-Afternoon. Nefiru's POV-
"Miss the forest?" Asked Shaila while hugging my neck trying not to fall back.
"You would miss it too if you were born a beast, and in that case, what would you like to be?" I inquired recalling her interest in starting a new life because of that past.
It's not like humans can just take a stroll in the forest without risk being eaten, but I'll take her there once she learns a few magic tricks like bending light for stealth....Sighs, why were you not born a dragon sibling of mine? I imagined what would it be like to have her as a sister instead of the one that didn't like me and stopped looking at the forest turning back to stare at the girl riding me.
"Uh...I would like to be a wolf as big as you!" Shaila exclaimed looking at the ground below where Lester is glaring at us with arms crossed. "They are not as strong as dragons, but it would feel better to have a fluffy fur than scales, and they are faster running on land...I would like to run freely..." She looked up meeting my gaze while comparing then states her desire.
I see... she chooses to have leather instead of armor and mobility on the ground rather than flying....Certainly, dragons have short bursts of speed to pounce on prey or run short distances quickly, but can't compare to giant magical wolves who could run miles before getting tired. Well, it's too soon to tell how the future will play out and will accept her choice of becoming a different beast than me at Divine Rank, but we surely could have fun. I envision the girl that might not hesitate to ditch her human body that brought her so much sadness and become a beast.
We all live with different shackles...in her case is a human body and society's rules while in mine are only feelings binding me, but there is indeed a sense of freedom being a beast even with the restraints I choose to live with. Speaking of restraints, many perverted things can be done at Divine Rank to have fun, but at some point, we'll lack the time with all the training and eventually after hundreds of years we might even get bored of pleasure altogether or life itself then go to sleep for eons... I recall dreams of sleeping for a very long time.
"I would very much like to run in the forest with the wolf Shaila, and train you to give me your paw or wag your tail only for me, but know that if you do become one, then I'll eat any male wolf that so much as shows interest in your scent." I declared proudly of being possessive.
"Fufu...or eat me yourself, right?" Shaila chuckles looking at my smirk forming.
"You guys are having the most bizarre conversation, but if you do become a Divine, then it's better to have a smaller body and wear sturdy armors rather than have bigger bodies more vulnerable to attacks or waste energy fixing the damaged parts after combat." Lester disapprove our conversation and points out the disadvantages of keeping a larger body.
I survey the backyard extending from the right wall of the estate to the left one and a depth of ten-hum from the building to the back wall that faces the forest. The small door on the left next to the alley is the kitchen door judging by the enticing smells of seasoned food, the double doors in the middle of the building probably reach the front and the other small door on the other side seems like some kind of storage.
There is a tree right in the middle of the rectangle, reaching the height of the third floor of the building with an umbrella-like foliage of little leaves and three rectangular stone tables around the trunk with benches for sitting. That tree looks amazing to spend time reading a book, hanging out or do barbecue...if I was a human anyway, those tables and benches are in the way for me to lie down beneath it but feels like a waste to destroy something that should be enjoyed. It looks like they haven't invented drying machines since they have the clothes sun-drying over ropes on the other side of the backyard and I can identify by the smell which one belongs to whom from here. After getting down from the woodpile, I walked towards the tables under the tree and crouched while placing my head on a stone table, then Lester sat on a bench to my right.
"This is nice to relax, just missing some fountain nearby with fish and a little grass since everything looks desolate with the bare ground or gravel." I describe as Shaila is accommodating herself on my back under the shade of the tree. "Also, can you have a gate built back there?" I point towards the wall blocking the view of the woods with my right paw. "I want to hunt in the forest, and Shaila can even see me coming from that window up there...this building looks uncomfortable to live by the way." I indicate the plain-looking rectangular block of stone with some glass windows.
"What are you, a Royal dragon to criticize our house!?" Lester scoffs leaning back on the bench and placing his feet on the stone table on the right. "This house was built by Tinkers to be capable of withstanding attacks from your father, possess ventilation tunnels with devices that also blow the air when you pour magic into it, and there's also a chamber that keeps freezing temperatures to preserve food. It might not be as decorated, beautiful or expensive as other Noble mansions, but it is more comfortable, cleaner and organized." He compares his residence to that of other noble families while sounding proud to live here. "I have to hire a construction team of earth magicians from the guild to fix the front entrance, remodel the stables and make a hole back here, but money is short for another iron gate to cover it until the next quarter season." He reveals the money problem for the structure needed to keep the estate sealed from intruders.
"Just buy the parts, then I'll build and install it myself." I requested, then show him my right paw with electric arcs jumping between the claws.
"Lightning huh?" Lester raised an eyebrow speaking. "You said that it fixed your head, but Alphonse told me people go crazy when they are exposed to it, and now you are also planning on building a metal gate with it." He stated while looking into my eye. "Since when do you know so much about magic? Do I even need to explain magic anymore?" He scowled with his arms crossed and Shaila that was lying on my back shifted over to peek at our conversation.
"Okay, you got me! I'm actually a former Divine who had his body destroyed and decided to grow inside the body of a regular dragon to avoid my enemies while finding true comrades like Shaila to make them into soldiers." I narrated a made up story sarcastically while Shaila on my back holds her laugh. "What you guys teach me, is indeed helping since I'm only able to make sense of Magic because I know the properties of the natural phenomenon it produces, and can't trust you as much as this girl willing to do anything for me, but we can still get along, so don't poke too much into it like some detective." I sternly reprimanded his attitude.
"Very well, but don't ask her anything weird and I'll teach you more about magic before you make an uncorrectable mistake." Lester does a long sigh and gives in.
"Oh yeah, I've been wondering if learning Aura could help me, but I'm not sure how that works." Revealing my idea causes Lester to facepalm.
The effects of Aura seem to be like the vitality stat of games or perhaps Ki from martial arts, and Liana was rather sturdy for a human with also extraordinary healing capabilities when she was left bleeding on the ground. Maybe it can help strengthen my body further and increase recovery rate without needing large quantities of food that makes my body eat itself, though in gaming terms a hybrid character is usually gear-dependant to be good, but dragons already got good armor. Magic strengthens the body, but Aura might do more so, or people wouldn't go for it, and with it might be possible to fly longer.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
"This is what I'm talking about mistakes!" Lester hit the stone table with his left palm then pointed at me. "Dragons already have high Lifeforce and going Auramancer is a tremendous waste of your talents, just like big sister neglected her medium Earth affinity to increase her vitality for...um, her hobbies since it improves muscle, bone strength, self-healing and disease resistance. Anyway, to create Aura, you have to identify your Lifeforce first then refine your magic through trial and error until it matches your Lifeforce energy, but since the body can only contain a certain amount of the stuff, you have to use most of your spirit to hold it so it can accumulate. Takes a lot of effort to bind Lifeforce to the spirit or remove it, and although the process wastes a lot of magic to convert a little, it does help training in Density which in turn increases your Rank and the strength of your soul just like Elementals, but because most of your Spirit is occupied by Lifeforce, there's not much left for Magic. Since most people who go Auramancy can't take the Spirit outside their bodies, the room they leave on the Spirit for Magic is enough for passively accumulate then convert, but that also means the corresponding room to hold Elementals is little as well or their fuel since you can't feed them Lifeforce." He describes in detail the workings of Aura and leans back again waiting for me to process.
So, assuming that I use 90% of my Spirit to keep Lifeforce, then only 10% of my current Elementals would be usable without going rampage as well as 10% the fuel to produce only one-tenth the possible Magic phenomena, and all of that for greater muscle strength, healing and disease resistance. I see, practicing just a little Aura would be a huge nerf for me since dragons already have those benefits and it would be like losing a hundred attack power to add just ten defense points to the hundred I already have, but it works for humans who have trouble with Magic. I recall that beings who are unable to take magic outside their bodies don't qualify as a viable Magician, but the alternative, being Auramancy might be a faster option to Rank up if they can manipulate the Magic inside the body to convert it to Lifeforce.
"Aura users rank up with that method until their souls are powerful enough to take the Spirit out to cast magic, then dump all extra lifeforce, but some see it as a hassle learning Magic Arts from zero, especially with a Low talent in their Affinity and just remain Auramancers until they die. Well, most Auramancers that have low talents on their affinities are unable to take Spirit outside at low ranks, and Magic requires a lot of knowledge besides the precise control of elementals which is why you will see most of them with common hair colors that indicate low talent. However, they are blessed with a longer lifespan than Magicians, capable of living close to a thousand under Rank 10 if they don't get killed and are also able to connect their Lifeforce with some creatures to extend their usual detection range without worries of Spirit clashes." Lester explains more benefits of the warrior profession that live long enough to pass down history after hundreds of years.
So it's like a tutorial for people with weaker Souls that can't take Spirit outside their bodies to cast magic or gather Mana, and not only is the process wasteful, time-consuming or low Magic pool for conversion but Ranking up under those conditions might be slower than Magicians, though certainly a lot simpler than magic. However, whatever the Elementals are, they can't receive instructions or connect with Spirit imbued with Lifeforce huh? Why the discrimination against people with weaker souls? Oh, wait, the people with low talents in their affinities are also those with weaker souls and considering how strong mine is that gave me two high plus one low while Shaila has one high, then how old does your soul have to be to get high-talent? I realize the correlation between soul age and talent markings.
I have six lifetimes so far, and not sure how long the Draconian me lived for, but this could mean Shaila has lived as much or more than me since my soul weakens less with reincarnation, and she might even have her own children somewhere. Lester and Liana who have medium talents might have lived for half as much as Shaila then how long has a low talent person lived for? I ponder over the mysteries of affinities making assumptions with what little I know.
"So, Auramancers have to wield weapons, but are they effective against magicians? Feels like hiring a magician over an Archer might be a better choice." I inquire recalling the bow users at the towers during my first time here.
"Bows have greater range than Magic, and anything up to Rank 10 can die to simple arrows or a sword cut since Auramancers can dash explosively, but the Tinkers also sell some weapons that can be used by anyone. Those Slinger weapons are not just noisy when they spit those metal bits, difficult to reload or the accuracy bad, but they are also quite expensive and are saved to defend the walls at the capital from air attacks." Lester described what could be a primitive firearm.
"Are there people who practice Aura along with Magic?" I inquired about the possibility of hybrid builds.
"Of course, the most famous ones are the healers who practice Aura, Water, and Light, but they have to be very disciplined not to have Spirit clashes besides being able to make Lifeforce that matches the individual they must heal." He confirmed hybrid builds and the complexity of the healer profession.
"Healers also Rank up faster by using Water and just learn the only thing Light does to speed up recovery." Shaila affirms how Light is neglected by magicians with other affinities.
I remember the Healer that came to my Pen having blue and white hair which makes him Water and Light Magician that also practiced Aura huh? So, Lifeforce gives the cells cohesion while Light stimulates division, then Water manipulation speeds up chemical reactions? I assumed the nature of healer profession.
This gives me a dangerous idea...what if I accelerate all the processes in my brain using Water, and Lightning, then Light with Aura for stimulating neuron creation to revert the dying number of them or even increase my neuro density? The Overclock running in my brain increases the connections while degrading the neurotransmitters, and if the current increases, it will wear them down until I'm a retarded dragon, though it's possible to stimulate neurotransmitter production using Lightning, there's quite many of them. With just increased electricity and brand new memories that connect to a few others, the thoughts are exploding in my head, but if every chemical process is boosted, expanding those connections from a few, up to hundreds, then pretty much all knowledge related to a subject will be recalled at once. However, that increase in awareness will mostly be used to support the boost longer, and whatever is left could help Magic training, but right now that's not possible anyway since my Magic density is not high enough to control my Low talent for Light, though on the other hand, it won't need large quantities of elementals or energy.
"You pondered about it for a while as if planning on becoming a Healer Dragon which would be hilarious to see, and it is possible since you already have the Low Talent in Light, then just need someone like Grandmother to teach you, but it takes a lot of practice to heal other people." Lester put his feet down and leaned over the table observing me. "Though it is not a useful profession at Divine Rank, you'd make a lot of money with it, but the richest people in the world are dual affinities of Earth and Fire since they can make armors, weapons and precious gems at high ranks... like these." He says bringing to the table the iron rod with two crystals on each tip. "Earth produces from rocks to metals, but some are harder to make like gold which requires high Rank and have Hair like mine while Fire is composed of any gas that burns, but higher temperatures at High Rank and have Red hair." He elaborated after seeing me show interest.
I look at the metal Rod with arrow-shaped crystals on each tip that has been placed on the stone table and observe the crystals that don't seem for decorations. That staff he's always carrying around appear to be for armor penetration, so they must be something hard like Diamond, and from what I've seen, he could use his Earth magic to propel it just like those rocks he threw at me before. Earth magicians might be capable of making rare metals like Uranium, but if Gold requires higher Rank, then higher atomic number will be harder to make and probably cost a lot more magic too, and makes me wonder if someone High Rank in the past made a nuclear bomb accidentally. A Divine Earth magician might be able to get a few kilograms of Uranium 235 or around two human fists which can achieve critical mass and be controlled by uniting two halves that set off the chain reaction for detonation, but this method is inefficient without trigger-radioactive metals. The radiation might not be a problem for the bodies of Divines which can be created, and I have yet to know how, but will that affect the Soul or can an explosion destroy it?
"Nu uh, I will teach Nefi about Light Magic." Shaila disagree with her brother and declared to be my Light teacher. "Also, brother forgot, but there are color variations when you awaken affinities like fire magicians having Orange hair or Lightning users having pink hair...Nefi almost became a Pink Dragon!" She revealed and started to wriggle on my back.
The combination of High Water, Medium Lightning with Medium Light might have been possible considering Affinities appear to be some kind of Marking on either the body or the Soul that links you to Elementals like a code.
So...I was close to being a Pink Dragon? I imagine flying as a pink dragon.