Avan
The secret keeping is a biiiig turn off. That and the ending with morgana are making it hard to keep reading this
It depends on the goal. The author themselves noted from the beginning their goal was to interweave their story with history. so far they haven't been too strict with the mythology in my opinion. If you don't have any similarities however, the parallels to the original story become unrecognizable, which would defeat the original purpose of the author. It is in the end, their voice and vision. I don't think it's foolish if done with care. I enjoy it overall.
Kiwijuice:This story shouldn't strictly follow mythology. If it does the story becomes predictable. The bending of the story to keep up with mythology turns the story into a confusing mess caused by the conflicting decisions of the characters. All in all being to strict with mythology is a stupid decision for a fantasy story. Keep things original and add some hints of mythology and you got yourself a good start of an original novel.
His decision to hide his strength from his only friends and ALLIES is one of the stupidest decisions Emery made so far. And I don't even understand why he couldn't show them his stats without revealing the dragon. He's not under some truth-telling-curse. Just say you can't reveal how you trained and done. I feel like Emery hardly grows at all. He tries to learn lessons, but then uses that knowledge in a completely stupid direction. He is meant to be careful with his enemies and strangers...not his allies.