The items floated over to Alan, who checked them for a bit before transporting them into his own inventory.
“Those are aura breathing techniques, the ones I could find and acquire from the God beasts tribes related to the Phoenix in any way, learn from them and create your own.”
“Create my own? Can’t I just practice the best one here?”
He already had so many things to do, now he had to create an aura breathing technique as well? Was that not pushing it a little bit?!
He had lost count of the amount of things he needed to accomplish on this trip… and new things were being added by the minute!
“Alan, You have the bloodline of a peculiar being. To be honest with you, I don’t know about aura and how it works that much. So…”
“… So?”
“I simply bought everything I could find on the market relating to any aura techniques that were practiced by tribes that once followed the Phoenix! I had to do a lot to just get those, you know.”
“What?”
Were those books truly that valuable that even a supreme had a hard time getting her hands on them? They didn’t really look special at first glance.
“Each tribe of God beasts practice their own aura breathing techniques that are suited for their blood and flesh. They are taught to their children since birth and highly guarded. Furthermore, Avian Tribes are especially strict with the security of their techniques, and with their scarcity it’s a blessing I could manage to even get those! Do you know how hard it is for dragons to even come across these things?”
Although she had a valid point, Alan still couldn’t understand why he couldn’t just practice the best one among the books he had been given.
Lanesha read his mind like an open book and began to explain.
“You can try, but the results will be minimal. These were passed down by the Phoenix to his descendants a long time ago, derived from his own so…
||
She went quiet for a bit, Alan anxiously waited for her next words, anticipating some guidance.
“I thought that since you have the bloodline of the Phoenix… these techniques would react in some way and that could lead you to new heights. God beasts place a lot of importance on heritage, after all. And you are also not a bird, Alan, but a dragon. Therefore, try creating a new one using these as a reference. I think it will be better for you.”
Alan sighed, Lanesha had made sense with her words, and it was wise to trust her regarding these things. He himself had no idea how the God beasts worked as well, so following Lanesha’s advice would be optimal.
“So am I done here, now? Can I go?”
Lanesha had a sad look on her face, as if she was displeased by Alan’s desire to leave.
“What a great son I have, He doesn’t even want to see his mother.”
She tried not to, but she couldn’t help but chuckle at her own words. It was refreshing to her.
||
Alan could only remain silent, not knowing what to say. Thankfully, Lanesha didn’t seem to hold a grudge.
“No, I have just one thing to give you.”
She raised her hand once more, and another thing appeared from the rift. Alan would be lying
if he said he didn’t have some grand expectations. If it was something that would help him, he would gladly take it.
But, even he didn’t expect this.
‘Chaos…!’
As soon as he felt it, he took a few steps back out of reflex and conjured four shields out of his own mana to protect himself, and just as he was about to transform into a half-draconian as well, Lanesha stopped him.
“Be calm.”
Her words brought his instincts down and he relaxed a little bit. But he didn’t let down his defenses. Lanesha sighed, seeing this, and began to user her own mana. It flowed out from her body and covered whatever it was that she took out.
It became a prison for it, a crystal made of dark blue ice encased it and the chaotic mana that it released was destroyed by Lanesha’s own.
“I even told him to restrict it as much as possible.”
She mumbled, Alan couldn’t hear at all, despite his heightened senses. Taking a closer look at the crystal, he found a drop of blood trapped within it. The color was hard to discern due to the prison it was bound in, but Alan didn’t need to see the color.
The subtle traces of mana that lingered, as well as what he had felt previously, told him that it was an item pertaining to the element of chaos.
“It’s Suleras’s drop of ichor. Do you know why I talked about fate a while before, Alan?”
“Wait! Please, no more talk about fate!”
All the danger he just felt from that drop of blood, or ichor in this case, disappeared like the drop of a hat as soon as Lanesha mentioned fate, He wanted to avoid this discussion in
particular.
“Please, no more talk about fate!”
He bowed down and slammed his head on the floor of the magnificent throne room, and Lanesha was…frustrated.
“… Listen to me first! I said it was useless to avoid it, so that’s what I’m doing!”
She raised her finger, which in turn, raised Alan off the ground and made him stand, he was powerless against whatever mysterious force was moving him around like this.
“I’m giving this to you because I judged I should listen to my own ramblings for once! Take
it!”
Now, she was furious and a little bit of hurt. The orb floated over to Alan at a blinding speed and hit him in the stomach, forcing him to keel over. Immediately, he jumped back as far as he
could.
“Hey! Isn’t that bad for me?!”
“It’s your father’s drop of ichor! He is your guardian dragon, too.”
“He hasn’t even shown himself for months! And what do you mean by father?”
“Be quiet and place it in your inventory!”
Alan did as she asked, but with great caution, he made sure to not touch the crystal at all and moved it with only his mana, But before he could put it in his inventory…
“Now go!”
“Wait, at least tell me what you meant by father? You are okay, but him?!”
Next thing he knew, he was outside the massive gate that he previously entered, and Lanesha was nowhere to be seen. The crystal dropped to the ground with a clink, and rolled over to
him.
“Hiek!”
He screamed and jumped, but the damn thing kept making its way towards him!
“Go into my damn inventory!”
He used his mana and tried to force the crystal to go inside his inventory but…
He was rejected! The crystal wouldn’t go into his inventory at all, making him forced to carry
it with a hand made of mana.
“…”
‘Please don’t do anything to me…’
He stood up and began to make his way back towards the group, taking in the sights of snowflakes as large as buildings. The cold wind here was a bonus as well, it calmed his heart.
“What do I do with you?”
He looked at the dark blue crystal, troubled by its very existence. He didn’t even know what Lanesha even wanted him to do with it! Not only that, but he couldn’t even transfer the cursed
thing into his inventory.
Eventually, he made it back to the Arctic Titan, He could sense the group inside, and they
seemed to be safe. Albeit a little bit cold.
Maxwell, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, noticed him, waved.
He opened the doors of the Arctic Titan and Alan jumped into the passenger seat beside him.
“Close the door, it’s cold out here.”
He said, whilst fully dressed in cold-proof clothing, as well as having multiple thermal artifacts activated…and also with the Arctic Titan’s built-in heating system…
Alan didn’t blame him though, he wasn’t feeling cold at all, but he knew the group had
pathetic levels of resistance to the element of frost.
“What’s that?”
He asked, pointing towards the crystal floating beside Alan. Alan looked at it with a troubled
gaze, and said.
“Get me a box, I need to put this thing away as soon as possible.”
“?”
He refused to elaborate further, and opened the door leading to the main compartment of the
Arctic Titan, where everyone was. Maxwell followed him.
He saw Kazikato was still sleeping on the couch, Alexander was with his wolf, and Sabrina, Olivia, and Alice were together, enjoying coffee at the table.
As soon as he entered, Kazikato, Alex, and his wolf had the biggest reaction.
“What the fuck is that?”
Alexander questioned, his hand on the hilt of his sword as he looked at the crystal floating
besides Alan, Kazikato fell from the couch and retreated as far as he could, whilst Alex’s wolf, Festul appeared to be visibly displeased, as much as he could display with his face.
The three human girls, didn’t really have a reaction to the crystal. Sabrina welcomed him
back.
“Welcome back.”
Alice and Olivia paid more attention to the reactions of the others, Maxwell as well. He
hurried to get a box and handed it to Alan. He judged it should be done as soon as possible, the
moment he saw the reactions of the rest.
He could ask all the questions he wanted later.
Alan put the crystal into the box, and sighed in relief when he placed it on the table, saying.
“It’s best not to open this thing again.”
He sat down on the couch, refusing to explain things to the others, and simply looked at the
ceiling of the arctic titan.
He sighed once more, this time, it was more out of exhaustion.
‘I have so much to do…’