By the Blood of Dragons (Minh's Secondary Training)

Minh was a growing mage, one that has taken into consideration that he was not yet powerful enough to be eliminating those which he considers threats to this world as a whole, nor did he have the capacity to fully do so with the utmost efficiency. It was this lack of capability that has pushed him into finding a way to further his earthen power, but he also sought versatility, and that all led him in the discovery of a way to forge for himself a lacrima. This provided for him however, an impossible task that a normal man or even a fellow mage couldn't do. What was revealed to him was that in another world accessible via a Wakusei portal, there existed dragons theorized to possess condensed balls of rare minerals and substances infused with their dragonic energies called Dragongems. However, the dragons had one condition, and that was to even come across them to hunt them, one was to be unarmed and without the use of magic. Even those using dampeners and other highly stealthy magics could not bypass these beasts' senses who disappeared without a trace. Even then, those who harbor of the even smallest desire to use their magic were unable to track them down. The only exception to this were fellow beasts, those who harbored only primal energies, which included Minh's companion Cheepie. To this end, he knew that this will have to be a team effort, one where he was to push his body's capabilities to hunt down these dragons.

Several days later, he came upon the Wakusei portal to stand before it with a little sparrow on his head cheeping away. His humane form was washed away, taking upon one of earth before embracing the teleporting energies of the portal. Thus began his journey into a trial of hardship unlike he ever went through.

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Minh quickly made his trek to the first location where one of these beasts were known to be found. It was a glacial landscape with patches of tundra scattering the view that he had came upon after a few days of continuous running across this world with Cheepie soaring above him. With human needs not being a necessity for him, he had packed very little save for a whole life time supply of nutritious bird seed for Cheepie to consume on in the harsher areas. Whipping icy winds lashed at the two as they moved from place to place, following tell tale signs of the Kushala Daora, a dragon that he had read up on in various tales and almost mythical legends. These signs were usually the site of kills and struggles with the most noticeable feature of each site being torn up terrain. On this world, these dragons were not the only ones dominating the food chain, and Minh was careful to not have to tangle himself with their affairs, and they didn't anyways, seemingly staying far away from the foreign individual in their lands. That or Cheepie seemed to emanate a predatory aura about him on the levels of a much larger creature which kept them wary and less aggressive. It was not until Minh came across a site scattered with what seemed to be metallic shards followed by fresh claw marks in the snow. In front of them were a few trees with their tops knocked off, leading the earthen man in the direction of a massive icy cavern that stood out in the frozen mountains nearby. He trekked his way over there in a mad dash like a snow plow with Cheepie gripping onto his head while wrapped up in a singular scarf for warmth as they closed in on said cavern.

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It was a mistake to believe such a beast would be so simple to track and hunt down, and this would be the only blunder Minh would make in this world as he soon was taught the harshness of this primal land by the mighty dragon whom he foolish believed to be the one with his guard lowered.

Flying through the air to dive down upon Minh with slashing claws, leaving gouges in the icy floor while whipping winds lashed out at him and Cheepie, throwing the little birdie away with the force of the air. He would take high up into the air while Minh jumped and rolled about to dodge the relentless swoops made by the Kushala Daora until it had landed with a thundering crash before Minh to let out a fierce roar of challenging intent. The man replied the only way he could, with one of his own, shaking the ground around the two. Then they charged each other with Minh  knowing fully that this dragon was more than ready for him, and it launched out with a claw swipe downwards which Minh caught, creating a crater of shattered ice due to the force produced. He pushed back with one hand to surge forth to smash a fist into the nose of the dragon who retaliated with a biting maneuver with Minh catching its jaws with both hands, holding it open before tossing back. The Kushala hopped back with a growl before taking a deep inhale to release a powerful stream of air that launched Minh many meters backwards into a wall with a crack as broken earth falls all around him. It then began inhaling once more with a menacing rumble before being smashed into from above by another beast which let out a piercing screeching roar of its own before being thrown to the side in an upright position by the Kushala Daora. It was Cheepie in his mega raptor form, feathered and standing at least 20ft high with a bestial look in his glinting eyes.

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Minh was not too surprised by Cheepie's sudden appearance in the battle nor was he going to ever be denying the little bird his help since he seemed to possess a predatory instinct, one that was most likely to be one along the lines of an apex hunter that seemingly drives the now large beast into combat with the Kushala who was shocked at the sudden appearance of Cheepie. Claws clashed with loud thudding cracks as the two titans sought to gore the other with jaws snapping madly against each other. With how Cheepie was on top of the other, the dragon was unable to take off, but it was not in any way truly incapacitated as it fought back with almost equal strength. Minh was already out of his crater and taking strides across the icy cave to intercept it before it does so. Several bursts of powerful wind gushed out during the conflict with Cheepie slowly loosing the upper hand against this empowered dragon whose strength was unlike anything the two have faced.

With one leap, Minh threw himself onto the back of the Kushala, quickly forming an iron grip with one hand while using the other to find a strong rhythm of attack, hammering with earth shattering force into its metallic back, forming cracks in the hide while Cheepie continues wresting for control from the front of the creature. One wide swipe catches the dragon on the face, but it was not before it launched a cannonball of wind straight into the raptor's jaw, knocking it backwards. However, it was unable to retaliate with Minh continuously laying punishing attacks, but it still took off, flying straight upwards into the ceiling, smashing itself and Minh into the icicle laden surface. Minh would hear a sudden groan of pain as the dragon was dragged back down to earth, and from the corner of his eyes, he can see the jaws of his companion gripping around the neck of the dragon. Then with one screaming roar, the metal dragon unleashed a hurricane that finally blew off its attackers.

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Minh was up on his feet on an instant as soon as he could before watching his prey get away with angry beats of its wings, soaring out and upwards probably to the more mountainous area above. Cheepie would be on move as well, tromping out the ice cavern before doing a massive leap onto top part of the lip before beginning a climb upwards with the earthen male close behind in a frenzied climb. The winds whipped hard on the two, but they were not a mere man and his beast, they were moving forces of nature, hellbent on overcoming one, the Kushala Daora. After a number of minutes, the two would find a makeshift pathway that they could begin properly walking on, trudging through the snow with a slow motion. They were more cautious now, not wanting to be taken by surprise this time around.



Then they came across a figure in the distance, and lodged in a pile of icy spikes was the dragon itself, or so they thought before catching the fact that it was nothing more than a hallow shell. As if on cue, the moment of realization was shattered by a sudden parting of the clouds as the Kushala Doara comes down next to its shell, looking down on the two with furious eyes gleaming. Something told all of them that this was to be a final confrontation which only one side leaving this icy mountain top alive, and the gathered combatants charged once more. Cheepie being much faster and with dissipating time, leapt forward into a frenzied run while the Kushala dove down from its perch at it into another smashing clash. Minh followed through by picking up a large boulder and chucking it into to clobber the dragon of the head as it wrestled with Cheepie.

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