Chapter 25: With Every Answer, Comes Another Question

Mid Afternoon - Mid Spring : Home

-Well that's a problem..- I just stood there and looked down at myself, watching the beautiful array of colors flow around my body.

I quickly fell into a trance, but I didn't stop pulling in my aura. It only took a couple seconds to reach my limit though.

The layer of aura was around 5 cm thick which was quite thin, but I quickly realized an even bigger problem. -This is less than a quarter of my total aura when my reserve is full..-

I tried as hard as I could to think of a solution but nothing came to mind. -Sh*t..-

As I snapped out of my thoughts, I looked down and stared at the flowing colors again. -At least it's quite pretty..-

"What in the world.." Mother was the first to break the silence. "Vasilias.. is that your mana control?"

The amount of mana I was controlling was completely out of the realm of a young dragon and would even be considered a lot for adults. Mother simply didn't know what to think after seeing me control it so casually.

As I looked over to her, she mumbled something under her breath. "Were Ancient Fenrir.. really such monsters?"

Not paying attention to the awkward atmosphere, I decided to ask about my problem. "So, Mother.. I can't seem to suck back in my aura, so what's a different way for me to keep my aura off people?" Even though it was only a thin layer, it was still far too much to be able to walk around a town with, visible or not.

"Ah.." She quickly snapped out of her trance. "Ahem. You can't suck aura back in, sweetie. A better way is t-"

Father stuck his wing out in front of Mother. "Don't just tell him. Let's see how long it takes for him to find a solution." He pulled his wing back and looked at me. "If we give him all the answers, he'll become too dependent on us."

It was a little frustrating, but he was right. -Plus, I'm sure I'll figure something out eventually.. hopefully..-

As I sat back down and started brainstorming what I could do, I remembered something I wanted to test. -Right.. what if I try to read that dense mana?-

As soon as I went to read the mana, an incredibly detailed view of the space around me filled my mind. I could only really see what the 5 cm wide layer of mana touched, but what was there was freakishly detailed.

I could see the dust in the air, the individual cells in the grass and anything from large molecules to singular atoms of whatever I looked at.

It was quite a surreal experience seeing living cells with such detail, but at the same time, it wasn't nearly as detailed as the dream. In the dream, I could see each part that made up atoms, and even what made up those parts themselves in extreme detail. (talking about quarks)

But just because it was incomparable to the dream, didn't mean it was a useless experiment. -So the density of the mana I'm reading correlates directly to the amount of detail..-

Although not solving my problem at all, it revealed a pretty useful detail.

After a bit more experimenting, I figured it was time for a break and released my aura to relax my mind. "Haah.."

Letting my aura spread back out, I looked up to see a sky filled with stars. -Was I really fiddling with my aura for a whole day?-

I quickly looked around to see if anyone was around and saw Ilios laying on the ground nearby. I couldn't see anyone else but I felt their aura emanating from the cave.

As the wave of my aura flowed outwards, I accidentally woke up Ilios.

"Sorry to wake you up, buddy.." I lightly reached down and rubbed his head.

"Mmmm.." Not even opening his eyes, he walked over and curled into a ball next to me.

-Oh right! I can do that now!- I quickly transformed into my humanoid form and laid into Ilios. His fur felt incredible. Simply laying back into the ball of fur and looking at the night sky felt amazing.

"The night sky is still stunning.. no matter how many times I look at it.." As I laid there, I started to think about what possible adventures lay ahead of me. I knew it would be a path with its ups and downs, but I was truly looking forward to it.

A warm smile came to my face as my eyelids started to feel heavier and heavier. Before I knew it, I had fallen into a comfortable sleep.

*Liiiick*

I suddenly woke up to the feeling of something wet and warm rubbing across my face. My eyes jolted open in a panic but I quickly calmed down after seeing it was just Ilios.

"Good morning Ilios.." I reluctantly sat up and brushed off the layer of dust on my clothes [1] before I saw Ilios get up and start walking towards the forest.

-Hm? Is he wanting me to follow him?- Deciding not to question it, I quickly transformed back to my dragon form and followed him into the forest. -Mother won't get mad right?-

After a few minutes of walking, we came across a small pond only a few meters across under the shade of the dense canopy.

The pond was closer to the size of a puddle compared to my dragon form, but that wasn't what made it so unusual.

In the very center of the pond there was a red and pink lily that exuded a light, colorful aura into the surrounding area. The area itself was also abnormally colorful, with various different blooming flowers and even some fruits. It looked like something you'd see as a wallpaper.

As we walked up to it, Ilios walked out into the shallow pond and lightly nudged at the lily.

"What do you want me to do?"

Ilios just stood there wagging his tail, splashing around water.

Walking out to him, I dipped my feet in the water and leaned down to smell the lily. It had a very sweet smell similar to mana cores.

Before I could think, I subconsciously opened my mouth and ate it.

It had an incredible taste, similar to honey, but once the taste faded away, it seemed like that was it. -It had some mana but not nearly as much as I was expecting..-

As this thought crossed my mind though, an extremely familiar soothing sensation wrapped around me.

The sensation felt so good that my knees buckled and I nearly fell to the ground and passed out.

After what felt like only a few seconds, the sensation started to fade and I slowly stood back up and gathered my thoughts. "Hooh.." -I really need to figure out what is causing that feeling..- On top of the enjoyment from the sensation, I also simply felt stronger, not physically, but mentally.

My thoughts were significantly clearer and a bit faster.

Out of curiosity, I closed my eyes and focused on my aura again. The instant I started reading it, I noticed a clear improvement.

Unlike before, I could now read out to around 9 meters. -Its still not much but its an improvement.-

A proud smile popped onto my face before a revelation hit me.

-Man, I have no clue why that took me so long to think of!- It was an easy solution to my previous aura control problem.

Since I couldn't suck back in my aura, I had thought I had to layer it around my body. -But what if.. instead of pulling in, I just push it up..-

Quickly taking control of my aura, I created a massive column of aura climbing several hundred meters into the air. -Wow.. even my control got a bit better..-

As I was feeling proud of coming up with a solution, the mood was killed by another major issue popping up. -Wait.. what if I want to go inside a building?-

My mind drew a complete blank as I tried to think of something. "Haah... Whenever I answer one question, 3 more pop up.."

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[1] - If you're wondering where the clothes came from, its a mix of earth and light magic. Most dragons need to use runes to give their humanoid forms clothes, but thanks to the knowledge inheritance, it is all done instinctively.

Chapter end