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.

"What's the-"

"Where is Vasilias?!" I cut off Osto since I was in a rush.

He gave a confused look but was fast to respond. "He went up the mountain a while ago, why are you in such a hurry? Did he do something?"

"I'll explain later." Not wanting to waste any more time, I leapt off the ground and zipped up the side of the mountain.

A few seconds later, I got to the top of the mountain and gently landed.

"Vasilias, when you went into the forest this morning, where did you go?" I got straight to the point.

His face showed a mix of nervousness and confusion. "Uh.. I just followed Ilios till we came up to this really pretty pond.."

"Did the pond have a lily in it?"

He looked as if he didn't know how to respond. "Uh.. yeah, it did."

I tensed up a bit as my nervousness became more apparent. -Wait..- "What do you mean 'did'?"

"Well, it smelled good so I ate it."

My heart ached hearing his nonchalant response, but deep down, I oddly felt a bit proud. -I probably would have given it to him if I got it anyways..-

"Hooh.." -Wait that's not what's important though… How did he get it in the first place?!-

I looked up and saw him nervously sitting there, wearing a slightly guilty look on his face.

"Please relax, Vasilias. You didn't do anything bad, sorry if I made it seem that way.." I felt a bit of guilt until he finally eased up. "I do need to ask though… How did you eat the lily?"

His face was quickly washed with confusion. "What do you mean? I just bent down and ate it.."

My mind simply froze. I thought I was prepared for any response, but I clearly wasn't.

"Is something wrong, Mother?" He tilted his head slightly with a concerned look.

Still slowly piecing my mind back together, I threw out the first response I could think of. "Ah.. It's nothing!"

My emotions were conflicting in my mind, to the point that I didn't know how to feel. Thankfully though, after a few moments, one completely overpowered the rest and my thoughts slowed.

"Haah.." As my emotions steadied, a proud smile crept onto my face and a single thought echoed through my mind.. -How long will it take me to get used to his surprises..-

- Vasilias ~

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..-

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[1] - She is referring to the dragon sleep from Ancient to the next age bracket, not elder to ancient.

[2] - What this means is, even if he compresses his aura into a thin layer around his body, he still exudes aura which progressively adds to the layer. Eventually he would either lose control or have to make the layer thicker.

Chapter end