Chapter 9: The Food Chain
Dragon Capital.
Hunter Academy – Main Campus.
09:00 AM.
The Dragon Capital Hunter Academy was not just a school; it was a city within a city.
Spanning fifty square kilometers, it housed training mountains, artificial lakes, and dungeons ranging from F-Rank to B-Rank. The architecture was a fusion of futuristic sleekness and ancient brutalism. Floating platforms carried students between classes, while massive statues of the Four Sacred Beasts watched over the grounds.
A black limousine pulled up to the massive adamantite gates.
The door opened.
A leg clad in military-style black trousers stepped out. Then, the silver-haired sovereign emerged.
Ye Han adjusted his collar. The air here was dense. The mana concentration in the Capital was three times higher than in his hometown.
'Rich,' Tiamat commented, sniffing the air inside his soul. 'I smell ancient wards. There are Dragon bones buried beneath this school.'
'Dead dragons don't bleed,' Ye Han replied mentally. 'I need live ones.'
Around the gate, hundreds of new students were gathering. These were the creams of the crop—geniuses from every province of the Human Alliance. There were elementalists floating on clouds, beast-tamers riding griffin-hybrids, and warriors carrying swords bigger than their bodies.
But when Ye Han stepped onto the pavement, the noise died down.
It was the hair. The Silver-Diamond sheen was impossible to ignore. It reflected the sunlight in a way that hurt the eyes.
"That's him."
"The SSS-Rank from the boonies."
"Ye Han. The one who broke the Monolith."
"He looks... intense. Is that natural pressure?"
Ye Han ignored the whispers. He walked toward the registration archway.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blocked his path.
Three figures descended from the sky. They were riding Wind Wyverns—rare C-Rank mounts that cost millions of credits.
The leader of the trio leaped off his wyvern, landing gracefully in front of Ye Han. He was handsome, with long green hair tied in a ponytail and eyes that swirled with wind mana. His uniform was customized with golden epaulets, and the crest on his chest was a stylized Azure Dragon.
This was Ye Xiao. The Heir of the Capital Ye Family—the Main House.
"So," Ye Xiao said, crossing his arms. He looked Ye Han up and down with a mix of curiosity and disdain. "You are the cousin from the Azure Dragon City branch. The one making all the noise."
Ye Han stopped. He looked at the crest on Ye Xiao's chest.
'Tiamat,' Ye Han asked. 'Scan him.'
'Scanning... Analysis complete. He has 15% Dragon Bloodline purity. Wind Attribute. It's thin, diluted blood... but it's enough to act as a catalyst.'
Ye Han's eyes narrowed slightly. The golden vertical slit in his right eye dilated.
Prey.
"I am speaking to you, Branch Family," Ye Xiao frowned, stepping closer. The wind around him picked up, whipping up dust. "My father, the Grand Patriarch, was amused by your little SSS-Rank stunt. He thinks you might be useful to the Main House. But I think..."
Ye Xiao leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"...I think you're a fraud. SSS-Rank? Impossible. You probably used a Forbidden Artifact to trick the sensors. If you think you can walk into my city and act like a king, you are mistaken."
Ye Han looked at Ye Xiao's neck. He could hear the pulse. Thump-thump. The blood flowing there was rich with mana.
"Are you done barking?" Ye Han asked calmly.
Ye Xiao stiffened. "What?"
"I'm here to register," Ye Han said, stepping around him. "If you want an autograph, wait in line."
The crowd gasped. Disrespecting the Main House Heir on the first day?
Ye Xiao's face turned red. "You arrogant—"
He reached out to grab Ye Han's shoulder.
Freeze.
Ye Xiao's hand stopped one inch from Ye Han's shoulder. Not because he wanted to, but because the air between them suddenly solidified into a wall of invisible ice.
Ye Xiao slammed his hand into the barrier. Thud.
"Don't touch me," Ye Han said without looking back. "Your blood is useful, but your personality is trash."
He walked through the archway, leaving the Main House Heir fuming in the wind.
The Grand Arena.
10:00 AM.
The Freshman Welcome Ceremony was held in a coliseum that could seat 50,000.
In the center of the arena stood Ouyang Feng, the Dean. The old "Storm Sage" tapped his staff, and his voice boomed across the stadium.
"Welcome to the Dragon Capital Academy!"
"Here, we do not care about your family name. We do not care about your money. We care about Strength."
"We believe in survival of the fittest. Therefore, we do not assign dormitories based on lottery. We assign them based on rank."
The ground of the arena rumbled. The floor shifted, turning into a complex terrain of ruins, forests, and lakes.
"This is the Battle Royale," Dean Ouyang announced. "All 1,000 freshmen will enter the arena. The rules are simple: Be the last ones standing."
"The top 100 get the Villa Dorms."
"The top 10 get the Resource Tower access."
"And the Number One..."
Dean Ouyang pointed to a floating island hovering above the academy.
"...gets the Dragon's Roost. A private cultivation sanctuary with 10x Mana Density."
The students roared with excitement. 10x Mana Density? That was enough to speed up cultivation by years!
Ye Han stood at the edge of the arena.
'Battle Royale,' Ye Han thought. 'Efficient.'
He looked across the crowd. He saw Ye Xiao glaring at him from the other side. He saw other powerful auras—a girl with tiger ears (White Tiger Family), a boy with a massive shield (Black Tortoise Family).
But he didn't see the Fire user. The Vermilion Bird.
"Begin!"
BOOM!
The starting gun fired.
Chaos erupted instantly.
"Fireball!"
"Wind Blade!"
"Earth Spike!"
Spells flew everywhere. Students clashed. Alliances were formed and broken in seconds.
Ye Han didn't move. He stood in the starting zone, hands in his pockets.
A group of five students saw him.
"That's the SSS-Rank!"
"He's just standing there! Is he afk?"
"Let's take him out first! If we beat an SSS-Rank, we'll be famous!"
The five charged. A warrior led the charge with a greatsword, flanked by two mages and two archers.
"Eat this! Thunder Strike!"
A bolt of lightning shot toward Ye Han.
Ye Han yawned.
[Passive: Glacial Aura.]
The lightning bolt hit an invisible dome of cold air five meters away from him. The electricity froze.
Yes, froze.
The electrons stopped moving. The lightning bolt turned into a jagged, glowing sculpture of blue static, hanging in the air.
"What..." The mage dropped his staff. "Lightning... doesn't freeze..."
Ye Han raised a finger.
[Shatter.]
The frozen lightning exploded into shrapnel. The shards flew back at the attackers.
"Argh!"
"My leg!"
The five students were blasted backward, pinned to the arena wall by shards of frozen electricity. They were knocked unconscious instantly.
Ye Han stepped forward. The grass beneath his feet turned into white frost.
"Next."
The VIP Box.
High above the arena, the Student Council was watching.
Phoenix, the red-haired President, leaned over the railing. Her eyes were burning coals.
"He froze lightning," she muttered. "That violates the laws of physics."
"He is a Sovereign," a boy next to her said. He was huge, built like a tank. This was Xuan Wu, the heir of the Black Tortoise Family. "Sovereigns write their own laws. But... he is too passive. He is waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"For prey."
The Arena Floor.
Thirty minutes passed.
500 students had been eliminated.
The center of the arena was dominated by a storm of wind. Ye Xiao, riding a wind vortex, was decimating everyone in his path.
"I am the King of Freshmen!" Ye Xiao shouted, blasting a group of earth mages off the map. "Who dares challenge the Azure Dragon Bloodline?"
He looked around. He saw Ye Han.
Ye Han was walking toward him. Slowly. Deliberately.
Ye Xiao grinned. "Finally. You stopped hiding."
Ye Han stopped twenty meters away.
"You have something I need," Ye Han said.
"You need a beating!" Ye Xiao roared.
He gathered his mana. The wind around him condensed into a massive, translucent dragon head.
[Family Art: Azure Dragon's Breath!]
A tornado, sharp as a thousand blades, shot toward Ye Han. It tore up the ground, shredding the concrete ruins.
Ye Han watched the tornado approach.
'Wind is just moving air,' Ye Han thought. 'And cold air... is heavy.'
Ye Han stomped his foot.
[Sovereign Art: Absolute Heaviness.]
A wave of blue pressure erupted from him.
The temperature dropped to absolute zero instantly.
The massive tornado hit the cold front. The moisture in the wind froze. The kinetic energy was sucked out.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.
In a spectacle that silenced the entire stadium, the giant tornado solidified. It turned into a twisted, spiraling mountain of ice in the middle of the arena.
Ye Xiao, who was controlling the wind, was yanked forward as his spell froze. He crashed into the side of the frozen tornado.
"Impossible..." Ye Xiao gasped, coughing blood. "My wind... you froze the wind?"
Ye Han walked up the side of the frozen tornado, defying gravity. He looked down at his cousin.
"Wind yields to Winter," Ye Han said.
He grabbed Ye Xiao by the throat and lifted him up.
"Let... let go!" Ye Xiao struggled, clawing at Ye Han's hand. He tried to summon his Wyvern, but the Wyvern was cowering on the ground, terrified of the Dragon Queen's aura radiating from Ye Han.
"I told you," Ye Han whispered, his eyes shifting. The blue eye darkened, and the golden eye glowed like a sun. "You have something I need."
Ye Han's fingernails elongated, turning into razor-sharp diamond claws.
Slash.
He cut Ye Xiao's arm. Not deep enough to sever it, but deep enough to hit the artery.
Blood sprayed out.
But it didn't hit the ground.
Ye Han controlled the blood with his mana. The red liquid floated in the air, condensing into a sphere.
"What are you doing?!" Ye Xiao screamed in horror. "Blood magic?! You are a Heretic!"
"Just borrowing some supplies," Ye Han said calmly.
He collected about 200ml of blood—a significant amount, enough to make Ye Xiao dizzy.
Then, Ye Han tossed Ye Xiao aside like a ragdoll.
Ye Xiao hit the ground, rolling. He was pale, weak, and terrified.
Ye Han held the sphere of blood in his hand. He inspected it.
'Tiamat?'
'It is diluted,' Tiamat judged. 'But acceptable. It will work as a key.'
Ye Han froze the blood into a red ruby crystal and pocketed it.
He looked around the arena.
The remaining 400 students were staring at him. They had stopped fighting each other. They were all looking at the silver-haired demon standing on top of a frozen tornado.
"Anyone else?" Ye Han asked.
Silence.
Then, from the VIP box, a burst of fire erupted.
"Me!"
A figure leaped from the high stands. She fell hundreds of meters, wreathed in flames that formed the shape of wings.
BOOM!
She landed in the arena, melting the frost instantly. The steam hissed violently.
Red hair. Red eyes. A uniform that was modified into a combat dress.
Phoenix. The Vermilion Bird.
She stood opposite Ye Han. The heat radiating from her was intense enough to warp the air.
"You bullied my junior," Phoenix smiled, but her eyes were not smiling. "The Four Sacred Families stick together. You took his blood. Now I'll take your dignity."
Ye Han looked at her.
'Fire,' Ye Han noted.
'A strong one,' Tiamat agreed. 'High purity. A-Rank. Maybe pseudo-S.'
"The Upperclassmen are interfering?" Ye Han asked, looking at the Dean's box.
Dean Ouyang didn't stop it. He was watching with interest.
"I am not interfering," Phoenix said, summoning a whip made of liquid fire. "I am simply... testing the new SSS-Rank."
She cracked the whip. The sound broke the sound barrier.
"Show me, Sovereign. Does ice melt, or does fire die?"
Ye Han smiled. It was the first time he had smiled in the arena.
He jumped down from the tornado.
"Finally," Ye Han said, his silver hair floating as his mana flared up, turning the ground beneath him into a mirror of ice.
"A heat source worthy of my time."
[System Warning: High Energy Collision Imminent.]
Ye Han extended his hand. An ice sword materialized—not the Frostmourne, not yet—but a jagged blade of compressed glacial ice.
Phoenix swung her whip.
Ye Han swung his sword.
CLASH!
Fire and Ice collided in the center of the arena.
The explosion was white. Steam covered everything.
The shockwave blew the remaining 400 freshmen off their feet. The barrier protecting the audience rattled.
Inside the steam cloud, two pairs of eyes glowed.
One Red.
One Gold-Blue.
The war for the Dragon Capital had begun.
Dean's Office.
Evening (After the Battle).
Ye Han sat in the chair. He looked pristine. Not a hair out of place.
Opposite him sat Dean Ouyang.
"You destroyed the arena floor," Ouyang said, sipping his tea.
"Phoenix melted it," Ye Han corrected.
"You froze the tornado. That was expensive to clean up."
"It was in my way."
Dean Ouyang sighed. He placed a key on the desk.
"You won. Last man standing. Phoenix withdrew after the exchange because her dress caught fire."
Ye Han smirked. He remembered. He had frozen the oxygen around her flames, causing them to sputter out and backlash.
"This is the key to the Dragon's Roost," Ouyang said. "It is yours. But be warned, Ye Han."
The Dean's eyes turned serious.
"You took Ye Xiao's blood publicly. The Azure Dragon Main House is furious. They are accusing you of dark arts. The Temple of Light is already petitioning to have you investigated."
"Let them investigate," Ye Han took the key. "They won't find anything."
"And one more thing."
Ouyang leaned forward.
"The Red Gate in the Pacific. The World Government is organizing a raid team. They want you on it."
Ye Han paused.
'The Red Gate,' Tiamat whispered. 'That is where the Core Essence will be. S-Rank Cores.'
"I'll go," Ye Han said.
"Good. But first... you need a weapon. A real one. The ice picks you make are brittle."
"I have a weapon," Ye Han said, touching his pocket where the frozen blood crystal lay. "I just need to unlock it."
He stood up and walked to the door.
"Dean. Is there a forge in the Dragon's Roost?"
"Yes. A Star-Grade forge."
"Perfect."
Ye Han walked out.
Tonight, he would break the Second Seal.
Tonight, Frostmourne would be born.
Chapter 9 End.