Judge moved his eyes frantically as he tried to locate the sword instructor. He still refused to use enhanced cognition, this training was meant to make him stronger, and it would be too troublesome if people decided that he was too much of a genius.
Soon, the strike came from the left, Judge instinctively dodged by leaning backward. But he leaned back too much and had to do an unnecessary backflip that left Dosav to reconsider his career choices, yes he would become a teacher for acrobats, that would be better.
After getting back up from his agile backflip, Judge decided to take the initiative and go for the blow by swiftly stabbing his sword forward.
They were both sparring with their own swords, but they were sheathed. Most normal weapons that are made do not faze a dragon's skin, unless they were made by a master craftsman. But even a kitchen knife made by a dragon was meant to cut monster hides as hard as a dragon's skin.
Eleyn's face flashed in his mind as Judge got a hard hit by a horizontal swing from Dosav's sword, straight to his temples. If someone slowed down the footage, they could clearly see his surprised face with many ripples caused by the impact.
Judge was blasted away and hit a wall, knocking himself out in the process. To add insult to injury, the protective barrier on the wall did not even activate. It would normally activate if a blow that would cause even a slight damage to the wall was directed at it.
Dosav sheathed his sword and looked pathetically at the ether genius of the Drakonis family, He might someday rule the family, right? He sighed, there was nothing he could do.
It was around noon and Judge was still waiting for his food, Melina was rambling on about the history of dragons and about the two important figures of the dragon race who lived two thousand years back.
What use does history have? And two thousand years back? Why do I need to study about some old gramps? Judge's thoughts wandered, never focusing on his lessons.
"... And As such, the dragons formed an alliance with the gods, dragons promised to look after the people, and the gods did not have to be held under casualties of descending to the mortal realm. This happened four thousand years ago, and a new and prosperous era started. It was called Aetas Custodis, and it was named in the ancient language called Latin, but it is a lost tongue now.
"Slowly, the gods disappeared from the world, together with the evil deities and other existences, making the world peaceful and prosperous. The dragons were revered as the guardians, and under their rule, the world was prosperous and many kingdoms started to emerge, the most notable was the kingdom of Eldris.
"Eldris was started by the leader of the dragons, Emperor Rey and Empress Lyra. But the other races did not know of the ruler's race, and nobody tried to pry... JUDGE!"
Melina was so immersed in her explanation and she had forgotten about Judge listening. He had fallen asleep, his stomach was growling, but he did not seem to mind— No, he did not even notice that he was hungry.
Dragons had other means to satisfy their hungry self, their body would slightly absorb the natural ether around them to sustain, but it lasted at most a week. Many had tried to do this manually, but there was no principle created to do that even though it seemed simple.
Even though most dragons did not fancy complicated principles, there were still dragons who researched principles and created their own. In fact, creating one's own principle was a rare thing to find, even among species with high intelligence like the goblins.
Judge came to his senses after Melina gave him a 'loving pat' on the back of his head, the pain was memorable. He did not know when he fell asleep, but the lecture was boring, so he did at some point.
"Why do you only listen attentively when it is about ethercraft and principles? History is also an important matter you know?" Melina pursed her lips, she did not know how he could sit straight through hours of lectures about ether and principle but fail to do so at any other, more interesting lectures.
"It's because I want to grow more powerful," Judge had no reason to hide that fact as it would only hinder his growth if he hid it. But he never told anyone that he wished to become a god after attaining enough power. The only problem was that he did not know how to become a god.
Melina turned around and prepared to leave, "History can contribute to your strength," she said cryptically and left, leaving Judge in deep and very unnecessary thought.
The cryptic style of speaking made Judge remember Clio, reigniting his spark to continue his research on artifacts in order to understand the components of a divine artifact in the unforeseeable future.
Watching Melina leave, Judge quickly turned his attention toward his desk where the artifacts were kept. He got up from his sofa and went to his desk to continue his work, he could not go out of the room anyways.
Just as he sat down, his attention went towards the piece of artifact in front of him that he had not worked with yet and another one that he still had not completed— and a realization struck him.
I forgot to ask Mother about spirit summoning!
His mother had came in with Melina and had left early, he was focused on why she seemed more energetic and cheerful and had completely forgotten to ask his mother about it.
No! This is better, I have to ask Mom when Melina is not around, I don't want to see two more raised eyebrows. He comforted himself.
Putting aside the distracting thoughts, he quickly immersed himself in his artifact studies, but his stomach raised a protest by growling monotonously.
As if waiting for the timing, there was another knock on his door. "Master Judge, it's lunch." Came a sweet voice, making Jugde sigh with a smile, Nice timing! He muttered internally and let her in.