Chương 14: Water

- Emerald Palace -

Baldrik had just returned from sending Amadeus to his trial and was currently sitting across his father drinking some tea while his father was chugging down an alcohol bottle.

"Hahaha, so you pushed him off the dragon…"

"Shh, father Lily shouldn't hear of this."

"Yes, hahahaha, I remember when you had your trials. I left you naked and unconscious in the outskirts of the trial grounds. You, hahaha, you pushed your own son off a dragon…haha…in…haha…"

Caesar was having difficulties finishing off his sentence as he couldn't stop laughing. Baldrik was embarrassed by having one of his most traumatic experience remembered. Just because dragons looked down on all other races, didn't mean that they were different. They still had feelings. Imagine waking up naked in a forest of vicious and ferocious beasts out to get you. The despair he felt protecting his little brother was something else.

The door opened with a calm Lily walking in. She had a smile on her face yet her narrowed, vertical slit eyes radiated immense anger. The two looked at her as Caesar quietened down while Baldrik felt shiver down his spine. They didn't get a chance to speak when a sweet terrifying voice left Lily's mouth,

"Father, something has come up that needs Baldrik's immediate attention."

Not listening to any of her husband's protests, she dragged him out amidst Caesar's eyes of sympathy. Looking at his son being dragged off, Caesar remembered his grandson,

'Hopefully he awakens in these three months…'

What Amadeus didn't know was that there were two ways of awakening, a natural one through battle and an artificial one through the use of many treasures and items. Naturally, the first one was the better one while the latter was fraught with many issues and was only a partial awakening.

Caesar gave a sigh remembering his abnormal grandson. He had never seen anyone absorb knowledge like his grandson did. It was one of the reasons why his trial period was halved to three months from the usual six months. It was so Caesar could train Amadeus for an extra three months and he believed that three months were enough for him to awaken.

'I hope I'm not wrong as he did show signs of awakening…He may need to take up the throne at an early age.'

A worried look plastered his face as he thought of something else before a scream filled with despair brought him out of it,

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!"

Caesar smiled as he shook his head,

'It seems he will now have another trauma.'

- Trial Grounds -

Amadeus had quickly left the area where he fought the hyenas. He still needed to look for a water source and the smell of blood would attract the surrounding beasts. That fight had taught him a lesson that brought his ego down a notch. He shouldn't underestimate anything he came across, especially with his lack of knowledge on the creatures here.

The injury on his back had already healed as the only thing left was a ripped section on the back of his training attire. He needed to find a place to rest for the night. Just as the sun was setting, he heard the sound of running water. A gleeful smile appeared on his face as he rushed towards the noise only to come across a deer taking a piss. Seeing the intruder, the deer shot off with a terrified face and still in the middle of his leak spraying it all over the place.

A disappointed look plastered his face as he continued walking through the forest. Realising that he needed to rest he climbed a nearby tree and laid to rest on one of its branches

The next morning, his search carried on as he encountered another type of rabbit. This one was larger yet looked similar to what he killed yesterday but with a more ferocious look in its eyes. The conspicuous difference was the horn jutting out its head and the jagged teeth protruding out its mouth. Amadeus could still see fresh blood dripping down from it, indicating that it had just finished a meal.

Amadeus recognised it as a demonic beast, unlike the ferocious beasts he encountered before, this one was a ferocious beast that had somehow absorbed demonic energy. Although he didn't know the strength of each beast, he knew about the three different types of beasts. Ferocious, demonic and Magical. Ferocious beasts were like the hyenas and the rabbit he encountered before, they were just normal animals and would be a threat to villagers but could be taken care of by normal trained soldiers and the weaker adventurers. Then were demonic ones that had evolved from a ferocious beast by absorbing demonic energy. They would be attributed an element and would gain some magical prowess. These beasts would be a threat to soldiers and would need a company of soldiers, and/or an average adventurer or a team of them. Lastly were the magical beasts, these were demonic beasts that had gotten some form of intelligence and were able to speak. These beasts were part of the ultimate top of the food chain and would require extremely strong individuals to kill.

Crouching slightly, Amadeus slowed his beating heart and masked his presence with the surroundings. Taking a page from the hyena's book, he covered his steps by the natural sounds made in the jungle. He had started training in this after his battle yesterday and could only be considered a beginner at best.

Still it was enough, the demonic rabbit didn't even know what killed it when Amadeus struck. He then wrapped it up with vines and made another makeshift campfire. Roasting the rabbit, Amadeus started feeling a slight thirst as his throat showed signs of drying up. Over the years, he had realised that there were longer intervals for a dragon needing water than a human, so it was only now that he had started feeling some sort of thirst.

Knowing the predicament he was currently in, he quickly finished of his meal before leaving. On his way, he encountered many different beasts ranging from demonic beasts to ferocious, some hostile, some not. Yet all the ones that attacked were weaker and he hadn't encountered anything really strong. As time passed on, Amadeus' thirst started to grow as a sudden show crossed his mind. A man was stuck in a desert and had resorted to peeing in a snake's skin he had killed earlier only to later drink it.

'Nonononono'

Amadeus didn't want to remember that as he tried to delete that memory, but it kept coming back as his thirst grew. Fortunately, Amadeus realised that the lushness surrounding him started to increase the more he walked indicating a water source.

Finally, pushing some large leaves out of the way, Amadeus emerged only to step on a clearing with a crystal lake in the middle. This place seemed to be a safe zone as predators and preys alike, drank water.

Still Amadeus never dropped his guard as he slowly made his way towards the lake. Upon noticing no danger, Amadeus crouched down and started drinking with one hand while the other kept hold of his weapon, ready for an ambush.

He took small sips, just enough to quench his thirst before retreating. After some time, there were no hostilities towards him, so he created a base near the water. He would have tried to make this his territory, but the lake was too large for just one being to take control of. Plus, Amadeus felt that all the surrounding animals would attack him at once if he tried to make claim to this lake. It was not something he wanted to do.

Time passed by as Amadeus carried on his journey through numerous amounts of fight. Dragons were a warring race and found lust in battle. The same could be said for Amadeus as he continuously tried to look for stronger opponents to defeat. Each time he fought a strong opponent, he could feel his blood heat up but couldn't just break past that last barrier. He just knew that it was something he wanted, and once it did break past that last barrier it would be something tremendous.

Once he tried to elongate the battle but proved to be useless. So, Amadeus concluded that he would just need to throw himself in danger and hope for a life and death situation that breaks that barrier.

Due to this he encountered various races and species of animals and plant. Fire breathing plants, Water spitting lizards, Insect eating spiders and many more. However, one week later, that opportunity he wanted came.