Origin Seeker

As the two clashed, both very quickly realized certain things about the other.

For Dream, it was that Iris' flames were no longer simple flames. And for Iris, it was that Dream was truly much different than he used to be, especially in regards to his body.

Dream had known that Iris would travel down the path of a predator that ate and got stronger. It was the basis for her [Devour] skill. Her fire was more of a complementary skill. But although he knew this, he didn't know how exactly it would evolve. Something like that could only be known by the person themselves who were guiding its usage in a certain direction.

But it immediately became clear that Iris had evolved in a way that was frankly confusing to Dream. When he came in contact with her fire, not only did it seek to burn him and his mana, but it also tried to steal his mana at the same time. It was a very frontal and thorough assault. It recovered her own mana and energy while destroying his, like a vampire that was sucking your blood as they tore you apart. 

Iris had evolved her skills to not only be sustainable in a long term fight but also put her enemy at a severe disadvantage. At the same level, she would be able to destroy her enemy. They would have to attack and defend at the same time, and both these things would only supply her with mana, especially if they were magicians. They could try and cast a spell, but it would only be destroyed by the mana interference.

And this was only in terms of mana. As Dream had come in contact with her body, he realized how truly sturdy she was. Her fur acted as an armor by itself while her insides seemed to be amazingly impact resistant. It was the total opposite to her cuddly self that has super soft fur. 

Knowing this, it seemed like Iris had all her bases covered. She was extremely tough and could quickly decimate an enemy's mana pool and their attacks. Not only that, but she had Luna supporting her with buffs, healing, and a secondary pool of mana. She couldn't be more well rounded if she wanted to be. 

So after inferring all these things from their first exchange, Dream took measures against it. The first thing he did was retract every drop of mana he had into his body, creating an impenetrable barrier under his skin. This would make it extremely difficult for her to eat any of his mana or destroy it. 

Though by doing this, he was basically saying that he wouldn't use any mana based attacks on her, instead choosing to fight bare-bodied. Iris saw this and continued, except she was much more aggressive about physical attacks, pulling back her mana burning flames as they would only waste energy.

Another thing that Dream understood was that Iris was fast. He estimated her agility to be A while his was A+. So while he could outmaneuver her, it wasn't to the point where she couldn't keep up. So after taking a couple of blows to her body, she moved in and finally clamped down on his arm.

"Oh my."

Dream spoke when she bit down on him. Her jaws were like bladed vice grips. And through this he was able to find out that her strength was actually higher than his. His strength always seemed to be his lowest attribute and was currently only at A. Hers must've been A+.

Seeing this, he knew that getting her off wouldn't be easy. In fact, her bite had already caused damage. Not only did her teeth break through to his muscles, but his impenetrable mana barrier under his skin was also being destroyed and eaten, at a much faster rate than before as well. It seemed that making direct contact with her opponent was much more effective for mana destruction than just using her fire.

But her bite wasn't the only way she could attack. Knowing that she was clamped on, she began using her long and sharp claws to deal more damage. These claws also cut his skin, though the cuts were more shallow and didn't make it past his muscles. They lacked the force of her teeth.

After analyzing the situation for a split second, Dream began acting. Strengthening his free arm, he pulled back his fist and swiftly punched her snout. At the same time, he loosened the material in his arm around her teeth. 

Since her teeth lost their holdings, Iris's mouth shredded through and off his arm like it was soft meat. Right after, Dream delivered another kick, putting some distance between them. 

Dream looked down at his arm that had black crystallization and white blood all over it. Activating his mana, the wounds began to rapidly close and heal. Soon, his arm was back to normal besides a few residual scars that would take a bit longer to heal.

Iris recovered and watched this, surprised.

"You heal fast."

"I'm a craftsman. Fixing my own body isn't hard. Though I'm surprised you were able to break through my muscles."

"Only your muscles. Your bones are too hard. I can't snap them."

"My bones are some of the strongest materials in the world. That doesn't surprise me. You would have better luck trying to wear me out magically."

"But you have insane control over your mana, and your body is too strong for me to destroy before I can hurt you, forcing you to activate your mana and regenerate. Plus, you aren't even using your armor or weapons. I can't beat you."

Iris made a very objective observation, infering his strengths and weaknesses, or lack of them. Dream nodded.

"That is true. But the point isn't for you to beat me. The point is for you to improve, something you can't do by eating mindless monsters all day. I want you to use your abilities in every way you think is possible, and then think up something new to beat me who is currently unbeatable."

"..."

"You can't break my bones, you can't beat me in mana control, and even if you eat some mana, I can regenerate it. Fighting me in the same way will put you in an endless cycle that will end in your defeat. So what do you need to do to break the cycle?"

"...Cut off your mana."

"But I have better mana control. Surrounding me with your mana-eating fire won't stop me from bringing mana in from the outside, at least, not more than you eat away."

"So I need better control?"

"Or you need to use your magic in a different way. Your mana devouring powers are all about rates. You need to pay attention to the rate that you eat mana, the rate that I regenerate it, and the rate we both spend it fighting each other. If you can beat my rate of regeneration, then you'll eventually win."

"But your mana pool is too big, not to mention how thick your mana is. My own pool can't match up."

"Ah, but you don't need to only rely on your mana pool. You, Scarlet, have the power to convert massive amounts of mana to your own in a very easy way, much more so than I can. So I'll let you in on my secret. You don't have to restrict yourself to your mana pool. By simply maintaining the mana you convert outside of yourself, you will be able to control more total mana than just what's in your mana pool."

"...But that takes a lot of energy."

"Then you better start training. Mages of a low level get tired when they empty their pool. But if you want to become stronger, then you need to expand how much mana you can control, letting you fight stronger foes. The way to do this is by strengthening your soul, enabling it to control more mana. And yes, that takes energy. But if I'm right about your powers, then you'll just be able to eat and recover that energy."

"Will you let me eat you?"

"That would be problematic in more ways than one. But it's not like we have to stay here. We can go out and find some monsters for you to eat and recover. I just want you to start expanding your abilities. If you want to beat people with more mana than you, then you'll need to be able to do what I'm telling you. Believe me when I say that if you're able to do that, then you'll be the most overpowered of us all."

"...So I just need to convert a bunch of extra mana to my own and use it?"

"Correct. With that much more mana, while you may not be able to overwhelm me, it'll drastically increase your combat ability. You seal off the environment so the enemy can't regenerate and then you use the environment's mana, plus your own, plus the mana you eat from your opponent, against them. It's a triple whammy."

"Ok."

"Then try it. Use this time to experiment however you want. I'm your personal punching bag."

"I've never seen a punching bag that hits back."

"I'm not a big fan of just letting people eat me without a little consequence. It's just self-defense. I won't actively pursue you. Now come and fight. Oh, and let Sophia help you."

"...Letting your own skill fight against you. Whatever. Here I come."

Saying so, Iris began billowing flames that engulfed the area. They quickly swept over Dream and the spectator Luna. And as a result of this, Dream was separated from the environmental mana, just as he told her.

But he wouldn't make it easy for her. Using his mana, he created a channel straight through the fire to the outside, enabling him to continue and regenerate mana.

Iris immediately noticed this channel and began bombarding it with her fire. She ate at the barrier and spread her fire even further, using any mana she could gather to destroy his channel. But if compromising Dream's control over his mana was easy, he wouldn't be where he was today. Iris knew this and no matter what she tried, the channel wouldn't break. But she still kept on eating away at it. Although it was small, he was still giving her free mana. 

But knowing this wouldn't be enough, Iris also dashed over to attack more. Both of them were quickly entangled in close combat and Dream was put on defense on multiple fronts. Since he was expending mana to maintain the channel, this meant that there was much more mana and energy for Iris to eat at. Plus the wounds she gave caused him to expend energy to repair. It was a very disadvantageous fight.

But despite this, Iris was never able to cause any urgency or gain the upper hand. Dream just stood there within the fire, blocking and returning attacks. And no matter how much mana he needed to control, it never seemed to cause him to divert focus, thus giving Iris openings. All she could do was burn, claw, and bite.

This repetition went on for several hours. But although she was doing the same thing over and over again, Iris was learning. She was learning how to control more mana and use it in different ways against him. Dream told her to use him as a punching bag, trying whatever she wanted, so she did. Plus, she had Sophia in her head giving advice. It was this advice that allowed her to further her understanding of mana and how to use it.

After these several hours, Iris finally showed fatigue. Eventually, she stopped and retracted her fire that had been constantly burning.

"Huuhh...You're impossible to beat."

Iris breathed heavily and looked at him, exhausted and baffled. He looked perfectly fine, despite having fought her for so long.

"I wish that were actually true. I don't know if the Old Man told you, but I was on the verge of dying not that long ago."

"What happened?"

"I got sledged in the back by a class 4. A little advice, never get sledged in the back by a class 4. It hurts."

"...Noted. Anyway, I'm hungry. Where's food?"

"I was able to find some class 3 monsters while we were fighting. Hop in the ship."

When he said that, a plane flew itself into the dome through a hole Dream had created in the roof. It landed in front of them and opened its hatch for them. 

The three boarded and flew off to another area, specifically a den of bears. Dream's drones had picked up on a large mana signature signifying a class 3 and discovered this den. It wasn't that far either, and they were able to arrive in less than a minute.

After jumping out of the plane, they landed in the forest near the den. Dream spread his influence out wide, picking up on 6 class 3 bears and 18 class 2's.

"6 class 3's and 18 class 2's. All meaty bears. Filling enough for you?"

"Yes! I'll be back."

Seeing the same thing as him, Iris got excited. Her fur began to flame up again as she dashed into the underground den.

Dream kept an eye on the situation, though it turned out to be completely unnecessary. Upon entering the den, Iris filled the place with fire and instantly pounced on a bear, ripping its throat out. She then moved on to the next, and the next, until every bear had either burned to death or was mauled. 

After brutally killing them all in only a few minutes, Iris began comping down on one eagerly. What Dream found curious though was that she never stopped her flames. They continually burned the bears until they were reduced to nothing. This was also weird in the fact that normal animals would turn to ashes when burned, not nothing.

Luna walked over to him and spoke. 

"Iris can eat through her fire and doesn't need to eat them the normal way. Though she can also put the bodies directly in her stomach, she doesn't because it apparently reduces the energy she can get from the corpses."

"Very interesting. And rather convenient."

"It is. You should see her with weaker animals. Since she can eat through her fire, it also means that she can eat animals alive, and many at once. Her energy recovery is insane. Nobody below her level being capable of beating her is more than true."

"How did she integrate her devour skill with her fire though?"

"She told me that she got tired of having to go around to every animal to eat it, so she decided to see if she could eat something from far away. And since her devour skill is used through the soul, she found that spreading her soul power, or influence as you call it, allowed her to eat the animal from a distance. But another problem became apparent, and that was the time it took. It took much longer eating from afar, so she sped it up with the destructive power of her fire. Thus creating this fire that can eat."

"Wow. That's rather brilliant."

"So much so that her skills leveled up a lot. Though she still hasn't maxed them out, they're close, as are mine. Like you said, I think we'll be able to max our skills before class 4."

"That's good. That advancement will be huge for all of us, and I don't doubt we'll reach it. The only problem is how long it will take."

"If we move fast enough, it wouldn't take long at all."

"True, but again, it's the skills that are important. Those are harder to predict in terms of their leveling. And with war at our doorstep, the longer we take to advance, the more dangerous it gets."

"...Right."

"Don't let what I'm saying rush you though. Take the time you need. I'm honestly more concerned about your potential than the war. So if you need help with anything, you can ask me. Or Sophia. She may be easier to talk with sometimes."

"Sure. Thanks."

"Of course."

They smiled to each other and held hands, enjoying the feeling. Not long after, Iris came walking out of the den looking very satisfied.