Chapter 10: The Passing of Time (2)

The fairy named Fin.

Their relationship began shortly after Louis’s first awakening from hibernation.

Louis recalled how absurd that day had been.

After safely completing his initial Hibernation Chamber cycle, Louis woke up on his hundredth birthday. Genelocer handed him a gift box to celebrate his first birthday. Still dazed by waking up unharmed, Louis set aside the present without much thought and eventually forgot about it entirely.

Then, unexpectedly, Fin emerged from that very gift box.

Crack!

“Aghh! This is infuriating!” With a loud cry, the fairy Fin tore through the box and burst out.

“Eep!”

Caught off guard near the box, Louis reflexively swung his tail with a startled squawk like a frightened chick.

“Yelp!”

The impact with Louis’s tail sent Fin crashing against the wall and tumbling to the floor.

“Yowch! Wh-what was that for?!”

Louis calmed his racing heart before approaching the limp, mysterious creature sprawled on the ground.

“What is this? A giant dragonfly?” He picked up the creature by its wings, glaring at it as it dangled from his fingertips.

“A fairy?”

Its appearance made it immediately recognizable. The question was why such a being had emerged from the gift box.

As Louis pondered this, Fin’s eyes suddenly snapped open.

“P-please let go of me!”

“Hmm…”

Seeing the fairy flail its arms, legs, and wings, Louis released them. Once freed, Fin smoothed out his disheveled blond hair and bowed toward Louis.

“It’s an honor to meet you, holy Dragon Prince.”

“…”

“My name is Fin, prince of the Twinkling Fairies and your humble entertainer!”

“Entertainer?” Louis raised an eyebrow at that word.

“Heh-heh! Please wait just a moment!” Sensing Louis’s interest, Fin darted back toward the box he had emerged from earlier and returned with something small but heavy in hand.

He set it down in front of Louis—a tiny bag.

“What’s this?” Curious, Louis opened the pouch, only for his excitement to quickly fade away.

On the other hand, Fin proudly entered the open bag and announced, “This is our exclusive ‘Twinkling Fairy Dress-Up Set: 23 Styles’ specially prepared for the holy, great, and precious Dragon Prince!”

With confidence, Fin lifted various small garments from the bag. Surprisingly, it contained twenty-three different outfits.

“As fairies are genderless, this set includes clothes for both males and females, as well as costumes for monsters, demons, and angels suitable for role-playing scenarios! It’s a limited-edition special set designed to provide diverse dressing options!”

”…”

As Fin passionately explained, Louis’ expression grew increasingly colder despite his enthusiasm.

“And the greatest advantage of this set is me! As a fairy royal with the perfect physique, I can effortlessly pull off any outfit!”

Louis listened quietly before bluntly asking, “So basically…this is just a doll playset? Is playing with dolls what you meant by entertainment?”

“As expected of our sacred, great, precious, and wise baby Dragon Lord, you instantly understood!”

”…Is it just my imagination, or is your list of strange titles growing?”

“Oh yes, definitely your imagination!”

With that exchange, Louis kicked away the Twinkling Fairy Dress-Up Play Set with 23 Items.

It was already ten years ago.

At that time, Louis had been furious with Genelocer for giving him such a strange gift as a birthday present. However, it turned out to be the most desired item by hatchlings.

‘Dragons have unique tastes…’

In a fantasy world, whether playing with fairy dolls or engaging in war games didn’t seem particularly concerning. Nevertheless, treating living beings like playthings still felt awkward to Louis. So when he tried to return Fin back:

“N-No, you can’t! I came here voluntarily! From now on, I’ll behave well! I’ll do anything! Please don’t send me away!”

According to Fin’s account, he had voluntarily entered the dollhouse instead of being forcibly captured. Moreover, due to fierce competition for entry, it was only thanks to his royal status that he could easily become a doll at all.

A voluntary doll…

Louis couldn’t fully comprehend this concept, but after learning how becoming a childhood friend of a dragon was considered a great honor and guaranteed success among fairies, Louis decided not to question it further.

After all, the first Fairy King who unified their race served as a toy during the youth of the inaugural Dragon King. Seeing Fin’s persistent pleading, Louis accepted him as one of his subordinates. From that day forward, Fin shadowed Louis everywhere, assisting him with various tasks.

Well… She is quite competent.

Initially, Louis found Fin’s constant presence annoying as she followed him everywhere, but having someone to handle trivial matters proved useful. The average lifespan of fairies was around three thousand years, and at eight hundred years old, Fin knew more than Louis did about spatial holy magic. With such a dedicated personal assistant, Louis couldn’t help but acknowledge his value over time.

“Hmm…” After reminiscing about the past, Louis handed a towel to Fin and said, “Since we’ve warmed up, it’s time for some studies now. Bring out my materials, Fin.”

“Yes, sir! Yesterday, you fell asleep while researching the four unnatural elemental attributes. Would you like to finish that topic?”

“No need for that. It’s inferior to the theory of unnatural four attributes I’ve seen before. Please bring me ‘Advanced Theory of Mana Separation and Manifestation’.”

“Right away!” Fin confidently replied, tossed aside the towel, and stretched her hand out into thin air.

Her fingers disappeared as if entering another dimension. Soon after, she retrieved a desk, chair, and a thick book.

Louis casually took a seat on the chair, seemingly unfazed by this remarkable display, and opened the book.

The extra-dimensional space is indeed convenient. I should learn how to use it.

As a fairy with innate spatial abilities, Fin specialized in creating extradimensional spaces. Louis often relied on him to store various items due to this talent.

In essence, Fin served as Louis’s mobile drawer. Under the bright sunlight, Louis quickly read through a thick book. After being engrossed for quite some time, he abruptly looked up.

Grrumble.

The clear sky suddenly darkened with ominous clouds gathering above him.

Louis sighed heavily upon witnessing this change.

“Haah… It was quiet for a few days. Again?”

Rrrumble.

The dense black clouds emitted loud rumbling noises, and flashes of white lightning intermittently illuminated between them.

Then…

KRACK!

A massive bolt of lightning struck directly towards Louis.

Zzzzt.

Despite the imminent threat of being struck and burned to a crisp, Louis didn’t flinch as lightning crashed down on him.

Kraak!

The bolt coursed along his skin until it reached the bracelet around his left wrist, whereupon it flowed into its blue gemstone. The jewel flashed momentarily before dimming again.

But just when Louis thought that was the end…

Zap!

Another bolt struck him with the same result. Electricity swirled around Louis before inevitably getting absorbed by the bracelet.

Louis couldn’t help but smirk at this familiar scenario.

“I’ve been hit hundreds of times already. This is nothing.”

The gem embedded in Louis’s bracelet was an attribute stone imbued with lightning energy. Lightning itself consists of pure electrical power, while the gem contained only diluted electricity.

On the other hand, the attribute stones embedded in Louis’s bracelet weren’t pure or potent enough. Frustrated by how often lightning struck him whenever he ventured outside, Louis had started using these stones to his advantage. It was similar to osmosis, where purer and stronger energy flowed toward weaker ones. With some additional techniques, the lightning instantly got absorbed by the bracelet, accumulating the lightning attribute within the stones.

I initially made this because it felt like a waste just avoiding the lightning strikes, but it turned out pretty well.

Despite its frequency, each bolt of lightning used to charge only a low-rank attribute stone per week before transforming it into a mid-rank one.

“They say every little bit adds up, so let’s keep collecting diligently.” Smiling faintly, Louis removed the attribute stone from his bracelet.

The once light sky-blue stone now appeared deep navy blue—a clear indication that it was fully charged with the lightning attribute.

This was evidence that Louis’s lightning attribute had reached its full capacity. If he continued absorbing energy at this rate, the stones would eventually explode from the excess power. Hence, he needed to periodically replace them.

Just as Louis removed one of the attribute stones from his bracelet…

Kra-koom!

Lightning struck again—this time with two bolts.

“Sir Louis!” Startled, Fin urgently cried out, but it was too late; the lightning hit Louis directly.

BANG!

Contrary to Fin’s fears, Louis emerged unscathed. The lightning bolt bounced off sideways without singeing even a hair on his head, seemingly blocked by some invisible force.

Fin marveled at what he witnessed. “Ah! A spatial distortion field!” His eyes sparkled upon recognizing the technique Louis employed.

Space distortion was one of several methods to manipulate spatial attributes. It served as both the foundation and pinnacle of space magic. Both holy and forbidden spells based on spatial attributes began with this technique. As someone who wielded space magic himself, Fin was astonished by Louis’s speed in casting it.

His reaction time is almost comparable to a tier-one mage!

The top-tier hunters appeared only once every few hundred years. And finally, there was the zero rank. To find someone who had reached this level, often referred to as demi-god status, one would have to look back through history, as fewer than ten humans throughout all of recorded time had ever achieved it.

However, dragons blessed with mana from birth could ascend to the zero rank more easily compared to other races.

Considering he’s been studying his attribute for merely a decade…

Fin had observed Louis closely since he first started learning holy magic. Despite beginning at ground zero, Louis had reached his current level in just ten short years—an astonishing feat even for a dragon blessed with mana.

What was noteworthy here was that Louis possessed unnatural elemental affinity and had only reached tier 3 mastery despite his proficiency being comparable to tier 1 mages. This fact thrilled Fin.

Our master truly has what it takes to become a great dragon! If I stay by his side…we might be able to write a legendary tale that will go down in fairy history!

Fin’s eyes twinkled like stars as he gazed upon Louis. The accomplishments of fairies largely depended on their chosen masters, and Fin could already see the potential greatness of the one he pledged his life to serve.