Chapter 117
Upon exiting the house, Draco stepped out into the crisp morning air.
The sun had just begun to peek over the horizon, casting a warm glow across the still present morning dew drops and the gentle breeze rustled the tree leaves, casting a serene atmosphere over the scene.
As he closed the door behind him and stepped onto the porch, he was met with an unexpected sight - Michalis sitting beside the entrance, gazing up at him.
"Morning, Draco nii," Michalis greeted, a warm smile spreading across his face.
Draco paused for a moment, a touch of surprise registering in his expression.
"Morning," Draco replied, his tone measured as he approached the younger boy.
"What are you doing here so early, and why are you sitting on the floor?" Draco curiously inquired, his brow furrowing slightly.
He couldn't help but find Michalis behaviour to be the unusual.
Michalis wasn’t one to get up early, especially on a day off.
Michalis' expression shifted, a slight hint of sheepishness creeping in.
"Oh, I wanted to see if Clair was alright, but when I tried opening the door, it was locked," he explained, gesturing towards the entrance.
"There's also the cleaning duties from the punishment you've assigned me, I wanted to get a head start on that." Michalis added.
Draco couldn't help but let out a soft sigh, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
‘This boy,’ he thought, shaking his head slightly.
Remembering the other member on cleaning duty.
"What about Vasiliki? Aren't you both on cleaning duty?" Draco asked.
Michalis looked up at Draco, his face scrunching slightly as he visibly struggled to hold back a sarcastic or foolish response.
It was clear that the question had caught him off guard, and he was making a conscious effort to restrain his natural inclination towards impulsive reactions.
Draco, picking up on Michalis' dilemma, quickly recalled the reason for Vasiliki's absence.
"Oh never mind, that was a stupid question. I completely forgot that she was sick," he said, offering the Michalis an understanding nod.
“Good boy” Draco muttered, lightly ruffling Michalis bed hair.
"Anyway," Draco continued, taking his hand back and adjusting the straps of the bag he carried.
"The door is unlocked now, so go in. I'm heading to the dungeon and should be back by noon, so you all should be ready" Draco said.
‘Ready for what?’ Michalis wondered, but didn’t voice his thoughts.
"Oh, please come back safely this time," Michalis replied, his voice tinged with concern.
Draco couldn't help but roll his eyes at the comment.
‘Ugh, do you all think that I didn't learn anything from last time?’ he thought.
"I will," Draco replied, his tone firm but reassuring.
Just as he was about to leave, Draco remembered something.
"Oh, yeah, Michalis," he said, "will you relay the instructions from a note I left on the kitchen table?" he requested.
Michalis nodded in acknowledgment, then got up from the floor and his hand reaching for the door to the house.
However, just as Michalis was about to step inside, Draco called out to him once more.
"One more thing," Draco said.
Michalis paused, his hand on the doorknob, and turned his gaze back to Draco.
"Don't do anything strange in Clair’s room when checking up on her," Draco teased, a playful smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
Michalis' face flushed instantly, his eyes widening in a mixture of shock and embarrassment.
"W-what do you mean by strange?" he stuttered, the words tumbling out in a flustered rush.
Draco couldn't resist prodding further.
"You know what I mean," he said, his tone laced with amusement.
Michalis' expression grew more flustered as he tried to defend himself.
"I'm not going to do anything like that! I don't want her to hate me." he replied.
Draco feigned a puzzled expression, tilting his head slightly.
"Hate you? Why would she hate you for just looking around her room?" he asked, his voice dripping with false innocence.
Michalis' eyes widened as he realized the implication behind Draco's words.
He had misinterpreted Draco’s initial comment and jumped to conclusions , his mind conjuring up all sorts of dirty minded scenarios.
Completely flustered, Michalis hurriedly ran into the house, slamming the door behind him.
Draco stood outside, watching the younger boy's reaction with a grin of amusement on his lips.
'Aw, how cute, he's still so young. Well not like I am much better' he thought.
With a chuckle, Draco resumed his walk towards the dungeon, his mind refocused on his tasks.
It didn't take long for Draco to reach the familiar entrance to the dungeon.
He wasn't planning on anything too strenuous today; his goal was simply to farm monsters on the 15th and 16th floors until noon, hoping to gain enough excelia to fill out the remaining gaps in his stats.
Over the past few months, Draco had come to a deeper understanding of how the various energies within his body interacted and flowed.
It had taken some trial and error, but he had managed to observe even more functions of his own body and special abilities.
One of the most notable discoveries was the similarity between the process of his fast growth and his equilibrium skill.
Both seemed to operate on a similar principle, using something to fill something else.
It was akin to a process of pressure equalization, where power would naturally move from areas of high pressure to those of lower pressure.
As he farmed and absorbed excelia from the monsters in the dungeon, a portion of the energy would not simply remain in one pool, but would instead be distributed and converted into his other two primary energy sources - elemental and draconic energy.
This delicate balance was crucial, as the growth of his elemental and draconic powers were inherently limited by the strength of his physical vessel, which could only advance through distinct growth phases.
In contrast, the accumulation of excelia was more directly tied to his overall potential.
The slower his advancement in growth phases, the less of this potential could be readily accessed and expressed.
This was because the progression from one growth phase to the next represented not just physical maturation, but a fundamental shift in his underlying capabilities – much closer to an evolution rather than mere physical expansion.
His equilibrium skill was another fascinating aspect of Draco's internal workings.
When one of his stats reached its current possible maximum value, the excess excelia meant to fuel that stat would be evenly distributed among the other stats that had not yet reached their peak.
The more stats that were at their maximum, the more excelia would be transferred to the remaining ones, creating a complex and ever-shifting flow of power within his body.
Draco reasoned that all of these factors weren’t completely unrelated but had combined to create an intricate flow of power within his body - a delicate, almost symbiotic relationship between his various sources of strength.
Theoretically, this process could work in reverse, but he had yet to observe such a phenomenon.
Draco's primary concern now was how this carefully calibrated system might be disrupted when he transitioned from a hatchling dragon-kin to a juvenile.
Bahamut had alluded to this potential upheaval, and it weighed heavily on his mind since then.
‘Sigh, I should worry about that when it actually happens,’ Draco thought, pushing the concerning thoughts to the back of his mind.
‘Who knows, the transition might occur at level 4 instead of 3, so what’s the point worrying’ he reasoned, deciding to focus on his current task in the dungeon.
The trek to the 16th floor was not a long one, and Draco immediately began sending out pulses of energy to locate the Minotaurs, his planned primary targets within this level.
He had observed that they gave out the most excelia within the upper middle floors.
Four hours passed, and Draco began to feel the familiar pain that signalled the saturation of his three energy containers.
The excess power within him was now seeking an outlet, and Draco knew he had a choice to make.
A part of him was once again tempted to continue pushing, to see what might happen if he allowed that pressure to build further.
Perhaps there was some untapped potential waiting to be unlocked.
But Draco was no stranger to pain, and he knew better than to simply indulge such impulses while understanding the potential consequences.
The last thing he wanted was for his careful equilibrium to be disrupted in a harmful way.
No, it was best to play it safe and return to the surface before any more weird thoughts creeped into his head.
With a resigned sigh, Draco began the trek back, his mind already turning to the preparations he would need to make for the rest of the day.