Surdi's persuasive skills have never been the best. It took a solid fifteen minutes for him to finally convince Darmok that he can walk on his own and that the big dragon didn't have to carry him everywhere. By the time the gate guard agreed, the two of them have passed countless other inhabitants of the hive, whose eyes were staring at them, wondering what could have happened to the poor young boy. Fortunately for him, Darmok agreed to at least put him down in the library.

"There you are!" Darmok exclaimed when he saw Surdi at the counter, borrowing books with the old dragon's chip, commonly used for identification. "I got lots of stuff you might like," he said after tapping on Surdi's shoulder.

[Thanks, but I already–]

"This one is really well written. A bit old in terms of the language but an absolute classic. There have been like fifteen different plays written based on it. Oh! Then I have this one. It might be right up your alley since it has a bunch of friends travelling and going on adventures. The author apparently travelled quite a lot himself, so the locations are all based on actual places. Maybe you'll find some you've visited yourself. And lastly, I got you this one. Probably my favourite one. It's got the drama, it's got the tension, it's got childhood friends becoming lovers, aww. It's got everything a proper book needs."

[I already have the books I wanted,] Surdi shut down Darmok's enthusiasm.

"Huh? These things? Applied basics of magic, and... Ezma's expansive guide to metallurgy? Those are books for scholars!"

[I know.]

Darmok raised one eyebrow. "Are you like... secretly a scholar?"

[No, but I would like to be. I like reading about magic and what it can do. Gives me inspiration.]

"Hehe, you really are completely nuts," the old dragon laughed and reached out to pat Surdi.

[Touch me and I'll bite you.]

"Oh please. You... AAAAAAAAAA!"

"You actually bit me!" Darmok scolded the young dragon as they were heading back. His hand was now wrapped in a thin layer of bandages to stop the bleeding. "Are you a savage of sorts?"

[Well, I warned you, no?]

"But you actually bit me! And you bit right through my scales! That was a proper vicious bite!"

[Don't provoke a dragon.]

"Dragons don't go around biting people!"

[How can you be sure?]

"I AM a dragon!"

[But maybe somewhere out there, there are dragons who bite.]

Darmok rolled his eyes and rubbed the root of his nose with his healthy hand. Although the trip to the library did not end as he expected, the young dragon seemed satisfied. The energy he had lost in the mana cave had long replenished itself and so now he was happily heading back to his room to read the obtained books in peace.

"Oh hey, guys!" Alma greeted them the moment the door slid open.

[Alma? What are you doing here?]

"Resting. Did you know that martial arts are really tiring?"

[I expected as much. It's a demanding physical activity.]

"Yeah, then warn me next time, how about that?" she said and tossed a pillow at her brother. Surdi simply moved out of its way, letting it fly off behind him and hit Darmok instead.

"Oops, sorry," Alma apologised.

"Grh! Where is your father? I'm not going to babysit you all day."

"Still in the pub. I went to see him and they were just pouring him something that looked like a rainbow in a bottle. Then he and that other hunter crossed their arms and drank it together. I figured I didn't want to be a part of that."

"Huh. Who would've thought? Veloc actually made a friend. And here I thought he was a loner."

"I thought the same about Glavas. But it's nice seeing him have some time for himself as well. He tends to worry about us a lot, so maybe he just has to blow off some steam."

"Probably. So, since you two are both here, is it alright if I leave you? I have my own matters to attend to, you know?"

The kids agreed and began talking among themselves, completely ignoring the dragon as he left.

"You got books? Where did you get those?"

[The library. I wanted to check something out.]

"Magic? Metallurgy? Ugh! Boring! You have terrible taste in books!"

[Then go after Darmok. He has some romance between childhood friends kind of book.]

"Bleh! I'd rather read these ones. At least the book about metals is illustrated."

As the sun set on the drylands, the citizens of Skinscale almost didn't notice it. If it wasn't for a few strategically placed glyphs that changed their shape based on the current locations of the sun, none of them would have any idea it was evening.

"You ever have the urge to try eating one?" Alma mumbled as she lay on her belly in the soft little nest, flipping through the pages of the metallurgy book, paying most of her attention only to the images."

[Eating one?]

"Yeah, the rocks I mean. Look here. Verkian Geode. Doesn't that just look like candy?"

[I've licked metal before and it tasted horrible. I assume geodes would not be too different.]

Alma sighed. "I'm bored. There's nothing to... Oh! Hey, there's a little bookmark here!"

[Yeah. I put it there.]

"Really? Huh... Reactive Silver? Why here?"

[Don't you remember?]

"Umm... probably not."

[Glavas told us that the guy who worked for the demon had a weapon made of reactive silver. He was so strong that Glavas nearly lost.]

"Oh yeah! This bastard. But what is it to you?"

[Uh... sorry, no time, I need to do something. I'll be back in a minute.]

"Hey! Don't just run off!" she shouted at him, forgetting that no amount of volume would get his attention. "What the hell got into him?" she thought and looked at the book Surdi left behind. It was open on pages 97 and 98. She understood very little of the text, only being to comprehend the title of the chapter – Principles of Blood Magic. "Oh Surdi, what the hell are you up to?"

A few hours later, the young dragon once again found himself standing in front of the massive stone doors to the mana cave. He kept on shifting his weight from one leg to the other to prevent his knees from shaking. His hands were steady this time, too busy carrying all the necessary tools. He let out a loud sigh. It was too late to back down. He had spent the last hour running around the hive, asking various people if they had the right instruments and if they would be willing to lend them to him. Finding those several kind souls took way longer than Surdi had anticipated. Nevertheless, he made it. Everything was in place, and yet, the most difficult part was still ahead of him.

Without further ado, he set the tools down and mimicked Darmok's taps on the doors. "He probably doesn't even know I memorised it," the young dragon thought. The path inside opened without too much trouble. All it took were three attempts to get the password correct. Surdi smiled. It was easier than he thought it would be. He picked up the tools and walked inside. Once again, it felt as if insects were crawling up his legs, but he did his best to shut the feelings out. He sat down on one of the meditation seats at the far end of the room and laid out his tools in front of him. The mortar was particularly heavy, but its decent size served as a convenient tool for carrying out the rest of the arsenal – its sibling, the pestle, a sharp knife for skinning animals, and a set of pliers.

Surdi closed his eyes and picked up the pliers. They were small but strong enough to do the trick. His muscles clenched as the tool firmly clasped the desired object. All it needed now was bravery.

The dragon's faint groan echoed through the cave. Drops of blood dripped down onto the meditation seat before Surdi quickly redirected them back into the mortar. He released his grip on the pliers and the object they were gripping fell into the crimson liquid sitting at the bottom of the container. Finally, Surdi opened his eyes and looked at the fresh wound on his arm. A large scale was missing, leaving behind a sensitive patch of skin, along with a slightly bleeding wound. The young dragon took a few deep breaths before the pliers clenched around one of the neighbouring scales. Slowly but surely, the mortar filled up. Blood dripped inside in the form of a few stray droplets. Scales piled on. Their previously beautiful cyan blue turned to crimson red as they got dyed with blood. First, there was one, then two, soon five, ten, then twenty. Eventually, Surdi lost count. His head was spinning and his hands were trembling. They barely had the strength to rip out another scale. Didn't matter. He already had enough. Or at least he thought so.

"You love sacrifice, don't you?" he mumbled. "Weak magic requires mana as payment. Strong magic requires all sorts of objects. But that's not it, is it? You want it to be personal. You want to see a conviction. You want to see how far someone is willing to go to get what they want." His hands grabbed the pestle and began grinding the blood and scales into a fine crimson paste. "Am I wrong, Eigam? Is that not how your magic works? You give your magical powers to those who ask. I don't know how to ask. I can't speak your language. I don't know what the correct pronunciation is. I can't hear it. But is that your reason for shutting me off from your wonders? No! I refuse that. You also want people to show you what they are thinking about. That's how you know what they really want. Then look! Look, you omnipresent goddess, look! You can see what I am thinking about, right? I know how to make it. I know what I want. I have sacrificed. So come on! Give me what I want!" he yelled and tossed the contents of the mortar across the waters of the cave.

Laughter coming from the restaurant on the ground floor could be heard by anyone passing by. More than a single pair of curious eyes peeked inside that night, wondering what could be happening.

"HAHAHA! That is ridiculous!" Glavas laughed as he saw Veloc's long tongue flicker like that of a snake without any signs of stopping.

"Ah! Phuck! If's khompletely dwied out!" Veloc mumbled and took a big swig of cold water, prepared in a small glass on the bar. A few seconds later, the effects wore off and his tongue once again returned to normal.

"Bleh! Crazy, right?" He grinned his teeth at Glavas who had to lean against the bar to prevent himself from falling over. His laughter had been so persistent he had to wipe tears from his eyes. Needless to say, it did not help improve his slightly blurry vision. "Your turn then!" Veloc pointed to a small shot glass sitting next to Glavas. The contents of it could only be described as a bright yellow lightning stuck in resin.

"This better not fucking hurt or I'll pull your tongue out myself," the elven hunter yelled at the dragon.

"It doesn't hurt! It tickles!"

"And the taste?"

"Sweet! And cold! And electric!"

"Electric's not a taste!"

"Clearly you've never licked anything electric!"

"If I'll lick you, will it taste electric?"

"If you lick me I will make you taste blood! Now drink it already! I wanna see how an elf's tongue will squirm!" The dragon grinned as Glavas put the small glass to his lips.

"GLAVAS!!!" Darmok yelled at the hunter who, startled by the sudden call of his name, spit out the tiny bit of liquid he managed to put in his mouth.

"AH! My eyes! Glavas, you fuck!" Veloc yelled as the spit-out cocktail hit his eyeballs, causing his eyelids to twitch involuntarily.

"Darmok! Now you owe me a drink!" Glavas complained and tossed the half-empty glass onto the bar.

"Bartender? Glass of water. The biggest you have and please make it as cold as possible," Darmok ordered. The grey-scaled dragon behind the bar nodded and quickly brought him something that could only be described as a glass vase. The water inside was so cold one would guess it was seconds away from turning into ice.

"Excellent, thank you," Darmok said and poured the entire vase over Glavas' head.

"HAHAHAHA! Shower time!" Veloc laughed and leaned way too far back, falling off his stool.

"And people wonder why I don't drink alcohol," the old gate guard muttered to himself.

"Hey, what the fuck did you–" Glavas stood up, ready to trade blows with the dragon but was caught off guard when Darmok suddenly grabbed him by his tunic at the neck and lifted him off the ground.

"Listen up, your son is in the infirmary and he fucking needs you. Sober up or I'll make you! Which will it be?"

Glavas' eyes suddenly lit up like two giant light bulbs. "Where is the infirmary?" he asked, squeezing the cold water out of his hair.