I summoned a replica of myself around ten meters ahead and immediately fired a magic missile at it. The mana projectile flew in an arc before crashing against the replica, whipping up a huge explosion of dust and smoke.
My replica didn’t budge an inch. The smoke gradually cleared, revealing my unscathed replica—and a number “7” floating right in front of it.
“So, it quantifies the amount of mana you used?” Lardon asked, still standing behind me with her hand on her hip.
“Yeah. Specifically the amount of mana that hit the figure.”
“Hmm...?”
I threw her a glance over my shoulder. “I mean, it’s not like all the mana you consume forms part of the spell, right?”
“Ah... I see. Humans are like that.”
That caught my ears. “Huh? What do you mean?” I turned around completely to face her. I was just giving her a quick explanation, but the implication behind her response caught my interest.
“Living beings have varying, hmm...mana conversion rates, or mana-to-spell cost ratios. Whatever you may call it.”
“Oh, really?”
“Even when using the same stove, pots of different materials boil water at varying speed, yes?”
I nodded. “That’s true. The purer the iron, the faster the water boils.”
“Magic follows the same logic. Some beings use a hundred units of mana to cast ninety units worth of magic—others ninety-five, and others much more. If I recall correctly, humans have an eighty percent efficiency. They consume mana twice over, after all.”
“And you?”
“I have a hundred percent efficiency. Ah, and before you ask, because I know you will—the other two are the same.” Because she was in her human form, her bitter frown looked like a cute, sulky pout—but I didn’t touch on that.
“Guess I should aim to raise my eighty percent, then.”
“No,” Lardon said immediately.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“For some reason, your soul is special—that is why I am able to dwell within you. At present, you are already at ninety-nine percent efficiency.”
“Oh...” Lardon had told me all the way back when we first met that my soul was special, and I actually had an inkling as to why. This didn’t come as much of a shock to me.
“As far as I am aware, you are second to only us divine dragons, and naturally the top among humans.”
“Wow... Guess I’ll just work on that remaining one percent when I get the time, then.”
Lardon chuckled. “Still, you wish to work on it?”
“Eventually, yeah.”
Getting from eighty to ninety sounded easy enough, but closing the final gap from ninety-nine to a hundred might actually become a lifelong undertaking. At the very least, it wasn’t something I could get over with on the spot. I decided to store it into the back of my head as a long-term goal.
Anyway, let’s get back on track.
My mana replica had already disappeared. I summoned another one and fired a power missile at it. The number displayed this time was “20.”
“Hmm... Yep. It felt like a twenty to me too.”
“What if you go all out?” Lardon asked.
“Let’s see.”
I chanted an aria and fired off my most powerful single-hit spell at the new replica. The ground shook with tremendous force, but as always, my figure didn’t budge an inch.
The number read “4,096.”
I nodded. “Seems about right.”
“Indeed,” Lardon agreed.
With this, my mana-measuring spell was complete...but...
“Hmm...”
“What’s the matter?”
“Well, I was just thinking... While I’m at it, why not make this usable for others too?”
Lardon chuckled. “Ambitious as always. Indeed, that sounds like quite the useful spell. But would that not require different features than this one you made for yourself?”
“It would. I’m thinking of just making it an entirely new spell.”
“Yes, that does sound like the best move.”
With Lardon’s seal of approval, I decided that my mana-measuring spell was complete. Now it was time to apply revisions and adjustments to make a separate spell that would work for others.
“Do you have anything in mind?” she asked.
“Three ideas,” I answered.
“Let’s hear the most feasible one.”
I pursed my lips. The most feasible one...was a little hard to bring up.
“What’s the matter?”
“Er, well... About that... There’s kind of a problem at the early stage...”
“Oh? It’s rare to see you so hesitant about magic.” She chuckled. “Go on, say it. I look forward to all your magical endeavors. I shall help you with anything you need.”
“Anything?”
“Yes, anything.”
“Then...” I gulped. “I need your help...as well as Dyphon’s and Paithon’s.”
Instantly, Lardon’s easygoing smile disappeared and all expression fell from her face. That, too, was kind of cute...but I once again refrained from voicing my thoughts.
✦ ✦ ✦
Now that’s new, I thought to myself. But the reason for it was clear, even to me.
She was embarrassed for asking something so obvious. Like I said just now, it was my most feasible method among three options—of course it wasn’t the only choice. It seemed the mention of Dyphon and Paithon had thrown her mind into disarray.
Lardon took a deep breath to regain her composure. “Did you do that on purpose...? No, I cannot imagine that being the case.” With one final sigh, she returned to her usual expression. “I apologize, but that won’t be—”
“Oh, darling!”
Suddenly, I felt a small impact against my back and a pair of arms wrap around me from behind. I whirled around and found none other than a certain dragon.
“Dyphon?!”
Expectedly, Lardon’s expression warped yet again. I decided to set her aside and focus on Dyphon first. “What brings you here all of a sudden?”
“You called me!” she crowed.
“Huh? No, I didn’t...”
“Eheh heh...” She circled around in front of me, looking up with a soft and bashful smile. Right now, she looked every bit the innocent young girl. “This is just another one of my bodily modifications.”
“What?”
“Don’t you remember? We can morph our bodies to suit our partners.”
“Oh, right. You did mention something like that before.”
Apparently, the three dragons could morph their bodies to match the partner with whom they wanted to have a child, be they a human, goblin, slime, or whatever else. When I’d first heard about this, I’d touted the superiority of their race, but Dyphon had responded with a sulky pout and said, “That’s not it at all, darling!” According to her, it had to do with a...maiden’s heart? Not that I would understand anyway, so I’d stopped listening after that.
The point was that they could morph their bodies for their desired partners. In Dyphon’s case, that would be me.
“My body just knows that my darling needs me!”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh! The area below my navel just starts tensing up.”
“Oh, wow...”
Just then, Lardon let out a cynical huff.
Dyphon’s passionate rambling instantly came to a stop as she turned a cold and frigid glare her way. “What?”
“You appear tragically ignorant, so allow me to enlighten you: You are what we would call a stalker.”
“What did you say?!”
“You’re fortunate he doesn’t mind. Most others would start avoiding you entirely.”
“Cut the nonsense!”
“I’m merely stating the truth.”
“Oh yeah? Sounds to me like you wanna die!”
“And it sounds to me like you’re all bark and no bite.”
Their glares clashed, and their veins popped. For the briefest of moments, the situation was seemingly on the verge of exploding—and then it did. In that instant, they hurled their power at one another.
“Urgh! Th-This is way too much!” This whole area would be burnt to a crisp the moment these two went all out. I jumped in to stop them, right at the center where their surging powers would meet. “Amelia Emilia Claudia... Wormhole!”
Space warped, giving way to several holes that sucked in both torrents of energy and redirected them through an upward-facing hole.
“Ugh... It’s not enough!”
This spell absorbed and redirected power, but the holes got smaller every time something passed through, weakening its effect. Fortunately, this wasn’t an issue for long. Thanks to my intervention, Lardon and Dyphon swiftly withdrew their power. Whatever was left, my spell just barely managed to clean up.
“Darling! Are you okay?!” Dyphon cried.
“I’m fine.” Using so much mana at once took its toll on me—my body felt sore, like muscle pain—but this was worlds better than having taken a direct hit.
“Sorry... Did I give you a hard time?”
“No, it’s all right.”
“I’m so sorry...” Dyphon wilted—then, in a sudden flip, she whipped her head up with a bright smile. “Oh, but you were amazing! You blocked both of our attacks! Wow!”
“Blocked? No, not really. I just used spatial magic to divert them to—”
“Indeed,” Lardon cut in. “I unleashed that power with the intent to kill. Only you could handle such an immense force from me. I would expect no less of you.”
Just moments ago, they were so eager to kill each other... Now here they were, happily praising me in turn. I looked at them both while caught between feeling impressed and exasperated.