"I accept."

If she could stand next to Orion, having more power was never a bad thing.

"Is there a chance I could lose control of my current elements?"

She looked at the dragons, expecting a response.

Ruminona turned her head, and thought for a satisfying answer.

"Obviously, she will gain a huge amount of magic, which means more control. That doesn't mean it's going to spontaneously go berserk, either."

"Seeing how great her current control over the quality is, I don't think she has anything to be afraid of."

Orion acted as a middle-man once again, explaining back to Amelia what the green dragon said.

"I understand. Just in case, Orion."

She asked Orion for his way of stopping a potential surge of magic.

"I'll use it if it comes to this."

An arrow of darkness appeared in his hand, possessing a magic neutralizing effect.

"I've never seen this element, even two thousand years ago. It is true, then, there were a few elements unknown to us so far."

Monolavir spoke, catching Orion's attention.

"What do you mean? I heard a bit from my parents, but they didn't know much beside the fact that it was forgotten."

The blue dragon gave his honest explanation.

"I don't know much either. I had a few discussions with the demons in the past, and from what they said, their creator was able to use seven different types of magic."

Orion listened to another story from the dragon, history that had preceded his parents.

"The five elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. But he was also capable of imbuing two other elements into him."

"The Light element, that imbued a faster use or movement of an object, and the Dark element, that reduced another object's overall properties."

Orion already knew what he meant by this explanation. He experimented with both of them for three years already, and became quite familiar with their use.

"Yes, as strange as these are, I know how to use them too."

Another arrow, this time white, appeared in his other hand.

"But what I don't understand is the 'imbued' part. I can only create a weapon or an arrow. I can't give properties to anything besides those."

Confused, Orion looked at the two arrows in his hands.

"That is something I cannot assist you with. We dragons only possess the ability to use the five elements. Ruminona and I are the only exceptions, as we can use derived forms of our elements. As an exemple, I use ice, while Rumi manipulates storms."

"So, it means I still don't fully understand my abilities properly?"

"Did that upset you? Not understanding your power?"

An excited smile appeared on his face, before he looked at Monolavir.

"Of course not! I should have known there was much more I could do. I'll continue to train them."

Many ideas filled is head, but now wasn't the time for that.

The conversation now over, Ruminona gave orders to Orion that he needed to relay to Amelia.

After a few minutes, Ruminona laid on the rocky floor, her head pointing straight at Amelia.

"All I have to do is touched your nose?"

"She said so. Go for it, I'm ready just in case."

Orion and Amelia looked at each other, before nodding.

With each footstep, Amelia's tension could be felt. She wasn't willing to repeat another orphanage incident.

As she got close to Ruminona, one conversation popped into her mind, one she had with Orion before leaving Auro.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

-

"You've been improving so much, I don't know if I'll catch up to you one day. Do you know how unfair that is, having five elements?"

"I never expected you to be such a powerhouse. You can bring me to my knees in a simple bout, so don't lose hope, and trust your powers."

"I'll be counting on you, more than anyone else."

-

All her worries vanished into the air.

'He can be so unfair sometimes.'

"I'm ready."

Before touching the green dragon's snoot, she lightly slapped her cheeks.

"Nothing's happening?"

Both Ruminona and Amelia looked surprised. Absolutely nothing happened.

"Something is missing."

Seeing the reaction of the dragons, an idea came into mind to Orion.

"Monolavir, have her touch you too, I have a feeling both of you are needed. The fact that she can use both of your elements shouldn't be a coincidence at this point."

Nervousness appeared on everyone's face. Ruminona had to interrupt, as more than one blessing could be dangerous for Amelia.

"Two blessings will be too much for a weak human! Do you want to kill h-"

"Who said such things? There's no reason for me to put her life in danger."

Unbridled anger showed on Orion's face, unusual to his kind expression he had shown until now. The dark arrow in his hand shattered in particles from the strong pressure exerted on it.

"I know her potential better than anyone else, and it is not for me, nor you, to decide. She has the last word on the matter."

His expression alarmed both dragons, as they felt the intent to kill exuding from him.

Even Amelia couldn't entirely understand why such anger came from him. But she felt happy that he treasured her enough to pressure even dragons.

"Amelia, Ruminona pointed out that two blessings were too much for a human. It's if you ignore your ability to use all elemental magic."

The idea of a human using all elements frightened the dragons to their core.

"Orion, wait a second! Wasn't she only able to use water and wind magic?!"

Monolavir couldn't believe what he had heard.

"When did I say that? She's only mastered those two elements in the past three years. She can use lighting and earth, but not to a useful extent. Fire magic is currently unusable because of a past incident, but she can use it too."

She also possessed the 'Key', but they didn't need to know what that was in details. Even Orion didn't know the extent of the ability.

"Wha- I never heard of any human using all five elem- Is she a Hero?!"

The roar was so loud that the entire cave shook. Amelia had to plug her ears from the sudden sound.

Amelia being the current era's hero was something that also crossed Orion's mind.

Maybe she was, perhaps not, it wasn't relevant. There was something different, and Orion guessed the exact reason for her not being one.

'I inherited the 'Shackles', and Amelia the 'Key'. The Hero of old possessed both in his core. Once you know that, everything makes sense.'

Indeed, it was simple. The 'Key' provided the opportunity to nurture magical affinity to all natural elements, while the 'Shackles' were a gate blocking light and dark elements from being used naturally.

'Since I have the 'Shackles', I cannot use other elements. Only if it is given a shape and handed to me. I can only manipulate its form to a degree.'

Thinking about the whole situation between the artifacts sealed in them, Orion internally nodded.

"Do you still doubt her, even knowing she can use five elements?"

Ruminona was speechless. She was sure the girl in front of her was another human weakling. If this era's Hero was in front of her, then anything she could say would be useless.

Common sense couldn't affect the Hero.

"No. I won't say anything concerning that matter, I apologize for speaking ill against her earlier."

"I understand a dragon's value is different from us. If you tried to avoid her being hurt, then I do have to apologize too."

The two looked at each other and apologized to each other. The anger inside Orion vanished, while Ruminona' impression on Amelia went drastically up.

Amelia now understood, Orion believed in her completely. There was no doubt she would succeed in his eyes.

"I'll do it, it might not be much different for me anyway."

Once Amelia said that, Monolavir sighed.

"Don't get angry at us if anything happens. This is bad for my heart, you know? Too many happenings in a single day to deal with can't be good for an old dragon."

Orion laughed, looking at Monolavir moving opposite to Ruminona.

He brought his face close to Amelia, close enough for her to touch both dragons at once.

"I'm doing it."

She touched both dragons.

"..."

"..."

'Is nothing going to happen again?'

Orion thought, while frowning. But this time, no one spoke. Amelia appeared to have closed her eyes, alongside the dragons.

A small light appeared through Amelia's clothes, towards the middle of her back. After the first light completely vanished, a second one appeared near the same spot, slightly higher.

'I should prepare myself for anything going wrong.'

~

'Where am I?'

Amelia was in a different place than she was before. There were no dragons, and there was no sign of Orion anywhere.

'Is this the result of the blessing?'

Her surrounding was pitch black, but surprisingly bright too. She could see the floor, and she could see herself.

She looked up, and saw the source of the light.

'I'm inside my soul? Is it even possible?'

The 'Key' was floating high in above her. It wasn't small, maybe the size of a person. Around it were five orbs which were rotating slowly, some bigger than others.

Inside each respective orb, a part of its element was contained inside.

'I see, this shows how proficient I am with those elements. The fire element is almost extinguished... how am I supposed to rekindle such a small flame?'

Then she looked at the lightning and earth orbs.

The lighting one showed blue electric arcs sporadically, while the earth orb had a medium-sized chunk of rock inside.

'I definitely have to use those two more. I haven't worked on them since leaving our hometown.'

Her gaze stopped on the water and wind orbs. Those two showed the most intriguing results.

'There are no orbs containing them, it's just a sphere of water and a sphere a wind. So, when you master an element, the content breaks free from the orbs?'

Just when she finished observing the content of her soul, two lights shined inside the two spheres, and a sharp burn was felt in her back.

'It's not that bad, but it still hurts quite a bit.'

She looked at the two spheres, and inside of them, each now had a different colored scale inside.

She touched her back, and felt those same scales on it. They were pretty soft, so it didn't bother her movements. It felt like skin merged with the scale, giving it a more fleshy feeling instead of the rocky dragon feeling.

After a moment, the scales completely merged with her skin, and fused with her body. No traces of the scales were left, as they instead entered the elemental receptacles.

When the blessing ended, she noticed nothing changed inside the spheres, so she closed her eyes again and woke up to reality.