When it came down to things, Arthur found that he actually wasn't as polarized by the family as he'd thought. He did not like Rudy, but that was personal. Even with an opinion on the family already formed before he met most of them, he found that he somewhat liked a couple.
While eating, the parents asked him if he had any questions. To which, Arthur searched his head for a second before shaking his head. It wasn't that he was absolutely empty of questions, but that not only could he not think of anything off the top of his head, he also didn't feel comfortable asking them.
They had just attempted to step in as "mother" and "father" figures for him. His father was absent, though alive, and his mother was recently gone. To do such a thing left a slightly nasty impression in his mouth, but he couldn't hate them for it.
And for the questions, he was generally okay. Other than wondering what would happen next exactly, he was mostly caught up.
To keep things neat, he'd been born a dragonkin, didn't find out until recently, and the world of dragons was vast. When it came to things like power dynamics between the seemingly opposed families, that wasn't something he cared for too much beyond knowing who he could and shouldn't trust.
Although, there was something he was mildly curious about. This question was related to how he would be treated. Chad said that Rudy was treated as a servant due to him not being exactly a fighting type, so he wondered—
"Um, actually, how strong are dragons usually? I beat my mom—no, that sounds messed up. I won against my mom, and she seems to know more about being a dragon than I do, so… am I strong?" Arthur asked the two of them, stuttering every now and then. They were essentially strangers, and in their house, if they pleased he could have been killed instantly.
The mother, Mrs Graves, or rather Hares, seemed to think a bit, letting out an indefinite "Um…"
"Well, Dragon Art's are usually passed down, so what's yours? Do you know?" She asked him. The man, Mr Graves, or rather Frank, also seemed to think for a second, before listening to his wife.
"Mine? Oh I don't—actually, I think it was… Blood Armory? I don't know if that's what it is actually called, but my mom said that after I turned my head into a dragon, so…" Arthur answered. Hares nodded her head.
"Ah. That one is actually a pretty useful Dragon Art. Oh, and if you don't know, Dragon Art is what refers to a dragon's ability; think Spiderman being able to shoot webs out of his wrists," she said.
'But Spiderman can't shoot them out from his wrists, in the comics he has to build his own webshooter…'
"Oh, I see. I can get a somewhat good idea of it from the name. I can produce weapons, right?" Arthur asked quietly. He finished his main foods and was eating the berries now. The woman nodded.
"Yes, that's right. Though, you need blood to exit your body in order to do such a thing. If I remember correctly, the last Blood Armory user was… no, I think he's still alive. And he's pretty fierce, too," the man said. He took out his phone, scrolling and eventually found a picture.
He showed his phone to Arthur, who looked at the picture. It was of a dragon, clothed in blood-red armor wielding a large sword that seemed as long as a truck and as thick as a wheel belonging to a truck.
"This is Heien, part of the Assas family and one such user of the Blood Armory Art. He's annoying, as the more blood he has, the more weapons he can make. Whether it's dozens of knives to throw, a giant hammer to bash, or a shield at the last minute, it's all up to his imagination," Mr Graves said.
"And if you beat that woman, Anastasia, then you're not actually too high up. She's pretty infamous in our world for running away from her family. She's never received formal training, so she probably just knew her Dragon Art and that was about it," Mrs Graves said.
Arthur accepted the information, finishing the berries.
Ultimately, if he was going to be thrust into a world he did not know, it would be wise to attempt to be as powerful as possible. In a situation where violence was a solution to problems, being strong wasn't a bonus, it was simply necessary.
And as well, that bitter sensation in his chest, was due to the powerlessness he felt that night, unable to help his friends at the hands of that—
"So I'm not actually all that, huh…? Well, how do I get—"
Before he could finish his words, Arthur received a call. He answered it, hearing Tyler's voice.
"Dude?! Where the fuck are you, classes started at 10, remember?!" Tyler yelled. Arthur's eyes widened considerably as he let out an "oh, shiet," looking at the time on his phone once more. Again, it was noon. That wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't a Monday.
'Fuck, I'm such an idiot! I was so busy thinking about the damn family dinner that I forgot today was Monday! Shit…'
"Bro, damn. Uh, I'm kinda busy right now though, can you take notes for me?" Arthur asked. He calmed down relatively quickly, as though he didn't like missing class for no reason, it was because of that, and his naturally academic brain, that he was okay.
He understood what was going on in the class fairly well, so notes were all he'd needed for the day.
"Uh, sure, I guess. Though, you had me worried man, I thought you went missing! You heard about those guys that went missing right? I thought you were taken too," Tyler told him. Arthur thought for a second, remembering the people his mom killed after they'd seen her.
"Oh, sorry to worry you like that. Um, yeah, just take some notes, I'll be home later today hopefully, I shouldn't be too long. My bad," Arthur said. Tyler let out a "yeah, yeah" before hanging up shortly after. Arthur exhaled and put his phone away, looking back at the family.
"Sorry, that was just my friend, he thought I'd gone missing," Arthur said. He was actually quite relieved that Tyler wasn't someone who pried to the point of asking where he currently was.
"No, no, it's fine. Though, what were you saying before?" She asked him. Arthur scratched his head, forgetting what he wanted to ask. He retraced his thoughts, and remembered.
"How do I get stronger? Like, is the Dragon Art stuff kinda set in stone, but I can work out my body, or…?" Arthur asked earnestly. And as he asked earnestly, they responded earnestly.
"It's not too hard to get stronger, though plateaus do exist. If I were to give an example you'd understand, think…" Mrs Graves let out, taking some time to think of a proper example.
"Well, naturally. Your Dragon Art would be like Martial Arts skill; all Dragon Arts are pretty much the same. Like, how you and Hiein definitely started out with the same power, at the same level. What makes his usage of it powerful is his own skill with it, not that he was given a better version of the Art. However, that doesn't apply to physical bodies, as, ultimately, your body from what I can tell is frail. Martial Arts skill is about knowledge and application, the same as Dragon Arts. But the body is simply what your genetics hand you. However, bodies can be trained to grow stronger, while Dragon Arts aren't trained to grow in power, but in your ability to use it."
Simply put, replace "Martial" in "Martial Arts" with "Dragon," add in cool superpowers, and you get the gist of how dragons grow.
It was then that Mr Graves interjected.
"However, I do believe hearing that the Blood Armory Art has a unique capability," he said. "Apparently, it's not just your blood that can be used, but other people's as well. I saw it in action, but I didn't understand until later what had happened."
Arthur tilted his head very slightly, letting out an "hm?"
"I fought against him, as us and the Assas family aren't on great terms. We were in a forest, and some unlucky hikers were near us. He took them and seemed to take their blood, then shifted it into weapons against me. Though, the blood of the weaker people—normal humans, that is, didn't do nearly as much damage to me. That does give me the impression, however, that the stronger blood you get your hands on, the more that it's capable of doing."
Arthur stayed silent. The notion that his ability was unique was enough to bring him a smile. In his mind, the uniqueness of an ability equated to the likelihood of being awesome.
It fit his lower-level body. If his body was weak but his Dragon Art strong, then he could hopefully manage to survive and train his body until his Dragon Art was no longer the weapon that carried his body, but rather a component for which his stronger body could thrive.
However, his impression wasn't entirely correct. While his Dragon Art was unique in that it had a "sub ability," it wasn't as crazy as he'd hoped.
Continuing the Martial Arts analogy, his ability to use the blood of stronger foes to help him wasn't akin to having grappling and striking while the opponent merely had one or the other. Rather, it was akin to having bare knuckles when the opponent wore gloves, yet still being in a boxing match.
Just because it added another card to the field did not mean it was inherently capable of performing crazy combinations of attacks. It simply had more versatility, both good and bad.
Arthur nodded his head, and it was then that more people entered, going to the dining table. It was two people, both looking exactly the same. Though, one of their eyes, in contrast to the blue eyes of everyone else—barring Chad—was red.
For the man on the right, his right eye was red. And for the man on the left, his left eye was red.
"Ah, this the new dude? Yeah, he does smell pretty bad," the man on the right said. "Now, no need to be rude. Ultimately, he committed the First Taboo of the Dragon, but it was for us, so it's best not to comment on it," Mr Graves said.
'First?'
"Uhm, what do you mean the First Taboo?" Arthur asked him.
"That would be the one you committed, betraying your family and aligning yourself with us. Alliances between families don't result in the First Taboo being broken, but betrayal of your family in your heart and by actions does," answered Mrs Graves.
"Then what's the Second Taboo?" Arthur asked.
Mrs Graves shook her head, saying: "It's not something you need to know. Though, I feel like all this information would be hard to grasp all at once, so we can talk later if you're truly concerned."
'Ah, alright then, I guess?'
He looked at the others and narrowed his eyes, glaring at them. Ultimately, he wasn't sure if he could trust anyone, including these two who seemed to be identical twins of some kind.
"Well? Will you introduce yourselves, boys?" Mr Graves asked them. They both let out an "ah, yeah," before the one on the left spoke up.
"Though, he's mean muggin me. You got a staring problem, boyo?" The man asked. Due to their identical nature, they both seemed to be fairly young, maybe highschool age, or perhaps even college aged. Arthur was terrible at telling the age of someone by their face.
"Ah! Uh, sorry, no, I'm not…" Arthur stammered out, his cowardice shining through. Ultimately, when it came down to things, he was a coward. Fighting, to him, was done in response to physical conflict being thrust upon him. When it came to words, he was quite timid when not angry.
"Knock it off," their mom said. "Hurry up, introduce yourselves."
"Ah, fine, fine. I'm Sun," said the man on the left. "And I'm Moon," said the man on the right. They glared at their parents, who smiled at them.
"Shut up, it's not funny, every damn time I have to introduce myself I sound stupid, mom!" Sun yelled. She only laughed harder, and Moon backed his twin up, adding in a "quit laughing!"
The parents stopped laughing, before looking at Arthur. "Well, if you would like to get stronger, we have training equipment in our basement, through that door over there," Mrs Graves said, pointing over at a door. Arthur saw it, and got up, going to the kitchen and putting his plate in the sink.
Rudy had cleaned up his mess, and was currently sitting on the couch, staring at the wall. The twins went over to Arthur, clicking their tongues.
"Hey, mom wants us to accompany you in the basement, help you train or whatever, so… just go, or whatever…" Sun said. Arthur nodded his head, sighed and went to the basement. Upon entering, and going down the stairs, he saw just how much exercise equipment there was.
As befitting a rich family, their home gym was stacked. Simply imagine a commercial gym, one dedicated to bodybuilders and the like, and that was the basement.
'Ah, I see. So this is where Chad must be a lot. I saw him enter just a bit ago, so it makes sense how he got that body, spending all that time in the gym. Where… oh.'
His mind wandered as he looked around for Chad, before seeing him not in the gym. Upon closer inspection, Chad was actually on a couch in the basement, watching a TV show and eating a bucket of KFC.
He was laughing his ass off, slapping his knee and wiping tears from his eyes as he continued eating buckets of chicken.
Chad saw Arthur in the corner of his eye, pausing the show and getting up, going over to the twins.
"Ah fuck, what do you want, asshole?" Moon asked Chad, glaring at him.
'Dang, these guys actually hate him, is he even part of the family?'
"What're you being so aggressive for, little brother? Not exactly dattebayo of ya, y'know?" Chad said, exhaling a laugh.
"Shut up, what're you powerwalking over to us for, huh? Want us to lay your ass out right here in front of the newbie?" Sun asked, looking up at him. Despite everyone in the family being quite tall, Chad was a good six inches taller than the men.
"Why're you tryna seem strong in front of him? Well, no, I guess it's fair for ants like you to do stuff like that. And who're you calling a newbie? Arthur's already stronger than you guys. Though, I guess it's in the nature of ants to always look up, isn't it?" Chad told them.
He shrugged his shoulders, grabbing Arthur's hand and pulling him over to him, before shooing them off with his hand. "Scram, tell mom and the others that the basement's for me and Arthur, we're gonna be getting some gainz."
"Tch, talking like you're some bigshot! You haven't done anything for the family, yet you prance around like you own the damn place!" Sun yelled, taking a barbell out of a holder and wielding it like a bo staff.
"Huh? Well, of course I prance around like I own the place, since the world belongs to me. If you were up to snuff, you wouldn't cling to your brother like that. Weaker lifeforms do tend to stick together, that's why humanity was able to survive against more ferocious animals. You're too human. Are you completely sure you have any dragon blood in you, or do you just cling to the family? Don't answer, either option just highlights how pathetic you choose to be," Chad told them. His voice was quite calm, though some parts were venomous in his tone.
He shooed one final time, causing the twins to grit their teeth and leave the basement. They weren't fond of being down there in the first place, since that was where Chad was, but being forced out by him pissed them off.
Chad looked down at Arthur, smiling and giving him a thumbs up.
"Anyways, you came down here to get stronger, I assume?" Chad asked. Arthur nodded his head. "Mind telling me how much your outfit costs?" said Chad.
"Uhhh… maybe… like, 40 bucks, I suppose?" Arthur answered. Chad nodded his head, grabbing his shirt and ripping it up. Arthur yelped, backing away reflexively.
He was now shirtless, and Chad looked at his physique. Arthur wasn't skin and bones, he had a bit of meat, but not much, really. Chad nodded his head, taking a picture of it on his phone.
"Ah, I see," Chad said. "Huh?! W-what was that for?! You can't just—"
"Your physique is a bit lacking. All your muscles are pretty underdeveloped, but that's nothing we can't fix. What's your height, weight and age, please?"
"Uh… I'm 5 foot 9, uh, my weight was like… 140 or something, and I'm 19…" Arthur replied. Chad scrolled on his phone, put in some numbers.
"I assume you don't get much exercise? No lifting, yeah?" Chad asked, before Arthur slowly nodded, his face quite red as he covered up his body which he loathed.
"Okay! So, your maintenance level is around 2000 calories. This isn't too bad, actually. Taking into consideration that cardio is necessary for dragons, as the universal dragon healing method converts stamina to healing, but also that a strong body is needed for fighting, I'd say your ideal build would be like that of an MMA fighter."
"Dude, I don't get what you're saying at all, can you… it's a lot, man…" Arthur told him. Chad shrugged his shoulders, smiling at him again.
"It's simple! In essence, you're gonna have to eat more, work out more, do a ton of cardio, and you'll get stronger! Though, another method is also possible, if you're feeling spicy," Chad laughed, patting Arthur on the shoulder.
"Huh? What's the method?" Arthur said, tilting his head slightly.
"Oh, you just gotta devour another member of the Assas family to death. Your Dragon Art gets stronger once you do that."