A couple of months passed before both Breigon and I managed to control our mana and do magic. It was a bit slower with my brother, as he overthought everything and always tried to understand how it worked. The hardest part for him was breathing fire. He told me he was afraid his head would explode.

  But in the end, we learned a little bit of everything, although I was better at manipulating mana than my brother, in addition to generating more because apparently my crystal is bigger. For my part, I focused more on manipulating mana to achieve its hardening for different parts of my body, and along with my fighting moves and the ability to shoot fire, I felt confident in proving myself as a warrior; the great serpent was very surprised by my progress, saying that I reminded her of Tammat, although she assured me that I was still far from the level she had. However, I am glad to know that I am worthy of my mother's lineage and the great ancestors.

  Breigon, for his part, focused more on imbuing mana into objects, for his "future experiments," he told me; I wish my brother wanted to be a warrior like me, but it seems that wisdom is what he seeks; however, the great serpent reminded me that Tammat, although born to be wise, was also a warrior. It was true! We can be more than what our heritage gave us; my brother firmly supported this idea and that's why since then I told him I would help him improve his skills to be a better warrior; he, in turn, would help me become a better sage. Unfortunately, I didn't consider that this included more of his famous "General Education" classes, me and my big mouth; but the truth was that it was fun and useful in many ways.

  Finally, as a final test, we fought the great serpent; that was my idea, although Breigon was worried that we might accidentally get hurt during the fights, especially since neither of us was good at healing. However, the great serpent told us that she would always be careful, so we tried it. The truth was beatdown after beatdown, even fighting together. She was very fast and her mana armor was impenetrable to our attacks, not to mention the strength of her attacks, and after each defeat, the only thing I thought was: How did our mother manage to defeat her?

  The passing of these months with my brother has been incredible, as well as having the great serpent and the great spider; although I still feel the pain of our village and there is also my inheritance from the great ancestors that demands I take revenge on all humans, but I want to honor them in other ways. I have thought a lot about what Breigon told me that time, and I have had time to see and compare my heritage with what I have lived through until today, and I have an idea, and today I will tell it to my brother.

  - Brother, can I ask you a question?

  - Of course, Garrl, you know you can always do it.

  - Have you thought about what we will do after completing our people's legacy by activating the seal and protecting the great caverns? I know we are shortening the search for a village of our people, and even the great serpent has already told us that it believes it knows where there might be one, and even though it is quite far away; I know we will find it. But have you thought about what we will do afterwards?

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  - Honestly, Garrl, not yet. My goals are to finish this seal and find a new village that will accept us; after that, we'll see what to do, or at least that's what I think. I admit that I have several ideas floating around, but they depend on how things go in the village, but tell me, have you thought of anything?

  - Do you doubt that they will accept us? Oh, brother, if it's because you were a wanderer, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Besides, not only have you demonstrated your skills and your great heritage, but you also communicate with a great ancestor; they would never reject you. You don't have to worry about me; I know I will be a great warrior; I believe in my abilities. You know, you have taught me a lot and I have thought about everything that has happened to us and I want to honor the great ancestors, as you say, "by building," but for that, we must change the way our people think and live. I don't think other villages are very different from ours, but we can make a change and I believe we could do it together. Of course, we would have to earn our status in the village first to then challenge the leader and convince the council of elders, but with our combined heritage and the great ancestor on our side, we can achieve it. You know, brother, I want our people to grow, and to achieve that, many things need to change; ……………………………. Abandoning wanderers would be eliminated! We would seek alliances with other species! and, ……………..…..and we would build, I don't know,……………………… but we would build something, it would be ………………………. I don't know how to say it, but it would be as if all the kobolds were together, all the villages! In ……………..……….., I don't know, but together, fighting and helping each other to improve and grow and be able to proudly show our lineage to everyone.

  - Like a nation, but of kobolds? You want to create a nation!

  - A nation? What is that, brother? Is it bad? Oh no! The great ancestor doesn't like it; tell him to forgive me, it's just a silly idea. Sorry.

  - What? No, Garrl, I'm just surprised, it's incredible that you think of that. Honestly, it makes any of my ideas look mediocre; it makes me question myself a lot. But a "nation" is more or less what you think; it is a large group of individuals, under a common culture and living under the unified mandate called "state." Generally, it is democratic and seeks the well-being of the nation itself, that is, of its inhabitants or citizens.

  - Demo what?

  - Sorry, Garrl, I haven't taught you any of those concepts because I didn't think they would be useful to us. Honestly, I don't know if our lives will give us the time to achieve something so ambitious; however, maybe we can do something. I don't think I have the makings of a leader, but you know what? I support you! Our people have shown with this seal that they are capable of great things; perhaps some new and fresh ideas for change are needed, and we can sow the seeds of that change. It will be a long road with many obstacles; look, for example, at Tammat: she tried as much as she could to make some changes and, although she succeeded in some, she failed in others; because there will always be resistance to such change, but if we show them that it is for the good of all, maybe they will support us.

  - So. Isn't it a silly idea? Didn't the great ancestor get angry?

  - Of course not, Garrl! You know, you give me a new purpose in life. I will support you and help you in whatever I can for the good of our people; but "one step at a time," Garrl, we must be patient. First, let's finish this seal, then we'll look for our people and try to make your dream come true.

  - Our dream, brother! You wanted to build instead of destroy; that's what inspired me. Thanks to you, I have this dream, which I hope we can share, because I trust you, brother, and I know that together we can achieve it, but "one step at a time," you always know what to say; it's true, let's finish and honor the heritage and sacrifice of our people and help everyone in the great caves; that creates instead of destroys, right?

  - Yes, Garrl, create instead of destroy.