Chapter 18: Magical Theory, Illegal Applications, and a Sudden Dragon

Chapter 18: Magical Theory, Illegal Applications, and a Sudden Dragon

Professor Halden Pryce was the sort of man who wore three monocles and none of them correctly.

“Magical Theory is not about safety,” he declared, scrawling a series of increasingly chaotic sigils onto the chalkboard. “It is about understanding the fundamental essence of reality — and occasionally apologizing to it.”

Ethan arrived five minutes late, holding two coffees and a regret sandwich.

The professor pointed at him immediately.

“You! Irregular anomaly boy! Join us.”

“Gladly,” Ethan said, sliding into the open space at the front of class and tossing Milo his sandwich. “What are we summoning today? Existential dread? Mid-semester debt collectors?”

“An elemental,” Pryce said. “Simple. Elegant. Bound. Harmless.”

Famous last words.

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The summoning circle activated with a whirr and spark. Symbols lit up one by one — stable, clean, textbook.

And then the Frame twitched.

Ethan’s HUD flickered. His dev-sight flared.

> [Summoning Path: Legacy Mode – Deprecated Function Detected]

>

> > Origin: Node Fragment – Patch Line 2.3a

>

> Warning: Construct Detected – Unregistered Class: Wyrmframe

>

>

> The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Oh,” Ethan whispered, “That’s not an elemental.”

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The circle erupted.

A flash of light. A rush of wind. Screaming chalk.

And suddenly, towering above the desk, was a sleek, crystalline dragon — pulsing with system code and smoking arcane exhaust from its joints.

> [Entity Identified: System Wyrmling – Draconic Construct]

>

> > Status: Corrupted. Confused. Slightly hungry.

Whisp dove back into Ethan’s hood. “That’s a baby datadrake. Why is that in a classroom?”

Professor Pryce blinked. “...I may have used the wrong bookmark.”

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The dragon roared — not with fire, but with a blast of raw data. Half the chairs recompiled themselves into wagons and rolled away in protest. Milo activated a ward scroll that wrapped him in a protective turtle shell and screamed, “I HATE THIS CLASS.”

Ethan stepped forward, hands raised.

The wyrmling paused, glitching slightly.

Ethan’s Frame buzzed.

> [Admin Echo Available]

>

> > Command? Options: [Pacify], [Bind], [Reboot], [Pet]

“Wait, pet is a command?”

> “You added it,” the Frame whispered.

Ethan shrugged. “Why not.”

He clicked PET.

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The light flared.

The dragon tilted its head, then leaned down and gently bonked Ethan’s forehead with its own.

A burst of spark-code shimmered around them, and the wyrmling curled protectively around Ethan’s feet like a cat made of war crimes.

The room fell silent.

Professor Pryce cleared his throat. “Ah. Yes. Well. A successful demonstration.”

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Ethan looked around at the ruined classroom, Milo’s panic-shell, and the mildly sentient desk now demanding a pension.

“Totally intentional,” Ethan said.

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> [SYSTEM SNAPSHOT – NODE BETA-9] New Ally Acquired: Proto-Wyrmling (Name Pending)

>

> > Passive Effect: Localized system defense. Will eat curses. Likes shiny things. Drawback: Constant low hum. Occasionally hacks vending machines.

>

> Magical Theory Grade: Auto-passed due to “intimidatingly high potential for disaster.”

>

> Milo’s Emotional State: On turtle cooldown.

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That night, Ethan sat in their dorm lounge, a small crystal-scaled dragon snoring under the table, Milo wrapped in a blanket muttering about “winged bugs with admin keys,” and Whisp reading a book titled “So You Accidentally Bonded a Dragon.”

Ethan smiled.

“Pretty good day.”