A Dragon's Curiosity

Nisha’s physical body fell into a deep meditative sleep while her consciousness converged in the spell formation.

Due to the part of her awareness residing in the [Soul Space], it would actually not be a problem for her to remain awake, to execute the spell [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf], but it was slightly tedious to have one part of her soul occupy both body and mind. Even if they were essentially the same, it would further split her attention and currently the elf wanted to focus on exploring the mysteries behind her new spell.

Hence, Nisha allowed her body to remain motionless and asleep while the form of a pitch black wolf further consolidated from the imprint projected by the formation and the eye that merged with it.

The spell itself exerted a heavy burden on the body though, as tiny red veins appeared inside her pupil. Thanks to the heavy influx of mana the damages stopped at that, as an ordinary human would at least go blind after executing the spell once, providing they had spent some cultivation on aura, otherwise their eyeball might wither and disappear.

Only a dragon like Nisha had the fleshly power to disregard the price of a secret spell from the [Wolf God Tome] and not suffer from permanent repercussions.

It seems the scroll draws heavily on the principle of equivalent exchange. To gain another point of view, the caster has to sacrifice his physical sight.

Transforming from a two legged elf into a quadruped animal like a wolf most likely would confuse the majority of magicians and lead to a lengthy period of adaptation.

Especially for a feeble magic caster that never tempered their body.

For all intents and purposes, the [Wolf God Tome] seemed tailored for dual cultivators like Nisha with an abundance of mana and aura.

Additionally, the dragon spent more than ten turns ruling the land around the [Dragon’s Den] on her four limbs, tearing apart any invader in close quarter combat.

While it was not a complete reversion to her previous body, the elf took to the wolf projection like a fish returning to water and only spent a short amount of time adjusting to a different point of view.

To most humans and similar races, their perspective remained within the scope of their own two eyes and a soul projection like the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf] had the power to drastically widen their horizons.

They would have likely never even seen the true form of energies in the air and never observed the world through a special method like Nisha’s [Spirit Sight].

Just the function to remove the influence of darkness on their sight made the spell a godly tool for spying, scouting and travelling.

Standing between the bed and the window, Nisha’s newly forged spirit body filled with her soul consciousness stabilized and looked around.

Due to the nature of the spell and the darkness attributed mana that was used to construct it, the rather dim lighting of the room reversed as shadows now had the same usage as light for a normal human eye.

Right as she was about to leave the room and explore the city in the middle of the night, the wisps of blood in her eye boiled and started to repair the minor injuries where they came from.

At the same time, the imprint projected from her eyeball changed in form as well. The dragon’s soul subjugated the magic with the help of her inborn qualities, the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf] apparently had not been concepted for the use of other species.

By adding a single rune - which constantly transformed in minor amounts - that held the true meaning of her soul, the spirit body consequently also shifted one more time to accommodate the dragon’s consciousness.

From the nape of the wolf’s neck to the tip of its tail, the rather smooth fur stood up and became spiky and sharp like needles. Furthermore, black fire sprouted around the ankles of her limbs and gathered in rings around them. Occasionally, the flames would lick at the ground or her fur, yet it lacked the intent to devour and spread outside of the ring itself. Lastly a golden ring formed in the otherwise pitch black pupils of the wolf, and a diminished version of the elf’s [Spirit Sight] returned, as she became aware of the space around her. Although it was not a complete sight, at least the dragon had a rough idea where exactly everything was.

Nisha stilled upon receiving the changes. She had been prepared to roam around in order to test out the spell, regardless of its performance. Now, the spirit body no longer felt like a construct to her, but rather like a second skin, making her consciousness feel great comfort just by comprehending some of the mysteries and mechanics behind the spell at the same time.

Accalia laid on the bed meanwhile. When her master had stilled and sunk into meditation, the wolf observed their surroundings once and prepared to fall asleep, as there was no threat around.

Currently, however, the wolf scanned the room again and again, a strange notion floating in her mind that another being skulked around. Little Lia used all the means at her disposal to discover the intruder, going as far as taking control of the airflow to sense any distortion caused by an invisible enemy, yet there was no feedback either.

Unsettled, the contracted beast wrapped itself around the frozen figure of her master and prepared to defend her with her own body if necessary. Uneasiness continued to mire the wolf’s spirit for quite some time until it vanished as magically as it had appeared. Nonetheless, Accalia still wrapped her body around her master and kept her wariness up, lest a sudden strike harmed the both of them.

Nisha, on the other hand, had no idea that her sudden departure from her body and constructing a spirit body had disturbed her loyal contracted beast. She finished comprehending the subtle mysteries derived from the spell when her soul broke through the rigid structures that made up the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf] after a period of reflection and immediately jumped through the closed window.

The elf did not learn new secrets regarding the soul and spirit bodies right away, she only memorized the clues and fragments for now. In the future, these insights might become important help to break through a bottleneck or to comprehend a secret technique, hence she paid no attention to her loyal beast and began exploring the capital at night in earnest.

Just through the minor fragments derived by the spell, Nisha realized that the spirit body had no physical form and could easily walk through matter as long as no magical wards or strong energy current flew through them, hence she easily phased through the window and stepped into the darkness behind it.

Outside of the first story, the spirit wolf stepped on the darkness through the air as if walking on flat ground. The dark fire vigorously flickered and flared as it came in contact with the dark elements in the air, creating footholds for the dragon to walk on. Together with the ability to walk through solid matter as long as there were no impeding wards, these tidbits of knowledge were just some small rewards from understanding the intricacies of the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf].

Nisha bridged the distance between the room’s window and the compound’s wall in a relaxed pace and only returned to the ground level when she was out of the Dharnas property. This way she had no need to surmount the wall like she had to in her elf form and overcome the the glowing formation inscribed on the stone wall with some effort, too.

As expected from a Duke household. There’s a warding enchantment made by a formation master to protect against spells and curses, maybe against other things too. If I have the time, I should come back when it’s daytime soon and study the traces left by the inscription.

Perhaps the dragon would have faced a great obstacle in order to roam outside, had she  not altered the spell to suit herself. Just like some of the more affluent family compounds nearby, the Dharnas estate had a protective barrier around their estate, which would likely prevent spirit bodies from passing through as a side effect from shielding the residents against malicious spells.

Without a good way to scale the wall, Nisha would have been forced to find a spot outside to cast her spell again, which in turn would have left her physical body motionless and in danger outside. Fortunately, the altered version of her spirit body ignored all the crude attempts to stop her by walking on the darkness in the air, which also gave the dragon a hint to break through similar barriers in the future by going into the sky.

Stepping onto solid ground after leaving the walls and gate behind her, the dragon stilled and grew quiet. The royal district had no open light sources at night, so a dark curtain veiled most of the alleys, buildings and corners. Since her spirit body had no functional ears or nose, the usually bustling and hustling capital faded into a quiet and desolate place at night.

Nisha had not been in such a place since she left the hunting grounds together with her two step sisters.

Being all alone with her thoughts and focusing on a single topic without the distractions and interruptions common in a metropolis helped the elf to take a moment for herself. Even if it was just a thought projection, the absence of an [Inner Space] which demanded a portion of her consciousness to monitor and maintain, and an increased awareness of all nearby creatures through her [Spirit Sight], provided the silence that had a healing presence and allowed her tired mind a brief respite.

To add to that, the bright full moon graced the sky at the moment. The silvery light peeked through the clouds and illuminated the few scant patches in the darkness, one of which happened to be right below the spirit body conjured by the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf].

Reverting to a more primal form, shedding the pretenses of fitting into human society and the responsibilities that came with them liberated the dragon in the truest sense of the word. The smells and all the hustle that came with humans inhabiting the city confused and bothered the elf ever since she first stepped foot here, all of which disappeared in the midst of the night, the body constructed by the spell lacked the ability to smell and almost all citizens rested at night.

Nisha stood tall in the darkest hour and admired the incredible world that belonged to the denizens of the night alone. It awakened memories of the four dragon siblings roaming through their domain after they established their rule. No other creature dared to cross them and they had the freedom to do as they please.

Compared to the usual melancholy, however, upon thinking of those times, the elf actually steeled her resolve and made up her mind to visit her siblings soon. No matter what difficulties stood between her and their reunion, as long as her personal cultivation and connections increased, it would be possible somehow.

Meanwhile, Nisha’s resting body in the Dharnas estate enshrouded itself with a faint barrier composed of both mana and aura, so discreet and unexpected that even Little Lia, who rested right against the elf’s figure failed to notice a change.

Within the restriction, nine stars floated out of her head while nine gates appeared on her body. The stars arranged themselves in a formation, while a gate appeared on each of her shoulder blades, hips, ankles, wrists and a final one right above her heart. Out of these respective nine stars and gates, three of them shone with runes swimming around inside, and the other six had a dim luster.

A rare phenomenon like that should by all rights alarm the master of the house, who had a close connection to the formation protecting the estate, or the official in charge of the district, who had a similar sensibility thanks to the grand array protecting the country. Contrary to that, the apparition did nothing more than shrouding the dragon in a mysterious light.

Just as Nisha experienced a great relief and freed herself from the mental shackles that unknowingly appeared in her mind at some time, a barrier within the barrier shattered and a fourth star and gate respectively gave birth to countless changing runes.

The great barrier that kept countless humans and elves from advancing to the ranks of magicians and knights vanished in such a silent manner, while the cultivator herself was not even aware of the changes to her power yet. Ambient energy all around the capital began to converge, forming a giant whirlpool connected to the Dungeon and areas with higher energy density far away according to a law of nature with a certain girl as the centrum.

Her consciousness still resided in the construct made by the [Eye of the Obsidian Wolf] spell, but Nisha’s body unconsciously started a great circle of her cultivation, drawing in a giant amount of mana and aura.