The dragon's harem

?The new girl looked at the class. “Anansi Akumu from the far eastern kingdom of Demoria. I’m a rogue that specializes in poisons. I know a lot of you are salty that I got accepted even though I missed the entrance exam.”

“For real!” A guy in the back growled. “I’d say good for you that you managed to enroll, but it definitely feels bad for us. I had to pass through the wyvern ravine to get here, and several of the guards I hired had died. Are you telling me we could’ve waited for those monsters to immigrate?”

“I can’t say.” Anansi looked at him. “Who knows? My carriage got swept in an avalanche and I barely managed to survive and crawl myself here.”

“I see…” The student sighed, “But that still doesn’t feel right. Rules should be the rules. Without them, the order can’t be maintained.”

“Why would you care.” Arad said, turning around and staring at the student. “Even yesterday, everyone here almost died. Do you know why you’re still alive and breathing here? Cause those two broke the rules.” He pointed at Matilda and Selina, “The rules state that students are to evacuate in case of an emergency. Those two fought to clear the dungeon and save your life, do you think they should’ve left everyone to die and ran away?”

Selina covered her face with a book as everyone stared at her and Matilda looked at Arad in front of her. “We got knocked out quickly by the boss. It was your wife Aella who took over…and by what teacher Lucia said, it was you who finished the boss off.”

“It doesn’t matter who killed it. What matters are those who helped.” Arad said. He didn’t want to take any credit for defeating the boss, he had killed it far too easily. In his eyes, Aella and the rest deserved more praise than him, for keeping his wife Aella safe long enough, and for risking their lives.

“I can understand what you’re saying…but…” The student sat down.

“If you can’t make a change, don’t come complaining to those who can. Both you and her were saved by broken rules, so stop obsessing over them and live your life.” Arad sighed, turning to face forward.

“Defending me?” Anansi stood right before Arad’s face, staring at him with a grin. “Aren’t you a gentleman?”

Thud! Arad grabbed her by the face. “Who’s defending you? You’ve already been accepted so you don’t need defending.” He was just trying to challenge the student’s notion, as he felt it would come bit him later if he didn’t. Dragons were known for not being able to respect rules, and he didn’t want to regret agreeing to this by remaining silent.

Everyone else sighed, “Aron, let her go.” Matilda poked his back.

Arad looked back at Matilda and opened his mouth, extending his tongue out to reveal a thin needle. “It’s dry, it had no poison.” He let Anansi go.

“I wanted to see how strong is this rumored Aron. I can see how you managed to take down a boss on your own, we’ll a weakened boss is still a boss.” She smiled, but deep down her heart almost stopped when he grabbed her face. Dragons are known to be unpredictable, he could’ve chewed her face for all she knew.

“Say, you’re an adventurer?” She asked with a smile.

“You could say that.” Arad replied.

“Do you need a rogue in your party? Since almost everything I got was swept that damned swamp avalanche, I need to look for a job.” She said with a grin, staring at Arad’s face. “Rogues are useful.”

“I know that and I already have a talented one. I don’t intend on changing him, or adding another one.” Arad replied. From what he knew, Jack works best as a lone rogue, adding this woman to the team, she’ll just ruin whatever Jack is thinking about doing.

“How about me?!” Matilda stared at her. “I’ve formed a party with this one called Ganta from the other class. We’re looking to train a bit so we don’t get injured like yesterday.” She remembered the stab she took and a shiver crossed her body. “That was painful.” She tapped her stomach.

“I got stabbed right here, all the way through. It was painful as hell.” Matilda sighed.

“Sorry to hear that. I must’ve been horrible to go through.” Anansi replied with a sad face. ^I’m the one who stabbed you though…^

“So, we two are going to start taking quests in the nearby forest and mountain to get stronger, level up, and get some money to spend on the side. But, sadly, we’re both fighters and need some versatility. Care to join?” Matilda smiled.

Selina grabbed Matilda by the arm, “You didn’t tell me.” She said with a sad face.

“You want to come? It’s dangerous, I thought you wouldn’t want to go with us.” Matilda gasped.

“Ganta said it…Together, strong.” Selina replied.

“So, as you heard, we now have a wizard. Still want to join?” Matilda asked again.

Anansi stared at them. “Of course.” She had to accept, ^This is that brat who electrocuted me through the eyes. I make sure she’ll regret it.^

“Is Aella coming?” Arad asked, looking at them.

“I asked her, and she said she’ll come only if she has time.” Matilda replied. “I too wanted her on the team, she held the boss after we fell for a long time.”

“Who’s Aella?” Anansi asked. ^I know, it’s that crazy elf. Since when did people start getting that strong, she felt more like a monster than a humanoid.^

“An elf archer, she’s one of Aron’s wives.” Matilda replied.

“I see…” Anansi nodded…^That’s way! The woman was a dragon’s wife, no wonder she was that strong. And this bastard has multiple wives? Who does he think he is…^ For a moment, she started getting angry…^No, wait…if he has multiple wives, I might have a chance to join in… no, but that would betray Lady Yababa. And he’d eat me if he knew I’m the mother spider.^

“Excuse me…” Lucia approached them, terrified as Arad stared at her. “Sorry, but the class is about to start. Can everyone please head to their seats?”

After sensing how strong the mother spider was, and knowing that Arad killed her, she has no doubt, that he has more power than anyone here in the university.

“AH! Sorry!” Selina gasped and lunged back to her seat, and Matilda sat down. Everyone went back to their place as Lucia started today’s lesson.

“Today, we’ll study the relation between alchemy and magic, and not in the sense of potions and elixirs but in terms of spells.” Lucia immediately started the lesson, wanting to forget what happened.

“There are multiple ways to cast magic, empower or control it. Spells used to have verbal, material, and even specific locations or times to be cast. But, due to the advancement of magic, those requirements were removed without a loss in power due to the constant innovation in arcane focus creation. Staves, wands, and orbs had helped the spell casters all over the world.”

As Lucia explained, Arad looked at what she was writing on the board. “Even if not needed, they still work.” He mumbled.

“That’s it.” Lucia turned and stared at him with a smile. “You can still empower spells by using the old restrictions. In exchange for chanting, material components, and even setting a specific time and location, you can make your magic stronger.”

She immediately turned toward the board and started writing. “We’ll focus on the component part as it is a part of alchemy, but you can still check the libraries for books. Clubs will be next week, so that means you can also play with it there.”

“But how much is the difference we’re speaking about? Is it worth the time spent chanting or the cost of materials? People opted to find a way not to use them for a reason.” Arad asked.

“It depends, but a simple chant can boost a spell’s power by 5%, a full chant might push it all the way to 30% but will take a long time. Our job here is to mix cheap components into something that can empower spells by a lot.”

Lucia drew a fire bolt on the board.

“Your first assignment for today is creating a spell component that empowers a fire bolt spell, a widely used basic fire magic.”

What Arad didn’t know, is that they’ve already been using it. The void is his element, and he’s been using matter in general as a material component to empower his breath from a basic void breath into a beam of concentrated energy. Aella used air as a material component to make the flames from a basic spell burn into a tornado, and even Eris’s power relied on the cycle of night and day as her vampiric and holy powers shifted.

Even without proper education, those with a talent for magic were already going down the right path.