Ember the red dragon.

  It was hard to forget a foe that almost killed you. In the end, Rowan had won the battle, but did not kill the dragon.

  Or rather he couldn't kill the dragon.

  He had come to terms with his feelings and this time he was sure he could kill the red dragon if they fought again.

  However, a new problem popped up.

  Vulcanus was their dad. A dragon that could kill Rowan a hundred times over.

  Wait, I hurt his child, does that mean… Rowan quickly turned his head to look at the older dragon.

  “It is not easy for dragons to reproduce. Imagine my surprise when she came back all bloody and practically dead.” Vulcanus said dryly.

  “Hey, she came after me. I defended myself against her.” Rowan argued.

  “I understand. Dragons are born mighty. If they cannot fend for them themselves, then they are not worthy of being dragons.”

  Rowan let out a breath of relief. Looks like Vulanus was not angry over the issue.

  “...however if she did not return, then I would have to find the culprit responsible and give them my regards,” Vulcanus said with a cold smile.

  Okay I take that back, he’s definitely angry.

  Apparently, Rowan was not the only one who had not forgotten their encounter.

  Seeing the human who caused her so much harm in front of her was too much.

  RRROOOAAARRR!

  Ember let out an ear shattering howl and then charged at Rowan. Rowan was sure Vulcanus must have magically enhanced the cave because the roar should have caused it to collapse on them. However, before Ember could reach her target, something even more deadly intervened.

  “Halt.”

  All it took one word from Vulcanus and the young dragon’s instincts forced her to obey the older dragon. “As you can see, she’s quite young. She hasn't learned how to talk, but she understands enough. Your task would be to face her in a game of…I believe you humans call it tag?”

  ***

  Tag, a game where one person chases everyone else.

  For children, it is an enjoyable game where one can run around freely.

  Rowan never thought that he would be playing the same game because of a dragon. There is just one major issue.

  The ‘it’, otherwise the person known as the chaser, was a dragon and she stayed in that position the entire time.

  Vulcanus wanted Ember to chase Rowan around as much as possible. Even after the dragon ‘tagged’ Rowan, he would be given a few seconds before being chased again.

  Rowan now knew how the mouse felt when it was chased by the cat.

  Each time he was ‘tagged’, it felt more like a slap instead and had enough force to send him tumbling through the air.

  For a few hours everyday, Rowan was forced into a game of ‘tag’ with Ember. He was sent flying at least a dozen times. He was starting to understand what Vulcanus was talking about when the dragon said Rowan did not know his body well.

  The Mother Tree had sculpted his body, making the muscles the best they could currently be.

  At least for human standards.

  However Rowan had never pushed those muscles to the absolute limit. He had pushed his body hard when he trained in the camp for the last few years, but never to the absolute limit. Sure, he had trained until he was exhausted, but Vlucanus was doing something different. The dragon was making sure Rowan's body was pushing their limits and then some.

  It was the pain that made Rowan realize that some of these muscles existed.

  The same pain taught how to move his body in the correct manner.

  Lastly, it made Rowan realize that there were no true limits for the body. If you force it, the body will obey. A lesson that was painfully engraved into him each time he was ‘caught’.

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  Thankfully, Rowan was able to reinforce his body with mana. The reinforcement acted as both a comforter and strengthening agent. It protected his muscles while making them stronger.

  Not that it made too much of a difference as Ember always somehow found a way to still ‘tag’ him. Unfortunately, reinforcing his body only made the torture last longer.

  He was realizing how to more efficiently use his mana throughout the practice. He was no longer giving out bursts of mana to strengthen himself.

  No, he had to maintain a continuous flow the whole time.

  Keep the reinforcement going for as long as possible.

  It wasn't easy at first, since Rowan was more accustomed to short term reinforcement. However the more Rowan practiced the better he got.

  Not that he had a choice.

  One headbutt would earn Rowan a new bruise

  A hit from the claws felt like his conscious might fly off.

  A flap from the wings earned him a few dozen new cuts on his body.

  Ember wa not gentle at all when trying to tag Rowan. Despite all his best efforts, Rowan could never keep out of the young dragon's reach. Vulcanus made sure Rowan was not accidentally kill off right away and would heal him up at the end of each round.

  As Rowan dodged blow after blow, he realized something. His current attire wasn't meant for punishment. Eversince Rowan was kidnapped, Vulcanus supplied him with simple clothing. That came with both good news and bad news.

  The good news was that it didn't itch like the animal fur he wore back at the camp. It was a lot more comfortable and easy to put on.

  The bad news? It did little else. The cloth offered no protection against the abuse that Ember rained upon him.

  The clothes were little more than rags each time they finished. Fortunately, Vulcanus seem to have an endless supply of cloth for some reason.

  During his latest session, Rowan was thinking. What were the best ways to avoid getting hit? While he was gradually approving, Ember was still able to catch him several times each session and each time was painful.

  What was the best way to avoid being caught? Or at least lessening the damage?

  One day, Rowan had a sudden realization as he was being chased by Ember.

  Armor. He needed some kind of armor.

  When he wore monster fur in the forest, it was itchy, but the hide of the monsters were tough and offered some protection. The cloth Vulcanus gave offered no such thing.

  Now how was he going to get some armor?

  Vulcanus probably had some somewhere. Maybe in some part of the caves that he had not visited yet. However, Rowan knew without a doubt that even if Vulcanus had armor, the dragon would not give it to him.

  What were his other options?

  None really. Rowan was stuck in a dragon lair, so it wasn't like he could go to a town and ask the local blacksmith. Besides, the armor crafted by an ordinary blacksmith would not be able to stand up to Ember.

  In the end, Rowan decided to go with the same solution as he did with his arrows. If he couldn't acquire something, he would make it.

  Afterall, Vulcanus did say the wood in his arms came from the World Tree and that it was some of the best material around.

  Just like how he created arrows on the spot in his initial battle against Ember,this time he would create armor. The only difference would be starting the other end. Instead of his hands, he would start with where the world tree connection began, his shoulders.

  The wood on his shoulders began to grow at his command. Just enough to cover his upper body, then the growth stopped.

  As it turned out, creating armor was more mana intensive than Rowan had thought. Creating an arrow could be done with the minimum amount of mana. However his current mana wasn't enough.

  He needed more and he knew what he needed to do.

  Rowan needed to reach deep inside him.

  Far deeper than he ever had, and that was when he met the wall.

  This must have been the dormant mana that Vulcanus. Rowan felt like he was playing tug of water with a block of ice. The small amount of mana he gathered was akin to water that dripped off the ice. It was not enough.

  Swoosh!

  Rowan barely dodged an incoming blow from Ember’s claws. Now was not the time to slowly test things. Rowan resumed his tug of war with his dormant mana which refused to budge. The more he pulled, the more he discovered how much of his mana had hid away from him unnoticed. It was astonishing as it felt like he was pulling away from an ocean.As stubborn as the mana was, Rowan decided to match it in stubbornness.

  YOU ARE MINE AND-

  YOU.

  WILL.

  OBEY.

  ME.

  At last, Rowan could feel the stubborn refusal of his mana lessen as more mana loosen and allowed Rowan to use this energy as he pleased. The flow felt rigid and unfamiliar, but Rowan wasn't in any position to complain.

  The incomplete armor once again began to expand to the rest of his body such as his legs and head. Rowan only had a brief image in his head when he began and he was already working out the small problems.

  The first issue was that the armor he grew had to be flexible,, otherwise he would be creating his own prison. Trapping himself since he would be unable to move. Thankfully he already had a solution. Rowan made the armor lighter at the joint areas which allowed movement. His arms were a perfect natural example and he used them to help create the armor around his legs.

  A helmet soon formed around his head. Unlike his legs, Rowan didn't have a solution to allow him to turn his head easily. It wasn't a big problem since he could always use a mana pulse to gain awareness of his surroundings.

  Once Rowan armor creation technique finished, he looked like a golem made of wood. Simple, rigid, but tough. Vulcanus had said the World tree branches were not any ordinary material and was extremely tough when it wanted to be.

  That toughness was what Rowan was betting on.

  Ember paused seeing the strange new figure of Rowan. But only for a second as her goal had not changed. Faster than the eye could blink she whipped her tail at him.

  Come! I can take this!

  With his new armor created, Rowan was filled with confidence. He felt like he could take on anything even Ember’s-

  BOOM!

  Before he knew it, Rowan found himself embedded into the cavern wall.

  Why?

  That was Rowan's last thought before his conscious tumbled into darkness once more