back to Voidran with a smile on his face.
What's the reason of that big smile on your face, child?
Oh, nothing Voidran, it's just normal.
Voidran had a suspicious look on his face, he didn't believe Noah because he knew the true nature of a human being but he didn't put much thinking into it because he wanted to believe Noah.
Noah, today you must form a dragon pact with me and if you still refused, I am not going to be with you anymore.
But.. Voidran..
No more excuses! Fight me!
Right after finishing his words, Voidran swinged his claws on Noah. Noah was not ready for that and Voidran's attack connected and Noah flied into a crystal.
Noah received great damage. His hands and legs were pretty badly hurt.
Voidran created a mini black hole to pull Noah and Noah came flying towards the black hole and Voidran tried to crush Noah using his palm.
He smashed his palm into the ground and Noah was between the palm and the ground and when he pull his palm back to see his condition, he found that Noah was not there anymore.
Noah used Void Travel to escape from that situation and was now right above Voidran but Voidran didn't know about that. Voidran closed the black hole he created and took back all the energy from it.
Noah jumped from that position on Voidran's head and punched with full force but despite that, Voidran felt nothing and Noah's fist was hurt prettly badly.
Voidran noticed Noah and grabbed him and then thrashed him on the ground until Noah again used Void Travel to escape from his grip.
Noah was wounded but he was not tired. His past one year training helped him increasing his stamina.
He had to think something.
Voidran roared,
Guhhhhhh!!!
Noah was pushed back from the wind speed created by the vibrations of Voidran's roar.
He made two mini black hole and launched them at Voidran. A single mini black hole was not enough to pull Voidran using it's gravitational force but two mini black holes were enough.
Voidran was now being pulled by the two mini black holes and said,
These child tricks won't work on me, Noah!
He swinged his right claw and sliced the two mini black holes and destroyed them completely.
Noah went towards a crystal and stand infront of it. Voidran again used his right claw to slice Noah and Noah used Void Travel and got away from there and Voidran's claw sliced the crystal into two pieces.
Noah used Void Travel again to pickup the sliced piece of the crystal and then used Void Steps to get above Voidran.
Voidran noticed Noah's movement and tried to restrict them but failed completely and Noah jumped from the upper direction, using the air resistance increased the sharpness of the crystal and pierced it into Voidran's head.
The crystal did pierce Voidran's head but it was not enough to take down Voidran. The wound Noah gave Voidran was like a normal itching to him.
Voidran again grabbed Noah and threw him on the ground.
Noah said,
I can't defeat you with these passive skills, I gotta create a offensive one.
I do not know whether you can or not. Just do it fast because I do not think that I have more time left. I am already too old to be in this world.
You still have a million year to live, Voidran.
Voidran grabbed Noah and again threw him on the ground.
What was that for!?
Nothing, I just felt like.
HUH!!?
Well, leave it. I am feeling hungry, I will be back after collecting the fruits.
Noah went outside of the den to search for some fruits as all the fruits he collected were eaten by the group of Mari. He was roaming in the forest like a free deer searching for some fresh grass to eat but he did not know that he was being followed by a hungry wolf.
After walking quite a distance, he heard someone talking. His first thought was the group of Mari but then he realised that there could be another group of trainees nearby and they could be hostile.
He decided to sneak and check who they were. He used Void Travel and opened a crack in the space above them. None of them noticed the crack and continued their talk.
He saw that a different group of trainees were camping and they all were having a barbeque.
He was confused because all he found in this forest were just fruits and no other animal.
Suddenly, Noah felt like something entered his space. He was startled and looked back and there was nobody. He closed the crack he opened above the another group and went back to the crack he opened to get here.
He found that there was nobody but he was sure that he saw someone.
Suddenly, few thunder strikes came towards him but he dodged them.
He questioned,
Who's there?
But he got no answer.
He asked again,
Who's there!?
And again, no answer.
Suddenly, he heard a running sound from behind and when he turned back he saw someone running towards him with an abnormal knife and that person was wearing a cloak which completely hid it's identity.
Noah was able to dodge the strike of the abnormal knife by simply opening a crack infront and behind him and the knife went inside the crack infront of him and came outside from the crack behind him.
Noah kicked the person in the cloak, grabbed the cloak and forcefully removed it.
The person was completely visible now and he saw someone he never expected to see in that cloak.
The person behind the cloak was...