The Lord of the Seas - An Isekai Progression Fantasy [ Currently on Volume 2 ]

Seven Days Before Departure

Lukas had already chosen the two individuals that he wanted to have along with him for this journey even before Lady Kaitlyn had approved of it.

The first individual would be Katrina Drakos, the Warden of Kuria Prison. Samuel Sterling had already agreed to take up his old post while she was gone.

Katrina was perhaps one of the best fighters that the Seas had to offer and having her along would be a great help. Not to mention, she was Rodan's daughter. Lukas had no idea what Rodan was like, what to say to him when they did find him. What he did know was that his his older brother was always very fond of Lukas when they were younger but who knew what would happen after all this time? Rodan might not feel the same way about Lukas as he once did, his brother might even see him as competition for the throne that was rightfully his.

Katrina could be the one to defuse the situation if it ever got out of hand.

The second individual that Lukas was going to bring along was Jesse Sterling.

Like Katrina, Jesse was one of the dragons who had been born after the Great War. This meant that his entire life had been spent in Linemall for the outside world had been deemed too dangerous. Jesse wanted to see more. He wanted to see what else was out there.

More specifically speaking, Jesse wanted to see how much more money he could make. The young dragonborn had admitted that he really didn't care too much about meeting new people or seeing new places, he wanted to see how he could start his own businesses and expand outside Linemall's influence. Lukas could see the vision because Jesse Sterling had the makings of a business tycoon, he had no doubt that Jesse would have been another hyper successful entrepreneur if he'd had the chance to grow up in his world.

The Merchant Guild would allow Linemall's economy, especially the Seas, to make great strides if they could expand their sources of profit from the outside world.

The only problem was that if Lukas wanted to bring Jesse and Katrina along, he had to prevent one crucial thing from happening: the two of the Dragonborn potentially falling under the Kraken's magic.

By choosing the two of them to tag along with Lukas on this journey of finding and bringing back Rodan,it meant that their safety had now become his responsibility.

Lukas Drakos was a Lordling, meaning he already inherited arguably the most important Legacy of the Dragon Lords: the Crown. This meant that he was immune to the Kraken's control over the mind but Katrina and Jesse—though they had the potential to inherit that Legacy in the future—did not have that same protection.

There was a reason why the dragons had determined that the outside world was too dangerous for their kind to roam freely. If the Kraken gained control of either of their minds, it could only spell disaster for them all and Lukas could not have that happening.

This was why he was currently in the great halls of the library, searching for an answer.

Lukas had learnt that there was more to magic than simply casting spells. For example, the stones that had drained the water out of the Kraken's holding cell. Could that perhaps be a solution? Could there be some kind of device that he could have crafted to prevent the Kraken from using his magic or perhaps to protect Katrina and Jesse from that particular magic?

Lukas was going to be in here all night if that was what it took to find an answer to this problem.

Six Days Before Departure

Lukas had spent the entire night in the Palace's libraries. Yet, he still had not found an answer.

In fact, Lukas had fallen asleep at his desk with piles of books surrounding him, pen clutched in his right hand. There were papers filled with random notes and books of notice strewn all around him, yet Lukas was nowhere near finding an answer to his solution.

The imbuing of magic into an inanimate object was a very complex process that required a very specific set of skills: the Divinity of Craftsmanship. It did not take long for Lukas to discover, through books that the library held, that the Kingdom of Dragons had not had a master blacksmith in the last five hundred years.

Lukas abandoned that idea very quickly once he realized this.

He was awoken by the feeling of weightlessness and with eyes fluttering open, came to see the Lady Kaitlyn Drakos sitting across from him. The waters all around him had lifted Lukas up and out of his seat, forcing him to stand up. He was still groggy and he frowned at the Royal Consort in confusion, wondering what had warranted an interruption to his much-wanted rest.

It was a very long few awkward seconds as Lukas regained his bearings from being rudely awakened.

The Lady Kaitlyn did not say a word until she knew she had Lukas' full attention. "We don't have much time left. Before you leave, I must teach what I can. Who knows how long it will take you to find Rodan? The single spell you have learnt is powerful but it will not be enough if you meet a powerful being in the outside world. There are those who exist out in that world who are strong enough to rival a Dragon, Lukas Drakos. And you must be prepared."

So the next few days passed by at break-neck speeds.

Lukas would be awake before the sun rose and before the Seas awoke from their slumber, Lukas would train with Lady Kaitlyn rigorously, practicing again and again. The process of learning magic was extremely exciting for it was something Lukas could never have imagined being in the realm of possibility in his past life.

But learning it for the first time was one thing. He had to cast the same spell again. Again. And again. But his magical energy was not infinite. When Lukas finally reached the limit of his magical capabilities, it felt different from the physical exertion he was used to as a fighter

Lady Kaitlyn described this feeling as his Mana Pool being emptied out.

It was as if something inside him, something sacred and silent, was slowly unraveling. His magic had always surged like a tide within him like when he had fought the Kraken, a living current, but now that current was ebbing; leaking, bleeding away.

It felt like betraying himself, like tearing at a wound that had never fully healed. His soul didn't scream, it ached, hollow and fragile, like he was borrowing strength he no longer had a right to.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The world blurred—not with fatigue, but with detachment, as if reality was slipping away strand by strand, and all that was left was this raw, unsteady shell still reaching for more power he knew he could no longer afford to give.

Lukas didn't like it. He didn't like it all. In fact, he hated it. It was like his soul was being tested every time he drained all the energy in his Mana Pool. But every time Lukas bounced back, he could see how much stronger he could become.

This was where the beauty of the Draconic Flow was revealed. It was just like Katrina had described: This was how the dragons had been able to reach the levels of unimaginable power, becoming legends in history for their undisputed dominance that even humanity could not match.

When Lukas' mana was completely drained, when every drop of essence had been poured out into the world through the spells he had cast, that was when the Flow became its most potent. In the silence that followed magical exhaustion, the Flow coiled inward, like a dragon slumbering in the depths of his soul, drawing in ambient energy not just to refill, but to grow.

This was a cultivation technique that had been passed down for generations.

With the Draconic Flow, his Pool of Mana did not just fill again rather it expanded, refined and even strengthened. With each cycle of depletion and restoration, Lukas' magical stamina stretched further, his connection to the world deepened, and his presence began to hum with the quiet power of something ancient remembering itself.

While Lukas as showing exponential growth in his mastery of the Divinity of the Seas, he could not say the same with his search for a solution. Lukas still had no answers on how to deal with the Kraken. And he was running out of time.

Two Days Before Departure

Their departure was now imminent yet Lukas wasn't any closer to a solution than he had been four days earlier. He ran a hand through his hair, his fingers trembling with irritation as yet another scroll crumbled into uselessness. The air in the library felt stale, thick with silence and old magic, but none of it was offering Lukas the clarity he needed.

He had searched through scrolls older than most nations, chased whispers of forgotten enchantments and theoretical constructs but still, nothing. No breakthrough. No solution. Just more questions that he couldn't find an answer to.

The problem gnawed at him like salt in an open wound, and the weight of responsibility pressed against his chest.

Lukas wasn't used to feeling helpless.

But now, surrounded by knowledge that spanned centuries, Lukas had never felt more lost than he did now.

Lukas' eyes were bloodshot, lips pressed in a tight line as he scanned the next page of yet another scroll that came to a dead-end. The tension in his shoulders hadn't eased in hours, maybe longer.

He wasn't sure anymore.

The library's silence was sacred, but it couldn't hush the war waging in his mind.

When his mother entered, the quiet remained. But it shifted. It became softer. Warmer. There was clear concern in her eyes when the wyvern finally spotted Lukas in the deep depths of the library.

"You're going to collapse if you keep this up," Selene told him tenderly, her voice threading through the stillness like sea foam lapping at the shore. She walked over, tugging at his arm gently. "Come. Eat something. You haven't touched anything since dawn."

"I'm close," Lukas murmured, though he wasn't sure he even believed himself anymore. Maybe there wasn't an answer he could find to this question. He gestured vaguely to the stacks surrounding him, a fortress of knowledge and the source of his frustration. "I just…I need something that works. And I'm so close to finding an answer, I just need more time. I don't have enough time."

Selene didn't argue.

Instead, she reached down and picked up one of the discarded scrolls he had barely glanced at; one of the many irrelevant ones he had tossed aside in his frenzy. Her eyes skimmed it with practiced ease. Lukas was surprised that she could understand it considering she was a wyvern but it was no surprise that a warlord like herself had had to study many different kinds of magic to know how to counter them in battle.

Compared to Lukas, Selene had a greater understanding of the mystic arts than he did.

"This…this is old. Contract magic for livestock. I haven't seen this spell in centuries." His mother remarked with great interest.

Lukas had thought about using a contract bound my magic for it reminded him of some shitty deals he first signed as a professional fighter. But the complexities and nuance required to form a proper contract was too much for Lukas to comprehend.

"Livestock? Then it's useless," Lukas muttered, slumping against the table.

Selene raised an eyebrow. "Not exactly. You know, my family used this on our fish farms. It was how we made a living. It's a magic that binds a slave to its master. Seemingly gentle but it is designed so even the most stubborn creatures wouldn't swim off into currents or turn on each other. It's rooted in...familiar-based contracts. Not quite sentient, but enough to hold a being still. This mark…once made for the sake of agriculture and farming. But its intentions have become much more sinister in recent years. Especially after the Great War."

Lukas turned to look at her, something stirring behind the frustration in his eyes. The look of innovation. An idea was forming in his head and it wasn't just any random idea.

The wyvern recognized the look in her son's eyes and her own became wary.

Selene's voice darkened, barely above a whisper now. "This same magic that is likely being used now on our people. On dragons. On wyverns. The ones captured during the Great War. Branded and bound like beasts." She wanted him to know what it meant if he were to use this magic, for whatever reason it might be.

His mother was warning him not to do anything he would regret.

"Do what is necessary, my son. But do not abuse this power. I trust you know what you are doing, Lukas."

All Lukas could do was nod and hope her trust was well-placed.

His mind snapped into place like a current surging into motion. He held the scroll with reverence as Selene left him to his work.

This was the answer Lukas had been looking for.

A leash made of magic older than any enchantment the Kraken had mastered.

And the answer had been buried in something mundane, something cruelly overlooked.

Lukas truly felt horrible that the draconic kind were forced to become nothing more than pets put on a leash to be put on display or as weapons of mass destruction that could be used when needed. But he also knew that this was it.

This was the perfect solution to his answer.

Finally, all of those endless hours, late nights and mental torment he had put himself through. All of it had been worth it. As Lukas stared at the scroll, a slow, wicked grin spread across his face. Not only had he finally found the answer, but he was absolutely going to make the Kraken regret ever slithering out of whatever cursed hole he came from.

Lukas was going to enjoy this immensely.

For the first time during the preparation for this journey, Lukas Drakos finally felt ready for the journey ahead.