Chapter 4: Escape, or Opportunity

Ouch!

Shit! This hurts!

[The idiot who wants to absorb a crap-ton of magic doesn't get to complain when it overloads him! I'm putting in a safety, don't be a 'bitch'.]

Well... she has a point I guess. Also... thanks?

The gentle growth of fire now felt like lava pouring through my veins, my body burning as a river of magic poured into me, stretching me to fit, and inside the lava were crystals of ice than cut and froze, leading to a strange combination that FUCKING HURT LIKE A BITCH.

Wind and light came in with every breath I took, like I breathed it in from the horn in my mouth, letting it into my lungs.

As all this happened, I had a strange sensation with that fire within me.

My magic, that core of me... was changing.

Now it looked... like a sphere?

A star.

Fire burned in a sphere like a Star, surrounded by an atmosphere of wind magic feeding it oxygen to keep it pure, air magic not just enhancing, but purifying the fire.

Light came out and hit the air, reflecting and redirecting back into the fire, fire and light looping indefinitely in a cycle of power growing stronger with each revolution.

Half the Star was dark blue, with hints of indigo, flame so hot it hurt.

The other half was an icy whitish blue, with a sense of absolute cold.

As fire burned away oxygen, cold fire burned away helium, and water was created as a by product, evaporated into steam with separated to become air once again.

Hydrogen combining into Helium, impossible yet somehow it happened.

In the end, I had 2 different cycles.

Fire, both hot and cold creating light which looped back to creating fire, an infinite loop.

And the fires burning away air to create water, only to force the water into becoming air.

However some of the water solidified into ice, and that ice would melt as the ice fire and indigo flame swirled around one another, switching places constantly with never ending motion.

I don't know how long I stayed there, feeling the flow of power enter me as that star, or maybe a planet of fire would be a better description, with its own ever-burning self-sustained atmosphere.

But finally it reached an end.

I quivered, my muscles given out and unmovable as the pain finally left.

The horn cracked and crumbled as I limply let it go, the shine now gone from my mothers scales.

Any remnant cold surrounding the spear was what it already emitted, with no future supply.

Can you imagine suddenly feeling your blood moving through you?

You can feel pain from the nerves near a vein or artery, so they ought to be able to feel the pressure as blood passes by.

But you don't, because you're used to it. It's been there since before your brain could even develop enough to recognize it. How could you ever hope to single out such a feeling, or the feeling of any bodily process you don't think about?

Now imagine someone forcibly widened every vein and artery in you.

Shoved a tube just a size too big and stretched out every last bit of your body.

That's what it felt having that magic finally stop flowing through me.

I could feel the very blood rushing throughout me in veins that might ACTUALLY be widened.

My body feels like it's changing, but I can't even care. I feel full.

Bloated. Like I'm just over having eaten till I'm full, and forcing myself to move will make me throw up.

[...I didn't expect you to last so well. You got all the wind, light, and 94% of the fire, with 3% of the ice lost in movement.]

'...but it feels even?'

[Well duh! Honestly... what kinda monstrous mortal are you? In 2 conjoined cycles you've found a way to fuse the energies of 4 elements to balance them out inside yourself!]

'Balanced? So if I absorbed fire magic, it would increase everything equally, no 10% bullshit?'

[Technically each element would get 25%, but you'd have 100% of its power to use, yes.]

Well that's some good shit. Now... how do I get out.

Oh, ugh. No. No moving. That felt awful.

'How long am I defenseless? The point is to escape! Pretty soon the remnant cold around that spear will fade, and they'll notice! This was not the goal, this is the opposite of good!'

[Don't be a 'bitch', relax. You're hidden beneath a massive corpse, and this'll be very good for you later. Right now you've got max possible capacity for magic that you can take without dying! You're capacity later on...]

'What? I'll be like, an adult dragon plus this right? So about 3 adult dragons. Wait... I have the magic equivalent of 2 adult magic dragons right now. Holy shit that's awesome.'

[...growth in magic works in percentile, not standard units.]

'...sorry?'

[If you're race starts with 1% of total capacity they'll have in adulthood, then if you start with a higher amount by being lucky, that new amount is the 1% of your total you'll have later.]

'...so if I take my current power and divide by what I once had, that's the multiple I need to multiply into an adult dragons power to find what I'll have roughly?'

[Correct.]

Alright this was worth it. Any growth is worth it right now. 10/10 all good, I'll just figure out a way to survive by staying hidden.

[Why not leave?]

'Bloated, slow, tired and weak. Plus, if I wait to adjust, I could absorb the last bit of power and then leave, just to make sure I gain as possible.'

And so I stayed, only to hear as the bandits came together into a meeting, discussing what they found: nothing.

"No dragon treasure like the legends say... our only gains are the corpse and egg-shells. Luckily we killed the brats before they hatched. Dragons are too rare on this shitty continent to give up the materials even when so small.

"Hmm... what now?"

"Most of us can head back, we'll get the good doctor to harvest the dragon, we can leave a few guards to protect our gains."

So a large portion left to find this "doctor" I don't know much about, and 2 men sat watch at the cave entrance, one with a mace covered in metal studs, the other a basic spear.

'How long? I need to take advantage of this prime escape opportunity, as soon as possible!'

I felt unwilling. A perfect chance to escape yet... I could have magic by a multiple if I stayed.

With enough power... my life will never again be at another's mercy.

I will live my life as myself! With my own power I can live in peace.

Plus... if I don't take advantage, I'd be doing a disservice to everyone by not cheating!

I will stay, for this opportunity!