It’s easy to grow accustomed to luxury but hard to adapt back to frugality. By now, Leon was becoming more and more grandiose in his ways. Even when he needed something, he couldn’t be bothered to visit personally—he merely sent a Tiefling maid to find Fiora.
Fiora was quite responsible, spending most of her daylight hours working as an Inspector at Watchtower Port, only returning to the Volcanic Island for rest in the afternoons and evenings. As such, Leon met with her in the afternoon.
"What can I do for you, Sir Leon?" Fiora had, in her heart, already accepted herself as one of Leon’s subordinates, yet she still couldn’t let go of such formal titles.
"Sir Leon? Why so formal? Just call me Leon." Leon admitted he enjoyed teasing that dumb bronze dragon on regular days, but today, he wasn’t in the mood—he had a favor to ask.
"Fiora is getting prettier and prettier." In her human form, Fiora sported dazzling blonde hair tied in a ponytail. Dressed in her uniform, her ample chest pressed against the fabric, her fair and delicate skin adding a subtle allure... Even the battle-hardened Leon couldn’t help taking a few lingering glances. Little did he know those glances would spark trouble.
"You wicked Colorful Dragon, finally giving in to your beastly tendencies?" Fiora noticed Leon’s gaze, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.
"I refuse! No matter how strong you are, even if you could take my body by force, you’ll never win my heart!" Fiora declared.
"I only want the body; a heart is useless..." Leon half-joked, stopping abruptly to rub his temples. He reminded himself Fiora wasn’t Cecilia or Tassera—the kinds of silly women who might actually take his words seriously.
"Please, can you act normal for once? Stop reading those bizarre books! Do you think I’m the type to do something like that? Honestly, all boobs and no brains." Leon shot one last glance at Fiora. Ever since entering his youth phase, his lower half was constantly at odds with his upper half.
Ignoring Fiora’s tightly pursed lips and her displeased expression, Leon continued, "I have serious business for you today."
"What serious business?" Fiora asked warily.
"You’re a warrior, right?" Leon asked.
"I am." Fiora nodded, thinking about how she specifically trained as a warrior to play the role of a righteous Knight Lady. In her human form, she could don plate armor and wield weapons like longswords, spears, axes... But as formidable as she was in Dragon Form, she still had limits when facing certain monsters. No matter how skilled a Knight Lady was, she was no match for a Strong Orc.
"I want to become a warrior." Leon pointed a finger directly at Fiora. "You’ll teach me."
"Why do you want to become a warrior?" Fiora asked. She couldn’t fathom any reason Leon might have and could only assume he was scheming something.
"Don’t worry about why I want to become a warrior," Leon replied. "Just answer me—will you teach me or not?"
Fiora didn’t object to teaching Leon but was concerned about his motives. After a moment of contemplation, she responded, "I’ll teach you, but you can’t use the skills I teach for nefarious purposes."
"I just want to become a warrior. Since you’re one, it makes sense to ask you to teach me. It’s not like I’m aspiring to be a Sealing God Dragon! Keep your head on straight." Leon chuckled. "Even if you don’t teach me, I could go to Watchtower Port and easily gather a hundred warriors."
That might be easy to say, but in reality, warriors weren’t so easy to find.
City guards, village militia, even the King’s soldiers weren’t necessarily warriors. Most merely had basic combat knowledge and lacked proper training. Only seasoned veterans, officers, specialized bodyguards, and professional knights counted as warriors—and even then, you wouldn’t find a hundred of them just wandering around Watchtower Port.
Growing impatient, Leon managed to push Fiora into agreeing. If she hadn’t, he’d just have found someone else—he wasn’t interested in dragging this on.
Although dragons with Dark Vision weren’t affected by day or night, Leon waited until the next day to follow Fiora in warrior training.
According to the rulebooks, most professions were designed for humanoid creatures.
It’s easy to imagine—a dragon becoming a warrior wouldn’t need to learn how to wield axes, rapiers, longswords, or greatswords. Nor would they need to master shields or various armor types. They’d only need to harness their Innate Weapon usage and understand their Innate Armor... Leon didn’t really know how a dragon could become a warrior; he simply followed whatever Fiora taught him.
A dragon’s primary weapon in close combat is its biting jaws. Thanks to its long neck, it can strike targets from an impressive range.
The dragon’s claws aren’t as fearsome as its bite and are often impractical when in motion, but they still serve as effective weapons.
A dragon the size of a human or larger can use its winged limbs for attacks. Wings might retain vestigial claws but function primarily as blunt strike weapons. To avoid damaging the wings, the supporting "fingers" must stay curled—much like a human clenching a fist for a punch.
Dragons larger than humans can use their tails for powerful attacks. To do this, the tail tip needs to curl upward, and the raised portion acts as a blunt weapon.
As for a dragon’s Innate Armor, it’s supported by layers of tough skin and muscles, reinforced by a resilient and elastic bone structure, and covered in overlapping scales that form full-body protection.
Even a young dragon’s defenses are comparable to a human wearing chainmail. A fully-grown dragon’s scaled hide often offers protection several times better than even the finest plate armor.
"How is it you seem to have inherited none of your parents’ knowledge... What’s up with Anglistra?"
"Don’t you even know these basic things?"
Many pieces of knowledge Leon only picked up systematically while learning from Fiora—for instance, dragons could use most of the magic items designed for humanoids. A dragon could wear cloaks, capes, or mantles draped over its back. Its forelimbs could wear gloves or gauntlets, though dragon-specific gauntlets often lacked fingers and instead had holes tailored for claws.
Leon had long been aware dragons could acquire numerous proficiencies, but without Fiora’s guidance, he had no idea there were so many—like agile leaping attacks, instant death strikes, fierce charges, enduring blows...
Becoming a high-level warrior is anything but easy, but simply becoming a warrior isn’t all that hard. Otherwise, the world wouldn’t be filled with warriors. It was just that simple—for Leon, it took him only a week to master almost everything Fiora taught him.
As expected, Leon heard a familiar chime one sunny morning.
"Men fear joining the wrong profession—becoming a professional."
"Basic reward: Fasting."
Looks like he’d gained yet another wholly useless Golden Finger reward?