Chapter 607: True Ice Elemental Mana Training.

There were a couple of things I learned from eating that dish. First, Mom’s chef was really good, knowing how to blend sauces and spices to such a degree that I wanted to eat more, even if they included Mom’s molted skin. Second, that feeding your child your molted skin was as normal as breastfeeding them, and I was expected to do the same whenever I became a mom one day… urgh. The cycle of child abuse would continue through me.

Though, admittedly, her scales… tasted quite good. Which brought me to my last point: my molted skin usually tasted pretty nasty due to the sheet-like texture, but Mom’s was crunchy like chips and had the sweetness of Texan BBQ sauce. The chef’s cooking affected the end product, but goodness gracious, most of the taste came from the lingering mana inside the scales.

“Whelplings do not eat the molted skin of their parents, as you are at the age where you can consume tough meat without an issue. You feed hatchlings your molted skin because it is easy for them to eat it, while also helping them get used to your scent and grow their natural mana alignment. It is definitely not efficient, but it still helps a bit in the long run, because we share blood,” Mom explained after we finished lunch. “It is similar to why an adult’s scent is so pungent to a whelping. Eating my molted scales or yours actually helps you, but it won’t work with scales from somebody beyond Eltharion and the two of us. If I am to train you, Hikari, then I need you to endure your disgust and eat what I give you every day. Obtaining true ice mana isn’t easy, as you saw with Tasianna and the twins.”

Seeing Mom so serious, I couldn’t help but sigh. “I get it… Though my real problem right now is the fact that you made me do a mukbang stream! I never should have mentioned that to Tasianna!”

Hearing this, Mom’s serious expression broke as a wide smile formed, gripping the recorder she was holding all this time as if it were her prized possession. “Because I knew you would look like that! That chef was one of the apprentice chefs of the Dragon Ruler of Marsh Nest! Of course, he would be able to make delicious dishes for you! Hiehie, how you stuffed your cheeks!”

“Graaaaaaaaak!” I screamed as Mom opened the recorder, rewatching it. I watched to hide my face in the ground like an ostrich… but it was already embarrassing enough that we were doing this skit in the middle of the day while everybody was training! “I saw everybody in the bloody chat… my usual viewers and even… NEILL, I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THE STREAM, BUT I SAW YOU STICKING AROUND UNTIL THE END!”

“SUCK IT, LITTLE SIS. ‘HOW YOU STUFFED YOUR CHEEKS,’ BAHAHAHAHA!” Neill shouted from a few houses away, still sparring with Vifi since this morning.

Not just Neill and Vifi… I also saw the usernames of some of my dragoons and the dragonkin I brought in. They all saw me, and I couldn’t do anything ‘cause the food was good enough to ignore my surroundings. The stream turned into a mukbang, the Korean term for an “eating broadcast” video. Urrrrrgh, today is the first day of my boot camp, and I was making myself look like an idiot.

Haaa, at least the viewers in Iceskale enjoyed it. I cooled my flushed face with that thought, ignoring Mom’s excitement. With the information tower nearby fixed up, streaming to Iceskale was as easy as ever again, which meant that my mukbang didn’t just reach the ones at our nest’s capital but also included the surrounding dragonkin lairs and hamlets.

My agreement with Wendriosa, my argument with Nong, and my meeting with Taim were still lingering in my mind since it has only been two days since we last met. To overturn a Divine Quest’s rules, to see if the weak were allowed on a battlefield, and to find a way to break through the rampaging disaster, to see to our family’s survival. Things were getting too complicated. Well, no, it actually got pretty simple if you thought about it.

Kill Quasdrakeen or Kiedaceus. That was all we needed to do to win this upcoming war. Sure, achieving it will be hard, but the goal was quite simple compared to the glacial expedition. Or even my time in Aureolis. Both had additional conditions I had to fulfill to achieve the best result for my party and myself. The only additional condition here was to ensure the survival of everybody I would bring into this war.

An impossible task, even for myself. Though how often have I dreamed so loftily? What was one more for an Idol of Aurena?

“Forminaxtrass, did you see that? Her cheeks ballooned so much and—I know! Ah, you missed your chance with Taimatrak, so don’t worry, I’ll keep sending you many more of our youngest. A little flower while you’re isolated inside that workshop of yours!” Mom chatted with Empress Forminaxtrass, probably having made a private stream for both of them as if they were having a video call.

… I really invented phone calls, huh? I keep avoiding those mages’ guild representatives, but I accidentally made what they are trying to make. They must be sooo livid.

Taking this chance to look around the elemental’s village, it certainly had become far more lively with the addition of my retainer-wannabees. Frankly, most of the dragonkin who followed me here were fledglings who didn’t have anything better to do in Iceskale, similarly to Rhekk when he still looked like a Yakuza in his dragonewt form. In other words, they were jobless.

Some of them hadn’t begun their Adulthood Pilgrimage yet, so they were technically still teenagers in the eyes of dragonkin society. Anybody who had, like Rhekk, had no excuse and was simply living off the work of their parents or older siblings. Those guys were true NEETs, and some of them were approaching 100, so they were also the type of dragonkin Kramps was telling me about. The sort who rested on the laurels of their forefathers.

It was even weirder that five of them were rank A, and despite their friendship with Rhekk, they still weren’t doing much. They were the type of dragons who should try more, since they were determined enough to evolve into rank A despite their young age. That was the sorta talent that my clan expected from their children, and all of them, even Ryra, were either being trained to fulfill administrative work, or were already highly-trained adults.

Honestly, I was a bit annoyed about them, since they wanted to become my retainer for some reason, but they were Rhekk’s friends, so I was being polite and allowed them to come here. I haven’t really talked to them since Rhekk was taking care of them right now. Unlike everybody, he was given some vacation time to be here.

“Come on! Keep it up!” One of the rank As shouted to a cohort of rank Bs and Cs. His voice roared at the lines of sparring dragons, gazing down at their ice magic. “Channel your spells faster! You need to train your casting speed if you wish to win in an aerial battle! This won’t be like your battle on Altrust, or your training battles with some animal. What is coming up will be a massive battle, so you need to drain your mana every day! Train your skills! Raise your mana capacity! Raise your intelligence and wisdom!”

In fact, instead of acting like a bunch of lazybuns, those five rank As instantly took on the roles as drill sergeants for the wyvern corp and younger true dragonkin. They had no intentions of showing me their bad side by lazing around, which was probably a tip from Rhekk since he knew me well enough at this point.

Fortunately, they were equally training the fire dragonkin and wyverns who came with Kylu, especially since Rego had a higher rank in this book camp since he was my retainer. He, the twins, and my fire wyvern corp outranked every single true dragon that wasn’t part of my family in this place. I made it clear enough for everybody, so I did hope they were enjoying their chance to show superiority over a true dragonkin, like how Shay and Beth learned the joy of speaking back.

Yet, even if it was soothing to see all of this, it didn’t matter to me, right now. All that mattered was training. I had to become stronger.

The next part of the schedule will begin now.

“Lady Hestia, Your Majesty. I am done!” Tasianna called as she left the barracks, having finished cleaning the dishes. She wore a large smile with bright eyes, looking excited about what would come next. “Ice magic! Doesn’t it feel like when I tried to teach you how to cast a custom spell?”

Yup, it was time for the second teacher of my training schedule. Mom would handle my dragon training, while Tasianna would handle anything concerning ice magic. Similar to how Mom was Tasianna’s ice magic mentor, she would become mine now.

“I have the entire curriculum planned out, my lady! There was plenty of time to write it all down when I spoke with Prince Taimatrak and Princess Fargryneill when she was in the clinic. They gave me much insight into how to be a good teacher! Please, allow me the honor to teach you!” Tasianna pumped her hand up with such a wide, sparkling grin that it invoked the excitement of magic in my heart.

Today, I will learn ice magic!

… W-well, that all happened in the single session we had today. Tasianna, in all her excitement, seemingly forgot that both of us were trained by the same magic master. We were both nearly inseparable, to the point that I probably have spent more time with her than my first friend in this world, Saori. We knew each other well, and we both had walked the path of the arcane together long enough to know each other’s magical competency. That was why Tasianna had made that curriculum in the first place… she just didn’t fully account for the fact that Hikari inherited the magical experience and instinct I’ve cultivated in my career as a mage, and had the Nordor clan’s talent for ice magic.

In other words, Hikari kinda had a cheat code: all my highly leveled fire-related skills were turned into ice-related ones. My fire magic talent turned into her ice magic talent, and it only became clearer the more Hikari spent time as the “main” controller of our body.

“In this eternal winter, I vow my scales, flesh, and blood shall protect my home. Where there is a threat, this fortress I built shall safeguard my loved ones and subjects. I am the mountain that shall stand through this eternal winter. I am the wall that will stop the world’s blazing heat from burning down our home. Even if I must freeze my blood, flesh, and scales in sacrifice for the great wall, may it divide the world in two! Fimbulvetr Wall!” Hikari shouted as a cyan-colored magic circle materialized a wall of ice in front of her. White smoke steamed off its surface, looking like water was evaporating from it, but instead of getting singed, the cold was stinging my face.

Hikari jerked before from the pain, before noticing that bits of our hands were experiencing frostbite. Our silver scales started to look like meat frozen inside an industrial fridge, forming ice crystals that shouldn’t be forming there due to our resistance to ice in our ice dragonewt form.

“True ice…” Hikari murmured before Tasianna grabbed my frozen hand, thawing it off by absorbing the true ice mana circulating there. “It’s exactly like how it happened when you performed it when Hestia and I woke up.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Tasianna nodded. “Honestly, I am a bit envious that the custom spell came to you this quickly. It took Beth, Shay, and me an entire week to fully eternalize the chant and runic letters.”

“The length is my fault. If I had a modern formal magical education, instead of being too used to how we used to make spells, the magic circle might have been easier to learn,” Mom explained.

Due to the length of the chant, the magic circle was forced to be large to accommodate the numerous runic letters on it. The spell at base was extremely inefficient when it came to mana consumption, but both Tasianna and Mom stated that you could reduce its drain by how pure your ice-aligned mana was. The closer it was to true ice, the easier it got, to the point you could spam it like an elementary spell.

Although learning the custom spell was pretty easy, the real challenge was to master the spell. I had to gain true ice mana if I wanted to stop the spell from freezing parts of my body. Furthermore, another issue that appeared during my magic lesson was that I couldn’t learn [Ice Magic]. I couldn’t even find the skill in the Skill Point shop, yet despite my lacking affinity, I could learn custom ice spells without an issue.

I didn’t need the System spells from [Ice Magic] since all my fire-related ones would turn into ice, so this wasn’t really a problem. If there was something that I was worried about, then it would be my current Skill Point total.

Hikari, we have too much, I said as we went through the SP shop once again, despite knowing the potential for a new skill was practically zero percent at this point. We really need to sit down and choose exactly which skills to increase. Not use all of it, since we won’t be able to gain any more in the next two years. Evolving our unique Job is another source, but Mom is right about funneling most of the experience to the others. Beth still needs to evolve into a rank A, for example, and maybe we can somehow get Shay to evolve into a rank S before the war.

‘Are you seriously considering that? Shay has to hunt down an insane number of monsters for that to happen in time. You need to be level 75 for the evolution!’ Hikari argued.

Pipe dream or not, it is an option. Though… considering the power of [Hestia’s Retainer], maybe the more efficient option would be to accept Rhekk or Kylu as retainers and have them evolve into rank A. No wait, Fehrkatruk is still a rank A, right? He would be perfect to evolve into a rank S if we only knew his current level.

Disregarding the fact that I wanted to treat true dragonkin like tamed monsters, my current issue is that I had basically nothing special to spend my SP on. To be honest, it had been this way for a while now, since all I could use it on was to level up some skills. When I could buy Job-related skills, I would, but those were rare as heck. As long as I kept some SP around for those times, using some of that SP to “skip” training certain skills sounded more time-efficient, even if we had the time to train.

In any case, I would consider that for later, as right now, I had to train my true ice mana.

“For our training, we will be using Empress Melloxtressa’s lair. You will cast [Fimbulvetr Wall] over and over again, draining your mana so you may absorb the mana inside the lair. In other words, we are repeating what we have done before today, but this time, we are focusing on developing your true ice mana,” Tasianna explained.

Mom then raised three fingers. “There are three methods for developing true ice mana. The first is probably the easiest method: evolve into a species that has it innately, like mine. The second method is how Tasianna gained her true ice mana, and that is through mana absorption. Drain your mana until it is close to zero, and simply let your body do the rest.”

“Oh, wait, isn’t this similar to your elemental alignment lecture when we first met in Griffonpeak?” Hikari pointed out, prompting Mom to nod with a proud smile.

“That’s my girl. You did remember. I am making it some grander now, but the core principle is the same as back then. The only difference is that you must possess the corresponding mana alignment if you wish to gain its true elemental peak, instead of starting from neutral, pure mana,” Mom explained. “As you should remember, I wanted Tasianna to go with you to the glaciers not to gain true ice mana, but to allow her ice mana to become even purer. I wanted her to become exposed to the sheer cold there and have her body absorb the mana as she fought and survived. I didn’t expect the Ice Elemental King to gain an interest in her. I had expected her to gain true ice mana through the third method.”

“Magic. Casting the spells related to the element,” Hikari answered.

“Correct! This is the same method Thalaxarus learned true ice mana from the Ice Elemental King. This is the same way every elementalist learns how to cast the spells of their elementals. And over the years, it remains the most common way for mages to learn spells and gain their elemental resistances. Casting spells forces you to mold your mana into a magic circle, which changes the mana’s elemental type. This exposes your mana to the spell’s, and that would naturally push your elemental alignment in one way.”

“Ahhh, I get it. So the idea is to combine methods two and three to accelerate the process, since I can’t evolve right now. Drain my method through my lessons with you, Mom, and then eat your molted scales to get exposed to true ice mana. Afterwards, absorb ice mana inside your lair while casting true ice spells. My hands will freeze in the process, but that’s just how it has to be,” I concluded, earning me a wide smile from Mom. “… Though, I have a question, won’t that leave me pretty exhausted for my dragoon training? The more mana I use up, the more calories I burn since my body produces mana naturally. I can’t just stop my body.”

“Correct, which is why you will have a meal after each training! Lunch after mine, afternoon brunch once you are done with Tasianna, dinner with the dragonkin to promote rapport, and then you will end the day with a small night meal after you finish training with Uriahn. For a normal human athlete, this might be too much food, but we’re dragons. That is why my chef will be responsible for your diet. He will take care of your nutritional needs.”

… Is this what it feels like to be a rich young heiress? Everything is planned out for me by the adults around me, and all I need to do is absorb their lessons and train. Haha, becoming a professional idol would mean that my life would be micromanaged by my manager, but at least this feels like I have room to play around.

Accepting my fate, I followed Tasianna down to Mom’s lair, where the rest of her curriculum would resume. She might not have expected me to learn [Fimbulvetr Wall] so fast, but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Learning a custom spell I couldn’t use properly due to the damage to my body was a waste of time during a battle, unless for specific situations where I needed an unbreakable wall that could freeze nearly everything with one touch.

However, that wasn’t the plan. Frozen fingers? Stinging cold? Pah, as long as I could heal my wounds, all of this was just part of the process. Mom beating me up? Draining my mana to the point it risked [Mana Stress]? Now that felt a bit more similar to how I used to live in the Belzac forest… okay, that part with Mom was more like Saori’s mom beating me up.

In any case, training passed by smoothly since I only had to continuously cast [Fimbulvetr Wall] to drain my mana due to how inefficient it was. [Fire Ice Fusion Core], after all, did increase the mana cost of all ice attacks by 50%, and without [Gazing upon the Ruby Star], my Job skill, [Solar Ice], from [Maestro of Red and Blue] wouldn’t decrease my mana consumption. 5% was low at [Solar Ice Lv. 1], but every bit counted, right?

Once that was done, I had my late brunch before going over to the dragoons to spend some time wielding my halberd. At this point, I was already mentally and physically done for the day, since arcane corruption was making it hard to focus. I had to continue the training without using my mana or solar ice gas to reinforce my movements, forcing me to train as a “normal” dragoon.

A healthy mind lived inside a healthy body, and I presumed Mom took this a bit seriously since the three hours I spent sparring and stamina training helped me refocus. I didn’t have to think about anything, as all I needed to do was follow the instructions of my trainer. Honestly, Mom’s curated schedule actually made a ton of sense now.

Training would start at eight in the morning, and every training session would last at least three hours. One hour for eating and a break was included at the end of it to allow me to settle down and move to my next trainer, as if I was still in school, moving from one classroom to the next.

In total, I would spend about twelve hours training, with four hours to take a break, meaning each day was 16 hours long. Mom told me to use the rest of the day to practice my other skills, so I would probably need one hour for that. Honestly, seven or six hours of sleep wasn’t too bad! Realistically, this was an insane schedule, but I had the body to perform this for weeks. Whether my mental could keep up was up for debate, but at this point, I was too invested in doing whatever I could to become stronger.

As such, once dinner was over, I let out a deep sigh before going to my last teacher for the day. I pulled out [Providence’s Will] in anticipation.

[“You look exhausted,”] the catalyst immediately spoke to Hikari once it was out of my storage. [“It has been a while since you last retrieved me from your [Storage Magic], so I was worried you might have fallen unconscious, again.”]

“Haaa, you talk as if going into a coma is our plan,” Hikari spoke for us. “Though something did happen, and I’m training to stop that.”

[“I can feel some hints of true ice mana in you, but it is barely usable.”]

“Well, that’s the mana sense of a former elemental emperor for you. I can’t feel that anything has changed today, outside of the fact that my body is aching like crazy. The pain is tolerable, but outside of this morning, I wasn’t able to level up any of my other skills. I might look exhausted, but I think I’m just mentally disappointed.”

[“Welcome to the next milestone you must break.”]

“Are you sure you didn’t listen into what my brother or mother said?” Hikari groaned. Obviously, since everybody was telling me that I was stalling ‘cause I reached a wall of progression.

[“I have acknowledged you as my master. You and Hestia. I will not lie or keep information at this point,”] it replied, unable to understand the sarcasm. [“Yet, that is the truth. Honestly, you should be more excited about this development.”]

“How so?”

[“What evolution choice you pick for rank A will not be considered a ‘normal’ rank A, even at level zero. You are strong enough to defeat a weaker rank A at this stage, so what will happen in two years?”]

<What would happen when you arrive at the time when our plan was supposed to begin?>

Suddenly, Aurena interjected, causing Hikari to jump. Hearing her mumble, “Goddess Aurena,” [Providence’s Will] wobbled up and down as if it was nodding. Taking its cue, it turned silent, letting Aurena continue.

<[Providence’s Will] is right. What would happen if you reached rank A after five tumultuous years? What is to happen if you were to perform such an evolution with your current biological circumstances? You are already a mutated dragon, but the process could happen again. It might even make your transformation seamless. Perfect what Kargryxmor had intended… but you will have to survive until then. Hestia. Hikari, be careful if you wish to learn about the ‘demonic hand.’>

Have you found something out?

<Yes, but Elder Plesia had requested to speak to you about this directly. If you have the chance, pray to her shrine. You are granted permission to enter her divine realm.>

‘She wants to speak with us? Uhm, hello? Goddess Aurena?’ Hikari tried to complain, but our Patron was already long gone. ‘Aaaand she’s gone. Great.’

[“I presume you are done? You look quite defeated,”] [Providence’s Will] asked after Hikari stomped the ground. With Hikari sighing loudly, I explained the situation to the catalyst. [“Ah, I see. Though I guess it was a matter of time until the chief goddess would wish to speak with you. You are, after all, an anomaly. I wouldn’t take this too seriously now. If Goddess Aurena allows the meeting, then that means she will help you when you meet Goddess Plesia. If something were to happen, you probably will have a goddess fighting by your side.”]

Hearing that, Hikari let out a small snicker, finding it absurd that two goddesses would fight for and against us. “… You certainly have a way to console me. You’re right. That’s for future me to handle. What’s important is the present. Why daydream about a what-if, if my entire life can be toppled at any moment now? We don’t know when those leviathans will attack, so why should I worry about an even bigger problem?”

“Which is why you need this training, your highness.”

When we heard that voice, Hikari let out a sigh as it seemed the owner of the small building before us had already noticed us. Looking through the window, I noticed somebody slowly coming into view. Although we hadn’t installed any manatech lamps in the various smaller houses yet, the owner of this building glowed even as the sky had already darkened.

“Hello, Uriahn. Sorry for coming so late on the first day. My mother punished me for losing focus for just a moment.” Hikari sighed as the holy dragon heir of Sacred Nest leaned on the window, smiling as if he was overjoyed to see us. “Are you still up to train me?”

“Always, Princess Hikari. After all, I was sent here to train and possibly court you for my father’s sake.” He hid his giggling face behind his long sleeves before he opened the door, leaving Hikari and me dumbfounded at his sudden boldness.

“Here’s a tip. Idols have to focus on their performances, so don’t ruin the mood with that, okay? You already got too many eyes on you.”

“If that is an order, then I shall acknowledge it. Please, come in. It might be humble, but you did build me this house.”