Wild Dragon of Rome 46 (Patreon)

While watching Astrid retreat was disappointing, it didn’t distract me for long. Lillian arrived soon after.

“What happened? She looks even more distracted,” Lillian said. I gave her a quick summary of everything, including the fact that I managed to establish a rudimentary control over my transformation, and the conditions for it.

“Sounds promising. Can you show me?” she said. “I should check it as well, just in case.” I presented my arm silently, and she once again cast a healing spell, focusing on diagnostics … only for it to bounce from my scales.

“What was that,” she gasped.

“I don’t know. It never happened before,” I said. “Try again.” She repeated the attempt twice. Both times, the scales refused her magic. She cast it on my other arm. It worked. “Try to cast a weak water blade on the scales,” I ordered.

That earned an incredulous gaze from her. “Are you mad? I won’t start cutting you just for an experiment,” she said.

I frowned. “Why?” I said. “It’s the fastest way to understand the limits, and whether it’s only effective on healing magic.”

She just sighed. “Because normal people don’t cut and mutilate themselves just to get results faster,” she said patronizingly. I shrugged. It felt normal to me. “Just hold your arm. I’ll try to cast in stronger.”

With that, she closed, her healing spell turning into a bright glow. She put her fingers on my arm as she attempted to diagnose again. This time, it worked, and her mana managed to infuse my arm. But, that lasted only for a second before her mana had been ejected.

“Did it work?”I asked.

“No, the spell destabilized the moment it went into your scales. It’s impossible to get any proper result from it.”

I frowned. That was not exactly good news, making me wonder what would happen to my elemental cores when the transformation reached further. But, like many things I had been dealing with, it was a problem for the future. “Let me show you how it works, then?” I replied as I repeated the earlier trick, letting the transformation fade momentarily even as I let my anger on the surface.

However, this time, I let it grow back before releasing my control, so instead of pain, I merely dealt with a stinging sensation. Not exactly comfortable, but a great distance away from the alternative nonetheless.

“You need to learn how to repeat it without triggering the dragon heart,” she said. “Otherwise, you’ll just hasten the transformation.”

“True,” I answered. “I’m not in a hurry to hasten the transformation. Meaning, I can’t practice it too long without your … help.”

Lillian frowned. “It won’t work. I can barely able to transform all the mana you provide. Any more, and I’ll hit a limit.” She paused, looking at Astrid, who was working on her own magic to distract herself. “You might need her assistance.”

“I’ll think about it. Still, I don’t want to push her too much,” I said. “You’ll have to work harder to turn it into vitae.”

That earned a frustrated glare from her. “You have to pick one. I can either focus on getting stronger or try to improve my control. Unless, of course, you want me to just dump my mana into some large spells.”

“No. If we do that, sooner or later, we’ll be discovered,” I countered. “Now, do you want to ‘help’ me a bit before you focus on your meditation?”

“A good idea,” Lillian admitted as she grabbed my hand, dragging me deeper into the woods, though not deep enough to actually hide what we were doing from Astrid.

It took an hour for me to pass the majority of the mana I collected to Lillian, and I went back to meditating.

The fact that my scales were pushing the mana away was not a fun realization, making the task of controlling the transformation even more critical. I closed my eyes, letting my anger coax those primal instincts.

This time, however, I wasn’t in a hurry to use those instincts as a bridge to control the transformation. I had already learned that it was a viable path. Now, I needed to master the mindset just like Astrid’s holy warriors, until I could establish that control without a mental clutch.

I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths even as I resonated with the scales under the influence of anger, my mana reserves already in the process of being refilled. With that anger as a bridge, I was able to replicate the control, allowing the scales to pull back … but the moment I abandoned it, I lost control.

For hours, I repeated it again and again, with no progress, which was not exactly shocking. I was not only trying to learn a completely new branch of magic, but also trying to adapt to my extremely unusual circumstances. Immediate success was not to be expected.

Of course, that didn’t make the lack of success any less frustrating. I concentrated more and more … until I was distracted by a frustrated shout from Lillian, followed by a flare of mana. “Here, I destroyed the target,” she growled loudly.

Curious, I opened my eyes and walked closer. Soon, I saw them standing against each other, their frustration clear. Lillian had thrown her sling on the ground. Instead, in her hand, a water blade was glowing.

Luckily, she wasn’t threatening Astrid. She was just pointing at several ranged targets at a distance, more than half already destroyed. “I don’t need to be good at that stupid toy. Not when I have my magic,” Lillian said.

I couldn’t help but smirk as I noticed that, this time her anger wasn’t completely fake. She was clearly frustrated. It looked like her continued failure to learn how to use a mundane weapon frustrated her. As I closed, I could feel her magic, surging as she let out a shocking pressure.

I took a moment to appreciate just how much stronger since we first met. Astrid, however, caught her gaze bravely despite the pressure that was enough to make her knees tremble, a combative expression on her face. “Just because you can cheat doesn’t mean you have good aim,” she replied. “You’re the one that asked my help. You have to follow my rules. And my first rule is no using your cursed magic.”

“Then, teach me properly, and not just give me a toy,” she said even as she raised her hand, a large sphere of water rotating threateningly. That made Astrid even angrier. “The whole point of this training is for me to learn how to use this cursed magic better so I can save your ass, you ungrateful barbarian. You need me.”

“I don’t need you!” Astrid answered. “I have my tamed beast already. Soon, I’ll be strong enough to fight.”

“Of course you need me,” Lillian answered with a dark chuckle, but I could see that she had already managed to control her anger. She wasn’t one to indulge in pointless fury. However, I didn’t walk away for a simple reason. While her anger was gone, she continued to act like she was actually furious. I was curious about what she was trying to do.

“Either that or you have to beg Marcus to save you again. Either way, it doesn’t matter. You’re weak, barely in third order. How long do you think for you to properly tame that beast? And even if you do, so what? Do you think a mere second-order beast survives this?”

With that, Lillian raised her hand, and the sphere started to rotate before it jumped forward, punching through a nearby rock.

Astrid said nothing, angry, but also helpless. Lillian certainly had a point when it came to power. Just to drive it deeper, she held her hand, conjured another sphere, and destroyed another rock. Then, another one.

Of course, in actuality, the show wasn’t as impressive as it looked. Lillian spent too much time gathering each sphere, and their rotation was unstable. Then, even targeting large rocks, her aim wasn’t exactly exemplary. I was already planning training to compensate for those deficiencies.

However, Astrid’s knowledge of elemental magic was effectively nonexistent, making the show even more impressive in her gaze. “You want power. I’ll show you power,” Astrid growled even as she dashed away … toward where I had been meditating.

Before she could arrive, I went back there with a rapid dash. Astrid arrived a minute later. I expected her to be still furious, but that anger was mostly gone, replaced by a shy expression. “Marcus, can I ask for your help?” she asked demurely while also pushing her chest out.

Her ploy was obvious, but I acted unaware. “Whatever you want —” I started, which was all I was able to say before she closed in the distance and kissed me.

It looked like she decided to take the same shortcut with Lillian.

I was more than happy to help her.