Chapter 27: A Caring Mother

Chapter 27: A Caring Mother

Early Evening - Mid Spring : Home

I looked out over the ocean with a satisfied smile as the sun started to set. -That was a great session..-

I didn't manage to make any more major discoveries but I did manage to become far more efficient with my magic.

Thanks to learning that the cost of manipulating materials was dictated by their atomic stability, my mana efficiency in those spells increased immensely. With just a bit of fine tuning, the mana needed for ‘matter manipulation’ spells dropped by 25-30%.

On top of that, the more I experimented with my mana, the more proficient I became. Instead of just being able to control the direction of my aura, I was able to control its shape to an extent. -Small steps!- (Similar to saying ‘one step at a time’)

I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment as I started to finally unwind.

-You know what..- Right before I sat down on the edge of the mountaintop, I backed away from the edge of the mountain and changed back to my dragon form.

“Haaah..” -Much better..- The stuffy and weak feeling I had dealt with all day vanished immediately.

“Mmmmm..” A muffled groan interrupted my stretch.

-Hm?- As I looked towards the noise, I saw Ilios laid on his back with his feet sticking in the air.

His paws were moving a bit as if he was running in his dream. “Huff..” He let out a muffled bark.

The scene simply made my heart melt. I wanted to run up and love on him, but at the same time I didn't want to wake him up. -I should let him sleep..-

A warm smile crept onto my face as I walked back to the edge of the mountain.

The sun was steadily approaching the horizon, bathing the sky and ocean in a beautiful orange as a cool, steady breeze flowed up the mountain side.

*Deep Breath* A familiar scent of the ocean filled the air. “Hooh..”

It felt incredible to be able to finally slow down and simply think of nothing after being in deep focus most of the day.

There was still a lot to think about, but I simply cleared my mind and relaxed.

It only took a second for me to get sleepy, but as I went to lay down and fall asleep, I felt an incredibly heavy aura flying up the mountain.

Even though I knew who the owner of the familiar aura was, my instinct still jolted me awake. -Why is she in such a rush?-

As I turned around, I was met with a shiny orange dragon giving me a serious look. -Mother?- (Her white scales reflected the light from the sunset)

- Zachari Ragnarok ~

After flying nearly as fast as possible for a few minutes, I finally made it back to the cave.

*Bang* My hard landing cracked the ground a bit but I didn't care.

The silence that encompassed us was suffocating. Mother seemed to be deep in thought though, so I didn't say anything for a while.

“Haah..” Mother broke the silence with a deep breath.

"Mother?” I had a question but I didn't know if I should ask yet.

“What is it sweetie?” She wore a proud smile as if her serious expression earlier was just a facade.

“I'm not sure if now is a good time to ask, but what was that lily?" I felt a bit guilty after I saw her reaction to me saying I ate it. -It clearly had more worth than I thought..-

"Haha, don't look so guilty, it's actually a good thing you ate it.”

Her words let me ease up a bit, but I still had a lingering nervousness.

“That flower was known as a sleep lily. If a dragon eats one they are given a slim chance of being able to survive the ancient dragon sleep. That's how it got its name!" [1] She seemed incredibly happy to tell me about it.

-Wait, is that it?- Its effect sounded incredibly underwhelming at the time, but it was just because I didn't fully understand what she meant.

“It may sound simple, but the effect is truly priceless.” Her expression quickly turned more serious. "Just promise me that you'll NEVER tell anyone that you've eaten one."

I tensed up a bit, but I was more confused than anything. "O..okay. But.. why?"

"Those lilies take thousands of years to bloom and are near impossible to harvest. If news gets out that there is someone who can harvest them, a revolution will start among the dragons."

I still didn't quite understand but the more I listened, the more concerned I got. -Is the effect really that great?-

"In any case. I'm glad you were the one to eat it..” Her serious look slowly faded again which allowed me to relax a bit.

There was a short and awkward silence that filled the air before she changed subjects.

“So, anyways, how is your aura control and reading coming along? Any progress?"

"It's coming along well, I can read out to about 10 meters and can control the shape of my aura to some extent."

She seemed fairly shocked hearing my improvement, but her proud smile only grew. "Well.. since you seem to be progressing so quickly on your own, I'll just leave you with a small tip. A dragon's eyes are incomparably more sensitive to mana than humanoid species, so if you really need to layer your aura around you, you can." She gave an encouraging smile.

-Well, I guess that's a temporary fix for restraining my aura indoors..- It definitely wasn't a solution since I could only compress it into a layer for a bit before my aura would start to overflow, but it at least gave me some head room. [2]

Noticing I was deep in thought, Mother slowly got up and walked back to the edge of the mountain top. "Well, I'm going to head down first..” She paused and glanced back at me as she spread out her wings. “If you want to sleep in the cave again.. there is plenty of room."

Her gentle voice pulled me out of my thoughts just fast enough to see her glide down the mountainside.

-Maybe I should find a way to spend more time with them..-