Ma'ya lay by Lu'k's feet, her breathing silent as she slept with a peaceful smile. Looking at her, Kyle wasn't sure how to feel. His stepsister had always been reserved, but not timid. She was friendly, she played and had fun, but always in moderation. She never did anything in excess, and that strangely made her stand out.
"What is the Greater Kobold?" Kyle asked, voicing the question that had been bothering him the most.
Several times he had heard that name—from the system and from those around him—yet he still couldn't grasp the existence of such an entity.
Lu'k didn't rush to respond. Beside Kyle, he continued roasting his meat over the fire while gathering his thoughts.
"The Greater Kobold is believed to be the first Kobold ever born—Izgorath, the thirteenth son of the dragon deity, Arjun. During its time in this world, our ancestors rose to the level of demigods and ascended the heavens," Lu'k explained, leaving Kyle even more confused.
"Hold on… you mean gods actually exist?"
Lu'k chuckled at Kyle's shocked response and pointed at his meat, which had already begun to burn. He quickly pulled it out of the fire and blew on it.
"Of course gods exist. It's just extremely rare—if not impossible—for someone to reach that level these days," he said with a nod.
Lu'k's answer was met with deep silence as Kyle fell into thought.
'A kobold made it to demigod level? Nah, this isn't even me being racist…'
Kyle tried hard to rein in his wandering thoughts. When he realized he couldn't, he quickly asked another question to divert his attention.
"So how do you know someone has been chosen to become a dragon speaker?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Lu'k shrugged and pointed at Kyle's wounds with his cane. "It comes with unique traits and abilities, like the one your sister used to heal your wounds."
Kyle blinked in surprise and looked at his sealed injuries before shifting his gaze to Ma'ya's sleeping figure. Only one question echoed in his mind.
"She's the one who healed me?"
Kyle had originally assumed it was Lu'k, but it seemed he was wrong.
"Why are you surprised?" Lu'k asked calmly. "A nation cannot be built by one man. Everyone has a role to play. Learn to share."
Buzz!
Kyle felt his heart tremble at those words. It had never crossed his mind that Lu'k was aware of his ambition, and to make matters worse, it was clear that dream had been dead even before it was born. He burst into laughter and facepalmed in shame. He had always believed that all he needed to qualify as a dragon speaker was magic, but it seemed he had been ignorant all along—fighting against things beyond his control.
"I understand," Kyle nodded heavily.
"As long as you understand," Lu'k replied.
The two sat in silence, eating and staring up at the stars. After a while, a thought crossed Kyle's mind and he quickly reached for his backpack, only to freeze midway.
He had planned to show Lu'k the diary and ask questions, but that would inevitably lead to inquiries about how he had learned the human language. He had only just begun to get along with the old kobold and didn't want to ruin it with unnecessary suspicion.
Since Lu'k had already noticed his movement and was looking at him with an expectant gaze, Kyle instead pulled out the fireball tome and said, "Tell me about magic."
Lu'k's eyes lit up with excitement, as though he had been invited to speak on his favorite subject. With a wave of his hand, a vine tore through the earth, snatched the tome from Kyle, and carried it to the old kobold.
Kyle was stunned. This was not the same magic as the fireball spell he had learned from the tome.
"There are two ways to view power," Lu'k began. "As something birthed and nurtured from within…"
His eyes glowed with a faint green hue as flowers began sprouting around them.
"…or as an external force we call upon in our hour of need."
Bam!
Lu'k stomped the ground with his cane. Dazzling green geometric markings, each carrying runes of power, spiraled into existence between them, spreading over twenty yards.
Kyle watched as chunks of earth tore themselves free, ramming together to form a massive earth spear five times their size.
"Tier One spell: Earth Spear."
Swish!
Without warning, the spear shot forward, splitting a tree in two in a single motion. Kyle stared in shock as the mighty tree crashed to the ground without offering any resistance.
"Do you understand?" Lu'k asked.
Kyle shook his head quickly. "Partially…"
Lu'k wasn't surprised. It was hard to tell the difference without experiencing it firsthand.
"Sorcery harmonizes with an element, while mages seek to exert control over it externally. They treat magic as something to be experimented on—shaped and built for specific purposes."
As Kyle listened, he simplified it in his mind: nature versus science. One seeks to understand and become one with the element; the other is determined to break and reshape it to suit their desires.
"Which is more popular?" Kyle asked, deliberately avoiding the word strong. To him, it was vague and limiting.
"Mages rule this age," Lu'k replied. "They grow faster. Their spells are dangerous because they are crafted for specific purposes. However, in the long run, they are inferior to sorcerers."
Kyle wasn't completely convinced. He likened it to Earth's history, where modernization always won in the end. No matter how fiercely indigenous tribes fought, they eventually fell to gun-wielding opponents. The refusal to move with the times had doomed many individuals and corporations back on Earth.
'But does the same logic apply here?'
After tonight's experiences, Kyle no longer trusted his human perspective entirely. He had made it a personal mission to stay open-minded and learn about this world without bias.
"Can someone learn both?" he asked.
"You mean a hybrid?" Lu'k frowned slightly. "There are myths of people who attempted it, but following one path is already difficult enough. Why divide your effort between two and achieve mediocrity in both?"
Lu'k clearly disliked the idea, and Kyle understood why.
"True," Kyle agreed immediately.
Now that he had Lu'k's perspective, Kyle's curiosity shifted to Thomas Carlegar's research. More than anything, he wanted to go home and read the diary.
For the rest of the night, Kyle and Lu'k talked about many things. When Lu'k asked if Kyle understood the reason behind his unnatural growth rate, Kyle admitted he was just as confused. He still hadn't fully grasped his situation or how the system worked—how could he explain it to anyone else?
Thankfully, Lu'k seemed to believe him and later offered to teach him sorcery. The old kobold knew better than anyone that when his time came to an end, the only one capable of protecting the Dan'tai clan from its enemies in the east and south would be Kyle.
Once, Lu'k had been burdened by the sorrow of failure. He believed that he and his siblings had failed to make their dream a reality. But looking at an anomaly like Kyle, he couldn't help but wonder if they hadn't failed at all.
Even in defeat, Kyle had shown strength and talent they never dreamed of possessing, even at their peak. If this was the power he wielded at just one year old, how terrifying would he be as an adult?
Perhaps their true purpose had been to bring Kyle into this world.
Lu'k was beginning to believe that their only duty had been to serve as his forerunners.