Half an hour passed. Paryl was hurting all over as he walked, but he sucked it up. He didn't want to seem weak in front of the mighty man.
While walking, he found out new things about his transformation. Indom said that what he was accessing was only stage one. When asked what stage two was, he refused to elaborate.
Every bloodline comes with two stages, with stage 2 consuming an obscene amount of mana.
Indom also said that Paryl shouldn't be able to control the dragon at all without years of preparation, but due to his "filthy bloodline ability," he was uniquely suited to the challenge.
He didn't know what the human bloodline, named Adaptation, had to do with it, but he didn't ask. The boy was too focused on creating a claw.
At the moment, he was looking at his finger with a focused expression.
'Come out...let me borrow your power...'
Nothing happened.
Paryl looked at Indom, his eyes begging for a hint.
"Kid, I see you staring so hard your eyes are bulging, and I have to say something."
Paryl let out a sigh of relief.
"Stop doing it. Creeps me out."
The boy considered kicking the man in the balls. He barely restrained himself.
He looked back at the cloth, thinking about the times he controlled the dragon.
The first time was when he wanted to be free from the facility, he forced the dragon to use
The second time was against the creature. He screamed in his head for the dragon to obey. He only managed to create a tail, and it existed for an obscenely short amout of time.
'So it only happens when I really want something or refuse the full transformation to do something I really desire.'
He let out a shaky breath, then thought.
'Give me your power! Now! Give it to me now!'
Nothing happened. Paryl bit his lower lip, thinking.
'Let's approach it from a different angle. It may need to be a base urge?'
He imagined the cloth as the mana beast from yesterday.
'Give your power! Give it to me so I can kill this creature!'
Suddenly, the imprint warmed up, extending to his hand. The tip of his finger lit up, making a tiny claw.
"Yes, I did it!"
Paryl exclaimed, hurriedly cutting the fabric. Indom looked at the boy knowingly, silent.
He barely cut 3 centimeters across before the claw receded fully.
"Huh... Why?!"
The boy exclaimed, annoyed. The man shrugged, his face that of a smug jackass.
Paryl did all the steps once more, creating the claw. He then continued to envision the cloth as a mana beast. It existed for roughly 10 seconds.
"Ugh! Why does it keep on vanishing?!"
Paryl's core was milked dry long ago, but he could use the Imprint's mana storage instead. There was a caveat, he could only use it for transforming.
Indom patted the boy on the back.
"If you feel better, you're most of the way there. You're missing just one crucial step."
Paryl decided he'd finish the task before they reached the city. There was no practical reason to do so; he only wanted to do so.
'One step, think... That step needs to come after all the others, as my issue is maintaining the claw.'
Paryl kept experimenting for the next hour of the walk. He tried everything, from focusing on the beast itself to commanding the dragon over and over while the claw was cutting the cloth.
His hand was trembling, his body tired from overuse of mana.
The hardworking young man had already cut the coat enough for Indom to wrap it around his wounds. That wasn't his goal anymore; he needed to excel in maintaining it.
'Wait, why have I been commanding the dragon to give the power to me? The dragon is a part of me; that's how bloodline transformations work, right? Nothing is possessing me when it's activated, at least when using it partially. So what if I...'
The boy exhaled, focusing, then calmly said out loud:
"I will now use my power to kill this creature."
As per usual, the claw appeared. However, this time, it didn't vanish. Seconds slowly passed, turning into minutes. It only vanished when he lost focus.
"Bravo, kiddo! Good job!"
Indom said with a laugh, ruffling the boy's hair. The praise made Paryl feel as though he was floating.
"Yeah! I did it! I did it!"
Paryl held a large smile on his face. The feeling of success was captivating.
"That was so good, right?"
The man nodded.
"Yeah, you picked it up extremely quickly."
Paryl smiled wildly, asking:
"How long did it take you figure out?"
"Roughly....45 seconds. Why?"
Paryl just laughed, knowing that his teacher was an one in a trillion prodigy.
'At least such a strong guy is teaching me.'
He kept smiling while chatting idly with the nice man.
In the distance, a menacing wall rose up over the horizon.
"Ordin, what is that?"
Indom seemed as shocked as the boy.
"What is it, indeed..."
It didn't take much longer for them to reach what they identified as the city wall. Black gates, hundreds of meters tall, stood imposingly above them. Two guards stood on either side of the gate.
"Ordin, why is there no line? Isn't this the capital?"
"That's bugging me too, but more importantly..."
The man cracked his knuckles, continuing:
"Kid, when we enter, be on your guard. I feel 7 incredible fighters inside."
Paryl's eyes widened. If even Indom believed in their might, they must be incredible. Rank 0 warriors, probably.
"Woah...are they as strong as you?"
Indom laughed so loudly the guards, who were almost 250 meters away from them, heard it.
"No, no. Not even close."
Indom pondered something for a second, then continued:
"The city was much smaller before. It only allowed entry to the nobles. What happened here?"
["The capital of the Democratic Republic of Humanity, Dormalia was a city that housed only the richest human nobles in its past. After the disappearance of Emperor Utbrus, this rule was alleviated." This is a passage taken out of "Mighty cities and their histories, a complex retrospective on the development of urban environments," written by Dyral Clay.]
They kept walking, reaching the guard. Both of them looked increadibly shocked, as if it's weird for anyone to come inside. One of them said quickly:
"Inner city or outer city?"
Paryl felt shy, so he let Indom talk, half-hiding behind his large frame. Indom smiled warmly, placing a hand on the boy's hair as he spoke.
"Sorry, we are tourists. What is the difference?"
The guard rolled his eyes, saying:
"The inner city is for the nobles; the outer city is for everyone else."
Indom could use his status as a ruler to get into the inner city, but he decided not to. He was wary of Utbrus, after all.
"Outer city."
The guard nodded, putting two red bracelets onto their wrists. The gate opened by itself. He couldn't see inside, as there was a mana barrier that didn't allow light to leave and bounce to his eyes.
"Well, let's go, Paryl!"