Chapter 144: Physical Adjustments

"...You’re pretty fast, Nio, but you’re lacking flight experience," Nioh says as she flies past Nio, circling around her to show the difference in speed. Since they’re still far from the gate to the next floor, Nioh decided to train Nio a little in flight.

"How are you doing that!? Aren’t we supposed to have the same speed?" Nio can’t understand how she’s so much slower than Nioh when they both have the same Status in every aspect.

"First, Nio, we don’t have the same Status. Our classes and base power are the same, but I have spells you don’t even dream I have, and I could easily be cheating, but I’m not."

"I’m just flying like you are. The difference is in how I move my wings. For a living creature to fly, its wings need to meet certain requirements."

"Nio, you flap your wings like a desperate idiot. It works, but that’s not how you fly. Flapping your wings repeatedly with extreme force is trying to imitate a hummingbird, which needs to flap its wings many times to fly because of how small they are."

"But our wings are huge, and a single flap is already enough to lift us into the air. Your problem, Nio, is that you’re not flapping your wings correctly. You’re not adjusting the angle, you’re not using your tail to turn, and you’re not adjusting your wingspan." Even though it doesn’t seem all that useful, Nio needs speed. As a mage, she should avoid getting into physical fights like she did against Typhon before.

"Okay, then...so how do I do this?!" While the two of them talk, they continue flying toward their destination through this vast forest.

"First, only flap your wings one to three times when taking off, and then flap them at a much slower rhythm, or whenever you notice your speed has decreased! Second, spread your wings completely. It might hurt a little at the base at first, but your wings need to be fully extended."

"And tilt your wings slightly forward once you’re in the air, and when you flap them, tilt them backward. Once you’re flying, just keep them open and slightly tilted backward, and that’ll let you glide. And don’t move your wings to turn, keep them completely straight. What you do instead is use your tail to turn. It’s faster and allows for more precise adjustments."

"Only move your wings for sharp turns, or when you need to make turns in confined environments, like a normal forest or a city. Got it?" Nioh explains how she can fly so much faster by mainly taking advantage of physics and the way their wings work.

"That sounds so counterintuitive, Nioh. How the hell would not flapping my wings make me faster?"

"That’s efficient flight, Nio. It doesn’t work for everyone, and it doesn’t even work for all dragons. It depends heavily on the type of wings. Our wings are designed to generate immense explosive power with every flap, which is why we only need to flap them a few times. Flapping them too many times destroys that explosive momentum."

"The muscles in our wings are powerful, but they consume a lot of energy, so they’re designed to flap only a few times while maintaining a stable speed between each set of flaps. Think of a cockroach. A cockroach can go from a standstill to top speed almost instantly, but that doesn’t mean other insects can do the same. It shows how much it depends on the living creature and how its body functions."

"It’s the same for us. The wings we have are large, powerful, sturdy, and built with a muscular structure that increases explosive performance at the cost of repeated flapping becoming more exhausting."

"And that doesn’t mean you never have to flap your wings. You’ll probably need to flap them again every 5 to 10 seconds to maintain your speed after the initial 1 to 3 flaps. What I’m saying is that you don’t need to flap your wings 20 times every 4 seconds like you’re doing."

"That makes you slower and destroys the momentum we naturally have..." Nioh speeds up, weaving through the trees with enviable agility and something Nio can’t replicate.

"I get it...my flight uses too much energy, has poor control, wastes momentum, and is exhausting..." Nio intuitively manages to copy part of what Nioh is doing, making her flight a little more stable.

Without having to adjust her position after every flap, her control gets a little better, but she still doesn’t know how to use her tail to turn, so she moves her wings to do it, losing a lot of speed compared to Nioh.

’The sonic booms Nioh causes are happening way too often...I’m not sure I like this...’ Despite the faster flight, every single flap of Nioh’s wings generates a loud sonic boom.

Meanwhile, Nio’s wings rarely did that because her body couldn’t accumulate enough explosive power with each flap since she kept repeating the movement.

"Nioh, is there any way to make this quieter? It’s nice that you want to teach me how to be a dragon, but if I have to listen to that noise every time I fly, I’d rather fly wrong," Nio complains as Nioh slows down a little.

She makes a slight dive, spinning around a tree and disappearing. Nio stops flying and looks around in confusion until Nioh appears behind her and grabs her.

"Got you...of course you can be quiet, but not in the way you think. To start with, that sonic boom depends on how we fly. It can be made very quiet if you adjust your wings properly." Nioh can only think about how the two of them need to become stronger for the upcoming battle against Typhon.

"But you can’t stop it completely. However, you can be faster than it. Sound can’t go beyond a certain point, so if we reach an enemy before the sound does...we’ll have the advantage." Nio hears a sonic boom approaching her only seconds after being caught by Nioh.

"Wow...that’s bizarre. How did you do that? That was at least 6 seconds..."

"Hehehe, I have a lot to teach you that Typhon never would...Besides, I think we have bigger problems..." Nioh looks ahead, sensing that they’ve reached the great tree the spirit mentioned.

The problem is that Nioh senses the tree’s magic and realizes that it is fully conscious and preparing to attack. Nio also senses the magic taking shape.

"...Haa...looks like we’re going to have to fight, Nioh. You can teach me how to do that later. I really want to try it." Nio murmurs as she prepares to fight. The two of them have just encountered their first real enemy since arriving.