Hikari meditates before the wizard statue.
The way the wyvern knight instantly switched between frost and flame fascinated her.
Heck, it could even cast frost and flame at the same time.
Hikari tries it. It felt as though she was being ripped apart in two directions.
She sticks with practicing the switch between frost and fire.
This itself was already immensely useful.
The frost cancels the flame.
Flame augments itself.
A flame-on-flame clash means a clash of endurance.
The wyvern knight with higher flame tolerance wins.
Frost on flame is a defensive move.
It cancels out the opponent's attack.
The wyvern knight with the greater stamina wins.
She remembers the last move the wizard showed her.
A swirling torrent of frost and flame cast precisely so they don't mix.
The shearing force created by the sudden, stark temperature difference could cause the iron gates of a fortress to collapse in on themselves.
But she's a long way from that.
She stretches and yawns.
Munch. Munch. Another cannonball fruit.
She barely notices the fruit's sweetness anymore.
Physical exercises.
Forty of each exercise without any assistance.
Sixty with her telekinesis.
A hundred with her salamander skin and telekinesis.
She glances at the half-wyvern statue.
The rune atop it was dimly lit.
Not as brightly as the others.
The statue has not yet fully offered her its approval.
Her head was still spinning from the extended visions.
The statue's memories felt so vivid.
As though she actually lived during that time.
It fries her brain.
She'll need another nap before attempting the statue again.
…
"It's warm."
Hikari complains as she puts on a thick leather jacket over an already thick layer of cotton covering her from the neck down.
She felt like she was already sweating just from putting on the thick outfit.
A full double-layered protective suit.
"Oh, if you think this is warm. Wait until you enter the wyvern cages."
The girl hands her another piece of cloth.
Hikari looked at her in confusion.
"This one goes over your head; make your long hair as tight as you can. Otherwise, the leather hood will feel tight.
Hikari begin bunning up her hair.
The girl's hair was much shorter, so she just put on the thick black head cloth.
It left only a small area of her face exposed.
Hikari mimicked her.
The head cloth compressed her hair against the back of her head.
The protective headwear blocked the edges of her vision.
"That's no good. You're going to get some of the toxin onto your skin if you don't tighten it."
The girl steps onto a stool and helps her spread out the mass of hair more evenly.
Hikari feels her slender fingers pushing her hair behind her head.
"There! How do you feel?"
More of Hikari's vision is blocked as the headcloth covers more of her face.
"Stuffy."
"Oh, you haven't seen the worst of it yet."
The girl put on the leather hood.
She pulled the straps tight.
Only her nose and two-thirds of her eyes and mouth were exposed.
Hikari reluctantly did likewise, after finally finding a
It was getting stuffier and stuffier.
The sealed changing room she found herself in didn't help.
Her heart sank as the girl pulled a mask over her mouth and nose.
She turned and glared at Hikari.
"Here, I'll help you."
She sniffed through the pile of masks and found the biggest one she could.
She got onto the stool behind Hikari and pulled the gas mask over her face.
"Funny."
"Good, that means the powder is still fresh on this one. It's an antiseptic that will prevent the diseases that stew in there."
The girl takes a deep, muffled breath through her mask.
Hikari thought she was going to faint.
"Ok. Looks like this one works just about alright."
A last piece of equipment. Goggles.
She found the biggest one in the pile, wiped its lenses, and handed them to Hikari.
Hikari just put them on.
A pair of goggles wasn't going to make the suit any stuffier than it already was.
The girl turned around and checked her outfit, making sure it was really tight.
Then she walked one round around Hikari, checking her outfit as well.
"Alright! Looks good. Let's go."
Hikari follows.
The girl walked at a fraction of her usual energetic pace; it was hard to breathe in the masks.
"Punishment."
"Yes, this is our punishment for almost screwing up that ritual. It's literally a matter of life and death for the initiates if we don't do our job seriously. We could have been expelled. So we are quite lucky to get away with some cleaning duty on the wyvern cages."
"Wyvern cages?"
"You'll see once you get there. You seem rather carefree right now. Knowing you, you'll still be just as carefree once we reach the cages. Personally, I'm not too concerned about shoveling wyvern poop. It's just that-"
She paused mid-sentence.
"Hm?"
"Let's just keep it between you and me for now. Promise me."
"Yes."
"I-."
She turned around and faced Hikari.
Hikari couldn't see her expression beneath the mask.
But she could still sense her hesitation in her voice.
"My dream is to be a high priestess of the wyvern order."
An awkward pause.
Hikari stares at her blankly.
The girl lets out a huge sigh of relief, as if she's removed something heavy from her chest.
"You don't even know what that is, do you?"
She chuckled.
Hikari kept staring at her blankly.
"Cmon, we don't want to miss the elevator."
They made their way through the dark corridor.
Dark, damp, and dimly lit. It was the polar opposite of the marbled floors and wyvern statues of the wyvern temple.
Whole sections of the corridor were completely dark.
The air was thick. Some ventilation shafts were clogged with vegetation that nobody had bothered to clear in a long time.
Finally, they reached a platform.
Several more people in the same outfits were already standing around on the platform.
The boys. They were about the same height as Hikari, and a head taller than the girl.
"What took you so long?"
The foreman asked in a stern voice.
"Apologies."
As the girl apologized, Hikari heard voices amongst the boys.
"Maybe they took their time doing their makeup?"
The boys chuckled.
"Quiet. If you keep joking behind their back, maybe one day they become one of those giant muscular women."
"Seeing how bravely you are standing up for them, you'll be the first one they cuddle."
Chuckles and muffled laughter.
"Quiet!" The foreman barked, shaking his head.
"We're behind time. Get on. And make sure I never see you down here again."
"Thank you, sir."
Hikari got onto the platform.
The foreman closed the gate and cranked a lever.
The platform began its descent.
"Oh, a tall one. Look at those long legs."
She could hear the boys behind her whisper.
"I know what you're thinking. Since you can only be thinking of one thing."
"I'd admit it. I'm a simple man. I see big girl, I like. Alright?"
Hikari feels a gentle nudge on her arm.
"Pssh, just ignore them."
The girl hissed.
Hikari nod.
Click! After riding the platform in darkness for minutes, the platform reached the bottom.
A pair of wyvern knights guarded a huge gate.
One wyvern knight faced the gate.
He looked ready to escort them once it opened.
"Whoa."
The boys behind her made impressed sounds.
"Hold on to your D*icks."
"Attention!"
The foreman barked, seemingly annoyed at their childish comments.
Woosh! A sudden blast of wyvern fire came from behind the gate.
The room lit up with light coming through the gratings.
"Are you ready to get serious yet? A grown wyvern's fire breath is hot enough to melt steel. Their teeth could rip your body apart in one bite. So unless you want to end up as their next meal, cooked or otherwise, I suggest you keep quiet and fall into line."
The boys meekly grabbed a shovel from the rack beside the elevator's mouth.
Hikari picked the biggest one.
The girl stood beside her at the back of the line.
She held her shovel with both hands due to her frail build.
Woosh! Another burst of wyvern fire as they waited tensely for the signal to move into the chambers.
The girl stood closer to Hikari.
The boys in front tried to edge their heads past the wyvern knight to get a view of a real wyvern breathing fire.
Chomp! The wyvern smashed its teeth shut.
The smell of rotting meat.
The fire-breathing stopped.
It looked like the tamers had calmed it with some snacks.
The gate was raised.
The wyvern knight marched forward.
"Go!"
The foreman gave the order.
The line of cleaners followed the wyvern knight into what looked like a dungeon.
Bronze cell bars specially designed to withstand wyvern fire.
The same color and texture as the wyvern knight's armor.
Scratches and chew marks all around.
The impatient beasts even dented some parts of the cell.
Rumbling sounds. A massive trolley up to Hikari's chest rolled behind them.
Some mechanism moved it, but Hikari couldn't see well in the dark.
The wyvern knight stopped in the middle of the hallway.
A lantern rack rolled up behind the trolley.
"Grab a lantern each and get to work." The foreman ordered.
Being at the back of the line, Hikari was the first to grab a lantern.
"Pssh, this way."
The girl hurried her along even before she could grab one.
Hikari reached out her arm and grabbed one for her.
She followed her towards the wyvern knight, walking past empty cells with a putrid smell coming from the ends.
The funny smell inside her mask canceled some of the stink.
"Where."
"Hurry, before the easy ones are taken."
She brought Hikari to one of the middle cells.
Cautiously, she waded into the huge cell.
Hikari's stomach churned as the lantern light revealed the piles of sticky compost accumulated at the back of the cell.
"This is not too bad. The smaller and tamer wyverns usually occupy the center of the cell. They don't poop as much as the bigger ones. Looks like we're getting out of this one easy."
"Nice."
Hikari set down her lantern and got to work, shoveling compost and piling up closer to the cell door.
Once they get a turn at a wheelbarrow, she'll then move them onto the pile.
"Hey! We called dips on this cell first."
A pair of boys barged into their cell.
"There's no such thing as calling dips. We are already working on this one, so find your own."
"Hey, watch it-"
Hikari stood behind him and the girl.
"You think-"
"What's going on here?"
The foreman's stern voice came from behind.
The boy fell silent, grudgingly leaving the cell for the next one.
Hikari watched as his lantern revealed a pile of compost more than twice the size of the one she was working on.
"Hey, get to work. The faster we're done here, the faster we can get out of this suit."
"Yes."
Hikari pushed her shovel into the pile.