Dragon System: Red Dragon Legacy-Chapter 41: Taking the first step

Over the next few days, Orion spent most of his time training with Lilian. During that period, they sparred many times—but Orion couldn’t win even once.

He fought Lilian the same way he had fought the assassin leader, relying heavily on his Flash Movement skill. Yes, Orion had revealed some of his abilities to her. But while he had been able to gain the upper hand against the assassin, he couldn’t even last five minutes against Lilian.

Orion finally asked her about it.

"You see," Lilian said, speaking like a teacher explaining to a student, "just because two people are the same rank doesn’t mean they have the same strength or combat power. For example, if a monster and a human are both of the same rank, the monster will almost always have the advantage because monsters are naturally stronger. In the same way, the assassin you fought was a regular B-ranker... while I am a B-rank hero."

’Ohhh...’ Orion thought.

’So that’s probably why I could fight a regular B-ranker on equal footing—because I’m a dragon.’

"By the way, Lilian," Orion said, "I don’t think I actually know much about your class and skills."

"Oh? You’re right. And we’ve been training together for over half a month already," she said thoughtfully.

"For now, I only have two skills. One of them is Justice Eye. You already know a little about it, but what you don’t know is that it also allows me to analyze an opponent’s fighting techniques and predict their next move."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"This skill is still evolving—and even I don’t yet know its full potential."

’Predict the opponent’s next move? Isn’t that ridiculously overpowered?’ Orion thought.

"And as for my other skill," Lilian continued,

"Heavenly Lightning—I think you can guess what that does. As for my sword, it was given to me by the Church. It’s called the Sword of Justice. Now, what about yours?"

"I think you already know all of them," Orion replied. "Odorless and Flash Movement. Only these two are effective in a fight. And the others are related to my beast taming class." Orion said he’s obviously not gonna tell her everything. Although he trusted Lilian to a great extent, she was still a hero—one who could become a potential obstacle in his quest to save the demon queen.

"Yes... your Flash Movement skill," she said. That ability had frustrated her during her sparring with Orion far more than she was willing to admit. "Do you have any idea how overpowered that skill is?"

"Yes," Orion said calmly. "Without it, I’d have died hundreds of times already."

Lilian sighed, "Having a high-potential class like Beast Taming and an overpowered skill like flash movement, not to mention the fact that you can also eat magic stones raw... when you reach your full potential, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with."

"Haha, I hope you’re right," Orion replied. "Now then... shall we continue our training?"

And just like that, they resumed their training once more.

Two and a half months passed in the blink of an eye.

Orion spent most of his days training with Lilian at the training grounds. Occasionally, when Lilian left the capital for several days to handle her duties, Orion accepted missions from the Adventurers’ Guild and gathered information throughout the capital.

He learned a great deal about the kingdom—its important locations, power centers, and political situation. The prince and princess were locked in a fierce struggle for succession, while external forces like the New World Order were far more powerful than he had initially thought.

Orion also realized something important. If he wanted to rescue the Demon Queen and complete his mission, he couldn’t do it alone. Becoming stronger by himself wouldn’t be enough. His enemies wouldn’t be limited to monsters—the real threat would come from the kingdoms and countries on this continent, as well as powerful organizations like the New World Order.

.

Maybe one day, he could take on one or two kingdoms by himself. But time wasn’t on his side. He only had four years to rescue the Demon Queen. If he failed, he would lose most of his power.

What he needed wasn’t just strength.

He needed influence and money. He also needed talented people and loyal subordinates by his side—an army, if possible. All of this had to be done while keeping a low profile.

It was a tall order, and Orion knew it. But he had no choice except to do it.

And so, Orion began organizing his plan.

Increase his strength and become a powerful figure in the kingdom.

Start a successful business to gain wealth and influence.

Recruit talented individuals and turn them into loyal subordinates.

Gain significant political power within the kingdom.

Spread his influence across the entire continent.

He listed everything he needed to do to reach his goal.

After reviewing his plans, he let out a deep sigh. "Planning is a lot easier than actually doing it..."

But he had no choice. And there was no better place to begin than the Academy. He had already informed Lilian that he would be enrolling.

Next, he turned his attention to business opportunities.

While gathering information, Orion noticed something strange: lighting tools in this world were absurdly expensive because they were made using magical properties. Some poor families were still forced to use flint just to start a fire.

And then—

A brilliant idea struck him.

’Matchsticks.’

He had always been good at chemistry and even had some experience making strike-anywhere matches. So... why not?

But then he froze.

"Wait... why can’t I remember all the ingredients?" he muttered. "Sulfur, powdered glass, white phosphorus..."

No matter how hard he tried, the rest wouldn’t come to him.

Frustrated, Orion grabbed his hair. "Come on, think, Orion, think!"

But the rest of the ingredients just wouldn’t come to mind. In the end, he gave up and turned to the System.

"System, can you tell me the formula for making matchsticks? Please."

[Yes.]

[The price for this information is 50 E-rank or higher magic stones.]

"I only forgot two or three ingredients, and I have to pay this much?" Orion complained bitterly.

But he had no choice.

After checking his inventory, he found that even after all his missions and Ember’s leftover stones, he only had sixty Rank E or higher magic stones.

After giving the System almost every magic stone he had, Orion finally bought the recipe.

The moment he saw it, he nearly cried.

He already knew every single ingredient.

If he had thought just a bit harder, he could’ve remembered it himself.

"I really wasted all those magic stones..." he muttered. But there was no point crying over this anymore.

His next problem was gathering the materials—but to his surprise, everything he needed was available at a single alchemy shop, even if the names were slightly different.

Eventually, Orion produced his first batch of matchsticks.

He immediately went to show them to Lilian. And told her everything about his plans.

"Wait... you actually made something like that?" She said, picking one up.

Following Orion’s instructions, she struck it against the wall.

Fwoosh.

It lit up instantly.

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

"What the hell... do you have any idea how revolutionary this is?" she exclaimed. "And you’re saying it only costs three copper coins to make one pack?"

"Yep," Orion nodded. "And I plan to sell it for seven copper coins."

Lilian had never imagined she’d feel this excited over a business idea.

She stared at Orion like he was some godlike genius meant to be worshiped.

"Who... who even are you?" she whispered.

Orion smiled. "I’m Orion. And do you have any idea how I can launch this into the market?"

"Yes! I have connections in the Merchant Guild," she said excitedly. "I’ll inform them today so that you can meet them tomorrow."

As she hurried off to use her communicator, Orion finally relaxed.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips.

He had just taken the first real step toward his goal.