Chapter 171: Resistance

Breta ignored my question, she then proceeded to poke the dead Phoenix with her spear. After making sure that it was dead. Her weapon suddenly changed in her hand, turning into a large knife.

"Oh, I didn't know you could do that," I mumbled.

"Hmph," She simply snorted and turned her attention to the burning corpse.

I watched with interest as her mana coated her weapon and hands. The goddess with the nasty temper then stabbed her knife straight in the center of the dead Phoenix's chest. The fire surrounding the corpse intensified for a moment, as it rose into a large pillar, extending towards the sky.

Breta's mana seemed to hold the fire at bay, keeping the large pillar contained. She then removed her knife and reached out with her hand towards the open wound. With a sickening sound, the goddess ended up pulling a scarlet object out of the Phoenix's corpse.

"Is that its heart?" I questioned, to which she absent-mindedly nodded.

"There's no blood though?" I mumbled in surprise. The Phoenix's heart was akin to a red gem. The main difference was that it was still thumping.

"And I thought you said it's dead,"

"You ask too many questions. I told you it's already dead, can't you see its without a head?" She answered with a frown before continuing.

I simply motioned towards the still-beating heart in her hand and asked, "So, why's that thing still beating?"

"Heavens, do they not teach you anything? So much for the chosen ones," Breta clicked her tongue in annoyance.

I simply scratched my head in embarrassment. 'Now that I think about it, I was hardly taught anything. Dragons seem to follow the mentality of figure it out yourself.'

Luckily for me, Breta didn't press the subject and instead explained, "A Phoenix's heart can continue to beat for up to a year after its death. Though, it's best to consume it as soon as possible."

"I see, and what does it do? Grants you an affinity with the fire element?" I asked half-jokingly.

Breta turned to stare at me like I was stupid before answering, "No, do you think affinities with the elements are that easy to get?"

'Tsk, all I had to do was eat a fruit to get the earth affinity, so I doubt it's that hard,' I inwardly grumbled.

Breta shook her head with a sigh, before bringing back her attention towards the scarlet heart in her hands. Her eyes flashed with an excited light, as a small subconsciously made its way to her face.

"This would help you gain a small resistance to fire mana."

"Heh, I see," I replied unenthusiastically.

The goddess must have noticed my attitude as she turned to glare at me. "What's with that face? Do you know how good this is?"

"Yes, yes. Small resistance to fire mana, very impressive," I replied in a sarcastic tone.

Rolling her eyes, Breta grumbled to herself, "Why bother explaining to a young dumb dragon," She said while tenderly stroking the heart in her hands.

"I can hear you, shitty goddess."

"Whatever."

After a few seconds of her gently brushing the heart, Breta then turned to glance at me with a complicated look on her face. She then brought her gaze back to the heart and then at me.

"What?" I questioned.

Clicking her tongue, the goddess let out a long sigh before cutting the heart in half. A sad expression was on her face as she hesitantly handed me one half.

"Here." She said with a grumble.

"Hmm, what's the catch? Do you want me to taste if it's poisonous or something?" I asked while suspiciously eyeing the heart.

"No, you idiot. You did half the work, without you holding the Phoenix in place, I wouldn't have managed to take it down in one shot, and the slippery bastard would have run away as it always does. I may not like you, dragons. But I have my pride as a goddess. So take it, it's your share."

My eyes widened in surprise as I slowly nodded. I then lowered my claw and gently grabbed the heart. It was a bit small. Breta looked at it for a second before shaking her head, she then bit into her half with a blissful expression on her face.

Seeing that there seemed to be nothing wrong with it, I curiously threw the still-beating heart in my mouth. A frown made its way to my face as I chew and swallowed it.

"It's spicy. I hate spicy food," I mumbled.

The heart had no particular taste, besides the fact that it was spicy. Very spicy. After swallowing it, I waited for a few seconds to see what would happen. Curious, I glanced towards Breta while waiting.

She had her face flushed red and was sitting on the ground panting. 'Heh, and here I thought I was the one that can't handle spicy food,' I inwardly chuckled.

As if sensing my gaze, the goddess turned to glare at me and spoke. "What are you looking at? Circulate your mana throughout your body."

'Circulate my mana she says.'

Intrigued, I hesitantly reached out to my water mana and willed it out from my soul space and throughout my body. The second I did, however, a burning feeling assaulted me as my mana clashed against the energy that was carried within the heart.

"What the fuck!" I cursed as I was brought to my knees.

My scales felt like they were on fire. Quite literally, steam was rising from them. The constant clash of my water mana and the fire energy from the heart made my body burn, as pain washed over me.

I gritted my teeth as I turned to glare at the goddess. She didn't seem to be faring any better as her skin was completely red like she was being boiled from inside. Still, a savage grin was on her face as she stared back at me with an arrogant gaze.

'Oh this shitty goddess,' I inwardly cursed.

I glared back at her. As the clash between elements continued inside my body. I could feel my scales get tempered with every second that passed by. Yet the pain was quickly becoming unbearable. Steam continued to gush out from beneath my scales as I struggled to stay standing.

After a few minutes, the goddess let out a savage cry causing the land to shake beneath our feet. Her skin color slowly reverted to its previous milky tone. I grinned with a triumphant look at her, before throwing my head back and letting loose a roar that shook the heavens. With that, the rampant force inside me slowly subsided, as I let out a sigh of relief.