"Heu... Nia."

I received no answers. Instead, a very different noise reverberated. It was a very reptilian shriek.

"Nia! Just chase away that lizard before I cook it myself. "

"I hear you! Just wait a bit... Il est grognon, n’est ce pas Ezra? "

"Why do I feel like I was insulted?"

She was currently cuddling with the flying lizard we saved a couple of days ago. Yes, that dragon hasn't left us since that day. Maybe it was out of gratitude, but to me it felt more like it tagged along because it felt like we could provide it with security and easy access to food.

A true parasite.

I would've eaten that wyvern if it hadn't been for Nia, but it also appears that the wyvern, whatever she called it, was keen enough to know who to charm in order to be tolerated around here.

When did these two come to bond? I can’t tell. The day after the day I killed the two other dragons, these two were already acting as besties.

"Buzz off!" I shouted, and the dragon immediately flew away.

"Why did you do that? You’re scaring her. "

"Her?"

"Her, it’s a girl."

"Eh, I miss the part where that matters. It doesn’t change the fact that she is a parasi- You know what, forget about it."

Today, I’ve made up my mind to see what exactly she’s capable of with her magic.

"Now show me what you can do."

Something happened out of nowhere. She swung at my leg with a kick while squeecking what I think was supposed to be a warcry.

"Yaaaah … Aaaaaiiiiii."

Warcry, which, upon her kick making contact with my leg, turned into a wail.

She was now rolling on the ground, trying to contain the pain from meeting head-on my fully enhanced leg with her weakly enhanced quick.

‘What are you doing? "

There was no hiding from it. She was naturally good with Aina. That kick reminded me of someone’s enhanced sword swing, it’s just that it lacked polish.

"Attacking you, this is what you want, right?"

"With magic,... your magic, not like this."

"Humph."

I had the intention of having her train both her aina and her magic, but for the time being, I was more curious about her magic than anything else. After all, her father was capable of using something similar to time magic, so she, as his daughter, could have inherited these capabilities. In fact, with what he must have done in order to save her, she most likely would have inherited them.

And to confirm whether or not she did, I had to force her to use magic.

"Get up, we’re not done with this yet." I said, giving her a hand, which she took. "Do it again. You did it two days ago to save the dragon right, the small barrier. Do it again. "

She took a weird stance, then extended both her hands out, from which appeared two ball-sized bubbles.

From the bubble, I could even hear the burbling noises coming from them. That’s how weak and frail they felt.

"What is this?"

"... Magic."

With my finger, I simply poked the bubble, and as expected, it vanished as a bubble would.

We are not out of the woods yet, aren’t we?

Sure, we aren’t.

It has been established that Solomon's magic mostly involved those kinds of bubbles. I must precise that despite its bubble-like appearance, his magic and now Nia's magic is not water magic, nor does it seem to have any close connection to it, it simply feels like something entirely different.

Personally, I don't even know what to call it.

"Bubble magic?"

"Sealing magic"

The range of what was possible with his magic was so varied that it is simply very complicated for me to determine exactly what his magic does.

His magic consists mainly of entrapping something within what seems to be a bubble. It can take many sizes, but it will forever resemble a bubble.

According to how I understand the barrier he was erecting during their time within the tower, which she called home, Solomon's barrier could also take physical form. By physical form, I mean it worked as a physical dome, impeding anything from entering or leaving. Of course, even then, just like the current church barrier, it has some exceptions like air and migrating animals.

Magic can take many forms. For example, most nobles are born with elemental magic, but how they use it differs from one individual to another. But it is different for monsters. Generally, magic for monsters does always take the form of an attack. In most cases, it is a beam or breath attack. In certain cases, monsters like Heon, for example, are capable of using their magic to coat themselves in armor. Some monsters straight up conjure their magic to destroy everything around them.

To put it simply, a monster's use of magic is very simply minded, to destroy, while a noble's tends, in most cases, to be more refined. In the same way a newborn fawn immediately learns to stand upon birth, a monster's cub will immediately know what he can do with its magic, while in a noble case, it feels safer to put him through a baptismal to avoid him using a magic he hasn't learned to control yet.

While two nobles are born with both water elemental magic, and a similar size mana pool, they may end up using their magic very differently as they grow up. Nia being able to match her father's power and abilities is something I can't say for sure, but her producing a bubble capable of taking the form of a decent barrier is already a good beginning.

But these weak bubbles, those are just...

"What?"

"Nothing. It’s just that… No, actually forget about it. Two days ago, remember you did the thing you did to protect the dragon, I want you to do that again. "

She reached her hand out to me, and another bubble emerged from her palms. At first, it was small, but gradually grew bigger until it reached the size of a giant nut, then it exploded with a "plok".

I couldn’t tell exactly what was funny in it, but Nia, who made that bubble, seemed extremely amused by the bubble reaction.

What am I dealing with? A child?

"Don’t look at me like this. You’re scary, I’m doing my best here. It’s not my fault,... If, Hihihihi. "

With the continuous "pok" sound, the bubbles in her hands made, as they grew bigger before exploding, she couldn't stop herself from laughing maniacally.

"Oh, lord! Hey, Han. "

"Hum?"

"Why don’t you give her lessons on how to use magic? You’re the magic expert, aren’t you? "

"Indeed, but I don’t think I would make a good teacher. You’re doing fine. Keep up the good work. "

"Hey! "

"Okay, okay. I’ll give you a piece of advice. You want her to perform something like two days ago, right? Why not put her in a situation like that? "

"How am I supposed to interpret that?"

"As you see fit."

While I was talking with Han, Nia seemed to have recovered from her earlier laughter and was now seriously attempting, at least superficially, to cast a spell on me.

Putting her in a situation like two days ago, huh?

Suddenly, from above us, I heard the shriek of the wyvern above us.

As an idea bloomed in my head, I couldn't help but smirk, as I looked elatedly up in the sky.

Nia, as if having felt that something was about to happen, she immediately asked, "What?"

Just like two days ago, I computed a bubble which I charged with lightning, with the only difference being that it was weaker.

I glanced smugly at the dragon flying high in the sky like the vulture he was, so that Nia would understand very well what my intention was.

"Nia, you see these, I’m going to-"

Before I could finish my words, I noticed that my two hands and even my bubble were entrapped within two of her bubbles.

I wouldn’t be impressed if these bubbles weren't anything different from her previous ones. This one was not like the weak bubble she conjured earlier, instead, it looked as solid and sturdy as the one from two days ago, if not more.

It seems that it worked even better than expected.

Sure, it did.

Putting that dragon’s life on a bet, to-wait, if it works so well, does it mean that she really believes I’m going to kill that lizard.

"She's probably unconsciously unsure, which is understandable, given your two histories together."

"I guess you’re right."

"Just, one last thing, keep track of not accidentally hurting that wyvern, or worse, killing it, unless you want another drama."

"Yessir."

Moving back to Nia.

"You see, when you want, you can, but you see, you’ll need more than that to stop me," slamming the two bubbles against each other, which caused them to shatter as broken glasses would.

"Let’s make a bet that if I catch that dragon, we’ll be eating dragon meat tonight."

"I- Hey!"

Before she could even start, I immediately jumped in midair, using my midair maneuver to make my way to the dragon, but at around twenty meters from the ground, another bubble flew at me,

Given how slowly that bubble was flying at me and how far I was from Nia, the caster of that bubble, I had no difficulty dodging it.

"Speed is an essential part of survival. You better learn that. "

Unexpectedly, the bubble returned to attack me from behind. Despite the clever maneuver, I was still able to easily avoid her bubble, but she kept throwing it at me.

"You need better than this if you want to defeat me."

To show her that tossing her bubble wouldn’t be enough, I let myself be caught within one of her bubbles, but immediately freed myself upon being caught.

Her bubble barrier was robust and sturdy, but at no point was it unbreakable.

If I had learned anything from being in this forest, it was that the thicker and sturdier something is, the better it is.

My attempt here was to have her thicken her bubble to a reasonable level to survive in these lands.

She may not have noticed it, but at that point, I was no longer attempting to reach the wyvern; but only triggering her to attack more and more vigorously.

Maybe frustrated that none of her attempts bore fruit, she released an impressive number of medium-sized bubbles and sent them at me altogether.

***

As such, we kept that rhythm till exhaustion overtook Nia. She was currently lying on the ground like a fish that had been out of water for too long.

I have no idea how much mana is used to produce one of her bubbles, but with that amount, it was certainly impressive.

"You did great. Or, at the very least, more than I expound...You okay? "

Reaching out her hand to me like a dying person reaching for his beloved treasure as he breathed out his last, she weakly muttered, "I... can't... move."

"It seems like she overdid it."

"You mean, you overdid it."

"I? I never told her to use all her mana. "

"Very poor and twisted excuse, but I guess you’re right. Anyway, here’s a real piece of advice, while I’m not really what one would call a magic-wielding creature, I still have some pieces of possibly useful insight about."

"Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You know what, forget what I just said. What is it? "

"Ehe, sorry, I just realized it as he was progressively depleting her mana and how she was, well, not struggling to use her magic. Besides, it isn't about her but rather about me, us, and how we are going to fight now that I no longer have any vessels left. "

"I see. What is it? I'm all ears. "

"You do realize how I operate, right? "

"What do you mean, operate?"

"How I use what you would describe as magic,"

"I only know the basics. It’s not like you talk often about it anyway."

"Well, about that, I think we need a very long, like, really long discussion. It is in a very close relationship with the new technique I talked about. For now, I can’t help much in this state, so that technique would be the only thing I could provide, besides, of course, moral support and my infinite wisdom, but for it to work, you’ll have to understand how my magic works in the first place."

***

For a long time, we discussed.

The last battle impeded us as one of the most important members of our trio. It was a huge loss. One that I was fully set on nullifying by finding him a fitting vessel for Han.

But with Han’s current situation, within our trio, only Heon and I are combat capable, by rough estimation. Han’s next vessel should be at the level or at least stronger than Nia’s father was, which means that to find an appropriate vessel for Han, we’ll have to beat a monster of Nia’s father's level, or at the very least stronger than him.

"If I were a more decent person, I would say something like, "Hon, don’t worry brother, I don’t need a vessel, as long as we’re together, that’s all that matters." But sadly, that would be out of character for me. Sorry, not so sorry. "

"And you know what."

"What?"

"I think it’s better that way."

"So I thought… ?"

While talking with Han, I carried the sleeping Nia on my back as I proceeded on our journey; I could have put her on Heon's back, but I had the feeling that sleeping on a giant wolf's back while traveling wouldn't be a good idea, so here we are. With Heon at my side and the lizard still vulturing above us, we came to a stop because we had reached a steep edge.

Maybe as a way to assert her dominance, Heon howls as she always does, proudly and majestically.

On my back, I felt Nia waking up.

"Huh!"

Finally, awa…" surprised to be on my back, she hopped off it. ".... Not even a thank you? You fainted when-"

Completely ignoring me, she went to the edge to see for herself what was in front of us.

As I once said, there are places within this forest where the weather and the season are completely out of place.

And this place is one of them. I took notice of it for a moment now, but lately in the few hundred kilometers we've made these past few weeks, it hasn't been as cold or at least not as near-wintery as the place where we were taking a small pause.

The weather in front of us, or to be more precise, below us, was as fresh and as warm as one would find on a verdant spring day.

Without seeing, I could tell from the ambient air and distant noise that what was in front of me was once again a very unique scene that I had never seen before.

Oh, boy, you can say that. From this steep edge, it was possible to overview a unique plain that was a melange of both grassland and a jungle, but it wasn’t that that made the place so unique, instead, it was the U-shaped lake in the middle of it that made this place truly special.

The lake was reflecting the breathtaking blue and cloudless sky because of his untarnished and untrodden purity.

On the concave piece of land formed by the U-shaped lake, there was a tree that stood out, not only because it was the only tree in the area, but also because its yellowish leaves stood out a lot amidst the green of the grass, trees, and the blue lake.

"Hon."

"Humph?"

"This place could be the perfect place. Don’t you think so? "

Though he didn’t specify exactly what it would be "the perfect place" for, I immediately knew what he was referring to.

"I didn’t expect to stumble upon it so fast, but I think you are right, this could be the perfect place to settle in.

We talked about that a few hours ago; while the initial topic of the discussion was about the technique Han figured out, the discussion also settled on what we’re going to do from now on.

First, we decided that we needed a place to settle, a sort of headquarters, for several reasons. The first was that there were only Heon and me who were combat-ready, and while it was certain that Nia would become someone monstrously strong in due time and due effort, that doesn't change the fact that she is currently at the lowest level of the food chain in these parts of the woods. With our current state, we can’t afford to stumble upon monsters that could rival or even surpass Nia’s father. That was the sad and bitter truth.

Besides, to graduate from Han’s famous new technique, which he talked about a few weeks ago, I’ll have to remain in this area or at least not go too far away. At first, I didn’t understand why, but once he exposed what the famous technique was all about, I understood.

My current focus shouldn’t be on moving forward on this journey but rather on training myself so that I will be able to end this chapter of this journey.

Han's part of the contract is honored, only mine remains unhonored.

This is why we’ve agreed to find a place to settle down so that I can train myself in order to be ready to defeat that one thing, that will ultimately become, the perfect vessel for Han.

"That's a "lac," Nia said, pointing to what I thought was a lake.

"To me, it’s also "Lake" but with an "e" at the end and Nia?"

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Hum?"

"You didn’t thank me for piggybacking you, so I’ll assume that you didn’t like it, so…"

"Hey, what are you doing!"

Without asking for permission, I carried her to Heon’s back, who seemed to understand what I was going for.

"Set aside the fainting and the not-so-awesomeness of your magic, your mana pool was impressive," I said as I walked toward the steep edge.

"But now, it is time for you to show me what you can do with Aina. Which means-"

"Whaaaaaaaat?! Eeeeeeh!" Without even a signal, Heon began to charge, jumping from the steep edge.

"Hang tight, even better if enhanced on Aina, if you don’t want to fall." Heon jumped and screamed Nia on her back before I could finish my sentence.

Her scream reverberated longly before a thud resonated below, indicating that they had landed on the bottom of the ground. The thud was soon followed by a loud "Woooooo." and a sound that I recognized as Heon’s flashy dash.

Despite being on the edge, I didn’t jump. Instead, I put some distance between the edge and me.

"What are you doing, big boy? Still afraid of heights and fall damage? "

"Absolutely not. There was a time where jumping from the second floor required all the bravery I could possibly muster, but now-" with that, I ran at full speed at the edge, then jumped, "-I feel confident in winning a race against a multicolored unicorn."