Chapter 21: Dragon Tongue Magic II
"If I really want to master Dragon Tongue Magic... I’ll need more than just knowing the words. I’ll need the kind of heart that can support it. A heart that can move mana like dragons do. Otherwise..."
He stopped mid-sentence, slowly clenching his fist.
"...this kind of power will destroy me from the inside. For dragons, mana is the same as life. But for humans like me? It’s not. We use it up. We burn through it. We run out. They live through it. But for us... it’s dangerous."
Fenric fell quiet for a long time. He stared at his own hand, watching how small traces of mana glowed faintly along his veins. It looked cool—shining like magic—but it was still a weak copy of what real dragons had.
"They’re not like us," he whispered. "They’re completely different from every other living creature."
Most living beings had two separate systems in their body. Blood flowed through veins to keep them alive. Mana had its own path—it moved through spirit channels or magic veins, sometimes through a core. The two systems only met at certain points, and that too in a limited way.
"But dragons... they don’t split it up like that," Fenric said with a quiet awe in his voice. "They’ve evolved differently."
In a dragon’s body, the heart wasn’t just a pump for blood. It was the center of their whole existence.
"One heart. One network. One stream. Their blood is mana, and mana is their blood. Every drop moving through their body holds life and magic at once. That’s why dragons don’t need chants or fancy circles. Their body is already full of magic—always active, always ready."
And that was the main difference.
"Dragon Tongue Magic doesn’t just need mana. It needs mana-infused blood. Vital energy that’s deeply mixed with magic. You can’t fake it with shortcuts or cheap tricks."