“A divinity school is a special kind of school where students study mainly about The God; There are medical schools, which study the mechanisms of the human body; Then there are business schools, which study the age-old question of ‘trading’. Cassel College is also such a special school. We study…”
Professor Guderian got up, grabbed the corner of the huge canvas behind him and took it off violently.
Ferocious picture exposed in the light. When Lu Mingfei’s sight touched the painting, he felt as if he was going to be pushed out of the train by the force.
It was the pressure of the painting.
The sky is a mixture of iron and blue with fire, and the only thing standing is a huge tree, its dead branches stretching in all directions, forming a dense net to support the cracked sky. The wasteland is covered with bones and a black giant is rising from the depths of the pile of bones with skeletons hanging from its wings. It stretches its huge membranous wings and spitting black flames to the sky.
A piercing roar echoed in Lu Mingfei’s head, and he thought he could even hear the roar of the monster.
“Dragon?” His voice was trembling.
“Yes, dragon. To be more precise, the dragon’s emperor, Nidhogg. According to the Nordic myth “The Elder Edda”, when Ragnarok is coming, it will bite to destroy the world tree Yggdrasill. On that day, the world will be destroyed.” Professor Guderian’s finger went through those hardbacks on the shelf. “If you know Latin, you can read the names of these books. DRAGON GENEALOGY, DRAGON AND SPEAKING SPIRIT, KEY OF SOLOMON, DRAGON BLOOD THEORY, DRAGON GENETICS… These are our accumulation for thousands of years. Countless generations of people were looking for the dragon and studying them. Cassel College is organized by these people. At Cassel, you can choose alchemy engineering, magic mechanical design, dragon’s blood theory, and so on, all with the ultimate goal,” he looked straight into Lu Mingfei’s eyes, “to slay the dragon!”
“To… To slay a dragon?”
“Dragon slaying,” Professor Guderian nodded, “has been going on for thousands of years in places you don’t know. Human has written one history without dragons, but another one with dragons in every line. But this secret is so amazing that if it were to be revealed, the possible negative consequences could not be determined. So we, families that are called ‘The Blood Generations’, in the past several thousand years, had held the secret jointly and took the mission of killing dragons. We had cultivated generations good at fighting, spells, magic and alchemy, and put them on the battlefield constantly. We buried dragon’s efforts of revival again and again. Until today, Cassel College had inherited those families’ legacy.”
“Le… Legacy?”
“Yes, because the dragon slayer’s families in history are huge and most of them have died out. In the new era, we can’t rely on family inheritance anymore. We must introduce the modern educational system.” Professor Guderian took his hand to Lu Mingfei. “Welcome to Cassel College, Lu Mingfei!”
“Wait… Don’t hold out your hand and say welcome without waiting for someone to decide, ok? Is your college the specialized school that trains dragon slayer? Come on!” Lu Mingfei had convulsion on his face. “Can the joke not be so funny? What is this? Is the opening CG of the new series of Dragon Quest? How did I get into your CG? Can you give me a portal to get out?”
There was a huge crash. The train shook, all the lights flickered out and darkness arrived.
“Hey, did the train hit the mountain?” Lu Mingfei touched his body, not injured, “Anyone got hurt? Does anyone know where the candle is?”
“Lu Mingfei, they are telling the truth.” Someone whispered in the dark.
All the lights came back on. It was the same luxurious train, the same leather sofa, but Professor Guderian and Fingel were gone. He turned his head and found the boy he saw in Chicago Station was sitting beside him.
“You, you, you… When did you get on the train?” Lu Mingfei stammered.
“I was always on the train, waiting for it just like you.” The boy said blandly.
“You sound like a ghost… ” said Lu Mingfei.
“Look out of the window,” the boy said. “welcome to… The land of the dragon!”
Lu Mingfei followed the boy’s sight to see the window with dilated eyes. In front of the world, he even lost the power of breathing.
It was no longer a dark night. The train was speeding across the vast expanse of ice. The white and bluish ice covered the mountains that pierced the sky, which was blood-red colour. Big rain was pouring down, every drop of it was bright red, down the window of the train. On the top of the ice mountain, the dragon in the picture was lying quietly, its wings reaching down to the foot of the mountain. Groups of people were climbing up the wings of the dragon, and those who reached the summit were around the head of the dragon. They nailed sharp iron cones to the skull of the dragon and beat the tail of the iron cones with great efforts. Every time a hole was drilled, a fountain of white slurry gusted out and evaporated into a rich white gas. Those people were shouting loud and cheering.
“The king of the black dragon, Nidhogg, who was killed thousands of years ago on his throne. The throne is the mountain that is always covered with snow and ice, and the killers had placed his huge body on the top of the mountain. His wings were down to the foot of the mountain, his blood ran down like lava, reddening the whole mountain, melting the ice and snow. Then the blood-coloured vapour rose into the sky, turning into dark red clouds and raining bright red rain. His killers bathed in the rain and hailed the day as ‘new age’.” The boy whispered.
“My God…!” Lu Mingfei was trembling at the sound of the hammer hitting the end of the iron cone.
“This is the oldest emperor that history has never recorded, and on the day he died, all the people cheered.” The boy’s voice was still calm.
He seemed to enjoy the sound of the blows, closing his eyes in silent admiration and smiling a little.
“So good. If it hadn’t been for that day, the world wouldn’t be the place it is today.” He opened his eyes and looked at Lu Mingfei.
Somehow, Lu Mingfei felt his smile was so sad.
Being sad…For thousands of years.
“You and the black dragon… Are familiar?” Lu Mingfei asked tentatively.
“No, on the contrary,” said the boy lightly. “I’m the one who wants to kill him the most. In the world, no one would wish to kill him more than me!”
Lu Mingfei opened his eyes and found himself lying on a cowherd bench, covered with a blanket. It is a quaint study, surrounded by bookcases with a crystal chandelier on the roof.
Lu Mingfei sat up and looked around, not far away from the desk side, Professor Guderian is dozing.
“Are you awake?” Professor Guderian raised his dishevelled head.
“Where is this? Did we have an accident? I just felt a rumble.” Lu Mingfei pressed his forehead, which seemed to have a jumping blood vessel.
“We got to Cassel College and everything went well. How could we bump into a mountain? You were so scared at the orientation that you fainted, so you were taken off the train…” Professor Guderian said: “There have been students who have been tutored before who have been quite surprised, but it’s really unprecedented for you to react like this. The dragons…” Guderian spread out his hands. “Is there so much fear? It’s essentially just a strong species.”
“No!” Lu Mingfei stared at Professor Guderian, “I’m not afraid of dragons… Have you seen the TERMINATOR?”
“Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger, I like him, the current governor of California.” Professor Guderian nodded.
“Do you remember? There is a story about John Connor’s mother in the police station, telling the police that she saw a robot from time travel, he came from an era when humans were almost dying, the robot with a laser rifle shooting everywhere…” Said Lu Mingfei. “So the police said you’re crazy!”
“You think I’m insane?”
“Or I’m insane!” Claimed Lu Mingfei loudly.
“Well, for some freshmen, we have to show them the proof!” Professor Guderian clapped his hands.
The door opened and a middle-aged man with the words “I’m a Japanese” written across his face rushed in with a black suitcase with silvery metal side on each hand. After placing his two suitcases on the table, he bowed respectfully to Lu Mingfei and introduced himself in fluent Chinese. “My name is Yasushi Tomiyama, psychology teacher and counsellor. Nice to meet our ‘S’ level freshman. ‘S’ level hasn’t shown up for over 40 years.”
“Is it? May I ask who that ‘S’ freshman was forty years ago? Dragonborn?” 1) Lu Mingfei tried to use these people’s thinking way to speak.
“He had a chance, but he shot himself in the second semester of his sophomore year, so there was no follow-up.” Yasushi Tomiyama was very candid.
“Shot himself?”
“Because of his excellent performance and sharp thinking way, he felt into some philosophical difficulties when he studied the dragon’s book, and suicide before he could free himself. Later, we added a psychology counsellor.” Yasushi Tomiyama said.
“Sounds good,” said Lu Mingfei, catching his breath. “I’ve always had a reputation for being slow.”
“But you have potential!” Professor Guderian gave Yasushi Tomiyama a glowing thumbs-up, apparently indicating that he is the best student.
Lu Mingfei didn’t understand why he was glowing and wanted to cover his own face.
“We have brought with us two pieces of evidence of the existence of dragons in the world, both of which are of very high quality and we have borrowed them from the archives of the college.” Yasushi Tomiyama opened the first suitcase with the password and fingerprint. After removed layers of foam, Lu Mingfei saw a black scale, about half the size of the palm. It shows a perfect shield shape, and its surface is as smooth as oil, with clearly discernible texture.
“Pinch it.” Yasushi Tomiyama said.
Lu Mingfei picked up the scale carefully, and it felt like a fake. The texture was like steel, cold and tough, but the weight was very light. It was close to plastic with sharp edges. At this point, Yasushi Tomiyama put something into his hand.
Lu Mingfei was stunned, it was a pistol.
“Walter PPK pistol, 7.65 mm calibre, 280 m/s muzzle speed, effective range 50 m with some improvements made by the guys in the Armament Department. Now, you can shoot at the scales with it.” Yasushi Tomiyama placed the scale on the windowsill.
“I know this gun… James Bond used it, too.” Lu Mingfei’s face was pale.
“Yeah, that’s it.” Yasushi Tomiyama covered his ears. “Don’t worry, just shoot. Aim for the scale.”
“The logic of madmen is incomprehensible.” Lu Mingfei raised the gun with a bitter face, according to what he learned in high school military training and aimed at the scales.
A loud bang, Lu Mingfei felt like he was hit in the chest by a heavy hammer. The backseat force from the PPK made him feel that he had just fired a cannonball. He overturned and fell into the sofa behind, almost out of breath.
“So he is not that kind of outstanding student on physical strength!” Yasushi Tomiyama’s voice came beside his ear. “Maybe I should bring a regular revolver.”
“Is this gun from the Armament Department? Alas, the things that those lunatics have reformed should not be tried so easily!” Professor Guderian complained.
“A little bit curious at the moment. It’s a good gun, although it may not be able to blow out the dragon’s eyes with one shot, it is estimated that it can leave some marks on fourth generations and fifth generations.” Yasushi Tomiyama said.
Lu Mingfei shook his head hard and saw the situation around. The first thing is Professor Guderian’s face full of concern, and the second thing is the black scales in hand of Yasushi Tomiyama, a perfect black scales, nothing left on its surface. Lu Mingfei is absolutely sure that he just shot the center of the scales. He is not a physically outstanding student, but in the military training 2) he’s the student who hit all the targets. Even his instructor was surprised by this normal guy.
A gun likes cannon could not even pierce the scale.
“This is the dragon scale, which Sven Hedin found in the ancient city of Loulan, Xinjiang, China, in 1900. He couldn’t recognize it, but he found that neither fire nor hammer could damage it. So, he brought it back from China to Europe. It was recognized in Europe by Maynic Cassel. That’s one of the proofs. Now you’re supposed to believe it a little bit?” Yasushi Tomiyama said.
“Can’t it be high-tech?” Lu Mingfei was still stubborn.
“Even a titanium alloy made of nanotechnology can’t stop a shot like that, right?” Yasushi Tomiyama said, “I have a Ph.D. in the material major from the University of Tokyo, you have to believe me.”
Not only all the people here are crazy, but also all these people are highly educated. Lu Mingfei thought.
“Well, then the second proof.” Yasushi Tomiyama opened the second suitcase. A cylindrical glass bottle looks like the one used in biology class to hold specimens, was brought to Lu Mingfei.
Lu Mingfei opened his mouth as if he had been struck by lightning. If Yasushi Tomiyama had stuck an orange in his mouth, he probably wouldn’t have noticed. In the yellowish formalin solution was a lizard-like creature, yellow-white, with a long, curled tail, like a fetus in the womb. Its long whiskers were floating slowly in the solution, looking as serene as a baby with its eyes closed. If it weren’t for the two wings spread out on the back of the thing, Lu Mingfei would think it was some kind of ancient lizard.
“This is a red dragon cub. It’s not even dead yet but just sleeping. Dragons are hard to kill, especially those aristocratic dragons: First generations and second generations. Even if you destroy their body, you cannot destroy the soul, they will wake up again.” Yasushi Tomiyama said, “It is an extremely rare specimen. Humans often fail to capture the dragon, because dragons can feel the activity of the human brain, and it will run away or attack. This specimen was found in India in 1796. Luckily, the red dragon cub was probably just hatching when it was swallowed by a python. Some farmers killed the python and got the cub.”
“Isn’t it really plastic?” Lu Mingfei covered his face. “I’m done. My worldview is done.”
“Look at it up close, look at the details, look at the scale, what kind of artist could make this perfect plastic?” Yasushi Tomiyama put the glass bottle in front of him.
Now through a half centimetre thick glass, he’s facing the dragon. Its membranous wings and whiskers were fluttering in the solution, suspended like in clouds. Yasushi Tomiyama is right. The details, the lines, are so real that only nature or god can create such things. They exist in the shadows of history, in the legends of different peoples, in the limits of the human imagination, and in this sealed glass bottle.
“Perfect, isn’t it?” Yasushi Tomiyama said with admiration.
“Perfect.” Lu Mingfei mumbled.
He stared at the membrane that covered the dragon’s eye and thought of the golden pupils that opened slowly in the darkness as if the door of the world had opened before his eyes.
The red dragon cub in the formalin solution suddenly opened its eyes, its golden eyes. It shivered convulsively from head to tail, craned its neck to shout at Lu Mingfei, and then the burning flame was ignited in the depth of its throat and ejected! It struggled to open its wings, trying to break the bottle: It came to life with body big as a cat, but with the majesty of the dragon.
Lu Mingfei did not dodge. The three were all silly, looking at the ancient specimen’s resurrection in front of them.
The little dragon’s flame died out in an instant, and formalin solution was poured into its throat, making it cough as painfully as a drowning man. At the same time, it failed to break through the glass bottle. The centuries-old recovery ended as quickly as it began, and soon the cub curled itself up again, serene and dormant.
“Ahhhh!” Lu Mingfei was able to scream finally and pointed at the bottle shakily.
“Don’t shout.” Murmured professor Guderian.
“Don’t you see? Don’t you see it? Just now it came back to life! It’s alive! Live dragon!” Shouted Lu Mingfei, shaking the absolutely silly old fellow.
“Yes,” said professor Guderian, turning to Yasushi Tomiyama. “You saw that too, right?”
Yasushi Tomiyama’s face turned pale and he could only nod. “Yes… But that’s not my idea… I didn’t know it would wake up…” he raised his voice suddenly, almost shouting. “What the hell? Did the archivists get the labels wrong? It’s supposed to wake up in 2077! They’ll kill us for mislabeling like that! Just now it sprayed dragon’s flame! Dragon’s flame!”
“Fortunately from last year we replaced the container to nanomaterials, otherwise it can’t hold up…” Professor Guderian broke out in a cold sweat. “My god, Professor Manstein and I calculated the day it woke up. Unless… Unless it’s the Lineage Call!”
“Lineage Call?” Yasushi Tomiyama turned to look at Lu Mingfei like looking at a monster.
“What would bring the dragon to life early, other than the Lineage Call?” Professor Guderian’s eyes blazing and he slapped Lu Mingfei strongly on the shoulder. “Now you know what a great man you are, Lu Mingfei?”
The shoulder of Lu Mingfei should be collapse patted by the professor, “What? Don’t lay such a deadly accident on me! I have done nothing!”
“The dragon king is the one who can subdue humans by mere staring. You don’t have to do much, because you are a dragon hybrid with second generation’s power!” Professor Guderian nodded at Lu Mingfei with all his strength.
1) Dragonborn: In the game Elder Scroll, the player will become Dragonborn, whose goal is to kill dragons.
2) What military training is just normal physical training for 10 days before students enter university. They will be able to shoot once during the train.
Dragon's Raja 