59

Id’s party advanced more than fifty kilometers in six hours. It was an unimaginable speed considering the rugged mountainous terrain, but all of them were accustomed to running in the forest. As twelve Sylves, summoned by Selena, informed them of the Rangers’ location in advance, Id’s party could avoid them with no issues. Count Perkins’ Rangers, who later noticed that their siege was broken, chased Id’s party at full speed but failed to catch up with them.

Id, who had been looking for a cave to stay in for the night for more than an hour, spoke to his friends.

“Let’s take a break here. I’ll enter the cave up there to check if it’s safe.”

The cave was well ventilated, and there were no traces of dangerous beasts or monsters. Id, who returned to his party, said,

“As it is most important to secure enough time for manna training while traveling along the mountain range, we won’t move more than six hours a day. Still, we will arrive at Blackfield within due time. Let’s stay in that cave tonight. Sasha and I will go hunting since we have to eat well to train while traveling. In the meantime, please prepare bonfires in the cave, Lara. Spica, how much do you need to eat a day?”

Considering their size, dragons did not eat that much. Wyverns and ogres ate much more than dragons. Dragons that entered the State of Harmony at around the age of four thousand ate only a minimal amount. The old dragons in the State of Ultimate hardly ate and maintained their vitality only with manna. Spica responded to Id.

“I confirmed that I could accumulate manna in my Dragon Heart in the virtual space with the method of manna circulation I learned from you. Regarding this life as a kind of dragon’s Entertainment, I will train my manna in the polymorphic human body until my awakening. If I fail to awaken as a dragon, I’ll die a human. As a human being, I don’t need to get bigger, so I’ll only eat as much as Lara eats from now on.”

Sasha responded to Spica.

“Lara also eats a lot.”

Lara reacted sharply to Sasha’s comment.

“No matter how much I eat, would I eat as much as you, who eats like a bear?”

“That’s true… uh….”

As Sasha blinked his big eyes a few times at Lara's remark and headed for the woods to hunt, Id told him

“It should be fine for you to go alone. A deer or a boar will be more than enough. I’ll prepare soup in the meantime.”

After a while, Sasha returned to the cave with a boar. Seeing it, Spica stood at the entrance of the cave and cast an initiator.

“Optical Illusion.”

At the entrance to the cave, some images of large trees appeared. Even at a close distance, it seemed difficult to find the entrance to the cave.

“Though I’m not good at other magic yet, my Polymorph and Illusion are not worse than Vega’s. In order to sneak around not being noticed by Vega, I practiced these two spells really hard. Human sorcerers won’t find the entrance to the cave easily.”

After hearing Spica’s comments, the party relaxed and enjoyed the meal. Munching on wild boar meat in her mouth, Spica spoke to Id.

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“Can you do me two favors? First, I want to learn swordsmanship from you, like Lara. And my other request is that I want you to give me Vega’s magic armor and sword.”

“It’s not hard to teach you my swordsmanship, but do I have Vega’s magic armor and sword?”

“They are in your Subspace Pouch.”

“Ah, I see, but how can I get them out?”

“Vega already told you how. Close your eyes and think of your Subspace Pouch.”

When Id recalled his Subspace Pouch closing his eyes as Spica advised, the objects in it brushed past Id’s mind like a panorama. Id, who thought only Vega’s Dragon Heart was in his Subspace Pouch, was surprised. There were a lot of weapons, jewelry and gold coins in the pouch. There were gold bars, too, but there were many more gold coins because Vega prepared them for use during her time in the human world. Browsing through the things in his Subspace Pouch, Id said to Spica.

“What do Vega’s magic armor and sword look like? There are so many suits of armor and swords in here that I can’t discern which one Vega used to use.”

“Vega’s magic armor looks like a belt. Do you see a sky blue metal belt? Her magic sword is in a sheath with a large ruby, sapphire and emerald embedded into it. It’s probably next to her magic armor.”

As Id found the items he was looking for, he thought about wanting to take the two items out. A shadow appeared in the air, and Vega’s magic Armor and sword popped out of his Subspace Pouch. Having received them, Spica put the sky blue belt on her waist and spoke an initiator.

“Magic Armor On.”

Dozens of metal bands were released out of the belt one after another, covering Spica’s body. The beautiful magic armor glistening in sky blue was a one-piece full body armor, covering Spica’s entire body, including her head. When Spica lowered her face shield, they could only see her eyes from outside. Even her hands were covered by gauntlets.

Seven hundred years back, the gold dragon Vega had prepared to transform into a human swordswoman and enjoy her time as a human for a long time. At first, she had learned various styles of swordsmanship from several human masters but concluded that it would be difficult to defeat peak Knights with swordsmanship alone. Paying attention to the magic armor used by some human Knights, Vega had captured five dexterous dwarven artisans and returned to her lair with them. After decades of hard work with the dwarves, referring to the magic armor made by human Wizards, Vega had created a masterpiece of the belt-shaped magic armor. Such magic armor had been manufactured neither by human Wizards nor by other dragons before, and never since. Vega had made several experimental magic suits of armor before completing her favorite sky blue one. Magic armor that had not met her expectations had never been used and thrown into a corner of her Subspace Pouch. Vega’s magic armor had needed a huge amount of manna to activate, so she had had to study how to use her Dragon Heart’s manna efficiently, even in her polymorphic human body. Spica also learned from Vega and used her method. However, since Spica’s Dragon Heart did not have enough capacity yet, she could not wear Vega’s Magic Armor for a long time. According to their experiments a few years prior, Vege could use the Magic Armor without any time constraints, while Spica was able to wear it for only an hour. After dismantling the magic armor, Spica handed it to Id.

“Why don’t you try it on? Vega said you’ve already entered the State of Harmony, so I believe you can use the magic armor without any time constraints.”

Interested in the magic armor made by the dragon, Id wore the sky blue belt around his waist. The metal belt was a little thicker than ordinary leather belts, but Id did not feel uncomfortable when he wore it. When Id just thought of the initiator and did not speak it out yet, the magic armor was activated. In an instant, metal bands covered Id’s whole body at a speed that was incomparable to when Spica wore the armor, and a huge amount of manna escaped Id’s manna hall and flowed into the magic armor. However, when Id circulated manna in his standing position, it was soon replenished in his manna hall.

After breaking the obstacle in his head, Id could circulate his manna freely in any posture. He could carry out manna circulation while standing or even moving at a fast pace, so no matter how hard he overworked his body, the manna in his manna hall never ran out. Wearing the magic armor, Id could understand why Vega had said he had already entered the State of Harmony. Although Id did not know, if he had not been in the State of Harmony, it would have been impossible for Vega to hand over her Subspace Pouch to him. Until then, Id had not recognized that he had already entered the State of Harmony as he had yet to meet other people or beings who had achieved the same state.

“I remember when Vega talked about the State of Harmony, she also mentioned a couple of subsequent states. Could you tell me more about the three states?”

At Id’s request, Spica remained silent for a moment to sort out the knowledge she learned from Vega and then began to talk.

“I still don’t understand exactly what kind of states they are because I’ve only been unilaterally injected with knowledge about them and have never experienced them myself. So, I have no choice but to just tell you what I heard from Vega. You can probably understand them better than me since you have already reached one of them. The organ that builds up under the seventh, and at the same time, the last neck bone of dragons and called by humans as a Dragon Heart, can also be called a middle manna hall according to your terms. Dragons have two more manna halls. An upper Manna Hall forms on the forehead between the eyes, and a lower manna hall under the spine between the wings. While manna is stored in high volumes in the Dragon Hearts, it is concentrated only when necessary in upper and lower manna halls. And when not required, the concentrated manna dissolves and circulates all over the body. Therefore, even if humans dissect the bodies of dragons, they won’t find the dragons’ upper and lower manna halls. These two manna halls only have virtual spaces where manna can easily gather, so they don’t have any substance in some ways.”