A book slammed shut.
Ariel looked over at Noah in curiosity, who had gotten up and now tightly shut his eyes and held his arms above his head in a stretch. He then looked back down and caught her gaze.
“I don't reckon there's anymore to learn for me. You?”
“I'm mostly through with the curriculum you sent me.”
“Mostly?”
“Pretty much done, just revising it.”
“Mm. That's good enough. If my math is right, there's four days left. I reckon your understanding of military tactics would be sufficient to do what you need to now, especially considering the enemies are primarily mindless monsters. Even more so if Evan's Spiderweb being successful. Can't have you getting rusty for the actual day, so let's go back and get some training done.”
“Woo! I never want to do this boring shit again!"
“Damn you're really picking up my foul language, haha! Let's go!”
Noah began to sprint as he spoke the last few words, and Ariel followed suit. This continued until they found a nearby terrace, at which point they jumped off at the same time. Noah transformed as he did, and Ariel landed right as Noah accelerated.
They traveled south, leaving the royal Ebonreach library they had ‘kindly requested’ access to from the higher ups of Ebonreach.
For the past couple of months, whenever Noah wasn't searching the continent or training up soldiers, he had been in the royal Ebonreach library, looking for more information about the dragon race beside Ariel, who had been forced into learning the basics of military strategy. Unfortunately, dragons being the sacred existence that they were, available information was exceedingly rare. There were even cases of authors who feared some sort of divine retribution if they published what they knew, and Noah suspected that the dragon-worshiping Eira Kingdom did indeed persecute some writers, although it was hard to be sure, what with the heavy censorship. Still, it wasn't as if he didn't learn anything. At the very least, he had managed to grasp the basics.
‘Would’ve just gone to the Eira Kingdom to learn more, but I have no guarantee they'll just immediately try to blow me up. I'm not supposed to be in the Major nations, after all. I'm already sort of exploiting the fact that King Oberon has a business relationship with me to be here.’
First, dragon breath. The spear of a dragon, it was their most powerful weapon, an attack that utilized the spirit that was so large it could not be confined within even their own colossal body, granting them a volume of mana several times that of even otherworlders.
Next, their scales. The shield of a dragon, their scales were even tougher than adamantine, even approaching a level of toughness one could only find within orihalcon, the divine metal, and would likely be able to tank several of Noah's most powerful attacks.
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And lastly, polymorph, the magic exclusive to the dragons, that compressed them to the size of humans, and was what caused them to be reversed as divine beings by many. The idea of beings walking among them that could annihilate the entire nation they stood on was understandably frightening to many, even though it was well known that the polymorph form of dragons would not allow them to exert their magical prowess, and were weaker as a result.
‘My mimicry is a better version of that, hehehe.’
Now having arrived in Haldor, Noah dropped Ariel off then turned to his study, simply dropping in through a latch in the roof that had been constructed recently after Noah determined that he was always going straight to the study once he arrived in Haldor anyway.
“Hey, I'm back.”
“Good evening, sir; you're just in time. Ares has been calculated! We sincerely apologize for the delay, as you would only have four days to practice.”
“What? Really? If so, forget about apologizing for being late, just figuring it out is an accomplishment you can be proud of, Draven. Same for Lirael and Seraphina, who were involved. Since I first tasked you with looking into Mimicry x 8, it's been, what, nine months? Took a while, huh?”
“Sir, as explained-”
Noah took a seat on a nearby chair, careful not to knock over the stacks of paper and equipment strewn about.
“Yeah, I know, the total number of combinations of mimicry x 8 is over 1.2 billion, and then factors like cross-mimic influence and mimic stacking vs. mimic influence have to be considered blah blah blah, I get it. Before you tell me about Ares though, let's get the other stuff out of the way. No new dragon information today either. Don't worry, I won't ask you to start looking into it now that you're done with Ares. The invasion is four days away; I'm not that demonic. Where's Seraphina, by the way? She wasn't in the training field since Ariel was with me, so I assumed she would be here.”
“Seraphina is currently holding up a barrier she's set up at Maruta Hill, the Demonic Forest-Odir defensive line.”
“Seraphina? Oh, did the invasion start early?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I see. Its impossible to predict an exact date, after all. Are we sure Seraphina can keep them out for long?”
“The dragon and Demon Knight Gardias don't seem to have made a move yet, and she will be able to hold on as long as this remains the case, sir. In the worst case, the six barrier mages in charge of personally protecting the generals can assist.”
“Right. The situation being as it is, we can assume Seraphina will be out of commission on the actual day in this case, and she's an important asset. AS planned, do ensure she gets a priest to tend to her and get her in decent fighting condition for the actual day, even if she's not in peak condition.”
“Sir, regarding that, it seems we will be unable to contact a skilled enough priest.”
Noah pulled back his fringe with both hands over his head in sudden realization.
“Damn, you're right, Draven, I forgot about that bitch withdrawing most of the Calysta church officials from Odir! I can’t even deal with her right now with this on the horizon! Shit, will this affect the rescue unit too?”
“No, the rescue mages are experts of healing magic rather than priests of divine magic. However, as you know, healing magic cannot restore stamina and mana like that of divine magic, which will do for rescue, but will not serve much purpose for getting a tired person back on the battlefield, which is what we will need for Seraphina’s case. The only option is an elixir.”
Noah steeled his gaze.
“Haldor doesn't produce any, and even major nations produce only a couple every year. I could threaten King Oberon, but pushing him too hard might cause him to abandon the business relationship he has with me and instead choose to simply crush me by seeking out the other major monarchs. We’re really in a bit of a rut now.”