"My first ability is what I told you, Lucky Time. I store up a certain amount of points over time and can use them to increase my luck and influence fate. It does take a lot out of me." Bryan laughed and Lucy felt his grip tighten a little.
"Why don't you use it often? If it's just the tiredness, you can always deal with it." She already knew the answer but wanted to hear it from him.
"I don't want to become over reliant on it. I feel like if I depend on my luck, it might run out. Quite literally in this case." Bryan said. Another reason was that Agnes said he should use it in front of others or even let them know.
'But I have a feeling she wouldn't betray me.' From observing her fighting style to her manners of speech, none of them pointed to Lucy being a snitch or a potential traitor.
'Plus, she has muscles and is large. No one with these kinds of muscles would be evil!' Bryan subtly felt out her muscles and grinned in a manner that would make people see him as a pervert, if there was anyone around.
"My second ability is Fire Breath. It does exactly what it says. My third ability is a defensive one, Dragon Scales. It manifests illusory scales around my body which improves my defenses, recovery power and resilience." He finished.
"I see. They sound nice." Lucy just had a feeling that she shouldn't let the conversation end and said the first thing that came to her mind.
"As do yours. I quite envy the bond between you and Ragna." Bryan couldn't help but be reminded of a certain stubborn fake dragon.
"But Carl is cute. He reminds me of some of the children I babysat."
"Seriously?"
"Un."
As the two of them talked, Ragna chuckled and nudged Carl with his toe. "What is this?" Carl said as Ragna shook him a little.
"Look at those two. Aren't they quite cute?" Ragna said and Carl rolled his eyes.
"Cute isn't exactly the word I'd use to describe Bryan. And you didn't disturb my important rest for this, right?" Carl said as he eyed Ragna with his reptilian eyes
"Why else? Don't you think those two are cute? I wonder if they'll give me a great-grandkid or two." Ragna mused.
"Didn't you say Lucy was like a daughter to you? How the hell did she become a granddaughter?"
"Anyone is fine, so long as she's related to me. More importantly, I need to see her child as soon as possible so tell your master to get on with it."
"He's not my master - he's my partner." Carl grumbled and shakily stood to his feet and managed to stand... for three seconds before collapsing again.
"Whatever you say kiddo." Ragna shrugged – or attempted to with his huge body and looked at carl. "How old are you?" he asked.
"What's it to you?" carl snorted and flame poured out of his nostrils and clashed against Ragna's shell. Sadly, due to his lack of energy and Ragna's defense, it did zero damage.
"I need to know whether to call you son or grandson." Ragna replied with al seriousness leaving carl stunned.
"…screw you."
"Language, kiddo. So, what's your age?"
"…three." Carl mumbled.
"What?" Ragna heard him loud and clear but felt like embarrassing carl a little.
"I said I'm three months old! Physically! I'm way older mentally!" carl yelled causing Bryan and Lucy to turn around. Humans couldn't understand beast language so it only appeared like Carl was screaming gibberish.
"I see. Which makes me your senior by far. Call me granddad." Ragna gave a hearty laugh after this and Carl growled.
"Aww, Carl is finally getting along with someone other than me." Humans may not have been able to understand the language of beasts but they could read them like a book. Which was why Bryan making an effort to piss of Carl even further.
"Stop picking on him, you two." Lucy was originally planning on remaining silent but she couldn't stand seeing her two partners pick on a little lizard.
Ragna froze and looked at Lucy with an incredulous expression on his face.
"What?" Lucy noticed it and asked.
"No, I just thought I'd never see the day… no, I shouldn't say any more." Ragna paused and decided not to spill the beans. After all, it'd be much more interesting this way.
"…okay?" Lucy was still confused and decided to stop thinking about the topic for now.
"Still what should we do next?" Bryan sighed and asked Lucy.
"What do you mean?"
"The requirement for passing is just to survive. With the two of us, we should have no problem doing that. If we want to score higher, then perhaps we might have to take down more beasts. But something tells me that isn't the only thing we have to do." Bryan frowned at this.
Earlier, he had thought it was all about taking down beasts. But after fighting with Lucy for a while, he realized that there may be a hidden requirement.
"Keep in mind this is all speculation." He warned them and placed his hand under his jaw. "Perhaps… what they are testing for may be the ability to cooperate with others towards a goal."
He looked at the one human and two beasts. Seeing that they didn't get it, he decided to elaborate.
"No human is an island. In order to achieve a goal, people come together. The continent's Beast Tamer Academy was created in order to fight the powerful beasts that threaten us. Which means their goal is to create soldiers that can fight together. Perhaps the hidden requirement is the ability to cooperate with others."
Realization dawned on the other three and they looked at each other and nodded.
"Let's go find ourselves some teammates." Lucy rolled up her sleeve and the serious air around Bryan disappeared as he was captivated by her muscles.
'Why do I have such a pervert as my partner?' Carl sighed while Ragna nodded in approval. Like this, the four of them continued their journey.