"Incompetent fools! You've brought nothing but shame to our metallic dragon clan!"
In a magnificent, gold-adorned palace, an elder clad in a pure white robe embroidered with gold roared, his voice causing the entire palace to tremble slightly.
"Sigh, what's done is done. Getting angry won't help now. We should focus on minimizing the damage from this incident," said Leonin, an ancient gold dragon, in a low voice.
"The first thing we should do is ask Muria, the Lord of Sinapsus, to contain this news. If word gets out, even the Dragon Queen might mock our metallic dragon clan."
"Utterly ridiculous. Classes have only just started, and already some students are skipping, and to make it worse, it's the metallic dragons leading the charge," said an ancient silver dragon, his face full of anger. He slammed his hand on the table in front of him, shattering it into powder, though no one paid any attention to the poor table.
Amid the angry outbursts, several ancient dragons cast discreet glances at another ancient gold dragon, whose downcast demeanor revealed his discomfort. He remained silent because the ringleader of the truants was his direct descendant, one he favored the most.
"This is such a disgrace. I don't even dare to go out now. Every time I see another dragon, I feel like they're laughing at us," sighed another gold dragon, his face twisting in anger.
"Now that the impact has been handled, let's discuss how to punish these truant dragons," one ancient dragon suggested. "This disgraceful behavior must not be repeated. We must severely punish the students who skipped class to ensure this never happens again."
"Without rules, there can be no order," declared another ancient dragon. "Since they are now students of the academy, they should be punished according to the academy's regulations."
"The Dragon Academy already has a system in place for punishing truancy, but that was established before the academy opened," said Fiona, an ancient green dragon who had been watching the proceedings with interest. "These rules were designed with the chromatic dragons in mind. They might be too harsh for your metallic dragons. Perhaps you should discuss this with Headmaster Muria and create a new set of rules specifically for metallic dragons."
There was a subtle tone of mockery and satisfaction in Fiona's voice.
"We'll enforce the punishment as Muria has already established," Leonin, the ancient gold dragon, decided, then looked at Fiona. "Your chromatic dragons may have tough hides, but we metallic dragons are not so delicate either."
"Are you sure you want to proceed without even asking what the punishment is?" Fiona asked, smiling.
"What is Muria's punishment for chromatic dragons who skip class?" inquired Giovanni Galeo, another ancient gold dragon, whose descendant was the leader of the truants.
"The Six Elements Punishment," Fiona replied with a smile. Seeing the confusion in the ancient dragons' eyes, she explained, "As the name suggests, it involves punishing a dragon using the six elemental forces. For example, if the dragon is of the fire element, the punishment would involve the elements of earth, wind, water, lightning, light, and darkness. The punishment lasts for an hour, ensuring the dragon will never forget it and will be too scared to repeat the offense."
After hearing the description of the Six Elements Punishment, the ancient dragons pondered for a moment, then exchanged glances. They found nothing particularly wrong with it, as it posed no threat to the dragons' lives. Just as the metallic dragons were about to agree to the punishment, Fiona spoke up again.
"By the way, I forgot to mention, the Six Elements Punishment is carried out in front of all the other dragons, not in secret."
"What? How could that be?" Giovanni Galeo was shocked. The idea of his descendant being punished publicly was a disgrace beyond measure.
"Why not? Punishment serves to correct those who break the rules and to warn others not to do the same. It is absolutely necessary to carry it out in public," Fiona said calmly, a playful smile on her face. "Of course, you metallic dragons are different. You like to be special. You could always ask Muria to create a set of rules just for you."
Giovanni Galeo hesitated, glancing at the other ancient dragons. Finally, he sighed deeply and lowered his head. He knew that if he made such a request, these ancient dragons, who had just become his colleagues, would shun him.
"Think carefully before you speak," another ancient bronze dragon said gravely. "Your descendant participated in this truancy, and you bear significant responsibility. In fact, we all do. It's because we eleven metallic dragons are teaching here that our descendants felt emboldened to skip class, believing we would protect them."
With his extensive life experience, the ancient bronze dragon had a keen understanding of the mindset of these young dragons, and his assessment was almost entirely accurate.
"So, if we truly want them to improve, we absolutely must not shield them this time. They should be punished as they deserve, and if possible, the punishment should be even harsher."
"No need to make it harsher," Fiona interjected, her playful expression fading as she hastily spoke up. "If the Six Elements Punishment is intensified, it could kill the dragons."
...
"I'll have my father smash these rusted heaps of junk someday," muttered a shiny young dragon angrily as he glared at the two metal golems outside the prison bars.
All he did was sleep in his assigned dorm room a bit longer, and because he was late to class, these golems had stormed in and hauled all four dragons in his dormitory off to this prison.
He was furious that they treated him like a criminal just for oversleeping. "Sleeping is part of being a dragon! How is that wrong?" The young dragon, confident in his connections, was livid. He glanced at the other three metallic dragons in the prison, who huddled anxiously in the corners, glancing around nervously. They had been persuaded by the young dragon to sleep in as well, succumbing to their dragonish laziness.
"What do you think the academy will do to us?" asked a timid young bronze dragon, sharing the dormitory with the gold dragon because they were both adolescents. The Dragon Academy grouped students by age and type.
"Don't worry, we won't face any punishment," the young gold dragon said confidently. "My great-grandfather was personally invited by Headmaster Muria to be a professor. We'll be fine."
"Really?" The young dragons were somewhat reassured by this news, but just then, they heard commotion outside the prison. Four immensely strong cloud giants entered the room.
These giants were nearly twice the height of a normal cloud giant, with a weight that far exceeded any typical giant. It was said that these giants were the headmaster's vassals, their strength greatly enhanced by his power. Because of this, the young dragons were filled with both awe and fear toward the headmaster, who had only made a brief appearance at the opening ceremony.
The cloud giants opened the prison doors, each one grabbing a dragon like a chick and carrying them out.
"Put me down, you giants! Do you know who my great-grandfather is?" the young gold dragon protested, struggling in the giant's grip. But compared to these fully grown and mutated cloud giants, his strength was pitifully weak, like an ant trying to shake a tree.
The four young dragons soon found themselves on the academy's main platform, used for speeches. From here, all the dragons around could easily see them.
They realized this was the same platform where the opening ceremony had been held. There were nearly two thousand dragons gathered—metallic dragons, chromatic dragons, gem dragons, and even some rare and nearly extinct dragon species—a sight usually only seen at the opening ceremony, but now, here it was again.
As they were brought onto the platform, the young gold dragon immediately spotted his great-grandfather standing among a group of other ancient dragons. The looks they gave him varied—anger, disdain, disappointment… His great-grandfather's face was filled with disappointment and worry as he looked at him.
"Great-grandfather!"
"You've disappointed me greatly," the ancient dragon sighed deeply upon seeing his descendant. In that moment, he realized his failure in educating his descendant. He had been too indulgent, leading to the disgrace of both his family name and the entire metallic dragon clan.
"Accept your punishment quietly."
"But all I did was sleep a little longer. Why should I be punished?" the young dragon retorted defiantly.
"Why should you be punished?" The ancient gold dragon laughed bitterly. "The Dragon Academy currently has 1,272 chromatic dragons, 157 of which are hatchlings less than a year old. I had assumed the first to make a mistake would be one of the chromatic dragon hatchlings, but instead, it's a metallic dragon, and worse, it's my own descendant leading the charge. You've brought shame to your family name and the entire metallic dragon clan, and yet you still dare say you did nothing wrong?"
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter] [+5 Reviews = +1 Chapter]