The dragon’s harem

Arad followed the maid through the hallways, looking through the windows as he sensed Eris training in the mountains to maintain her magic.

“I have breakfast ready. Also, a bath if you want to take one. After that, the king requested to meet to announce a reward for stopping the necrotic invasion and erasing the vampires that infiltrated the capital,” She said with a smile.

“You as scared as when I killed that white dragon?” Arad asked as he saw the maid’s calm demeanor. He had expected them to be shaking by now.

“Humans are afraid of the unknown. Achievements are seen differently depending on who does them. At first, we didn’t know you, how strong you are, or with what side you land. But now, we know you’re on the kingdom’s side. Be it a dragon or anything else, I doubt much would fear who protects them.” She explained.

“You know a lot,”

“We get several years of education. We maids must be knowledgeable enough to support our masters in time of need, and I’m a maid in the royal palace.”

Arad remembered how Rey and Ray helped Isdis with her work. It would be nice if the girls got that education as well.

“I will be going for a few minutes,” Arad instantly disappeared, leaving the maid puzzled.

****

CRACK! Eris’s plasma expands into a ten-meter radius sphere, which keeps getting denser as more plasma ejects from her body, till it reaches its limit and explodes.

Thud! Eris fell on her knees, panting as the stones around her melted. Her legs felt weak as she looked around her at the melted stones.

^No matter how much I try, I can’t get it to act as I want.^ She stood, lifting her hands in an attempt for a third cast.

“You better stop now,”

Eris turned, seeing Arad and Gojo standing there, watching her from afar.

“It’s you two.” She sighed, “You know I can’t control it more than start and explode. Those aren’t that flexible.”

“You and him,” Gojo pointed at Arad, “Still don’t understand how expansions work,”

Thud! He jumped down and started walking, “Should I teach you a quick lesson?”

Thud! Arad jumped after him, “I was thinking the same. I also do need to know if there is a way to decrease my evolution time, and also a way to cultivate faster.”

“Let’s start with expansions as it’s the most important weapon you would be using.” Gojo started explaining.

Expansion as the name implies, is an extension of one’s magic. When a fire dragon sets everything around him ablaze, that’s an expansion. When a cultivator creates a massive array, that’s an expansion. When a mage creates a barrier, when a monster marks its territory, when a fighter concentrates on cutting everything that gets close, all of those can be seen as expansions.

“You mean it’s like when you go hunt a white dragon and find them in the middle of a snowstorm,” Eris approached Gojo.

“Yeah, it’s all the same.” He opened his hands, “You first need to understand your own element, what kind of magic flows naturally in your blood.”

“My innate magic is the void. I control the space containing the matter of the world, shrink, and extend it at will. That allows me to crush said matter and release massive amounts of power and heat at once.” He looked at Arad.

“Your void and my void aren’t the same. I shrink and extend while you destroy.” He opened his hand, a tiny ball of blue light floating above his palm. “This is mine,”

The ball then shifted into a black-on-nothingness, “This what you use. I cannot create an expansion like you, and you can’t create one like mine even if we have the same element.”

Gojo then looked at Eris, “What do you think your element is?”

“Plasma?” Eris replied.

“Wrong, your elements are fire and lighting. You use those two to heat matter around you and create plasma. From what I saw, plasma needs heat and pressure to thrive, and your expansion provides it with the pressure while your lightning and fire generate the heat. Try to control it by changing those variables.”

Eris lifted her hands, trying to start her expansion.

“Hoi! Hoi! Stop! Don’t expand it here, or you already did twice. Try controlling a small amount of your magic in your hand, then go to expansions.”

As Eris nodded and ran away to the train, Gojo looked back at Arad. “Now, it’s your turn.”

“I know how to use my expansion,” Arad replied.

“You use your void to digest anything inside your expansion using the low pressure.” Gojo approached Arad with a grin, “This isn’t what I’m trying to teach you. It’s how to effectively use it, as otherwise, you will start taking years to evolve.”

“Are you saying my void expansion would help me evolve faster?”

“Have you ever wondered, why did you have an adult mind after just being born? It doesn’t make sense, does it?” Gojo smiled, lifting his hand.

“You’re kinda right, isn’t that because we get a shard of mother’s mind?”

“That’s partially true, but it goes deeper than that.” Gojo looked into his hands, “We were born far before. The things we hatched from weren’t mere eggs, but an extension of mother’s void expansion. A protective bubble of her power.” He smiled, “Our minds were alive in it, feeding off Mother’s magic and psychic energy to grow both physically and mentally.”

It quickly clicked in Arad’s mind, “Don’t say that I need to create an egg with my expansion.”

“I would call it a cocoon like the one caterpillars use to evolve into butterflies. They use their silk, and we use our void to protect our bodies from the outer world and give them the optimal conditions to grow.”

Arad sat down, thinking. “So, the density of magic and the emptiness make it easier for our bodies to transform and change. But doesn’t that mean I need to keep focusing on my expansion while unconscious?”

“I did manage to do it, so you can as well.” Gojo smiled, “I don’t mind babysitting you in my domain as you evolve as well if you want.”

“No, I will do it on my own.” Arad shook his head. The information alone was enough. “But, this mean mother did care about us.”

“Hmmm,” Gojo scratched his chin, “That’s the one thing I can’t understand. For once, I’m certain she raised us in her expansion before dropping us as eggs into the world. But what I can’t wrap my head around is why she attacked me when I flew over the dark elf kingdom.”

“Probably you were a problem child?” Arad looked at him with a smile.

“Or,” Gojo looked back at the castle, “I had a bug on my face, and she wanted to slap it.” He mumbled and looked at Arad, “Keep an eye on that old man Sebas that I brought. It’s either mother who hates me, or wants him dead.”

“Sebas,” Arad started thinking, “Won’t it be best to drop him in another city and let him go free? Live his life away from us?”

“That could be a solution, but I think it’s best to get to the bottom of why she wanted to kill him.” Gojo sighed, “We’ll keep an eye on him,”

Arad stood, closing his eyes, “Should I start training now?” He asked.

“Probably not. You still have that meeting with the king. I talked him into giving you a lot of nice things,” He started stretching, “Want to spar a bit?”

“A fight against you?” Arad smiled, cracking his fists. “That should be fun,”

Eris’s head turned so quickly she almost snapped her neck, ^I’m dead if those two started to fight! Time to run away!^ She flew as fast as she could.

Arad rushed forth, throwing punches at Gojo, each one faster than the one before, and he even activated Taurus.

With smooth moves, Gojo dodged each strike with grace. He was faster than Arad, and even more, seemed to be able to predict his moves before they were even sent out.

^[He’s looking at your mana with his void eyes to determine your attacks. Control it to deceive him.]^

“Hehe!” Gojo laughed, “Something moved inside your head. Is it that witch speaking? I’m sure she noticed.”

Thud! he caught Arad’s fist, “She’s right. Use weapons and spells, mix your attacks, and make them unpredictable.”

Arad kept switching between weapons, yet he wasn’t able to land a single hit on his older brother. At last, he gave up and lifted his hand.

[Void Expansion: Devouring void] Arad’s void digests everything it consumes. It’s an extension of his stomach.

The moment Arad’s expansion covered Gojo, he could feel that something was off. His older brother felt as heavy as a stone in his stomach.

“Didn’t I tell you?” Gojo talked in the void as if it was nothing. “I can shrink and extend the void. Twisting it is also possible.”

He lifted his hand.

[Void Expansion: Twisting Void]

The two expansions collided, and since they share the same element, the one with the finest control dominated.

Arad’s void twisted into a thin string in Gojo’s palm akin to a hair strand. It then burst into a beam of light, ending the fight.

CRACK! Gojo approached Arad, who was stuck in a rock, bleeding. “Sorry, I got a bit rough. You still alive?”

“This hurt. A lot.”

“I said sorry. As a void dragon, I almost forget I can hit your organs.” Gojo helped Arad down, “What you’re feeling now, is what a human feels getting stabbed in the liver.”

“It isn’t pleasant,”

“It shouldn’t be,”