Chapter 196: The goal

I first flew over toward the ruins of the old human capital. My eyes wandered as I studied the land below. I started from where the capital once stood and made my way outwards toward the destroyed human villages and cities.

By the time I finished my little tour, it was already nighttime and so I decided to head back. To my surprise, Lana was still there. She had brought out a tent of sorts and was camping near the large platform.

The moment I appeared in the sky above, she quickly peeked her head out from the tent, once she confirmed it was me, the girl then hastily left her tent and made her way to me.

As soon as I landed she quickly rushed up the platform and gave me a deep bow.

"Welcome back, Lord Aether." I nodded back.

"How come you are not resting inside?" I asked while motioning to the church.

Lana shook her head and replied: "I'm here to help you with whatever you may need, please don't mind me."

I subconsciously chuckle before speaking: "The look in your eyes seems to tell me that you'd rather be studying me than helping me."

Suddenly realizing her mishap, Lana quickly regained her professional demeanor.

"Both things are an honor, my lord."

Another chuckle escaped my mouth as I lazily laid down and curled my tail around me. Lana on the other hand sat down cross-legged while facing me. For a moment a strange silence descended between us. I didn't mind it that much, and she certainly did not seem to care either as she took out her notebook and began to scribble some things inside.

With nothing to do, I closed my eyes to rest. After a while, however, her voice woke me up as she asked:

"Are you sleeping, my Lord?"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and answered:

"What does it look it?"

"I apologize; I just heard that dragons tend to sleep for hundreds of years on one end. Is that true?"

"No, we tend to sleep a lot, but not many dragons would sleep for that long."

"Oh!" She hurriedly took out her notebook again before she asked:

"And about your visit this time, you said it's to teach, would you mind explaining that to me? Teach us what exactly?"

"I was going to wait until all the heads assembled, but I suppose there's no harm in explaining it to you first." Her eyes seemed to shine as she nodded and edged closer to me.

I first started by asking her a question: "How do you use mana?"

"Eh?" Not expecting a sudden question, Lana was confused as she tilted her head, yet it didn't take her long before she regained her composure and replied:

"Depending on the element, we channel the mana to the corresponding mana stone and use that to create a spell."

I shook my head with a sigh and spoke:

"That's the problem. Your ignorance is a danger to the plane."

My sudden change of tone seemed to shock her as she raised her brow before hesitantly asking;

"Our ignorance? How come?"

"Those so-called mana stones of yours change the very nature of the elements which in turn creates an imbalance in the mana stream."

"Nature of the elements? M-Mana stream?" She stuttered as her hand shook lightly. At first, I thought it was out of nervousness, but after a careful look, it was instead out of excitement. The girl before me could barely hide her grin.

"S-So, my Lord. There exists a Mana stream, you called it?"

"Looks like it's true, you can't see it," I mumbled to which Lana impatiently asked again.

"See it? You can see it? What does it look like? Where is located at? Where- Ah! Forgive me, my lord, I got a little bit too excited. But you must know, this type of knowledge is enough to topple our understanding of the world as we know it! This-This is a major breakthrough!"

"Calm down first," I said, causing her to nod and take a deep breath before she replied:

"Okay, I'm ready!"

"The stream is located up there," I motioned to the sky with my claw. Lana's gaze subconsciously followed but understandably was unable to see anything.

"W-What does it look like?"

"It's akin to a beautiful multicolored river," I answered.

"A multicolored river..."

"Yes, every color refers to a certain element, and every element is different. Water, fire, wind, earth, light, dark... All sorts of elements are out there, both major and minor ones. This brings us to the main problem, those tiny little mana stones of yours change the very nature of the elements."

A frown quickly made its way to Lana's face. "By changing the very nature of the elements you mean?"

"It's exactly as it sounds like. You use that stone to manipulate the mana with no regard for its element, and then change it into one it was not supposed to be. It works, but it's constantly messing with the stream, causing an imbalance in the elements. And if the stream is damaged, what do you think would happen to this plane? Do you understand now the severity of the situation?"

"I-" Her hand momentarily stopped writing as she went over what I had just said. It was indeed surprising to understand that something you were once used to as normal and harmless was suddenly deemed a major danger to the entire world.

After a few breaths, Lana finally managed to compose herself. She quickly began to record in her notebook with a frown. After she was done she asked:

"Then, what do you think we should do, my lord?"

"I take it, you can't sense the elements correct?"

Lana nodded hesitantly. "I- No, mages can sense the presence of mana, but as you said we cannot differentiate between the elements."

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I still don't know a lot about how your magic works exactly, and how your bodies react to the mana. But, I hope we'll eventually come to a solution that would make you able to use mana in a normal way."

"A normal way you say?"

"A way similar to us Dragons."

"Ah! B-But isn't that simply impossible?"

"Sure, I doubt any human can ever come close to the level of a dragon, but at least we can try to fix your methods. I mean, we'll never know unless we try."

"Yes!" Lana answered unable to hide her excitement.