Chapter 846: The Dragon’s Disdain
"Who’s our new addition?" Arthur asked.
"She’s the one the old man came to dump on us," Wyndella replied, snapping her fingers to conjure a round table with seven chairs arranged around it.
Her response earned a retort from Aleksas, who turned toward her with narrowed eyes.
"I brought her for you to train her."
"Same difference," Wyndella answered with a yawn, and hearing that, Arthur agreed with a nod.
"True. Same difference."
At that, Wyndella smiled and gestured toward Arthur as she spoke to Aleksas.
"See?"
Aleksas didn’t bother replying, his gaze shifting instead to the table Wyndella had conjured, where Berlal was already seated, speed-reading through an entire book while ignoring everyone around her.
Noticing this, Arthur glanced at Barda and asked.
"What’s with her?"
"She’s still pissed, so she isn’t speaking to anyone," Barda replied with a resigned sigh.
He then walked up to the table where the rest of his siblings were taking their seats, and Aleksas, turning his attention back to Wyndella, said.
"I’ve informed you of the circumstances behind her existence and why I brought her to you six. A—"
He suddenly stopped, then, with a side glance at Arthur, quietly erected a barrier to block the sound of his next words from reaching him.
Arthur only shrugged at that, not really concerned about whatever Dragon Race secret they were discussing, and turned his gaze toward his residence, just about to ask Celestia if she was finished dressing Elaine, when an unfamiliar voice spoke up from behind him.
"You’re the one they’ve been training in this time-accelerated dimension?"
Arthur turned at the voice, meeting the purple eyes of the unfamiliar female dragon who had arrived with Aleksas, and after a brief silence, he replied.
"Yeah."
He quietly slipped his hands into his pockets, raising an eyebrow as he added, "What about it?"
"I was told it’s been 15 years on this planet since the Levites reawakened. Time moves three times faster in this dimension, which means you’ve been trained 45 years by them."
"43, actually," Arthur corrected.
"A difference of 2 years is negligible," she shot back immediately.
Then, narrowing her eyes, she continued, her voice dripping with disdain.
"What matters is that after more than 40 years of training under such prestigious figures, you’re still this weak?"
"..."
Arthur went silent at her words, blinking a few times. He looked down at his own body, as if to check whether she was really speaking to him, before looking back up at the dragon, his eyes running over her from head to toe, scanning her existence before asking.
"You’re saying I’m weak? You, of all people?"
A moment after he asked that, a look of realisation crossed his eyes and he silently nodded.
’I forgot the restriction’s back on. She must be mistaking my limited state for my full strength.’
Convinced this was the case, Arthur spoke up to clarify.
"For the record, my power’s currently limited, so you aren’t perceiving everything there is."
The dragon’s expression didn’t shift as she shot back.
"Yes, I’m saying you are weak," she answered with certainty. "I can see through that paltry suppression of yours, and your true strength is laid bare before my eyes."
Her crimson pupils seemed to glow as she spoke, and Arthur could sense a faint trace of cosmic energy within them.
"The power you actually possess is abysmal compared to what’s expected of someone trained not by one, but all six of the Levites."
The woman stepped forward as she spoke, as if trying to use her gaze to intimidate Arthur, but he stayed silent.
This dragon clearly seemed to be an admirer of the Levite Dragons, which didn’t surprise Arthur much since he’d come across entire religions that worshipped them in different parts of this universe.
What he couldn’t figure out was her purpose in calling him weak. What exactly was she trying to achieve by antagonising him?
While he quietly considered what motives she might have, the dragon kept speaking, her words no less disparaging.
"If this is the extent of power you’ve reached after 40 years, then teaching you is nothing but a waste of effort for teachers as great as the Levites."
"Is that so?" Arthur replied, his expression showing plain disinterest in whatever point she was trying to make.
He no longer cared to even wonder about her intentions, simply shrugging as he added, "Whatever you say."
His indifferent response seemed to irritate the dragon, who clicked her tongue in disgust and said.
"That’s how you react when someone points out your shortcomings? Not even the slightest hint of wanting to improve.
A person like you doesn’t deserve to be graced with their tutelage."
Arthur wasn’t even listening anymore, his thoughts fixed on how he was going to handle Elaine, but just as he turned and started to walk away, Berlal’s voice suddenly echoed from behind him.
"Then prove it."
Arthur stopped and turned, seeing the Eclipse Dragon standing behind him, facing the unknown purple-eyed dragon, her expression neutral as she spoke for the second time in days.
"You think he’s undeserving of our tutelage because he’s weak, don’t you?"
The purple-eyed dragon was momentarily taken aback, but quickly composed herself and answered.
"Not because he’s weak, Lady Berlal. But because even after 40 years of effort have been invested in him, he’s still this weak, and shows no clear desire to improve even when his flaws are pointed out to him."
"The end result is that you think him weak, do you not?" Berlal shot back. "Then prove that you’re correct."
Arthur frowned at Berlal’s words, already sensing he wasn’t going to like where this was headed. His suspicion was confirmed when Berlal turned to him and spoke.
"She believes you’re weak, and I’m certain you don’t share that belief. One of you is wrong, and there’s a simple way to prove who it is."
Turning her gaze back to the dragon, she continued, "Best him in combat to prove your claim."
She clasped her hands behind her back as she added, "It would also serve as a test for you. Aleksas brought you here to be trained by us because you’re the culmination of 700 Generations of accumulated Draconic Potential, born from a bloodline sired by the son of the Primordial Dragon."
At Berlal’s words, Arthur raised an eyebrow in surprise, while Aleksas frowned, his voice low as he called her name.
"Berlal."
It was clear he disliked the revelation she had just made in the presence of another Race’s Progenitor, but Berlal paid no mind to his disapproval.
As for Arthur, he silently pondered the information Berlal had revealed and simply nodded to himself.
’No wonder she reeks of arrogance. She’s a descendant of the Progenitor Dragon, and is an Ancient-Breed with generations of accumulated potential.’
Not a single Dragon across more than 700 Generations before her had ever been born an Ancient-Breed, despite their bloodline being sired by a son of Aleksas and containing a high concentration of Draconic factors.
All the potential Ancient-Breeds that could have appeared across those Generations had instead been consolidated into one existence, producing a Dragon with a concentration of Draconic Factors comparable to the Levites at the time of their birth.
She wasn’t Aleksas’ child, and yet she possessed more Draconic Factors than some of his own offspring.
With potential of that scale, her progression through the Existence Realms had been effortless, every advancement ending with her acquiring power up to the Cosmic Limit of her Realms.
Walls and barriers that usually slowed or hindered growth simply didn’t exist for her. She absorbed knowledge as easily as a sponge soaking in water, her law affinities peaking at the highest possible for her Existence Realm and letting her acquire Authorities in compatible laws with remarkable ease. Learning new skills and abilities was nothing more than routine for her.
Her versatility was a marvel of existence, her presence overwhelming, exuding a natural air of authority that commanded attention, a silent assertation of her heritage and her destined greatness.
Where others struggled, failed, and crawled forward step by step, she simply advanced, every barrier dissolving before her as if the Cosmos itself had chosen her as its favoured heir.
The expression, ’One in a Billion Years Genius,’ was often used to describe exceptional protégées, but for her, it wasn’t an expression at all.
She was that impossibility made flesh, a literal, ’One in a Billion Years Genius’.
That was the Dragon known as Altrishia Weiss.
