Chapter 74: Feel at home
Miles away in the heart of Ignis-Vara, the central grand archives were quiet, save for the rhythmic turning of yellowed parchment.
Lyrielle sat at a heavy mahogany desk surrounded by stacks of ancient dragonkin texts. Her bright emerald eyes traced the dense, violent mana matrices illustrated on the pages.
Unlike elves and humans, who drew ambient mana into their pathways to weave spells, the dragonkin possessed internal fire cores—dense, self-sustaining furnaces that amplified raw heat to lethal extremes.
They don’t just channel fire,
Lyrielle realized, leaning back and running a hand through her silver hair.
Their cores force the fire to condense until the heat output quadruples.
Intrigued, she gathered several foundational texts—scrolls meant to teach young dragonkin how to draw heat from their cores—and headed toward an open training courtyard behind the archives.
Since she didn’t inherently possess a dragon’s core, she couldn’t generate primordial heat directly. Instead, she cast a basic, mid-tier elven flame spell, letting the condensed fire hover above her palm.
She concentrated, taking the principles she had just studied and applying them to her spell structure—forcing the magic to compress, feed on itself, and burn at a vastly higher temperature.
Whoosh!
The bright orange flame abruptly shifted into a brilliant, white-hot blaze, radiating heat so intense that the stone floor beneath her boots began to crack.
A fascinated, determined smile touched her lips.
She began experimenting with defensive mana sheaths, working on a specialized spell matrix that would allow her skin to hold even the hottest, volatile flames without burning her hands.
---
Meanwhile, high on the summit of Mount Ignis, the long, brutal duel had finally drawn to a close as the sun began to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in deep purples and burning golds.
Vetra had returned to her normal form. She lay inside the shallow crater her fall had carved into the stone, her long tail limp against the ash. Her primitive garments were torn at the waist, and the top section was shredded, leaving her chest dangerously close to fully exposed. Her slitted amber eyes stared quietly up at the darkening sky, her breathing slow and heavy.
Vince walked over to the edge of the crater and looked down at her.
"Guess you aren’t dead yet."
He slid down the loose gravel of the crater, stopping right beside where she lay.
"What’s with that fulfilled look on your face?"
Vetra let out a quiet, raspy exhale, her fangs peeking through a small smile.
"So this is what ecstasy feels like..."
Vince raised an eyebrow, a dry smirk touching his lips.
"That’s a very subjective way to use that word."
Vetra turned her head, looking at him with instant curiosity.
"Are you saying there’s a feeling of ecstasy better than a true, life-or-death battle?"
"You could say that..."
Vince replied smoothly, reaching into his pocket.
"Hold still."
With a subtle mental gesture, Vince opened the system shop interface, purchased a high-grade healing potion, and uncorked the glass vial.
He leaned down, placing it against her lips. Vetra drank it down without hesitation.
Instantly, a warm, bright green light engulfed her frame.
Her cracked scales knit themselves back together, the deep cuts along her bare stomach closed, and her exhaustion vanished in a matter of seconds.
Vince offered her a hand.
"Feeling better?"
Vetra took his hand, her clawed grip warm as she let him pull her to her feet. She looked down at herself, stretching her long, muscular limbs.
"Yeah... I lost. So I guess I’m going to have to go with you."
"C’mon, it’ll be fun,"
Vince said smoothly, turning toward the path down the mountain.
Having experienced his overwhelming strength firsthand—coupled with her Taming Progress resting firmly at 50%—Vetra felt a strange, undeniable truth in his words. A subtle warmth bloomed in her chest as she looked at his back.
"Why don’t you stay till morning?"
Vetra suggested, her husky voice softening.
"Let’s have dinner first."
Vince didn’t stop walking.
"I don’t have time to wait around, Vetra. We have a schedule."
Without another word, Vetra dropped her heavy frame straight onto the hard stone floor, crossing her long, scaled legs and folding her arms stubbornly over her torn chest.
"I’m not going anywhere until we’ve had dinner."
Vince stopped and turned around, looking at her with dry disbelief.
"Fine. Guess I’ll just drag you down the mountain."
Vince walked back, grabbed her wrist, and began to push and pull, trying to haul her heavy frame across the floor.
He wasn’t using his mana-enhanced strength, of course, but Vetra refused to budge an inch, chuckling under her breath as she rooted herself to the spot like a mountain peak.
Vince let out a long, defeated sigh.
"Fine. We leave after dinner."
"Yay!"
Vetra cheered, her cold aura completely evaporating.
Before Vince could react, she scooped him up effortlessly, slinging him over her broad shoulder like a trophy, and marched straight toward her cavern entrance.
"It’s dark in here,"
Vince muttered from over her shoulder as they crossed into the cave.
"I can’t see a thing."
"Hold on, let me get the lights,"
Vetra purred.
She leaned her head back and breathed a small, precise stream of fire onto a wall-mounted torch.
She reached up and pulled a heavy leather cord connected to the wall. The flame traveled along hidden oil channels, and within seconds, a chain reaction lit dozens of torches, illuminating the entire cavern in a warm, amber glow.
"There we go."
Vince slipped down from her shoulder, looking around the cavern—and froze in genuine surprise.
He had expected a raw, animalistic dragon’s den filled with bones and dirt.
Instead, the cavern was surprisingly cozy and civilized. High-quality fur rugs covered the stone floor, polished wooden tables were set neatly against the walls, and weapon racks held pristine sparring gear. It was clean, spacious, and remarkably similar to a high-end human lodge.
A dragon actually lives like this?
Vince thought, genuinely impressed.
"Feel at home,"
Vetra called out, waving a hand casually as she walked toward a side chamber.
"Food will be ready in a jiffy!"
Vince was still soaking in the surprising decor when Vetra returned carrying massive stone platters heaped high with food—roasted prime meats, smoked game legs, and rich, seasoned stews radiating a mouth-watering aroma.
"Why bother cooking it all when you could just roast it with dragon fire?"
Vince asked, reaching for a seasoned meat drumstick as they sat across from each other at a low stone table.
Vetra narrowed her slitted amber eyes, puffing out her cheeks.
"Is that an insult to my culinary skills?"
Vince took a bite, his eyes widening slightly at how tender it was.
"Nope. Not at all."
"Better,"
She huffed, a proud smirk returning to her face.
They dug in.
Vetra ate with the terrifying, ravenous speed of an ancient predator—devouring massive racks of meat and drinking whole flagons of spiced mead like water, yet her flat, cut abs didn’t swell in the slightest.
Vince was barely halfway through his first portion by the time she finished her second platter.
Vetra leaned back against her fur-lined chair, wiping a speck of sauce from her chin.
"So, Vince... does coming with you mean we get to brawl every day? ’Cause that’s something I could definitely get used to."
Vince wiped his hands with a cloth, looking up at her.
"Not every day. But I can promise you plenty of high-tier battles."
Vetra smiled warmly, her blood-red tail swaying lazily behind her chair.
"Fair enough."
As the relaxed atmosphere settled over the cavern, a crisp, purple system interface flashed silently in Vince’s field of vision:
[NOTICE: Apply the Imprint Seal to target to complete the Taming Sequence and command absolute loyalty.]
Vince leaned back in his chair, swirling his drink as he looked at Vetra’s satisfied, smiling face. He responded mentally to the system notification with a calm, silent smirk:
I was just getting to that.