My first month with Olivia passed like that. It was rough, but I felt it was way better than being on my own testing out the limits of this body. Olivia is crazy strong. 

The training she made me do so far was pretty obvious. Speed, endurance and mana control. The first time she made me try to focus my mana I thought I was a goner. 

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.

.

"Mother… this is impossible…"

"That's what you said about running, remember?"

A floor full of spikes crafted via magic. Olivia was supporting her entire body in one finger against a spike. The other arm she put behind her back and her pose was straight. A small blue light emitted at the contact point between her finger and the spike.

I should mention that Olivia can take human form and she occasionally does to demonstrate some stuff for me. Although her human form… because she was at the top of the food chain, her muscles were big and her abs were solid. She puts even most men to shame. Including me.

"If you properly focus your mana, you won't suffer any damage."

At first… I did manage that pose, but in my case you could clearly see electric sparks flying from the contact point. I had to use way more mana to not get skewered.

"Yeah. Your pose looks stable now. Stay like that for the rest of the day."

"You're going to kill me!!"

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Eventually… I passed that trial too. The only moments I can say I had it easy is when mother went hunting or on various meetings with other dragons. I can tell that she probably had to do other jobs. But she would always return. Vira and Selia would keep me company in the meantime. I also managed to understand why she took me in for 1 year. 

1 year is the amount of time until a dragon reaches maturity and has to leave the nest. Vira and Selia had 2 months left to keep me company. Vira is really friendly and she warmed up to me rather quickly especially if I gave her lots of belly rubs. Selia on the other hand… was still acting cold, but I feel she really just wants to play the harsh older sister role. What can I say, we’re a weird family.

And today, it was a new day.

"Alright, Yufi. I'll start teaching you how to fight. Up until now I've been pushing your body because it's necessary. I'm going to have you learn a style I picked up from an old man. Linked Energy Manipulation combined with my Flawless Good for Any Situation Martial Art."

…

Mothers’ naming sense is as horrible as always. 

“Why would a dragon know martial arts?”

“Seriously? That’s what you’re gonna ask me? I occasionally blend in amongst humans to learn more about them. More specifically, if I learn how they fight, I can teach the dragons how to defend themselves. Now enough with this back talking!”

“Yes mother.”

"For now I gotta see how you move. So, attack me. Come at me in any way you want."

"No thanks."

"It's not a request!"

I knew this was going to be suicide, but I had no choice but to obey her orders. So I charged with all my might at her.

“Haa!!”

Only to get knocked down in the next moment. 

"Aaah!”

Not only was I pushed on the ground, but Mother slammed her palm into my head forcing it to sink deeper and form asmall crater, and she also restrained my right arm. There was obviously no room for debate. We were lightyears away.

“How… the hell is this supposed to teach me to fight?”

“It’s necessary. I need you to understand what strength means before anything else. You’re probably going to meet people who are bigger than you. But bigger isn’t always better. Everyone has a weakness. I am going to teach you how to fight opponents bigger than you, but for starters, you must know the feeling of getting trampled on.”

Afterwards, Mother let me get up and started teaching me various techniques. Although as expected, she isn’t good at explaining stuff. It was hard to understand her words, but I could follow her movements. 

The flow of her movements felt chaotic. It was like nothing made sense. But when I started copying them and adding different moves together, as crazy as they looked, they finally made sense. The feeling I get… it’s like learning how to play Phantasy Reverie Online from scratch and controlling my character. 

Each day, Olivia would try to teach me something new. She put a great emphasis on having me learn all the human weak points. It really helps knowing how to tackle someone since I can’t target my enemies with a cursor in this world. With this, it’s really easy to put a brute to his knees. 

Of course, she also had me learn some monster physiology as well. Although there were also times when she just threw me into rocks to increase my toughness, or force me into a split. She says flexibility is very important and must be harnessed at an early age. Same with body toughness. So I had no choice but to endure. With each passing day I managed to get one step closer… to be able to hold my own, but I knew the road would be long.

------

”What the hell do you mean you can’t read!? Yufi, are you for real?”

Time flew by with our daily training and another month passed.

”The Goddess most likely made me understand this world's language, but I can’t read any of this strange writing you are carving in the ground. And ever since you found me, all we did was training. I had nowhere to learn from. So it’s obvious I can’t read.”

Olivia slammed her tail against her face.

”Unacceptable! I can’t call myself your mother if I fail and not teach you such a basic skill!”

She then went to her treasury room. Dragons love gold and Olivia’s cave had lots of it, but she also had various scrolls that people that came here to slay her carried.

”Starting now, we’re going to do a different type of training. The alphabet, reading and writing, math, this worlds’ history and many more. I am going to drill your brain. You’re going to always need information, but if you can’t acquire it, you’re going to hit a wall really fast.”

“No thanks. And no offense, Mother, but why would a dragon have scrolls and books? This might be outdated for all I know. I don’t see the point of it.”

“Firstly, you aren’t allowed to object. You’re gonna learn this stuff whether you like it or not. And listen, I get your point. But there are many things that are recorded only in traditional writing. Just because I am a dragon, it doesn’t mean I have no use for the texts of humans. 

Let me give you an example of why it’s important to read. For example you want to take on a quest. If you can’t read the bulletin board, you won’t know what quest you have to take. If you can’t read you also won’t know how big the pay is. If you don’t know math, you won’t be able to judge the coin value. I don’t want you to make mistakes like that.”

Okay. I can understand why Mother thinks this is necessary but…

*Sigh*

“That’s the spirit! Now let’s start with the alphabet. Once you can read, you can also start studying by yourself. I won’t have rest until you memorize everything.”

That’s what I’m afraid of. I mean seriously, Olivia is really really bad at explaining stuff. I probably will get multiple headaches if she’s the one that teaches me. Oof. Maybe I can ask Vira or Selia to help me figure this out when Olivia isn’t looking. Worst case scenario… I’ll have to figure everything out by myself. Looks like I’m in for a bumpy road.