Chapter 607: True Ice Elemental Mana Training. |
There were a couple of things I learned from eating that dish. First, Mom’s chef was really good, knowing how to blend sauces and spices to such a degree that I wanted to eat more, even if they included Mom’s molted skin. Second, that feeding your child your molted skin was as normal as breastfeeding them, and I was expected to do the same whenever I became a mom one day… urgh. The cycle of child abuse would continue through me.
Though, admittedly, her scales… tasted quite good. Which brought me to my last point: my molted skin usually tasted pretty nasty due to the sheet-like texture, but Mom’s was crunchy like chips and had the sweetness of Texan BBQ sauce. The chef’s cooking affected the end product, but goodness gracious, most of the taste came from the lingering mana inside the scales.
“Whelplings do not eat the molted skin of their parents, as you are at the age where you can consume tough meat without an issue. You feed hatchlings your molted skin because it is easy for them to eat it, while also helping them get used to your scent and grow their natural mana alignment. It is definitely not efficient, but it still helps a bit in the long run, because we share blood,” Mom explained after we finished lunch. “It is similar to why an adult’s scent is so pungent to a whelping. Eating my molted scales or yours actually helps you, but it won’t work with scales from somebody beyond Eltharion and the two of us. If I am to train you, Hikari, then I need you to endure your disgust and eat what I give you every day. Obtaining true ice mana isn’t easy, as you saw with Tasianna and the twins.”
Seeing Mom so serious, I couldn’t help but sigh. “I get it… Though my real problem right now is the fact that you made me do a mukbang stream! I never should have mentioned that to Tasianna!”
Hearing this, Mom’s serious expression broke as a wide smile formed, gripping the recorder she was holding all this time as if it were her prized possession. “Because I knew you would look like that! That chef was one of the apprentice chefs of the Dragon Ruler of Marsh Nest! Of course, he would be able to make delicious dishes for you! Hiehie, how you stuffed your cheeks!”
“Graaaaaaaaak!” I screamed as Mom opened the recorder, rewatching it. I watched to hide my face in the ground like an ostrich… but it was already embarrassing enough that we were doing this skit in the middle of the day while everybody was training! “I saw everybody in the bloody chat… my usual viewers and even… NEILL, I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THE STREAM, BUT I SAW YOU STICKING AROUND UNTIL THE END!”
“SUCK IT, LITTLE SIS. ‘HOW YOU STUFFED YOUR CHEEKS,’ BAHAHAHAHA!” Neill shouted from a few houses away, still sparring with Vifi since this morning.
Not just Neill and Vifi… I also saw the usernames of some of my dragoons and the dragonkin I brought in. They all saw me, and I couldn’t do anything ‘cause the food was good enough to ignore my surroundings. The stream turned into a mukbang, the Korean term for an “eating broadcast” video. Urrrrrgh, today is the first day of my boot camp, and I was making myself look like an idiot.
Haaa, at least the viewers in Iceskale enjoyed it. I cooled my flushed face with that thought, ignoring Mom’s excitement. With the information tower nearby fixed up, streaming to Iceskale was as easy as ever again, which meant that my mukbang didn’t just reach the ones at our nest’s capital but also included the surrounding dragonkin lairs and hamlets.
Kill Quasdrakeen or Kiedaceus. That was all we needed to do to win this upcoming war. Sure, achieving it will be hard, but the goal was quite simple compared to the glacial expedition. Or even my time in Aureolis. Both had additional conditions I had to fulfill to achieve the best result for my party and myself. The only additional condition here was to ensure the survival of everybody I would bring into this war.
An impossible task, even for myself. Though how often have I dreamed so loftily? What was one more for an Idol of Aurena?
“Forminaxtrass, did you see that? Her cheeks ballooned so much and—I know! Ah, you missed your chance with Taimatrak, so don’t worry, I’ll keep sending you many more of our youngest. A little flower while you’re isolated inside that workshop of yours!” Mom chatted with Empress Forminaxtrass, probably having made a private stream for both of them as if they were having a video call.
… I really invented phone calls, huh? I keep avoiding those mages’ guild representatives, but I accidentally made what they are trying to make. They must be sooo livid.
Taking this chance to look around the elemental’s village, it certainly had become far more lively with the addition of my retainer-wannabees. Frankly, most of the dragonkin who followed me here were fledglings who didn’t have anything better to do in Iceskale, similarly to Rhekk when he still looked like a Yakuza in his dragonewt form. In other words, they were jobless.
Some of them hadn’t begun their Adulthood Pilgrimage yet, so they were technically still teenagers in the eyes of dragonkin society. Anybody who had, like Rhekk, had no excuse and was simply living off the work of their parents or older siblings. Those guys were true NEETs, and some of them were approaching 100, so they were also the type of dragonkin Kramps was telling me about. The sort who rested on the laurels of their forefathers.
It was even weirder that five of them were rank A, and despite their friendship with Rhekk, they still weren’t doing much. They were the type of dragons who should try more, since they were determined enough to evolve into rank A despite their young age. That was the sorta talent that my clan expected from their children, and all of them, even Ryra, were either being trained to fulfill administrative work, or were already highly-trained adults.
Honestly, I was a bit annoyed about them, since they wanted to become my retainer for some reason, but they were Rhekk’s friends, so I was being polite and allowed them to come here. I haven’t really talked to them since Rhekk was taking care of them right now. Unlike everybody, he was given some vacation time to be here.
“Come on! Keep it up!” One of the rank As shouted to a cohort of rank Bs and Cs. His voice roared at the lines of sparring dragons, gazing down at their ice magic. “Channel your spells faster! You need to train your casting speed if you wish to win in an aerial battle! This won’t be like your battle on Altrust, or your training battles with some animal. What is coming up will be a massive battle, so you need to drain your mana every day! Train your skills! Raise your mana capacity! Raise your intelligence and wisdom!”
In fact, instead of acting like a bunch of lazybuns, those five rank As instantly took on the roles as drill sergeants for the wyvern corp and younger true dragonkin. They had no intentions of showing me their bad side by lazing around, which was probably a tip from Rhekk since he knew me well enough at this point.
Fortunately, they were equally training the fire dragonkin and wyverns who came with Kylu, especially since Rego had a higher rank in this book camp since he was my retainer. He, the twins, and my fire wyvern corp outranked every single true dragon that wasn’t part of my family in this place. I made it clear enough for everybody, so I did hope they were enjoying their chance to show superiority over a true dragonkin, like how Shay and Beth learned the joy of speaking back.
Yet, even if it was soothing to see all of this, it didn’t matter to me, right now. All that mattered was training. I had to become stronger.
The next part of the schedule will begin now.
“Lady Hestia, Your Majesty. I am done!” Tasianna called as she left the barracks, having finished cleaning the dishes. She wore a large smile with bright eyes, looking excited about what would come next. “Ice magic! Doesn’t it feel like when I tried to teach you how to cast a custom spell?”
Yup, it was time for the second teacher of my training schedule. Mom would handle my dragon training, while Tasianna would handle anything concerning ice magic. Similar to how Mom was Tasianna’s ice magic mentor, she would become mine now.
“I have the entire curriculum planned out, my lady! There was plenty of time to write it all down when I spoke with Prince Taimatrak and Princess Fargryneill when she was in the clinic. They gave me much insight into how to be a good teacher! Please, allow me the honor to teach you!” Tasianna pumped her hand up with such a wide, sparkling grin that it invoked the excitement of magic in my heart.
Today, I will learn ice magic!
Custom Spell gained: [Fimbulvetr Wall]
