All the sights and sounds around Greyson were amplified and his senses felt overwhelmed. Disoriented by these changes, he felt dizzy and slightly nauseous. Dragons, as magic beasts, had much keener senses than humans and his brain was not used to processing the information."Greyson... Grey, focus on my voice. I know it"s a lot right now, but it helps to direct all your attention to one thing. The background noise will start fading away eventually." Elder Freizon"s whispered to him from quite a distance. Empathizing with his situation, she knew what he required at the moment. Nodding his head, he tried listening only to his grandmother"s voice. Not speaking about anything specific, she was recounting a hilarious story about his grandfather. Eventually hearing the ending, Greyson chuckled happily. Most of the noises faded and his sight refocused.
"Well, that was unpleasant." He tried saying, but he could only hear a combination of noises. Surprised, he realized his current form was incapable of human speech and he did not know how to speak in the dragon tongue fluently. A cold bucket of water poured over his excitement as the various downfalls became apparent to him. In this form, he could only sense the two elements. However, this was also a positive point as he could strongly feel the s.p.a.ce element at this time. His mana core was still in its beginning state, so he was extremely weak in this form. Fairly defenseless if not for his ridiculously hard scales and physical body.
"Hahaha, not as fun as you expected, right? Uh... actually. I completely forgot. I"m not sure how you go back and forth between your bloodlines. After forming my mana core, I never wanted to be a human. Though I have that humanoid form, it"s not because I activate my human bloodline but because magic beasts can all transform when they are powerful enough. You might be stuck in this form for a little while until you figure it out..." Blus.h.i.+ng in embarra.s.sment, Freizon realized a huge oversight on her part.
Silence.
Greyson felt speechless. What was he going to do? How long would he be like this? He already planned to train for a little while, but what if he was stuck like this for years. Most dragons would train for at least a century before they could transform into their humanoid form.
"You trained to switch between your bloodlines before, right? I"m certain the process is still fairly similar. Just do it slowly and eventually you will get used to it. I recall you saying it required a lot of practice at first to smoothly activate your dragon and elf bloodline." Elder Brevre tried to encourage. "If anything, you can just stay in this form for a while and slowly build up your power. One day, you will be able to speak the dragon language and transform back into your human form."
...
A couple of months after this transformation, Greyson still felt extremely depressed. The ancient dragon language was extremely difficult to learn and even at this point he merely learned a couple of simple phrases. Definitely not enough to engage in a decent conversation with anyone. Zephyr was locked away inside his body and Greyson could no longer connect with him in his current state. Lucius was the sole being with whom he could actually speak with due to their contract and resulting mental connection. Having this small solace made pa.s.sing his days much easier to handle. If someone were to force him to endure months without being able to speak to anyone, he could very well go insane. Since leaving his grandparents, Greyson went back to his cave dwelling on Snow Peak and did nothing but meditate. His power was currently skewed between his two elements. Due to his original level with the water element, his absorption of the water element was not necessary. Instead, it was the s.p.a.ce element which he had to absorb and catch up with the water element. In such a brief period of time, he was able to reach a strength level equivalent to an intermediate level stage five magician. Compared to his original power, this level was nothing to brag about. However, it had barely been 3 months now. The development of his mana core was steady and relatively rapid. At the pace he was advancing, he may reach the magister level once again faster than he previously antic.i.p.ated. Both the Elders explained this was because his original state already reached the magister level so his dragon body was only slowly absorbing the water and s.p.a.ce element to match his body"s previous power.
With the rapid growth of his mana core, Greyson"s dragon body was also increasing in size. Still young, he was about the length of two adult males. Intermittently, he would take a break from his meditation to familiarize himself with the innate ice spells and s.p.a.ce spells of the Snow Dragons. At his level, he could only use four spells which were all comparatively weak. But this learning experience was necessary for the later spells he could learn once his power increased. Primarily with the s.p.a.ce element since this was his first contact with it. Surprisingly, his greatest aid was Lucius, not his grandparents. Since Lucius was the only one who Greyson could speak to and ask questions. Everything else was progressing smoothly, his only disappointment was his inability to access his human bloodline. Some breakthroughs occurred, and he was able to transform at most two of his limbs. Even then, it was just his arms or legs shrinking to human shape but they were still covered in white scales. Greyson had initially a.s.sumed he would already be able to activate his human bloodline by now. The switch, however, proved to be much more complex.
3 more months...
"HAHA, I DID IT!" A booming shout echoed throughout the tranquil Snow Peak. Inside a certain cave, the three small animals all jumped in shock. They were all napping per usual, not expecting to be so rudely awoken. When they looked over at Greyson, they realized he had succeeded. He was once again in his human form! Albeit naked, Greyson did not take notice but instead jumped around his room with joy. 6 months! For half a year, without rest, he had kept working and now he finally achieved his goal.
"Alright, Grey. Yes, this is all very amazing, but could you put on some clothes now?" Lucius calm voice finally broke through the immense happiness. Looking down at himself, Greyson realized he was still naked. Snow was actually not looking and had covered her eyes with her paws. Theo and Lucius decided to just watch and snicker with each other. Calming himself down, Greyson pulled out his familiar white robe and quickly got dressed. Holding up both hands, he clenched his fists and wiggled his fingers. He kicked out his legs and examined every part of him like his body was foreign to him. Every part was there this time, he had really fully transformed back. Grinning widely, Greyson flipped his palm, and a small silver dragon appeared. Zephyr let out a little roar of happiness and twined its body around Greyson"s face. These months without communication caused the little dragon to feel anxious and alone. Now that he was out, he begged to stay out which Greyson definitely allowed.
"Haha, buddy, I"m sorry. You can stay out this time." With a little effort, Greyson finally managed to yank the dragon from his face. "Let"s go over and tell my grandparents!" Getting ready to make his way over, he paused after using his mana before joyful surprise filled his face. Just now, when he used his magic, he realized he had actually broken through! He was a magister level stage five magician and only one step away from being a great magister. A little shocked by his own progress, Greyson could not understand what caused this random upsurge. Was it the mana core? Shaking his head, he decided he would figure it out later. Rus.h.i.+ng up the mountain, he ran into the Elders" cave.
"Grandma, Grandpa, I did it!" Bursting into the grand hall overflowing with energy, Greyson shouted out. However, he could only pause in his steps when he saw the worry and fatigue in both their eyes. "What is it? Is it my sister? Did she get worse?" His heart sinking, Greyson quickly asked about Rosalie. This half a year, he had visited her every single day, but there was no sign of her waking up. No matter what herbs and potions his grandparents found, they did not work.
"Grey... we are running out of options." Sighing deeply, Elder Brevre felt disheartened looking over his granddaughter.
"Well, there must be something left to try."
"That"s exactly why we are going to leave."
"Leave? To where?"
"We are going to the main Church of Light. They are the best healers and should be able to solve Rosalie"s injuries. I happen to be friends with some of the higher-up members." Elder Freizon explained.
"Will it be alright for you guys to leave the tribe right now?"
"Actually, all the a.s.sa.s.sination mess was put on pause after the Time Dragons betrayed us and left. We have hit a moment of temporary peace. With the way dragons look at time, this peace will probably go on for at least a couple of decades. I"m not concerned about a fight breaking out while we are gone. I would not feel a.s.sured if we asked someone else to transport her there. Therefore to bar any accidents, your grandmother and I will go personally."
"I will go too!" Greyson declared. However, as if right on cue, a tattoo on his palm burned bright until it dissipated. Furrowing his brows deeply, Greyson felt conflicted. That mark s.h.i.+ning meant his teacher was summoning him back to the Idris Kingdom to the academy. But his sister...
If it was not an emergency, Sweetbow would never use the signal. Knowing Rosalie would be safe with his grandparents, he grit his teeth and resisted the urge to go.
"What was that, Grey?"
"My teacher, this was a mark he put on to use as a signal to summon me back. I don"t think I will be able to go with you; I should check this out."
"Oh? You will be going back to your human kingdom?"
"Yes, it seems I am going back."