( Max's POV )
Max's level had increased by 2 while he was asleep which was a pleasant surprise for him as it seemed like Mira was working hard on her end.
Because of his soul-bond with Mira, his levelling speed right now was half the speed it would be if he were on his own, but Max was not complaining about it since if it were not for Mira, he would probably not even be tier4 yet.
The dragon soulmate of his had been carrying his levelling progress for a long-time now while he catered to his Lord duties which gave Max absolutely no right to complain at all now that it was his turn to drive the wagon.
Nonetheless, now that she was grinding once again, it seemed like he would get ahead of his planned schedule and manage to complete Angakok's schedule in-time after all.
Having spent 3 weeks in this fiery pit of hell, Max felt his constitution and stamina improve significantly.
The heat was refining his body non-stop from the inside out and he was no longer finding it too difficult to breathe or manoeuvre in the environment as his body had acclimatised nicely.
Oddly, his understanding of the element of fire also increased the longer he spent inside the pit as he learnt new tricks from observing the beasts on how to use his existing arsenal of attacks.
One of the most satisfying thing that Max had learnt was how to curve his dragon's breath attack.
Uptil now he had only ever breathed fire in a straight line and had never wondered if it could be bent as per will, as he had simply never thought it were possible.
It was only when he was observing the lava butterfly which emitted thin flamethrowers from its mouth that bent like ropes according to its will that Max realised that flame attacks could bend to the will of the user.
A quick discussion with Drax and half a days worth of trials later, Max realised that if he created a channel of mana along the edges of his dragon's breath and used it as a guiding force of his attack, he could then bend it to his well and make the attack follow its path.
It was like creating a channel for the flow of water to follow.
If the channel bent at some angle then the flow of water within would be redirected and the same principle applied to fire attacks that could be channelled if one directed them within thick walls of mana while casting.
Little did Max know that the move he had so casually picked up was one of the core principles of a difficult school of practise called [ Firebending ]
The principle he had understood and mastered in a matter of few hours was what many specialised mages took years of practise to learn.
Ofcourse, guidance from Drax and the help of the Agni-Astra to perfectly control the power of his fire attacks was a big factor in him learning this technique so fast, but it was also his sheer natural talent and comprehension that helped him pick it up so casually.
After experimenting with it for a while, Max realised that he could bend it up to 180° without any problems as he thought of a plethora of applications for his new skill.
If he were ever backed into a corner, he could cast this spell while being in the protection of a shield, as while he would be able to make his attack change directions mid-way, his opponent might not be able to do the same and will have no means to attack him behind the shield.
Similarly, if his mastery over the move improved significantly he could use it as a homing missile, making it impossible for someone to change directions and dodge his attack, as with him being able to change the direction of his attack too, he could always trace the user and make sure it hit.
In the end the applications for the skill were boundless and Max was one happy boy to have learnt it.
*******
( Meanwhile Rhea )
Rhea was under a lot of pressure with the rebellion of the smaller dragon clans against the hegemony of the black and golden clan.
Everyday reports of clashes and casualties flooded her office as there was no limit to her rage.
After a strenuous childbirth, she had only just finally recovered to her previous power level of a monarch at tier8, but now that she was back to her prime her temper had gotten worse than ever as she fought her husband daily to allow her to be sent to the frontlines.
Dragoon knew that his queen was a ferocious warrior, but sending her to the frontlines would mean that she would decimate the enemy forces causing the casualties to pile up to such levels that the differences between the clans would become irreconcilable and the few calmer heads that were trying to diffuse the situation would no longer have any voice of reason left to stop the war.
The in-fighting had became so bad that Dragoon was forced to send Mira off to an undisclosed location for her safety and training alongside her nanny, as he feared that she would be assassinated or captured if she remained within the castle with her meagre tier4 strength.
Although his daughter was a genius, she was too young for this fight as even the guards of the palace were at tier6 minimum and she was completely outmatched under the circumstances.
For now it was best if she did not stay near this chaos and return once things had diffused a bit.
As if Rhea already did not have enough on her plate, another piece of disturbing news made its way to her office as she found out that some unknown ancient entity had separated Zippo from Max and taken him for unknown reasons.
With Max being soul-linked to her daughter and the times becoming so chaotic this was the last piece of news that Rhea wanted to hear as he fears about the safety of her child only grew after reading this report.
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