A Dragon's Curiosity

When Nisha closed her eyes, it did not take long for her body to fall asleep. While her body rested and recovered the energy she spent over the course of the day, her mind stayed active in the secure confines of her [Inner Space].

At first it bothered the dragon when her mind worked all the time, never resting. The dissonance between the figure in her mind and her physical body did not even come close to the same disturbing feeling. After all, the will in her mind had complete control over her physical body while her mind was shaped through her physique, forming a perfect copy in her mind.

Through unity of both body and mind, the dragon experienced a completeness and intuitively had no issues with controlling both at the same time.

Only when her body rested did a dissonance occur and her mind wandered through the inner space.

Seen as a whole, the dragon had improved her control over the space quite a bit compared to the time when she had just opened it.

While she had not found an end or any boundaries yet, her spirit figured out quite a few tricks to make better use of the vast empty space and how to navigate between her favorite spots.

For example, Nisha scattered the physical representation of her spirit and dispersed it into countless fragments that simultaneously soared through the sky and inspected all the wonders and hidden sanctuaries through them.

On this occasion, the elf chose a special location to rest and develop. She had a purpose in mind when her gate connected to the burning fields.

With a quick sweep of the scenery, the young lady took a deep breath and smiled with contentment.

Although the heat would have burned the lungs of a regular human, monster or even most fire related species, to Nisha the blistering draft was no different from a gentle breeze.

It took a flick of her fingers to dissolve the simple blue dress on her body. Nisha gradually descended from the yellow glowing rock, which was close to melting, and gradually submerged herself in the liquefied pool of iron, magma and orange earth-fire.

Like a warm bath the molten metals and gleaming liquid rocks pearled against her skin, unable to leave even the most miniscule burn.

On the contrary, the flaming hell eagerly welcomed the small elven body and made way to accommodate her instead.

The iron essence tempered deep inside the volcano mouth drew near and happily jumped in the air, dancing around the lithe figure stirring waves in the pool.

This is life, a bath must at least be this warm to be good.

The dragon had planned ahead already and had quite a few ideas in her mind before she submerged herself here, yet in just a moment all those arrangements vanished and lost her attention as she enjoyed herself.

Her night black hair weaved through the fumes hovering right above the lava. Not a single hair showed damage or signs of burning as they floated in the hot air. Combined with the deep red color hidden inside the black, the noxious gases showed signs of congregating around Nisha, and similar to the hot air it had no way of harming her.

At most the toxic substances weaved through her loose hairs and closed around them before dissipating and then returning in waves.

This death ground that had an almost complete collection of toxic, metallic and fire related materials posed a most serious threat to anything beneath the sixth rank, living or not, unless they had utmost poison and fire resistance, had turned into the best resort for the dragon.

Before she slipped away into a light trance, the elf fortunately had the presence of mind to establish a golden gate next to the burning pool.

Whether or not the recipients took her up on the invitation, Nisha currently did not have the mood to mind.

Throughout the time Nisha had been living in the royal capital and the hunting grounds before that taught her various things, yet it also imposed a sense of incongruity on her physical body.

Combined with the new experiences and friends she made, the dragon slowly experienced a shift in her frame of mind and although she never stopped thinking of herself as a dragon, the lines started to blur.

Was she a dragon in the body of an elf or did the elf body already influence her preferences and choices? Did Nisha just morph into another form or has the transformation gone beyond the limit of her flesh?

Lying in the molten slag and dancing essence, these doubts slowly faded away and restored her peaceful mindset.

Neither an elf, a human nor a regular beast had any chance at all to survive this volcano baptism, even if it only happened in the confines of her [Inner Space].

As if to reaffirm her conviction, crimson and obsidian ghost scales rippled across her skin. Aside from the single physical scale on her lower abdomen, these immaterial plate layers transformed into a graceful layered dress. With the gradual incline from a bright red to the deepest black, Nisha looked no different from a humanoid dragon at the moment. White and black claws, horns and spikes adorned her limbs and gave a deadly flourish to the budding beauty of a young maiden.

As her thoughts drifted without direction, the golden gate hovering next to the volcano mouth suddenly opened and a burst of heavy aura and mana entered her inner world. Due to being a foreign substance, the energy hissed and corroded the yellow glowing stone around the portal, but soon the [Inner Space] reacted and countless numbers of thin tendrils made of pure energy descended and subdued the foreign power like flood dragons coiling themselves around the enemy. Without a general or the owner’s intent, the space quietly settled the invaders and dispersed afterwards, reinstating the tranquility around the burning lake.

When the previous disturbance had settled down, a plethora of thin white and black roots thrived within the gate and quickly grew to cover all signs of gold, preparing a pathway of grey plants for the descending goddesses.

Floating above the ground, Bael exhibited a dress made of withering leaves and plants, which combined with her bright green hair created the illusion of a toxic thorny thistle, while her sister Gabriel chose to go for a white silk garment to go with her golden hair. Overall, it balanced out and gave her a holy aura, capable of resisting all corruption.

Instead of the previous intrusion, none of the arriving aura and mana spilled out of their creation or their bodies and maintained the balance in Nisha’s [Inner Space].

Whether it was the arrival of the two women or her [Spirit Sight], the dragon should have been long informed of their visit and left the flaming pool of molten metal, but she lazed about and floated in the boiling liquid for a while longer.

Bael and Gabriel on the other hand were perfectly content with sitting down on the volcano mouth as well and submerged their flawless feet within the lake.

Their cultivation had long since surpassed mortal bounds and a spiritual lava lake such as this had no way to harm even a single hair on them.

Not that the elf wished to harm them either, if they found her refuge relaxing, it only served to delight her.

After a seemingly eternal pause, Bael took the initiative to work her magic and created a table set paired with matching chairs out of black wood, right next to the boiling hot air currents.

By all rights, the plants should wither and catch fire, yet her impromptu creations stood tall and strong in front of their archenemy.

“Come up and properly host your guests, will you?”

The amusement in her voice took the minor thorn out of her statement and Gabriel lent the naked elf a hand to pull her directly onto the stone plateau.

At the familiar voice waking her from the mysterious state between meditating and recuperating, Nisha sighed out a small flame made of dragon fire, which instantly disintegrated most flames and metals around her body and sucked all of the essence into a small bead of dense fire and metal. Instead of grabbing that treasure the dragon allowed the small orb to sink to the bottom of the volcano. Based on her intuition, this would allow the mountain to give birth to an even purer earthfire in the future.

This act naturally did not expose her body either, the translucent scales around her body had overlapped until the degree barely obscured what should not be seen and hinted at what could be seen.

Nisha personally did not mind being naked or having her body seen by her close friends, yet the education under Grandfather Eldrin taught her the etiquette appreciated by human nobles.

And although Bael and Gabriel did not mind either, they were astonished at the little beauty. Ever since she was barely more than a bundle of bone and skin after transforming into this body back at the hunting lodge until now, her figure went through a small transformation and hinted at the calamity that was about to come and strike all males down in the world.

These two goddesses were always venerated and proud of their appearance when they went and dealt with believers or other mortals, and the dragon’s pure white skin, delicate limbs and glamorous obsidian hair with the slightest hint of fire in it did not lose out to them at all. If they were male, who knew if they would attempt to snatch her away right at this moment.

Fortunately the tantalizing sight did not have much time to change their minds to snatch the little girl away anyway, as Nisha took out a sky blue dress with a thought and pulled it on over her head.

The dazzling scales on her body did not vanish due to this and contracted, merging themselves with the simple fabric of the dress. A scale pattern emerged on the garment and its quality suddenly surged. If it were only a random piece before, now it had the capability to serve as a battle dress and protect the wearer from shields and spears.

Towards this phenomenon neither goddess had anything to say and cordially invited the elf to sit down with them again.

“Now you’re just teasing me. Look at me, I barely had time to dress myself after you accepted my invitation.”

Instead of the pure veneration and worship Nisha felt when first meeting the goddesses, these positive feelings had transformed into a strong admiration and familial affection through their interactions and conversations.

Bael and Gabriel did not insist on decorum either and in light of their knowledge about the dragon’s importance to the dragon ancestor and their own favorable outlook on the girl as a member of the younger generation, they accepted this as well.

“That’s a matter of course! This is clearly a resort you made to cater to your desires and a fun place for you, but even then we don’t feel as great as tree spirits in the face of such a furnace like volcane, even when it cannot charr even the slightest piece of bark.

Nisha, you really need to construct a suitable palace to invite guests in the future.

When you reach a higher level of cultivation in mana and have a stronger soul, it’s nothing unusual to invite guests into your [Inner Space].

Wait until you are free next time, then I will invite you to my place. It’s much nicer than Gabriel’s useless floating rock, I have prepared all kind of fun things for visitors yet she never allows me to host any guests.”

Bael in particular inched closer to the elf and whispered in her ear, throwing glances at her sister.

The goddess in question naturally had sharp enough senses to hear every word and rolled her eyes in an annoyed manner.

“Don’t listen to my good for nothing younger sister. She says those are fun things, yet each and every item crafted by her hands is either poisonous or has a soul destroying curse in it and the activation conditions are entirely random. Not even some of the stronger dragon seniors have enough confidence to accept an invitation from her.”

She waved her blonde hair back and forth and bickered in the same manner, showing Bael no face at all.

Nisha giggled and looked between the two older women, clearly recognizing the resemblance they shared.

In her mind the dragon remembered their origin story and nodded inwardly, despite the visual difference and directions of their cultivation and powers, Bael and Gabriel definitely were born from the same tree and still had each other in their minds after all these turns.

“Alright, I gladly accept and will visit your palace soon, so you can show me how it is properly constructed to host guests. And if Aunt Gabriel doesn’t mind, I’d like to come around to your place too, so I can appreciate two different styles.

Now let me tell you why I invited you in the first place.”

Thanks to her intervention, the two goddesses settled down and earnestly listened to her story, where Nisha repeated each and every encounter she had since they last met.

Entranced in the story, time passed unknowingly.