“The deceased light elental emperor’s power—grant us the privilege of reveling in this ancient creature’s light!” Michalik roared once again as golden particles began to cover his eyes, sparkling like stars. “You cannot hide it from us, Princess Hestia! To us light dragonkin, the prival mana of a primarch of light is the embodint of power from the age of ancients. We can sll it even when others cannot!”
“Slling” it, huh? They probably ant it figuratively since we dragons were pretty attuned to mana. Whether it was ‘cause we cast a lot of magic or ‘cause of our huge mana pool, there wasn’t one exact answer to this. However, I did have one idea that I believed made able to sense the flow of mana even without [Mana Eyes].
[True Draconic Lineage], the generic “end-ga” skill for us dragonkin, was described as an ancient skill that only true dragonkin were allowed to possess.
For , the skill was the latest evolution after it first started as [Primal Magics], one of my starting racial skills, before it upgraded into [Draconic Magics] when I evolved into a rank D. [True Draconic Lineage] has been with since the start of my life as a rank B, but even before it, its previous versions had been the backbone of my mage career since it naturally allowed to cast spells without needing to gain the necessary magic casting skills everybody had to acquire.
As such, I was quite attuned to mana-sources, even to the point I could feel the mana as if it was the wind, although most of the ti, it felt more like an aura attack. Regardless, I was sensitive to magic. Similarly, these light dragons must have felt sothing special from [Providence’s Will] due to our elental-alignnt to the holy elent.
To them, though, it probably felt nostalgic since they should be old enough to have witnessed the world before the Origin Gods. That ant, they lived during the ti of the “divine” rule of the elental emperors.
[Providence’s Will], the divine catalyst of Goddess Andira used during her mortal lifeti fighting the archdemons during the demon war, had been created from the remains of the Light Elental Emperor, and was widely considered by the followers of the Church of Aurena to be the strongest holy catalyst in existence, if not the single strongest catalyst of any elent. It was said to be powerful enough to wipe out armies despite the fact its true potential was sealed.
Considering how much the dragons wanted to bask in this catalyst’s presence, you had to wonder why they didn’t just steal it from Aureolis … Well, beyond the obvious reason, of course.
The catalyst’s sli “A.I.” would only listen to its registered owner. Without them around, the catalyst would simply act like a large paperweight, since it could only register sobody as a new owner if their previous owner either died or handed the catalyst over to sobody else. Or, if you had the support of both Aurena and Andira, they could just grant you authorization over it as the reward for a Divine Quest’s subgoal, like in my case.
I’ve seen it used in action, but not enough to really understand its power. Currently, I was trying to make it work, and it had beco quite obvious to that this catalyst wasn’t made to be easily used for a beginner. You had to be an established holy mage, since [Mana Expenditure Lv. 10] did exactly as it said—you were forced to spend far more mana on EVERY SINGLE spell cast with this catalyst, even if they weren’t holy elental spells.
It might boost my other elental spells by a bit, but Providence’s Will still by far worked the best and most efficiently with holy spells; the boost for the other elents got from this catalyst simply wasn’t strong enough to justify the extra cost from the mana expenditure skill. Which ant I had to get catalysts for my other elents for efficiency’s sake, which was why I wanted an upgrade for my current fire catalyst.
Owner: [Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
Skill: [Resource Efficiency Lv. 8] [Magic Power Enhancent Lv. 8] [Chant Revocation Lv. 10] [Fla Furnace Aura] [Cast Activation Speed Increase Lv. 7] [Inferno Amp] [Lava Amp] [Artillery Spell Enhancent Lv. 1] [Explosion Spell Enhancent Lv. 1]
Enchantnt: [Fla Accumulation] [Heat-Mana Transmutation] [Spell Song Amplification]>
The current plan was to remake the catalyst from the ground up, and separate the [Spell Song Amplification] into my two future instrunt catalysts, and improve its fire damage. Maybe I could even have them improve my draconic abilities, depending on what Tasianna could do with it and what Kahalaet was planning to give .
Nevertheless, my catalyst situation could be assessed another ti. All the adults were waiting for my answer.
The light dragons were asking for permission, even if they were “demanding” it with their attitude. While I could understand their wish to witness the “peak of the holy elent,” this wasn’t a situation where I could just say yes or no with no repercussions.
Why? Because I was still a princess of the imperial family of Kargryx and the princess of Frozen Nest.
[“… I have no reason to show you my catalyst. I don’t know you, elder scale,”] I answered, deflating the light dragons’ enthusiasm. They stared at with agape mouths, glancing over to others to see their reactions of disbelief. It seems they didn’t expect to actually turn them down.
However, to the ice dragons, I was making the correct choice. “No deals.”
“I … Pardon ,”—Michalik cleared his voice as I felt a mana link forming in my head before accepting it and sharing it with Mom and my retainer uncles—[“This should be better. My words might have co out to you, Princess Hestia. Ahem, once again, I would like to propose a favor. Allow us to see [Providence’s Will], and we would like to help you unlock its full potential! We know Goddess Andira had sealed the catalyst in fear of its power overwhelming the humans!”] �
He thinks I misunderstood him. Didn’t understand the Draconic due to my age. Eh, I guess that might be true.
[“Elder scale, I know I am still young, but I can understand Draconic, my speaking is the issue. Once again, I have no reason to grant you a glimpse of [Providence’s Will] when it currently is one of my best weapons. Unlike you, I still need help to grow my strength. What exactly do you want to do with it? Literally bask in its glow when the Church of Aurena has covered it up in a tal cover for the sake of elegance and appearance?”]
I had the upper hand here. The difference between our age and strength mattered little with Frozen Nest’s influence behind . Arrogance was bad, sure, and this wasn’t my achievent, but while acting as Frozen Nest’s princess, I had to leave those thoughts behind. Act appropriately and live up to Mom’s expectations for .
[“As you know, I am a Champion of Aurena. In fact, I am even trying to promote myself as the first ‘Idol’ of Aurena, a hybrid blessed between a Champion and Saint that focuses more on showmanship and action to motivate and rally people to a cause or just to quell their fears. I am, after all, probably one of the few who can properly talk with the gods without a severe backlash to my soul,”] I explained.
“Correct,” Mom supported . “Even compared to Eltharion, Hestia can hold a conversation with any god quite well, especially with those she had made a physical connection with by praying at their shrines. If she wanted to, she may even make contact with Kargryxmor and Aurena right now.”
[“Which is why I do not need your help in unlocking the catalyst’s true potential, elder scale. I do apologize for that, but I see no benefits here,”] I said, knowing the mont Andira wanted to, she could grant a Divine Quest to personally unlock its powers. The Light Pantheon wanted to fix their religion and help their blessed; I didn’t believe Andira, of all gods, would want to sabotage , so she must have a reason on why the catalyst had to remain sealed.
The ti wasn’t right, essentially, and I didn’t have any reason to trust the light dragons over Aurena and her subordinates.
[“… I see. Well, this was originally supposed to have just been an invitation to a eting, Princess Hestia. However, please rember—”] He looked at Mom and my retainer uncles. [“We, the holy dragon flight and the holy drake wake, wish to form this alliance, truly. A princess born from Frozen Nest, but adapted to fit in Sacred Nest, is before us, so should we not combine our power to protect her for the impending succession war? After all, let us not delude ourselves; war will ensue, and when that ti finally cos, Dragon Ruler Maustoovaka will not forget the slight the young princess has inflicted on him. Nor can we ignore the ddling of the leviathans.”]
[“Leviathans? You an Caedhul?”] Uncle Kary squinted his eyes.
[“Listen to the information from the fire dragons you just allowed inside your borders, ice dragons. That dragon did not lie; she does know what is going on with Prince Kahalaet’s forces, and they do know what Princess Wendriosa is doing. She must have overheard sothing, similar to us,”] Michalik urged. [“Frozen Nest is isolated from the rest of Miononbolax, and you rarely try to concern yourself with outside issues since you’ve never had to before. Even with Empress lloxtressa’s almost-guaranteed marriage. Now, though, you have a little princess that wishes for it, and even got herself in trouble over it … Until you made your decision, farewell.”]
With that ominous last ssage, the light dragons turned and left our lands, and it felt like a big weight was just placed on my shoulders with all that doom mongering. Still, it didn’t last long when my retainer uncles praised with how I handled everything, telling that was the correct way to reject proposals.
[“Despite the cultural interactions you’ve seen between us as individuals, the political situation between Kargryx’s individual nests should be respected,”] Uncle Guyul said. [“Aside from our grudge with Inferno Nest, we do not want to be hostile with anybody else. We do trade with different dragon clans and so of our dragonewt descendants do live within the many cities of Loatryx. Essentially, don’t promote any animosity if you can avoid it.”]
[“Not to ntion, that light dragon wasn’t wrong,”] Uncle Alex stated with a deep frown. [“Logically, forming an alliance for the upcoming civil war threat is prudent. Aside from the historical issues we’ve had with Sacred Nest, they do have a reason to rally around us because of you. Even if you will not support their cause, it might be different with your children.”]
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Seriously talking about this?
[“I still believe those dragons always had the sa ambition as their sister!”] Uncle Kary snarled. [“Regardless of how the forr Dragon Ruler of Light acted with our empresses, I wouldn’t put it aside that her brothers also supported her original intent to usurp the crown from Emperor Eltharion! They only switched sides when they understood the difference between the other claimants’ armies compared to our emperor’s. The entirety of Frozen Nest supporting Emperor Eltharion due to our empress was the turning point, and everybody knows this!”]
[“A united nest with the help of so split nests versus multiple nests split between Eltharion’s different siblings. Divide and conquer, they say, but our enemies had already split themselves for us,”] Mom added. [“Nevertheless, let us resu discussing this matter another ti. I have to agree, we will not be able to avoid Sacred Nest with their interest so focused on my daughter. Yuilengreill brought in quite so trouble, even if it is warranted.”]
[“… I guess that is the last, then?”] I let out a deep sigh. [“Then, I’ll be playing around a bit, or, am I require anywhere in the administration?”]
[“Not until those stones co in,”] Uncle Kary answered. [“Don’t forget, Hestia, those recorders, yes? I have located good locations where we may, ahem, record the beauty of the ocean. Not to ntion, I also realized sothing from what Her Majesty had told yesterday—I could potentially record my seasoned fishers’ working tours to teach the younglings, correct? I don’t have to give them a lecture.”]
Oooh, Uncle Kary is already getting creative.
My initial pitch for the mass production of the recorder was simple to record clan teachings from ancient dragons so they could still “teach” hatchlings and whelplings like while they snoozed away. One of the issues with dragon culture was that the older dragons were usually hibernating to conserve their souls, missing out on the growth of many new young adult dragonkin. This was my way to resolve that issue, since filming hasn’t been invented yet.
I also presented the idea of eco docuntaries, since Frozen Nest’s largest industry was fishing. Uncle Kary, proud that he was the backbone of our economy, was easily swayed when I told him we could film the depths and the coral beds, allowing us to share those views to the whole world, if we wanted to.
That was it, yet, he was already thinking of ways on how to improve on my initial ideas. Seeing this lifted so of the stress away, as I knew my plan to create music videos and maybe even streaming might beco true with the help of Frozen Nest’s treasury. I wouldn’t have to burden Aurora’s.
[“I’ve seen it,”] Alextraxus added, scratching his chin. [“I regret having missed that eting. Siegragxus explained everything, although I couldn’t understand it very well until Her Majesty gave a taste of it yesterday. My partner would have been overjoyed if we had this ‘recorder’ tool when our sons were still whelplings. Haha, she would fawn over their appearances once again.”]
I grimaced. Mom … Mom showed more people that recording, huh?
[“Okay, I’m off. Bye.”]
Gathering Tasianna and Vifi on my back, I flew away from the beach, off in the direction of our mountain ho. The forr was caressing my back as I felt embarrassnt gathering in my head, all while I heard Vifi complain how she wanted to go back to Iceskale to get so food before we flew away.
After calming down a bit, I activated [Telepathy] and cast an [Air Shield] around my two friends. [“Tasianna, I want to speak to Fleindia; could you call her for ?”]
[“To talk about [Providence’s Will], correct?”] I sent her a telepathic nod, confirming her assumption. [“That is perfect then. I had also wanted to speak with her if possible, mostly about the holy water Aureolis seemingly produces.”]
[“Oh, you’re speaking about the cure for Raffarson’s, right? Speaking of which, how much progress have you made for it? I haven’t been able to talk about it with you at all,”] I replied.
According to Tasianna, progress with the cure hadn’t been steady since the ingredients used for the demonkin’s potion couldn’t be found on Kargryx, so the alchemists helping her couldn’t fully analyze it. Which was why Tasianna had planned to concoct the sa potion High—Cardinal Theodore had given to Amadeus when we first t.
Which ant, a combination of so “holy water” from Aureolis as well as so of my blood. The latter was easy to get, since I was right here, but we didn’t have any of the water to test things out.
As such, with my “permission” to contact Fleindia in Aureolis, Tasianna had a good reason to ask for it now, and imdiately went into the subspace to schedule a eting. Most likely, she would have to et Cardinal Theodore for it, since I wasn’t sure if we had a subspace portal in Aureolis, considering that without inside the subspace, Grimnir couldn’t produce more [Room] runes.
With only Vifi now, I quickly made it back to our ho in the middle of the afternoon, where I wanted to test [Providence’s Will] a bit more. I was supposed to practice with it more, and I had too much ti to kill until I could be productive again.
Fire didn’t do anything against those fire dragons. Not enough, at least, anwhile … I glanced over to Vifi for a mont before letting out a deep sigh as I reflected on how relatively helpless I felt during the Maustoovaka incident. Sure, the ones I was fighting against were rank A and S dragons, but feeling so weak was just frustrating, regardless of the reality of things.
That is one more requirent before our trip up north.
“Hey, thanks,” I told Vifi once I humanized.
“Too many thanks won’t make feel any better. You said your piece and it’s my duty to protect you after I beca part of Aurora. No need to feel like you’re in debt or sothing; your mother and sister were the ones who urged to stay by your side, after all,” Vifi responded, quickly guessing what my vague gratitude was supposed to an.
“I know … Not exactly the best icebreaker so we can speak more, but that’s how I think I can start it out.”
“I’m not particularly social. Think I made it clear to everybody, but you’re one of three people who keeps trying to push to socialize with everybody.”
“I know you’ve been drinking with Grimnir and Yorshka with all your complaining, so you can just na drop them without having to treat them like ‘one of those people,’ hehe. Not like you to admit to enjoying them, though …” My joke earned a loud “pah” as she tried to wave away, almost as if she was shooing off like that one weird friend. “You know you have this tendency to be pretty nice, even with your cold responses, right?”
“Shut it … It’s just my way to show thanks. Don’t get all weird with .” Vifi sighed. “That girl. Alia, was it? She still rembers .”
“Of course! You ran in front of her, trying to warn her to escape the city just because she gave you so donuts, only for to appear before you two, thinking you were trying to kidnap her. The fact we tried to kill each other then and there would make anybody rember,” I said, reminiscing a bit. “And then … you saved that friend of yours. Uh, Hae—”
“Hee’Rlak. Wasn’t my friend. Was my ‘apprentice,’ but he really was just my adoptive father’s forr second in command, so I just inherited him as mine. He taught more about how to act as a soldier after my father died, to the point it made it just weird to call him an apprentice. I was stronger, sure, but that sohow didn’t really make our relationship awkward.” Vifi turned her head down, sitting down on the cold earth. “He gave food. I just … I didn’t want him dead.”
“Why?” I pressed. “You pretty much forced to heal him first. Any second I ‘wasted’ on him might have cost you your life, as you were on the edge of your life, anyways. I might have gambled to persuade you, but you might have risked even more. You kept talking about how you learned how to survive on the street, but all your actions speak against it.”
“‘Cause my father told to act less like a rat. You do realize I’m not talking as if I ca from the gutter to you, right? I could give ya the smackin’ talk and it ain’t gonna feel like we’re throwing down in the sa corner; that’ll just blow the buns off our vibe, see?” She shrugged in an exaggerated manner, prompting to nod along.
I would have probably acted like Saori and Tasianna and asked her to tone it down a bit. I was having so issues understanding her slang.
“The military of Bole’Taria first teaches you that the country and the victory for the demonkin race should always be a priority over our lives. The ‘future’—the kids—are the ones we are creating a new world for. What we are fighting for. Never really ant anything to , which is probably why you sohow got to persuade to flip. I never really was too strong on the idea of it, but it did manage to make care for my nation despite all the crap I had to live through,”—she shrugged, looking a bit lancholic—“Hee’Rlak kept spouting that nonsense, but he made sure to add things about my father here and there. Things I couldn’t see from inside our ho or whenever I had to train with them.”
“I respect that.”
“He took care of as if his ‘master had left behind a kid’ or sothing like that, although he didn’t really care about Father’s biological kids. I could guess, but that isn’t my issue now. Too far away from them, and even if I ca back, what’d be the point? I can’t inherit the ‘Yok’ possessions since I’m just an adoptee, and my siblings’ supporters will just kick out. Never even got along with them.”
“From the sound of it, I’m starting to see a pattern there, Vifi. Then again, I guess to them, you were just so orphan their father picked up from the streets just because she’s strong, right?”
“Nailed it.”
“To the majority of Aurora, you nearly killed . Nearly killed them, as well.”
“Pretty sure we’re all trying to leave that aside for the sake of party unity, right? Haaa, a year has gone by, Hestia. I’m not friends with them, but I’m working on it, just like with Tasianna and the twins. Although, with them, we got so rapport since we spent the one year like a party, journeying around to acquire stuff and hunt things.”
A smile crept on my face as I heard this before I took out [Providence’s Will] as I saw a herd of mammoths close by. Seeing this, Vifi nodded and jumped onto her feet.
“So, how do you think our rapport has progressed?” I asked.
“Truthfully? Enough, Party Leader. You invited with that heartfelt ssage there, so what do you think? That I secretly hate you and that I’m just grumbling around like so irritated brat?”
“Eh. As long as you’re willing to help herd the strong mammoths towards , then I think we’re about to beco the bestest friends after I cook us so steaks! What do you think?”
“Ha! With your level, you’re gonna require more than a few of the big ones. Turn the experience share down to zero and let’s do this!” Vifi shouted before she shot forward like a red lightning, all while I channeled my mana into the bronze-covered ball in front of .
The tal opened up, forming four wings around a milky, swirling fluid, only kept together by a bronze-plated spine. The liquid ball glowed like pure white with no blemishes or impurities, shining to the point it was hard to look at it without harming my eyes.
Yet, whenever I stared at it, the liquid began to jump up and down like a springy ball, showing signs of its being alive. The artificially made sli inhabiting this catalyst, or maybe it was the catalyst, was reacting to like a little pet, almost like Saori’s Shoyi or my little Gravy. They couldn’t speak, but they could all react to what we said with small, cute gestures.
… Yet, this little thing could eat so much mana, you wouldn’t think it was just a bit larger than my palms.
The stronger the spell was, the better it would beco by using this catalyst, and with my insane mana pool, this wasn’t a big issue for as long as I didn’t spam high-damaging spells. With this catalyst, even my weaker holy spells could do damage.
So, why didn’t I use this during the Maustoovaka fight? Well, there was this little restriction on it.
… Urgh, activate.
With intelligence ca its ability to act. When the catalyst’s description ntioned it chose its owner, it really ant it, and ‘cause Aurena did so cheating by just giving the catalyst, it disliked , greatly. Presumably, it still had so elents of the Light Elental Emperor in it, which was why it kept ntioning not liking Aurena.
I had a problem child in my hand that increased every holy spell’s mana cost I cast through it by ten, but it didn’t increase the amount of damage it could do. Although I had the mana pool to survive using it, I would rather not. [Purple Flash] increased the mana cost by three, and even that was draining, and now I was dealing with this? No thank you.
Using this catalyst could have dealt so severe damage to my pursuers in Inferno Nest, but I already had been at my limits arcane corruption-wise. Using this thing would have probably killed . No thank you!
… Yet, the only way I found that this catalyst would like was to feed it my mana and to use it for what it was made for—battle. From its initial “disapproves,” I turned its affinity to to “dislike.” Therefore, the goal was clear: use the catalyst and kill things to level up!
“Sacred Smite!”
Cue the training montage, as I had to get to level 45 before we went up north, as additional levels and SP would most likely be needed so my party could traverse the cold wasteland in search of items and thods to improve ourselves. Tasianna needed a way to adapt to Mom’s true ice, the twins required inspiration to evolve, and I needed to awaken my ice dragon lineage before my next evolution!
Let’s get stronger, Hikari!
‘Strong enough to defeat a rank A dragonkin!’
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