Dragons begin with courage

"Slay... a dragon?"

Lu Mingfei slumped in a soft seat on the CC1000 train, feeling that his experiences over the past dozen hours were enough to write a "Travel Guide to Absurd Realism." First, he landed in Chicago and was fined $500 by a customs officer with eyebrows that could kill a fly for "suspicious expression." Then, like a headless fly, he searched for a non-existent "CC1000" platform in the maze-like Union Station. Finally, he waited for an old-fashioned train that was rusty and looked like it had traveled from the steam age, and then a senior student named Finger, who claimed to be an "eighth-year" student at Kassel College, appeared. This man was disheveled and had sleepy eyes, looking like he had been sleeping on a train station bench for half a month.

The train sped through the pitch-black tunnel, the light and shadow outside the window flickering strangely, while the interior lights were a stark white. He even hallucinated, seeing a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old, dressed in a pure black evening suit, staring at him with those burning golden eyes, muttering things like "deal" and "refusal," before disappearing like mist.

However, all these bizarre encounters seemed... somewhat insignificant when Professor Guderian casually uttered the words "dragon slaying."

"That's right, dragon slaying." Professor Guderian adjusted his glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of his nose, his eyes gleaming with a scholarly, almost fanatical seriousness. "Kassel College is an institution that studies dragons and is dedicated to training dragon slayers. This is not a myth, but a hidden history and an ongoing endeavor."

He rose, his fingers tracing the gilded spines of rows of heavy, ancient books on the fixed bookshelf in the private room, as if caressing a lover's skin. "Dragon Genealogy, tracing the origins of bloodlines; Dragons and the Art of Words, analyzing the essence of power; The Key of Solomon, recording ancient covenants; Dragon Bloodline Theory and Genetics, exploring the secrets of ourselves… Thousands of years of pursuit, sacrifice, and wisdom have finally converged here. Here, you can delve into alchemy, forging weapons to kill gods; study magical mechanical design, mastering creations beyond our time; explore the theory of dragon lineage, understanding our enemies and… ourselves. The endpoint of all disciplines points to the same goal—"

He turned around and looked intently at Lu Mingfei: "So that one day, when the dragons are fully awakened, humans can fight with dignity, instead of becoming food for wailing cries."

Lu Mingfei leaned back in the cool leather seat, listening quietly. The darkness flowing outside the window was reflected in his unchanging pupils. He neither exclaimed "How is this possible!" nor jumped up shouting to get off the bus and go back home, nor even raised an eyebrow. He simply reached out and took a somewhat old photograph from Guderian—it showed a huge, grotesque skull, half-buried in a glacier, that belonged to no known creature.

"Oh, I see." He responded calmly, as if he were listening to a teacher explain a complex math problem, and he already knew the answer in advance.

Professor Guderian exchanged a surprised glance with Fingel, who had been pretending to doze off but was actually listening intently. This reaction… was far too calm. According to standard procedure, counselor Masashi Tomiyama should have already begun calming the new student's shattered worldview, but this S-class student seemed completely unfazed.

"You don't seem... surprised?" Guderian asked tentatively.

Lu Mingfei looked away from the photo and gazed at the all-encompassing darkness outside the window, murmuring softly, "Dragons... So those things are called 'dragons'."

His calm was not without reason. This was not the first time he had encountered the "reality" of this world.

Four years ago, on that torrential rainy night, the scent of the Nibelungs, the ghostly silhouettes outside the window, the screeching sound of metal being scraped, Chu Tianjiao's sudden change of expression in terror, and the inhuman majesty and tragedy that erupted from Chu Zihang's father... these fragments never truly left his dreams. It's just that his memories were brutally spliced ​​and blurred by some force, leaving behind a huge, unsettling void.

Chu Zihang's subtle yet firm reminders on QQ—"The world you have to pay a price to see clearly," "Some doors, once seen, can't be closed"—had already been planted in his heart like seeds. Coupled with Nuonuo's glamorous yet cruel "entrance show" and the extraordinary "hospitality" along the way, he had long understood that he was being swept away by an irresistible torrent towards a shore completely severed from his ordinary past life.

So, when the term "dragon slaying" was finally brought to the forefront, Lu Mingfei felt not fear or shock, but a strange...relief. It was as if a long-troubled puzzle had suddenly revealed its final piece. Ah, so that's how it is. So that's the root of that almost forgotten, horrific car accident. So that's the source of the weight behind Senior Brother Chu's silence. So that's why his own parents, who had vanished without a trace, might also be deeply entangled in this.

He turned his head to look at the somewhat bewildered Guderian and the curiously scrutinizing Fingel, and even gave an apologetic smile to the prepared psychology instructor, Masashi Tomiyama, standing beside him.

"Whether it's slaying dragons or killing gods," Lu Mingfei shrugged, his tone carrying a nonchalant, "what's the point of turning back now? I can't exactly drive off in a Ferrari and then crawl back down in the dust. You might be able to brainwash me and make me forget all of this, but can you erase the memories of my aunt's family, Chen Wenwen, Zhao Menghua... everyone who witnessed that 'joke'?"

He spread his hands, a hint of self-deprecation on his face: "Back in my hometown, I'm practically 'socially dead.' Rather than going back and facing that kind of atmosphere, I'd rather stay here and see what a dragon looks like." Besides, Lu Mingfei had an even stronger pillar in his heart: Chu Zihang.

The senior who offered him cold encouragement across the ocean during his most confused time was in this very academy, in the Lionheart Society. He was not alone in stepping into this unknown world.

Lu Mingfei is not alone.

Instructor Masafumi Tomiyama quietly put away the prepared soothing music and relaxation manual—this freshman's mental fortitude seemed to far exceed the assessment report.

As the old train finally screeched to a halt at the platform, Lu Mingfei followed Guderian onto the grounds of Kassel College. In that instant, it felt as if they had traveled through time. The medieval-style castle complex stretched out in the sunlight, its deep red roofs interwoven with greyish-white stone walls, solemn and mysterious. The carpet-like green lawns, the winding crimson cobblestone paths, the flocks of pigeons rising and falling atop the distant church bell tower… everything was bathed in warm sunlight, serene and beautiful beyond words, instantly washing away the gloom of the journey and the heaviness of their previous conversation.

"Is this Kassel College? It's much more normal than I imagined." Lu Mingfei took a deep breath of the grassy air and said in a low voice, at least he felt like he was still alive.

As he strolled along the campus paths, a long-suppressed question finally surfaced in his mind. He quickened his pace and walked over to Guderian.

"Professor, about my parents... are they really alumni of Kassel College? You said I'm an S-class hybrid, so they..." Lu Mingfei's voice unconsciously lowered, carrying a hint of barely perceptible hope and nervousness. He still harbored that childlike fantasy: perhaps his parents were hidden heroes, their departure stemming from unavoidable hardships. Now that he had stepped into this world, did it mean... a reunion?

Upon hearing this, a complex emotion flashed across Guderian's face. He adjusted his glasses and said, "The specific files about your parents are highly confidential; you'll need to ask the principal..."