I had to stop running after 10 minutes because Kyle was slow as fuck and needed to catch a breath. We had left Texiha and were outside the influence of Healerguy.


    "Huff, so fast… are you even human? You aren''t even breaking a sweat."  Well, this is far enough, we can rest and walk the rest, our destination is Jurna jungle.


    "The jungle? It''s going to take weeks to get there!"


    Hmm, I realize that I don’t know what realistic travel times are for humans. I always run or get carried by Io. Do I tell this kid? Bad idea I guess, if a random guy told me he''s a mythical or legendary being I would… hmm I would believe him. My perspective might be biased. I''m sure Kyle''s is not going to buy into this. How about I carry him. Let''s go for that!


    Nobody has time for that, I''ll show you something cool after you rest up.  I gave him some food and we ate in silence .


    "You aren''t just another kidnapper, right?"  Would I tell you if I really was one?


    "Probably not. Why do you need a successor?"  I do put value on the skills Silent Night has but I don''t necessarily want to be one. My skill set is so wide that sticking within that one will close off opportunities.


    I spouted some random stuff here to avoid telling him that I don''t want to deal with Io but there was some truth in it. Maybe Vice Daddy didn''t give me a role for that reason "Water user" was way more valuable than any role I would have back then. With no role adventurers would look for other things that could make me stand out. Normally they would see a role they didn''t need and skip it.


    What if there are still things added to my profile like cult destroyer or something… I need to check this the next time I visit the Adventurer’s Association. I haven''t checked my personal requests in years…


    "Hello? Are you listening?"  No sorry, could you repeat that?


    "What else do you have in your skillset?"  You wouldn''t believe me if I told you so I will show you when it''s time. And now is the time for one of them! Hop on my back unless you want to run more.


    "Uhh, ok"  Damn you''re light, you need to eat more.


    "I was a poor street rat moments ago, remember?"  Fair point.


    I started running and Kyle couldn''t believe how fast we were going. He kept reminding me that we were going fast. As if I didn''t know…


    <hr>


    We reached home on day 214.


    “Whoa this place is amazing; did you really live here?” Kyle said as he admired this amazing spot I had claimed.


    Yeah, let me show you, my hideout.  I chased away some monkeys and fixed up my hideout.


    “I never saw a waterfall, it''s magnificent.”  Hehe if this amazes you wait till you meet my friend Vinny but let''s rest up, I''m going to put you through the wringer tomorrow. There is something I did that''s keeping you undetectable now but I’m going to remove it tomorrow and see how you will do hehe.


    “I am confident in my stealth.”  I know I’m just curious.


    I showed him the important parts of the hideout and we went to sleep early. The next day came and I brought him deep into the jungle and brought him to the dungeon where Vinny and I fought the behemoth. The plants were slowly reclaiming it.


    “What is that?”  An ancient ruin. Now here is the first training. Find your way back to the hideout safely. Good luck.


    I went into stealth and shattered the illusions I made to hide him from the jungle dragons and returned to the hideout. He probably didn''t realize what the big deal was but I already noticed that the dragons reacted to Kyle’s sudden appearance. He just casually retraced the steps to get back here. I got some popcorn out and watched from the roof of my hideout. Dragons making contact with Kyle in 3…2…1… And! He freaked out! He went into stealth but since he was still in the jungle the dragons had no issue finding him.


    There were only 2 dragons but even 1 dragon is too hard to handle for a human. I wonder why they sent 2 dragons for 1 human. Was something weird happening here?


    He used various methods to shake off the dragons and found a spot to hide temporarily. He had 5 minutes of rest when a dragon found him. He responded by sending [Fireballs] at the dragons but it seems he didn''t have a fire affinity. [Fireball] is just a basic spell almost anyone knows.


    He shot some [Dark Bolts] and shadow blobs and while these had more power than his [Fireball] they didn''t do as much damage as the [Fireball], the dragons weren''t happy getting hit by fire though. Kyle was keeping his head relatively cool for the situation he was in but he was still panicking. I wondered if he would be able to make it or if I had to save him. He still was heading in the right direction despite his panic. He was 1/4th of the way here.


    He made it halfway before the dragons caught him and he could go nowhere. I decided to step in, got to him in no time and covered him in illusions. The dragons had no clue how he could disappear so suddenly.  You did well for the first time.


    “Wha… there are dragons here! Is this how you got so strong?”  Uhh let''s go with that, let’s get you a fresh dip in the basin and some food.


    Even though he just went through a traumatic experience he took it well. He took his time relaxing and ate as many fruits as he could.  This training might seem harsh but do you think any human would be able to catch you if you can escape jungle dragons in their own habitat?


    “You are insane, but then again normal methods don''t make legends.” He kept eating and looking around expecting a dragon to appear any moment. “How come the dragons don''t come here?”  I will tell you but not now.


    “You’re enjoying this aren''t you?”  Of course, but I''m making sure it''s enjoyable and that it''s useful to you.


    “I don''t see how scaring the shit out of me and making me run for my life is useful but I agree that if I can hide from them, a human will have no chance of finding me.”  And this is why you survived this long around that cult. You''re strong kid, let nobody tell you otherwise.


    “But you''re a kid too, what''s your story?”  Just the standard tragic story of losing my hometown when I was young.


    “I don''t think that’s standard though… I just lost my parents; you lost your town.”  Town and parents yeah, but nothing I can do about that now.


    “You know my story, don''t blow me off here, tell me more.”  Well, I can''t go into all the details but I lost my home when I was 7, it got invaded by… I don’t know what exactly, me and my 3 friends survived it somehow, we don''t know where the rest is and we can''t find them, we’re trying to find out but we’re still nowhere closer 10 years later.


    “Your friends? Where are they now?”  Well, you see we got sold into slavery, and that accounts for the first 5 years. We managed to escape and wandered around. A friend of mine got caught and imprisoned. Me and my 3 other friends went to break him out and… we left 1 friend behind… He was like a brother to us. This made us realize that we were weak and cocky. We split up 1.5 years ago to go out and train and become strong. We might have been holding each other back because each of us has a skillset to complement the other but once we got split up our weakness really did a number on us.


    “Is that why you put so much importance on friends and those close to you?”  Yeah.


    “So, you honed your skills as a Silent Night but want to expand your skill set?”  Uh, no I’ve only been doing this Silent Night thing for half a year.


    Kyle dropped the passionfruit he was eating. “Wait what? What did you do for the other year then?”  You will all find out. But now you know my story.


    “You didn''t tell me how you got super-rich and quite well-known.  Ehh, I just sold some rubies… I don’t understand it either, everyone is making me to be more important than I am but I’m just a random guy that lost his hometown and a friend.


    “This doesn''t seem like random or a standard story to me, have you told Rubert this?”  Who is Rubert?


    “Right, he told me that you''re known for your recklessness and forgetfulness, the guy that you call Healerguy his name is Rubert.“  Oh, so he had a name! And no why would I tell him this?


    “No clue, but I guess I have no right to complain your life has been worse than mine.” I grabbed him by his shoulders.  You have a right to complain! Your life sucks too! Now go get powerful and make sure this never happens to you again and maybe one day you could help people in similar situations or destroy the world, call me when you feel like destroying the world, I have great ideas!


    “You sound like a villain…”  Anything wrong with that? Every story needs a villain.


    “Don’t villains always lose?”  Only in shitty stories. Villains have been winning in real life for the longest of time. If you ever have the chance to, check out Itris. Although it might still be a mess after what I did there. And your situation also proves it, how many people must that cult have killed? They had many wins, their only loss was when they encountered me. 1 loss versus how many wins?


    “That’s an interesting perspective, now I’m curious what did you do to Itris?”  That''s a story for another time go rest, you will need it for tomorrow hehe.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    “Oh no…”


    <hr>


    Kyle spent 9 days getting chased by dragons till he managed to reach the hideout and 4 more days to create long periods of time where the dragons had no clue where he was.  Well, that was impressive, you must be tired, go rest up we’re going to meet my friend Vinny tomorrow. Hehe, this is going to be fun.


    “Ugh, there you go again.” Kyle collapsed on the floor exhausted and fell asleep. I made sure to put him in the comfy budget bed I made for him.


    The next day came and we walked toward the trunk in stealth.


    Kyle looked around in horror. “Hey, what the fuck are we doing here? This is the lair of the jungle dragons! Are you crazy?!”  It took you this long to realize I was crazy? Come.


    I dropped out of stealth and barged into Vinny’s lair.  Sup Vinny!


    Vinny turned around. “Oh, Agnis you’re back!”  Kyle stop being a wuss and get out of stealth.


    Kyle reluctantly dropped out of stealth. I felt the dragons reacting but they weren''t doing anything stupid, yet.


    “Oh, you finally made a friend, I’m Vinny a jungle dragon as you can see.”


    “A… dragon… is your friend?” Kyle looked at me as if he had no clue how to react.


    “Ugh, I’m sure Agnis didn''t tell you anything, he probably got a lot of laughs out of this, are you the human that kept reappearing and disappearing for the last 2 weeks?”


    “Yeah… he made me do it!” Kyle said as he pointed at me.  Hey, at least your stealth is so good now that you poof out of existence if it''s against humans.


    “You don''t seem to have a problem finding me though…”


    “Oh, Kyle… please sit down. You are probably having a hard time believing that you are talking to a dragon, right?” Vinny said as he shifted to his human form.


    Kyle sat down. “Yah.”


    “Moreover, as I myself discovered and Agnis pointed out, dragons don''t generally bother learning Kaledonian so most can’t even communicate with humans so talking to a dragon is already rare as it gets do you realize this?”


    “Yeah, I have heard myths and legends about dragons but never about having a conversation with them.” Kyle said after nodding.


    “Right now, however rare that is. Discard that idea because talking to Agnis is even more rare than talking to a dragon. You might not even know about the existence of his race. I’m sure you might have realized by now that he isn''t a human.”


    Kyle looked at me. “Wait I know he’s weird but you''re saying he’s not a human? Then what is he?”  You know it''s not nice to tell others secrets you know Vinny...


    Vinny shook his head. “I don''t know how long you would keep him around but he would figure out sooner or later, you don''t even know how to act like a human!”  You don''t either!


    “You''re correct but do you see me living between them?!”  Ugh, I hate it when you''re correct.


    “You just don''t make sense from time to time…”


    “So, is he a ghost or something? He looks like a human to me.” Kyle took another good look at me.


    I guess the fox is out of the bag.  I showed my 9 tails and fox ears.


    “Whoa! I’m sorry I have no idea what you are.” Kyle said surprise. His surprise turned into curiosity as I noticed that his eyes were following the movements of my tails.


    “This is a nine-tailed spirit fox, the most endangered mythical beings, last in series of the tailed beasts, I don''t know if you''ve ever heard of them.”  Of course he hasn''t, he’s young and humans don''t care as much about the planet as we do.


    “I have never heard of them sorry, so when you said you lost your hometown…”  Yup everyone from my race and other mythical and legendary beings disappeared and are nowhere to be found.


    Vinny acted shocked, or maybe he was shocked. “Hey wait Agnis, you never told me this!”  Uhh, I didn''t? I told you about our numbers being close to the double digits, right?


    “Well, I mean about your hometown and stuff.”  Oh yeah, I guess I didn''t.


    I told Vinny the same story I told Kyle. “Wait, you did say you were the son of Edea Hourai but you never said Hourai is gone!”


    “Is that a big deal?” Kyle asked out of curiosity. He''s young and a human so it makes sense that he doesn''t know.


    Vinny gave Kyle a crash course of what legendary and mythical creatures have as role. Kyle turned pale.  See this is why I wanted to keep my identity hidden he’s just a kid this is too much for him to take in at once.


    “And why does the kid argument only count for humans? You’re a kid too but you still have to deal with all this shit possibly alone, I can only help where a dragon can help, I can’t do anything where a spirit fox is needed!”  But this is not his responsibility neither his fault! He will now go through life knowing that humans hunting down mythical and legendary beings is speeding up the demise of the planet. I already met one human that isn''t proud to be a human, we don’t need more of them, not all humans are bad, yet.


    “And how are we going to stop them from hurting the planet more? By not telling them? What if you suddenly pop your tails in a human city, how many humans will protect you knowing that killing you specifically sets the planet one foot in the grave?!”  I understand your point but Kyle already has a lot of baggage, now is not the time to dump this all on him, he first needs to be able to fend for himself and his brother before he can worry about other things.


    “It’s fine, thank you. This is indeed a lot to take in. I would love to talk more but I need time to think, is it ok if I come back later?” Kyle looked as if he just saw a ghost.


    “Sure, I will tell the other dragons to leave you alone and that this is yet another spirit fox prank.”  Thanks, Vinny we will be back in several days, you could use a long break, Kyle.  I hid my tails, went into stealth, and carried Kyle back to my hideout.


    <hr>


    “Hey, Agnis what would you do if a city caught someone from your race and held them prisoner or even worse killed them?”  I told you this before, I would burn the city down to save him.


    “Are you stronger than a dragon?”  Uhh depends on how old they are but I could probably wipe out that lair of jungle dragons quite easily since they’re relatively young and weak to fire.


    “Isn''t your race immortal? Doesn''t that mean you are like hundreds of years old?”  Oh no, I''m actually 17 years old in human. I just turned 1 year old by my race’s standard I won''t turn 2 until I reach 81 years in human years. So, I’m basically a baby.


    “I see. I guess you won''t destroy the world because your task is to keep it together. Is this why so many weird things are happening lately?”  Uhh, yeah and not to scare you but it''s only going to get worse, most of the races Vinny talked about don''t have the numbers to do their job properly without risking death.


    “So, we’re doomed?" Kyle said downcast.  Pretty much but this won’t happen in your lifespan.


    “But it will happen in yours.”  Seeing as how things are going, probably not, I will probably kick the bucket way before that happens.


    “How can you talk so carefree about dying?!”  It’s my nature, I guess. Anyways let''s make the best of the time we have. You need to become strong to become my successor and protect your brother. Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself and your brother.


    “Sure, I had the impression that you were extremely selfish but it seems I was wrong. I can see why Rubert told me to keep an eye out on you.”  Why does everyone keep saying stuff like that…


    Kyle got a long rest and thought about Vinny’s words a lot and even asked me some questions. We went back to Vinny’s place and had some catch-up and stayed there for 3 days. Kyle listened to Vinny’s adventures and my adventures.


    “You guys are crazy! Is this how immortals live?”


    “Agnis’ life is crazy but how is my life crazy?”


    “Going all the way to Hurricane Path, going with this lunatic into a dungeon.”  Hey! I’m not a lunatic!


    “Yet, and all the other things you did like going to the elven forest.”  Well elves are very welcoming to dragons, kinda, they will shoot down any human that comes close though.


    “And your adventures… no sane person or no mortal could do any of that…”  Lucky that I’m neither. But that''s over I''ve been behaving the last half year.


    “So, you want me to join Silent Night in your place to gain experience?”  Correct. I will teach you some shadow tricks I learned and the basics of creating poison and you should be fine. I brought you to Vinny because he can probably help you. Your expertise is different than mine so you could benefit more from using poison than I could.


    “I see. I will do it.” Kyle''s eyes were filled with determination. I don''t know what made him so determined but that is not my problem.


    “So, you will mix poisons with me during the night and do shadow training with Agnis during the day. You must be the first human to be trained by a mythical and legendary being.” Vinny said as he had changed to a professor outfit. he seems to like his human form.


    “I will do my best to not disappoint.” I am a bit disappointed that his arrogant side has melted away but this speeds up his training a lot. I guess it''s hard to be arrogant when a dragon and 9t are breathing down your neck. Maybe it''s my fault that went away.


    We spent 2 months training Kyle. He got way better at Esher’s technique than I was and obviously, he got better at mixing poisons than I was because Vinny is a genius in this and I completely half-assed poison mixing. Kyle even taught me some tricks on how to be a bit better at Esher’s technique.


    <hr>


    Day 273, June 33rd, Kyle turned 16 and we had a party at the dragons'' place. It was also to indicate that his training was over.


    He got the umbral pendant as a gift and I told him about the location of the Loud Sun and about Bernie. He said he would check up on his brother first, get an adventurer''s ID, do some missions, and then go to the Silent Night.


    I warned him about Io and he said he would be careful. We all decided to do nothing for another month and enjoy the wonders of the jungle before we would head off. I would carry him to Saluk, the sand city where he would become an adventurer. We would hang around there for a bit and I would bring him back to Texiha where he would visit his brother and adventure more. From there we would go our own ways.