Azura was starting to get a little frantic. With only a week left until break he still hadn’t found whatever the headmistress was looking for in the vault, which was extra galling given that his death count had entered into quadruple digits territory. There was of course no problem with picking the exploration back up after break, except being unbelievably curious for 3 months. Still despite his best efforts, and dedicating an extra copy to the task a few times he had still yet to either reach the bottom or find whatever the headmistress wanted. Not to say he hadn’t gained anything though.
In fact he was currently in his workshop in the armory studying 1 of those very things. It was an oddly shaped metal cylinder, and he had yet to figure out its purpose. There was a hole on one of the flat sides that went deep into the cylinder. The whole thing was about 10 inches long, there was a button a little under an inch from the top, along with a dial towards the bottom. Neither of which had done anything. Well the button had caused a brief spark to come from the hole, but other than that nothing seemed to happen. He hummed as he carefully tried to take the strange thing apart after a careful inspection had revealed it to be many smaller pieces.
Unfortunately taking it apart raised more questions than answers. He wasn’t a craftsman per se, but he certainly knew a lot about magic item crafting, even the more complicated stuff like airships, and other things of a more mechanical nature. This was not that, the metal some of the parts were made of was unfamiliar, and there were some other non metallic materials he didn’t know what to make of. As if that wasn’t enough to peak his interest, the parts themselves were just as unfamiliar as the materials. Even odder than that was the fact there was no magic conductivity in the item, and none of the internals seemed to be a magic battery of any kind.
Deciding he wasn’t going to learn anything else from the odd item right now he reluctantly put it back together. He had finished all of his classes for the day, so he idly debated on what else he should do. His friends were still working through classes, and he obviously couldn’t go to the vaults or catacombs with his real body. He could try to start learning another element he supposed. Ice and lightning were a pretty solid base, but easing his dependency on shards wouldn’t be a bad idea. Still the only 2 elements he’d consider didn’t really seem necessary.
Was there anything else he could work on? He could always join his copies in the library, but he already had 2 of them there. He had 1 of them in the vault, 1 finishing his last couple of classes, and the last one was practicing with gravity, space, and time magic. They were dangerous branches of magic, but they were also inarguably effective. It was only thanks to his copies that he was brave enough to study them at all. Still what was left for him to do? He supposed with the break coming it was technically a good thing that he found himself winding down on the seemingly infinite tasks he had set for himself.
He supposed it was about time to have his meeting with the true dragon in the tundra, so he’d trade places with one of the copies in the library. He hoped the precaution proved unnecessary, because if the dragon decided that being paid in full didn’t ease the dishonor of the contract being broken. He really didn’t need any more enemies that were well above his level.
***
Azura’s copy couldn’t help but feel like he had drawn the short straw. He had been lucky at first, being assigned to the library, but now he was going to have to go to an icy tundra, which sucked on its own. Except that wasn’t even the worst part, he’d have to carry some very heavy equipment to a possibly incredibly angry true dragon. Oh did he mention that said true dragon's cave was at the very bottom of an incredibly maze like ice cave? How about the part where a frost drake stood guard outside of said cave entrance?
On top of that he wouldn’t have any copies to back him up, and he himself was a copy which meant he’d have to be more careful than normal. Which was an odd feeling. Usually being a copy meant you could be as reckless as you wanted without any real consequences, but this time he had 5 extremely valuable pieces of equipment that he had promised to the dragon, and if he died and lost them it would be a major problem.
At least thanks to the more draconic aspects of his new form meant that even as a copy he was running with a full tank of mana, and could even recover mana on his own. Less efficiently then the main body sure, but enough that it was still more than most average mages could manage. If his scales would be as good at protecting from the cold as they were the heat, then he’d really be set.
He sighed, the time for stalling had unfortunately ended. He had finished the spell. An intricate magic circle surrounded the massive tree that had become such a major part of his recent accomplishments. Including what he was fairly confident he had just managed. The magic circle should allow him to control the tree's space magic to create a portal to just about anywhere, and not just in this world either. Or at least that was his theory. He unfortunately did not have the knowledge necessary to test it.
(Un)Fortunately he did have the knowledge necessary to create a portal at least somewhere in the general vicinity of where he had taken that trial. The general area was a bit wider than he’d have liked, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. So when a portal opened like a doorway in the tree he reluctantly stepped through the glowing blue opening. The sickening sensation of being pulled to pieces and reformed was much less agonizing than the first time he had been teleported, both because of having a bit more experience, and because of his new nature as a magic entity. Or at least new in relation to the last time he used a portal.
He found himself in the middle of a brutal blizzard. His thin layer of thin scales prevented the snow from getting to his skin, and his self warming enchantments were doing their job quite well. Between the 2 of them he was only fairly cold, instead of flash frozen. He wanted to sigh, but resisted the urge to open his mouth. With the blizzard buffeting him with enough snow and ice, that even with his scales he’d probably have a few bruises.
He set his hand to the ground and a dome of ice quickly raised from both sides. The 2 sides collided and sealed right above him. “Of course there is a blizzard, I was just thinking it had been a while since my bad luck struck.” At least this time he was fairly sure it was just that. The blizzard was horribly inconvenient, but not the kind of thing that whatever entity was watching over him would test him with.Honestly it wouldn’t even be a problem if it wasn’t for the lack of visibility. Well that and trudging through the wind with his bag full of heavy magical items designed for a dragon was going to be awful.
He regretted enchanting them to make it difficult for them to be affected by external magic. Otherwise he could have just summoned the pieces when he got to the dragon, but he figured if he was making equipment for a dragon might as well cover the most major weakness. Which would of course be the armor being stolen in a variety of ways.
Not that any of that mattered at the moment, he needed to focus on the matter at hand. How was he going to navigate the blizzard? He obviously couldn’t just sit here and wait, but finding his goal would have been difficult enough with a good line of sight. There wasn’t even a magic item there that he could… was there? There hadn’t been when he left, but this was a true dragon, surely some magical items had been added to its hoard by now.
Lacking other options he extended his magic senses. He supposed even if there were no magic items he may be able to sense the dragon itself, but that would only work if the dragon chose to exude it magic, which they usually only did to intimidate something. He didn’t find that likely, because if that was happening anywhere within a 5 mile radius he would have felt it for sure. Unfortunately even after a few minutes to get his senses to their maximum range he felt nothing.
With a sigh he reluctantly shattered his temporary shelter once again letting the fierce winds buffet him. Without any way to get his bearings he simply picked a direction and began walking. Not even the monsters adapted to this climate were out and about, not surprising given the violent storm. He idly wished the blizzard could at least stop changing directions every few seconds, the violent winds had almost knocked him off balance several times, and the extra surface area his bag was giving him was certainly not helping.
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It was a credit to his stubbornness that he continued trudging through the storm for almost 2 hours before he finally stopped, resisting the urge to sigh and have a flurry of ice enter his mouth. This wasn’t going to work. He remembered how difficult it had been to search the area the first time, and that was with 5 of him searching, and multiple days to properly search.
He needed some kind of point of reference, and to get that he’d need to stop this blizzard somehow. He could probably clear the clouds and at least remove the falling snow and ice from the equation, but the stuff already on the ground and in the air would still be flung around by the violent winds, so it was clear that he’d have to deal with the wind first and foremost. The wind itself likely being caused by warm air being blown in from elsewhere. He’d have to know where the warm air was coming from to have any hope of sufficiently cooling it to prevent the front from happening.
So the question became if he could heat up enough air that the warm air had no cold counterpart to cause rapid temperature shifts that were the cause of the violent winds. It was worth a shot at least. Gathering his mana carefully he pushed it through the fire shards in his gauntlet, but was careful to prevent it from actually becoming fire. He wanted it to be hot, but a massive fire spell would cause all kinds of issues that he didn’t want to deal with right now.
So he very carefully released a wave of heat in every direction except down. Thankfully most of the ice around him sublimated, so he didn’t have to deal with a deluge of water spilling on him. Even better was that his plan seemed to have worked well as the winds quickly began dying down as the conflicting temperatures equalized. On the unfortunate side of things, the magic had been much more costly than he’d have liked. It had taken well over half of his mana tank, and as a mere copy it would take him some time to properly recharge. Still if he absolutely had to he could always pull from his stored mana, he had a practically unlimited source of it after all. Especially given how little magic the original had been using lately.
***
Azura’s copy had finally found a landmark he recognized. The berry bushes weren’t in ideal condition after the recent blizzard, but there was no mistaking the bushes that had provided him with sustenance during his trial. With a point of reference, getting the lay of the land was child's play. The cabin he stayed in would be west, and the cave was a decent amount north of that. He estimated the direction of the cave from his current position and started walking. It wasn’t quite evening yet, but it was getting fairly late in the afternoon. 4 or 5 hours after noon if he had to guess.
At his current pace he wouldn’t reach the cave before night fell, which wasn’t ideal. Still his other options had issues to if he ran the vibrations might attract snow worms, and if he used blink to clear great chunks of distance the magic would probably attract monsters of all kinds. He supposed that wouldn’t really be that much of an issue as long as he was able to use the blinking rapidfire until he arrived. It probably wouldn’t take long to recover enough mana for that, but he decided to cheat and pulled some of the mana he had stored away.
So with his mana just short of full he began his journey, picking a spot in the distance and blinking there. He did this over and over again, making sure not to take longer than a few seconds to pick his next destination. All in all despite clearing several miles per blink it still took him well over 20 blinks to reach his destination. The ice drake guarding the cave had turned to face him, but didn’t charge at him.
Lovely it had recognized him, and didn’t seem keen on letting him slip past this time. Without any other copies to keep it distracted like last time, and it not being willing to be lured away left him in a rough spot. He’d be hard pressed to win against the drake, especially with the heavy bag on his shoulders. Plus as if to add insult to injury the true dragon deep below was making its presence known, and the magic pressure put him on edge.
He sighed it looked like speed was going to be the name of the game. He’d have to blink past the drake, and then run through the caves from there. At least this time he wouldn’t have to carefully make and collapse his own tunnel. So with his enchantments shining to life and lightning coursing through him he made his move.
***
Azura’s copy was desperately trying to calm himself. He had been at full speed through the caves for a good distance before he’d decided he was far enough away that the drake wouldn’t decide to give chase, and he once again found himself in a maze of ice. He figured he’d navigate it the same way he did last time… by breaking holes in the wall, and just going straight in the direction that the magic presence was coming from. He wondered if it was a good or bad sign that the dragon wasn’t seeking him out, seemingly content with waiting in its lair.
Without much choice but to oblige he continued towards the center of the cave. It was funny how nostalgic all this was, as if it wasn’t less than a year ago that he’d dealt with that trial. Still he had grown so much, that it almost felt like the person who took the trials was completely different from the person he was now. He frowned as he considered the changes, admittedly not all of them were good, and that left a bad taste in his mouth. Especially given his recent discovery that his father hadn’t always been a monster. As a 4th year his father was a bit harsher than he was a 2nd year, but barely. The man had still seemed relatively cheerful, and had made no attempts to insult him or say anything overly aggressive.
If he was already changing this much, would he end up like his father someday? Was all of this just a pointless teenage rebellion? He didn’t think so, but he had seen with his own eyes the kind of man his father was versus who the man was today. Well no doubt he’d worry about that for a long time to come, but for the moment he had bigger concerns.
He stepped into the cavern, and was once again met by the sight of the cold white dragon curled around the central pedestal. “I have come with the treasures I promised within the agreed upon timeframe.” He decided it would be best if he set the pace of the conversation. It would be dangerous enough without him being on the back foot. He set the bag at his feet and laid out the items he had made for the dragon. A helmet that would change with the dragon itself. Armor that would cover the few weak spots in the dragon's scales, gloves that would enhance the dragon's claws, making them even sharper and more dangerous. A bag that could hold all the dragon’s treasure, and an amulet that would allow the dragon to teleport back to its lair.
“So you have… and yet our contract is still broken. Why is it that such ignoble means were used if you intended to fulfill your end regardless? Was it simply an attempt to disrespect me?” Well it was clear the dragon wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t dead, so at least it was giving him a chance to explain himself.
“I’ll admit to lacking confidence in my ability to fulfill our bargain when I stood before you last. I figured you would rather the promised treasures late than not at all, and was able to release the contract. Fortunately my skills grew much faster than I expected them too, and a couple other convenient windfalls allowed me to finish everything in the original timeframe.” He didn’t love underselling all the changes he had gone through over the course of the year, but he couldn’t afford to be acting prideful given the circumstances.
“I see, and I assume 1 of those windfalls was your awakened nature?” Unsure how to respond to the piercing stare of the mighty creature before him, he simply nodded. It wouldn’t really change much if the dragon killed him at this point, but he was hoping to ease the dragon’s grudge for fear of it coming up later. “Interesting. Very well I shall forgive your transgression this time, however should you ever end a contract prematurely again I shall devour you.”
This was no idle threat, that much he knew. “I thank you for your forgiveness, and give my word that I shall do my utmost to maintain my contracts now and in the future.” This next bit was a bit of a risk, but dragons made powerful allies, and it wouldn’t hurt to have an inroad with a few of them when possible. “To prove my sincerity I’d love to exchange true names so we may call on eachother for business should you decide you like the items you traded for.” True names were a dangerous subject among powerful magical creatures, it made sense after all there were many dangerous spells that could be used if the true name of a creature was known. That was why he offered his own in exchange.
A bellowing laugh shook the cave. “What a bold child you are. To ask for something as valuable as that so casually. I’ll admit your skill as a craftsman is quite impressive, but not yet that impressive. Perhaps if you show me a piece that eclipses all of these fine items in value I will consider your request. Now begone from my sight” He shrugged it had been worth a shot. He let his body dispel knowing that this would probably be his last major event for the year.