Passing the time with practice.
We returned to the dwarven city with a chunk of spungite ready.
Now, we just need a platinum coin.
Why do I have to use my scales for everything?
The only way I can imagine getting that much money is selling my scales, and it feels like I'm giving them out like candy.
I even gave Ria one, and I can just feel that she's using it for way more than just emergencies.
Hopefully Varga will take care of the platinum coin if I sell a few of my scales.
We presented the chunk to the dwarf readily.
"You really went there and got it, huh? All you need now is the coin, which I presume you must have if you've gone this far." The dwarf says.
"Sorry, but we were hoping we could sell these for it." I respond, showing about 4 of my precious scales.
"What could you be selling that could be worth- How did you get these?!" He asks in shock.
Uh oh...
"We found them abandoned in a cave near our home." I say with false confidence.
I had to come up with a lie quickly.
"Some people really are blessed... It'll be a day before I can turn these into a platinum coin, so it'll be ready if you come back tomorrow." He says.
What are we gonna do for a whole day?
It would be practical to try to practice hunting magic beasts, I can't let myself freeze up again when it matters.
Ria can sense that there's nothing that important to do and starts pestering me.
"I know what we can do! You still haven't played with me! You have to!"
Ria is too greedy, I always have to play with her!
She's getting spoiled with attention just because I can't ignore her.
Little sisters really are needy.
I had no choice but to give in and find a secluded spot to let her ride me around.
That was the only thing that ever seems to make her calm down.
Ria holds onto my neck and makes me lift her up repeatedly.
I can see Aya giving me funny looks that say I'm too weak to be a real dragon.
Stop looking at me like that! What am I supposed to do?
The main reason we were camping outside in the first place is because Ria likes being on my back so much.
"Wow, you really are the most harmless dragon in the world." Aya says gleefully.
"I'm not harmless!" I snort angrily.
"Lava is harmless! See?" Ria affirms Aya and tries to stick her hands in my mouth.
"No! Stop that, you stupid little idiot!" I scold while trying to pull away.
"See! Harmless!" She laughs and smiles like she won a prize or something.
"Please can you take care of her for a little while? I need a break from this." I beg Aya.
"I understand, I can handle it." She agrees.
"Noo! Don't abandon me! Bad dragon!" Ria screams when I start moving away.
What a little drama drama queen... You should be old enough to let me leave without a fuss for a few hours by now.
The one thing I don't know how to do yet is fly, I've been putting it off for ages, I need to learn fast.
I could probably just use genetic memory to instantly know it, but I really want to learn skills myself without resorting to being given them on a silver platter every time.
I can't really practice flying when I have Ria hugging my legs or otherwise being where I could fall on and crush.
Finding a nice, hidden clearing, I first try climbing up a tree and gliding.
The branches can barely support me, but when I jump off and try to spread my wings, I really do fly for a few seconds.
Well... it's not exactly flying, more like falling slowly.
Next time I tried flapping a few times, but clearly I did something wrong after I tried to focus on something else and went crashing into the ground, making a huge thud.
I spent a few minutes failing, and then heard a loud shrill coming from my right.
I guess I was being a little bit loud.
When I look at the noise I see a giant eagle-like monster with gray feathers.
I'd have to say it looks like a griffin, but it's got a full bird body and two sets of front and hind talons.
It's even a little bit bigger than me, and from how it glows in Mana perception, it must almost be at my level Mana wise.
I'm still a baby dragon, but that's still a lot of Mana!
I'm sorry for the noise pollution! I'll shut up if you leave me alone!
No?
Yeah, it doesn't look like it's the kind of monster to forgive being disturbed.
Truthfully, I want to just run away, but if I want to protect my friends, I have to get some experience in.
I just have to trust the instincts of my body.
After an intense staring match, the monster screeches and sends long blades of wind hurtling towards me.
I jump side to side and counter with <Mana Blade>, which is basically the same attack, but directly made of Mana.
The bird monster dodges upward and screams in anger as it keeps attacking from the air.
Hey! No fair! I can't fly yet!
I dodge repeatedly but it's just spamming the same attack.
Not having any experience, I assume it's being stupid and try to jump at it with magic, since I can't fly up to it.
It was waiting for that and just as I'm getting close I see a crackling energy forming from its mouth.
I feel a jolt of danger and instantly know I've screwed up.
Crap, I'm stupid!
Thankfully, dragons are blessed with good reflexes, since in the few seconds I had I was able to assume it was a lightning attack.
"<Redirect >!"
A dazzling blue arc flies from the monster's mouth and hits my claw, safely streaming through my other arm to the ground.
For a moment I regret not aiming that at its body instead.
Desperate not to let the opportunity go to waste, I manage to claw its wings.
Now we're both falling, though both of us use magic to land safely.
The giant bird is pissed.
Damn, a status window would be so helpful.
Magic beasts don't even need to vocalize spells to use powerful magic, which makes them much more of a pain to fight.
I rush forward with a burst of speed, making it screech in surprise and send another flurry of wind attacks.
But it's too late, I get close and sink my fangs into its neck.
It cries out in pain as its blood leaves it, and then goes limp.
Now I have to figure out what to do with the body.
I'll just drag it back with me to decide later.
Ria was sitting still being pouty until I returned.
After just part of me was visible she started pulling on my tail until I stopped dragging the dead monster and turned around.
"Play now! Now!" She demanded.
I had no choice but to let her have her fun before she started attacking me with magic or something.
"You killed a magic beast?" Aya observes.
"It attacked me, I'm just not sure what to do with the body." I respond.
"We can sell the core for a lot of money, and make it into meat."
I don't really need money, but it'd be nice if the orphanage had more funds.
And I'm sure the kids would like more to eat than what gramps can afford with whatever the city pays.
I think it's better to just use the inns from now on, I told Aya there'd be nothing stupid enough to mess with a dragon, but there are apparently plenty of things that would do just that.
I use the rest of the day amusing Ria and then letting them both sleep around me, with Ria obviously having to be pushing right into me and grabbing so I can't leave.
After waking up and waiting for them to get up, we return to Varga.
The hammer wielding dwarf looks up and recognizes us when we come in.
"You're back early, but you're in luck, because I work fast. This is some top quality metal. No need to worry about paying me, either. There was an extra gold after getting the platinum coin, so I'll take that as my fee." The dwarf says in front of a brick of mixed black and silver metal.
"Nice! It's beautiful." I praise.
"You're gonna want to hold it in this if you don't want it to fill up on the way back." Varga continues, bringing out a thin metal box with runic symbols etched onto it.
They seem to be there to nullify surrounding Mana before it reaches the Orichalcum.
But this should work great.
The spungite absorbs Mana and converts it to heat and light, but with a metal like platinum mixed in it serves to draw in Mana which then gets stored inside the platinum. It's also much faster at absorbing than just spungite alone.
A perfect magic battery that recharges by itself.
We thank the dwarf before getting a ride back to Prazia.