A few weeks pass by, the fear removal spell was no longer needed after a few days. I did not notice its absence until one morning I woke up and had a panic attack which was promptly removed by the spell again. This cycle repeated itself a few times until the spell was not needed any more or in other words I did not piss my pants from the dragon just moving and looking at me. Now my emotions would be best described by the anxiety you feel before a final exam, of course multiplied by 10 or so. I have a suspicion that scaring me will be very hard from now on. Whenever I bring up the topic of negative side effects of the spell, the dragon averts his eyes, on the bright side at least my mind is whole as I still fear death, like the unknown, heights, my mo... Overall I believe my new found insensitivity to scary things is a positive thing in this new world, but only time will tell whether it is so. To aid my chances of survival in this world I have been exercising and running laps around the cave or in other words improve my physical fitness to a more acceptable level.

Otherwise, my full concentration has been on learning magic to protect myself and return ho... I can not decide if I want to return home even if it is possible but I know I must try as I do not want to die regretting not searching for a way, as I have unfinished business back home. The decision I have made is to explore this world after gaining strength with the dragons help and to find a way home or send a message home.

The only problem so far is that the dragon is against me leaving this cave or more precisely his side. Furthermore he does not want to share the reason as to why I cannot leave his side. My best guess is that he is worried about me disturbing the balance of this world but that may just be my ego speaking. While all is good concerning my current livelihood as the dragon provides my daily necessities from god knows where, I can not stay in this cave forever... can I? Yup, he can make me stay here forever and outlive me...

I have learnt that the many races here cast magic in different ways, like gestures, glyphs, symbols and incomprehensible chanting. Some peak existences like dragons and rank 3 mages can use magic at will and mould it with intent without the need of any symbolism for their intent. Often times the non magically gifted races of the world like humans and beastkin use artifacts to cast or enhance magic. My first obstacle in learning magic was the absence of my own mana inside me which is not surprising due to my circumstances, a solution given to me by the dragon is what I would call a meditation technique, I have been practising for days with no result but the dragon says I have inner mana now. It seems I have little talent, it will take me weeks to have enough mana to be able to sense it in myself.

Most of the conversations with the dragon have been about politics and the races of the world. I did not want to open the door to physics, biology, chemistry and modern weapons to this dragon as that is a potential disaster waiting to happen. I can only imagine what will happen if I describe a nuclear device and the appropriate material or better yet describe a virus and DNA... that would definitely be interesting if it lands in the wrong hands and minds. I think the dragon suspects that I am holding back information but he has shown no intention of breaking his hospitality and our relationship so far.

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The dragon understands me by translating the intent of my words when I speak and can not directly peek into my thoughts if I were to believe his words. Reading minds is not so simple as an outside intent can not comprehend another consciousness but it can overpower it. So, sending information and receiving information telepathically is easy, but comprehending another consciousness is not. Forcing another consciousness under your will using intent laced mana seems possible but I refrained asking further questions in this area as the dragon did like me doing so and making a dragon unhappy is a big no no in my book. An example of this would be the spell he used to remove my fear. When asked about the spell, he said it is a rank 3 spell passed down for generations for the purpose of communication with weak races of the world, he refuses to share the spell with me, saying that spells like this that can influence a consciousness are dangerous and are not spread out. A crucial point I learned from him is that the spell had such a strong effect on me was due to the absence of inner mana inside of me, with enough mana I would gain increased resistance, maybe immunity.

Today I was able to sense mana and what little amount I currently have, as magic is intent based we decided I can use my native language as the magic symbolism and the meaning behind the words will represent the intent. This made me realise that if my intent is the foundation of a spell then knowledge represents the building blocks and mana is the power source. My first spell was to cool down a rock, as direct mana control to shape an object may prove to be too difficult and in the case of heating something, I do not wish to burn myself.

I imagine a 3D structure with many different atoms and their atomic bonds and chant: "Freeze, cease vibrations, absorb energy, minimal state of energy." I do not feel anything until I feel pain on my hand and drop the rock, it seems the rock burned off the surface of my skin or better to day, freezed it off. Now I am looking at an ice covered stone on the floor. The dragon is observing my actions with keen interest, then I feel my hand healing itself and I say my thanks to the dragon. I suspect I just made the stone reach near 0 Kelvin and can not help but wonder if it was because of my knowledge of basic atomic physics or is mana that powerful.

"A successful first attempt, the efficiency of your spell was quite high." The dragon continues to study the stone and his eyes widen, "It seems you an affinity with ice." The dragon goes on and explains about different affinities; air, water, ice, fire, earth, plant, metal, lighting affinities.

Affinities? My mind screams bullshit... I can not help but smile and think to myself, knowledge is power. I wonder should I explain what is heat and cold to the dragon or the possible forms of energy and matter but I dismiss the thought for now. Returning back to the topic of magic I have so many questions, is it my soul that controls the magic, souls exists? Can I interact with the soul? Was it my consciousness? Are they directly related or independent? Even this mighty dragon does not know such things and shows annoyance when I ask questions he can not answer. What a great teacher...