"What do you say, are you satisfied with it?" Zeref asked, from a few meters away.
"Its… beautiful. ...beyond anything I could've dreamed of." Cassian responded, not even a second later, completely touched by what had been done for him.
"Those good looks aren't all, though, it also has some enchantments embedded into it. Just simple stuff, you know. High durability, regeneration through magic, magic amplification, as well as my personal favorite for you, flight."
Cassian could only listen, while his eyes went wider, with each added enchantment. This… truly was beyond even his wildest dreams.
"It looks like you like it, good. Then, lets get to the next part."
The moment Zeref spoke these words, most of the sheets covering the tables vanished, and revealed what lay beneath them; crystals.
"Those are dragon lacrimas. If you were to be implanted with one of these, you would be able to use dragon slayer magic. There are a few drawbacks, but nothing too dramatic, as long as you only use them sparingly. Otherwise, you will eventually turn into a dragon, yourself."
This time, it was Irene who spoke, stepping closer, from her previously distant position.
She went over to one of the tables, and grabbed the closest lacrima, "This one, right here, is from a glacier dragon."
After putting it down again, she continued showcasing one after the other. When she was finished with the third table, she had already shown him nine dragon lacrimas; glacier-, chain-, bone-, ash-, mist-, steam-, crystal-, solar-, and ice dragon lacrima.
But, she wasn't finished, yet. There was still one more table, under which only one seemed to hide.
"As for the last one, that is a bit more special. This one," she began, before removing the sheet, and showcasing the last lacrima, "is from a dragon king. The Luminescence dragon king."
"It is up to you. You can have any, you want. Just say the words."
Faced with the somewhat expectant gazes of these three unimaginable powerful beings, Cassian did not know what to do. This time, though, different to their first meeting, it wasn't due to any real pressure, they were putting him under, but rather that the generosity they were showing him, was simply too much.
"I can't chose. These must be extremely expensive. I've already gained so much, just from being allowed to stay here, Master Zeref." In the end, his consciousness won, and he declined.
"Well, there is not much we can do, then… now, you need to take two, at least." Zeref responded with his typically saint-like smile.
"Huh?" Cassian was caught off guard, by this sudden increase, and only looked at the emperor, before him.
Just as it seemed that Zeref was about to increase the number, once more, Cassian burst out, "Okay! I'll take them."
After saying this, he stepped closer to the tables, and looked at each of the lacrima again, thinking about what to choose. If he didn't choose for real, there was a high probability that Zeref would increase the amount even further.
It took him a few moments to make his choice, but in the end, he went with the two, that would prove the most useful, from his perspective, at least.
Having taken both lacrima from the tables, he showed them to Zeref, who had a content smile on his face, "Very well. So you chose the Solar-, and Luminescence dragon lacrimas. A splendid choice."
When this choice had been made, everything else followed so fast that Cassian didn't even fully realize it.
From one moment to the other, he was put to sleep again, and remained like this through the entire procedure, apparently.
It was a blessing that his peculiarity was not noticed, by anyone, which most likely was due to them already being used to his aura, and therefore the fae blood inside of his body, too.
---
Cassian only awoke the next morning, inside of his room, still feeling some phantom pains from the procedure, for some reason.
He felt… different.
Yet, also the same.
In the span of under a month time, his body underwent some serious changes. First, he fused with one of the highest ranking fae bloodlines, only to just yesterday get implanted with two dragon lacrima, which from his knowledge were made from dragon hearts.
It seemed, the similarities between himself, and Artoria Pendragon, or also commonly referred to as Saber, just continued on increasing.
That was his thought, until he looked at his right arm…
Sighing once, Cassian chose to not lament this much longer, and instead simply got himself dressed.
His new armor, was currently stored inside one of his 'magical bags'. He had explained them, as well as his arm prosthesis as magical items, which everyone seemed to quickly accept.
It seemed that magical items had a wide range of utilities, so much even that basically everything that somewhat seemed magical could be declared one.
Nevertheless, he was soon finished gathering the few things he had, and after that left through the door.
"Finally awake, huh?"
"!"
Only when the voice reached his ears, did Cassian notice his teacher, Irene, standing close by, leaned on the wall.
"Come on. His majesty tasked me with bringing you over the sea, while also helping you start your journey as a dragon slayer…" She seemed even more irritated, than normally.
It took Cassian a few steps, which he was following behind her, to catch up on something from her words, just now, "Help me, start the journey as a dragon slayer…? Does that mean that you are a dragon slayer, as well?"
She stopped for a moment, before resuming her leisure pace, "I am not just any dragon slayer. I am the mother of dragon slayers, boy."
After that, there was only silence. Cassian didn't truly know what it meant; to be the mother of dragon slayer, but there surely must've been a good reason to invent a magic, which sole, real purpose is to kill dragons.
This revelation simply increased the respect he was feeling towards the woman in front of him.
The duo walked towards the enormous balcony, to Cassian's surprise, though, no one else was there.
"Ready?" Irene asked, and upon receiving a nod as a response, she began floating in the air.
Cassian merely looked up at her form, not knowing what exactly to do now.
"The armor…" Irene hinted, making Cassian understand.
Taking the pouch from his belt, he soon retrieved the entire armor from it, and was just about to put it on, normally, when he was stopped again.
"*sigh* ...right. No useful magic…" The red-haired woman muttered tiredly, before snapping her fingers, which caused the armor to be put on Cassian's body, in an instant.
Once more, all he could do was being astonished about the wonders of magic, and its practical usages. This was also the firs time, he had this armor on, and therefore wanted to get a feel for it first.
After a minute, or two, he finally got a rough feeling for the armor, and then proceeded to put on the helmet, as well. Though, not before admiring it first.
With the helmet on his head, there was a small decrease in his visibility, though, not to a degree that it would actually prove as a vulnerability.
"Let your magic flow into it."
When the advise came from above him, Cassian tried it out immediately, and in an instant, he was rising into the air, with a rapid tempo.
"Keep the flow steady, and calm!" Irene shouted after him.
He needed a few moments to figure out, the exact right amount of magic he needed, but got it right eventually, enabling him to descend to Irene's height again.
She merely gave him one more look, before flying into the direction, where the coast was. Cassian simply followed her, as best as he could, while getting more and more familiar with the armor.
They continued flying for hours, with both of them remaining silent, during the time.
Only when the sun was slowly setting, did Irene slightly adjust their course.
Not even half an hour later, a small island appeared on the horizon, which the two of them reached, shortly after.
"Since you don't need any food, nor sleep, I will teach you during the night, while we will travel during the day. With our tempo, we should reach Ishgar in a few days. After I have delivered you there, I was ordered to return immediately after…"
If the first sentences seemed like normal instructions, then the last one seemed to be filled with irritation, and dissatisfaction.
Nevertheless, she didn't seem to dwell on it, any longer, and instead directed her attention fully on Cassian, "Let's just start, then."
In the next moment, a magic circle appeared below her staff, and the surroundings began changing a bit, making a throne of stone appear, out of seemingly thin air, on which she sat down on.
Seeing that no extra chair appeared, on which he could've sat, Cassian simply sat down on the floor, after taking of his draconic helmet, and putting it down, next to him.
"Good. I will start with the basics. Dragon slayer magic counts as a lost magic type, today. But, even among dragon slayers, there are those of the first generation, those taught by actual dragons, like me, and those of the second generation, like you.
The second generation is different, in the way that the source of the dragon slayer magic comes from the dragon lacrima implanted into your body, different to the specifically learned magic of the first generation.
There are probably more, but that isn't important. For now, at least.
Due to you being from the second generation, your Dragon Slayer magic, would be classified as a Holder-Type Magic, meaning that it comes from an external source, even if that external source is now inside of your body.
With the lacrimas inside of your body, which can also serve as magical containers, you can unleash magical attacks capable of hurting, and eventually killing dragons."
Here she made a small pause, giving Cassian enough time to properly understand everything, before she continued.
"Since you have two lacrima inside of your body, you would have even more available magic, though, quite frankly, if your magical energy continues to grow with the speed it has been, ever since I first met you, then that won't be a problem, anyway.
Now, let's get to actually using the magic, from the lacrimas.
Begin by feeling your own magic, inside of your body."
Cassian immediately followed her demand, and began to direct his senses inwards. Moments later, he felt his own magic, but also other, different kinds.
"I feel something else, besides my own magic…" he mumbled, to let Irene know that he was successful, in feeling the lacrimas.
"Good. Now, try to pull the magic from one of them, and circulate it along with your own, before bringing it outward, in a simple magical force aura. There is another method you can use for this, but that one takes a bit more fine control."
It did not take long, until the first results became visible.
The freely released aura of Cassian's magic, was now painted in a myriad of differently colored lights. It was to the extent that it could've seemed holy, if the magic's effect wasn't already being displayed.
"So, Luminescence it is… Alright, stop this." She said, as she felt her magic slowly being pushed back, and even felt it getting slightly devoured, by the white shine, before her.
Even after she spoke, Cassian did not follow suit. When nothing happened for a few seconds, she decided to forcefully put an end to it, by simply releasing her own magic.
The completely unrestrained might of her magic immediately caused his own to nearly completely crumble, before he pulled it back, somewhat confused.
"What was that for?" He asked, genuinely not understanding why she suddenly released her own magic. He had done exactly what she had asked from him, and he became entranced with the feeling, for just a moment.
"I told you to stop, that's why." She replied, matter-of-factly.
"When? I didn't hear anything."
"*sigh* These will be long few days…"