The group had a set of mixed reactions to hearing Bliss mention the word Dragon's blood. The students found it hard to keep their laughter down until eventually, Flynn couldn't take it anymore.

  "Haha, seriously, I know you might want to keep the secret ingredient a secret, but Dragon's blood, that doesn't even exist."

  However, as soon as he said this, he saw the look on the faces of the others, and they all were very serious, not a single one of them seemed to be laughing.

  "Wait, you mean dragons are real!" Wendy asked.

  "Well, In all honesty," Martha replied, "We're pretty sure they are indeed real."

  "Yeah, we've even seen one," Kyle added.

  "Stop your gibberish, do you really think I would believe that?" Flynn replied.

  "Well, not exactly a Dragon," Harry replied. "It was a Wyvern if I am not wrong. You kids are new, so you don't know much about this, but when the Shadow Plague had attacked, it was what saved us at the time. A giant blue wyvern. If they can exist, then I'm pretty sure at some point and time dragons have also existed." While saying these last words, Harry couldn't help but look at Bliss's expression.

  She truly was an ancient being who had lived for a long time. She knew things which weren't common knowledge. She wouldn't be lying at all about something like this, Harry thought. The real question was, how did she even get her hands on a Dragon's blood in the first place since they were the most fearsome beings in existence.

  "A Dragon huh…" Scarlett mumbled with her head down.

  "I didn't mean to disappoint you," Bliss said with her hand reaching out.

  But when Scarlett raised her head, she just had a serene smile. "No, don't worry. It just means I'm one step closer in achieving my goal. Now we know something works. Maybe we can find something that replicates it, and who knows maybe the Dragons aren't extinct and have just gone into hiding. All we have to do now is to find a way."

  Everyone there felt like Scarlett was truly an amazing person. Somehow she was able to put a positive spin on things, and Bliss didn't want to ruin that. Like she said, maybe not all Dragons had died, some may have gone into hiding; in fact, there was one right under her nose. The blood from Ray wouldn't work right now, but maybe one day as he started to evolve, they would eventually be able to use his blood.

  'That's if that guy even lets us use his blood.' Bliss thought.

  The group continued on with their task of clearing out the land; they needed a few acres if they wanted to grow a decent amount of crops to boost the city. They would also have to build a storage place and most likely living quarters for those protecting the farm. If all went as planned, this would bring a lot of benefits in the upcoming future.

  Each time, Bliss and Lenny would go into action a set of beast creatures who were nearby would come towards them. Most of them were dealt with quickly as they were of the Basic Tier. This was as expected due to where they were, along the outskirts of the border. Only deeper into the shadow continent did the high tiered shadow beasts exist. This made their work pretty easy.

  This expedition went on for a few days. One day, as the sun was starting to set, the group decided to move back a bit away from the infected land. Even further than the part they had cleared just to feel a little safer. They then set up camp, pitching up their tents and shared stories with each other, trying to make the mood enjoyable.

  Of most of the stories, the others shared, nearly all had Ray in them. Since they all were related to him in one way or the other, hearing stories of Ray's feats in the academy was never a tiring subject for Scarlett. As for Bliss and Lenny, they had decided to keep quiet for most of the night.

  "So, what about you, Scarlett?" Martha asked. "What's your background, Ray never really talked about you."

  "Well," Scarlett replied as she played with the fire using her fingers around the campfire, they were all grouped around at. "It's probably because Ray doesn't know much about me. Just like you guys, he went on to move to Avrion at the age of five. What I do find funny is that Ray was actually able to use magic. You see, I originally went to Roland myself, and that's where I met his father. At the time he was an adventurer."

  "Oh, so he got his fighting skills from his father, and magic skills from his mother." Harry said, "That makes sense."

  "I didn't teach him a thing about magic. I didn't even know he could perform it. If I did perhaps there were a few things I would have done differently," Scarlett replied. "You see, I'm originally from the empire. When his father got sick, I went back there looking for answers and then I saw the news report."

  "From the empire!?" Kyle said. "Does Ray know…


  "No he doesn't, and maybe it's best to keep it that way. Otherwise, it might just be a distraction." She mumbled.

  After this break, the group repeated the same process again, for the next two days, clearing more of the land while fighting beasts. At the end of it, they had an excellent variety to choose from for the others to start the beasting process when they would get back.

  All of the solution had now been used, so they had no choice but to know return.

  "We'll try to get those Blackring members and some others to come here as soon as possible," Lenny said. "That way, the land won't be taken over again, and they can focus on building."

  Everyone mutually felt it was a great idea as they started to make their way back.

  While the group were heading back to the academy at the same time, Slyvia had just received a particular letter. She immediately called a meeting between the council. Right now the letter was placed on the table, sealed with red wax and unopened for anyone to see.

  For this wasn't an ordinary letter, but a letter from the empire.

  ****

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