“Air Shield! Sanctuary!”
With the activation of two spells, a transparent wind and a yellow glowing barrier expanded away from me—their epicenter. As the two protective spells stood still like a solid wall, I felt reassured that I wouldn’t accidentally set the village on fire … I hoped so.
“The villagers will probably get curious despite our warnings, so can you take care of them?” I called out to Saori who was standing at the entrance of the church area.
In the last two weeks, the amount of time I’ve been able to invest in my idol preparations has been rather disappointing. After all, during the first week, I had to prioritize the meeting with Count Helvas and my remaining time with Master Kush before he left. Ever since the saurians left, I've mostly been spending my time learning about the world from Ellaine. As we would travel to Firwood soon, the information I got would probably become handy.
So, I decided to dedicate my time to preparing my stage in the church area. It was a simple stage made from my terra spells, and while my perfectionist side did make me want to reconsider, I accepted it would be enough for my first stage performance. Still, adding some decorations for flavor was necessary, though.
I was reminded of my time in the Belzac forest where I used to perform to lure in monsters for Saori to power-level whenever I looked at this stage. The special effects I made with my spells back then were simple, as singing and dancing was my focus back then. Not like monsters would appreciate elaborate tricks, right? With my current abilities, though, I had to give it my all.
Hopefully, nobody would disturb me. I did inform the villagers and Colwyn about my plans, so they wouldn’t worry about what I was about to do. As a precaution, Saori would handle any worrywart.
Once Tasianna took a step back, I began spreading my scale-dust spiraling in space like a ballerina, spreading my arms, wings and tail out to accelerate it. There wasn’t a need for this since I had [Pyrokinesis], but it was all about the show; the performance. Once it was done, I lowered my body and let my spare leg trace along the floor as I twirled, acting like a drawing compass, in a way. With a single snap of my fingers, scale-dust burst in flames, sparkling like the flashlights of a paparazzi’s camera!
“Wooo!” I took in this self-made moment, enjoying the made up glamor and prestige of a celebrity. I then lightly slapped my cheeks, took in a deep breath, and curled my hands into fist. “Wooo! Time for work!”
Hype up yourself—check! I wasn’t the dragoness Hestia right now; I was the idol trainee Hestia!
Once I had the correct mindset, I took out a wooden bowl from my storage and inscribed the magic circle for [Shine] on its inside, using [Trap Creation] similarly to how I used to make my bombs. Now, here was the fun part; in addition to that skill, I also used [Delayed Cast].
Normally, if I didn’t want a spell to activate immediately, [Trap Creation] was all that I needed. However, I had to be close to it or have a physical connection to it, since I needed to inject my mana into it to activate these traps. Thankfully, with [Delayed Cast], I could feel something invisible connecting me with it. With [Mana Eyes], I quickly confirmed it was a strand of blue mana.
Urgh. I closed my eyes afterwards, rubbing them as the lingering trace of my scale-dust explosions from before was still around. The amount of mana irritated my eyes, but it didn’t give me a headache, like in the past.
In any case, [Delayed Cast]—one of the four advanced magic techniques from my training with Master Kush—connected a mana strand from my spell to me. As long as I kept feeding the connection with my mana, I could activate the delayed spell remotely from wherever I wanted, albeit, the longer the distance, the more mana I had to use up.
I threw the wooden bowl over to Tasianna and told her to point the opening of the bowl towards me. I turned around and activated the spell. Almost immediately, a bright light shined at my back, casting a large shadow of myself onto the dirty brown snow on the ground. While my body was keeping me warm, seeing how much more snow had fallen since yesterday sent a shiver down my spine.
I then smirked and began using the third advanced magic technique—[Continuous Cast]. I first deactivated the spell, turning the spotlight off, and then successfully reactivated it. This proved that both the advanced casting techniques I was trying to use were working perfectly. Two proper magic techniques, used to create some stage prop, oh, the humanity if a proper mage learned what I was doing with their world’s magic.
Was I glad I learned [Continuous Cast] just in time using Master’s notes. Although … Still, no [Multi-Cast]. Knowing I still couldn’t learn it made the dream of having my parallel minds cast 100 spells all at once slowly disappear in the depths of my mind. What a sour taste, honestly.
Regardless, I would get it eventually, so back to the stage preparation.
I took back the wooden bowl with the [Shine] spell attached and smiled. I had gained a spotlight. Sadly, since I needed [Continuous Cast] to keep the spell active through multiple uses and [Delayed Cast] to turn it on and off, the mana cost would become staggering once I had multiple of these shining down on me. On the flip side, I could have my parallel minds control them with perfect execution.
This meant, though, that I couldn’t perform for an entire night without risking my health. Most K-pop concerts were between one to two hours long, so doing around three songs max would be the best. If I were to perform while the sun was up, though, I would only have to worry about arcane corruption, instead of also my mana and stamina. The performance could just go on!
Maybe for my next concert, I could buy some manatech spotlights. For this one, though, I would have to make do with what I had available.
Next, I had to make the truss, the “roof” of the concert stage, where all the lighting and other decorations were attached to support the concert. Constructing four earth pillars to act as the support was simple, allowing me to place a hardened rock truss on it. I then called Saori for help, and had her grab all the spotlights I had made with our wooden bowls and attach them on the truss, before she went back to the entrance.
I climbed on the stage and started activating all the spotlights in different combinations, testing how much my mana pool could handle while simultaneously scrutinizing the light formation. I had to make sure that wherever I was on the stage I would never be left in the dark. Couldn’t have the star not be in the center of attention, right?
As if I was being supported by a perfect production team, no matter where I went, the lights would turn on and off without a second of delay. It was as if the performer and the team supporting them were 100% in sync. Well, that was of course true since my production team consisted of my parallel minds. They knew what I would do so they were the perfect skeleton crew.
I once again twirled like a ballerina, quickly engulfing the stage in a cloud of scale-dust. The cloud shimmered under the spotlights, giving no indication of how dangerous it would have been without me here to control it. Clattering my claws and swinging my tail around as I began practicing my dance choreography, the scale-dust began to spark with every movement. Thankfully, [Pyrokinesis] was enough to manage everything, reducing the intensity of the tiny explosions to make them seem like a sparkling light veil.
Using my scale-dust, I could fully surround myself with fire. Trails of flames appeared with every flourish of my arms and legs, emitting like an ethereal aura as they burst into existence and quickly faded away, leaving both Tasianna and Saori mystified as they watched me. By increasing the power, I could even unleash an inferno storm to spiral around me.
[Divine Inferno] gave me complete immunity to my own fire spells, but that immunity didn't extend to my burning scale-dust. Still, both my draconic physiology and my high inferno resistance made every explosion feel like a tickle, which would quickly be healed up by my natural regeneration.
[Shine] and my scale-dust will make excellent special effects to complement the show. I can even use some wind and maybe lightning spells to spice things up, I think … On second thought, lightning isn’t needed when I can have my scale-dust act as sparkles.
… That’s all good and so, but still …
“Is something bothering you, Lady Hestia?” Tasianna asked me as she noticed the frown I made after testing a few things out.
“… It’s nothing really. Though … despite everything, I still feel a bit … whelmed.” I scratched my head with my knuckles before dramatically shrugging and throwing my hands up. I wasn’t sure how to explain it to her.
I understood my current situation quite well but I couldn’t help but feel the aesthetic of the stage … lacking. Everything about it was made out of earth using my spells so it couldn’t help but look simplistic in design and color, while the wooden spotlights made it seem cheap.
Creating a wooden stage was impossible by this point. The village was too preoccupied with preparing for winter and I didn’t think Ellaine could hire craftsmen with winter covering the roads in snow to the nearest town. I also found it extremely wasteful to create a wooden stage for a one time thing; I owed a debt to the trees for burning so many of them down during my lifetime … Not, but having a green mindset was reasonable here.
While I could probably transport the built stage in my storage, I didn’t have enough mana to accommodate it and the numerous other trinkets I had inside already. It wasn’t feasible, essentially.
I dunno, maybe it was my former perfectionist tendency hindering me again, but it was kinda hard for me to accept this current stage. Even after adding a catwalk and a B-Stage—the secondary stage usually in the middle of the crowd—I felt dissatisfied. I had this persistent, gnawing sense that something just wasn’t right.
“Hmm.” Tasianna thought over my words for a bit, playing with one of her braids. “Maybe … it’s not the quality, but an item?”
Something item?
Looking confused, Tasianna tilted her a head a bit, conflicted with her own thoughts. She then asked me to go on stage and pose for a bit. “… It might be something I don’t understand about ‘idol concerts,’ but doesn’t the stage feel … a bit lonely?”
“Lonely?” I glanced behind me, noticing all the empty space on the stage. “Well, I am the star of the show. Idols usually have background dancers to fill the area, but unless you or Saori want to dance, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
Saori instantly crossed her arms into an ‘X’ before turning her head away. Meanwhile, Tasianna giggled, stating how fun it would be if we could dance and sing together, even describing us frolicking in a flowerfield or in the air. Still, her icy demeanor towards humans made her aware she couldn’t do it, so she refused.
Instead, she followed up on her thoughts. “Nevertheless, this isn’t what I meant. You see, when we fairies celebrate, we do it with everybody. To create a spectacle worthy of the ‘Wind Mother’ and Goddess Anuiqa. It would feel so dull if you didn’t decorate every nook and cranny with flowers and colors; who would want to celebrate in a dreary wasteland?”
The “Wind Mother” was a respectful term most fairies and wind elves used to address Zephira. Aside from being the Goddess of Wind her other domains were celebrations and travels. Anuiqa, a fairy, was one of the few faefolk gods. She was the Goddess of Festivals and Cooking.
Considering how Zephira’s pantheon was filled with gods governing over daily life aspects, such as the Goddess of Hunts and God of Harvest, it did make me wonder why Aurena was more popular here. We even had Mercurius, God of Mercantilism. Maybe it would be different in Firwood, but it really seemed like Aurena’s faith in this village was carried by the fact she was the patron Goddess of Humans and this nation’s primary religion.
Back to the present, I did agree I could maybe add a bit more flavor to the stage. K-pop concerts usually had digital or physical backgrounds to accentuate the theme of a song, not to mention, stage mist or fires. The idea was to stimulate sight, touch, smell, and hearing to captivate a person. Make them invested in the show, in the performers, and the community around you. That was the true essence of an idol concert; a recipe the industry kept iterating over years and years.
Urgh, I nearly forgot about that! Tch, I’ve been out in the wild too long; got too used to minimalism. I have to think big!
I couldn’t use my flames to color the lights, as the bowls would easily burn with my purple and crimson fire. My white ones proved themselves to be safe—they felt warm but not hot—however, white on white sounded, well, boring. If I couldn’t use my other flames for colored spotlights, then I could use them to wrap myself to turn into a human torch! Er, dragonewt torch.
Wanting to test this idea, I invoked both [White Flames] and [Corrosive Fire]. Heavenly white flames burned in my right hand and deadly dark purple ones in my left. I was still a bit reluctant to use these purple flames, mostly ‘cause I wasn’t sure of its limits yet, but I guess that also applied with [White Flames].
Sure, I made a custom spell out of it, so I understood its main properties—holy elemental fire which could damage and heal. Sadly, that was everything. I had the feeling I was only scratching the surface, though. With [Sanctified Blaze], I should be able to cure anybody affected by [Corrosive Fire] if I dialed down its power, so it was about time I tried using it more.
I snapped my fingers, creating a crimson red flame on my left hand. “Wow,” I exclaimed as both crimson and purple twirled together in unison.
I released the fire in the air, using [Pyrokinesis] to keep it afloat and alive, and then began twisting them together into a spiral of crimson and purple, before finally adding the white flames to them. I held my hand up, and began willing the flames to move. The triple combination of flames spiraled through the air, continuously mixing the color as it flared through the sky. I then expanded this single beautiful wonder while feeding it more mana so it would keep burning in the cold air as it grew, eventually forming it into a flaming dolphin swimming through the sky.
Geez … have I really forgotten how much fun it was to observe my crimson sparks light up? I can’t let some idiotic god of fire ruin the fun I have with my dragon flames. Blame the creator, not the tools …
“Hestia.” Somebody’s voice suddenly broke my trance, redirecting my attention away from the spiral. “Your flames and lights are starting to attract everybody.”
Looking over at where she was pointing, I noticed numerous kids and young teens having assembled at the entrance, watching me with sparkling eyes. Smiling, I waved at them. They flinched back for a moment but quickly gathered themselves, waving at me vigorously before running away.
Cute.
Once my attention was back to Saori, she began listing suggestions to improve the whole design of the stage, to make it feel more alive even if we were working on a budget. One of those suggestions was to weave mana threads around the pillars, hiding the hideous brown with a myriad of bright colors to illuminate the night. I could even activate them and turn the pillars into a light show.
I thought it was crazy to suggest since that meant Saori and Tasianna had an arduous task before them, and I couldn’t imagine them doing that much work. However, Saori and Tasianna simply shrugged off my concern and told me “why not?” It was only the 9th, after all, and my concert was on the 31st.
Speaking of mana threads, Saori also had the brilliant idea of wrapping different colored threads around the bowls, so when [Shine]’s light is emitted, the threads would color the light much like how those colored films are used. Surprisingly, a pretty simple solution. Ten minds, and none of us were able to think of this answer.
Maybe I should take a page from Saori and think more like a fashionista. Feels like my girl power is below zero.
“Wait, you want me to do what with the stage?” After a couple more suggestions, mostly minor things like chiseling the stage a bit, Saori suddenly gave me a pretty wild addition.
“I want Tasianna to turn the floor into ice,” she suggested. “You think the stage is too boring? Well, how about we turn the stage into color itself? The light of the spotlights will enter the ice and mix together, then it will refract it towards the audience. Like a rainbow or a disco. Come on, you can imagine that, right, Hestia?”
“Uh, yeah, of course. That is a pretty great idea but,” I paused for a moment to bring my fire dolphin into Saori’s eyes. “I was planning to incorporate some flames into my performance, especially the second song. I can’t use ice on the ground, it’ll just melt.”
“Hmm, indeed, but you can simply tone the temperature down, no? The fire from your [Sanctified Blaze] doesn’t feel warm, for example,” Saori argued.
I explained how I had thought of using my red and purple flames as colored light sources, but had abandoned that idea when I realized I couldn't control the heat nearly as well as I could with [White Flames]. I believe it was one of the traits of [White Flames], while crimson and purple had to be hot.
Saori placed a finger on her chin, looking confused as she continued, “While I do understand what you mean, that logic only applies if mana were to not exist. I mean, you can keep a fire alive for hours with [Pyrokinesis] without it physically being close to any fuel. I might be presuming because I am not a fire mage but maybe there’s a skill you can buy to do it?”
Hmm, I haven’t looked in the shop in a while. I did get that 3k SP bonus from my evolution, so I might as well use it.
Agreeing to her suggestion, I had my parallel minds immediately go on a search. If I could control fire, then shouldn’t I also be able to control temperature and so on? Unfortunately, similar to how I couldn’t find any exciting skills before my evolution, my shop was once again barren. There were solid sounding ones, but nothing like “Thermokinesis” or “Geokinesis,” or something outlandish like “Phone Summon”.
The shop required me to have some affinity to unlock certain skills, as proven by Saori and Tasianna who both had different selections of skills compared to me. Tasianna was able to outright buy [Ice Magic] and [Cryokinesis] without fulfilling the skill requirements, and Saori had [Mana Weaving] and [Elemental Mana Weave]. In video games, unlocking certain “super” skills always meant doing something crazy. Maybe speaking with a Goddess would count in the future?
Anyway, I could upgrade my skills by spending skill points but I’d rather hold off on that until I got my first Job. After getting my ID in Firwood, the first thing I would do was to get a Job like Tasianna’s [Mage].
… Speaking of skills, what about my [Space-Time Magic]? It has been level four since forever, however, whenever I tried to spend SP to upgrade it, I always receive this notification.
Weird, right? Guess I could just spam [Haste] like my younger days …
After explaining the situation to Saori, she told me to try controlling my flames manually. Like advancing my proficiency with using [Pyrokinesis], I could try controlling the temperatures of my flames to allow them to survive even when “cold.” It was for the good of the show, so I consented.
As purple was my least explored option, I tested it out first. The main way I always used to cool down my fire was to do it the way I learned it from chemistry class—dialing down the number of chemical reactions. However, as the main fuel for my fire was my mana, all I needed to do was reduce the amount of mana.
Yet, that was exactly what I shouldn’t be doing. The temperature of my purple flames was dropping but so was its size. Taking away all the mana would kill the flame or make it less cool looking, but I guess it would be cool enough to not accidentally melt the ice. Compared to how brilliant my white flames could flare up without hurting anybody, this was disappointing to see.
Is there a way to do this? Taking away the mana isn’t gonna help that much, but how should I know how to cool down a fire? Sure, I might be a fire dragon but I have only been one for less than a year, without anybody around me to teach me. I had to experiment and try things out on my own.
Scheiße! Couldn’t Shiterno give me something more usable like knowledge on how to control my fire better? He is supposed to be the almighty fire god, right? Oooh, thinking about him is making me angry again. Urgh, every single time I hear that damn name, my mood just worsens and worsens.
“Hestia!”
“W-wah?!” hearing somebody shouting into my ears, I screamed out in shock, wobbling my head around to find the origin of it.
“Your hand! Control your flames!” Saori shouted.
I obeyed and looked, only to see my once dark purple flames blazing a mix of yellow and purple, surrounding my arm like a gauntlet with the appearance of a dragon claw. The flame was not only exuding a heatwave but was also releasing some purplish fumes into the air. It reeked terribly, and my instincts told me to kill the flames immediately.
Toxic gas!
“Tasianna, get out of the barriers, now!” Saori pushed Tasianna aside and away from us, before pulling her hand over her nose and mouth. “That’s the smell of your toxins, Hestia!”
Since Tasianna’s didn’t have a fully leveled [Poison Resistance], she shouldn’t be breathing in any of it, in case I fucked up something. Since she wanted to save SP and train the skill naturally, she now had to run away.
Before I could do anything, Saori suddenly picked me up around my waist and ran out of the village with [Haste] active. Once we were in the forest, she ordered me to shoot the fire away instead of killing it. Throwing the foul-smelling flames on the ground, it immediately exploded upon contact, releasing not only an explosion of fumes but also bits of solid matter into the air.
Once I blew the terrible smell away, the two of us investigated the area slowly while being cautious of the gasses. My eyes suddenly widened as I noticed a glassy, shimmering black-purple rock on the ground.
“…” The both of us were baffled, staring at the rock as if it was some diamond.
Still, somebody had to break the silence, so I did. “… Hey, Saori, you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“… Yeah, I think so. Is this not the solution to my toxin problem?” she asked, wearily picking up the obsidian before throwing it back to me. “You can make it gaseous, you can use it with your flames, and now we have the option to use it as a sludge, a semi-liquid. We can even store it in its obsidian form depending on how much heat it can take. Try it out.”
Nodding to her suggestion, I closed my palms, slowly increasing my body temperature using my solar core with [Core Regulation]. Once I increased it high enough for my body to feel like it could sweat, the obsidian began to soften a bit. It wasn’t as hard to touch, almost feeling like a sponge before it slowly lost its form.
“Huh, it seems like I can still ‘sweat’ poison,” I uttered as a joke, unable to hide my smile. “Now, I understand why I had that [Young Obsidian Blaze Dragon] option. It wasn’t because of my Kargryxmor bloodline, the option was unlocked because of this skill. Shiterno made it possible. Which means [Young Sunfang Dragon] was unlocked by [White Flames]?”
I took out one of my poison vials and poured the sludge into it, handing it over to Saori as a “present” for helping me find out this interesting fact. With this discovery, I threw away my plans to decorate my stage and took a “day off.” I dispelled the two barriers at the church area and dragged Tasianna into the forest to help me experiment.
… Hey, I was not slacking. The decorating could be pushed back since my two friends wanted to sew some stuff for it. We had, like, three weeks remaining.
We took some time to experiment with [Corrosive Fire], and confirmed that the creation of the obsidian wasn’t just a one-time thing. Superheating it to the point it changed color would exude toxic fumes applying the effect of the poison I mixed with these purple flames. Similar to my [Toxin Secretion], I could reproduce my past poisons and venoms, although they needed higher doses to take effect. Think of those flames like my crimson fire but toxic minerals were added as a “fuel.”
Interestingly enough, this fuel could be extracted from my flames. Using [Pyrokinesis], I could take the flames away from the fuel, turning it back into my crimson flames without a hint of toxin. However, how was this usable? If I wanted to use my normal flames, I could use them normally without also wasting stamina, since it required expending minerals inside my body to create.
My crimson flames were great as a damage source, while white ones were great for healing, and finally, my purple fire could debilitate anybody close to me. A trifecta of damage, healing, and debuffs. Once again, I was back to my one-woman army kinda skill set, which was so satisfying to admit. I honestly thought Shiterno ruined my investments, but it seemed like he was trying to improve on it.
Still won’t forgive you. A warning would’ve been nice!
I knew it. I really was just scratching the surface of my new flames. Their potential was staggering. Not to mention, I didn’t know too much about my scale-dusts, either. One year of living in this world wasn’t enough for me to unravel my biology and skills.
“Hestia, can you make beneficial fumes? Like scented oils or something similar? We can use that in our baths and, oh, sell them to nobles! An endless supply of scented oils sounds like a money maker!” Once again, Saori’s eyes turned golden, figuratively. Her mind could only think of making money right now.
Now, concerning custom spells, I had a few ideas using [Corrosive Fire] as its base. First, a wind-like spell which would release fumes out to weaken the enemies around me the longer the fight lasted. Second, maybe a sludge explosion to spread the poison even more? Third, if this skill was responsible for [Young Obsidian Blaze Dragon] then couldn’t I maybe replicate some of that dragon’s abilities, even if I didn’t know which it has.
Not surprisingly, my first attempts to create any of these spells were a total bust. Without Master Kush here with us, we lost our veteran opinion. From now on, we had to create our spells with our own hands. Even after working for a couple of more days on it, I still couldn’t figure out the chant nor the imagery.
Still, it wasn’t like I would give up. Creating [Sanctified Blaze] took a lot of trial and error and even with Master Kush’s help, it wasn’t made after a couple of days. I mean, I still have so many other ideas for custom spells, especially concerning my [White Flames]. Think of a spell where anybody close to me would immediately heal from my white flames or maybe a miniature white sun? So many options.
Concerning my usage of flames during my concert, I’ve settled with only using my white flames. I wasn’t able to learn how to cool down my crimson and purple flames enough during my practice sessions, melting the ice only a few seconds into the dance.
These two weeks flew by like crazy, with me juggling my time around Ellaine, training, concert preparation, and the villagers. Winter came so fast with snow growing high enough to block our door from being opened. Four villagers even got sick.
Now, from my time with them, if the injury was superficial or the illness was something minor like a cold, they would never ask a priest to grant them the “white grace.” These people weren’t rich and 200 Davi for [Minor Heal] and 500 for [Cure] was already too much for them. Ellaine was paying me for anything magic-related but, ordinarily, the villagers or Colwyn had to pay it themselves. They’ve become quite finicky with paying for church services, so when I had to act, then the illness or injury had to be serious.
Two had major fevers, one had something similar to pneumonia, and the last had diarrhea … ’cause he thought it was smart to sneak a bite from berries he’d never seen before. “Stealing from the lord’s forest” was an actual crime, you know? Ellaine told me so.
Aside from how stupid that guy was, I did manage to heal everybody with [Sanctified Blaze], which not only increased my reputation among the villagers but it also made me 2000 Davi richer.
Honestly, curing their illnesses so quickly was pretty interesting. While these villagers were used to this sight, people on Earth would probably question the authenticity. I didn’t think pneumonia should be this easy to get rid of.
And with all those events behind me, the day of my destiny finally came. My concert. Today, I would leave behind the unconfident girl who always worried about the “perfect” debut, and be reborn as the girl of my dream: Hestia, the Idol!
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“Air Shield! Sanctuary!”
With the activation of two spells, a transparent wind and a yellow glowing barrier expanded away from me—their epicenter. As the two protective spells stood still like a solid wall, I felt reassured that I wouldn’t accidentally set the village on fire … I hoped so.
“The villagers will probably get curious despite our warnings, so can you take care of them?” I called out to Saori who was standing at the entrance of the church area.
In the last two weeks, the amount of time I’ve been able to invest in my idol preparations has been rather disappointing. After all, during the first week, I had to prioritize the meeting with Count Helvas and my remaining time with Master Kush before he left. Ever since the saurians left, I've mostly been spending my time learning about the world from Ellaine. As we would travel to Firwood soon, the information I got would probably become handy.
So, I decided to dedicate my time to preparing my stage in the church area. It was a simple stage made from my terra spells, and while my perfectionist side did make me want to reconsider, I accepted it would be enough for my first stage performance. Still, adding some decorations for flavor was necessary, though.
I was reminded of my time in the Belzac forest where I used to perform to lure in monsters for Saori to power-level whenever I looked at this stage. The special effects I made with my spells back then were simple, as singing and dancing was my focus back then. Not like monsters would appreciate elaborate tricks, right? With my current abilities, though, I had to give it my all.
Hopefully, nobody would disturb me. I did inform the villagers and Colwyn about my plans, so they wouldn’t worry about what I was about to do. As a precaution, Saori would handle any worrywart.
Once Tasianna took a step back, I began spreading my scale-dust spiraling in space like a ballerina, spreading my arms, wings and tail out to accelerate it. There wasn’t a need for this since I had [Pyrokinesis], but it was all about the show; the performance. Once it was done, I lowered my body and let my spare leg trace along the floor as I twirled, acting like a drawing compass, in a way. With a single snap of my fingers, scale-dust burst in flames, sparkling like the flashlights of a paparazzi’s camera!
“Wooo!” I took in this self-made moment, enjoying the made up glamor and prestige of a celebrity. I then lightly slapped my cheeks, took in a deep breath, and curled my hands into fist. “Wooo! Time for work!”
Hype up yourself—check! I wasn’t the dragoness Hestia right now; I was the idol trainee Hestia!
Once I had the correct mindset, I took out a wooden bowl from my storage and inscribed the magic circle for [Shine] on its inside, using [Trap Creation] similarly to how I used to make my bombs. Now, here was the fun part; in addition to that skill, I also used [Delayed Cast].
Normally, if I didn’t want a spell to activate immediately, [Trap Creation] was all that I needed. However, I had to be close to it or have a physical connection to it, since I needed to inject my mana into it to activate these traps. Thankfully, with [Delayed Cast], I could feel something invisible connecting me with it. With [Mana Eyes], I quickly confirmed it was a strand of blue mana.
Urgh. I closed my eyes afterwards, rubbing them as the lingering trace of my scale-dust explosions from before was still around. The amount of mana irritated my eyes, but it didn’t give me a headache, like in the past.
In any case, [Delayed Cast]—one of the four advanced magic techniques from my training with Master Kush—connected a mana strand from my spell to me. As long as I kept feeding the connection with my mana, I could activate the delayed spell remotely from wherever I wanted, albeit, the longer the distance, the more mana I had to use up.
I threw the wooden bowl over to Tasianna and told her to point the opening of the bowl towards me. I turned around and activated the spell. Almost immediately, a bright light shined at my back, casting a large shadow of myself onto the dirty brown snow on the ground. While my body was keeping me warm, seeing how much more snow had fallen since yesterday sent a shiver down my spine.
I then smirked and began using the third advanced magic technique—[Continuous Cast]. I first deactivated the spell, turning the spotlight off, and then successfully reactivated it. This proved that both the advanced casting techniques I was trying to use were working perfectly. Two proper magic techniques, used to create some stage prop, oh, the humanity if a proper mage learned what I was doing with their world’s magic.
Was I glad I learned [Continuous Cast] just in time using Master’s notes. Although … Still, no [Multi-Cast]. Knowing I still couldn’t learn it made the dream of having my parallel minds cast 100 spells all at once slowly disappear in the depths of my mind. What a sour taste, honestly.
Regardless, I would get it eventually, so back to the stage preparation.
I took back the wooden bowl with the [Shine] spell attached and smiled. I had gained a spotlight. Sadly, since I needed [Continuous Cast] to keep the spell active through multiple uses and [Delayed Cast] to turn it on and off, the mana cost would become staggering once I had multiple of these shining down on me. On the flip side, I could have my parallel minds control them with perfect execution.
This meant, though, that I couldn’t perform for an entire night without risking my health. Most K-pop concerts were between one to two hours long, so doing around three songs max would be the best. If I were to perform while the sun was up, though, I would only have to worry about arcane corruption, instead of also my mana and stamina. The performance could just go on!
Maybe for my next concert, I could buy some manatech spotlights. For this one, though, I would have to make do with what I had available.
Next, I had to make the truss, the “roof” of the concert stage, where all the lighting and other decorations were attached to support the concert. Constructing four earth pillars to act as the support was simple, allowing me to place a hardened rock truss on it. I then called Saori for help, and had her grab all the spotlights I had made with our wooden bowls and attach them on the truss, before she went back to the entrance.
I climbed on the stage and started activating all the spotlights in different combinations, testing how much my mana pool could handle while simultaneously scrutinizing the light formation. I had to make sure that wherever I was on the stage I would never be left in the dark. Couldn’t have the star not be in the center of attention, right?
As if I was being supported by a perfect production team, no matter where I went, the lights would turn on and off without a second of delay. It was as if the performer and the team supporting them were 100% in sync. Well, that was of course true since my production team consisted of my parallel minds. They knew what I would do so they were the perfect skeleton crew.
I once again twirled like a ballerina, quickly engulfing the stage in a cloud of scale-dust. The cloud shimmered under the spotlights, giving no indication of how dangerous it would have been without me here to control it. Clattering my claws and swinging my tail around as I began practicing my dance choreography, the scale-dust began to spark with every movement. Thankfully, [Pyrokinesis] was enough to manage everything, reducing the intensity of the tiny explosions to make them seem like a sparkling light veil.
Using my scale-dust, I could fully surround myself with fire. Trails of flames appeared with every flourish of my arms and legs, emitting like an ethereal aura as they burst into existence and quickly faded away, leaving both Tasianna and Saori mystified as they watched me. By increasing the power, I could even unleash an inferno storm to spiral around me.
[Divine Inferno] gave me complete immunity to my own fire spells, but that immunity didn't extend to my burning scale-dust. Still, both my draconic physiology and my high inferno resistance made every explosion feel like a tickle, which would quickly be healed up by my natural regeneration.
[Shine] and my scale-dust will make excellent special effects to complement the show. I can even use some wind and maybe lightning spells to spice things up, I think … On second thought, lightning isn’t needed when I can have my scale-dust act as sparkles.
… That’s all good and so, but still …
“Is something bothering you, Lady Hestia?” Tasianna asked me as she noticed the frown I made after testing a few things out.
“… It’s nothing really. Though … despite everything, I still feel a bit … whelmed.” I scratched my head with my knuckles before dramatically shrugging and throwing my hands up. I wasn’t sure how to explain it to her.
I understood my current situation quite well but I couldn’t help but feel the aesthetic of the stage … lacking. Everything about it was made out of earth using my spells so it couldn’t help but look simplistic in design and color, while the wooden spotlights made it seem cheap.
Creating a wooden stage was impossible by this point. The village was too preoccupied with preparing for winter and I didn’t think Ellaine could hire craftsmen with winter covering the roads in snow to the nearest town. I also found it extremely wasteful to create a wooden stage for a one time thing; I owed a debt to the trees for burning so many of them down during my lifetime … Not, but having a green mindset was reasonable here.
While I could probably transport the built stage in my storage, I didn’t have enough mana to accommodate it and the numerous other trinkets I had inside already. It wasn’t feasible, essentially.
I dunno, maybe it was my former perfectionist tendency hindering me again, but it was kinda hard for me to accept this current stage. Even after adding a catwalk and a B-Stage—the secondary stage usually in the middle of the crowd—I felt dissatisfied. I had this persistent, gnawing sense that something just wasn’t right.
“Hmm.” Tasianna thought over my words for a bit, playing with one of her braids. “Maybe … it’s not the quality, but an item?”
Something item?
Looking confused, Tasianna tilted her a head a bit, conflicted with her own thoughts. She then asked me to go on stage and pose for a bit. “… It might be something I don’t understand about ‘idol concerts,’ but doesn’t the stage feel … a bit lonely?”
“Lonely?” I glanced behind me, noticing all the empty space on the stage. “Well, I am the star of the show. Idols usually have background dancers to fill the area, but unless you or Saori want to dance, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
Saori instantly crossed her arms into an ‘X’ before turning her head away. Meanwhile, Tasianna giggled, stating how fun it would be if we could dance and sing together, even describing us frolicking in a flowerfield or in the air. Still, her icy demeanor towards humans made her aware she couldn’t do it, so she refused.
Instead, she followed up on her thoughts. “Nevertheless, this isn’t what I meant. You see, when we fairies celebrate, we do it with everybody. To create a spectacle worthy of the ‘Wind Mother’ and Goddess Anuiqa. It would feel so dull if you didn’t decorate every nook and cranny with flowers and colors; who would want to celebrate in a dreary wasteland?”
The “Wind Mother” was a respectful term most fairies and wind elves used to address Zephira. Aside from being the Goddess of Wind her other domains were celebrations and travels. Anuiqa, a fairy, was one of the few faefolk gods. She was the Goddess of Festivals and Cooking.
Considering how Zephira’s pantheon was filled with gods governing over daily life aspects, such as the Goddess of Hunts and God of Harvest, it did make me wonder why Aurena was more popular here. We even had Mercurius, God of Mercantilism. Maybe it would be different in Firwood, but it really seemed like Aurena’s faith in this village was carried by the fact she was the patron Goddess of Humans and this nation’s primary religion.
Back to the present, I did agree I could maybe add a bit more flavor to the stage. K-pop concerts usually had digital or physical backgrounds to accentuate the theme of a song, not to mention, stage mist or fires. The idea was to stimulate sight, touch, smell, and hearing to captivate a person. Make them invested in the show, in the performers, and the community around you. That was the true essence of an idol concert; a recipe the industry kept iterating over years and years.
Urgh, I nearly forgot about that! Tch, I’ve been out in the wild too long; got too used to minimalism. I have to think big!
I couldn’t use my flames to color the lights, as the bowls would easily burn with my purple and crimson fire. My white ones proved themselves to be safe—they felt warm but not hot—however, white on white sounded, well, boring. If I couldn’t use my other flames for colored spotlights, then I could use them to wrap myself to turn into a human torch! Er, dragonewt torch.
Wanting to test this idea, I invoked both [White Flames] and [Corrosive Fire]. Heavenly white flames burned in my right hand and deadly dark purple ones in my left. I was still a bit reluctant to use these purple flames, mostly ‘cause I wasn’t sure of its limits yet, but I guess that also applied with [White Flames].
Sure, I made a custom spell out of it, so I understood its main properties—holy elemental fire which could damage and heal. Sadly, that was everything. I had the feeling I was only scratching the surface, though. With [Sanctified Blaze], I should be able to cure anybody affected by [Corrosive Fire] if I dialed down its power, so it was about time I tried using it more.
I snapped my fingers, creating a crimson red flame on my left hand. “Wow,” I exclaimed as both crimson and purple twirled together in unison.
I released the fire in the air, using [Pyrokinesis] to keep it afloat and alive, and then began twisting them together into a spiral of crimson and purple, before finally adding the white flames to them. I held my hand up, and began willing the flames to move. The triple combination of flames spiraled through the air, continuously mixing the color as it flared through the sky. I then expanded this single beautiful wonder while feeding it more mana so it would keep burning in the cold air as it grew, eventually forming it into a flaming dolphin swimming through the sky.
Geez … have I really forgotten how much fun it was to observe my crimson sparks light up? I can’t let some idiotic god of fire ruin the fun I have with my dragon flames. Blame the creator, not the tools …
“Hestia.” Somebody’s voice suddenly broke my trance, redirecting my attention away from the spiral. “Your flames and lights are starting to attract everybody.”
Looking over at where she was pointing, I noticed numerous kids and young teens having assembled at the entrance, watching me with sparkling eyes. Smiling, I waved at them. They flinched back for a moment but quickly gathered themselves, waving at me vigorously before running away.
Cute.
Once my attention was back to Saori, she began listing suggestions to improve the whole design of the stage, to make it feel more alive even if we were working on a budget. One of those suggestions was to weave mana threads around the pillars, hiding the hideous brown with a myriad of bright colors to illuminate the night. I could even activate them and turn the pillars into a light show.
I thought it was crazy to suggest since that meant Saori and Tasianna had an arduous task before them, and I couldn’t imagine them doing that much work. However, Saori and Tasianna simply shrugged off my concern and told me “why not?” It was only the 9th, after all, and my concert was on the 31st.
Speaking of mana threads, Saori also had the brilliant idea of wrapping different colored threads around the bowls, so when [Shine]’s light is emitted, the threads would color the light much like how those colored films are used. Surprisingly, a pretty simple solution. Ten minds, and none of us were able to think of this answer.
Maybe I should take a page from Saori and think more like a fashionista. Feels like my girl power is below zero.
“Wait, you want me to do what with the stage?” After a couple more suggestions, mostly minor things like chiseling the stage a bit, Saori suddenly gave me a pretty wild addition.
“I want Tasianna to turn the floor into ice,” she suggested. “You think the stage is too boring? Well, how about we turn the stage into color itself? The light of the spotlights will enter the ice and mix together, then it will refract it towards the audience. Like a rainbow or a disco. Come on, you can imagine that, right, Hestia?”
“Uh, yeah, of course. That is a pretty great idea but,” I paused for a moment to bring my fire dolphin into Saori’s eyes. “I was planning to incorporate some flames into my performance, especially the second song. I can’t use ice on the ground, it’ll just melt.”
“Hmm, indeed, but you can simply tone the temperature down, no? The fire from your [Sanctified Blaze] doesn’t feel warm, for example,” Saori argued.
I explained how I had thought of using my red and purple flames as colored light sources, but had abandoned that idea when I realized I couldn't control the heat nearly as well as I could with [White Flames]. I believe it was one of the traits of [White Flames], while crimson and purple had to be hot.
Saori placed a finger on her chin, looking confused as she continued, “While I do understand what you mean, that logic only applies if mana were to not exist. I mean, you can keep a fire alive for hours with [Pyrokinesis] without it physically being close to any fuel. I might be presuming because I am not a fire mage but maybe there’s a skill you can buy to do it?”
Hmm, I haven’t looked in the shop in a while. I did get that 3k SP bonus from my evolution, so I might as well use it.
Agreeing to her suggestion, I had my parallel minds immediately go on a search. If I could control fire, then shouldn’t I also be able to control temperature and so on? Unfortunately, similar to how I couldn’t find any exciting skills before my evolution, my shop was once again barren. There were solid sounding ones, but nothing like “Thermokinesis” or “Geokinesis,” or something outlandish like “Phone Summon”.
The shop required me to have some affinity to unlock certain skills, as proven by Saori and Tasianna who both had different selections of skills compared to me. Tasianna was able to outright buy [Ice Magic] and [Cryokinesis] without fulfilling the skill requirements, and Saori had [Mana Weaving] and [Elemental Mana Weave]. In video games, unlocking certain “super” skills always meant doing something crazy. Maybe speaking with a Goddess would count in the future?
Anyway, I could upgrade my skills by spending skill points but I’d rather hold off on that until I got my first Job. After getting my ID in Firwood, the first thing I would do was to get a Job like Tasianna’s [Mage].
… Speaking of skills, what about my [Space-Time Magic]? It has been level four since forever, however, whenever I tried to spend SP to upgrade it, I always receive this notification.
Weird, right? Guess I could just spam [Haste] like my younger days …
After explaining the situation to Saori, she told me to try controlling my flames manually. Like advancing my proficiency with using [Pyrokinesis], I could try controlling the temperatures of my flames to allow them to survive even when “cold.” It was for the good of the show, so I consented.
As purple was my least explored option, I tested it out first. The main way I always used to cool down my fire was to do it the way I learned it from chemistry class—dialing down the number of chemical reactions. However, as the main fuel for my fire was my mana, all I needed to do was reduce the amount of mana.
Yet, that was exactly what I shouldn’t be doing. The temperature of my purple flames was dropping but so was its size. Taking away all the mana would kill the flame or make it less cool looking, but I guess it would be cool enough to not accidentally melt the ice. Compared to how brilliant my white flames could flare up without hurting anybody, this was disappointing to see.
Is there a way to do this? Taking away the mana isn’t gonna help that much, but how should I know how to cool down a fire? Sure, I might be a fire dragon but I have only been one for less than a year, without anybody around me to teach me. I had to experiment and try things out on my own.
Scheiße! Couldn’t Shiterno give me something more usable like knowledge on how to control my fire better? He is supposed to be the almighty fire god, right? Oooh, thinking about him is making me angry again. Urgh, every single time I hear that damn name, my mood just worsens and worsens.
“Hestia!”
“W-wah?!” hearing somebody shouting into my ears, I screamed out in shock, wobbling my head around to find the origin of it.
“Your hand! Control your flames!” Saori shouted.
I obeyed and looked, only to see my once dark purple flames blazing a mix of yellow and purple, surrounding my arm like a gauntlet with the appearance of a dragon claw. The flame was not only exuding a heatwave but was also releasing some purplish fumes into the air. It reeked terribly, and my instincts told me to kill the flames immediately.
Toxic gas!
“Tasianna, get out of the barriers, now!” Saori pushed Tasianna aside and away from us, before pulling her hand over her nose and mouth. “That’s the smell of your toxins, Hestia!”
Since Tasianna’s didn’t have a fully leveled [Poison Resistance], she shouldn’t be breathing in any of it, in case I fucked up something. Since she wanted to save SP and train the skill naturally, she now had to run away.
Before I could do anything, Saori suddenly picked me up around my waist and ran out of the village with [Haste] active. Once we were in the forest, she ordered me to shoot the fire away instead of killing it. Throwing the foul-smelling flames on the ground, it immediately exploded upon contact, releasing not only an explosion of fumes but also bits of solid matter into the air.
Once I blew the terrible smell away, the two of us investigated the area slowly while being cautious of the gasses. My eyes suddenly widened as I noticed a glassy, shimmering black-purple rock on the ground.
“…” The both of us were baffled, staring at the rock as if it was some diamond.
Still, somebody had to break the silence, so I did. “… Hey, Saori, you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“… Yeah, I think so. Is this not the solution to my toxin problem?” she asked, wearily picking up the obsidian before throwing it back to me. “You can make it gaseous, you can use it with your flames, and now we have the option to use it as a sludge, a semi-liquid. We can even store it in its obsidian form depending on how much heat it can take. Try it out.”
Nodding to her suggestion, I closed my palms, slowly increasing my body temperature using my solar core with [Core Regulation]. Once I increased it high enough for my body to feel like it could sweat, the obsidian began to soften a bit. It wasn’t as hard to touch, almost feeling like a sponge before it slowly lost its form.
“Huh, it seems like I can still ‘sweat’ poison,” I uttered as a joke, unable to hide my smile. “Now, I understand why I had that [Young Obsidian Blaze Dragon] option. It wasn’t because of my Kargryxmor bloodline, the option was unlocked because of this skill. Shiterno made it possible. Which means [Young Sunfang Dragon] was unlocked by [White Flames]?”
I took out one of my poison vials and poured the sludge into it, handing it over to Saori as a “present” for helping me find out this interesting fact. With this discovery, I threw away my plans to decorate my stage and took a “day off.” I dispelled the two barriers at the church area and dragged Tasianna into the forest to help me experiment.
… Hey, I was not slacking. The decorating could be pushed back since my two friends wanted to sew some stuff for it. We had, like, three weeks remaining.
We took some time to experiment with [Corrosive Fire], and confirmed that the creation of the obsidian wasn’t just a one-time thing. Superheating it to the point it changed color would exude toxic fumes applying the effect of the poison I mixed with these purple flames. Similar to my [Toxin Secretion], I could reproduce my past poisons and venoms, although they needed higher doses to take effect. Think of those flames like my crimson fire but toxic minerals were added as a “fuel.”
Interestingly enough, this fuel could be extracted from my flames. Using [Pyrokinesis], I could take the flames away from the fuel, turning it back into my crimson flames without a hint of toxin. However, how was this usable? If I wanted to use my normal flames, I could use them normally without also wasting stamina, since it required expending minerals inside my body to create.
My crimson flames were great as a damage source, while white ones were great for healing, and finally, my purple fire could debilitate anybody close to me. A trifecta of damage, healing, and debuffs. Once again, I was back to my one-woman army kinda skill set, which was so satisfying to admit. I honestly thought Shiterno ruined my investments, but it seemed like he was trying to improve on it.
Still won’t forgive you. A warning would’ve been nice!
I knew it. I really was just scratching the surface of my new flames. Their potential was staggering. Not to mention, I didn’t know too much about my scale-dusts, either. One year of living in this world wasn’t enough for me to unravel my biology and skills.
“Hestia, can you make beneficial fumes? Like scented oils or something similar? We can use that in our baths and, oh, sell them to nobles! An endless supply of scented oils sounds like a money maker!” Once again, Saori’s eyes turned golden, figuratively. Her mind could only think of making money right now.
Now, concerning custom spells, I had a few ideas using [Corrosive Fire] as its base. First, a wind-like spell which would release fumes out to weaken the enemies around me the longer the fight lasted. Second, maybe a sludge explosion to spread the poison even more? Third, if this skill was responsible for [Young Obsidian Blaze Dragon] then couldn’t I maybe replicate some of that dragon’s abilities, even if I didn’t know which it has.
Not surprisingly, my first attempts to create any of these spells were a total bust. Without Master Kush here with us, we lost our veteran opinion. From now on, we had to create our spells with our own hands. Even after working for a couple of more days on it, I still couldn’t figure out the chant nor the imagery.
Still, it wasn’t like I would give up. Creating [Sanctified Blaze] took a lot of trial and error and even with Master Kush’s help, it wasn’t made after a couple of days. I mean, I still have so many other ideas for custom spells, especially concerning my [White Flames]. Think of a spell where anybody close to me would immediately heal from my white flames or maybe a miniature white sun? So many options.
Concerning my usage of flames during my concert, I’ve settled with only using my white flames. I wasn’t able to learn how to cool down my crimson and purple flames enough during my practice sessions, melting the ice only a few seconds into the dance.
These two weeks flew by like crazy, with me juggling my time around Ellaine, training, concert preparation, and the villagers. Winter came so fast with snow growing high enough to block our door from being opened. Four villagers even got sick.
Now, from my time with them, if the injury was superficial or the illness was something minor like a cold, they would never ask a priest to grant them the “white grace.” These people weren’t rich and 200 Davi for [Minor Heal] and 500 for [Cure] was already too much for them. Ellaine was paying me for anything magic-related but, ordinarily, the villagers or Colwyn had to pay it themselves. They’ve become quite finicky with paying for church services, so when I had to act, then the illness or injury had to be serious.
Two had major fevers, one had something similar to pneumonia, and the last had diarrhea … ’cause he thought it was smart to sneak a bite from berries he’d never seen before. “Stealing from the lord’s forest” was an actual crime, you know? Ellaine told me so.
Aside from how stupid that guy was, I did manage to heal everybody with [Sanctified Blaze], which not only increased my reputation among the villagers but it also made me 2000 Davi richer.
Honestly, curing their illnesses so quickly was pretty interesting. While these villagers were used to this sight, people on Earth would probably question the authenticity. I didn’t think pneumonia should be this easy to get rid of.
And with all those events behind me, the day of my destiny finally came. My concert. Today, I would leave behind the unconfident girl who always worried about the “perfect” debut, and be reborn as the girl of my dream: Hestia, the Idol!
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