The Tales of Draconic Warlock

I have never imagined that a hidden city would be like this.

When people look at the location, they would see nothing but vast mountains with a few scattered villages around these mountains. The inside was much more luxurious than what it looked from the outside.

If by comparison, this city looks like the noble's district in the capital city.

Well, the people who knew about this city's existence were all at the top of the kingdom. If they were to stay or visit the city, it would need to be top-of-the-line.

Moreover, there are no commoners or poor living in this city. It means, there are no small rooms that house a family in them.

Looking at the city's infrastructure, I believe that it is a research-based city, which means that most residents are either military or research scientists. There is no way that this city is being used just as a military city. If it was, the landscape would have been much more different.

---

The city was a port city as my father said. There was a river passing through the city but I can't remember what this river is. There was no indication of such a river passing through the kingdom of Glessaria.

The river's colour is too blue. The blue here is a bit darker than what the usual river blue looks like.

The airship descended into the port, where there were two medium ships docked. These two ships can move through the river if needed. If they were any bigger, the river may not be able to accommodate their movements.

After we entered the city, the first thing that they did was to take our biometrics.

My mother and I were separated as she would stay here. So the checking and recording of her details were different.

The personnel here took my details as well, but they just took my fingerprints and asked me to sign the NDA.

The fingerprints were done online but the NDA was physical. I have to sign on a physical parchment using my blood. Yes, it was not signing my name but I had to print my thumb onto the paper after it was soaked in my blood.

I never signed a magical NDA before and as far as I know, the contract would absorb your blood and use that to mark you. It works similarly to Blood Magic skills.

I don't exactly how that works but once I signed it, I did feel something being placed inside my body.

I can't clearly explain it but I feel that a parasite has entered my body and it won't activate as long as I don't try to break the contract.

There are other magic contracts, where the effect takes place after the contract was broken.

It would most likely be a curse would be placed on the person who breaks the contract. Whether it was a curse or something else, it would only take effect later. It means the parasite probably would be in an inactive state, rather than in the passive state like it is now.

Since it may be related to blood, I could remove it if I try enough. I have the Blood Affinity and that means, I would be aligned very well with Blood Skills.

Having an affinity with Blood means, I could use Blood Skills very well and when others use blood skills on me, they would have a lesser effect.

This was why people would love to have an affinity. It doesn't matter what the element is, but having one means that it can be useful to attack or defend themselves better.

I should make proper use of my affinities. I only depended on the skills that the system gave me. Sure, I deduced two skills but those are based on what I already have.

Those are not my originals.

Of course, there are no originals. Everything would be inspired from somewhere but directly inspiring from the system is the worst.

I should make my own skills. They probably would become my legacy.

---

"This is where you would stay for the time you spend in the city", Rose showed me my room.

My room was not in the same building as my mother.

Before even we signed the NDA contract, we were split. This was because my mother would have her own quarters to stay here, while I am only visiting. There would be no permanent room for the visitors, as visitors only stay temporarily and most probably it would be their one and only visit to the city.

I was given a single room with an attached bathroom. That was nice.

All the necessities required are provided in the single room, from bed to passing time watching something online.

In this single room, I can say that the facilities could rival a three-star hotel back on Earth.

"Stay here, unless either me or your mother comes to pick you up. Food would be delivered three times a day. If you would be out for the day, inform the front desk" Rose informed the rules and regulations of my stay here.

She left a few minutes later, making sure that everything was fine. Now I can take a rest.

---

I was informed that the airship would leave twice in the next thirty days. The airship would travel to and fro to bring goods and people from other places and it was done twice a month.

After I returned home, I spent a day at home and another for travel and settling here. So I have only twenty-eight days before I should return home, in order to get to the academy on time.

It means that I can't wait till the second run. I have to leave when the airship leaves Valtis City to pick up goods from the outside world next time.

I only have a two-week period to enjoy whatever the Valtis City can offer. Though I most probably would miss out on many things, I have to make the best out of it.

---

The two weeks that I had were over before I knew it. I toured the city as much as I could with my mother or sometimes with Rose.

Though I came along with my mother, she still had duties to fulfil. So she couldn't be there with me all the time and the movement in the city was restricted. A lot of places can't be visited without someone with access to those areas.

My mother has some access, as she would stay here, even after I leave but as far as I know, she doesn't have access to every area and for those areas, I am not allowed, even if Rose was with me.

There is a NDA that prevents people from spilling things that they saw or heard here but that's almost impossible. Humans communicate with each other and when they do a few things spill even if they don't want to.

One may think that the magic contract is absolute but is not. For that to work a lot of resources are used and there is an expiry date as there is to everything in this world.

Since the cost is very high, the contract would prevent people from spilling the core secrets or information that may cause trouble for the kingdom. Most other things can be spilt if you are strong enough to withstand the contract countermeasures. So it was not included when we signed the contract.

Coming to the expiry date, since this contract uses magic as its base, it would remain intact as long as the magic that entered us is still there. If it was burned up, nothing would stop the person from spilling everything.

Anyway, with my mother at work some of the days, I got to spend time with Rose alone. It also gave me a chance to ask her about why she was nice to me.

I wanted to know that because it kind of creeped me out a bit.

She belonged to military and those are not nice to anyone. For them to receive such behaviour, the person had to have done something great.

When I asked her, she just smiled and didn't say anything.

Now, I have to find out on my own.

---

"Goodbye Magnus, until I see you again", my mother hugged me as I was leaving.

I hugged her in response, "Bye mother, until we see each other again".

My mother would be staying here from now on. She would come visit us at home but with this job, I believe that she would have too much work to take a leave whenever she wants to.

I don't know when we'll see each other again.

After a minute or two, she let me and so did I. Then I went straight to board the ship.

I waved to her, from the deck ship as it started to rise from the waters. This may be the last time I would see her for a few years at least. Though I don't want that to happen but I feel that would be the case.