When a Dragon Humiliates Everyone in the Academy with Ease! - Manhwa Recap

You probably know a lot of stories where some loser gets reborn and gets a second chance. But what if I told you that in this story, such a lucky person was the last dragon in the world, which was killed by humans?

He is reborn as a child named Ry from a small village and trains to become stronger. Soon, he enters the academy. What do you think will happen? Let's find out. But before we do, let's start the story from the beginning.

Dragons have always terrified the hearts of humans with their power. This inevitably led to them being hunted. Soon, from all the dragons, there was only one left. He chose his last goal in life: to take revenge on the humans. Despite his best efforts, he was slain, defeated by a superior number of humans. But as the darkness closed in, he started to hear voices.

Slowly, he opens his eyes as a human baby in his father's arms. Confused and disoriented, he has no idea what is going on. As the once mighty dragon struggles in the hands of mere humans, the father thinks that perhaps his son likes him. The baby, on the other hand, thinks of striking the dragon's breath at this lowly human to burn him to a crisp. He prepares for a legendary move, but it happens to be an attack of curdled milk that the baby splatters straight onto his dad's face.

Meanwhile, the daddy freaks out as a milk puke welcomes him and is disgusted. The baby gets baffled and wonders what happened to his magic. As the mother comes forward to hold the baby, the tiny human is scared witless, thinking, "What the hell is this woman going to do with me?" But to his surprise, she gently touches his face and welcomes her baby, calling him Ry.

Flustered, the baby ponders about the silly name the mother has given him and why she is welcoming him. Unable to speak his mind, the baby thinks if the humans have any idea about who he is while the mother looks at him delightedly. The dragon reckons if the heavens allowed him to be born again as the mighty red dragon, he would have the ultimate chance to fulfill his desire to take revenge on humankind, who killed his dragon family.

The fire of revenge still burns in him as he thinks it's time to get even. Now, with his human body, he is going to kill every single human, just like they did to dragonkind. While Ry plans to wipe out the trace of humanity in his head, his father gets a sneaking suspicion that the baby will be in a lot of trouble in the future, seeing how naughty he is as a newborn.

Resting on his mother's arm, Ry seems to be angry as he thinks of killing them all. But at that moment, he starts feeling sleepy. He assumes that he must have been tired as he spends all his energy controlling his human mouth and dozes off while thinking about how weak human bodies are.

After some time, Ry grows bigger and seems to have discovered much about humans. He also had to learn his parents' names because calling them short-haired and long-haired wouldn't be very specific. Ry further reveals his parents' names: Jake and Scarlet, and describes their appearance. He elucidates that they are better looking than other humans.

Like his mother, Scarlet has a beautiful face, which speaks volumes about her kind personality. His father, Jake, has much more muscle than other humans and seems much stronger. Whenever villagers nearby visit, they always treat his parents respectfully because they are adventurers—that's what humans call them.

This time, the villagers who seem to visit their house thank Jake for saving his wife, as she would have died back in the Black Forest if it wasn't for his exceptional swordsmanship. The other villager feels grateful for Scarlet, who is also a strong mage, uttering that it is impossible to find a second mage within a 100-mile radius, so they are lucky to have them.

While the villagers appreciate the Talon family, the couple lets out that they only did what anyone else would have done, and the good news is that everyone is safe and sound. At that moment, Scarlet spots her son Ry crawling on the floor. She immediately realizes that he's hungry and gets him something to eat.

As one of the villagers notices Ry, he mumbles that his hair seems red and concludes that it's because of the lighting. His father responds that Ry started growing red hair a few days ago. Eventually, as the villagers leave, saying that they will be counting on Jake to chase those beasts away from the farm, the dragon kid ponders that if he is growing red hair, that certainly means that he has some of his powers left behind.

The villagers walk outside the house and start gossiping about the Talon family, thinking they are cursed. They assume that it's not impossible because not everyone can become an adventurer, and nobody knows the danger they encountered while fighting the monsters. Feeling joyed, Ry contemplates that the people seem terrified of his red hair, inferring that they are already intimidated by his grand presence.

But on the other hand, apart from other humans, his parents confuse him the most. His mother holds him and tries to feed the little guy, but Ry, who's not an ordinary kid, starts making a mess as he dunks his face into the bowl to eat. While his mother is not pissed at him for making a mess, the kid presumes that no matter how he tries to piss off the humans, they never scold him.

The little guy even peed into his dad's mouth as he slept, but instead of getting mad, every time they just smiled at him happily. After Ry pees into his dad's mouth, Jake seems to be proud of his son, thinking that he's a genius for knowing how to pee by himself.

After being treated that way and living with the humans, Ry concludes that if hell existed, this would be it. It is revealed to us that adventurers are rare in this world, and Ry's mother was a mage, which is even more unique. The dragon kid contemplates that if in the future he gets hold of the strongest magic in the world, which is his dragon powers, his revenge will become easier.

As time passes, Ry turns 2 years old. Upon hitting this age, every child gets the chance to join the mage evaluation, and this is the day that Ry gets to see if he has mana energy. While Jake waves them goodbye and wishes them luck, Ry clings to his mother's arms, and they leave in the horse cart.

The boy then narrates that being reborn as a reincarnation of the red dragon and descendant of a mage, he will undoubtedly pass the evaluation test. If he manages to recover his magic, no one can stop him from returning to the top. Later, they arrive in the town, and the red-haired kid stretches himself after a nap, pondering that he only has one thing to worry about, which is this weak human body.

As Scarlet carries him around the bustling central marketplace, Ry observes the things happening around, where the adventurers appear to be selling high-quality beast crystals. In the meantime, a beggar approaches one of the adventurers and asks him for food, but he kicks out the beggar and warns him not to get in the way of his business.

As the people think about how unlucky the beggar is, Ry, who seems to have noticed them for a while, reckons that even though they are all humans, they still look down on others and ridicule the weaker ones. He recalls his past life as a dragon, in which he treated protecting the weak as his duty and worked hard, but it still failed in the end.

Snapping out of his flashback, they finally reach the Roland Academy for magic evaluation, and there's a long queue in order waiting for their names to be called. While Ry is excited for his turn, he looks around and watches kids burst into tears because they couldn't pass the test.

As one of the kids seems to make a fuss about it and cries out that it's unfair, the dragon kid calls that child foolish and ruminates that this world has always been unfair. After a while, he relaxes in his mother's arms, and it appears to be his turn as he is called upon.

As Ry Talon, the mage calls upon Ry and instructs his mother to have her son put his hands on the crystal ball, he explains that if the child has the ability for magic, the crystal will glow, and the color of the glow will depict what element he has an ability in.

As the kid excitedly straightens out his hands to put it on the crystal ball, he anticipates making everyone's jaws drop by being a mighty red dragon. Feeling confident, he waits for the crystal to glow and thinks that as a dragon, he is versed in every type of magic there is. Abruptly, Scarlet starts sobbing, and the kid witnesses tears streaming down her mother's face.

Ry gets startled and ponders that maybe his mother is shocked by his talent in magic or bursting out with happiness because he has the same element as her. But he yanks out his thoughts when he realizes that the crystal ball isn't glowing. That's when the old wizard bursts his bubble and disappointingly informs them that Ry doesn't have the ability for magic.

Upon hearing this, the little guy freaks out and talks in his head, wondering that he was the strongest red dragon in his past life and that it's absurd to say he's a dragon without magic. To assure herself, Scarlet asks the wizard if he's sure about this, as she graduated from this very academy.

However, Ry, who seems to be hopping mad, smacks the crystal ball with his tiny hands, believing that the wizard got it all wrong and that the stupid crystal ball is broken. The wizard immediately picks up the crystal ball and lets out that there's nothing he can do about it, but it seems like the old man hurt the dragon's pride.

As the angry boy spits out his pacifier and wonders if the wizard knows that he's the ruler of magic, our boy gets mad and tugs at the old man's long beard, pulling his mustache out of frustration, assuming the wizard is lying and trying to hide his ability from his mother to trick them.

As Scarlet freaks out and tries to stop her son, Ry becomes a maniac and keeps yanking his beard. The little guy then contemplates that he knows all about magic and being a dragon; there's no way he does not have an aptitude for magic, adding that it's an absolute joke to think that the legendary dragon would not know magic after reincarnation.

On their way back home in the cart, Ry presumes that heaven is punishing him for killing many humans but is baffled as he wonders what's the point of being reincarnated when he was going to be punished after all. But then something flickers in his mind as he seems to grasp the situation. Our boy concludes that heaven is testing him, so he should find another way to take revenge if he can't become a mage.

Later, at the table as everyone is eating, Ry stares at his dad and pleads with him in broken sentences to teach him how to fight. As Jake wonders if he wants to learn swordsmanship from him, our boy anticipates that even though he cannot learn magic, he can still be a swordsman and achieve his dream of taking revenge on humankind.

The next scene takes us to Jake, who seems to be teaching swordsmanship to his son Ry, who has grown a bit bigger. However, it appears that the burning desire for revenge wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. Our boy narrates that he's been learning swordsmanship from his father for the past two years, but he failed to defeat him every single time.

As Jake and his son seem to be practicing with the wooden swords, Ry prepares his sword and becomes determined to win against his father. Observing his father's moves, the best our boy reckons is that he just has to take the chance and turn at the exact same moment when Jake swings down his sword so he can attack his side.

At that moment, he tries to take the chance and execute his planned move. Unfortunately, Ry fails to do so as his legs entangle, and his father's wooden sword strikes straight at his head. Getting smacked once again, Ry wonders why it always ends this way, assuming that his body can't keep up with his brain and that these clumsy limbs keep dragging him down.

Later, the poor little fella, lying on the bed, finally awakes as he blacked out after the bang on his head. Jake lets out a little laugh watching him, but Scarlet yells at him for joking around and asks him to hold back a little because their son is just four years old.

Revealing that the night trials are approaching soon, his father mumbles that he won't be able to pass if he keeps practicing this way. But Scarlet, who seems angry, says that he's pushing Ry too hard and affirms that he doesn't need to follow in their footsteps, as there are many good jobs out there besides being an adventurer.

But Mr. Talon assures his wife that he's not pushing him and that Ry seems clumsy because of his young age, as he doesn't have enough control over his body yet. He adds that they have an entire year left and they have to believe that their son can enter the Avery Night Academy.

Upon hearing this, our boy reckons he still has a year left till the night trials and doubts whether he can do it, speculating that he's a reincarnation of a red dragon, so he wouldn't be as weak as a human. Ry gets high-spirited and assures his parents that he can do it, uttering that he will be the strongest person anyone has ever seen.

To take their practice to the next level, Jake gives his son a present, and it turns out to be a real sword from which they will practice from now on. While our guy is astonished to hold a real sword in his hands that seems too big to handle, Jake claims that this sword will help him raise his control quicker and whispers in his ear about another gift he has for him.

As our boy speculates why his father is being so mysterious, they reach the storage room, and to his surprise, he is welcomed by a magic puppet. While Ry contemplates what this might be for, his father warns him not to underestimate it, as this puppet is powered by magic, and students of Avery Academy use it to train their apprentices.

However, he suspiciously looks at the puppet and wonders if what his father is saying is true. After that, Jake challenges his son to try attacking the puppet, and he confidently accepts the challenge. After warming his wrist up, Ry strikes the sword towards the puppet with full strength, and it activates to level one.

But as soon as the sword hits the puppet's shield, it strikes back in a flash and makes Ry's sword fly away as level one terminates. The little guy is left disappointed as he gets defeated. Watching his son getting disgruntled, Jake appeases him and lets out that even if he manages to win against the first level, he will be able to pass the night trial exam, adding that he used many of his connections to get this puppet.

Upon hearing this, Ry gets as excited as ever and thinks about winning the trial in no time. It appears that our boy is determined to win this time and tumbles on the ground after being completely worn out as he seems to be practicing hard. Ry lets out a deep sigh as his movements fail to follow up with his brain and gets annoyed by his weak human body.

He further ruminates that if he keeps progressing like this, he won't even be able to beat the puppet, let alone take his revenge. Suddenly, a voice echoes from behind and questions why he wants to defeat a puppet.

Startled, our boy prepares to swing his sword, speculating where the voice came from. He catches a glimpse of a girl who sneaks up on him and gets flustered. The blond-haired girl apologizes to Ry, saying that she didn't mean to startle him and introduces herself as Amy, revealing that she lives in the village.

The girl lets out that Ry caught her eye as she saw him out in the mountains at this time and so she decided to remind him to leave the mountains before sundown. Getting a little nervous, he asks her if this place is dangerous, and Amy starts to yap about how this place is fine by the morning, but since this place is too close to the forest, the magic beasts may appear after sundown.

While Ry finds this information interesting and is surprised by how much she knows, Amy tells him that she harvests fruits and vegetables, so she's quite familiar with this place. She then offers him to trudge down the mountain together since it's going to get dark soon, to which our boy immediately agrees.

As they exchange their names, it turns out that Amy already knows his name because he's famous in his village. Not surprised to hear that, Ry is taken aback by his thoughts as he knows the reason for being well-known in the village. It is revealed to us that many people admire the Talon family, especially Jake, and often talk to him when he's out for a walk in the village.

However, as he wanders in the village along with his red-haired son, Ry, some people gossip about his son, claiming that he's cursed and think that the curse might be contagious. It appears that no human has ever grown red hair in this village besides Jake's son.

Hearing the harsh words, Ry ponders that people respect his parents, but they have an unfounded fear towards him, and for that reason, he became a foreign entity in his village who was liked by no one. Getting reminded of his past life as a dragon, he then wonders if it's because of the adults who always use stories of vicious and horrifying red dragons to scare children.

Red is a color signifying strength, but according to them, it's evil in human society. He reflects upon this irony of how greedy humans were the ones who took down their race, but it's always the dragon kind that are written off as evil in stories, justifying their revenge.

Ry exclaims that they did that only to protect themselves, but humans saw this as proof of their supposed brutality. While our guy is zoned out by these thoughts about how disgusting humans are, he is interrupted by Amy, who asks him what he's thinking about.

After that, Ry snaps out of his thoughts and follows her down the mountain. Amy starts conversing about how she's kept seeing him around the mountain lately and questions him if he's practicing. As our boy tells her that he wants to become a swordsman, she thinks that it's cool since Ry's father is the only swordsman in the village.

She then asks him if he's going to join the Knight Academy, and our boy nods to her. Continuing the chatter, Amy reveals how her brother is going to take the exam too since he's really strong and claims no one in the village can beat him, but he's jealous of Ry since his dad teaches him while normal folks don't have a chance to learn swordsmanship.

As Ry asks her if she has a brother, the blond-haired girl gets excited and implores him if he wants to be friends with her brother so then they will be able to practice with each other. At that moment, they both get interrupted by the sound of footsteps, and it turns out it's Gary, Amy's brother, who rudely orders our red-haired boy to leave his sister alone.

Seeing her brother, Amy blocks Ry's side in a protective way and justifies to her brother that he hasn't done anything to her. Gary steps forward and interrogates his sister about being together with the red-haired boy and further reminds her that he's cursed and it's contagious. He then touches her hair to make sure her hair hasn't turned red due to the curse.

While she gets annoyed by her brother's rude behavior, two boys who are with Gary walk towards Ry and humiliate him for walking with Amy, calling him shameless. The two of them bully the red-haired guy and mock him by saying that his parents would have a hard time raising a cursing child like him. They warn Ry to move away from the village with his family, mumbling that they are common people, so they don't want to be involved with the curse.

One of them adds that these high and mighty adventurers have no reason to sympathize with the lowly civilians. As soon as they utter these words, Ry clenches his fist out of anger and lands a powerful punch in the bully's face. Done being silent, he aims to punch Gary, but one of his punks comes forward and takes the hit.

But with his punch being so forceful, he also blows Gary away while our boy makes it clear that he just wants to beat the one who insulted his parents. Gary calls him out as Ry Talon, asserting that he knows both his parents are adventurers and that his father is a swordsman. Assuming that he was trained, Gary challenges him to a fight and informs him that he won't be using weapons, as he doesn't want to kill him.

As both of them throw away their swords, Ry lets out that he can attack all at once because he doesn't give a [ __ ]. Their fight continues as they both strike punches at each other. However, it emerges that our boy sustains severe injuries due to his weak human body and flings away as Gary whacks a final blow at him, smashing him on the ground.

The poor fella collapses on the ground as he bleeds, and Gary asks him if he has admitted defeat. But it seems like Ry hasn't given up yet, as he somehow gets back up. Meanwhile, Gary makes some colorful remarks about him, blabbering that he's disappointed because Ry's father, a great swordsman, trained him, but he still seems useless.

The bully flatters himself, asserting that his father is a regular merchant, but still, he's a good swordsman. To make him low-spirited, the callous boy utters that he should give up on being a swordsman and do something he's good at. Listening to this, the piercing words echo in Ry's mind, and he hopelessly lies on the ground.

Getting back to their home, Amy scolds her rude brother, saying that he overreacted. But Gary justifies his act by saying that Ry deserved it and warns his sister to stay away from that boy in the future, as many fear the cursed red-haired boy. He clarifies that Ry's parents are adventurers and their parents are ordinary people.

Upon hearing this, Amy yells angrily and tells him to get his own food, muttering that she hates him as his sister storms away furiously. Gary witnesses something on his hand; he looks at the indent and speculates that if he hadn't had his protective gear, his arm would have broken on the very first blow, and Ry would have won the fight.

In the next scene, it is revealed to us that Ry returns home with wounds and scars all across his face, with his clothes all covered in mud. His mom, who was busy cooking dinner, turns towards him. She questions his late arrival and notices her injured and exhausted son. One look was enough to let her know that he got into a fight.

The boy assures his mother that he just got hurt during his practice, but she knew he was lying and ponders if the kids bullied him. However, our stubborn boy denies it while Scarlet inspects the wounds. Ry has always been the one to act strong, and it appears that he was doing the same here as he claims that he's a man now.

Meanwhile, Jake hears his son's wise words and appreciates him for working hard on practice, as it's almost dinner time. Our boy yet once again decides to practice, and as his parents try to stop him, he manages to convince them by informing them it won't take long.

In the storage room, we see Ry activating the puppet to level one, and he easily dodges the attacks since he's already used to the way this puppet attacks. As he looks for an opening, he positions his sword, and as soon as he strikes, the sword gets stuck in the wooden pillar, startling Ry.

The sword cracks as he tries to pull it out, and while he is busy with it, the puppet smacks him from behind, and the poor boy screams in pain. The next day, Ry walks up to the mountain, and his eyes land on Amy as he spots her standing at a distance. She looks embarrassed and greets Ry when our boy asks her if she was waiting for him.

Meanwhile, she apologizes to him on behalf of her brother. Ry assures her that it wasn't her fault and takes the blame on himself while admitting he just wasn't strong enough. Amy, being the soft-hearted girl she is, tears up while our red-haired boy seems to be done with how troublesome humans are. He tries to comfort the girl while thinking that he should learn to socialize.

After that, he grabs an apple from Amy's basket to let her know that he accepts her apology, and she tells him not to worry because Gary won't trouble him anymore. From that day onwards, the blond-haired girl begins to show up at the same place every day, and soon enough, our boy gets used to having Amy by his side.

In the next scene, we see the Talon family residence entrance surrounded by armored soldiers along with horses. Jake and Scarlet appear to be having a conversation with the head, who informs them about the nearby villages that have been attacked by an anonymous thing.

Upon hearing this, Jake gets furious over the news, and it is further revealed that there aren't any clear witnesses, but there have already been victims that have been infected, and those people are too disoriented right now to tell anyone what happened. For that reason, the head decides to reach out to the adventurers.

Scarlet, who seems to be worried, is a bit confused about those things appearing where humans do because they don't usually do that. She finds the situation abnormal and insists on going along with her husband, but Jake refuses and lets out that it's just a reconquest. Besides, one of them has to take care of Ry since he's going to take the test soon.

While Scarlet doesn't seem satisfied, Jake comforts her by letting her know that he will be back before she knows it. She finally understands and instructs her husband to be careful. In the next scene, Ry appears to be panting as he tries to catch his breath while practicing. He still isn't convinced with his moves as he is unable to coordinate his human body well.

He looks behind, and the sight of Amy, who seems to be reading a book, makes his heart rate increase. As soon as he realizes it, he smacks himself in the face to snap out of it. After that, he walks towards the blond-haired girl and informs her to stop here today since it's almost time to go home.

Meanwhile, Amy, who was so invested in her book, doesn't realize how late it got, and they both trudge down the mountain. On the way, Ry questions her if she gets bullied in the village because of him since people always say that he's cursed because of his red hair. Listening to this, the girl tells him all about what her friend said about Ry and lets out that it's their problem if they think like that.

According to her opinion, she thinks red hair looks cool rather than scary. She then calls out his name and acknowledges him as a special person regardless of his red hair, and finishes off by telling him to be himself. The last sentence makes him realize something, and he gets a flashback of what Gary said to him about doing something he's good at.

He smiles after realizing it and excitedly thanks Amy before waving her goodbye. As soon as he gets home, he goes to the storage room and activates the puppet to level one. He positions himself as he places his hands on the wooden floor while he holds the sword in his mouth. Being himself, our boy starts moving like that.

He's more agile and moves with all his limbs, making his movements quicker. After spotting an opening, he strikes the sword with full strength, and just like that, he passes level one. He gets so pumped on his success, but he decides to test his limits. Although he'd be able to pass the night academy exam since he's passed level one, he activates level two.

It seems to be early in the morning where we see Jake getting ready to leave for the quest. Ry, who just woke up, watches his dad getting ready to leave and wonders where he is going. His dad apologizes to him and informs him that he will be leaving the home for a while, but he will be back home by the time he takes the test.

Jake advises his son to practice on the puppet as much as he can while he's not around. He brightly smiles towards Ry and believes that he can beat the puppet. As the red-haired boy was about to let his dad know about his little victory, the people who are waiting for Jake outside his house call him out to leave for the mission.

As he leaves, Jake tells his wife to take care of herself and lets her know that he will miss her. Meanwhile, Ry stands there and smiles as he ponders that it's all right since he just defeated a puppet and it's not a big deal. He decides to surprise pops with a big shock once he comes back home and leaves to practice on the mountains.

On his way, he wonders how Jake is going to react when he sees him win. He thinks it will be interesting to see his dad's reaction and realizes that it is all thanks to the tip Amy gave him that he found a way to solve his issues. While our boy seems excited and feels grateful, he notices that he's becoming more like a human.

Ry reminds himself that humans are terrible, but his parents and Amy are exceptions, so he won't take revenge on them. As he continues climbing up the mountain, he wonders if Amy is not coming today. But then he comes to realize that he's being so impatient for her. He pretends not to care and assures himself that now no one can disturb his training.

Our guy reminds himself that he's a mighty red dragon, so he can't let himself be corroded by his human emotions. In the next scene, it appears that Ry has fallen asleep and is snoring when he suddenly opens his eyes. Ry wakes up realizing that it's late and he's going to get nagged if he doesn't get home soon.

While running down the mountain, he presumes that he hasn't thanked Amy and decides to thank her tomorrow. Upon returning to the village, as it was already getting dark, he witnesses people gathered around and discussing searching up in the west. It turns out to be Gary and Amy's father, who interrogates the blacksmith, who claims to have seen the kids.

The blacksmith reveals that those four kids came to buy new weapons in his shop that morning, and he heard the blond-haired boy telling the others that they were going to the forest to hunt magic beasts. While Amy and Gary's parents are left in absolute fright as they are scared to lose their kids, the mother of the other two kids, Bob and Kale, grabs the blacksmith by his clothes and blames him for letting the kids go to the forest on their own.

Freaked out, the poor guy tries to calm down the lady and explains that he didn't know they were going to go into the forest for real. After that, the father of the two blond-haired kids instructs the blacksmith to call the guards to search together with them since it's too dangerous in the forest at night.

While the old guy does what he's ordered to do, the red-haired boy, who is walking to his house, wonders about Gary's little gang that went missing. He thinks that it's karma that they got what's coming for them. He wonders if they got killed by the magic beasts, so it would be less of a chore for him and remains unbothered until he remembers Amy.

Trying hard not to think about the girl, Ry tries to shrug it off while he recalls how she treated him pretty decently, and he doesn't want to take revenge on her, but she has a foolish brother. On the other hand, the people collect torches and materials to leave for the forest as our boy decides to walk away.

As he ponders how short human lifespans are, it's just a matter of time before they get killed. But at that moment, a glimpse of Amy appears in his mind. He reminds himself that he has his own path to walk on and wonders what's this feeling that's making him rethink his decision. Without another thought, he turns around and believes that Amy is innocent, and he still hasn't thanked her for defeating the puppet yet.

The scene switches to the forest, where we see two of the magic beasts bruised badly, whereas Kaylee and Bob are lying unconscious on the grass. Gary tries to protect his sister from the magic beast as she sobs out of fear. He instructs Amy not to move and prepares to fight the beast with the sword in his hand.

Ry runs towards the forest, and as he sniffs, he recognizes the smell of blood. Just as he thought that Amy was in danger, he finds a dead young demonic wolf and inspects the incision from a blade on its stomach, which was still warm. This gives him an idea that they are nearby.

He gets confused because the footsteps and markings around there are all mixed up. Baffled, he thinks of which he should go, and that's when he hears a scream. It seems to be Amy's scream fighting the beast. Gary is thrown onto a tree and falls on the ground. Meanwhile, the demonic wolf approaches to attack Amy, who covers her head and closes her eyes, hoping someone would come to help.

Just then, she hears the sound of a blade striking and opens her eyes only to witness Ry fighting the wolf and hitting the sword in the wolf's mouth while he checks on Amy to see if she's all right. But Gary and the others are not in good condition. At that moment, the girl alerts Ry to watch out, but it gets too late; therefore, the wolf scratches his arm.

Witnessing the boy getting hurt, Amy gets terrified as she yells out his name, but Ry assures her that he's all right and won't die that easily. With that, he decides to lure the wolf away from Amy and jumps onto a tree branch, but he immediately falls off as the wolf bites the tree branch.

Worried, our boy thinks that this body is far too weak and he won't be able to hold up with an adult wolf. It appears that Ry is struggling to fight the adult wolf on his own and realizes that his speed is nothing and he can't lure him away at all. In the past, the demonic wolf was nothing for him, but now he can't even manage to injure it.

He threatens the demon wolf that these humans belong to him and that he isn't allowed to touch them. Our boy gets ready for the attack since he can't hold on much longer and aims for the wolf's weakness. Ry holds the sword with his mouth, and with full strength, he strikes the sword, wounding its eye.

But he still gets disappointed in himself for doing less damage. He then wonders about his past and how he would have been able to tear it apart with a single blow, but now he has to rely on a human weapon. The demonic wolf attacks yet once again, and this time our dragon boy waits and looks for an opening.

He strikes the sword and manages to cut one of its legs off, and the wolf crashes to the ground. Just when Ry diverts his attention to Amy, the wolf attacks out of nowhere, and our boy dodges the sneak attack, holding the sword with his mouth once again. He strikes the wolf with all he's got and finally kills it off.

Eventually, he collapses on the ground, and just before getting unconscious, a screen appears and notifies him that he has a new ability unlocked and he has obtained an intermediate-grade beast crystal. Gravely injured, he wonders what this useless information is written on the screen and looks over at the siblings who are lying unconscious, pondering that he has to save them or else their blood is going to attract more magic beasts.

Trembling with pain, he walks towards them and carries Gary on his shoulders and Amy in his arms. When Gary catches a glimpse of the red-haired boy carrying him, he passes out. Our boy presumes that he can only save two people as it is his limit, leaving the two kids, Bob and Kale, who lie unconscious in the middle of the forest.

He reckons that he did everything he could, but the rest is out of his control. Panting heavily, he walks out of the dark forest while the villagers hold fire torches and weapons to look for the kids who went into the forest. They spot them coming out and quickly inform the kids' parents.

One of the villagers recognizes that it's the red-haired boy from Talon's family, Ry, whose blood keeps dripping along the way. He immediately asks the villagers to help Gary and Amy, who are blacked out at the moment, and tells them that they might need healing. As our boy collapses on the ground, the villagers start muttering about the red-haired boy who came out of the forest with two other kids.

They speculate why the kids went inside the forest at night, as it is filled with magic beasts. As they continue gossiping, a mother runs towards them and freaks out when she witnesses two of her kids, Bob and Kale, are missing. Panicked, she looks around and peeks at Gary and Amy.

That's when their father reveals that his children are the only ones who made it out of the forest. Frantically, she tries to enter the forest, but is stopped by the villagers, who tell her to calm down and that she cannot go there alone. Calling them cowards, the anguished mother scampers inside the forest to find her kids.

However, chills run down her spine when she sees the terrifying eyes of the magic beasts that scare the hell out of her, and she quickly dashes back to the villagers. As the villagers mumble that she's back, the terrified woman clarifies that she is not scared at all, raging with anger.

The woman grabs Ry by his collar and asks him where Bob and Kale are. She blames everything on the red-haired boy, accusing him of tricking them into going inside the forest because they're both good kids and have no reason to go there. Certain that Ry must be the one to lure them in, the vicious woman slaps him across the face and lets out that she knew that red hair was a bad sign, calling Ry a sign of calamity who brings misfortune.

Upon hearing this, the other villagers start whispering and assume that the red-haired boy really tricked those children, as he is the only one who managed to come out. As the villagers blame Ry for all this, they force the poor kid to speak up and start asking where he led their children.

The mother, who seems to be hopping mad, keeps smacking Ry across his face and asks him why he only brought Gary and Amy back with him and where her children are. Barely having the energy to say something, our poor boy informs her that her kids are in the forest. Calling him a cold-blooded monster, the woman throws him away and mumbles that they are just children, so how could he leave them there to die, saying she won't forgive Ry for what he did.

The mother pleads with other villagers to go with her inside the forest, but they refuse by making excuses and mutter that their children are waiting at home. Meanwhile, our boy, who seems to be in bad shape, contemplates if they have forgotten that he's a child too or if these people don't consider him a human just because of his red hair.

Adding that these vicious humans think that he's not a child but a monster, as the woman snatches the fire torch from one of them, she moves toward Ry and says that she will never forgive him, concluding that this red-haired monster should die. Watching these humans, Ry perceives that they are more terrifying than any beast could ever be, and they are the true monsters.

His life flashes before him as the woman raises the fire torch to kill him, but our guy puts on a gentle smile and reckons that he's going to die by a fire torch, thinking that it's humiliating being a red dragon. Contemplating his last moments, the woman strikes the torch at Ry.

However, at that moment, someone leaps in front of him. It turns out to be Gary, who halts the attack with his protective gear. Witnessing the blond-haired guy save Ry, the villagers assert that he must have gone mad for saving the monster, as it managed to charm Gary too.

As they shout to kill the monster, Gary gives them a deadly stare and says that they are the ones who've gone mad and want to kill him just based on assumptions. Protecting the red-haired guy, Gary stands guard in front of him and warns the villagers not to touch him, as Ry is his savior.

After that horrible incident, our boy has a nightmare about the woman who blames him for everything and smacks him, calling him a star of calamity. He also gets reminded of his past as the mages leap toward him to kill him, asking him to sacrifice his life. As he dreams of the humans who want him dead, Ry wakes up out of fear and looks at his mother.

While he peeks at her, his mother holds his hand and cries for him in her sleep. Our boy ponders how humans are beautiful yet cruel. As soon as he sits up, Scarlet wakes up and bursts in happiness after seeing Ry waking up, wondering if it's a dream.

His mother grasps him in a hug and feels grateful, as she thought Ry would never wake up again. As she hugs him tightly, Ry screams in pain, and Scarlet lets out that he is still in pain, adding that it serves him right for acting rashly. Curious, our boy asks her how long he has been asleep, to which his mother reveals that he has been sleeping for an entire week.

Scarlet cries out of joy, saying she doesn't know how she would have explained things to his father if he hadn't woken up. Upon hearing this, Ry questions her about the people in the forest, and his mother informs him that the two children he saved are lightly wounded but fine. However, Bob and Kale are both still missing, and she assumes that they were killed by the beasts.

We are then traveled back to Scarlet's flashback, where she arrives at the forest and witnesses her son beaten up by the villagers. Gary protects him and makes them understand that they went into the forest by themselves and Ry saved them. While the villagers don't seem to believe him, Scarlet watches her son lying unconscious on the ground and bursts into anger as she activates her magic powers.

The villagers calm her down and tell her that her son led the children into the forest, so he should take responsibility, adding that as a mother, she should know how it feels. As Scarlet takes her son in her arms, who seems gravely injured, she gives them a deadly stare, deadly enough to eat them alive.

The woman who beat the crap out of Ry trembles in fear. After that, the woman whose children are trapped in the forest breaks down into tears and pleads with the villagers to save her kids. The villagers sympathize with her, muttering how she will live without them.

While Scarlet holds her son, she hears the people gossiping about Ry, as they blabber that they should have kept far away from that curse. As one of the men warns the other, whose gossip about the Talon's child is being too loud, the gossiper puts on an evil grin and lets out that he was talking about the forest.

Upon hearing brutal things about her son, she carries Ry in her arms and walks away. Snapping out of her flashback, Scarlet pats his head and tells her son not to blame himself, as everything's over now. Meanwhile, she reveals that the boy named Gary told her everything and encourages Ry by saying he was amazing.

His mother goes out of the room to bring him something to eat. After his mother leaves the room, Ry seems to wonder about the thing that appeared in front of him in the forest. While he thinks if everyone has this screen, he taps one of the powers known as the blessing of the dragon's eye.

As soon as he touches it, the power activates, and our boy freaks out when he peeks at his mother's energy status, realizing that he had this ability in the past. He reminisces about the time when he was the red dragon and had different types of magic, but ever since he failed the aptitude test, he never thought he would get the chance to use them again.

Feeling delighted to use his powers once again, Ry assumes that he will unlock his powers one at a time and peeks at the intermediate-grade beast crystal he has acquired, wondering if he got it because he killed an intermediate demonic wolf. Suddenly, Ry notices smoke emerging in his room and starts coughing.

He opens his window and witnesses villagers shouting that their house is on fire. That's when his mother barges into the room, apprising him of a fire and telling Ry to get out as the fire spreads across the house. However, as the flames keep rising, Scarlet saves him with her magic and halts the fire.

As Ry clings to his mother's arms, he uses his dragon eye power to spot the target that burned down their house. Inspecting the villagers with his dragon eye, he finds out the culprit, who appears to be Bob and Kale's mom with a kindled fire in her hand. It appears that the flames engulf their whole house while the villagers are shocked to see that it is Talon's house and seem certain that it's because of the cursed kid.

Scarlet uses her magic to put out the fire and impressively scatters the flames like wind. As the fire is finally stamped out, the villagers whisper that it's the curse again and anticipate that if the red-haired cursed kid stays here any longer, their entire village will be in ruins.

Meanwhile, Ry is crushed after hearing such things about him. He is interrupted by his mother, who asks him if the fire scared him. Shaking those thoughts, he holds his mother's hand and tells her how cool she was when the flames blew away.

Immediately, as they make their way to the house, Ry, who seems upset by all the harsh words, ruminates that those humans wanted to burn their home and even wanted to burn them along with it, concluding that the humans wanted them dead. He burns with fury and gets determined to take revenge.

Later, our boy leaves for training, and his mother tells him to go easy on himself, as his wounds haven't healed up yet. After that, he reaches the forest and draws out his sword. He then activates his dragon eye and gets happy to see the beginner magic beasts that he can defeat easily.

One of the magic beasts, who appears to be a monkey in the tree, plucks out an apple and starts eating it. Ry spots that monkey with his dragon eye and sneaks up from behind, smashing the sword into the beast. It turns out that our boy kills 20 of the beginner magic beasts.

After killing the monsters, the dragon system appears and shows him that he has obtained a beast crystal. Looking at the screen, Ry lets out that it's a matter of luck as he killed 20 of the magic beasts but obtained only two crystals. He wonders what would happen if he absorbs the crystal.

He peeks at the little wolf wandering around its dead family. Ry tries to pat the little beast and asserts that it has to fight on his behalf from now on. When suddenly, the screen pops up and notifies him about the taming chance of the black demonic wolf pup. Unaware of what it means, he clicks to take the chance.

He gets excited after seeing that it worked, and the black wolf pup has been tamed. However, our boy freaks out when he gets to know that the tamed magic beast goes inside his body. Shocked, he asks the dragon system if there are no side effects and if he can summon it.

While Ry annoyingly looks at the little dragon, he lets out that he's going to kill him if it doesn't work. The dreadful dragon system nods its head. At that moment, he unlocks another skill, but he decides to stall it later as he has another business to do.

He searches for the two lost kids with his dragon eye ability and finds them as he locates them above a hill. He reaches the place, which somewhat looks like a cave, and witnesses plenty of dead bodies and skulls lying around. Ry then spots two dead bodies similar to Bob and Kale, and it appears that the beasts have ripped out their organs, devoured them completely, not leaving anything on their body but clothes and bones.

Our guy takes their clothes off as a mark of identity and puts them in a basket. Later at night, Scarlet keeps nagging Ry for not pushing the training much since he hasn't healed, telling her to stop being such a nag. His mother lets out that he's being rebellious and goes on scolding him as he also got his clothes dirty.

While Ry informs her that he will be practicing tomorrow, Scarlet seems to be done with him and reveals that his dad is coming home in a couple of days so he can train with him. As our guy jumps out of happiness, he gets impatient to show pops his training results.

His mother roars with anger, instructing him to put on his blanket properly and go to sleep, frightening the life out of him. He gets to know that instinctual fear from the human bloodline is real. After that, at midnight, Ry opens his eyes and lies awake. He goes into the storage room and picks up the bucket of clothes he fetched from the forest and another bucket full of blood.

On the other hand, someone knocks at Bob and Kale's house, and the mother descends down the stairs, wondering who it could be at such a time. As she opens the door, hoping to see her children, she calls out their names to see if they have returned. However, her eyes land on something lying in front of the house, and she recognizes at once that it's her son Kale's clothes.

The woman picks up the clothes and notices footprints that seem to be taking her somewhere to find her kids. She follows the footsteps and shouts that she's coming to get them. However, the footprints lead her deep into the forest. Realizing that it's too dark, she holds her lantern and decides not to go any further in the forest.

That's when she spots her son Bob's clothes hanging on the tree and calls out their names as she runs to find them, panicked. As the woman comes near the tree where Ry seems to be hiding, he lets go of the rope, and a bucket full of blood drops right onto her. Drenched in blood, the woman shouts madly and asks who did this.

That's when our guy jumps off the tree and reveals himself, uttering that she knew it would be the cursed red-haired monster. The mother bursts into anger and asks him to give her children back, calling him the bringer of misfortune. Standing in the forest, they are surrounded by the dangerous magic beasts while Ry stands in the dark, unaffected by the monsters.

He steps back, and the woman is snared by the forest beasts. As he keeps stepping back with a deadly serious expression on his face, he watches the woman getting annihilated by the beasts as the blood splatters all over the place.

The next day in the town, the people gossip about the curse being real and decide not to get on the bad side of the Talon family. Ry, with his training sword, appears from behind and stares murderously at the villagers as they gossip. Scared for their lives, the villagers try their best to act nice and greet him with a good morning, telling him that he works hard at training.

While the villagers take a sigh of relief as he leaves, our boy speculates that there are new rumors about him, and this time he likes them. Upon reaching home, Ry notices many horses outside his house and gets pumped up, thinking that his father is home.

However, as he enters the house, he witnesses his mother crying, thinking that something has happened to his father. He runs to her and asks his mother what's wrong. Sobbing, Scarlet informs Ry that his dad is sick but will recover soon.

Watching his father gravely ill, he activates his dragon eye and reckons that he has never seen any living being have such a high status, even when he was a dragon. Suddenly, Jake tries to speak something and mumbles that the shadows will kill everyone. That's when the mages reveal that Jake was inflicted with a plague of shadows and was attacked by a shadow beast while trying to protect a villager during their quest.

Upon hearing this, our boy presumes that he has seen anything like that before. He is left baffled as he wonders when these beasts appeared and what happened to the world after he died as a red dragon. While his mother thanks the mages for bringing Jake back home, the mage apologizes as they couldn't protect him.

Ry peeks at the dragon system and reckons that maybe he will be able to help his father with a spell. After that, Ry thinks about one of the high-tier spells he used to know, which had the ability to dispel all forms of curses and black magic. But he's unaware of how to unlock that spell again and wonders if he were to unlock that spell as a reward for killing magic beasts, then it would most probably be a high-ranked magic beast.

He learns the fact that he's weak right now and can't take on a magic beast. The red-haired boy then turns towards his mother and questions her if he joins the Knight Academy, will he be able to get stronger. Scarlet, who seems to be crying, lets him know that this is the place where his father studied in the past, so he will become a strong warrior just like him.

Upon hearing this, our boy gets all enthusiastic and decides to ace the test and become a student of the Knight Academy to find a way to save Jake. His mother, with a heavy heart, hugs him and confesses that she believes in him so he can do this.

In the next scene, we see what appears to be a church where we see the people wearing hooded cloaks who seem to be priests. Among the priests, the master elder informs others that the prophecy has been foretold and a great change will befall this world. While the others wonder what change could it be, the prophecy turns out to be about Ry.

As the master elder wonders whether the boy will bring redemption or calamity, the future is yet to be determined. Just after that, the elder orders to notify the knights to find the boy as soon as possible so that if he brings redemption, they shall lead his way, but if he brings calamity, they should destroy him.

The next scene takes us to the examination day of the Knight Academy, where everyone is excitedly lined up as they look forward to seeing the knights. As the knights arrive, everyone cheers for them, and they see Knight Delbert, who is very charming. People are gossiping about how he's just as the rumors said. The girls go crazy over him and find him handsome, as they only get to see the knights once a year, and it's on the examination day.

With more cheers and applause, the knights reach the place where the competition will take place, and Winford introduces himself as the Knight of the Academy and welcomes the kids. After introducing the well-known Sir Delbert and Sir Bernardo, Winford announces that they will act as proctors of the examination and makes it clear that if they want to join the academy, then they have to show their best skills.

After the sword puppet is placed into position, Winford orders the candidates to step up one by one. Just then, the first test begins, and a kid comes up. He underestimates the wooden puppet and confidently walks up to defeat it with pure strength while his parents cheer for him. Just as he attacks the puppet, he smashes away as the puppet smacks him hard, and the boy fails the test in less than a second.

The parents, who were cheering for their son a few minutes ago, grow hushed as they are unable to process the shock. While the second candidate gets called upon, Ry seems to be immersed in his thoughts about how Jake told him exactly how the puppet works and that he has to defeat level one wooden puppet.

The red-haired boy looks up at the puppet, noticing how it doesn't move, but the speed at which it defends and counterattacks is on par with adults. But our guy yanks out his thoughts as he is interrupted by the voices of Delbert and Winford. It turns out that he's able to hear their conversation from a far distance, which is probably because of obtaining more beast crystals that his senses are becoming sharper.

The knights seem to be chattering about how it is a waste of time to come here, but they have to follow the orders of the elder. Knight Delbert utters his opinion that the knight should come from noble blood, as he doesn't understand why they're wasting time on these filthy commoners. Listening to this, Winford, who seems like a nicer guy than Delbert, thinks that he's being harsh and has said a bit too much.

Delbert, who is already fed up, gets more disheartened when there is not a single successful candidate after several rounds. Just then, Gary shows up and passes the examination test as he flashes a smile to everyone. As Sir Bernardo announces his success, the villagers begin to gossip about how he has potential in him.

Meanwhile, Ry gets embarrassed on Gary's behalf, thinking, "What the hell is he doing?" Our boy becomes the center of attention as he's the next candidate to step up on the stage. Winford and Delbert both divert their attention towards Ry, knowing that he's the child their elder was talking about.

On the other hand, the villagers start to gossip about how he's the cursed child and think what happened to Jake is because of his curse. They think that his hair is red as blood and it's terrifying to them. The villagers continue to blabber, muttering that Ry is a monster who can only bring misfortune and can't become a knight, and think it's a joke.

But our guy doesn't seem to give a [ __ ] about it and takes his hood off as he moves up to the stage. At that moment, Bernardo informs the candidate to be prepared as the test starts in a minute. That's when Delbert approaches Bernardo and confesses that he doesn't believe in prophecies, as according to him, if the prophecies are true, then the red-haired boy would be able to pass the test at any cost.

To test that boy, the knight activates the level three of the puppet. While Bernardo objects, with a whirl, the puppet starts moving with lightning speed and moves towards Ry. To alert Ry, Bernardo and Winford yell at him to move out of the way or he can get killed.

But before he could say anything more, in a flash, Ry slashes the puppet's head off with his sword. As it happens, a deafening silence takes over the place while the wooden puppet head falls on the ground, making the knights' jaws drop. While Bernardo seems to be stunned to speak, Winford proudly tells him to announce the results.

The knight then congratulates the candidate upon passing the test, while Scarlet gets proud of her son, and Gary appears to be in disbelief after passing the test. Ry leaves the village along with the knights and wishes his dad goodbye, who lies unconscious. He assures his pops not to worry and promises to find a way to heal his dad.

As he looks at his dad, Ry gets emotional, and that's when Scarlet arrives. She seems to have something in her hands, and it turns out to be a pen. His mother makes Ry wear it, as it was passed down in her family with hope to bring him good luck. After that, he informs his mother that he's leaving and asks her to take care of herself.

Scarlet seems to be worried about him and instructs Ry to take care of himself, assuring him that she's here for him if he ever feels troubled. Our boy reassures his mother and declares that he's a man now. Just then, he leaves while Scarlet sheds tears.

As he arrives at the place, he is asked to be seated in the cart with the other boy waiting for him inside. Wondering who it might be, our guy realizes that it's Gary. Looking at each other, they both look embarrassed while Ry ponders if they are the only ones to pass, and it's extremely awkward between them.

As they depart on the way, Gary finally musters up the courage and apologizes to the red-haired boy, admitting that he was mean to him and even smacked him. He admits that he was being an idiot back then and bows as an apology gesture. Our boy looks shocked at first but then accepts the apology, thinking that it's fine since Gary is just a 5-year-old kid and mentions that Gary also saved him, so it's even between them now.

Upon hearing this, the blond-haired boy gets confused about being a 5-year-old and enunciates how Ry is the same age as him. Meanwhile, our boy gets a bit nervous and changes the topic. He asks about Amy and wonders why she didn't come today for the examination. Listening to this, Gary gets confused because he thought his sister told him she's going to the Roland Magic Academy.

It seems that Ry hears this name for the first time and wonders why Amy didn't tell him that she had the aptitude for magic. While they're on their way to the Knight Academy, suddenly they hear one of the knights shout to stop the cart, and it halts. Both of them peek outside from the curtains and witness dense fog, wondering what's going on.

Winford calls out that they're the knights from the Avery Academy and orders them to tell them who they are at once. A girl emerges from the fog, who appears to be in bad condition, and she calls out for help, introducing herself as Anne Woodwork, an adventurer from the Traceless Guild.

While Bernardo asks her the matter, the girl collapses in his arms. To their surprise, she informs the knights that her team was attacked by shadow beasts. Upon hearing this, Bernardo gets baffled and wonders why the shadow beasts would appear here when they didn't even come across a single magic beast on their way here.

While Delbert, being overconfident, thinks it's probably because they know how strong they are, Winford informs the girl that they're heading to Reni, so if that's on the way, they can take her. Anne thanks the knight and agrees with him.

Gary wonders why they're headed to Reni instead of the Knight Academy. Delbert, standing there, hears him and responds to the blond-haired guy not to be stupid because there's no use sending kids to the front line. Meanwhile, they both get baffled as they wonder what he meant by the front line.

Knight Delbert explains that the Aaran Knight Academy is placed at the border, so it may be attacked at any moment. That's when Winford interrupts that they need to train for a decade in Reni until they grasp the basics of battle before continuing their studies in the Aaran Knight Academy.

Upon listening to the word decade, Ry is left speechless and ponders that for a dragon, it's a very short time, but not for a human. He wonders if pops can wait for such a long time. On the other hand, Gary seems to be anxious about the huntress being the only survivor and Ry's father being attacked by the shadow beasts too.

He thinks that even the knights were shocked to hear that it was done by shadow beasts and wonders what will they do if they encounter them. Just then, they hear a crack sound, which makes our boy alert while Winford announces everyone to be prepared because something big is approaching their way.

It turns out to be the drop bear king, the one that became a shadow beast too. As all three knights prepare for battle, the drop bear shadow beast approaches them from behind the bushes. While the shadow beast is about to attack Knight Bernardo, who can't seem to dodge the attack in time, Ry shows up at the right time and kills the beast, saving the knight.

Bernardo then instructs the kids to protect themselves while Winford wonders why the drop bear king isn't moving and is bothered because he thinks it's waiting for something. Meanwhile, Gary is struggling to fight the shadow beasts and gets scratched by one of them, and that's when the dragon boy saves him by slashing his sword on the beast's back.

He warns the blond-haired boy to be careful since these drop bears are much stronger than the demonic beasts. As the drop bear king roars, the voice reverberates, and the effect is so powerful that the knight flies away while the others struggle to stand firm on their feet. Witnessing this sight, Gary wonders what that thing is, but Ry seems to have an idea that the monster over there is far too strong for them to fight.

The knight speculates that the drop bear king is standing in one place and not attacking them. Suddenly, that big shadow beast points toward Winford and begins to speak, uttering that they will never defeat the shadows and that the shadows will take control over the entire continent.

While the other knights fighting the monsters are startled by the talking beast, the shadow monster asserts that he is destined to fail and that those around him are destined to die. Upon hearing this, Ry is left flabbergasted, and the knights are utterly baffled as they seem to understand what the monster was trying to warn them about, assuming that it's threatening them.

In the meantime, the giant shadow monster rumbles and leaps into the air, escaping away. Concluding that the monster left, Winford lets out that they should be grateful as the shadow beast didn't choose to fight; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to leave this place in one piece.

As Ry's dragon system appears, he obtains a crystal. Our boy is lost in the thought of the shadow beast, as he feels like it was talking to him. After that, Winford appreciates Ry and Gary for how they reacted to the situation and anticipates that they will become good knights.

At that moment, Ry asks the knight if beasts usually talk like that, to which Winford responds that shadow beasts have never appeared on the border till now, and it's the first time he has encountered a monster that could talk.

Peering at the red-haired boy's cold expression, the knight ponders that Ry seems so calm, as someone his age wouldn't react like this at all. While they are talking, we see Delbert giving the red-haired boy a deadly stare, as he seems disgusted by him.

Later, as they arrive at Reni town on horses, they are welcomed by a troop of guards, as there seem to be more guards posted than usual. Winford gets concerned and interrogates one of the guards, asking him why more guards are posted.

While the huntress thanks the knights for escorting her all the way, the guard reveals to Winford that the Allure Kingdom has issued an amber alert. Every town and city is now under heavy surveillance. Listening to this, the knight presumes that things have gotten severe, as the kingdom has issued an amber alert and this continent is on the verge of crisis.

Then he looks over at Ry and ponders if he will be the child of prophecy who will save them all. Meanwhile, our boy, who seems to be with Gary, thinks about his father and believes that he will certainly become a knight. He adds that everything has just begun and pops has to wait for him till he becomes a knight.

We are then taken 10 years later to Reni town, as the class seems to be going on at the academy. The professor questions the students about what the command over another ability is called when most knights don't know how to use magic.

Gary, who is also in the class, raises his hand and responds that knights use chi. After practicing it, they will be able to enhance their bodies and senses. He adds that some practitioners of chi can even break through the limits of the human body for a short time.

While the teacher appreciates him for the answer and utters that he seems well prepared, she proceeds to ask another question about why chi can be practiced only after the age of 15, pointing towards Ry. But when Gary peeks over his place, Ry's seat appears to be empty.

While our boy is out somewhere bunking the class, Gary nervously informs his teacher that he went to the restroom. Moving on, the teacher then asks a girl, Sylvia, who appears to be a beautiful girl with silver hair, and she answers, responding that practicing chi can put the body under an extreme amount of pressure.

The internal organs of a human finish developing after the age of 15, so practicing it after this age minimizes any damage that may be taken to the body. As the teacher reminds students to keep everything in their mind they've learned, Sylvia stares at Ry's empty seat.

The scene then flips to the black demonic wolf, who was tamed by Ry a long time ago. While the demonic wolf fights with another magic boar beast and slashes it, Ry earns a beast crystal as a reward. Our boy absorbs the power of the beginner-grade crystal beast and pats the black wolf for his good work, thinking that he hunted enough beasts for the day.

Ry decides to head back in before someone lashes out at him for staying out of the class. As he is about to return, Winford, riding on the horse, emerges from behind and lets out that it's a surprise to meet, as he was wondering who he would have met when he came back.

Looking at the beast he'd killed, the knight appreciates him and wonders how he's able to pass that heavy guard as they stride together. Winford tells him that he's grown a lot taller since he last met him, and Ry compliments him back, mumbling that he hasn't changed at all in the past 10 years.

He gets curious about his age, telling him that it's a secret. Winford informs that he heard Ry's instructors say that he slips out of classes and hunts magical beasts, adding that he has gotten quite the haul after hunting. Upon hearing this, Ry reveals that it's all thanks to the amber alert, which was recently called off, so he's not having a hard time slipping out.

Laidback, our guy tells the knight that he enjoys moving around here more than sitting in that classroom. Watching Ry be so reckless, Winford says that he should be lucky not to go any further because if the guards on the outer lines had caught him wandering, they wouldn't have held back.

At that moment, the knight is reminded of something and informs Ry that he stopped by his house. He informs the boy of his father's condition, asserting that Jake's condition hasn't worsened since Ry's mother is taking good care of him.

Winford pats his shoulder and delivers the message that his mother had sent for Ry, who wanted to tell him that he should not worry about his father too much. Looking upset, our boy thanks him and contemplates how he continued his training in the past decade and went the extra mile to train hard.

However, he failed to unlock new abilities, and nothing has changed in the past years, concluding that he has no clue what to do about his father's condition. That's when Winford cheers him up, tapping on his shoulder and gripping him tightly close to him, making our boy flustered.

Walking towards the town, the knight tells Ry to buck up, as they are going to head out for the Avery Academy tomorrow and expresses his excitement to see other kids there. Later at the Reni town entrance, we see the instructor shouting at the guard for letting his student go outside.

The guard tries to explain that he had no reason to stop the student from going after the amber alert was released, adding that he wouldn't go much further. In the meantime, Winford and Ry walk into the hall, and they witness Allan, the instructor, grab the guard by the collar and make it clear that the red-haired boy is special, so they need to know where he is at all times.

As Winford calls out his name, Allan, who already seems annoyed about Ry's absence, turns back and notices his special student alongside the knight, testing his last nerve. Allan's blood begins to boil, and he lashes out at our boy. He bursts out in anger and lets out that he warned Ry not to leave his line of sight, but still, he slipped out of the academy without permission.

He asks how many times it has been this month, calling him an idiot. While our poor fella is freaked out, Winford nods from behind and thinks it serves him right, as he has it coming. As the angry instructor smacks Ry's head, our boy mutters that it's been a month since the alert lifted, so he can do whatever he wants, adding that Mr. Allan is too much of a stick in the mud.

Meanwhile, Ry hides behind Winford as he gets a nice beating from Allan. Our boy lets out that he will be leaving soon anyway, and after that, his instructor will be free as a bird. Pissed off, Allan clarifies that as long as Ry is his student, he isn't allowed to skip class.

While Winford tries to stop them as they continue to bicker, we are taken to Reni town square, where the head instructs the students to gather at once, as they seem to be calling an emergency meeting. As they all gather, Ry returns with a bump on his head, and Gary asks him how he came earlier, assuming he got caught this time.

While our guy tells him he got unlucky, Sylvia furtively peeks at him and starts to blush. After summoning all the students, the squire named Lancy informs them that he will bring all of them to the Avery Knight Academy, and the entire journey will take about seven days.

Looking drop-dead serious, Lancy warns the students that if they don't want to get in trouble, they will have to listen to his orders. Later, the guard asks Winford if the path to the academy has been decided. As the knight notifies him that they will go past the swamp, the guard panics and lets out that it's too early for the children to go through that tough path.

Upon hearing this, Winford looks over at all the students and asserts that they are bound to face some challenges to become knights, adding that they are not the only ones who are getting tested. The next morning, all the students prepare to go to the Aaran Knight Academy as they depart from the Reni town gates in the carriages.

While Ry seems to be snoring, a bald red-headed boy named K wonders why they didn't use teleporters, as they can get to the academy immediately if they use it. Some other boy lets out that they would have spared the trouble if they teleported there.

Upon hearing such blabbering, a boy named Dan responds to him that it is because the Aaran Knight Academy doesn't have a teleporter, calling him an idiot. As Kyle assumes that the Aaran Academy is on the same level as Roland Academy, he asks if they can't afford it.

A voice echoes from somewhere that utters that someone hasn't been paying attention in class, referring to Dan and Kyle. It appears to be smartass Sylvia, who elucidates that the Aaran Academy is right on the border, so not only does it have to stand against foreign invaders, but also shadow beasts as well.

She further adds that if they install the teleporter in a place like that, there's a high chance that the invaders would teleport anywhere they wish if the academy's guard were broken, as the teleporter would be an open invitation to them.

As the students are left surprised to hear such information and think if it was taught in class, Sylvia turns pink as she looks at Ry. However, she nervously turns away when Gary catches her looking this way while our boy dozes off on his shoulder.

Later, they arrive at the castle ruins near the swamps, and the students are instructed to set up their camps, as it appears to be dawn already. Setting up their camps, Gary informs Ry that the silver-haired girl has been looking at him, wondering what there's to look at.

Gary tells him to look behind if he doesn't believe it. That's when they both turn around and discreetly look at her, Sylvia, who's peeking at her crush. She gets caught red-handed and freaks out as she goofs up with her camp.

As his friend turns out to be correct, Ry assumes that it's because of his red hair. But Gary reminds him that there are many red-haired people here, like Kyle, Ian, and the twins, Sloth and Badger. Agreeing that he's got a point, Gary makes a sneaky face and asks Ry if he will ignore it because Sylvia is a super pretty girl.

But our boy seems to be not interested in her. In the meantime, Dan sneaks out and comes behind the castle ruins, calling his friend Monk. Walking behind the castle ruins, they both are left disgusted by a pungent smell that smells worse than dead rats.

Presuming where it's coming from, looking at the terrifying swamp, Dan lets out that he can't even see the end of this sticky place. As Dan and Monk look around the area, Lancy sneaks up on them and informs them that it's a swamp, scaring the life out of them.

Lancy gives them a death stare, alerting them both that if they don't want to get their legs bitten off by sharp worms in that swamp, they better set up their tents and sleep. The night falls, and the fire crackles.

Ry sneaks out of the castle without the

**Others to not let their guard down and get off the cart as the other students join in to help him.**

Gary commands them to fight in an open area and to make a team of three, staying back to back so that there aren't any holes in the defenses. Meanwhile, Kyle, who seems supercharged to kill the worms, Ray presumes that they are getting a little too excited and activates his dragon eye, watching all of them immersed in the fight.

Our boy reckons that all the sharp worms are beginner rank magical beasts, so he has nothing to worry about. As he thinks, his eyes land on the top of the cliff where he notices the six Knights who left the group earlier. Our boy, who seems to be going to sleep in the carriage, is spotted by Dan, who asks him where he's going and tells him not to break the formation.

Letting out a big fat yawn, Ry says that those are beginner rank monsters, so they won't need his help. With him gone, the numbers will be just right. While the knights observe the students from above the cliff, they assume that Ray is scared of the monsters and that he will only get a red belt.

The other Knight points at Gary, who seems to be doing pretty well, and explains that he attacks with no hesitation and kills with a single swing, adding that he consciously controls his body so that he moves a little without wasting any moment. Anticipating that Gary will get a white belt, Winford points at Sylvia and concludes that she doesn't attack proactively but is extraordinarily observant.

As the other Knight compliments that her stance is perfect, Sylvia impressively dodges a sharp worm and slashes it with her sword. Observing her moves, Winford lets out that she's steady, and once she finds an opening, it's over for the enemy. Lancy, who seems impressed by Sylvia's attacks, says that even her clothes are spotless.

That's when something explodes from underground, and it appears to be a giant sharp bug that has emerged from the ground. All the students are terrified of the colossal worm and assume that they have merged to become a big one. Trembling in fear, the worm leans toward one of the kids, who goes weak and trips to the ground. As the worm is about to attack him, Ian, the red-haired guy, leaps in front of him and rips the worm's tentacles with his strong muscles.

In the meantime, Ian tears apart the monster out of anger as he shouts that no one is allowed to hurt his comrades. While the twins, Sloth and Badger, join him and slash through the giant worms like pros, Kyle, who seems to be counting how many worms he has killed, pierces through the monster with his sword, concluding that he has killed 45 in total.

The knights, noticing them from above, are left surprised as they do not need to do anything to help them. The red-haired kids seem to have done a pretty good job of killing the monster, except for Ry, and they seem to be done. After the red-haired kids are done killing the worm, Ian asks his teammate if he's okay, and they are all relieved that the monsters are finally dead.

Keenly observing the students, Winford speculates that Ian is not only physically strong but also knows how to care for his teammates, and he is a gem. On the other hand, there's Ry, who's dozing off in the carriage and doesn't care about anything.

After that, they all get inside the carriage, and Gary asks Ry why he didn't join them in the battle. He informs him that it's dangerous here, and if anything happened, no one would have been able to save him. Stretching himself, our guy tells him he was too sleepy and that the Knights were watching over them anyway.

While Gary admits that he's a lone wolf now, Winford is baffled and reckons who the child of prophecy will be. After that, as they continue their journey to the academy, Kyle is proud of himself for killing the monsters, and Dan appreciates his good job, assuming that they will become actual Knights before they know it.

Dan dreams of getting a white belt if they are lucky. Shocked, Gary, who doesn't seem to know what a white belt is, asks him about it. That's when Dan reveals that all the knights are ranked differently, and the ones following them are the white tassel protectors, who are high-ranked Knights. He adds that these Knights have gotten white belts at one point, which means that their skills have been recognized through tests and trials.

Dan then discloses that there are green and black belts that symbolize different skills; however, the red belt depicts the lowest-ranked Knight. Upon hearing this new information, our boy gets wide awake when Dan lets out that the red belt is given to those who don't do well in the tests. He further elucidates that Knights who get the white belts will be given personal instructors along with other rewards and resources.

Meanwhile, red belts aren't as lucky because they will get basic training, but no one will pay attention to them. They can do whatever they want, and since the academy has given up on them, they can wander off anywhere. However, Rey is delighted to hear about the red belt and presumes he can do whatever he wants once he gets one. This means he will have all the time in the world to hunt magic beasts, and he will acquire higher-ranked Beast crystals and abilities rapidly.

High-spirited, he clenches his fist and believes he needs to do his best to get that red belt.

The next scene takes us to the Aan Knight Academy, where the students finally arrive after a long journey. The sight of the academy hooks the students getting out of the carriage. Gary thinks it's cool, while our boy is left stunned to see a vast, beautiful place.

The Aan Knight Academy appears to be a huge castle with colossal gates. The students are left in awe as the place turns out to be just like they thought it would be. They mumble that this academy is a city with only Knights living there. Amazed by the monocrystals placed throughout the academy, the students reveal that the academy's energy source comes from monocrystals, and not a single torch is used for lighting.

Thinking that the academy is too luxurious, Gary lets out that it's two different worlds from the village he grew up in. In the meantime, Lancy orders Gary and Kyle to follow him closely if they don't want to get lost, adding that they will get the chance to wander the place.

Lancy the Squire shows them around the academy. As they walk through the armory, reaching the library, Lancy instructs them to shut their mouths and keep quiet when they are in the library. While some of the girls peek at Sir Lancy and think about how handsome he is, Dan asks him if the librarians are Knights too.

The Knight utters that all the graduates of the Averian Knight Academy need to volunteer in the city for two years, then they are allowed to either stay or leave. Before they head to the dorm, Lancy shows them the last point of their tour, which somewhat looks like a cemetery. That's when Lancy unveils that this place holds the remains of the knights that have fought or died for the Allure Kingdom.

He adds that he has come here to remind the students that war has never ended and they have to remember that as Knights, their first duty is to protect their home. While the students chant they will fight to protect their home, Ray quivers with anger and reckons how dare these humans use the bodies of dragons as materials to make their armors and weapons.

At that moment, Sylvia raises her hand and asks the Knight about the sculptures and who they were made after. Lancy responds that these sculptures were made after the founders of Aan Knight Academy, known as the Legendary Dragon Knights. As the students start to chatter and ask questions about the Dragon Knights, Lancy informs them that they will know when they study the academy's history.

While the students head back to their dorms, Ry loses his cool, and Gary calls him out, activating his dragon eye. Ry witnesses a tomb below the graveyard and senses something is alive down in the tomb. As they walk towards the dorms, Gary wonders who they will be living with and hopes they live with easygoing people.

Meanwhile, Rey, who seems to be zoned out by his thoughts about that thing alive in that tomb, speculates that it was not a magical beast's energy but something really strange. But his moment of contemplation is interrupted by Gary, who asks if he even listened to what he said.

Ry responds to him and says that he was talking about roommates, and at that moment, they arrive at their dorm. It turns out they are in the same dorm, and he gets curious about who else will be joining them. To their surprise, Sylvia approaches them, and it seems like she will be sharing the dorm room with the boys.

While Gary is flummoxed, Sylvia gets flustered when she sees Ry and turns pink, as the girl seems to be uncomfortable about the situation. Gary makes her understand that it's not surprising, as he's heard that the academy has always treated everyone equally regardless of gender, adding that she should look on the bright side as they are nice boys.

But Sylvia, who seems to be utterly nervous, smacks Gary, who leaps to the ground and storms away in anger, making it clear that she won't live in the same room as boys. As poor Gary, who gets whacked by a girl, lies on the ground, the other two people witness the whole thing and let out that it was really something.

Ry assures them that it's nothing but a young missy throwing a fit. The two other people turn out to be their dorm mates, Monk and Ian, and Gary welcomes them, introducing himself and Ry. Peeking at Ian's red hair, our boy presumes that he has red hair too.

While Gary looks at the dorm mate list and concludes that two more roommates will join them, Dan and Marsha Woodwork. In the meantime, Sylvia seems to be trudging down the stairs and moves towards her room full of boys. She gives the boys a terrifying stare and warns them not to enter the room as she is going to change clothes.

While the boys are disowned from their dorm, Gary says that he knew that they wouldn't allow her to change dorms. In that moment, Dan joins them, asking the boys why they're still standing outside. Gary lets out that they were waiting for him as they found a big cockroach in there, adding that they are looking for someone to deal with it.

Upon hearing this, Dan gets all fired up and utters that how can these future Knights be afraid of a measly cockroach and shows them how it's done. He bursts open the door while the boys are shocked and try to hide their laughter, as they've pulled a dirty prank on their new roommate.

The next scene takes us to the dinner hall, where everyone seems to be stuffing themselves. Dan, who got tricked by his roommates, asks them if it was fun, as now he has pissed off that girl, and she can even try to kill him in his sleep, calling her a walking bucket of gunpowder.

While Dan has a slap printed on his face, Gary lets out that it would be nice since many people don't even get the chance to talk to her. As soon as Dan blabs something about the girl, Sylvia hears their conversations and gets miffed at them for what they've just said.

While Dan and Gary panic and justify that they said nothing about her, on the other hand, our boy seems to be enjoying to the fullest as he stuffs himself with a variety of food. Sylvia looks at them and mumbles how they can be eating right now as she gets anxious about being tested soon.

As our boy is only focused on eating, Gary assumes that she's talking about the test for the night belts and asks her what this has to do with eating while they eat like pigs. Ray utters that it's all for free, and Sylvia looks so done with them both, saying that there's no saving them.

In the meantime, senior students look at them and assert that they shouldn't have expected anything else from poor country bumpkins who seem to be stuffing their faces like that, referring to Ray and Gary with their faces stuffed with food. They both turn around and look at the seniors, who still keep mocking them and laughing at them.

The annoying seniors then stop at Ian's seat and begin to make fun of the muscular red-haired guy for how big he is, blabbering that he takes so much space that the poor chair is going to break, calling him a country boy. Meanwhile, poor Ian seems to be upset as he gulps down his tears.

The senior bastards utter they want to puke at the sight of these red-haired freaks who churned out of Reny. Upon hearing such colorful remarks about themselves, Kyle stops eating while Sloth calmly sips on his tea and presses his twin Badger's hand as he is about to pull out the knife to rip that bastard's mouth.

As they continue to spit nonsense about the red hair curse being contagious, calling them country bumpkins, they ask them to leave them alone as they don't want to have disgusted red hair like that. Monk, who seems to have enough of this, stands up and tells the two senior bastards to stop it because they're being too much.

While Ian stops his friend from defending him, the seniors tell Monk to stay out of this and ask him if he's going to fight for this red-haired freak, concluding that he will get a red belt at the very most, so he should mind his business or else they will beat him up.

The over-the-top seniors, addressing Ian as a red-haired monster, compliment him for knowing his place and instruct him to take the long way around when he encounters them in the future. As soon as that bastard utters these words from his mouth, someone throws food at him.

The senior gets mad and asks to show himself, whoever did this, calling him a bastard. That's when our boy enters the scene and shows himself. He smacks the senior's face at the table and twists his arm, holding him down on the table.

Ray asks the senior who he threatened about taking a long walk around, and the bastard lets out that he is talking about him, the disgusting red-haired monster. The ruckus at the dinner table grabs the knight's attention as the kids inform them of the guy who's gone crazy at the table.

Meanwhile, Ry, who seems to be raging with anger, beats the crap out of that blabbermouth, and Ian stops him and assures that they didn't hurt him, urging him not to make a ruckus as the knights are watching. Gary tries to stop him, and Sylvia informs him of the tests that are to be held soon, so it will affect his first impression.

Our boy doesn't let go of the senior and holds him tight as he twists his arm. The students call Sir Knight and complain to him about the red-haired guy acting violently toward another student. At that moment, Sir Lancy enters the chaos and commands Ray to release the boy while the senior screams out of pain and calls out for Sir Knight to save him.

Ry, who squeezes his arm harder, as Lancy again commands Ray Talon to stop, confesses to Ian that this is something he learned growing up: that when someone wants to take advantage of him or treats him like trash, it's important to show them the consequences of their actions.

It seems like Ray has broken his arm, and the students are left in shock at the scary sight of the red-haired guy finally releasing the boy. Our boy points at the senior and tells Ian that people only learn when they teach them a lesson. On the other hand, Lancy, their supervisor, glances furiously and asks Ry why he didn't listen to his orders.

With a sneaky smirk, our guy apologizes to him and responds that he thought out of all people, his teacher would understand what it would be like to hear problems that only he wants to hear, just like him. Without a flinch, Ray holds Gary's hand and says to continue eating because they don't want their appetite to be affected by those pieces of trash.

Meanwhile, Knight Lancy is pissed off at Ray's bold move. The whispers begin to initiate about the seniors starting the fight first and add that they've always been bullying people, so it was about time that they got humbled and got their butts handed to those red-haired fellows.

After that, the three commanders arrive at the academy, and the students assume they are preparing for the test. Winford commands everyone to keep quiet as he welcomes the head of their academy, the six Elders. The six heads of the academy emerge in the hall, wearing cloaks and hiding their faces with masks.

Watching the heads, the students start to get nervous and wonder if this test is that much of a big deal, as they've heard of the six Elders watching the test before. As Ry witnesses the six Elders, as their footsteps rumble, he ponders if these six people are way too strong, just like the humans who killed him and his Dragon kind.

While he snaps out of it, Winford continues to elucidate that these six Elders, as witnesses, will be testing their new Knights to be, and according to the test results, they will be given belts of different colors that showcase their abilities. He adds that if the students don't do well, they will get a red belt, which means more like they failed in a sense.

But Winford encourages the students with a pleasant smile and urges them that even if they get a red belt, they will still have a chance to stand where he stands today, stirring up their spirits. Winford utters that every single one of them standing has shown their talent from the day they were picked at the age of five. He motivates them not to give up, as their future training will help them hone the talents they have.

Our boy peeks at Winford and ruminates that he's encouraging and positive as ever and gets a little anxious as he thinks about how he would react when he sees him get the red belt later. Winford finishes up his speech and leaves the rest to Lancy, while Lancy assures him that he will do his best in the duties.

He looks over at Ry and gives him a deathly glare. In the next scene, Lancy announces the trials with five different stages, as they will be testing different aspects of the knight's overall ability, including Stone of Power, Blazing Inferno, Undetected Passage, Eye on Precision, and Will of Truth.

In the first stage, the Stone of Power, Lancy explains to the students that they just need to push the big rock, and once it reaches the goal position, they will be done with this stage. Everyone has two chances, and if they fail their first try, they can use the pair of magic gloves on their second try. It will increase their strength and aid in passing this stage, although using it will also affect their evaluation, so they have to keep that in mind.

Gary whispers to Ray that the test looks pretty easy, and the red-haired boy thinks it's a piece of cake for him. But our boy mumbles that he thinks someone doesn't want him to pass the test, which leaves Gary to wonder what he means. At that moment, Lancy makes an announcement just before the test begins, asserting that as the Proctor of this test, he rejects Ray Talon's participation.

Meanwhile, Ry doesn't seem to be affected by this and confidently crosses his hands over his chest. Gary and Sylvia protest that it's not fair and speculate why Ry isn't allowed to be tested. Just then, Lancy lets everyone know that it's just to warn all the knights to be that they must follow any orders given to them by their superiors.

He adds that if anyone objects to his decision, they can report this to his superiors, and if they tell him to retract it, then he will agree without any objections. After that, he calls out the first student to be tested, and Gary whispers to Ray about being on Lancy's bad side.

While Sylvia advises him to report this to higher-ups because he can't treat him like that, our guy seems to be careless about it and lets them know that this just made things easier for him, so they should go ahead and get tested, as he will join them in the next stage. This makes Ry believe that he is guaranteed to get a red belt.

It is then revealed to us that both Gary and Sylvia passed the test, while Ian picks the rock up in his hands, although the instructions were to push it, and everyone gets shocked as Gary comes back sweaty and is glad that it went well. Ray congratulates him and informs him that the second stage might be hard for him, so he should be prepared, while the blond-haired boy is confused.

Our boy shows him the Proctor of the second stage, who seems to be from Roland Academy. Watching the Proctor of the second stage, Gary freaks out and worries about how they are going to be tested when they've never learned magic before. But Ry lets him know that the battlefield does not care whether they've learned something or not and guesses that they are just going to have to try resisting magic.

He further adds that usually, people who are physically strong actually end up having worse magic resistance. This leads him to assume that they're trying to test their weaknesses and strengths through these five tests so that they can find the best way to develop their abilities. While it all makes sense to Gary, he wonders if he's an all-rounded genius, but Ry doesn't seem to agree with him.

Later, the second stage, Blazing Inferno, begins, and the Proctor tests Gary by using some magic on his forehead, and he seems to hold up for 57 seconds. Ray compliments him that he lasted pretty long, while Gary thinks he did a bad job. But Dan encourages him that only a single minute passes in the outside world for every hour in the illusion created by that Mage, after all, so he did a good job.

Next up appears to be Sylvia, and as the Mage starts testing her, she relaxes herself, thinking that this is all an illusion, so he can't scare her. As the Mage casts an illusion of fire, the girl does a great job as 5 minutes pass already, while others gossip about how good she is. Everyone thinks that Sylvia is a goddess. The Proctor informs her that she has proven herself.

After that, Ray comes up next as the Mage calls out his name, and Sylvia wishes him good luck. While our boy thinks that 20 seconds should be enough or he should just give up immediately, he gets prepared to be tested as the Proctor casts the illusion. Suddenly, a red dragon appears in front of him, who breathes fire. Baffled, our guy wonders what is going on, as the red dragon seems to be his past self.

At that moment, the Proctor hovers in the air with a sudden force, leaving everyone shocked, eyes wide open. The Mage frantically claims that the boy is cursed by the red dragon, and that's when the mutters begin in the crowd about the red-haired boy being bad news and that he's cursed.

Witnessing this sight, Winford rushes to the old man, who seems to be unconscious, while Ry stands near him and wonders if he's okay. But the Knight assures him, saying he's just tired and tells the boy to rest. Winford thinks that it is strange that the old man's mana is completely drained, as it doesn't make sense to him.

In the next scene, it seems that the elders are investigating the strange incident that took place with Winford, who tells them that it's just a mana disorder caused by using too much mana, and the Mage will be able to recover after some rest. This explanation doesn't seem to satisfy the elders; therefore, they question how the Mage from the renowned Roland Magic Academy could be drained of his mana after a test of degree.

While others speculate if it is because of the Mage spending too much mana on testing the students, Winford informs them that the Mage is resting for now and he will continue to investigate this matter. He further suggests having another Mage take the Proctor's place for the remaining tests, and the Elder agrees with him.

However, as the Knight leaves, one of the masked Elders calls an armored guard Knight and whispers something to him, and the guard assures him that he will have it done immediately. The Elder then looks at Ray Talon from afar, who seems to be walking towards his friends.

After that incident, Ry asks about the mana disorder, and Sylvia explains to him that it's when a mage doesn't have any mana left but forcefully casts a magic spell, so it ends up backfiring on the mage's body. While our boy gets the point, Gary seems to find his friend unlucky, thinking and letting out that geniuses always have it hard as they both joke around.

The silver-haired girl seems to be a bit skeptical about the situation and reckons that it's strange that a mage from Roland Magic Academy would make such a basic mistake and continues to wonder about the curse that he mentioned. Just then, they hear a rumbling sound, and the ground starts to shake, assuming that it's an earthquake.

Suddenly, trees begin to appear everywhere, which leads everyone to think that it's magic, while the entire testing area is now filled with trees. Gary seems to be clueless about what's going on when Sylvia reveals that someone is casting a spell. That's when a Proctor shows himself and announces that their third stage of the test is starting now.

As everyone is taken aback by the situation, the Proctor instructs the students to follow him and replicate his movements the best they can. Just then, the third stage begins. Gary seems to be in disbelief about the test starting now. At that moment, the Proctor starts to move already with impressive speed, and the students follow him, while poor Dan, who's still in denial, cries out about his classmates being this fast.

Gary challenges his friend that he will not lose to him today, and Sylvia follows behind him, leaving him behind, as no one is going to wait for him. On the other hand, the instructor ruminates that he's probably going too hard on those kids and maybe he should wait. But as he looks behind, he's shocked to see the kids catching up to him.

The Proctor seems to be impressed while Gary informs his classmate Monk that they're about to catch up to him since he's been ahead from the start. The Proctor seems to have underestimated the kids and realizes that there's no need to take it easy, challenging the kids to catch up if they can. Meanwhile, the kids follow the Proctor.

Ray admits that he's not good at this because he used to move with all his four limbs. He then witnesses the arrows coming in their direction and alerts everyone. It turns out to be another Proctor who shoots arrows at them. The girl Proctor lets out that the third stage Proctor didn't have to hold back that much since there are too many kids, but he assures her that kids are pretty good and she'll see.

The girl Proctor then orders the kids to keep following him or else they lose him, reminding everyone to grab a bow, as they all wonder about the bow. They come to realize that they're being tested for the fourth stage as well. While Gary wonders if they're testing them on the accuracy with their bow, Sylvia agrees with him, and they all move ahead.

The Proctor of the fourth stage announces that the targets have been set up in the forest ahead, and they will pass after hitting three targets under her interference. That's when the fourth stage, Eyes of Precision, commences, and our guy thinks he's fine with getting a red belt, but he doesn't want to come in last either. Therefore, he decides to show off a little as he activates his dragon eye.

As soon as he activates it, in a flash, an arrow with magic moves towards Gary's direction, and Ray immediately senses it, pushing his friend out of the way. Ry realizes that he can't dodge the attack in time, but luckily another arrow hits the one that was attacking them. Our boy senses danger and ponders that this arrow is too strong for a single test, as it was a close shot.

Just then, one of their classmates, Marsha, saves them and questions them if they're okay. While Gary thanks her and compliments her that she's good, Marsha mumbles that she is glad that she was close to them, or else she isn't quite sure if she could have done it. After that, Ray senses more arrows coming and warns everyone to be careful. All of them dodge the attack.

Meanwhile, our boy grasps the situation and senses that something isn't right because the arrows that came at them were enveloped in Chi and are completely different from the arrows the Proctor has shot at them. He realizes that someone wants to kill them or maybe wants to kill him only. Suddenly, another arrow is shot in the students' direction, but Ry watches it and aims his arrow to halt the attack.

On the other hand, the fourth stage Proctor also senses danger while our guy, who's just about to release the arrow, breaks his bow into pieces, leaving his classmates stunned, feeling that something isn't right. The Proctor tries to follow the impostor after she releases an all-out attack but is shocked at the speed and the fact that the impostor was able to dodge her attack without leaving behind a single trace.

She wonders who in the world wants to attack their students and tosses the arrow out of the tree. The Proctor then assures the students that her arrow accidentally went astray and instructs them to continue the test. Ry realizes that the Proctor clearly didn't shoot the arrow and that she's just trying to reassure them.

While all the students continue their test, our boy speculates if someone dangerous has managed to sneak in here. Upon finishing their tests, they find Monk along with the third stage Proctor waiting for them, while Gary and Ry inform Sylvia about the incident that took place, which shocks her that something like that happened, suggesting they should report this to the knights.

But Ry thinks it's better not to tell them, and Gary agrees with him because the Proctor just now didn't tell them the truth. While she could have been trying to reassure them, she might have been trying to hide something too. Gary further lets out that if someone is really trying to cause them harm, then that person must be someone who could enter the venue, which means the person that attacked them could itself be a Proctor or a Knight.

Hearing this, Sylvia seems quite worried about this matter and asks the boys about what they are planning to do now. Ry informs her that they will wait for things, although he gets curious about that bastard who was trying to kill them. It appears that the intruder tries to scamper away after throwing away his bow but is caught red-handed by a girl Proctor, who orders him to stop right there.

As the intruder stands still, the Proctor aims the arrow at him and asks him why he attacked the new students, threatening the guy with the arrow. She makes it clear not to make movements, as she can kill him at any moment. However, the intruder puts his hands on the sword, but the Proctor threatens him not to move, as she can shoot him down on the spot.

The guy glares at her, and at that moment, they start attacking each other. The next scene then takes us to the fifth and final stage, Will of Truth, to test the students' willpower and their Qi manipulation. Holding the sword, Delbert informs everyone that the sword is made from an ultra Beast Crystal from a firebird, and it releases flames when they hold it.

He further reveals that the kids may not have learned how to use Qi yet, but they can try controlling it with their willpower by concentrating their spirit. He then calls the students, and the first one appears to be Ian, the red-haired masculine boy. As Ian comes on the stage looking anxious, he holds the sword, and a big flame appears out of the sword, turning his face black.

As Lancy is startled by the sight, he calls on the next student. The scene then flips to Elder Gibby, who seems to be having a conversation with the intruder guy. The Elder seems disappointed, as the guy not only failed but also got caught by a Proctor. While the guy apologizes, Gibby confesses that he never expected to solve this issue immediately.

He then wears his mask, with which the user is able to change their appearance, and mumbles that he's glad that at least it has sent a signal to their followers that the Pure Blood Guild has never disappeared. On the other hand, Gary goes up on the stage and flawlessly controls the flames as he holds the sword.

Meanwhile, our boy goes on next. Sylvia asks Gary if Ray is actually strong. Listening to this, Gary thinks for a while and reveals that Ry is extremely strong, but the others don't seem to believe him since his first four test results were terrible. That's when the blond-haired guy lets out that he remembers the last time he fought with Ry, he won easily.

But 10 years ago, when he was attacked by an intermediate-ranked demonic wolf, Ry was the one who saved him and defeated it. While the other classmates seem to think of it as a joke since they were just five back then, they assume that it must have been a big wolf instead of an intermediate beast. Sylvia wonders if Ray is actually strong and why does he hide his abilities.

After that, the test is about to begin when our boy grabs the sword, and suddenly the dragon system appears, notifying him if he wants to absorb the ultra-grade Beast Crystal. It looks like no flame comes out of the sword, and the gossip initiates among the students as they mutter that accidents always happen with this guy. They are surprised to see that the sword is not even glowing anymore while our boy swings the sword left and right, wondering if it's broken.

Delbert is left in disbelief and snatches the sword right out of his hands, witnessing no flames coming out. The Knight seems to be frightened as he cries out that this weapon is created from Ultra Beast Crystal and is a treasure of the Allure Kingdom. He grabs the red-haired boy by his collar and blames him that he did something to the sword.

But Ry, who seems to be careless about the situation, justifies what possibly he could do to the sword since this is a weapon made from Ultra Beast Crystal. He also mentions how Delbert has been staring at him like crazy, so he wouldn't dare to do anything. As the Knight rages with anger, before he could say something, the armored Knight interrupts him as he indicates to him about an urgent report.

He whispers something in his ear, and Delbert is flabbergasted after hearing the news. He then immediately announces that all the tests have ended and the kids can return to their dorms now. The kids take a breath of relief, and it is mentioned to the kids to appear at dinner time as their belts will be given to them.

As the students get excited about what belt they will be given, Ry hopes on getting the red belt. However, something else seems to bother him as he manages to hear the conversation between the knights about the Proctor of the fourth stage being found to be killed. Furthermore, Winford, who's present on the crime scene, is informed by the armored Knights that when they found her, she was already dead.

But what shocks them even more is knowing that her body is still warm, which depicts that it hasn't been very long since she was killed, which leaves him to wonder who can do such a thing. The Knight then announces to inform the elders immediately.

The next scene takes us to the elders' meeting room, where the armored Knights inform them about the dead body. They reveal that the Proctor seemed to have been killed with a single attack, which means the perpetrator must have been fairly skilled. The guard lets out that they noted something strange, which is that none of the alarms set for intruders were triggered.

To which one of the elders responds that it seems like an internal case since there have always been rumors about certain groups. After all, the Elder wonders if it is the Pure Blood Guild or the Dark Guild, while the others think it's outrageous, as the captain of the green-belted knights was killed in an exam, so they should get to the bottom of this matter.

Waiting for the head Elder of what he thinks of their decision, the head warns them that not a word of this incident should spread outside these doors and orders the knight captains to continue investigating to find the culprit.

As it is dinner time, all the students are gathered to receive their belts, and everyone gets nervous. Meanwhile, Gary and Sylvia seem to be talking to a girl named Mara Woodwork, and the silver-haired girl gets happy to finally get a female roommate. Concerned about her surname, the blond-haired boy asks Marsha if she happens to know Anne Woodwork, and it turns out that she's her daughter.

On the other hand, Ry is immersed in his thoughts about the Proctor who was killed and assumes that it's definitely not done by someone common but one of the higher-ups, thinking that it could be the commanders or the elders. Our guy snaps out of his thoughts when Gary interrupts him and asks him if he met his mother and what she told him about his father's condition.

But our boy, who seems to be falling apart inside, assures him that his father is fine and walks out of the room, while Gary assumes that something doesn't feel right. While Ry walks out, he leaves a paper behind, and it grabs Gary's attention, thinking what this is. As soon as he picks it up, Dan sneaks up on him and snatches the paper, thinking that it is a love letter from a fangirl, as he was looking at it so intently.

Poor Gary freaks out and asks him to give the paper back as he tries to snatch it from him. But Dan, with a freaky smile on his face, tells Gary not to be shy and asks him to let him see the passionate confession of love as they joke around with a paper. In the meantime, the other roommates enter the room and glare at them with confusion.

Eventually, Gary lets out that it's a letter addressed to Ry, and that's when they all get to know about his father being infected by the plague of Shadows. Upon knowing the truth, Dan lets out that poor guy had a rough childhood, so they should treat him better. Hearing about Ray's sob story, Monk feels bad for him.

The next scene then takes us to the cafeteria, which seems to be filled with people, and we see our boy Ry walking all alone. But then he is joined by Martha and Sylvia, who makes it look like a coincidence and asks Ray to eat together. Then he heads to the dorm room and notices his tidy bed, all sleek and spotless.

As our boy wonders who cleaned his stuff, Dan and Ian nervously inform him that Sylvia made his bed, as she is such a nice girl. While Dan and Ian make it obvious with their terrible acting, Ry immediately gets a hunch and thinks about what is going on with these guys.

The next day, our boy spots some fresh flowers in the pot, and Gary tells him that he picked some fresh lies, as he thought that it would help his friend brighten things up around him. Taking it the wrong way, Ry makes a cringey face and lets out if he has fallen in love with him. But Gary freaks out and tells him that it's nothing like that.

Our guy then utters that he's been wanting to ask them what his roommates are up to these days, and Gary decides to tell him the truth, spilling that he accidentally saw his letter. He justifies that he didn't mean to invade his privacy and he should not have looked, but things turned out this way, and all the roommates ended up reading the letter.

Panicked, Gary tells him that it's his fault that everyone found out about his father's condition, but Ry puts on a smile and says they are the best. Meanwhile, he feels happy that Ry is not angry. They are interrupted by a sudden noise that approaches them, telling them to get out of the way.

It turns out to be Monk, who is severely injured as he is bleeding and is carried by Dan and Ian. Witnessing Monk in such a bad state, Gary immediately asks what happened, and Dan exposes that Sebastian beat the crap out of him, adding that he was the one who provoked Monk into getting into a rank battle with him.

Assuming that a rank battle ends immediately once one party surrenders, our boy inquires how he got hurt so badly. That's when Dan reveals Monk already passed out during the battle and didn't even have a chance to surrender himself. However, Sebastian didn't stop and kept on beating him, concluding that he did it on purpose.

At that moment, Monk calls out Ry and apologizes to him, as he can't help him make his bed for the next few days. While Sylvia thinks that his limbs are fractured and they need to call the doctor right away, Ian goes to find one. On the other hand, as Gary asks Ry where he's heading, our boy, who seems to be losing his nerve after knowing what Sebastian did to his friend, says that he's going to get back at him for what he did to Monk.

As he leaves, Gary grabs his hand and says to get a hold of himself, advising him not to act rashly. But our guy, determined to get revenge, asks Gary if he's coming with him. While Gary seems a bit reluctant, he lets out that he wants to get back at them for what they did to Monk.

But Ry makes it clear that it's a retaliation. That's when Sylvia appears and reveals that Sebastian is from House Delbert, while Gary adds that he's the youngest son of Sir Delbert, so it's better if they don't get on his bad side. Not caring about this at all, our guy asserts that Sebastian started it, so he should pay for what he did and go on his way.

Furious, Gary yells at him for not acknowledging the situation and informs him that it's not the first time that young Delbert has done something like this, adding that nobody wants to cross paths with him in the academy and warns Ry that he might get expelled.

But our reckless red-haired fella assures him that he's going to be okay, as he's not a dumbass, revealing that if he challenges him in an official rank, then he can get back at him rightfully without breaking any rules. Later, while House Delbert seems to be training on the ground, Ry approaches them and interrupts their training.

The two of the Knight students confirm that Ry isn't one of them and instructs him to wait as they're practicing. Without wasting a second, our guy asks for Sebastian, and those Knights confirm if he's really looking for Sebas, as they don't recall him talking about a red-haired friend before.

While Ry asks them to get out of the way, the silver-haired guy, who appears to be Sebastian's spoony, yells and asks them what's happening. As Eric, the silver-haired guy, moves toward them, his teammates inform him that this red-haired guy wants to barge in here and seems to be looking for Sebastian.

Walking forward, Eric utters that Sebas does not know any red-haired freaks and gets mad at Ray for barging in the middle of the training, adding rude remarks as he asks if his parents never taught him manners. Confronting each other, our guy makes it clear that if he's not the guy he's looking for, he has no business to do with the silver-haired bastard.

While Eric grits his teeth in anger, Sebastian emerges and asks the red-haired guy if he's looking for him. Young Delbert takes a guess and says that Ry came here for his friend, assuming that he's the black belt as well. Feeling no need to explain his reasons, our guy straightforwardly tells him there's no need for small talk and challenges him to fight without a thought.

He requests the battle against Sebastian with his watch, while the opponent lets out that it is quite direct. However, Sebastian refuses the battle and tells him to forget it, as he witnesses Ray being ranked at 280. As our boy thinks if he's scared, young Delbert says that he manifests that it won't be much of a fight after seeing his low rank.

Laughing hysterically, Sebastian mumbles that he thought the other black belt was the strongest, but Ry seems too weak. He then apologizes to Ry and assures him that he didn't hurt Monk on purpose, adding that it's a natural gap between them and the peasants, referring to the black belts.

Saying that he does not want it to happen again, he shuts off Ry, while our boy leans toward the obnoxious bastard. Eric blocks his way and asserts that Sebas might not stoop to his level to fight him. The silver-haired spoony reveals that he's currently ninth ranked, so if Ray can fight him, it might pique others' interest in fighting with him as well, asking if it works for his boss.

Sebastian happily allows Eric to fight with Ray. Meanwhile, our guy asks the boss if he will accept his request once he manages to beat Eric. As the silver-haired guy is pissed at our boy, Sebastian affirms to him that they will talk once the fight is over. The Delbert's house students are thrilled to see a real fight again and feel lucky for being in a strong team, as people come for challenges every day.

Hoping that it goes on long enough, standing face to face, Ray confidently tells Eric to attack him. While Eric holds on to his wooden sword and seems to be filled with pride, he assumes that the red-haired guy is getting cocky and advises him not to go crying for someone to take revenge for him later.

As the others notice that the red-haired guy hasn't unsheathed his sword yet, Eric reckons that this is an excellent chance to show him what he has got and thinks of using the stuff Sebas has taught him. On the other hand, the boss, Sebastian, proudly looks at his spoony and says that he's bullying little kids again.

The fight finally begins, while our guy is unarmed and stays in one position. Eric makes the first move and leaps toward him. As he swishes his sword, he forcefully stabs the sword to hurt Ray. However, to his surprise, Ray dodges the attack like a walk in the park, leaving his jaw dropped.

Eric wonders how he managed to dodge such a quick and powerful attack, saying it's not over yet. He prepares again to make another strike as the fight continues. Ray breathtakingly dodges his attacks like he's a friend with the wind. As he effortlessly leaps in the air, stressed out, Eric begins to panic as he ruminates that he's attacking as fast as he can, but Ry still keeps dodging everything.

As he seems to give up in a flash, Ray whacks a power punch at Eric, and the poor guy crashes to the ground, beating the crap out of him. Eric quivers with pain as he gets punched right in the guts. After the silver-haired guy is passed out, the students carry him to the infirmary.

Ry asks young Delbert if he's qualified enough to fight with him, uttering what good will come to him if he agrees to fight with him. That's when our guy shows him something that convinces Sebastian to fight with him. It turns out that Ray tosses out two intermediate Beast crystals and reveals that he will offer him two of them if he wins.

Freaking out after watching the crystals, Sebastian asks him where he got those and clarifies that he doesn't want to get in trouble for getting dirty items. While our boy reveals that his parents left these crystals for him as they are adventurers, Ry entices the offer by saying that he still has the chance to get them, as he hasn't used them for equipment.

It seems like young Delbert is quite intrigued by the crystal as he accepts Ray's challenge but demands one condition, revealing his condition to make this rank battle held in public. Sebastian utters that he doesn't want people to think that he pried those Beast crystals from him unwillingly, and our boy immediately agrees, admitting that he wanted it that way to begin with.

The next scene takes us to the training ground, where students are rooting for their boss, Sabas, to beat up the red-haired freak. Meanwhile, Kyle, who seems to be walking with Ry, asks if he's really going to fight Sebastian, as he is ranked second and thinks it's not a good idea. If it's true, concerned Kyle lets out that even if he wants to earn a quick buck by betting on himself, losing his opponent won't hold back.

But Ray assures him that he doesn't need to worry and tells Kyle to do the betting, assuming that he can't stop him anyway. Kyle asks him to promise a nosebleed out of that bastard, and our boy agrees with a fist bump while Kyle begins the betting for black-belted Ray versus white-belted Sebastian.

Dan asks others how long Ray can last, and Ian hopes that he doesn't get hurt. But Sylvia makes a different assumption, as she thinks that it's not going to be a simple battle. Hearing this, Dan teases her as he says that love really makes people blind, while Sylvia justifies that she doesn't like that guy, proving her point as she gets mad at Dan, saying that he is blind because he does not believe how strong Gary is.

Contemplating that he is not worried about whether Ry will win this battle, instead, he's more worried about Sir Delbert, who might get mad at him for this. Stepping onto the battle stage, Sebastian, being the over-the-top guy he is, reminds Ry and mocks him by saying that the children of knights become Knights, but the children of farmers become farmers, and no one can surpass the boundaries of class.

Holding his sword, young Delbert makes it clear that Ry might have gotten a little confident after beating Eric, but he will quickly see the difference between them after fighting him. As one of the Knight students commands them to be in positions, our guy advises him to leave the nagging for his lackeys while the fight is about to begin.

Ray covers his face with a black cloth that only shows his eyes as the battle starts. Sebastian makes the first move and smashes the sword towards him. Our boy impressively dodges the attack, and his opponent tells him he's pretty lucky because not many people dodge his first attack, asserting that his luck is pretty bad.

Ry manages to scratch his face in a short time, while Sebastian wipes his face and thinks it is too shallow, letting out that if this is his true strength, he can never win against him. In the middle of the battle, our guy asks Sebastian why he talks so much and assumes that he has been winning all this time because he keeps running his mouth.

Flustered, young Delbert leaps towards him at light speed and utters that his luck ends here. That's when our boy smoothly bolts the attack and pulls off a camouflage move, cutting through Sebastian's face and shoulder as it bleeds. As everyone is left astonished, Dan wonders how Ry attacked him and seems in disbelief as Sebastian got hurt first.

While Ian is also shocked at this miracle, Gary presumes when Ray learned this technique and figures out that the way he dodged Sebastian's attack was just like how Sir K did it. After that, young Delbert, who seems to have taken enough of this, casts magic on his sword and warns Ry if he can dodge this attack.

The crowd cheers for Sebastian as Chi appears to be converging on his sword, and they excitedly root for him while he attacks Ray with the sword merged with Chi. Our boy again swerves the hit, but this time young Delbert seems to grasp his technique and utters that he knew Ry would do that.

Knowing that he will keep dodging the attacks, Sebastian's sword goes berserk as it keeps striking at Ray, leaving no room for avoiding the hits. Meanwhile, he continues pounding the sword, and the students cheer up for their hero, the white-belted Knight, as they think that he's so cool and encourage him to put the red-haired brat in his place.

Immersed in the battle, Dan speculates that Ry has been dodging the attack this whole time, so he is bound to get it, thinking that bastard Sebastian took things far. Sylvia assures them that Ry is all right and tells him to look closer. She reveals that the one whose advantage is actually Ray's opponent, as they witness young Delbert being slashed numerous times as he soaks in blood.

The poor guy furiously yells that even his father was never beaten up like that, threatening to kill him. Sebastian runs toward him to make another attack; however, he is again slashed by Ray's sword. Witnessing our boy's classic moves, Dan couldn't seem to believe his eyes and wonders if it's really Ry.

While Sylvia inspects that he had every chance to win in no time and wonders why he keeps attacking him deliberately, Gary concludes that Ray is doing it on purpose and wants to torture his opponent bit by bit, playing with him just like a predator would with its prey.

It is revealed to us that Sebastian's whole face is now covered with cuts and bruises. The poor guy cries out of pain and calls Ray a dirty peasant. But the red-haired boy, who finally takes revenge for Monk, makes one last blow on his nose while he trembles and threatens Ray to wait because his father won't let him off the hook, and he's going to be dead meat.

Our boy raises his sword once again and thinks that talking to someone like him is a waste of his time and energy. Sebastian, who is about to give up, tells Ry that he will forfeit. However, as he is about to say something, our boy smacks him again with the sword, hitting him just like Sebastian kept on hurting Monk.

Ray is blinded by the revenge of his classmate and is ready to do anything to get the blond-haired boy back for everything he did to Monk, so he won't let him forfeit this easily. Meanwhile, Sylvia and Gary analyze the situation as bad, and if this goes on, Sebastian might die.

That's when they hear someone calling out to stop. It happens to be Monk, who tries to stop Ry, who wonders what he's here for. In the meantime, the badly injured competitor gives up, and the match ends with Ry as the winner. At that moment, the students rush towards Sebastian, questioning to take him to the infirmary, while Gary runs to his friend.

The bruised white belt boy seems to be throwing tantrums and orders everyone to get out of his way, challenging the red-haired boy about who will have the last laugh. The next scene then takes us to the central building, the top floor of the Aan Knight Academy, where we see Delbert causing a fuss about what happened to his son earlier.

Kay tries to calm him down and affirms to him that from a knight's perspective, Ray Talon didn't break any of the rules. The black belt instructor reminds Delbert not to ignore the rules, but he isn't ready to hear anything as he smacks his hand on the table, raging with anger.

The Knight lets out that if he ignored the rules, he would have killed the red-haired brat on the spot and tells Kay that he should take a good look at his son because he is disfigured. Delbert further blames Ry for doing this on purpose since he was born to be a monster.

As soon as he utters these words, one of the elders interrupts him and thinks that his words aren't wrong either, as if the prophecy is true, then the red-haired boy will destroy the kingdom. While Elder Vau reveals that the prophecy also foretold that the red-haired boy might become the chosen savior of this world, V is interrupted by someone who mutters that the child has already shown the signs of becoming a calamity.

As it happens, another Elder suggests that it will be easier to expel the red-haired boy, and maybe this would spark the beginning towards the end. But the head Elder objects and thinks that this debate is meaningless. He suggests that if everyone has different opinions, then they should vote on it and asks to raise their hand if they agree on Ray Talon's expulsion.

It turns out that Delbert, Elder Gibby, and Master Knight Rose agree on Ray's expulsion from the academy. On the other hand, Elder Vaugh, Head Elder, Elder Humphrey, Winford, Bernardo, and Instructor Kay disagree with his expulsion. In conclusion, three of them fall in favor of Rey's expulsion, while six of them disagree. Therefore, the Elder dismisses the expulsion of the red-haired boy.

In the next scene, Ry seems to be laying down on his dorm roof with his eyes closed when he hears footsteps approaching, as he wonders who it might be. It occurs to be Sylvia, who didn't see him in the dorm, so she decided to look on the roof. While our guy lets her know that he wants to be alone for a while, she asks him if he's thinking about Monk.

Upon hearing this, he is rather surprised, as if Sylvia reads his mind. After that, she confesses to Ry that he might be different from regular people and he's not good at talking nor understanding people's emotions. But our boy interrupts her by saying that he doesn't care.

Flustered, Sylvia tries to justify herself by telling him that's not what she meant. Sylvia clarifies that she knows he's not a bad person, and every time she sees him confused or mad, she keeps wishing that she could help somehow. She hopes that he trusts them a little more because friends, after all.

Wondering if they're friends, Ry pushes her against the wall, leaving her shocked. Activating his dragon eye, he raises his head and asks her if she's afraid of him. Being honest, she reveals to him that sometimes she does get scared, but she doesn't think he's a bad person.

At that moment, Sylvia smiles and compliments his dragon eye, saying it really suits him, advising him not to treat himself like a monster. As soon as he hears this, Ray's eyes turn back to normal. He turns around and ponders that every time he feels like he has seen how humanity truly is, things change immediately, and it seems like he still has a long way to go until he really understands humans.

On the other side, Delbert furiously walks out of the building and decides to kill the red-haired monster someday, since he doesn't care about prophecies. Just then, he's approached by Elder Gibby, who grabs the knight's attention by telling him that he knows that Delbert thinks the knights should only come from noble blood, which is an interesting point of view, adding that this caught his attention.

Meanwhile, Sylvia walks down the stairs and is approached by a blond-haired boy who is also a white belt. The guy then asks her about Ry's whereabouts, and she informs him that Ry is upstairs. He thanks the beautiful lady and heads upstairs, while Sylvia wonders if she ever came across someone like him in their year.

While Ry is still...

On the roof, he hears someone coming in again and thinks that it is Sylvia asking why she came back. But to his surprise, it turns out to be someone else—the blond-haired guy from earlier—who informs Ry that he must have mistaken him for someone else. That's when that guy introduces himself as Harry Delbert, a second-year student.

Our boy makes an annoying face as he realizes that he belongs to the Delbert family. Harry tells him that he defeated his little brother, which leads Ry to assume that he's here to take revenge. But the guy refuses and mutters that he has misunderstood his intentions, as he is not here because of something so trivial. Instead, he wants to thank Ry.

Upon hearing this, our guy is left surprised to see Harry thank him for beating the crap out of his brother. Harry further claims that he's aware of how arrogant his brother can be and that Sebastian never practiced sincerely before in the past. So, it was a matter of time that someone defeated him to make him learn a good lesson.

As the guy finishes his talk, Ry turns around and is about to leave, but Harry stops him by saying that they can't have a rank battle because they're not in the same year. He urges Ry to teach him a lesson. He hands him a wooden sword, and our guy accepts the fight, uttering that after all that talk, he wanted to take revenge after all. But Harry assures him that he just wanted to see how strong the person who defeated his brother is and challenges the red-haired guy to show him what he's got.

Meanwhile, Ry prepares himself and reckons that Harry gives a different feeling than everyone else. So, he decides to change his moves and strikes toward him. But Harry impeccably halts the attack, and Ry leans backward with the force. Watching him lean back, Delbert's son compliments him for making the right decision while our guy is left stunned as he senses a strange feeling and ruminates that his opponent's sword would have broken already after his attack.

Ry further contemplates that if his opponent keeps striking this way, his sword will break first. That's when Harry anticipates that he doesn't know how to use Chi yet. After witnessing that he can't win based on pure strength, our boy decides to use the black belt techniques that he learned. Meanwhile, they continue to strike each other. Harry effortlessly keeps dodging the attacks and asks Ry if this is all he's got.

As Ry gets a little worked up and starts sweating, Harry strikes one last powerful blow at him with his wooden sword, making him trip. That's when our guy begins to bleed, and at that moment, Harry ends the fight. As he is about to leave, Ry, who seems to be in a bad condition, somehow gets up and asks Harry if he's the first-ranked second-year Knight Apprentice, to which he responds that he ranks 50th.

The red-haired guy is left in disbelief to see someone this skilled ranked 50th. Harry Delbert waves him goodbye and claims that they should fight again after he learns Chi properly, which leaves Ry to wonder if he can become that strong after learning how to use Chi.

The next scene takes us to the Elder's office, where we see Knight Winford concerned about the situation at the border, as more Knights have gone missing lately. He continues to inform the head that their enemies are not only from outside but also from within, and there are rumors circulating about the dark Guild that has already infiltrated the academy.

As the head Elder clarifies that they are not rumors anymore, Winford suggests that they should alert the students at least. While the head agrees with him, he declares that there's something important and asks Winford to bring those five red-haired kids, as they should inform them of their calling.

After that, we witness Ry sitting on the roof as he tries to converge his Aura. It is revealed to us that he has tried to converge his Aura into his body, but it never ended up working for him. As it seems to be raining heavily, our guy thinks that he should stop for the day. However, at that moment, he witnesses some suspicious people furtively moving around the academy. He comes to realize that those people are planning an ambush as they see their target in sight.

Meanwhile, the people stealthily move closer to their target, who appears to be one of the elders. Ry activates his dragon eye and notices that they are a plague of Shadows. Bothered, he takes off his black belt and reckons if they have anything to do with his father. On the other hand, the masked people block the elder's way as they make it clear that his road ends here.

While the Elder mumbles that the rumors about the dark Guild entering the academy were true, one of the guild members lets out that he realized it too late, declaring that soon the dark Guild will take over the entire Academy and no one will be able to stop them. As the old man seems to be fighting against four of them, in a flash, someone joins them. It occurs to be Ry as he announces that they will be fighting two against four.

Hiding his face, Ry enters the dangerous situation as he holds his sword, and the Elder recognizes that he's one of the students and apologizes for getting him involved in this. On the other hand, the guild member gets shocked to see where the kid came from, but the other one lets out that it doesn't matter as they both are going to die.

While the old man prepares to fight and uses his magic, he asks Ry to help him keep the two people occupied. As Ry engages with the two members, he speculates that the old man's Chi is unique and notices that the shadow beasts have consciousness intact. He dodges the attack and plans to strike his sword from behind, but the other member comes in between.

As one of the guild members casts magic, Ry leans back and realizes at once that he doesn't know how to use Chi yet, concluding that he's an amateur. Thinking that they found him out, he puts the sword in his mouth, and the guild members get confused as they see him. They decide to kill him and leap towards Ry, but he keeps dodging the attacks, which leaves the shadow to wonder that this brat's movements are weird.

Losing track of Ry as they fail to catch up to him, they search for the red-haired boy and witness two of their members killed by the strong old man. The Elder tells the two other members to continue the fight as he wants to see what that child can do. As the guild members seem to be trapped, they think of using their secret power, but before that, they decide to deal with the red-haired kid.

Meanwhile, Ry witnesses everything from above and contemplates that the old man did not need his help from the start. Believing that he has a chance to fight, he leaps toward the Shadows from behind. While Ry gives them a hard time as they can't seem to catch him, they eventually trap him, and our boy doesn't seem to have a way out.

The Elder calls him out and commands Ry to grab the guy's hand and pull towards him. The old man then instructs Ry to turn around and use the momentum to throw him over the red-haired boy. Ry then follows his instructions and tosses the guy towards the old man's direction. The Elder then strikes a powerful punch with Chi, and the shadow guy glides away as an explosion occurs.

Watching the guy explode, Ry wonders how strong the Elder is. At that moment, the knights arrive at the scene while the one last guild member tries to run away. Our guy goes after him, but the Elder stops him and utters not to go after someone at the end of their rope. In the meantime, the knights arrive, and Ry obtains a new ability after all these years.

The knights make sure that the Elder is all right, and the old man assures them not to worry, notifying that there's one member that slipped away, so they can chase after him if they want. Meanwhile, the knights chase after that one guild member. The Elder appreciates Ry for his help and calls him a talented student. Curious, Ry asks the old man about why the guild members attacked him, but the Elder dodges his question.

At that moment, the old man taps his shoulder and asks him if he doesn't know how to use Chi yet, suggesting Ry join the martial arts club once he becomes a second year. After that, as the Elder leaves, using Chi and disappearing like the wind, our guy is left surprised and thinks that he's a strange old man.

The next scene takes us to the Head Elder's office, where Winford seems to be waiting for Ry. As Ry arrives, Winford informs him about the head Elder summoning him, which leaves our guy to wonder if he has been caught this quickly. It appears that Winford summons all the red-haired kids, including Ian, Kyle, Sloth, Badger, and Ry.

While the kids seem to be impatient and speculate that the Elder has a special mission for them, the head Elder gets straight to the point and reveals the reason for summoning them is because of the prophecy. The old man discloses that 10 years ago, there was a prophecy from Heaven that predicted that their land will be saved by a red-haired boy from the brink of destruction.

Upon hearing this, Kyle assumes that it could be one of them, but the Elder lets out that they have found 10 red-haired kids who fit this description, which leaves Ry surprised as ever, asking about the other five children. The Elder lets out that the other five children have an aptitude for magic, so they are studying at the Roland Academy.

As soon as Ry hears this, he gets reminded of Amy, who's also studying there, and thinks that she already knows about those people. While Kyle and the other redheads seem to be exhilarated about saving the world, the head Elder continues to tell the prophecy. He reveals that in the past, five dragon Knights saved their land from danger, defeated the shadows, and found the Aan Knight Academy, leaving the priceless heritage behind.

The head Elder gives them a big responsibility to protect the heritage and informs them about receiving even more training other than basic and special training. The five red-haired kids are anticipated to become the Avaran Academy's new generation of Dragon Knights. As they leave the office, Kyle and one of the twins feel happy about becoming saviors, while Ry asks Ian if his hair has always been red.

Meanwhile, Ian responds that his hair has always been like this and that he also went through a lot of trouble growing up. Our guy reckons that everyone's hair has always been red; however, Ry's hair turned from black to red. Our boy speculates whether he should be counted as a dragon knight, which leads him to think that the head Elder must be hiding something from them.

The next scene takes us to the Head Elder's office, where Winford seems to be questioning the head about not disclosing the whole prophecy to the children. The head affirms to him that kids have enough burdens on their shoulders, so they should let them know things when they're ready, and the Knight unwillingly agrees with him.

The scene then flips to Ry, who begins to search for the Dragon Knights. The boy narrates that some people still think of dragons as symbols of evil, while some didn't believe that these creatures ever existed. A minority still believed that the dragons were the protectors of this land, as the world wasn't plagued with shadows in the past.

As he reads more about the knights, one book stands out to him in particular, as it mentions the guidance of God. While books written about God are forbidden for humans, Ry couldn't find anything useful and goes to a priest to find answers. It is revealed to us that along with their special training with Cir K, they also train under Winford for extra training to become Dragon Knights.

As the training continues, our boy contemplates that if it weren't for this night training, he would have immediately gone to have a chat with God and ask him why he turned him into a human. Our boy then narrates that a year has passed with his training, and he also managed to find the time for hunting sessions, adding that tomorrow will be the first day of their second year of training.

Coming back to the present, as Ry seems to be sleeping, he hears a noise and witnesses Gary having a nightmare as he trembles. As Gary opens his eyes, he gets scared to see Ry standing in front of him and tells him to go sleep, as they have a ceremony in the morning, assuring that he's fine. Our boy gets curious and wonders what kind of nightmare he had that scared him so much.

The next day, while Gary appears to have a sleepless night, Ry gets concerned about him. They're greeted by Sylvia, who asks them if they have chosen a club they want to join. As our guy seems to have no idea about clubs, Sylvia annoyingly tells him to pay attention and reveals that all the second-year students have to pick a club to join and train there.

Meanwhile, Sylvia decides to join the medic club, and Gary has already selected the swordsmanship club. Our boy kind of feels left out, but then he gets reminded of someone who told him to join a club. He recalls that the old man suggested him to join the martial arts club. With no clubs to join anyway, Ry decides to give it a try and plans on using that time to hunt beasts if he finds that club boring.

It is revealed to us that after Ry obtained the new ability, he found out that he had no Mana, which is why he failed the assessment all those years ago. Our boy then hopes for things to change once he starts absorbing intermediate Beast crystals, but he hasn't been able to act freely after winning against Sebastian, as many people are eyeing him.

While he wonders that he's currently ranked 10 and needs to give up on some fights, Ry finds the way to the martial arts club and is quite surprised when he reaches a place that seems very distant and remote. Witnessing there's no one at the entrance, he decides to go in and thinks if there's a martial arts club in this shabby place.

Ry calls out to find someone and finds someone sitting inside. He approaches the man and notices that there's no reaction, and he can't even feel his presence, assuming that he's dead. As soon as Ry taps on the old man's shoulder, the old man grabs his hand and forcefully slams him on the ground while gushing with anger and uttering how dare he enter this place.

Ry clarifies that he came here to join the martial arts club as he called him here. Upon hearing this, the old man calms down and realizes that he's the red-haired student that helped him that day. It turns out to be the Elder, and he begins to pat Ry. Our poor boy asks the old man why he attacked a stranger without knowing why he came here, as he almost died today.

The old man apologizes to him and lets out that many strange people have been coming here lately, so he's a bit concerned. The old man gets happy as Ry listened to his advice and joined the club, revealing that he will be his student. As our boy hears this, he is left in disbelief and reckons that the old man tricked him into joining the club. Feeling trapped, Ry wonders how he is going to slip away if it's one-on-one.

The old man instructs Ry to start from the basics, as when they first met, he didn't know how to use Chi. While he continues to elucidate about the Chi attacks, our boy concludes that this club is clearly on the losing side, as nobody joins it. But the old man assures him that those people don't understand martial arts, and once he teaches Ry everything, he will know that his hands are his best weapons.

At that moment, Ry asks him about the people who attacked him earlier, to which the Elder responds that they were from the dark Guild, saying that he will learn about them in the second year. The old man reveals that the dark Guild is an organization that wants to bring down the Allure Kingdom. He further narrates that their leader was a higher-up of the Aan Knight Academy in the past, and they created this organization after they were expelled from the academy.

Recalling that their Aura was similar to the plague of Shadows, Ry asks him if those people are dangerous. The old man decides to tell him the truth since he owes him a favor and confesses that those Guild members wanted him to die because he's one of the six Elders of the academy. Elder V then takes off his shirt and exposes his muscles, uttering that he might be old, but he's confident in his muscles.

Supposing that he knows about Ry's prophecy, our boy decides to show his full strength when V commands him to show what he's got. That's when our boy punches the old man with full strength. As his hands hit his masculine body, Ry reckons that it's hard, just like hitting a metal board. While our boy's hand gets nearly crushed, V asks him if he used Chi in that attack.

Blowing his hand, Ry refuses, and the old man excitedly tells him that he's stronger than a bull and that once he gets the hang of Chi, he will soar in the heavens. Listening to this flattery, our boy wonders if the old man is even reliable. V proudly pats his shoulder, uttering that they should begin, saying that he did not agree to join yet. Ry freaks out and thinks that there's no going back.

The next scene takes us to the training, where V seems to be teaching Ry about Chi. Elder V lets out that Chi can be produced just by breathing and transfers some Chi into his body. The old man transfers the energy and instructs Ry to feel it through his body. While our boy thinks that it's so warm, he is surprised to see Chi flow like this. Suddenly, V falls unconscious.

While our boy freaks out as he witnesses that his Mana has been activated, he tries to wake up V, thinking that he's dead. But listening to his heartbeat, Ry takes a sigh of relief and assumes that V has passed out. He speculates the situation and realizes that his Mana skill was activated because the system absorbed Mana from the old man's body when he was transferring Chi to him.

Witnessing that his Mana is almost complete, Ry smacks the old man as he hasn't woken up yet and concludes that he's not strong at all. In the meantime, the dragon's patience lasts only 10 minutes when he gives up on the old man, thinking that he won't die anyway. He plans to use this time for training.

Our boy activates the dragon eye and notices the Chi flowing within his body. He tries to converge Chi into his solar plexus and successfully pulls it off as he makes it circulate within his body. Chi dissipates from his body as he tries to manipulate it. Trying to converge Chi in his body, our boy fails repeatedly as the energy keeps disappearing.

Thinking that the Chi flow is unstable, he decides to use more energy. As Ry uses more Chi, it begins to hurt his body, starting to get out of control. The old man finally wakes up and witnesses Ry emerging with a great amount of energy as he seems to lose control. Shocked, Elder V then commands him not to move and pulls the energy out of him.

As he pushes out the energy, it destroys the place, and that's when the Elder unveils that Ry almost killed himself after witnessing the amount of destructive power he sucked out of his body. Before our boy could grasp the situation, he collapses on the ground. It appears that Ry ends up in a hospital as he opens his eyes after hearing noises.

It emerges to be Sylvia and Kyle, who speculate that it might be Mana deficiency that made him pass out. The silver-haired girl informs him that an old man rushed him here and only calmed down after the dean told him that Ry would be fine and he was recovering rapidly. Meanwhile, Kyle gets suspicious and thinks about who that old man is, as he even got the hospital's Dean to check on Ry himself.

Our boy gets flustered by Kyle's high-pitched voice and ponders if the Elder has to be so ostentatious to make things clear. Our guy lets out that the old man is the instructor of the martial arts club. In the meantime, Ry asks Kyle what he's doing at the hospital, to which he responds that he joined the medic club too, as he has always been interested in medicine.

At that moment, Gary peeks through the curtain like a ghost, uttering that he's glad that Ry woke up, as he was going to die from all the noise. Looking at Gary next to his bed, our boy thinks that they've moved their dorm here. Gary, who seems to be in bad shape, mutters that he hasn't been sleeping well lately, so he ran out of stamina during training and came to the hospital to get some rest.

While Gary argues with Kyle for nagging him to get some rest, Ry wonders what kind of nightmare he's been having. After getting discharged, our boy goes back to the martial arts club, and Elder V yells at him for coming back here, calling him a fool. As our boy freaks out, the old man grumbles and clarifies that if he hadn't been there, Ry could have died.

In the worst situation, he wouldn't have been able to use Chi anymore. After that, V unwillingly praises him and reveals that he was able to accumulate that much Chi on his first day, which is quite impressive. While our boy thinks that he's talented, the Elder tells him not to get cocky and teaches him to control his Chi, which can only be the size of his fist.

Learning how to control Chi, our boy narrates that after he practiced the basics, as the old man said, he was able to use Chi to strengthen any part of his body. After five days, it is revealed to us that for the next few days, Ry trained to manipulate the Chi to where it was needed at the fastest speed possible, which was difficult, but he got to learn a lot of things.

The next scene takes us to the southern gates of Aen city, where Lancy informs them that it will be their first time hunting after becoming second years, commanding them to listen carefully. Lancy reveals that there are three safe hunting grounds where they can contain Beast crystals and suggests they don't stray off the path if they want to make it out alive.

He further informs that each of the three teams will head towards one of those hunting grounds so that they can become familiar with different magical beasts. As they walk towards the hunting ground, Martha's team seems to be heading to the insect forest, while Kyle doesn't seem to like bugs.

Ry speculates that something is off with Gary, as he doesn't look okay. At that moment, as the bug emerges, Sylvia tells everyone to be careful, and Dan assures them that they are regular bugs, so they don't need to freak out. However, a strike of terror runs through Dan and Kyle as they notice that the bug is the size of someone's head, scaring their pants off.

As Martha begins to slash the bugs with her arrows, Sylvia warns them to be prepared, as bugs might be weak, but they appear in swarms. Just then, the swarm of bees attacks them, and all of them come into action. Meanwhile, Kyle fights off the disgusting bugs, and Dan finds the bugs agile. Sylvia alerts them to watch out.

That's when our guy activates Chi and strikes his classic moves as he kills the bugs without any weapons. As Kyle seems proud of him for learning Chi, Ry decides to test the results of his training. But Dan tells him to stop showing off and use a weapon. Suddenly, Monk and Ry hear a noise, and it turns out that a bug attacked Gary's arm, and he starts bleeding.

While Ian kills the bug and asks Gary if he's okay, Sylvia inspects the wound and lets out that it is not deep. She asks Ian to help her remove the armor to perform first aid. As all of this happens, our boy gets concerned about Gary being off lately and even getting hurt by a beginner magical beast, planning to ask him when they get back.

After that, Sylvia performs Chi on Gary's arm, and Dan is impressed as the wound heals a lot, asking if she learned it from the medic club. Kyle agrees and elucidates that Chi can help cells recover faster, so it can be used for simple first aid. Upon hearing this, our boy ponders that he's not the only one who learned some new tricks and decides to work harder later.

Dan picks up the beginner Beast crystal and lets out that they will not be able to hit the tax limit for today. As Ry asks him about the tax, Dan reveals that according to instructions, they have to hand up a tenth of their earnings when they hand in Beast crystals at the hunting grounds, only if they manage to get more than 10. Meanwhile, Dan clarifies that's how the academy operates.

Our guy reckons that he needs to get past Lancy. It appears that Ry has gotten more than 10 crystals, and then he peeks at his Dragon system at the entrance of the hunting grounds. Lancy collects the Beast crystals as Ry hands in only five Beast crystals. Lancy lashes out at him and thinks that he's trying to trick him.

He then orders Ry to take off his equipment, and our guy confidently takes off everything. While Lancy does not find a trace of the Beast crystals, he freaks out and gets angry, muttering that it's impossible. He accuses the red-haired boy of hiding the crystals somewhere on the mountain, but Ry tests his last nerve and gets cocky, assuring the Knight that he won't find anything.

As they walk away, Monk asks Ry how he managed to do that, as he got more than five crystals. Our guy tells him that it's a secret. It is revealed to us that Ry finds out that after saving the Beast crystals in the system, the crystals in turn become useless rocks in real life. The boy then narrates that the dragon system directly gives him the Beast crystals after hunting magical beasts, but everyone else needs to find them from the bodies of magical beasts to not raise suspicions.

He asked the system not to extract Beast crystals for him, and besides, they can't be taken out once he puts them in. After that, Ry is left with five Beast crystals and ponders that he doesn't have to hand them up, finding a way to evade the taxes. Our guy speculates that he needs to be careful, as if Lancy finds out, he won't let it slide.

In the meantime, Ry decides to head back and calls out Gary, thinking that he left something behind. As soon as he taps Gary's shoulder, he starts muttering about opening the red door. At that moment, Gary quivers with fear and begins screaming as he covers his ears while Ry tries to calm him down. Monk gets concerned about them, as they both were coming right behind him.

He then informs Sylvia and Dan that he's going to find them, heading to the hunting grounds. Meanwhile, Monk finds Ry and Gary. He asks what the matter is and tells him that everyone is already far ahead. That's when our guy lets out that Gary is not doing so well and keeps talking about a red door, as the blond-haired boy seems to be scared stiff and utters that he has to the red door, as the voice keeps calling him.

Monk takes a guess and says that he might be talking about the Aver in prison. It is revealed to us that Ry communicates with the voice, which tells him that it's been waiting for him and reveals a hidden piece of history and secrets of this world. The voice seems to be coming from the red door, and suddenly it disappears as the doors close.

While Ry screams and asks to wait, he wakes up and gets shocked, as the dream feels far too realistic. As the blond-haired boy seems to be mumbling about the red door in his sleep, our boy ponders that it might be the same red door in Gary's dream.

We are then transported back to Ry's flashback at the hunting ground, where he asks Gary what nightmares he's been having. Panicked, Gary reveals that he only passed by Aver in prison one time and glanced at those red gates. Since then, he's been having nightmares every night, and every time he wakes up, he doesn't remember his dream.

While the poor boy is traumatized, Gary adds that he can only feel endless fear, and something behind those red doors keeps calling him. That's when he plans to go to that place, but Monk freaks out and discloses that the place is entirely off-limits and they can even get expelled. But it seems like Gary has no choice, as he decides to deal with it; otherwise, he will get tortured to death by the voices in his head.

At that moment, Ry agrees to go with him and asks Monk if he will join them. But Monk hesitates and warns them that they can even die in there. Our guy, who seems determined, lets out that the skills they learned will work in the cover of night, so they should give it a try. Watching Monk refuse to go, Gary feels bad for dragging him into this and asks Ry not to give him a hard time, as he is already thankful that someone is going with him.

However, our guy insists and utters that Monk is better at stealth than them, so he'd be of great help. With no other choice left, Monk agrees to go with them and tells Ry that he's repaying him for what he did for him at the duel. Later at night, our boy ponders if the red gates of Aver in prison are the source of Gary's nightmare, as even he dreamt of it. He wonders if the secrets of this world are really hidden in the academy's prison.

The next scene takes us to the Aan prison, where the knights seem to be guarding the doors as it's late at night. The three of them sneak inside that area and hide under the bushes while Monk confirms if they won't get caught. Gary assures him and reveals that he's been observing this place and found out that those black-armored knights exchange shifts with regular white-belted knights every Tuesday.

Asking why the guards exchange shifts at this time every week, Gary assumes that it might be a weekly gathering. In the meantime, Ry activates his dragon eye to inspect the prison and notices that something's off, as everything is pitch black with the prison being built underground. Our guy finds it suspicious.

After a while, the guards seem to be leaving for the meeting as they exchange shifts. Meanwhile, the black-armored guard leaves for the meeting. Ry decides to follow the plan, and suddenly someone grabs Gary's hand, asking what they're doing. It turns out to be Molly, a third-year black belt student. She lets out that she was training nearby and saw the two of them sneaking around.

As Molly guesses that they are about to sneak inside the prison, Gary panics and spills that they were planning. But then she comes just in time. Suddenly, the barrels scatter all over the place, diverting the guards' attention. While the guards get busy arranging everything, Ry gets alert and utters that Monk has already begun with the plan, so they need to hasten up.

As soon as Molly hears about Monk being involved in the plan, she freaks out and warns them that they are going against the rules, calling them crazy. She keeps nagging them, and Gary asks Ry how they should deal with her, thinking that they are going to kill her. Molly reminds them about being loving fellow students, and that's when Gary smacks her neck, knocking her out.

Meanwhile, Gary couldn't help himself, as she kept talking too much. Ry decides to take Molly with them because they might be doomed if she spills their plan. Just then, they rush toward the red door as Monk seems to be opening the gate while the guards are busy. They successfully sneak inside the prison, and the guards continue to argue about tying the barrels properly.

However, it occurs that someone seems to be observing them inside the prison, and it turns out to be the guy who killed the stage four Proctor, smirking. The guy seems to have lured them on purpose and mutters that Elder Gibby will be happy. On the other hand, the three of them manage to go inside and are surprised to see that there are no windows at all.

While Gary lights the area with his glowstone, Monk freaks out when he witnesses Molly, and Gary tells him that she found them, so they brought her here. Eventually, Molly wakes up, and Monk asks her if she's doing all right. But Molly seems to be in a bad mood as she lashes out at them for doing such a thing to a senior and threatens to report them.

While she is pissed off, Gary tries to explain his reasons, but Ry, without any reluctance, tells Molly to report them and urges her to shout as loud as she wants so they will be expelled altogether, pissing her off even more. Poor Monk stops him and tells Molly not to mind him. After that, Ry walks away, and Gary calmly suggests to Molly that they should take a look since they're already inside.

As the girl is super annoyed by Ry, she makes it clear that she won't take responsibility if they get in trouble. Molly snatches the glowstone out of Gary's hand and leads the way since she's the senior. Walking down, Monk realizes that there are inmates in the prison, and Gary, who also seems to have no idea, lets out that this place has always been forbidden, and he's never heard of criminals being transferred to this prison.

That's when the girl clears her throat and reveals that some people say the academy is using this prison to hide the things they really want to hide. She further adds that once those things appear, it would cause a great uproar. Upon hearing this, Ry assumes that she doesn't know what they're hiding either, and Molly responds that they are rumors, calling him a brat.

Meanwhile, she discloses that other than the three Knights and Elders, no one's been here before. At that moment, the wind gets strong, and a terrible smell starts diffusing across the area. As Ry hears something, Monk advises them to go back, and Molly, who also seems to be scared, agrees with him. But Gary refuses and is determined to find out what has been appearing in his dreams.

They all decide to go down together and finally reach the bottom. To their surprise, it appears to be another door while they witness a massive door. Molly wonders what it's made of, as it looks pretty old. But Gary, who's more interested in going beyond the gate, begins to open the gate with his Chi, struggling to open the colossal door, which doesn't move an inch.

Gary calls Monk for help. On the other hand, Ry activates his dragon eye but still can't see what's inside the door and assumes it's some kind of high-tier spell or special seal. Meanwhile, Molly thought that Gary could do it himself from all the fuss he made and tells him not to show off, thinking that the door is locked.

Monk lets out that there's something stronger behind this door, so they should head back. But Gary makes it clear that he won't back down and asks Ry to help him. As soon as our guy places his hand on the gate, the dragon system appears and asks him if he wants to open the door. Confused, Ry taps to agree, and in a flash, the door opens.

Astonished, Monk asks him how he did it, and Ry clarifies that he just touched the doors. It is revealed that the sounds of the gears went even deeper within, but the magic crystal only showed a small area ahead. As they kept walking, an unsettled fear took over the hearts of the youngsters present.

As they make their way inside, a scary sound reverberates as Gary steps on something. While Monk trembles with fear and asks what was that, Molly, who is also scared witless, freaks out and holds Ry. Flustered, Ry tells her to back off, and Gary sheds his glowstone to see what he stepped on. It turns out to be bones, and Gary speculates that it might be a beast or a dragon, wondering how a strong beast could die here.

Ry lets out that dragons don't die that easily, while Molly thinks that the knights took the beast out. As they continue to dig deeper, Ry notices they're reaching the end, and Molly lets out that they can finally leave this place. Reaching the end, Gary informs them that it's a large space underneath, while Molly says that these look like prison cells.

Monk notices that there are many of them, realizing that nothing is inside the cells. Monk gets worried and predicts that the monsters have already escaped. He suggests that now that they've seen everything down there, they should leave, and Molly agrees. She says that if the monsters were really kept down here, they must be strong, and if they've escaped, then they're in significant danger.

Upon hearing this, Ry makes Gary understand that they've already come all this way, so if they return now, they can escape before the knights change shifts again. However, Gary gets crazy and mutters that if they go ahead a little, they will find the truth. As the blond-haired guy keeps moving forward, Ry alerts him not to go further.

But Gary, who seems to lose his senses, continues to go inside the prison cell as he hears the voices calling him inside. Watching him walk towards the dead end, Ry tries to stop him, and at that moment, a powerful wind takes over the place while Gary falls into some kind of pit. Our boy comes to realize that this presence is dangerous. He stands guard as he holds the sword and witnesses a giant beast with big horns rumbling out of the prison.

Watching the beast coming towards them, Molly quivers with fear, as it turns out to be the Monarch rank magical beast, the Minotaur. That's when the Minotaur lets out a powerful roar, making everyone smash to the ground. At that moment, Molly twists her ankle and, not being able to run away, the beast grasps her into its claw. But Monk comes to her rescue and slashes the beast's arm with his sword, making Molly crash on the ground.

After slightly attacking the beast, Monk runs to Molly and asks if she can stand, as he makes her stand abruptly. The Minotaur prepares to strike again, but this time it seems to be a forceful magical attack, and Monk freaks out, telling Molly that if she doesn't get up, they are all going to die here. Just after that, the beast strikes the magical attack, and a strike of terror runs through Monk as he looks back.

The next scene takes us to Gary, who comes crashing down in a pit. He gets concerned about Monk and the others and wonders if it really was a monster that he just saw. On the other hand, Ry halts the beast's attack with his sword, and his tame wolf backs him up as it protects Monk and Molly. Watching the wolf protecting them, Monk gets baffled and asks why the magical beast is helping them.

While our guy struggles to stop the beast for too long and has no time to explain, he makes it clear to Monk that the wolf is on their side, so they don't need to worry. After that, Ry orders his wolf, Noir, to take Molly somewhere safe, while Monk is left stunned to see the wolf following orders. As the wolf takes Molly away, Ry instructs Monk to hide his presence and kill the Minotaur in a single blow once he holds it down.

But the black-haired boy informs him that it's very risky, as the beast is way too strong to be killed in a single attack. Carrying his plan, our guy assures him to trust him and begins to gather Chi. Meanwhile, Monk hides, and Ry attracts the beast towards him. Somehow, the beast wields his sword away, and with no weapons, our boy grabs the beast by its horn and tries to hold it down.

Realizing that it's too strong, the beast drags and bumps him against the wall, but Ry doesn't let go of its horn and holds it with full strength. That's when our boy commands Monk to attack the Minotaur, and he immediately strikes the beast from behind, holding two swords. While Monk stabs the swords with strength, he is shocked when he witnesses that they are penetrating, as the beast's skin is as tough as a metal board.

In a while, Gary arrives at the scene and yells at Monk to dodge, striking the sword towards the magical beast. To his surprise, the sword shatters, and Gary flings away as the beast strikes a magical attack. While Ry, with the help of Chi, tries his best to hold it down, not letting it escape, Ry activates his new Mana skill and finally lets go of the beast's horn.

Absorbing the Mana, he gathers all Chi and attacks with full force, attacking with his hands. He manages to slash the Minotaur back, feeling happy that the old man's training worked after all. Gary alerts him to watch out, but by that time, the beast knocks Ry out, making him smash into the ground, coughing.

Our guy reckons that he absorbed too much Mana, so his body can't gather it immediately, and he realizes that his body is still too weak as the beast approaches him. Ry tries to think of a way to deal with it, but then he spots someone. It turns out to be their instructor, Sir K, and just like always, he puffs on the cigarette, uttering that they pissed off something real big.

While he instructs the brats to get out of the way, Monk gets happy to see him and thinks that they're saved. Cir K clarifies that they don't need to butter him up, as he will deal with it later and goes on to attack the beast, aiming for the horn. He impressively breaks one of the Minotaur's horns in one attempt.

As Cir K goes for another attack, the beast grabs his leg, but he counterattacks and cuts through the fingers of the beast. As the Minotaur roars out of anger and runs towards him, the beast halts and looks around, as Cir seems to disappear just like shadows. He appears to be on the Minotaur's back, and just like that, he cuts through its head, killing it on the spot.

While Monk carries Gary, he thinks about how strong Cir is as he deals with a strong beast effortlessly. Ry instructs his wolf, Noir, to go back as Noir nods. Our guy earns a new ability and wonders if it's because of absorbing the lightning attack. After that, the instructor carries Molly, who seems to be unconscious, and lets out that the Monarch beast didn't have much Mana left, or else he would have had a hard time getting off in one piece.

He then instructs his students to follow him before anything more dangerous comes along. As they walk, Sir K asks for an explanation from the three of them, while Molly plays dead to save herself from the trouble. Worried, Monk asks him if they are going to get expelled, but Kay responds that they should be thankful they still have a chance to be expelled, inspecting that they sneaked in here like that.

Believing that it's a miracle they are alive, Monk and Gary apologize to him. But then Cir K turns out and winks at his students, muttering that it would be a shame if they get expelled—students who could fight the Monarch beast and live to tell the tale. He lets it slide only if they promise to keep this a secret, that he didn't see any of them.

A spark of joy hits the three of them when they hear these reassuring words from Cir K. Arriving at the door, Cir K gets curious and asks them how they managed to open the door. Lying, Ry informs him that the doors were open when they came here, and Gary agrees with him as the instructor finds it strange that the door was open.

Suddenly, Ry hears a voice that says it will wait for him here and tells him to come back when he's stronger. Panicked, our guy gets reminded that it's the same voice he heard before in dreams, and the door eventually closes. Later at night in the academy's hospital, Cir K seems to be getting treated for his wounds while the dean is surprised to see that he got hurt this bad, assuming that training four students at once is pushing it.

While the dean scolds the instructor, the three of them also seem to be at the hospital, and Ry thinks about Cir K being scary when he's acting coy. Our guy then gets up from the bed and questions Gary why he kept going further into the cave when they tried to stop him, to which he responds that he felt an intense need to go deeper and couldn't control his body or thoughts.

Upon hearing this, Monk confesses that after reading the book, he found out that other than having the ability to control the element of lightning, the Minotaur has an ability called the Labyrinth of the Heart. It is revealed to us that according to legend, this monster was given birth to by a queen and a white bull that was meant to be sacrificed. However, the king got furious after finding this out and ordered to build a giant maze at the end of the earth, putting it under heavy supervision.

The monster was held in the maze; however, it was gifted with the strength of the gods. As the monster grew, its obsession with escaping the maze turned into an ability to bewitch the hearts of those around it. Those who are influenced begin to lose control of their thoughts and end up becoming controlled by strong emotions. Meanwhile, Ry ponders that it's a ridiculous legend to think that a human and a bull had a child.

Gary asks the end of the story, but there's no end of it in the book, as Monk assumes that the monster escaped; otherwise, they wouldn't have seen it in the prison. Finding the root of his nightmares, the blond-haired guy thinks that the story makes sense, as the beast must have ended up producing an offspring. On the other hand, Ry speculates about the voice he heard in the prison and wonders if the monster really caused Gary's nightmares.

At that moment, Cir K enters the room and tells him to stay here and rest up for the next few days. Thinking that he was getting scolded just now, Ry calls him out, and the instructor feels that they are worried about him. So he assures them that it's nothing—just a couple of broken ribs. But his expectations are short-lived when Ry says he just wanted to ask if he got a Monarch Beast Crystal and if they all will get a share of it.

Upon hearing this, Cir K loses his cool and makes it clear that they won't get anything, as these are his labor fees, and he didn't get hurt to give a share after all. While our guy seems to be done with all the ranting, Cir is about to leave and informs them that they'll do a more thorough checkup in the morning. Curious, Ry seems to have another question and asks him how he knew they were in the prison.

Gary reveals that they should be the only ones who knew, even though Molly wanted to report them, but she didn't get the chance. Calling them brats, Cir K mumbles that they want to know too many secrets and reveals that the lurkers told him. As soon as they hear this, our boy ruminates that they've been under watch this whole time.

In the meantime, Monk talks about this rumor in which they say that some people in this academy hide within the students and common people, protecting the students from harm. While Gary sums it up that those people leak secrets, the instructor clarifies that he won't disclose who it was and tells them to worry more about the things they should worry about as he leaves.

Ry is lost in thought, pondering that the more things unfold, the more he realizes that the academy isn't as simple as it first looked. After going to bed, our boy thinks about the ability he has, which can absorb the magic of the target and enhance spells of the same elements, thinking that the ability is not helpful for him.

Ry looks at Gary, who seems to be asleep, and remembers that he has asked them to keep his wolf, Noir, a secret, speculating that Cir K didn't find out about this either. He reckons that Gary doesn't seem to be having nightmares anymore and gets uncertain if it really was because of the beast.

The next scene takes us to a martial arts club, where Ry appears to be training with Elder V, who compliments him about his attacking style as he fights, holding the sword in his mouth. Looking a bit skeptical, our guy utters that he feels like his sword becomes more of a defensive measure and that attacking purely with his fists isn't strong enough.

While V agrees and says that it makes sense, he excitedly informs Ry that he has something for him. The old man rummages through the closet, and Ry gets curious, wondering what it could possibly be in a place like this. Finally, he finds that thing, and it turns out to be Dragon Turtle gauntlets.

While the name triggers our guy, he is impressed by the heavy dragon arms as he wears them on. But it seems like there's more to it when the Elder reveals that they even change size according to the wearer. As the gauntlets shrink into the size of Ry's arm, our guy asks him if they are made of Beast crystals.

That's when the old man reveals that they were only made from an intermediate Dragon Turtle's Beast Crystal, and if it were an advanced Beast Crystal, it would be much stronger. Elder V lets out that he wishes to give him higher-grade pieces of equipment, but it would be unfair to the other contestants.

Getting confused after hearing this, V asks Ry if he's not been in class and elucidates that every student in the second year and above has joined the annual academy tournament. By having the one-on-one fight, they will find the five strongest contestants in the academy. He adds that these five will go on to become representatives of the academy in the world combat tournament and fight against strong rivals from all around the world.

V proudly hands the gauntlets to Ry and requests him to get the 10th place for him, saying that if he uses them to get a good ranking, he will let him keep them. As the old man gets his expectations high, our guy excitedly takes them and thanks him in advance. Now that he has weapons, V advises Ry to get something defensive, like breastplates or shields, which are pretty useful on missions.

After that, our guy goes to the weapon shop to buy defensive equipment and freaks out after watching the expensive prices. The vendor claims that the prices are fixed and lets out that forging defensive gear from an intermediate Beast Crystal requires a payment of 10 beginner Beast crystals or a thousand bucks. The sly vendor asks for 10 extra Beast crystals and tells him to consider it hush money, as he's not interested in where he got these crystals from anyway.

While Ry seems to be pissed off, he reckons that if he gives him the Beast crystals, the academy won't be able to find proof that he hid the Beast crystals. Thinking that if the academy has its eyes on him, he won't be able to hunt alone anymore, our guy agrees and throws the pouch of crystals, letting out a smile. The vendor assures him that their work is top-notch and grabs the pouch.

Meanwhile, Ry annoyingly looks at the vendor and ponders that humans really are sly no matter what they work as. At that moment, Sylvia approaches him and is happy to see Ry, who asks her if she is here to buy equipment as well. While Sylvia agrees and says there aren't classes today, our guy leans closer and confides with her about the fraud vendor and how he took extra crystals from him.

After hearing this, Sylvia angrily rushes towards the owner and says that she's here to make a commission request. As the vendor seems to know the silver-haired girl and welcomes the young lady from the Heart family, Sylvia asks the price of the defensive piece of equipment on behalf of her friend.

Our guy notices that the vendor calls her a young lady, which leads him to wonder if Sylvia is from a famous family. After a while, the girl hands him the extra Beast crystals the owner took from him, and Ry thanks her. However, he can't seem to ignore how humans get treated differently despite being the same.

He then gets reminded of the disgusting guy, Sebastian Delbert, who uttered that the children of knights become knights and children of farmers become farmers. Ry then concludes that what he said might just be the truth of the world. Snapping out of his thoughts, Ry decides to repay her kindness and pulls out a Wab Bear intermediate crystal, but Sylvia refuses and says that it's much more expensive than 10 beginner Beast crystals.

Our guy forces her to take the intermediate crystal and assures her that it's not much use to him now that he's got a weapon and defensive gear. As he leaves and waves her goodbye, Sylvia starts to blush and affectionately holds the crystal Ry had given to her.

After that, as Ry keeps buying equipment from the same vendor, the vendor apologizes to him, as he didn't know he was friends with the young lady of the Heart family. On the other hand, our boy seems to be happy as he sees some progress in his Chi practice and gets excited to hunt even higher-ranked monsters now that he's armored along with the gauntlets the old man gave him.

The next scene takes us to Elder Gibby, who seems annoyed after knowing that the kids were lucky enough to escape alive from the prison. The guy from earlier reports to him that the lurkers informed Sir K about this, and he was the one who saved the students. As Gibby didn't expect K to be of some use, the guy lets out that the students have the three knights with them, and with K being troublesome, it would be difficult to attack.

He then suggests to test out Knight Delbert, but Elder Gibby tells him not to rush, as Delbert is a suitable candidate. The Elder further says that he still has to test Delbert's loyalty, as he is one of the knights, and commands the guy to let go of him. He then suggests someone else and instructs the guy to tell him that if he succeeds, the Pure Guild will give him a new position.

The next scene takes us to the Mountain Forest hunting grounds, where everyone seems to be enthusiastic. Gary suggests that they need to earn more to get equipment. Meanwhile, thanks to Ry, Ian does the same, saying that he will pay him back with something better. But our boy seems to be confused and asks them if they're talking to him.

Dan grabs him from behind, uttering that he knows that Ry is very shy, but they're really thankful. At that moment, Ry asks Sylvia if this has something to do with her, and Martha immediately stops being a third wheel and leaves them alone. That's when Sylvia explains to him that the Woly Bear intermediate crystal Ry gave to her, she exchanged them for gold and gave them to their teammates under his name.

With already having a good shield, she tells him that it wasn't useful for her and apologizes to him for not discussing it with him. As Sylvia assumes that he's angry, abruptly, Ry happily taps her shoulders and compliments her that she can become a good leader, asking why he got serious all of a sudden. This unexpected move freaks her out as she starts to blush hard and pushes him away.

Surprisingly, Monk, Dan, and Martha seem to be watching them discreetly. Later, Gary asks Ry if something happened between him and Sylvia, but our slow-witted boy doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. Gary then lets out a sigh and asks Ry to promise him that he won't treat Amy like this later.

At the hunting grounds, the bugs glide toward them, and they all prepare to fight. Ry activates his dragon eye and analyzes that they all are beginner rank monsters, so they should be fine. After that, Dan effortlessly fights the bugs and thinks if there's a more challenging thing around here, while Gary concludes that he's just become better at fighting.

Monk impressively slashes the bugs. At that moment, Ry alerts him to watch out and reveals that it's a Hercules beetle. Monk immediately gets out of the way and is shocked to see that it's an intermediate rank monster that attacks him, thinking that it's a bug after all. Dan confidently strikes the big beetle; however, he realizes its defenses are pretty tough.

As Ry alerts them that there are beetles more incoming, they're surrounded by a bunch of them. Just then, Gary attacks the beetle with his sword, but he is also left shocked after knowing how hard its knuckles are. While they all seem to struggle, Martha can't seem to shoot through their shells with her arrows, and Sylvia's shield hardly halts the beetle's attack as she bounces off.

On the other hand, Monk, Ian, and Dan are surrounded by the beetles, as they can't seem to fight them. Suddenly, they witness a giant beetle that comes crashing down. It comes about that Ry fights them off with his classic gauntlets along with Chi. He smoothly pierces through the Hercules beetles like a pro, and the teammates are left astonished as they see our boy killing them impressively.

Witnessing him getting so strong, Dan couldn't help but notice his new weapon and swoon over the crazy strong gauntlets, while Monk informs that his adviser of the martial arts club lent it to him. Poor Dan cries out as he regrets and feels like he joined the wrong club. In the meantime, our guy beats the crap out of the beetles and reckons that he can't make it look too easy, or else the teammates will get suspicious.

He then calls them out for help, and all of them get into action. Martha starts shooting the beetles with the arrows, and Sylvia finishes them off with her sword and shield. Meanwhile, Monk, Dan, and Ian incredibly whack the beetles with their weapons. After killing all the beetles, Dan excitedly announces that they're rich, as they will get the intermediate Beast crystals after finishing off the intermediate rank monsters, and Monk even finds one.

While Ry is about to absorb the Beast crystals, suddenly the birds begin to fly away from the forest. He activates his dragon eye and witnesses a fire in the forest. As our guy alerts the teammates about the forest fire, Martha jumps on the tree branch and lets out that Ry is right, as she can see the flames.

Gary then presses his ear to the ground and assumes that beasts are escaping from the forest, as he hears the trampling noises. While Dan mumbles what they're waiting for, as they should make a run for it as well, Ry concludes they won't make it in time, as they already seem to be surrounded by fear.

Panicked, Martha asks Sylvia to send the signal through the rescue crystal, but she informs them that the crystal isn't working, as she tried sending a signal earlier. As Dan seems to be in disbelief, Ry spots someone approaching them. He shouts to ask who they are and witnesses three masked people who look like assassins.

Meanwhile, Monk anticipates that they are here to save them, but our guy clarifies that it's probably not the case with these guys. Gary yells at them, asking if they set the fire. At that moment, one of the masked guys signals the other two to attack the kids. As the two of them attack Monk and Gary, Ry is also attacked by the red-armored guy.

However, our guy manages to dodge the attack with his gauntlets and wonders who the hell these people are, asking why they're attacking them. Ry inspects the masked guy's sword with his regular and finds out it's not a regular weapon. On the other hand, Dan holds Monk, whose assassins have attacked, and Ian goes on to help Ry and the others, but the fire surrounding the area stops him.

Ian calls out Gary and Ry as Ry looks around. He immediately speculates that the masked people have intentionally separated them and wonders if they are him and Gary, assuming that he has to fight them both at once. As Gary seems to be occupied already, Ry instructs Ian to leave and get help from the knights.

While Ian objects, Dan carries Monk and goes on to find help along with Sylvia and Martha. In the meantime, Ry asks Gary if he can keep up, and the blond-haired guy assures him that he can handle one of them. While our boy reckons that these masked people are fast, as long as he defends well enough, it won't kill him.

Gary keeps one of them occupied and buys time for Ry. At that moment, the two masked people leap towards Ry, striking him with a chain weapon. Knowing how he will attack, Ry grabs the weapon and dodges one attack. However, when Ry looks around, another one strikes with a blazing sword.

Finding it troublesome, our boy leaps backward, thinking that whenever he tries to focus on one, the other jumps in to disturb him. At that moment, the assassin forcefully strikes the weapon at Ry, catching him off guard. Our guy smashes to the ground, but luckily his armor blocks the worst of it.

Assuming that both assassins work together better than he expected, Ry changes the battle plan. He then spots Gary, who seems to get his arm injured, and assures him that he doesn't have to worry about it anymore. However, the blond-haired guy backs him up and tells him that he will deal with one of the masked men.

That's when the assassin prepares to attack Gary, uttering that he will make sure to kill him painfully. Given that they're planning to kill them, Ry sees no reason to hold back and absorbs five beginner Beast crystals. Gathering the energy, our boy evolves into a dragon knight as horns appear on his head, and he calls out his wolf, Noir, who also evolves into a horn wolf, muttering that it's time to hunt.

Witnessing Ry casting magic, one of the assassins gets panicked and lets out that they never informed the kid knows magic. As the other one commands to continue the mission, they leap towards him. Noticing it's the same move from earlier, Ry makes sure not to fall for it again and grabs the sickle weapon.

He then commands Noir to run and traps the two assassins with the chain, thinking that he can trap them. They effortlessly break free from the sickle, while Ry doesn't seem so surprised. He instructs the wolf to take care of the guy with the sickle and jumps towards to deal with the other one.

As our boy fights with one of them, another one dashes towards him, but Noir arrives just in time and attacks him, saying that he kills beasts like him for breakfast. The assassin dodges Noir's attack with the weapon. On the contrary, our guy keeps dodging the attack and is baffled when he realizes that it's the same move again.

He inspects that the sword is troublesome and decides to restrain it. Ry speculates that the masked guy is avoiding combat when the chain is not with him and wonders why he is doing that. To try it out, he abruptly attacks the assassin, leaving him shocked. According to Ry's assumption, the masked guy doesn't engage with him and leans backward.

While our boy finds out his weakness, he peeks at Gary, who seems to be giving a hard time to the masked guy. Gary declares that they are students of Aen and stabs the assassin with his sword, asking why he attacked him. As the blond-haired boy holds him down with the sword, Ry warns him to watch out, as the other strikes a fire blow at him.

However, the attack hits the assassin who was stabbed by Gary and burns in the fire, screaming for help. Appalled by this sight, Gary ruminates that they're willing to kill their allies and walks towards Ry to help him. Meanwhile, Gary quivers with pain and trips to the ground. Our boy tells him to rest and assures him that he will tear these bastards to pieces.

Ry holds the sword in his mouth and lets out that a scum like him doesn't deserve to be part of this world. To think that he even threw the lives of his comrades away is unforgivable. Just after that, he lands a powerful attack on the masked guy, but he survives it. Witnessing that he dodged the attack, Ry concludes that they've come well prepared, as they're equipped with special equipment and weapons.

As his gauntlets seem to crack, he thinks of finding an opportunity, as if this continues, his equipment is not going to hold for long. To buy some time, Ry summons his wolf, Noir, and it immediately attacks the masked guy. While the assassin thought that Noir would be strong, it turns out to be an intermediate rank. He affirms that the wolf is going to die before his master does.

As the wolf tries its best to confuse him and rapidly moves in circles, the masked guy grasps the chain and utters to stop looking down on him. At that moment, the assassin captures the wolf with the chain, and Gary, who witnesses Noir being in trouble, plans to do something. Without wasting a moment, the assassin aims the weapon towards the wolf to kill it, but at that moment, Gary steps in and stops the attack, thinking that he wishes to die for a monster.

The assassin strikes Gary, who is barely hanging on, and he smashes on the ground, making his sword slip away. But the blond-haired boy grabs the assassin's leg tightly and commands Noir to pick up the sword and fight like his master. Ry, just like that, the wolf holds the sword in its mouth as the masked guy is about to kill Gary, who doesn't seem to let go of him.

Noir impressively slashes through the assassin's head, slicing it off the body, while the one masked guy is left out of three. He peeks at his useless comrade. Ry grabs the sword and strikes it with full force. Meanwhile, it does not do much damage. The assassin's mask breaks apart, and to their surprise, it turns out to be Knight Lancy.

That's when Lancy takes off his mask, and Gary, who seems to be in disbelief, calls him a bastard, muttering how he could do this as a teacher. But Lancy doesn't seem to care and tells him that he's going to die anyway. He leaps towards Gary with his sword, but at that moment, Noir comes in front of him and takes the hit.

After that, Ry instructs the wolf to stop, and Noir disappears as he undoes summoning. Meanwhile, Gary crashes on the ground and lies there helplessly. Lancy furiously approaches Ry and mumbles that he's going to kill him one after the other. As Lancy moves with his sword covered in fire, our boy contemplates how trash humans like him exist, who like creating pain and targeting him.

He decides to make him pay the price and grasps the swords with his gauntlets, thinking that he's wasting all the energy to hold the sword. Lancy puts on an evil smirk and tells Ry to enjoy getting burned to death, but our boy clarifies that he's going to be the one to die. Lancy waits to see how long he can keep up with it. Little does the knight know that Ry is absorbing the fire element from the sword.

As Lancy witnesses the flames becoming weaker, annoyed, he calls him a clingy piece of trash and kicks him in the guts, telling him to die. Just like that, our guy finally leaves the sword, which makes him and Lancy soar with full force as they whirl away in opposite directions, breaking a few ribs.

Ry reckons that it's about time he uses the fire element he absorbed, because that's the only magic he can use right now. He plans to combine Chi with the fire element to make it a unique weapon and gather all the energy. Witnessing Ry evolving into a dragon knight as he creates flames with Chi, the sight of him renders Lancy speechless.

Lancy concludes that he was a demon after all, adding that they should have killed him a long time ago. While Ry glances at him, thinking how pitiable humans are, Lancy moves toward him with the sword. But in a flash, our boy slashes his arm away, as Lancy's arm, which held the sword, flies away.

The knight is left shocked as he wonders why the flame sword did not react at all, watching his arm getting chopped off as the stream of blood comes out of it. Lancy screams out of pain. That's when Ry grabs his face and puts the burning gauntlets on his face, burning him to death. Our guy kills him painfully and utters that he got what he deserved.

At that moment, Cir, along with the other knights, arrive at the scene and claim that these masked people are from the Pure Blood Guild, so they need to notify Winford. As Cir K asks Ry to hold on, our boy falls to the ground as his arms and body get badly wounded and passes out.

After assuring that everyone's all right, the next scene takes us to the hospital, where Ry seems to be covered in bandages as he wakes up and realizes he's at the hospital. Sylvia is happy to see him. Ry asks her how long he has been sleeping, and she informs him that he's been unconscious for three days.

As Sylvia helps him get up and assures him that he got treated in time, so he's recovering well, he recalls feeling his mouth burning, but now he's completely fine. In the meantime, Sylvia calls the others, as they've been waiting for Ry to wake up. After all, the teammates, including Cir K, enter the room.

The instructor casts a spell to ensure that no one can listen to what they're going to talk about. Confused, our boy asks him what he's doing and is surprised to see all of his classmates. That's when Sir K reveals that two of their students, Ry and Gary, were attacked this time and got even close to getting killed.

He decides to tell them something after discussing it with Winford, but before that, he interrogates Ry about the people who attacked them earlier. Our guy then unveils that those people were masked assassins, and while he couldn't identify who two were, one was the master Knight Lancy.

As all the students are shocked to hear this, Kyle seems to know that Lancy was up to no good, and Sylvia questions if they are part of the dark Guild. But Cir refuses and says that it would have been easier if it were them. He then reveals that the one who attacked them this time was the Pure Guild, and unlike the dark Guild, the Pure Guild has many supporters within the academy.

Rumor has it that they are backed up by one of the elders. After hearing that an elder is behind all this, the students freak out, as they are left in disbelief about how an elder could allow this, and this is a murder. While the instructor calms them down and affirms that it's not as settled as they might think, Ry asks him about their goals, believing that Ry already has his guesses.

Sir K lets out that he has called the red-haired kids along with the victims of the incident. That's when our boy sums it up and utters they want to eliminate them. Upon hearing this, the twins seem to chill about this, while Ian freaks out, and Kyle, who seems panic-stricken, says that it doesn't make sense because according to the prophecy, one of them is supposed to be a savior of the world, thinking what good it would do to kill them.

The instructor informs them about the second part of the prophecy. The teacher then narrates that 11 years ago, the prophecy was that the red-haired child could either become the world's savior or the cause of its destruction. With the prophecy being contradictory, there have always been knights that value birthright and bloodline above all. They couldn't accept that what they have been safeguarding for generations would be taken by common kids, and there are many people that follow this thought.

He further reveals the war happening on the borders of Allure and that they need to defend against the shadows as well as other countries and maintain the academy. However, under these circumstances, the higher-ups can't afford to expose the Pure Blood Guild, as if the Allure Kingdom breaks from within, the peace will no longer be maintained.

After listening to this, Kyle asks him if they should let them attack, and Dan seems kind of relieved as he assumes that this doesn't have to do anything with others, as they're not the ones who are going to save the world. While Sylvia lashes out at him for saying such a thing about their friends, Sir K clarifies that they are all together in this mess.

He warns the students to be on constant alert, as the guild is becoming more daring. Sir K then assures them that he's arranged lurkers to be by their side, and the knights themselves are going to keep tabs on them. But he reminds them that there are only a few people that they can trust and instructs them to rely on themselves.

At that moment, Gary mumbles that there's no other way than to work hard and become stronger. Tapping on poor Gary's broken arm, Sir K tries to lighten up the mood, saying that most people who rely on others to protect them are the first ones to die. While the students think he is trying to comfort them, the instructor seems to have enough of the talk and instructs them to leave, as he has to talk with Ry.

One week later, Ry leaves the infirmary and feels happy, as he almost got mad in the hospital. He reckons about the things that have happened earlier, like the gauntlets given by the old man, which were badly managed, so he needs to fix them. He also thinks about his wolf, Noir, who was wounded, and he used some intermediate Beast crystals to heal it up, manifesting that he needs to hunt too.

However, our boy gets reminded of what Sir K had told him, and now he can't even relax. That's when we are taken back to Ry's flashback at the hospital, where he seems to freak out after knowing that he is most likely the one the prophecy talks about. Sir K elucidates that he has the most different qualities than others and that his body has been able to recover rapidly, even when he was on the brink of death.

Knowing that Ry is trying to hide it the most, the teacher anticipates that he has also managed to use magic. While the teacher looks at him dubiously, our boy gets flustered and ponders how he should explain it to him. He thinks of confessing to him about his past life as a dragon and having black hair as a kid because he still had some dragon qualities left over.

Meanwhile, our boy is lost in thought about that strange dragon system. Cir K clarifies that the Pure Blood Guild believes he can use magic and warns him to be careful, as Ry seems to be their main target. Snapping out of his flashback, he ruminates how Lancy was a tough opponent to deal with and predicts that they will send someone stronger this time.

The next scene takes us to Elder Gibby, who seems to be hopping mad after failing in their mission, thinking that Lancy would be this useless. The Elder gets disappointed and says he couldn't even deal with the kid with all the high-grade equipment they gave him. While Gibby is satisfied that Lancy died upright, so he wouldn't be able to say anything, his assistant informs him that K and Winford have already figured out their objective.

The knight's assistant also reports that they won't be able to do anything to Ry for a while. Elder Gibby assures him that they can give him some time, but in the meantime, he tells him to call Delbert, as they've ignored him for a while. The Elder plans to have Delbert pluck a few nails to test his loyalty and leave.

After that, Ry arrives at the academy, and Monk and Gary welcome him, asking why he's hurt again. Ry lets out that he fought with the old man at the martial arts club. Dan wonders what kind of scary club it is. At that moment, Martha and Sylvia enter the dorm, informing Gary that there's a letter for him.

While Sylvia gets happy to see him, Martha suggests that he should probably groom his hair. Dan suggests that he should shave off half of his, just like him, as our boy gets annoyed, saying that he doesn't want to look like Dan. Kyle jumps in and advises him to go bald like him.

Seeing Kyle in their dorm, Ry asks him why he is here, and Monk tells him that Kyle always wanted to come here, and they also had an empty space, so Cir K agreed to this, as he thought it would be better to take care of each other. But our guy objects and tells the other classmates how noisy this guy is.

He then points at Gary and notices something is wrong with him. At that moment, Gary storms out of the room, and Sylvia assumes it might be because of the letter, while Dan jokes around and guesses that he must have gotten dumped by someone. Ry anxiously runs after him.

He activates his dragon eye and finds that Gary is headed to the roof. Our boy immediately runs to the roof and witnesses Gary sitting there. As our boy asks him the matter, Gary confesses that the letter he got just now was about his sister, Amy. Worried, Ry asks him what happened to her, and that's when Gary reveals that she died.

The next scene flashes to Ry's memories with Amy, and he realizes he never had the chance to thank her, realizing that now he has lost her. Our boy melts in a breakdown as tears start to stream down his face. Just then, Gary reveals that he could never escape his mind from the nightmare because he dreamt that Amy was ripped to shreds by the monsters at the Roland Magic Academy.

He adds that she was lying there helplessly with no way to save herself under the gazes of countless aristocrats. Gary then breaks down in tears and lets out that it wasn't a

Attacked, Sir K lets him take the weapon and lets out that the tournament is a good chance, as all the second years can join. He then reveals that, according to tradition, many rich families come to watch the tournament. If they do well in the tournament, there's a high chance that they would notice them, adding that after leaving the academy, they can become one of their guards, which is a pretty nice deal.

Upon hearing this, Gary is left astounded when he realizes that he can become the guard of a noble family if he manages to do well, putting on a smirk. After that, Ray grabs Lan's sword, and Sir K tells him this sword wasn't much damaged, but it lost its ability to channel flame magic and is now a beginner's weapon, suggesting he picks something else.

That's when our guy recalls that he absorbed all the fire elements from the sword and ponders that absorbing elements is more useful than he thought. He then heads to a hunting forest and finds a place that seems to be covered in ice. He goes inside the icy place, where monsters seem to guard the area. He gathers Chi and flame magic, killing the monsters. Witnessing many ice elemental golems in there, Ray feels happy, thinking that it was worth the effort, and instructs Noir to take care of the ones on the left.

The next scene flashes three weeks later on the day of the Aen Night Academy tournaments, and it seems to be bustling with many others from far and wide. In the waiting hall, all the students seem to be chattering, and Martha comes rushing towards her classmates, informing them of the tournament rules changing this year.

While Dan is confused, thinking that it's one-on-one duels, Martha is about to clarify when the knights enter the hall. The students seem excited about the tournaments. One of the knights calls out the top five students from the second and third years, while Monk, Ian, Dan, Sylvia, and Gary step forward. The students start gossiping, as they are all from the same dorm room. Meanwhile, Dan reckons that he wouldn't have gotten into this if Ry did not give up his position.

The head knight then calls out the third-year students, to which one of the third-ranked girls, Cherry, informs her that Jir is out on a mission. She then calls out Jay, who emerges as a giant masculine guy. The boy introduces himself as Jay Gree and utters that he's waiting to be challenged, putting on an enthusiastic smile. The girl, NY ranked five, peeks at him and calls him an idiot.

Watching the strongest Jay Gree, the students chatter about him being the first ranked in the academy and are surprised to see him, as they did not expect him to join the tournament. On the other hand, Monk seems worried as he asks Gary if they will make them fight the third-year students. Dan loses hope, thinking that they can't win.

As the top five third-year and second-year students gather, the head knight announces that the ten students mentioned will not join the first round of preliminaries. Listening to this, the students are shocked. Kyle, who was worrying about his teammates, finds out that they will be fighting with their roommates.

After that, the head continues to announce that the first round is going to be a battle royale, where the third years and second years will compete against each other, adding that five people will move on to the next round from each match. The knight then calls Ian, as he seems a big strong guy, and points an arrow at him, making the students understand that each of them can use wooden weapons that have been supplied in the arena and will be given 100 health points.

She then strikes the wooden arrow at Ian, interpreting that if they get attacked, the health points will go down. The knight elucidates that using Chi while defending will take less damage, and once the health bar goes to zero, the students will be disqualified and teleported out of the arena. She then commands the second years to prepare themselves and pick a suitable weapon from the storage room provided.

Later, we see Sebastian whispering to Eric, who tells him not to let Ry have a chance. Later on stage, in the meantime, Ray picks up a wooden sword, as it suits him better, and Kyle picks up a metal chain. After that, the first competition of the Aen Academy Tournament begins, and they welcome the participants, glancing at the stadium filled with people. Kyle and Martha are overwhelmed while all the knights and elders are seated.

After that, Elder Von Peaks looks at Ray and feels proud, as it's finally time for him to show his strength. Just like that, the first match begins.