The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop

Chapter 23: Draconic Tutelage & Casting Spells

Nobody else dared bid on the lasso after.

A majority of the auction guests were below the Grandmaster-level. So when someone famed for killing a Dweller Worm decided to furiously bid on a particular item of questionable usefulness for most… they let him have it. Bidding against someone could be seen as an offensive move.

People who could channel soul energy were rare to begin with, thus soul energy enchantments were infrequent and not as commonly seen. Furthermore, perhaps if it was a more conventional weapon there would be more bids, but not a lot of people saw themselves using a lasso.

He needn’t have offered the corpse of the fire spider dragon though. Arvayne simply paid the exorbitant five-hundred gold pieces the item was worth. But the corpse did sell quite well, as a halfling alchemist from the Eastern Kingdoms paid three-hundred gold for it.

The sums of gold exchanged were utterly staggering to Orodan. He made a single gold piece a year as a member of the militia!

Yet many of these items were worth hundreds of gold pieces without bids taken into account. The most expensive item he’d seen was an enchanted cape that granted flight and an accompanying suite of auxiliary benefits to assist in flying.

It sold for over three-thousand gold pieces to a trader bearing the sigil of House Arslan.

His mind couldn’t take it anymore when Arvayne told him that this auction was rather cheap. His reasoning being that none of the dragons had bid on anything.

“Ridiculous… how do the wealthy even make this sort of money? I understand that many noble houses own lucrative magic businesses… but to just drop three-thousand gold pieces on a cape?” Orodan asked. “I’ve never heard of such sums of money in my life.”

“Aside from gold, what the books you’re reading don’t explain is that sometimes instead of money… favors are exchanged,” the old man answered. “A thousand gold piece item might exchange hands with an agreement to kill a powerful Grandmaster beast, or providing payment through crafting services. Hells, I remember a prince outright removing the tariff on a type of product once, just to buy a magical sheathe for his sword.”

“That much I can understand, but at a certain value there’s no way favors are enough,” Orodan countered.

“Correct. Which is why the Republic has logistics officers who peruse such auctions and draw from a national fund to acquire items that would be of benefit to the nation as a whole. A lot of the big buyers are often connected to national interests.” Arvayne explained. “The man who bought that cape, he’s the head of logistics for the palace back in Karilsgard. He and logistics staff like him will often frequent auctions. They have a good idea of what Republic military assets could benefit the most from what kind of item, and they’ll quickly snatch something integral up and draw funds from the national treasury to do it.”

“So some important commander might end up using that cape?” Orodan asked.

“Perhaps. Or more likely he thought it’d be useful and decided to acquire it for future purposes,” the old man said. “Sometimes they simply have blanket goals of adding to the stockpile of magical items. Other times they have targets to reach in obtaining a certain number of items of a particular type. As an example, there’s always a big demand for enchanted items which provide personal shielding. Those never make it to auction as people are clamoring to buy them as soon as they’re made.”

“I can’t say I’ll ever become well-versed in economic matters, but I understand a bit more now,” Orodan replied.

“You don’t need to become an economist, but it’s good to be informed. With your strength, you have many avenues of generating exorbitant wealth. Continue on your current course and wealth won’t be an issue.”

Soon, the auction ended with some words of closing from Vantalomir. The splendorous dragon thanked all the guests and the curtains were closed. The spectating dragons began to take off and the mortal guests soon followed.

Orodan and Arvayne also departed the venue.

Tomorrow, academy classes would resume. And along with it, Orodan’s draconic tutelage would begin.

“Orodan! It’s good to see you!” Mahari exclaimed in her usual cheerful tone. “You’ve been gone for a week or so right?”

He had run into her on the campus roads. The first of Orodan’s classes for the day had yet to start.

“Yes, that’s right. My mentor and I went on a trip to the deep depths and then visited Millennium Roost,” Orodan answered. “It was a good journey. I never knew dragons made buildings that big.”

“Yeah, my companion and I will sometimes fly alongside Olsinius to visit, it’s quite the grand sight!” Mahari remarked.

Pegasi could fly incredibly fast and for great distances without tiring. It explained why Mahari could speak of visiting distant locales so casually. Riding a pegasus would make such travels a mere lunch break for her.

A whinny interjected. It was Olsinius, the pegasus. The somewhat grumpy older brother of Mahari’s nameless mount.

“The older dragons I encountered this morning weren’t very talkative as usual… but some of the younger ones mentioned your name quite reverentially,” Olsinius remarked. “Did you cause another ruckus?”

“Nothing of the sort you’re implying,” Orodan answered with mild indignation at the assumption that he caused trouble. He did. But not how the pegasus was thinking. “I took a trial of theirs and did rather well.”

“Rather well he says…” the pegasus grunted in what sounded like a mutter. “If you call taking first place in the Time Wind’s trial of abundance ‘rather well’ then I’d be ashamed to hear about anyone else’s results.”

“They have a similar trial in your clan?”

“Yes, we pegasi also undergo the trial of abundance in our clans. Each time we cross a tier, we are expected to undergo the test as a rite of passage,” Olsinius explained. “But to fill the orb entirely? You are a monster. The orbs are typically used as mana batteries to add power to the defenses and artillery weapons of a settlement. You added at least a century’s worth of power by filling it up to the brim.”

“Surely power generation isn’t a problem for dragons?” Orodan replied.

“True, the Time Wind can fill that orb rather easily with enough dragons working in concert. But not all civilizations have the energy generation capabilities of dragons,” the pegasus explained. “For most other species, natural energy generation doesn’t compare to what we can get from using mana crystals as fuel. And those can get expensive since we aren't directly mining them like you humans are. Us pegasi would thus greatly favor such an ability. My clan would pay you handsomely if you came by and rendered your services sometime. We can even look into finding a pegasus companion for you.”

That was an awfully nice offer. Orodan had no use for a pegasus though.

“Not to come across as disrespectful… but any pegasus I have as a mount would only hinder me in battle,” Orodan answered. “That being said, I don’t mind coming by to assist your clan in filling up this orb. The only reward I’d ask for is being allowed to peruse your treasure hall if you have any.”

“I take no offense. I’ve heard talk of you battling dweller worms and spider dragons,” the pegasus remarked. “Pegasi must be younglings in the Apprentice-level to choose a rider as companion, so it would be a while before it reached even Elite. Your price sounds reasonable as well, I will talk to my clan elders about your offer.”

“Wow… you’re never this pleasant with me Olsinius!” Mahari exclaimed in a tone of playful outrage, and then turned towards Orodan with a look of manufactured sadness. “What does a girl have to do to be treated nicely around these parts?”

Orodan ignored her usual hyperactive antics, as an uncomfortable encounter was headed his way.

He spotted Novus Eldragon walking down the halls. The Eldragon heir’s path was about to intersect with his.

It wasn’t that Novus was of any concern to him. But having to encounter the young man with him undoubtedly knowing about the trysts between him and Katareya… would be awkward.

“Ah… Mister Wainwright,” the boy muttered as he approached. “How’ve you been? I hope you’re finding Eldragon manor to your liking during your visits?”

He was just going to say it up front was he? So be it.

Orodan wasn’t one for sly games. And he had no patience for petty comments.

But… his time in the loops was starting to somewhat mature him. He was learning the value of patience and restraint. He didn’t want to outright offend Novus.

So a simple but direct question would do.

“What are you trying to say?,” he bluntly asked, causing the boy to frown. “Tell me what I’ve done to offend you.”

Diplomacy wasn’t one of Orodan’s strong suits. But that was still a better attempt than the Orodan first starting the loops would have made.

That Orodan might’ve just told Novus his mother’s bed was quite warm.

Perhaps Novus hadn’t intended to come across as outright hostile. Perhaps Orodan could’ve treaded a bit more delicately given what he was involved in. But the thought of playing some delicate social game annoyed him.

Who was Novus Eldragon to tell Katareya what to do?

“…you are quite straightforward Mister Wainwright! Since you’re getting right to the matter, then so will I,” the boy replied. “I don’t approve of your relationship with my mother.”

“Then instead of telling me, who is an outsider… why don’t you tell your mother herself? You’re family aren’t you?” Orodan asked, and the boy’s face held a look of frustration. “She’s an Elite-level diviner of the Cathedral. Can she not decide what she wants to do with her life?”

Poor Mahari was looking mortified at the conversation. The girl looked like she wanted to flee.

“That is…!” the boy exclaimed but then calmed himself. “Look, you can’t expect me to just be happy that you’re having an affair with my own mother do you?”

“I would expect a reasonable son to accept that his mother’s affairs are her own,” Orodan replied. “Then again, I don’t remember my mother or my father, so who am I to tell you about being a son?”

Novus’s face reddened further.

“You’ll never be a replacement for my father! Why can’t you just leave my family alone!?” Novus exclaimed with an ugly look on his face.

The pathway had gone silent and a number of people were staring.

“Look… I don’t even interact with you or your sister. How am I interfering with your family when I only ever speak to your mother? I’m doing a poor job of replacing your father if I don’t even talk to Katareya’s children aren’t I?” Orodan explained. “This whole thing is just a tryst, and that’s all I ever intended it to be.”

Orodan spoke calmly.

He truly hadn't intended to offend Novus. But Orodan had no intentions of playing along.

The boy was quite different from the calm persona he displayed at the party a while ago. He was emotionally volatile and angered at the moment.

But at seeing the surroundings go silent, Novus calmed a bit.

“Tch! I have nothing else to say,” he spat and then turned away and left.

Orodan genuinely didn’t understand why Novus was so angry.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong have I?” Orodan asked as he looked at Novus retreating. “I’d like to think I gave it my best diplomatic effort.

Mahari looked at him a bit strangely, but answered.

“You’re an orphan, right Orodan?” she asked, and he nodded. “For most people… when they lose a parent and then someone else comes in, it can be taken rather negatively.”

“But shouldn’t he be happy that his mother’s found something for herself?”

“Again… you’re used to fending for yourself and haven’t had a mother or father,” she spoke. “A child often reveres their parents, especially if they’re loving. I don’t know what happened to his father, but seeing you come in and have intentions towards his mother… can’t be an easy thing for him to bear. Especially if he’s the eldest son of his family and is expected to be the one who brings the house to greatness. Seeing someone his age come by and seduce his mother isn’t uplifting.”

Mahari explained all this with a serious tone.

“But he’s never even seen me have intentions towards his mother aside from one time,” Orodan replied. “This is only my second time meeting him.”

“Such things aren’t as easily hidden as you think. If he lives in the same house, he more than likely knows,” Mahari continued. “A young man who’s training as a martial student at Bluefire… he has a lot on his shoulders. I’m not familiar with House Eldragon, so they must be a smaller house. The weight of expectations to live up to must be even greater then.”

“But what does all this have to do with me?”

“Morally? Nothing, if I’m being fair. I’m of the opinion that it’s his mother’s problem for acting in a way that upset her son,” Mahari replied. “That being said, there’s two sides to the argument that both have merit. His mother is a grown woman and can make her own decisions. As a young man himself he should respect that. But… on the other hand she could stand to be a little empathetic of her son, although I still think it’s her life.”

“I just don’t have time for petty comments or beating around the bush,” Orodan explained. “I have no enmity with him, but standing there as we engage in some stupid social dance isn’t my cup of tea.”

“You handled that situation with as much blunt directness as you always do,” Mahari remarked with a giggle. “But either way, you’ve now made yourself into the villain of his life in his mind. An insurmountable mountain that he’ll either be oppressed by or have to deal with.”

“What? I’m not even a villain!” Orodan protested and had half a mind to tell her about the Quests he was dealing with.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Would Quests be issued to a villain? Well, he did have a lot of blood on his hands prior to being reined in by the second Quest.

“Oh I don’t know about that~” she playfully drew out. “You as good as forced him to confront you about the affair between you and his mother… how ruthless! Such a bully-like act!”

“Maybe he shouldn’t have approached me about it then,” Orodan replied. “The whole thing was one big emotional outburst on his end.”

Mahari was being playful and melodramatic about it… but she had a point.

To Orodan it was being straightforward and direct. But to Novus for whom it was a sensitive matter… it could definitely be seen as domineering and abrasive.

Plus, who knew if all the people he had killed across his loops would disagree with the view that he was a villain? Orodan certainly had killed enough people, not that he was squeamish about it.

“Sigh… how does Altaj deal with an annoying blabbermouth like you?” Orodan asked with a smirk on his face.

“Hey!” Mahari protested without heat. “I might talk a lot, but I’m not annoying. Or at least my brother doesn’t say so. Perhaps you could learn something from him and tone down your browbeating ways of saying things directly to peoples’ faces.”

Diplomacy and tact? Orodan wasn’t sure if he would ever possess such things.

Dragons and their straightforward ways were so much easier to deal with. Why couldn’t Orodan have just been born a dragon?

“With the amount of power you can generate, I genuinely thought you might be a dragon reincarnated into a human body,” Rosvedir said. “But then I saw your utterly atrocious talent in anything related to mana and changed my mind. Are you perhaps descended from a rock? Maybe that explains why your head is so utterly dense to what Hymelrass is explaining.”

Classes at the academy had gone well, with Arvayne promising him that a week from now, they would work on skill combinations to create new ones.

But training with the dragons… was not going so well.

He had the Mana Manipulation skill and he was experienced in using Mana Black Hole… but he just didn’t have a natural talent for mana.

Perhaps it was karma for all the derision he had towards cowardly mages?

His endless energy and ability to generate mana, while strong even among dragon-kind, simply allowed him to train without interruption. Which dragons could more or less do with the assistance of items anyways.

His Mana Manipulation levelled up, but he still felt no closer to acquiring the first level of Draconic Mana Channeling.

Titanic reserves and ability to generate mana rapidly were but the base prerequisite to learning the skill. The other thing that mattered was one’s talent and insights into mana.

Which given that Orodan had no real mage skills he bothered using in combat… was a bit low.

For Orodan the training would be a two part process. The first part involved acquiring Draconic Mana Channeling. The second part involved learning the common Flare skill and using Draconic Mana Channeling to launch a cast of it.

He was firmly stuck on step number one however.

“Child, heed not this eccentric fool’s words,” Hymelrass interjected. “Focus on the mana pathways within you, mold them to be denser, thicker. Turn them into an ocean, not a mere road.”

Easier said than done.

Mana flowed through the body using certain natural pathways. The circuits as they were called, were different in every living being, and bloodlines or species mixing could alter them as well.

The mortal races in general had thin circuits in comparison to magically inclined monsters. And among the mortal races, humans had average mana talent. So Orodan had his work cut out for him in expanding his circuits.

“Perhaps you would see more success if you didn’t insist on this course of deranged training you’re engaging in?” Rosvedir asked. “Your effort in swallowing that gravity stone is admirable, but it barely fit into your tiny gullet. And this… lasso you’re using upon yourself… its effects are quite distracting!”

“I don’t know why it bothers you so much,” Orodan replied.

His eye exploded out of its socket as necrotic energy spewed out. His flesh decayed, and his bones were rotting from the inside. He looked like a zombie.

All the while, his body was under incredible gravitational pressure. Regeneration was strained trying to keep up.

As his soul energy flooded the lasso, it focused on necrotic energy. He felt this would be a good resistance skill to focus on.

He wore it like a belt around his waist, the end held in his hand as he channeled soul energy into it.

He hadn’t yet acquired any further resistance skills over the twelve hours they had been working. But he felt that eventually he would.

Of course, twelve hours in the training chamber was equivalent to one hour of real time.

The Time Wind dragon flight were named so for a reason. They specialized in chronomancy and wards that provided a powerful time dilation effect.

Dragon energy generation abilities meant that they could have a one to twelve ratio for their time dilation wards instead of the one to six that Bluefire held.

He was allotted four hours each night, the rest to be spent with Arvayne.

But even with this generous time allotment dedicated to learning the dragon arts. Even forty-eight effective hours per session weren’t enough to help him easily make a breakthrough.

Twelve more hours passed as he futilely kept trying.

“Incredible, I have never seen such an utter lack of talent,” Rosvedir spoke. “Usually those who wish to learn Draconic Mana Channeling come in with some existing understanding of magic. Child… do you have any ranged active combat skills that purely use mana?”

“No, why would I need those when I can just close the distance and fight like a warrior?”

“You… did Arvayne Firesword truly send us a stone-headed warrior who has never cast a single spell in combat?!” the gravity dragon exclaimed. “Do you not know any spells?”

“Do Observe, Identify and Fate Reading count?”

“No… they do not. They aren’t active combat skills.”

“I’ve used mana in many of my skills before, I have a Mana Manipulation skill of level 41,” Orodan spoke. “What am I missing?”

“Because those skills you speak of are likely not purely cast using mana. There is some other component to them, be it the empowerment of an object, analyzing something, or the usage of your body,” Rosvedir explained. He had taken to sitting in on his training sessions with Hymelrass, claiming he was bored. “A purely mana-based skill, would be Fireball.”

“I still don’t understand how it would help me,” Orodan replied.

Rosvedir sighed and Hymelrass gave the gravity dragon an unamused look. By dragon standards at least.

“Rosvedir speaks harshly, but he speaks truthfully. Every person we’ve taught Draconic Mana Channeling to has had an idea about mana circuits and the flow of mana going into an active combat skill,” Hymelrass explained. “Knowing how to cast a Fireball would help you in understanding your own mana circuits and the feeling of a skill that uses only mana and nothing else.”

Orodan thought it was hogwash, but he didn’t snub the dragons outright.

He knew that dragons themselves didn’t need to know how to cast a Fireball before they learned Draconic Mana Channeling.

And while he was a human without the natural talent in learning this skill that a dragon would have… he was still sure there was a way to acquire it without learning spells first.

More time passed, and Orodan’s thoughts drifted towards experimentation.

He began to consider the Body Tempering skill. His body was now quite strong, each cell was suffused with vitality. If all else was equal, Orodan would be stronger than someone with the same Physical Fitness as him as each level of it went farther for him.

And how did he train Body Tempering?

By destroying his body, suffusing it with vitality and rebuilding it to be better under pressure.

So the two parts of the formula were constant pressure and Regeneration.

Why bother molding his existing mana circuits in a safe manner?

Why not do things his way?

His empowerment skills all activated, and a gigantic amount of mana was poured into Weapon Aura as he tried wrapping it around the entire building they were in.

It was a hopeless endeavor, as the building had far too many inhabitants, items and various wards upon it. Orodan would need at least a dozen more action increases before his mind could account for everything within.

But that wasn’t the aim of this experiment.

His goal now was to strain Weapon Aura so much that its mana requirements became very costly.

The skill wasn’t successful in wrapping around anything…

…because he was trying to wrap it around everything.

His head felt like it was splitting apart as his awareness expanded and he attempted to consider the area beyond the building his weapon too.

It was entirely unsuccessful, but the mana cost of the skill was skyrocketing by the second as his attempt continued.

Of course, his incredibly high Mana Resistance was quite the barrier to getting his own mana to affect him.

So he then used the lasso.

The necrotic energy of the lasso was channeled in a focused manner, and it began slowly decaying his mana circuits.

And as his mana circuits decayed, Orodan began to feel where the tiny leaks and imperfections were. The weakest parts of his circuits would spring a leak first as they rotted and faded.

His vitality and Regeneration worked swiftly to repair the damage, with the intent of rebuilding it stronger.

His eyes were glowing white as Eternal Soul Reactor flared to accommodate the monstrous mana costs Weapon Aura was now incurring.

This consequently made the endless gravity core in his stomach incredibly heavy, and he collapsed to the ground. But still kept working.

Due to not successfully wrapping around anything, Weapon Aura didn’t gain anymore levels from this. But that wasn’t the goal.

Slowly, like a crucible, the imperfections in his mana circuits were being worked upon.

Orodan not only focused on breaking down his mana circuits and rebuilding them to be stronger. He also worked on slowly widening them through this cycle of destructive regrowth.

He lost all sense of what was occurring around him.

His only focus was on strengthening the mana circuits and accommodating his body to make them grow wider and thicker. No matter how many times he had to destroy them over and over with necrotic energy from the lasso.

At some point, the lasso began to feel quite hot in his hands. His soul energy connection to it was beginning to slightly lower. He felt that if he kept pushing it, it might suffer damage.

But, he had finally accomplished what he wanted.

His eyes opened, and Rosvedir and Hymelrass were looking at him with expressions of shock.

“…maybe he is a dragon after all.”

“How did you keep yourself alive while forcibly expanding your mana circuits in such a way?” Hymelrass asked. “I’m aware of your prodigious vitality as we saw during the trial, but to apply it to honing yourself in such a way… the pain must have been incredible.”

“My Pain Resistance is at level 78 currently, so that’s not a concern,” Orodan replied. “I didn’t even realize it hurt.”

“See?! This is why my proposal to flog the younglings is a good idea Hymelrass!” Rosvedir exclaimed. “I keep telling you that our young are growing up too softly nowadays. They don’t even have level 20 in Pain Resistance and yet he has level 78 at his age? Why back in my day-”

“Cease your prattling Rosvedir. Your proposal also involved throwing them off the mountain upon hatching so their natural flight skills would develop,” Hymelrass reprimanded, and then looked to Orodan. “But that level of Pain Resistance is incredible.”

“Indeed! I hesitated to ask it, but with such high Pain Resistance and that lasso…” Rosvedir muttered, and Orodan didn’t like where the implication was going. “Boy… are you perhaps a masochist? I’ve heard some among your kind enjoy such perverse things. Worry not! We dragons do not judge… much.”

“I am not inclined towards such things you old lizard!” Orodan replied and the gravity dragon simply huffed. “I’ve expanded my mana circuits as much as I feasibly can for now, what’s the next step?”

“Now that you have skipped past what I thought would take three months at your previous pace. We can work on teaching you a basic active combat skill, a spell, which you can flood mana into,” Hymelrass remarked. “We’ll have you learn Flare.”

Averse as he was to learning ranged spells like a mage, he thought it fair.

How hard could learning a common spell be?

As Orodan came to learn, it could be very hard.

Especially for someone with an atrocious talent in mana.

Observe and Identify were quite easy as it involved mana used internally to analyze something.

Weapon Aura, even if it used mana, was used to empower a weapon and used his raw unaltered mana. Orodan suspected it fell under the purview of warrior skills, which he had decent talent in.

But Flare?

It was a common skill. An active combat skill of the branch of fire magic.

And it involved something Orodan had never done before. Which was tuning his mana to be fire-aspected before casting the elemental spell. The technique was known as elemental tuning, and it was a requirement for casting any elemental spell.

Was this how all elemental magic was cast?

Orodan now understood why people stayed within one school of magic for the most part. Even just getting the elemental tuning down for a single element before casting one of the most basic spells… was a lot of work.

“I don’t understand why learning Flare is so difficult,” Orodan remarked. “I learned Fate Reading rather easily with a training aid.”

“Yes, but there are unfortunately no training aids for learning a spell like Flare,” Hymelrass replied. “The elemental tuning must be done manually, and you have to structure the tuned mana into an offensive spell and fire it.”

What had also been explained to him, was that elemental tuning could permanently alter someone’s usage of mana. Mages who learned too many high rarity spells of the same element or levelled existing ones too high… would face a harder time learning other forms of magic.

The elemental tuning for opposing elements in particular, became harder as one advanced down a particular path.

Some people were gifted of course, and naturally took to an element. Bloodlines could also be a factor. As an example, he learned that the former House Argon had a fire magic Bloodline. Not apparent to the eye, but it explained why the two members he killed so long ago were both fire mages.

Calledro’s Average, something Orodan had been able to ignore thanks to his circumstances… was now keenly being felt. Classes would end and he would go to Millennium Roost, and like that four days of training went by. He had spent well over a hundred hours working on the elemental tuning and getting it down.

But with the attempt he was currently making, he thought he would have it.

Fire-aspected mana flooded Orodan’s hand, and he formed it into the shape of the Flare spell.

If he tried, he felt he could cast the spell now… but why not attempt to kill two birds with one stone?

Mana flooded through his now widened circuits, and Orodan began calling an utter deluge through himself all at once. It all went towards the Flare building in his hand.

This was what he sought to learn.

The method through which dragons naturally launched magical attacks which were many times the scale of their mortal counterparts of the same level.

This was Draconic Mana Channeling.

[New Skill (Exquisite) → Draconic Mana Channeling 1]

As the mana continued to flood into Flare, the skill levelled twice.

The flickering flame in his hands was supposed to be a common rarity spell. Meant for signaling people or lighting fires.

It wasn’t supposed to be the size of a building.

Good thing Orodan had Mana Resistance. Any other mage would have been killed or severely injured by this point by their own Flare getting so large.

Even Hymelrass looked as though she wanted to stop it, but held back. Rosvedir simply looked on, excitement in his eyes.

Finally, the amount of mana flooding the spell reached a critical point, and Orodan felt as though his Mana Manipulation wouldn’t be enough to maintain control.

So he threw it into the air.

And a quarter of the training chamber was awash with flame.

[New Skill → Flare 7]

Seven levels in a single cast.

A common rarity spell that was meant to send signals, was now a projectile with power equivalent to a magical artillery shot.

Draconic Mana Channeling… was an incredibly powerful amplifier.

Who knew how far his skills that used mana could go with this skill amplifying them?

“Now that’s an explosion worthy of a dragon!”

Orodan tuned Rosvedir out.

“The dragons tell me you’ve learned their arts. Is that cocky look upon your face the belief that you can now beat me? Bullying your elders isn’t very nice.”

“How else will I better myself if I don’t push my limits?” Orodan asked. “Beating up senile old men just happens to be the next benchmark I need to reach.”

“Alright then, show this senile old man what you’re capable of with this new skill of yours.”

And Orodan obliged.

Arvayne’s eyes took on a serious look as eight Flares the size of a building shot towards him. Quadrupled thanks to the Action Increase.

Even with just a level 7 Flare, he could now do what was done to him so long ago in Eversong Plaza. Overwhelming and suppressive magical bombardment.

The distance immediately closed as Arvayne refused to allow him the luxury of spamming spells. Which was to Orodan’s liking as he disliked fighting from range anyways.

Their usual deadly exchange of melee occurred, and Arvayne found that Orodan’s Weapon Aura was incredibly powerful now.

It wasn’t his usual shield, that one had been destroyed long ago when fighting the Dweller Worm. But even with Weapon Aura, these new shields of Elite-level craftsmanship would normally be destroyed by Arvayne’s greatsword.

But this time, the old man’s sword found no purchase as a titanic amount of mana was pouring into the skill. Draconic Mana Channeling was an amplifier on all skills that used mana.

His shield held strong. It rung and eardrum bursting booms echoed with each blocked blow. But the material held true and Arvayne reconsidered slamming his blade against it.

Next came Orodan’s return of quadrupled All-Strikes.

The legendary rarity active combat skill used mana, soul energy and vitality as fuel. It was an All-Strike in every sense of the term as every energy pool was used.

Now, the mana portion of the skill was greatly empowered, and it received an almost half-again increase in power.

Unless using Endless Blitz with All-Strikes, something that would nearly kill him. Orodan was always at a disadvantage in every exchange of blows he had with the old man.

But for once, his All-Strikes which were empowered by Draconic Mana Channeling, were now forcing the old man to almost stalemate.

So he decided to try combining his newly empowered All-Strikes, with Endless Blitz.

Everything turned white as his soul energy flared wildly and his body nearly broke down.

But in the split second of hundreds of All-Strikes being delivered via Endless Blitz, Arvayne…

…was actually losing!

And then the fun ended as the old man’s eyes took on a subtle glow.

Orodan found himself reforming from the near-puddle of flesh he was turned into shortly after.

“Not bad,” Arvayne Firesword spoke as he drank a healing potion to repair from the serious damage he incurred hitting Orodan. “I’ll be taking the frustration of this moment out on you for the rest of your time with me… but not bad at all.”

“I actually forced you to tap into the lowest level of your Avatar state!” Orodan excitedly shouted.

“Bah! I could still kill you without it… but admittedly, you now have a non-trivial chance of killing me,” the old man retorted. “I only called upon Agathor to put a swift end to your nonsense and to temper your ego.”

Arvayne spent the rest of the session brutally reminding Orodan that he didn’t need Agathor’s help to demolish him.

But the fights were far more even now. Even if he lost out against the old man’s skills and experience. It was as Arvayne said.

Orodan actually had a small chance of winning now if he truly committed to it.

With Draconic Mana Channeling at just level 3, Orodan was getting closer and closer to the level of a mortal triple-Grandmaster.

A week had now passed during which he acquired Draconic Mana Channeling.

Another three weeks now remained before the excavation of the energy well he’d discovered would begin.

A team of the Republic’s Grandmasters would descend the hole, and Orodan would naturally accompany Arvayne.

He was looking forward to seeing what lay within.

Treasure or horror.