22 Taming A Teasing Dragon.

"*Whistle* This place is huge." 

Adam looked around the room with wide eyes. 

This place alone was ten times larger than all the floors below them. 

"The training rooms on this floor are only used by the strongest in the association, this much is obvious." 

Irene at his side was amused at his reactions. 

" Oh~? Am I to assume you consider me strong now? A few minutes ago you were implying otherwise." 

" Well, you made a big fuss regarding your strength. Think of this as me humoring your claims. Whether you are wasting my time or not is for you to prove."

This training facility was highly equipped with all kinds of weapons and artifacts. It would be a dream for any hunter to have access to this place. 

Training meant everything for hunters. No matter how much you study as a magician, or how strong your inherited powers are, without training you can't reach new heights. 

While some prefer to use the dungeon raiding experience as a way of training one's powers, a vast majority opted to do so in facilities that facilitated training for awakeners. 

Around the world, these places could be found anywhere. 

This one in particular was not out in the market though. Adam could tell there was a vast amount of money and resources behind the making of such a facility. 

'And they have 15 more rooms like this.' 

One thing was very clear to him now.

The Hunter Association was loaded. 

Putting these thoughts aside, Adam removed his mask. 

His identity as RED was out of the window already, and there was only him and Irene in this room. 

Surely enough, he wouldn't stop wearing his mask when dungeon raiding. If he could keep his hunter self hidden from society that would help him in the long run. 

He did not need fame and had plenty of money already. The people who needed to know who RED was already do so. His family. 

Irene was about to say something after seeing that Adam was deep in thought, but before she could do so she was interrupted. 

" Irene." 

The way he addressed her put a serious expression on her face. 

" I do not have any evidence, but I believe there is a mole in your organization."

It was her time to open her eyes widely, taken back by the sudden confession. 

" That's a dangerous claim, boy." 

The air around them started to heat up, but Adam looked just fine.

' Mh? So this level of pressure does nothing to him? Interesting.'

Ignoring the pressure his body was currently going through, the young man nodded resolutely. 

" They found me again Irene." 

The dragon lady frowned, as the air around her softened. 

" But, I put a concealment spell in the mask I gave you, and it even hides your presence when you are not wearing it as long as you have it close to you. Unless you showed yourself willingly there's no way they could have found you."

Irene was well aware of Adam's circumstances. 

She was the only person who knew Adam was being targeted by someone. 

As his mother's partner and close friend in the past, she took it upon herself to enchant Adam's mask and made it impossible for someone below SSS-Rank to recognize him unless he allowed it.

At first, Adam wanted to tell his father too, but that would've been a bad idea in his opinion. 

Kenji was too overprotective. 

' Though, he might already know something's up. I told him about the incident with Ragnar after all.'

Well, if he knew or not, is not like it would affect Adam too much.

" I did not show myself openly. I did remove my mask sometimes, but I never canceled the spell when doing so."

And this statement was the scariest of them all. 

" Are you trying to say..." 

" Yes." 

Irene was trying very hard to find a different answer, but based on Adam's words, everything pointed to the obvious. 

The targeter was at least an SSS-Ranked awakener. 

And they had the means to look past Irene's magic. 

" Is this why you want to increase your Rank so badly?"

Adam nodded at her question. 

" Adam. I understand your urgency, but having a higher Rank won't help you fight this alone. What you need is support. I'm more than willing to help you, and Kenji will 100% support you." 

From an outside perspective, it would look as if she was begging him to agree with her. She had greatly underestimated the group that was targeting him. 

Adam caressed Irene's hand softly, which at some point held his shoulder as a sign of both pleading and reassurance.

' How much charmer are you gonna get Irene?' 

He was amused at her willingness to help, alas it was unneeded. 

" I appreciate the thought, but a higher Rank is exactly what I need right now." 

" B-But!"

" I did not tell you the first time, Irene, but the stronger the foe I fight is, the stronger I get." 

A look of confusion adorned her beautiful face. 

" That's the same for everyone, silly."

She wasn't wrong, no hunter grew stronger by fighting F-Rank mobs. 

But, in this very particular case, she was oh so wrong. 

No other hunter can "level up".

" Do you know the Rank of the last Dungeon I raided?"

Hearing Adam's out-of-context question made her remove her hand from his shoulder and she placed it under her chin instead.

" Was it B-Rank?" 

" Correct. And what was my rank a week ago?"

"Oh." 

It seemed as though she was careless with her assessment, but this wasn't enough to contradict her point. 

" Look, even if you were given an F-Rank qualification it is still plausible that you were stronger, but this happens all the time.

Newbies are always underqualified on purpose so that they can gain experience in the lower-ranking dungeons.

I know you were not alone in that B-Rank dungeon. That A-Rank hunter from your father's guild, Zoro Roronoa, was there along with hunter Mirko, who is believed to be in the B-Rank realm already. Without them, you wouldn't have had an easy time in there. Skipping the C-Ranks and going to a higher dungeon was careless, and not something to brag about.

Sure, you cleared the F to D Rank dungeons with ease, arguably you are the fastest to do so too, but don't bite more than you can chew, Adam. Accept my help, please." 

' Look at her worrying about me. So cute~.'

Adam knew better than to tease the older woman openly, but inside he was overjoyed. 

She pretended to not be sure about the Rank of his last dungeon raid when he asked, yet she proved to not only know who entered the dungeon with him but also his past week's dungeon raiding history. 

The president of the Hunter Association was keeping tabs on him closely.

*CLAP!* 

A thunderous clap broke the sincere atmosphere that Irene had created. 

The culprit?

Adam himself. 

" Ok, that's enough. If there's a mole or not will come to light eventually. I highly believe that to be the case but I also don't have a way to confirm it at the moment. As for my claims and strength, you will have to taste it yourself." 

"*Sigh* You are as stubborn as your mother you know that?"

Adam smiled at her comment before teleporting one hundred meters away from Irene. 

" Whatever you mean~." 

.....

(Outside of room 3, top floor.)

" So this is the room they're using."

Erza found herself outside of room 3, where her mother and an unknown newbie hunter were.

" If I step in mom is gonna notice."

She had to find a way to get into the room sneakily. Which was very close to impossible.

" I really wanted to peep."

...

" Do you know what enchantment magic is?"

Irene asked as she twirled around her staff, which materialized out of nowhere.

" May I take a guess ?"

Similar to Irene, Adam made a hand gesture and before her stupefied eyes, a corporeal construction resembling an odachi was made.

It's blade had a reddish tone, but it was mostly black.

" Sure."

Tired of getting surprised by Adam's endless repertory of supernatural abilities, Irene decided to focus on the topic at hand before jumping to questions he wouldn't give her a proper answer to.

" Augmentation? Empowering weapons or your own body with magic?"

Irene nodded at Adam's speculations.

" That's a good guess."

Adam smiled at her compliment.

He already knew Irene's magic from watching Fairy Tail back in his last life. Though, if he had to be completely honest, to this day he couldn't properly comprehend it.

Enchanting shouldn't be a hard concept to grasp. It is one of the most common types of support-type magic in most works of fiction.

Yet, the way it was portrayed in the anime left a deep impression in Adam.

Enchanting Magic, in a high degree of mastery, was overpowered.

Surely, in the beginner stages it wasn't anything out of this world. But as one increased their proficiency in the art of enchanting, and their magical power and energy reserves increased, so would the versatility and destructiveness of enchanting.

" You are partially right. Anyone can learn enchantment magic to that level with enough effort and talent, regardless of magical affinity, but very few can master it. Enchantment magic goes way beyond what you just described. You will see." (*1)

She said as she tapped her staff a few times on the ground.

" Irene."

" Yes?"

Adopting an amateurish stance of sword wielding, Adam taunted.

" If I give you a good show, will you teach me that magic of yours ~?"

The older lady scoffed with a mocking smirk at Adam's audacity.

" Brat, if you can make me bleed, even if just a little, I will teach you everything I know."

And that was the trigger.

*BOOM!*

Before Irene could react, Adam appeared behind her back. Something that shouldn't have been that surprising given his teleportation powers.

The problem was ….

' This guy is a monster.'

He only dashed forward.

He wasn't teleporting.

*CLASH!!!*

Without turning around, Irene parried Adam's attack. The sheer force of the impact made his hands tremble.

' That's a dragon for ya.'

Seeing that his attack wasn't successful, as he was already expecting, he was about to retreat a few meters away when his vision turned red.

*FWISHH*

'Shit!'

*BOOOM!!!!*

The wall and ground closest to where he was standing before having to teleport away in panic were blasted with a red beam of energy.

'That could've killed me if it hit my head.'

It was a close call.

" Oh~ I thought you wouldn't use that."

One of Adam's eyebrows twitched at the woman's teasing. She saw right through his intentions.

He was trying to make it a point that he didn't need to rely on his spatial jump to fight her, which failed horribly.

" *Sigh* I guess I deserved that."

Satisfied with his statement, Irene turned around to face him.

Although they were several dozens of meters away from each other, they could communicate with ease.

" Don't hold back. Against me that's just stupid. I'm supposed to grade you and provide you with a new Rank after this, stop playing around."

The seriousness behind her words, along with her stoic face which lacked her usual, teasing smile, told Adam that playtime was over.

" Sorry, I'll attack you for real now. Don't be too surprised."

"What-"

Before she could comply, the young man in her vision vanished.

'Too predictable."

Doing a spatial jump for a backstab attack was the most reasonable action to expect from him.

In front of an opponent who's both stronger and faster, it is always preferable to sneak attack them.

She knew she would do the same if she was in his shoes.

Yet, she felt disappointed.

Was this all he amounted to?

Would he really do the same attack twice in a row with an slightly different approach?

As these thoughts manifested in the back of her mind, a more clear and conscious one arose.

' Where is he ?'

-3 seconds-

It had been 3 seconds.

3 whole seconds since he vanished.

' Wasn't his teleportation instantaneous?'

She was at a loss.

Even if she could not understand the type of energy Adam possessed since she first saw him, she could always tell where he was.

As an advanced life form, she had hyper senses that allowed that.

'Wait, I couldn't feel his presence when he arrived at my office earlier either.'

-5 seconds-

At this point she turned around, completely focusing her magical senses in her eyes.

' Where is he?!'

-7 seconds-

She looked above, below, to her flanks.

Irene examined the whole room, utilizing her senses fully and enchanting them in the process.

-10 seconds-

But she couldn't find him.

' To think he would make me use that in a closed room…'

With a shake of her head, the magician casted a spell out loud for the first time since the examination began.

A High enchant.

" Me no Mahō: Katame." (*2)

Right above the ceiling, overseeing the whole expanse of the gargantuan room, an eye with a cross shaped pupil manifested.

Its size merely a few meters smaller than the training room.

As soon as it appeared, a reddish glow descended in the room with the eye as its epicenter.

" ! "

-15 seconds-

One fourth of a minute had gone by, and Irene Belserion, one of the strongest hunters alive, was unable to find her opponent. A mere "F-Rank" rookie.

It was alarming.

In a high level battle, 1 second could determine victory or defeat.

But 15?

If Adam had the means to actually damage her body, which was extremely unlikely provided her race's constitution, she would already be dead.

Sighing resignedly, she dispelled her eye magic.

Soon, the room return to its previous level of brightness, unaffected by the magically enhanced scanning it had experienced.

" I commend you, Adam. Whatever you are doing, I doubt anyone other than you can accomplish it. To hide from me, and not be found is an already incredible achievement. But, I can't increase your rank with just that."

With a tap of her staff, the same reddish energy from before appeared, encasing the entirety of the room, and before the astonished eyes of Adam, who was actually standing right next to Irene, it started to shrink.

' Universe One? The scale is minuscule, but there's no doubt this is Universe One.'

In the span of a few seconds what used to be miles and miles of space, reduced to a 5 square meters cubicle.

A claustrophobic's worst nightmare.

" Don't die."

*BOOOOOOM!!!!*

With another tap, hundreds of red enchanted explosions , also know as "Kietenakunare", took place, with Irene in its center, seemingly unaffected by the sheer magnitude of destruction the room was currently being exposed to.

If this place wasn't the culmination of years of magical development by using the most rare artifacts from the highest ranked dungeons the association could get their hands on, the white room would've already been destroyed to smithereens.

" You can hide, I will give you that. But hiding in the face of a boss monster could turn out ugly if you're careless. Don't rely too much on it."

She was lecturing Adam, who she knew was somewhere around her evading the explosions she was delivering.

The woman wanted to humble Adam, and this was her most desperate way of doing so.

" Also…"

But just as she was about to continue with her speech, a bolt of sheer arousal descended down her back.

Around her waist, she could feel a strong, firm arm holding her tightly, with its hand resting slightly above her navel.

The hot breath of a carnivorous creature blowed next to her right ear, which hastened her breathing by a few notches.

On her bottom, she could feel the shape of a sleeping dragon pressing against her.

" If I knew hiding would make you this desperate I would've done so sooner."

Before she could utter a single word, a stinging pain of minor proportions in her neck prevented it.

Looking down, utter confusion reflected on her face.

The Odachi's blade was gently pressed against her neck, close enough to make a small cut on her unblemished skin.

Though, "gently" would be a strong word to use in this case.

Adam was exerting as much strength as he could in addition to applying his shadows and pyrokinesis to the mix.

' Is this the deepest I can cut? Even with shadow and fire coating? Shit, dragons are no joke.'

" Adam, what are you?"

That's all she could ask.

Sure, she was holding back. She could've ended him ages ago if she was in her dragon form, where she was truly an SSS-Rank in her peak.

She could've actively used spells from her main magic affinity instead of relying solely on enchanting the air around her and the room.

But why would she?

Why would a high rank veteran fight a promising, yet immature newbie with all she got?

This form, her human form and basic enchantments with no use of her affinity should have been more than enough.

" What do you mean? I'm your new disciple~."

Little did she know, she wasn't the only one holding back.

.....

Hello.

So, there are a few things I need to say.

First and foremost.

This is not a fairy tail world base story.

I've said it before but this is an original world, for those who may not remember.

Sure, there are fairy tail characters in it, but the way the energies and magic works in their original world will be altered in my story.

So think of them as characters from an alternative universe which are bound by the rules of this FF's world.

I can't change how magic works for every individual character. There has to be a middle ground where every magic relates to the other.

Affinities would be one aspect.

Every magic related character has one affinity.( or more than one)

Irene is specialized in Enchantment Magic, which is an affinityless magic that any mage can use. ( anyone who has an affinity, studies magic formulas and applies it, is a mage in this story.) So by going with this logic, she should also have an affinity. ( Elemental or not.)

I'll give a few options of what her affinity will be, y'all can comment on the ones you prefer.

Fire Affinity. ( Elemental.)

Space ( Non-Elemental.)

Time ( Non-Elemental.)

Suggestion. (Whatever you want.)

If no one really cares to interact I'll just choose it myself.

She's not a human or a "dragon slayer", she's a dragon. So no dragon slayer magic bullshit.

So she will also have dragon magic as a perk, which greatly enhances her affinity( the one you choose) and enchantments.

1*: As previously stated, Enchantment Magic is not an affinity, but an application of a mage's energy that enhances their own magic. Anyone can learn it, provided they own an affinity and are taught how to control their energy properly.

So, it is viewed as a support type mage technique that many learn, but few master.

This is also another aspect that makes hunter mages more versatile than supernatural power-type awakened hunters. There are other non affinity related abilities that mages have which will be disclosed later, but I know most of you can guess what they are.

2*: "Me no Mahō: Katame" is a mix of Irene's know eye magic from the show and a literal translation of "one eyed" to Japanese ( 一つ目の), which may or may not be accurate. "Me no Mahō" stands for "eye magic", which in itself doesn't describe Irene's technique from the show, but the technique's magic type, Eye Magic. I tried researching for the technique's name but to no avail, so like I did with Tatsumaki's last name, I made it up.

I know the examination was underwhelming, tbh I've been finding it hard to actually get into writing fighting scenes seriously. I just feel like at this point, Adam can't truly have a hard time against anyone below SSS-Rank.

His stats may place him as an S-Ranked, but he has too many powers, not to mention that they will be more in the near future when the randomizer function is unlocked.

And the thing is, I don't wanna nerf him. I prefer to get shit for making him too OP too soon rather than making him weak for no reason.

It was stated in the beginning of the story that this world was one without Gods. Basically, a playground for Adam to eventually become its god.

Nerfing him with this premise already on the table is just dumb.

Anyways, sorry for the unneeded venting.

I hope you are doing great and Merry Christmas !!!