Sun’s giant head drooped like a defeated rooster, and he said in a muffled, sullen voice.

"Fine... I’ll learn."

"Excellent. I’ll have Moonlight and Coal Ball keep you company."

Raylo smiled with satisfaction.

He turned to the petrified Evan.

"Evan, you heard him. Starting tomorrow, you will be Lord Sun’s cultural tutor. I’m sure it will be a very... hmm, a very unique teaching experience. Go and prepare."

The Scribe, Evan, felt his legs still trembling. He gave Raylo a stiff, awkward bow, then clutched his ledgers and drifted away rigidly.

As he walked, he couldn’t help but wonder, ’If I’m teaching a dragon, do the textbooks need to be made of iron plates?’

’Otherwise, won’t a single sneeze burn them all to a crisp?’

Lunch at the castle was lavish and delicious.

Moonlight was enjoying a plate of pan-fried silverfish prepared especially for her. Her delicate tongue lapped up the flesh, her movements a delightful sight.

Coal Ball, on the other hand, was not nearly as refined. It practically buried its entire head in a large bowl of stewed meat, its mouth slick with grease as satisfied gurgles rumbled in its throat.

After the meal, Raylo took the two little ones to the training grounds behind the castle.

After forming a contract with Coal Ball, Raylo discovered he had obtained a long-coveted ability.

Space Travel.

However, limited by his current Magic Power and the fact that Coal Ball was still in its infancy, the travel distance was extremely short. It was more like what Mages called a "Blink," but its strategic value was already self-evident.

At this moment, he was standing in the center of the training grounds, his eyes closed, trying to sense the wondrous link of Magic Power between himself and Coal Ball.

He pictured an archery target ten meters ahead and gathered Magic Power in his feet.

"Go!"

In the next second, he vanished from the spot.

"THUD!"

A dull sound of impact rang out.

Raylo felt as if his nose was about to break and saw stars.

He opened his eyes and found that he hadn’t appeared in front of the target. Instead, he had only moved less than three meters and had slammed headfirst into a wooden training dummy nearby.

On the other side of the training grounds, Moonlight, who had been dozing in the sun, lazily lifted one eyelid, glanced at him, and immediately closed it again, as if to say, ’I can’t even watch.’

Coal Ball, however, seemed much more excited.

Seeing Raylo hit the post, it let out a series of gurgling chuckles. It then hopped in place twice, its tiny figure vanishing with a WHOOSH, only to reappear by Moonlight’s side with another WHOOSH, nuzzling its head against her.

Moonlight impatiently swatted it with the tip of her tail.

Raylo rubbed his sore nose, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

’This little guy, Coal Ball, has absolutely no sense of duty to train with me as a contract partner. All that’s on its mind is eating and playing around with Moonlight.’

"Again!"

He took a deep breath and focused his mind again.

This time, he was smarter. He set his target closer, an open patch of ground just five meters away.

Magic Power surged, and a faint, almost imperceptible ripple appeared in space.

"VWOOM!"

His figure flickered.

"CLANG!"

This time was even worse. He appeared next to the weapon rack, but his landing was unstable, and he fell right on his butt. In the process, he knocked over an entire row of Long Swords and War Axes, sending up a jarring clash of metal.

"GWARK!"

Coal Ball laughed even harder this time, rolling all over the grass.

Raylo sat on the ground, looking at the messy weapon rack, and fell into deep thought.

’Where did I go wrong?’

’Was my Magic Power output too strong, or was my Spiritual Power not focused enough?’

He watched Coal Ball in the distance, effortlessly blinking around as it chased a butterfly, and had a sudden realization.

For Coal Ball, Space Travel was an instinct, like breathing.

It didn’t need to calculate or control it precisely. All it needed was a single "intent."

But he was trying to analyze an intuitive talent in a rational way.

"I see... The key isn’t control, but ’belief.’"

He stood up and dusted himself off.

This time, he no longer deliberately calculated the output of his Magic Power, nor did he stare fixedly at his destination.

He simply pictured the spot where he should be standing in the next moment. Then, he transmitted this "intent" through the contract using the Magic Power within him.

He closed his eyes again.

The entire world seemed to stand still.

He could "see" every corner of the training grounds and "feel" the invisible folds and nodes in space.

’Right there!’

Raylo’s eyes snapped open, and his figure instantly vanished.

This time, there was no sound of impact, no embarrassing fall.

He appeared steadily five meters away, his form perfectly still.

’Success!’

An unprecedented feeling of exhilaration washed over him.

He didn’t stop. With a single thought, he blinked again. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"SWOOSH!"

He appeared behind the training dummy.

"SWOOSH!"

He appeared again, a meter in front of the weapon rack.

"SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!"

His figure became a series of intermittent afterimages on the training grounds, appearing now in the east, now in the west, so fast it was dazzling.

Moonlight, who had been feigning sleep, had sat up at some point. In her pale golden, slitted pupils, a hint of surprise showed for the first time.

Coal Ball also stopped playing. It tilted its small head, watching Raylo continuously blink around the field, as if it didn’t understand how this clumsy human had suddenly figured it out.

Finally, after a dazzling series of blinks, Raylo stopped precisely in the center of the training grounds. His breathing was slightly ragged, but his eyes were astonishingly bright.

He looked down at his own hands, then at the innocent-looking Coal Ball in the distance. A smile couldn’t help but tug at the corners of his lips.

Though the process had been bumpy, and one might even say pathetic.

Like a child who had just received his most cherished toy, this newly mastered Power made an irrepressible, playful urge well up inside Raylo.

His gaze fell nearby, on Coal Ball, who was intently batting at a butterfly with its little paws.

The little guy was completely oblivious, its fluffy butt facing him, its little tail twitching up and down with a certain rhythm.

The smile on Raylo’s lips widened, and an idea took shape in his mind.

Space rippled.

The next moment, he appeared silently behind Coal Ball, raised his foot, clad in a soft-soled leather boot, and gave its fluffy little butt a gentle kick.

It wasn’t a hard kick.

With a little "guk," Coal Ball was knocked forward, tumbling over several times and getting covered in bits of grass.

It dazedly scrambled to its feet and turned to see Raylo standing there, stifling a laugh.

The little creature froze for a second, then it realized what had happened. "Fury" instantly blazed in its large, obsidian eyes.

"AWOO!"

With a tiny, fierce roar, Coal Ball’s figure vanished on the spot.

Raylo was already prepared. At almost the exact same moment Coal Ball disappeared, he also activated Space Travel.