Affinity:Chaos

The old man soon appeared at the site of the battle. Of course, Grey and Void were long gone.

He waved his hand, and the smoke and dust in the area died down. The hill currently didn't have any semblance to what it looked like ten minutes ago before Grey and Aetonth started fighting.

There was an over ten meters deep crater at the spot where Aetonth was previously standing, and the surrounding looked like a place that just suffered from strong burns due to the ashes flying everywhere, technically, it has.

In the crater, Aetonth could be seen sprawling on the ground. Its transparent ice armor scale was completely destroyed, most parts of its body were charred. Yet, none of its armor-like scales was removed. They were only charred, nothing else.

When it noticed that the aftereffect of the explosion suddenly disappeared, it guessed it was the old man's doing. It got to its feet, staggered a little before finding its footing, shook its body, and leaped out of the crater.

"He's quite something." Aetonth praised before fixing its gaze in the direction Grey and Void escaped to.

"Well, it's normal since he inherited that." The old man said mysteriously.

Not everyone knew of what was inside Grey's body, but he did. He knew it too well, that was why he wasn't shocked when he saw Grey displaying such power. If for anything he was shocked, it was not by the power Grey displayed. But because he felt compared to his student at this stage, Grey seemed to be lacking in strength.

'When that little brat was at this stage, he wouldn't have any problems with defeating Aetonth.' The old man thought to himself.

"What did he inherit?" Aetonth asked curiously.

"It's not something you should concern yourself about. Do you still plan on chasing after them?" The old man asked.

He could tell that Aetonth was fine. Given Aetonth's real strength, its physical defense wasn't something to laugh about, it was terrifying! Therefore, the old man knew other than the explosion shaking it up a little, it was perfectly fine.

"No, I've played enough for today." Aetonth rejected the idea.

It still couldn't figure out why the old man was doing this, okay, maybe it has, after witnessing Grey's last attack. But, is there still a need to go after him? The old man had seen what he wanted anyway.

"Okay, but just a reminder. You'll see him again, and at that time, you wouldn't be able to beat him up." The old man said with a smile.

He was bored, Chris had not really been entertaining. Why not watch Aetonth train the boy? He thought.

Aetonth looked at the old man, it knew what the old man was implying. If you don't beat him now, you'll never have the chance again. But the question was, what good would beating a human boy do for it?

Like the old man could read its mind, he said, "When the time comes, this will be something you can brag about."

Dragons are known to be prideful creatures, and Aetonth for one is also very prideful. But it had a weakness, it enjoyed bragging about things it had done or had acquired. That was one of the reasons it had so many treasures. Had Void not taken the crystal and woken it up, if the group looked inside the pond, they might have fainted from the sheer shock of the shiny things stacked inside.

"Something to brag about? Old man, are you sure you're not tricking me?" Aetonth who had previously lost interest suddenly looked at the old man curiously.

Why would it brag to others about beating up a human boy? Had it been a strong man, then it would have been truly interested.

"Because the boy would become someone even stronger than me." The old man said with a smile.

Of course, he trusted Aetonth hence he knew he could tell him this much. He knew Aetonth wouldn't kill Grey, especially after hearing he would be stronger than him.

'Stronger than the old man? Doesn't that mean I have a chance to beat someone who might become the strongest person in the world in the future? That truly is something to brag about.' Aetonth fell deep into thoughts.

"Take this as me asking you to train him, you could even say you trained the boy." The old man continued convincing him.

The old man had already predicted Grey's destination when he saw the direction he was headed, so he knew Grey would be leaving here soon. He hoped to toughen him up more before he left this place. It might seem unfair to Grey, but this would help him when he gets out of this continent to see the world. He was currently too weak for the old man's liking.

"Okay, but you better not be lying." Aetonth agreed.

Since the old man said he should take this as him asking him to train the boy, that meant the old man would reward him for his effort. It wasn't a bad deal since he would also be able to brag about it in the future.

The old man nodded before going back to his mountain peak, he wanted to see how far Chris had gone in breaking the modified array.

Aetonth opened its mouth and spat out a cloud of snow. It gently walked through it, and its charred scales went back to their previous blue color.

On getting to the mountain peak, the old man wasn't disappointed. Chris just like the first time had broken the array, but unlike the first time, he didn't leave the peak.

"Now, tell me old man, what is this place?" He asked.

____

Aetonth gave chase and quickly caught up to Grey within forty minutes, it immediately attacked, but unlike the other times, this time, he gave Grey a lot of openings trying to see if he would be able to see them.

The old man said it should train Grey, and that it will do. But it still beat him now and then.

Grey was able to capitalize on some of the openings and attack Aetonth, but because he still wasn't experienced enough, he couldn't see them all.