Time had passed, though saying exactly how much would be a merciful lie. I couldn't count the days because in this place, there was no such thing as day or night. Only an eternal, motionless sunset that painted the sky in dark tones—almost night, but not quite. Never. The only way I had to measure time was by how many times I went to sleep… which wasn't very reliable either. Something in this world seemed to mess with my natural rhythm; sometimes it felt like hours had passed, other times, several days.
Even so, I counted at least twelve sleep cycles. Twelve times I woke up in this improvised cave, which was already starting to feel like a prison of my own making, yet it was also my only refuge.
My routine had become almost automatic: first, magical manipulation exercises. Feeling the mana, spinning it, expelling it, compressing it, expanding it, and making it vibrate. Just recently, I managed to do those last three; it seemed that practice and using Twice Critical helped a lot with magical control. Of course, I was still a novice, but at least I might be able to cast magic soon. Then I would summon Twice Critical, since holding it made me feel a stronger connection to magic overall, which helped me push myself further and better. After that, I would read the Human Magic Treatise, extracting every drop of knowledge like an addict scraping the last bag. I had learned two basic spells so far—not for combat, just for daily life and to get used to casting magic. Of course, I hadn't used them yet due to my unstable control over the last exercise. Sometimes it vibrated, sometimes it didn't.
Right before sleeping, I forced myself to train my body. Push-ups, sit-ups, whatever I could do without equipment. My body couldn't fall behind if I wanted to survive in this world.
And lastly, I would read the book left behind by Vritra, which spoke of magic so powerful it was absurd—but also explained why dragons were the most OP beings in this verse. I'll explain its mechanics later… and why it's a damn shame that I'm not a dragon.
I stopped worrying about food. I still had two monster birds stored inside Twice Critical, and even though their raw, bloody flesh stirred something human inside me, their taste… their energy… was another story. Water wasn't a problem either. I discovered that as long as there was blood, I didn't feel the need to drink. At first, I got scared: I thought I was turning into a vampire.
But no. My heart still beat, my skin didn't sparkle in the light, and I felt no aversion to crosses or fire. I chalked it up to some side effect of coming back to life.
But today, none of that mattered. I was excited.
I would finally test one of the spells I had learned from the treatise. Something simple, in theory: create a small floating light. A basic spell—the kind an apprentice casts on their first day after getting a teacher, or that someone with a damn system does by instinct.
And yet, the steps were absurdly complex. Formulas, mental calculations, structures… too many variables for something so elementary.
I sighed, trying to calm myself. I felt the magic inside me begin to spin, accelerating at a steady rhythm, waiting to be used.
Then came the hard part: the formulas.
I visualized each symbol mentally, connecting them one after the other like gears. The human language mixed with math and logic, creating a new phenomenon. Ten seconds later, the sequence was complete. The spell was ready; I just needed to cast it.
I directed the formula and part of my magic outward through my hand. It happened immediately—just as the spell was completed, there was no real casting delay. Had I not lost energy, I might have thought it impossible. As if obeying a command from the universe, the magic circle formed instantly. A magic circle floated above my palm, and from it emerged a small sphere of white light.
I moved my hand. The circle—and thus the light—moved with it. I mentally commanded the circle a new direction, and it responded: it rose, fell, spun around me at a spherical angle. I had control. Finally.
I smiled. It was a spell so basic, children were taught it. But it was real magic. And I had created it.
The smile didn't last.
The joy vanished with the obvious realization: I took too long.
Ten seconds. Ten damn seconds for something that simple.
With that kind of time, I was a mediocre mage. The standard is to cast any spell in less than a tenth of a second. That's the bare minimum. And I won't rest until I achieve it.
…
More than thirty cycles had passed since I arrived here. I hadn't left home yet. I focused on training my spellcasting. I discovered my problem: I suck at doing so many mental calculations. So, as a training method, I started running through the spell without charging it with energy, to get faster at calculating the formula. And it had an effect—I went from ten seconds to three. Still unacceptable, but literally a 70% improvement. It could still improve with more focus and training, but today I would have to go out. After all, I barely had any food left.
But before anything else, I'd like to say that I successfully finished the book on Draconian Magic. It wasn't as long as the human magic one, after all. So, what is dragon magic? It's simple: their will made manifest. Nothing more, nothing less—that's what I understood from the book. The way dragon energy moves is fundamentally different from human magic, as it obeys the total will of a dragon. There are no calculations, no delay—only results. So, what's an example of a dragon spell? Well, what Ddraig and Albion do is considered draconian magic, only they've used those spells so much that they've become a fundamental part of them. So, can dragon magic do anything? Yes—if you have enough energy to fuel the spell, anything is possible.
The book explained that, at a minimum, you must know what you want to achieve to make it real through that magic—and put your will into it. That is, you may understand fire, but if you don't have the will to create it, you can't do anything. The same applies in reverse.
The rest of the book contained a series of very simple spells to practice basic things, like a basic elemental breath, simple barriers to protect a dragon's lair—those kinds of things. Pretty minor in terms of combat usefulness, but at least the book taught the fundamentals of that kind of magic.
And yes, I tried using that magic—but it was useless. I didn't have dragon energy. Well, I'm planning to fix that. After all, no matter how inferior Twice Critical is compared to the real thing, it was still made with Ddraig's flesh and energy. So there's still a small chance I could use that magic in the future.
I reflected as I left my lair. It was time for another hunt.
I searched again for the monster bird nesting ground—but hey, I wasn't ready for what I saw. A goddamn monster shaped like a Tyrannosaurus rex, along with many more, feasting not only on what I assumed was the mutant bird flock but also on other creatures I'd never seen. Some looked like wyverns, giant horses, or multi-headed salamanders—all dead at the hands—or claws—of these gigantic lizards.
I decided it wouldn't hurt to skip a meal. I was still far—very far—from them. But all it took was one of them looking straight at me for me to know I wouldn't get away without a fight.
"Screw you," I said in a normal voice, just before one of the smaller ones started chasing me.