The Murux in his palm exploded. It was barely a pinch out of his vast dam of Murux, but it was enough to throw him off his feet when the Murux went out of control. It was the second day of his attempt to control the volume of his Murux output. Changing the form and shape was easy. The strength and volume were a different question and story. He didn’t know the exact reason as to why but he had a vague guess.

  Form and shape were something he could visibly perceive. The volume, on the other hand, wasn’t something he gauged from visuals alone. Size was no indication of Murux’s volume. A small pinch of Murux could hold as much as a handful. Murux had weight but it was also not a valid means of an indication. The strength and volume weren’t something one could differentiate with the five senses alone. It needed to be felt by an entirely different sense, the Sixth Sense, or the Seventh, depending on the teacher.

  This was all Henry had learned in these few short days from Kiera. He had learned more about the theories than the application side of Murux. This was in no way Kiera’s fault but his own. He couldn’t even manage the basics. The ter lessons would surely be impossible if he couldn’t even get the basics down.

  Henry tried to gather his Murux once more but it didn’t manifest this time. He grunted and tried again but what followed was the grumble of his empty stomach.

  “I’m hungry?” he mused in surprise. It had been forever since he st felt hunger. Ever since becoming a dragon, he could go on for days without eating and hunger would never disturb him. He would eat at the usual meal times but that was out of habit. He didn’t really need to eat three times a day. Now that he was training his Murux control, he had neglected his meal times. Not to mention, the training had taken quite a toll on him. Concentration and focus were not cheap for his body.

  “I suppose I can stop and grab something to eat. I have been going at this since dawn.”

  It was two hours past noon now. Kiera was by his side at dawn but she had left for her other business just some time before noon. As for the business she had, she never told Henry but he knew what it was. The Lavans had a library with a vast collection of books. That was where Kiera spent most of her time whenever she was not being solicited by Henry.

  Just as Henry was getting up from the rubble pile of rocks and dirt he was thrown into, someone entered the courtyard. He jumped to his feet immediately, not because of the sudden presence, but because the presence came with a fragrant aroma.

  “I brought some food,” said Ani, who came with a tray of dishes in her hands.

  “Oh, I love you so much,” Henry blurted out. He was simply too overjoyed that someone would bring him food just as he was starving.

  “L-love!?” Ani shrieked, her face flushing deeply red. She nearly dropped the tray but Henry fshed over to her side to support her. “T-thank you… Henry…”

  Henry smiled lovingly and took the tray from Ani’s hands. “Flustered over a few words when we have done so much more in bed?”

  “Those are different occasions!”

  “Different how?”

  “S-something that is said in the heat of passion and something that is said out of nowhere are very… different! It just feels different!”

  “Alright, alright. You don’t need to shout. Unless, of course, you’re trying to announce our love to everyone in this vast valley.”

  “I am—” Ani caught herself just in time before she could yell again. “I am doing no such thing. Stop this. It’s… uncomfortable. You’re going to make me want to…”

  “Want to what?”

  “N-nothing!” she huffed and turned her back to Henry. “Just shut up and eat your food!”

  Smiling, Henry happily devoured the dishes brought for and to him. There was chicken, beef, pork, mb, and some other meat that he didn’t know, but they were all very delicious. Nothing here was tainted by chemicals. He had been worried about bacteria and such but so far, there was no such problem. He reckoned Murux might have something to do with this.

  His taste had become much too fine to eat the food of modern times. In Ulrum, every food was basically fresh and the Lavans were not dull with their cuisine. They had salt. They had pepper. They had all sorts of spices that enlivened the delicacy of the dishes. He had seen their fields and gardens. He didn’t know what sort of fields and gardens they were, but now he did. He knew he only needed to ask; the Lavans would gdly help him form his own fields and gardens. The only question here was: should he take advantage of their reverence towards him?

  Before Henry could come to a decision, the world turned bck and white. And he had just finished his meal. He set the tray down and aside, before letting out a groan.

  “What’s happening?” Ani asked with a terrified look as she gnced around.

  “It’s nothing,” Henry grumbled. “Well, I hope it’s nothing. It’s nothing dangerous or threatening.”

  Hearing Henry’s reassurance, Ani rexed.

  “However, this might be a headache.”

  “How rude.”

  Ani yelped and recoiled away. A girl had appeared between her and Henry out of nowhere.

  “Says the one who just appeared out of nowhere and frightened my woman.”

  “My apologies,” Nadea bowed slightly towards Ani.

  “Y-you’re Nadea! You’re the god that Henry prays to.”

  “I am.”

  “Pray to? I don’t pray to her. Where do you— you know what? Nevermind. So, Nadea… what is it this time? Please don’t tell me there’s some terrible developments going on with the Argon Kingdom, not that there aren’t already terrible developments.”

  “I didn’t come here about that. This is a different matter. Sort of.”

  “Sort of?”

  “I noticed your ck of progress in regards to your training.”

  Henry narrowed his gaze and stood up, towering over the goddess with a petite stature. “You certainly have been busy considering how you have the time to be watching over me.”

  “I am quite busy, I can assure you. I merely chanced upon you on your training.”

  “Hmm… sure. Just out with it already.”

  “I have a proposition. A quest, if you will.”

  “If I will? I get to choose?”

  “People pray to gods all the time from everywhere and anywhere, regardless of their beliefs. They hoped for a miracle. They wished for some comfort in their st moments. The reasons varied. I have received a prayer.”

  “And?”

  “She’s not a follower of mine or any gods, for that matter. She’s in dire need of divine intervention. Depending on your answer, I might just give her the intervention she had prayed for.”

  “And why would you do that?”

  “For your benefit, Henry. You might not know but you excel at learning new things in actual situations. You are learning to control the precision of your strength. This quest requires you to do just that. So, will you accept?”

  Henry turned to Ani.

  “W-what?” Ani blurted.

  “Do you want to come with?”

  “I can?”

  “She can,” Nadea said.

  “You can,” Henry answered.

  Sensing an opportunity, Ani nodded without any further hesitation. “I will come with you. But… what about the others?”

  “There’s no time,” said Nadea. “The invoker will die if we dawdle any longer.”

  “Then, let us go now. Saving a life takes precedence.”

  Nadea tittered. “Perhaps I should have chosen you as my emissary.”

  Henry grunted and rolled his eyes.

  ****

  As soon as Henry and Ani stepped out of the portal, they were greeted by darkness. However, the two were not impaired by the darkness. Their sights were enhanced, allowing them to see in the dark. Dragons naturally had night vision, while Ani gained her night vision from her status as a dragon’s bride.

  “We’re in a cave,” Ani remarked. The air was slightly foul and the pce was damp. The tunnel of the cave was neither narrow nor wide, just enough to fit three people and more.

  “Blood,” Henry mused. His nose picked up this peculiar and telling scent. “The scent is heavy. There was a huge fight with a lot of casualties. There's something else too… It’s familiar but I just can’t quite put a finger on it.”

  “W-who’s there…” asked a meek and croaking voice.

  The two turned their heads towards the sound. They found a battered soldier leaning against the wall on the ground, not far from them. His wounds were deep and grave. He was bleeding a lot. Henry noticed an incantation circle just in front of the soldier. He must have been the one who invoked the assistance of the gods. However, the most interesting thing about the soldier was that his soldier garbs were those of modern times instead of medieval times.

  Henry now realised what the other scent was. It was gunpowder. The world he was sent to this time was of modern times.

  “Identify yourselves…” the voice continued to ask.

  “Reinforcement from your prayers,” Henry answered.

  The soldier’s face brightened up, though he remained as haggard and pale as ever. “The gods have answered… Thank the gods… I can’t believe my prayers were—”

  “Stop talking.” Henry crouched down in front of the soldier as he took a vial filled with pale liquid. “Drink this. It will heal your wounds.”

  The soldier reached out but his hand waved weakly around the vial as if he was having a hard time pinpointing the vial.

  “Oh, right. My bad.” Henry pushed the vial into the soldier’s hand. He forgot for a moment that not everyone could see in the dark like he could.

  The soldier did not question Henry or the vial. He simply downed the whole content as soon as he felt the vial in his hand. The vial was a healing potion, created from his drool and other reagents. It was Priestess Iluna’s idea, one that she had when she remembered the healing properties Henry’s saliva contained.

  “You are awfully trusting.”

  “...What do I have left to lose?” the soldier said after swallowing every st drop. “I would have been dead either way.”

  “Well, I suppose that’s true.”

  “I feel better already…” the soldier said. “Are you truly envoys of the gods?”

  Henry was a tad surprised. For someone of the seemingly modern era, the soldier believed in gods. Then again, he wouldn’t have invoked the gods if he were faithless. Perhaps this was a world where the gods were active in helping their followers, much like those consteltion tropes he read in novels. If that was the case, this soldier must be a hunter, or something of the sort. Then, this cave must be a dungeon, interdimensional pce where the hunters would dive into in order to eliminate the monsters within.

  “Oh, what am I saying? I’m getting ahead of myself.”

  “You may see me as a contractor for the gods. I’m here to fulfil your prayers and only that. Now, according to your prayers, you wish for everyone in your team to escape this pce safely, yes?”

  “Yes, that’s it.”

  “Well, that’s simple enough, I suppose. Now, let’s get going.” Henry began walking further into the tunnel.”

  “Wait. It’s a maze deep in there. You’ll get lost. I can guide you. It is my role. I’m a guide…” For some reason, the soldier sounded ashamed when he said the st part.

  Henry could roughly guess why but he didn’t press the matter. “No need. I can navigate the paths myself.”

  Ani raised her brows. She had doubts but she didn’t voice it.

  “I-I see… Then, I shall wait here and hope for good news.”

  “Yeah, you do just that,” Henry said and left the soldier to his own device, diving deeper into the cave.

  “Can you truly navigate this pce?” Ani asked once she was sure the soldier was out of earshot.

  Henry shrugged. “I don’t know but I don’t think it’s that much different from navigating a forest. Just follow the scent, which is the blood.”

  Ani sniffed the air. “I don’t smell anything. Or rather, I only smell this terrible scent. It doesn’t smell like blood. It smells like… everything terrible clumped together.”

  Henry tittered. “You’ll get there, Ani.”