Chapter 18 - Travel

"Are you saying that it'll let us sit on it?" Julius asked with hesitation.

"We're going to be riding it. The surprise I have for you is in a far away place so we'll be taking a ride on my pet dragon to get there. Now, get on already, we don't have all the time in the world," said Jun as he himself leaped in the air to get on the dragon then walked towards its neck before sitting down. Following his master's steps, Julius did the same even though he was frightened by the beast.

"W-wait, you said that he's your pet?! How do you have a pet dragon?!" Julius exclaimed.

"Yes.. that's literally what I said a moment ago," said Jun as he began to point his finger upwards which made the dragon begin to fly.

"You're not scared of heights right?" Jun asked just in case.

"I'm actually not. It's in fact pleasing for me to look at the ground from heights. Everything is so beautiful that way," said Julius.

"That's great then. But be careful, try not to fall off as the lift off can be quite messy," said Jun but before Julius could even reply, the dragon had already begun to fly towards the clouds at top speeds.

Scared that he would fall off the flying jade dragon, Julius stretched his arms and tried to hug the dragon so as to get a grip on it and not fall off. Julius did this even while knowing that the dragon's width was at least 5 times his arm span as it was the only safety measure he could take.

"Come on, stop being such a baby. We're already at our desired altitude, you can stop hiding now," said Jun as he stood even though he was on the flying dragon.

"Are you insane?! Actually don't answer that, I already know you are," said Julius as he refused to lift his head up.

"This is training time, I won't allow you to refuse to listen to me while we're training. Just in case you're afraid to die, don't worry, if you fall off, my pet will go down and pick you up before you hit the ground," said Jun.

Hearing those words Julius began to slowly stand up on his own. This wasn't because he trusted that the jade dragon could catch him in time but because it would be a much quicker death for him to fall off the dragon instead of getting killed by Jun.

"You see! There's nothing to be afraid of. Just as a last measure, if by some miracle you were to fall off my pet and we're not able to catch you, you'll still be alive. Sure, you might end up breaking nearly all your bones but you'll be alive so that's good," said Jun.

"How would I be alive if I fell from this high? I can't even see the ground from here... ohh, so that's why we did the defence training yesterday," said Julius, which was replied to by Jun with a nod indicating that he was right.

"Of course that's just a final measure. It's almost guaranteed that you won't fall off my pet. Nevertheless, it's time to get to today's training lesson since we're so far away from where your surprise is," said Jun.

"So what'll we be doing today?" Julius asked with curiosity.

"Today, I'll teach you some of our world's history. Of course, this will only impact your intelligence a little bit and you'll have to get most of your intelligence training from a library but for now, this'll have to do," said Jun before asking Julius to sit once again as class was in session.

"Do you have anything in mind which you would like to learn about in the first place while we're traveling?" Jun asked.

"I actually do. I've been meaning to find out if there was more information on this subject since the day I heard it. It had never been spoken about casually. The only reason I was even able to hear about it was because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time while my father was talking about something with another king of a great kingdom. I would like to learn what magic is," said Julius, which brought Jun's heart to a stop.

Of course the story Julius told was a lie. He had seen what the old man who had kidnapped him so many years ago was and could only describe it with one word. It was just a guess but if he was right, Julius could possibly find out about what the old madman had given him that day and why people didn't talk about that event.

"... I see. Well, in most cases it would be simply illegal to speak on this subject however I do not abide by the laws which govern your kingdoms and as such I cannot be confined by them. Even if I was forced to follow them, I would simply break them. It's not like any of those losers could catch me," said Jun.

"Wait... are you said that you're stronger than the rulers of the great kingdoms?" Julius asked in surprise.

"That's not what I said. I said that they wouldn't be able to catch me. You see, almost everyone picks the path of battle for cultivation as it is relatively simple. With it, they gain extraordinary strength, speed and defence which are things I do not have many points on. However in exchange for losing those since I picked to cultivate through mediation, I have many supernatural abilities which allow me to do things which they cannot. Of course, the reason I am so jealous of you is because you can master both methods and in turn reap the benefits of both without any of the drawbacks," Jun said.

"My apologies. I'm getting distracted. You asked to learn about magic so I'll tell you all I know of it. It all started 200 years ago in which the ancient rulers of the great kingdoms had begun to fight amongst each other....."