Cornered with the question, all I can think of is the event that happened in the dream. How do I approach that? Now that I think about it, the only person who saw it was Ernest. I told him about it.

  It won't be bad if I open up to her.

  "You're right. I didn't go the right way to manifest my spirit. The visualization and all the things like a prayer…" I close my eyes awkwardly, scratching my cheek. "I had no idea how to approach it. Hehe."

  Melissa's face twists. "For how long has it been happening?"

  "Not long ago. About two weeks."

  "No wonder… your approach is so terrible. The time taken to get results with that method isn't guaranteed. The spirit itself has to give a response. You know, all prayers can't be answered." She sighs. "But at least with that method, you guarantee a better bond, so if you followed it and it manifested, I don't know why you can't pull that at the moment."

  I look back awkwardly. "The thing is, after I saw it in a dream, I made a deal with it."

  After explaining what exactly happened in that dream, Melissa starts to boil.

  It's probably because screaming isn't an option at the moment, so I think she forces herself not to scream.

  I raise my hands defensively for anything that might come. "The thing is, I didn't know how long it would've taken if I didn't do that."

  "I understand it now. But for you to be so strong without your spirit, you've got to have a legendary or a mythical."

  "Legendary? Mythical?"

  She sighs in disbelief. "You don't even know the basic hierarchies?"

  "I've not been well informed about those."

  "Crap… no wonder you were so nervous yesterday." She tilts her head. "Well, spirits fall under five categories. Common, advanced, legendary, mythical, and divine." She folds her hand and pulls her index finger. "Common goes without saying. These refer to the most common beings that appear to human sight, from insects to animals. Get it?"

  She pauses, looking to check if I'm with her.

  "Why do you stare at me like that? You won't get me lost by talking about the first phase."

  "Cough, cough." She clears her throat. "I was just checking in." She then continues, raising her middle finger. "Secondly, we have the advanced. Here we have common monsters."

  "Common monsters? Shouldn't they be in the common type?"

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "That is where you are wrong. Animals and insects have anatomy and organs close or similar to that of humans, but monsters, despite being similar in the way they look, what's inside is completely different."

  "How would you know that? Didn't you say there are no monsters in our era?"

  "Not enough to be worried about. Most of them got extinct. That's why I mentioned it being not necessary to look deep into that matter."

  I'm still confused about the answer, but I nod. This urges her to continue.

  "If you get it, we can go to the third." She raises her ring finger. "The legendary. Here we can see creatures that became legends through history and events, those monsters so rare people these days can't even say they saw one." She follows with her pinky. "Then the mythical. Though being like the legendary in a sense, mythicals are different in a way no one can say for sure they ever existed. There are sayings some of them come from other worlds. One of them can be my mermaid." She then puts her hand back on the rusty ground.

  "What about the divine?"

  "That?" She thinks for a bit. "Well, imagine if mythicals are rare. What do you think divine will emerge from?"

  "Doesn't make much sense to me if that category exists." I start counting my fingers. "If your mermaid is mythical, then how about a dragon?"

  "You're curious about Jiaolong." She pats my shoulder. "What a wholesome rivalry." She thinks. "Dragons are commonly placed at mythical."

  I smile softly. "Then I guess it's not too bad to wait…" I face the sky through the shadow of the alley walls.

  "Wait? Weren't you asking for Jiaolong?" She freezes. "Don't tell me…"

  "Yes." I turn to her. "I'm having a dragon spirit. I can't say for sure, but it is definitely what manifested."

  Her face spells out disbelief.

  Thinking back at the arena, Jiaolong getting admired by the others wasn't something only given to him. It's good to know it wasn't exclusive.

  She gets closer again. "I need to educate you about one thing." Her voice softens.

  The sudden change in tone startles me for a moment.

  She takes my inaction as an agreement to proceed. "Strong spirits only appear in the presence of highly concentrated spirits, even better if they're strong. That's why nobles get the monopoly over power, but in every system there is a break." Her gaze intensifies. "When looking at Jiaolong, he has some fighting experience, which overall makes it look like his background was made of people who shaped him into what he is right now, and so is his spirit."

  "I fail to get where you're going with this."

  "Everest, if you're really telling me you grew almost all your life without knowing anything about this world, and your only lens has been a wolf user, then manifesting a dragon is an anomaly. To put it simply, it's impossible."

  "But I'm telling you the truth."

  The simple thought of her thinking it's a lie infuriates me. I asked nothing of her on that, but why does she act doubtful of me?

  "Do you think I'm trying to make myself interesting by lying about such a thing?"

  Melissa reaches out a hand. "I might be mistaken, but believing in that is something I can't do at the moment. But I can't completely doubt it either. You show strength of that level without proper progression."

  She stands up. "I can tell from what you told me that you weren't present for your spirit. After all, a prayer is a communication. You can't just think about it and call it a good day. Think about it harder. Have you ever felt each other's presence?"

  I remember when I last saw it, and since that day, that place has been completely cold toward me. It felt so lonely, maybe like I do right now. But I'm still alive. I can't be lonely.

  I stand up as well.

  Melissa shows a smirk. "They're finally here. Jiaolong was faster than I thought."

  I look at the road to the alleyway and see nobody coming.

  "You might be tweaking. Nobody is coming."

  A shadow. No, multiple shadows.

  Facing up, eight figures fall down, Jiaolong included.

  "I hope I haven't made you wait for too long." He concludes with his entrance.