[“Hestia, could you not build another stairway using [Terra Wall]?”] Saori asked.

I remembered the stairway I created on the cliff’s wall, intending to have Saori use it to scale the cliff. It, unfortunately, got destroyed during the battle, but that’s not a problem for us.

[“I could,”] the mana costs weren’t significant, and I could use this opportunity to practice some of the magic theory. [“However, I want to try something else.”]

In my fight against the trolls, I received the skill [Air Walk] after [Acrobatic] leveled up to level ten.

Air Walk

A skill that allows the user to concentrate mana around their limbs, holding them on air. Mana and stamina will be continuously used until this skill is deactivated

Reading the description, an idea that might work popped up.

Considering that the description mentioned that I will have to use quite a lot of my Mana and Stamina to keep myself afloat, it will probably be hard to use it in a combat situation for a prolonged time. However, it might be good for scouting, traveling, and burst usages like when I need to dodge.

It also depends on practice, and I think I know a way to fully test out its potential.

[“Could you guys move a bit back?”] I held my palm up and gestured Tasianna and Saori to move away from the area.

Once they were at an acceptable distance, I returned back to [Humanize Lv. 7]’s version of my humanized form, giving me my wings back. Multiple magical circles then appeared under my right wing, ready to shoot [Wind Blast] onto the ground.

I also readied the spell [Flame Explosion] under me. My parallel minds were warning that I shouldn’t overdo it otherwise I will burn myself with my own flames.

I haven’t trained my resistance skills through self-mutilation in a very long time. Once I evolved into a [Young Spark Fire Dragon], any of my spells were very likely to hurt me.

However, now that my basic knowledge of magic theory was improved, I think it would be best to resume it. It will double as a way for me to become more adept at controlling my magic, while also upgrading my resistance skills in the process.

SP is getting harder to get, so I should be more frugal about it.

Ok, flame explosion, don’t kill me, please. Reduce the power of the flame to the level that my [Inferno Resistance Lv. 1] can fully block the damage. Come on, System, I know you can hear my thoughts. I just need a boom, not a grilled Dragonewt.

Phew, here goes nothing!

Having steeled my resolve, I jumped into the air and activated my spell.

“Flame Explosion!”

The magical circle flickered for a bit, sending sparks into the air, until a great fire exploded from the ground, sending me up into the air from the shockwave alone.

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Inferno Resistance Lv. 1] evolved into [Inferno Resistance Lv. 2]

Arrrrgh, Major Heal! Scheiße, it still huuuurts! …But I didn’t kill myself!

After a couple of seconds, a warm updraft began forming, slowing down my descent, as I glided in the air. Unfortunately for my nose, the wind carrying around the scent of my burned flesh and scales entered it directly, assaulting me with the disgusting smell of “Rare Hestia”.

Clenching my nose, I activated my [Wind Blast], sending winds down to collide with the updraft, which converged together to send me even higher.

With this, I reached the height of the cliff, but I wasn't done yet. I still have many more wind spells in reserve. I continued doing this until the flame on the ground died out. At that point, my little experiment sent me high enough that I could view the whole forest again, just like during my first flight.

My lips curled into a smile as I confirmed the direction towards the Belzac mountains, the checkpoint towards our next goal, the elven kingdom.

“Woooooooohoooooooooo!”

Despite my attempts to flap my wings, I was unable to create enough lift to keep myself from free-falling. Being disappointed isn’t exactly a thing anymore, as I already made up my mind that it will be impossible to fly until the mana paths in my left wings healed up.

Still, I enjoyed this little bit of time I could be up here. I think it will be a fun pastime to do some skydiving, once in a while.

Twirling and tumbling in the air, my body was closing into the ground. From this distance, I saw Tasianna screaming and panicking, while Saori simply held up a thumbs up, probably saying “hope, you’re having fun”.

To prevent myself from turning into a lump of meat, I activated [Aerokinesis] and started controlling the air to slow down my fall. Once the speed of my descent was at an adequate level, I poured my mana into my feet and activated [Air Walk], hop-skipping the rest of the way to the ground.

[“Princess Hestia, are you ok?! Did you hurt yourself somewhere?! Why were you falling so fast?!”] the first one to greet me after landing was an anxiety-filled Tasianna. I was honestly feeling a bit bad for not warning her, but Saori didn't seem to mind.

[“Sorry, Tasianna,”] I soothed her by letting her land on my palm. [“To answer your question, I damaged my wings when I was younger. I can’t fly anymore.”]

It’s true. I lost my ability to fly when I was 4 months old, so technically I wasn’t lying.

Tasianna covered her opened mouth with her hands in disbelief, then she demanded me to show me where I hurt myself, [“Unbelievable! Where? Please, show me!”]

[“My left wing. My status board says that my mana paths are damaged, and without them, I can’t fly. Not even in my dragon form.”]

[“Your mana paths?”] Tasianna looked a bit confused at what I said, but immediately shook it off and gave my left wing a check-up. [“Oh dear, it’s true. Your mana is having trouble flowing into your wing.”]

She then started touching different parts of my wings; the part connecting it to my body, the joints of my wing’s bones, and also the muscles of my wing.

She frowned her brows before giving me the bad news, [“It is unfortunate, but you will need a doctor.”]

Tasianna explained to me that mana paths are millions of little long paths that transported my mana throughout my body. There are also gateways in my skin that allow the mana from the air to flow into me, coupled with my body's natural mana generation and it made up my mana regeneration.

The explanation made me think that these “mana paths” are very similar to blood vessels. Is it like a physical thing inside my body? What would happen when somebody from another world were to be transported here, just like a normal “Portal Fantasy” novel?

The System determines it as only a minor injury. My left wings stilled had mana, but the amount was not enough for me to fly with.

Technically, I could heal it with healing spells, but it seems like it was impossible in its current state. Tasianna could feel where my mana was flowing but it seems like some mana paths were severed, the paths are blocked by muscles and flesh.

It seems like when I healed myself during the garm fight, I somehow messed it up enough that my healing magic has no effect anymore.

I can guess what the reason for that might be. In that battle, I barely had an idea of what mana paths were, and I only wanted my healing spells to heal the wound. It seems like I healed the wound but left the damaged mana paths to linger.

Well, nothing that I could have done. I didn’t know about them back then, so it made it hard to command the spell to heal that single wound. I’ll just do better next time.

Hmm, maybe I could try it now.

System, heal my mana paths. I want to be able to pour mana back through my left wing! Major Heal!

…

[“What a shame…”] I cried out in disappointment. [“Even [Major Heal] doesn’t work. How will a doctor help at this point, Tasianna?”]

[“They will need to do surgery on your back and connect everything back together with holy spells.”] said Tasianna.

That simple?!

[“If it’s that simple, then I can do that, too. Tasianna, tell me where I should cut,”] I demanded.

[“Hold on, Hestia,”] breaking from her silence, Saori joined the conversation with a frown. [“I believe it would be wise to leave this to an expert. You will only make your injury worse with your ignorance.”]

[“Princess Hestia, I must beg you to reconsider, also,”] Tasianna supported Saori’s argument with a worried face. [“I’m but a simple maid. I cannot tell you all the details you will need to perform a successful surgery. However, we are going to the elven kingdom, yes? They have wonderful doctors there.”]

Giving a sigh in resignation, I decided to listen to the sound judgment of my companions. Being reckless about it will only harm me in the future. Besides, it's not like I have to fly right now.

[“There is another thing, Princess Hestia,”] having dealt with the bad news, Tasianna decided it was now time for the good one. [“You actually don’t need proper mana paths to be able to fly.”]

I tilted my head and let out a “huh?”, before asking Tasianna to clarify.

[“Your wings haven’t matured yet. They are far too small to carry you in the air. I haven’t inspected your dragon form’s wings yet, but it must be the same reason.”]

[“W-Wait, you’re telling me that I can still fly despite my injury?!”] in my shock, my voice went high-pitched, sounding extremely shrill, when I wanted to confirm her words.

Tasianna nodded, [“You are still quite young, aren’t you, Princess Hestia? Dragons grow fast like most monsters, so you will only need to wait. Your wings will grow strong in no time!”]

That is good news!

Still holding Tasianna in my palm, I jumped and cheered like a little girl whose parents told her that she can make her dream come true.

You know, I should have probably realized this earlier, but I really thought that dragons would fly using mana in this world. Kinda weird that I had to wait for somebody to tell me the most obvious thing in the world.

Wait, if my dragon form is the size of a horse, then how large will I be once I become an adult dragon?

["Princess Hestia, if you would allow me, I would be honored to take care of your wings until they are strong enough to lift you,"] Tasianna left my palm and began flying in the air, flapping her blue, butterfly-like wings at a wingbeat resembling a real butterfly.

Tasianna was proudly offering her services, knowing that she could finally help me with something besides making tea and cooking. As it wouldn’t obstruct me very much, I agreed wholeheartedly.

After she gave her thanks, I grabbed Tasianna in my left arm and wrapped my arm around Saori’s waist with my right one.

[“P-Princess Hestia?!”] Tasianna said in a panic.

[“Hestia, what you planning to do?!”] Saori said.

Once they noticed the green magic circles appearing under my right wing and the giant red one under us, their panic turned into terror.

[“W-Wait, Hestia! It is ok when you do it, but do not think of doing it with us!”] Saori having realized my intentions, tried to tear my arm off her waist, but sadly for her, my Strength was still higher!

[“No, no, Princess Hestia! I can fly. I can fly. I can fly oooooonnnnnn myyyyyyyy ooooooowwwwwwnnnn!”]

Without letting Tasianna end her sentence, I jumped and activated [Flame Explosion] to send us all into the air, while continuously activating [Wind Blast] to keep ascending us into the air. Due to my previous experiment, I already knew what to adjust about the spell, significantly reducing the firepower but still keeping the shockwave that sent me upwards.

Saori held on to me tightly, looking scared as she clenched her teeth and eyes shut. It looked a bit weird as I was a head shorter than her.

[“Saori, open your eyes!”] reaching the same height I previously was at, I called out to Saori to open her eyes so she wouldn’t miss this sight.

She hesitatingly opened her eyes, immediately widening in amazement once she was able to see the sight. Her mouth was agape as she continued staring into the sunset. She turned her head around, fully immersing herself to the experience, not wasting even a single second of this sight.

“Wow…” Saori let out an amazed voice.

[“I rarely ever would fly this high but seeing the sunset again brings back fond memories of my earlier years,”] said Tasianna, reminiscing as she enjoyed the experience.

Being able to share this sight with my friends made my chest feel warm. I was imagining being able to do this with them every day and all the potential ways we could have fun.

The whole-wide world was still so big to me. I only knew this forest, so I was literally ignorant of what is happening outside of it. Will it bring me happiness, or will it make me sad? Who knows, but the future?

As much as I want to overthink it, I think it would be better to continue forward. My dream and new life lied behind that horizon and I must walk towards it.

[“Uhhh, Hestia?!”] Saori’s voice woke me up from my daydream.

[“Yeah?”] I nonchalantly asked.

[“We are falling!”]

Looking down, I finally realized that we were skydiving towards the forest at a frightening rate. Controlling the air with my [Aerokinesis] I slowed down our descent and then started walking on air.

The night will come soon so we needed to find a place to rest for the night. As I wanted to take a bath for the night, I decided to head towards the lake we found a few days ago, with Saori and Tasianna still in hand.

[“Oof, my legs are really feeling it now,”] complaining, I noticed that my legs were aching from using [Air Walk].

After what felt like a ten min walk, we finally reached the lake.

Releasing Saori and Tasianna from my grip, both began stretching, probably from how uncomfortable “Hestia Airlines” was. I mean, I can’t afford better seats yet. I still have no money.

[“Urgh, you held me too tightly, Hestia,”] Saori complained while adjusting her clothes. [“Hmm, there seem to be a few monsters in the lake.”]

[“Oh, really?”] I checked using my own skills, confirming that something was in it. [“Well, some grilled fish sounds like a pleasant dinner.”]

I then took out our camping tools and placed them on the ground so Saori and Tasianna could prepare our camp for tonight, while I would walk to the lake to fish.

“Alright, time to do some exercise. Ahem, come out now ~” however, when I mentioned fishing, I meant killing the fish with a grand EXPLOSION, ha ha!

Entering the water, it only took the bomb a few seconds before creating a deafening boom burst, sending a huge geyser of water into the air. As I was looking proudly at my handiwork, I suddenly noticed the silhouette of the monsters being tossed into the air, hiding behind the falling water.

Huh?!

Multiple large monsters with moist-looking skin and two long hind legs.

Eeeeeek!

A sudden primal fear inside me resurfaced. A fear that I had since I was a child and that never appeared while I lived in this forest. I completely forgot that I ever had it but this night, that very trauma came back to me, laughing into my face “did you really forget about us?”.

I knew it’s a simply childish and stupid trauma, but I averted my face the moment I caught even a peek of those “things”. My teeth clattered against each other, my body shivered, and my eyes couldn’t open despite my will to do so.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! KYAAAAAAAAAAHH!”

[Terror (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko]