Chapter 91: Draconic lightning manipulation
Felix Sythias’ POV (continued):
“You can?” Alex asked. “That’s awesome! I guess you won’t need my help again, then?”
I hesitated. He was right, we’d only just figured out that he could channel his mana into me. Then again, why shouldn’t he still be able to do that?
“We can still combine our powers for larger attacks,” I said. “And if you learn more magic, maybe we could combine that, too?”
He nodded. “Something to think about for sure. How does it work, though? You said earlier we’d talk about when we’re alone.” He gestured to the cavern around us. “I think this counts.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose it does. Is here fine, or do you want to go back to the ‘entrance’?”
Alex glanced back the way we’d come, his expression sad and troubled. “No, I think it’s best if we stay here near the crack. We’ll still get fresh air, but we won’t have to sit right next to the blocked entrance. I already know we’re stuck, I don’t need a constant reminder.”
“Alright,” I said, then slipped my saddle off. Hopefully taking the weight off would stretch my reserves just a little further. “We’ll have to go back there to scrabble a message into the floor or something. We wouldn’t want someone to come by through there, not see anyone, and decide to continue searching.”
He grimaced and nodded. “That would really, really suck. We can do it in a bit, though. I want to hear how you figured the mana thing out first. ”
We sat against the wall and I told him about the fight with the first plant mimic. About how I hadn’t had the lightning cube, and the idea I’d had. Alex wasn’t super pleased about me basically having guessed and only thinking of the real reason it had worked after the fight, but he was placated a bit when I told him how a shock wouldn’t have had much effect on me, anyway. At least, not one that small. At most, it would’ve stung a little.
“Anyway, I’m pretty sure it worked because you don’t just have lightning magic, but that you have [Draconic lightning magic]. I mean, it’s right there in the name. Even in the description it mentions our bond, right? I wonder how this’ll affect your general manipulation Skill.”
Alex grinned and held his hand out. “Do you want to find out?”
Excitement, both for him and myself, welled up in me as I placed my talon in his hand. “Of course I do. I take it this is the upgraded Skill you mentioned earlier?”
Alex’s grin turned even wider, followed by a look of concentration. I paid attention with my mana-sense as he moved his around. Unlike before, where any mana inside Alex’s body was muddled and vague like everyone else’s, now his mana was clearly visible. It still wasn’t very detailed, and still a little muddled, but it wasn’t a shapeless blob anymore. No, I could clearly see a ball of concentrated energy sitting right where his mana-pool ought to be and a thin layer spread all throughout his body, like a mist. Whatever else the upgrade did for Alex, it definitely made us closer connected on a mana-physical level than ever before. I couldn’t wait for him to finally choose a path. The options were going to be fascinating.
Paying closer attention, I also noticed how a stream of mana was now climbing through his arm and towards my talon. When the two met, the mana was reluctant, but flowed into me nonetheless. Unlike with the fight, this was neutral mana. It was a little less unruly than lightning mana by default, but even considering that, this mana was remarkably calm and willing to listen to my commands. On a hunch, I led it back to my own mana-pool, where it settled in like a lazy cat, curled around my own mana as if hugging it. It was a strange but pleasant feeling, and I knew that with time, the mana would integrate into my own.
“This is really fucking awesome,” I told Alex, and he leaned back a bit from my intensity. The grin never left his face, though.
“From your tone, I’m guessing there’s more to this than I thought. What happened?” he asked.
So I told him about what I did with his mana, and the more I spoke, the wider his eyes got. He could recharge me during fights now. It was huge! I wouldn’t have to worry about running out nearly as much. From my now improved sense of Alex’s mana, I could tell his pool was almost double my own—which really spoke to the size of my natural mana-pool; he was now decently leveled and had his attributes boosted, and yet it was still only double my own.
It wouldn’t be enough for it to make much of a difference during fights yet, but in the future, as Alex kept leveling and increasing his mana-pool… We both really, really liked the idea. Just as we liked the implied intimacy of sharing mana. Mana remained a deeply personal thing, and it wasn’t something you could just share with others. And yet we did. After some experimentation, it turned out the effect went both ways. We could now freely share mana between us. We were sure there were some limitations to the Skill, but we hadn’t found them yet.
After a while of talking through the possibilities, he finally showed me the description for the Skill. He quickly drew the System prompt out, then handed me the notebook. I read it through, and it was about what I expected.
> [Skill Description Beginning]
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> Name: Draconic mana manipulation
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> Type: Magic
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> Subtype: Support
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> Affinity: Null
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> Cost: Not applicable
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> Description:
>
> Mana manipulation is the staple Skill of all mages and a cornerstone for many people’s lives. It lets you interact with your mana directly and move it and shape it as you desire. You learned this Skill from an experienced professor, then had significant help training it from your partner Felix Sythias, the last living Dragon. You also managed the great feat of successfully transferring your mana to a living Dragon. As such, this Skill is greatly enhanced!
>
> This passive Skill helps you to control, shape, channel, and transfer your mana. Control, strength, and efficiency will increase with every Skill level and the effect scales with the Spiritual Attribute. Also, while this Skill is used, there’s a slight bonus to the effect of the Spiritual Attribute. Mana may only be transferred to and from the following individual(s): Felix Sythias.
>
> This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
>
> As you were significantly and willingly helped with training this Skill by an adult Dragon that considers you his partner and that you are physically and emotionally very close to—and thus qualifying as a companion—this Skill receives the prefix of ‘draconic’. This massively boosts the Skill’s power, control, and efficiency, as well as boosting the effect gained by leveling. Also, while the Skill is used, there is a slight boost to the effect of the Physical Attribute. This prefix and accompanying effects are permanent until the Skill is removed.
>
> Due to your genuine closeness with Felix Sythias, the effects are boosted even further. This too is a permanent effect until the Skill is removed.
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> This Skill has an increased effect on your Path choices.
>
> [Skill Description End]
It wasn’t too different from the description of his magic resistance Skill. Which made sense, since that was only a few days ago. There hadn’t exactly been the time for another major event to happen between us yet. Though, that made me wonder. When we finally had sex, would that show up on his description, too? I shook my head, dismissing the stupid thought. All in all, the only thing that really caught my interest was the mana transfer ability.
“So, do you think you can add more people to that list, eventually? Also, why did you ask me how the transfer worked when it was literally right here in the description?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I know the Skill helps me now, but I didn’t know how I did it before the upgrade,” he said and I nodded. It made sense. He would’ve only gotten the upgrade after the fight. “And I’m not sure if I can add more people. Maybe if there were other dragons I was as close with as I’m with you… I’m not even sure it would work on regular people. We can ask a professor when we get back.”
“Sounds like a good idea. They’d probably want to study it, anyway.”
Alex frowned at that. “Can I… can I say no? If I don’t want it to be researched, I mean. It’s kind of our thing now, and I’m not sure if I’d feel comfortable having dissected like that fish we dissected during class.”
“Of course you can. They’ll ask you once/if they find out about the ability but they can’t force you. Also, I kind of agree now that you put it like that. It is ours.”
Alex smiled and gave me a hug. He nuzzled into my shoulder and I wrapped an arm around him. We cuddled like that for a while; the conversation having died down. Eventually I grabbed the book we’d been reading together. I gave Alex a kiss and asked if he wanted to read for a while. He agreed, and he turned around to sit between my front legs. I laid the book down before us and positioned the light orb near us in such a way that the book was well lit but the light didn’t glare off the pages.
And so we read for a while. We took turns flipping the pages and teased each other when we reached the end of a page faster than the other. Despite both of us knowing better, it turned a bit into a competition of who could read the fastest. Too soon we finished the book and after that we weren’t entirely sure what to do. We still had the mature book with us, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to bring it up. I did want to read that one together with Alex, but preferably not within this cavern. It was an important milestone in Alex's comfort level and I wanted to treat it as such.
So we did other things. Alex went around drawing all the interesting stone formations while I decided to finally organize all the notes I’d taken during Aerial Combat. I’d taken them with me in case I had any free time. I hadn’t thought I actually would, but turned out I was wrong. We stayed together while we did so, of course. We still only had the one light source, after all.
We still talked while we did our own things. Stars knew there was plenty to talk about. At first, we mostly talked about Alfred and if he really did this, but I noticed Alex’s voice and tone became more and more subdued while we did, so I changed the subject. We talked about the book we just finished, but our hearts weren’t really in it. The reality of the situation was starting to set in, at least for me, and it robbed me of any desire to talk. We still did, of course, if only to reassure each other, but I found it harder and harder to concentrate on the pages in my talons. Were we going to die here?
I didn’t think we would. Scott would have found an earth mage by now and should be on his way back, if he hadn’t returned already. They would start searching for us soon. But what if they didn’t? Or what if they couldn’t find us? I shook my head. No, the Academy had great mages. They would find us sooner rather than later.
But what if they didn’t? What if Scott was still stuck underground and couldn’t get help? No, the other teachers on the surface would’ve realized something was wrong and would’ve gotten help. But if they were stuck underground, too, they’d probably get priority from any rescuers, as they were a much larger group. Would they get to us in time? How high was the chance we’d live, really? I shook my head, not wanting to think about it any longer. They’d find us soon enough, I just knew it. The mages were really powerful, so they had to.
I tried working on my notes for a little while longer, but eventually put them away. It required a focus I couldn’t muster right now. So instead I watched Alex draw. His drawings were quite good, though he kept getting the perspective wrong. He was used to drawing people and animals, not landscapes. He’d drawn three of the formations so far, and was now busy drawing the collapsed entrance. His drawing of it had taken on a dark tone, and I was pretty sure he’d replaced some of the rocks with skulls. When I asked about it, he said he was fine but just felt glum.
It wasn’t until the drawing was almost done that a tear ran down his snout and splashed onto the paper. He turned to me with such a sad expression that I wanted to wrap him up in blankets, cuddle him, and tell him everything would be okay. But I had no blankets. I could still hug him, though, so I did.
Alex cried onto my shoulder, and it took great effort for me not to start crying, too. I was already sad and Alex being sad only made me more sad. But I’d cry later; right now I wanted to be strong for Alex. We sat like that for almost ten minutes, after which Alex’s tears ran dry.
He looked down at the floor, where his tears had wetted the ground. “Fuck, what a waste of water,” he said.
I licked off the tears remaining on his face. “There, now those won’t have gone to waste,” I said, and Alex chuckled weakly. “Not that I think those others went to waste. I think we both have the right to a good cry today. Do you feel a little better now?”
“A little,” he said, then looked up at me. “Aren’t you sad, too? How do you remain so… unbothered? I’d really like to know your secret right about now.”
“I am sad. I’m just trying to remain hopeful. And I figured that if both of us started crying, that it would only spiral. I’ll cry later when you’re feeling better.”
Alex looked at me startled, then shook his head. “No, don’t do that. I don’t want you to do that for me. You’re allowed to cry when you want to. We’ll just be sad together.”
“I… alright. I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. Most of my heavy sadness had already passed by now, however.
We sat together for a little while longer, and eventually we laid down and snuggled up. We’d been awake for a long time by now and we were tired. Before we fell asleep, however, Alex asked me one more question.
“Do you really think we’ll get through this?”
I hesitated for a moment, considering what to tell him.
“I think so, yeah,” I told him after a moment. “The Academy has great search and rescue teams. Their earth mages are probably already looking for us—and the others if they got stuck, too—already. I’m sure we’ll get out of here soon.”
“And what if they don’t find us?” he asked. “You’d think that if they were looking that they would’ve found us by now, right?”
“Maybe they only just arrived. Let’s give them at least two more days, alright? We have the resources to last at least that long without using it all up. After that we can go through that wall and see what’s there.”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, alright. I think we can do that.”