Chapter 471: First Natural Flight! Obtaining A New Skill!

'This spot should do.'

After surveying the area around the stronghold, I quickly found a suitable high spot within the mountains around the area so I could take to the sky.

Having used my speed to climb the small mountain by walking against gravity, I dashed to the other end of the cliff before calling out my dragon wings and running at maximum speed towards the edge.

'Here goes…'

Woosh!

Managing my strength to do a moderate jump, I launched myself into the air as I tried my best to control my wings to glide along with the wind.

'It's a bit rough…'

Despite having trained in the system space, most of it was done under my control of the wind. Unfortunately, the current wind movement in this part of the domain was a bit harsher than the maximum that I trained up to, so it was a bit harsh at the beginning.

However, after having slightly adjusted, I lost the need to completely invest my focus into staying 'afloat'. As such, it was time for me to make some adjustments of my own!

'Let's see…'

Considering the main moving force behind gliding flight, it was obvious that Wind elements could play a good part when it came to having more control and flexibility, but it wasn't completely feasible to just rely on it.

In order to completely rely on my own 'wind' to fly, it was crucial to expend large amounts of elements. After all, not only did I have to hold my whole weight using Wind elements, but I also had to use them to fight the natural Wind, that was precisely the reason why I didn't bother using this method when I trained in the system space. Instead, I mainly focused on adapting to the natural wind.

Still, just by relying on natural wind, my speed would be sacrificed due to my weight, which was exceptionally heavy due to my high physical stats. Even though the dragon wings were strong enough to carry my body, the same couldn't be said about the wind.

Originally, I planned to accept reality and only use flight when the ground was inaccessible, but now, I was almost completely confident that my speed wouldn't be limited even by the sky! 

'It's different now!'

As I started using my Wind elements to direct the natural wind around me, I could feel my body losing its support, threatening to surrender to the force of gravity any moment, but I still didn't expend more Wind elements to hold my body, splitting my focus into something else instead!

'Hold!'

Letting out my mental energy, I spread it out around my body, instructing it to support the part of my body weight that couldn't be completely supported by the modified wind!

Wooosh!

The moment the wind and the wings lost the burden that was slowing them down, the speed of my flight accelerated considerably, growing closer to the speed of sound!

'As expected.'

Unsurprisingly, the combination of the work that was spread between the two types of energy worked exceptionally well. That was especially the result of the qualitative change that my mental energy had undergone recently, allowing it to hold part of my body weight through 'Telekinesis'.

Although it was practically the same theory as completely relying on Wind elements, using mental energy for one of the two functions was undoubtedly effective. After all, with two energy sources to supply the action of 'flight', it reached a much more sustainable level.

Moreover, the distribution of the functions themselves held even more meaning. While 'Telekinesis' could easily perform the action of 'holding' without much consumption thanks to its nature, holding and controlling the wind around the body would be very consuming even if it was possible. Needless to say, the same could be said about Wind elements, while controlling and directing natural wind was easy and 'energy conserving', holding my body using it would have terrifying consumption.

'This is the limit…?'

Nonetheless, even though this combined method managed to solve the problem of consumption and speed, the acceleration of speed still stopped at approximately 120~ m/s.

Although this was a great improvement, it still couldn't be compared to my average marching speed. It felt slightly lacking considering how tight on time my schedule was…

'Perhaps…'

Not completely giving up on further improvement, an idea quickly surfaced into my mind. Despite having only tried it once before, I didn't hesitate to give it a go!

Immediately taking action, I spread my mental energy even further, directing it to reach out for my Wind elements that were also spread around me using 'Elemental Domain'.

Once again, I instructed my mental energy to 'hold' into the Wind elements, feeling almost no resistance at all. Now that this action was molded into the ability, 'Elemental Telekinesis', it made sense that it became much easier.

"Wait!"

Just as I was about to proceed, I almost fell down due to the distraction of both the natural wind and my Wind elements caused by my mental energy, but as mental energy responded in turn, it controlled the Wind elements to resume my flight.

'That was close…'

Despite the slight hiccup caused by the slow transition, the difference caused by the slight change was already visible, especially to me. Not only was the consumption even slightly lowered, but the control and the focus needed were also tremendously reduced!

'This is it!'

While this method was more efficient when it came to energy and speed, it still required more 'computing power' from me, due to its split action. However, now that mental energy basically controlled the whole operation, the one disadvantage of this 'flight' method disappeared!

Most importantly, that wasn't the end, with the Wind elements gaining the control properties of mental energy, its ability to direct the wind almost doubled, allowing me to accelerate up to 200 m/s!

After everything was consolidated, I was completely adjusted to 'flight'...

[ Unique skill, 'Flight of The Wind Dragon' has been created! ]

[ You have received the title, 'Flight Expert'! ]

[ Achievement, 'Dragon Flight', has been recorded! ]