As my awareness slowly stretched out as the pain faded, I finally became able to think again.
'What the hell just happened?'
I opened my 'eyes', seeing the same dream realm as before.
The last thing I remembered was the fractal of light flying into me, and heat burning into me-
"KEEEEEEEEIIIIIIH!" I squeaked agony at the mere attempt to remember what just happened.
Okay. Ouch.
I looked at my star and-
'Wow. That's... bigger.'
I mean I guess it wasn't super huge in comparison?
It was a noticeable growth, but it's not like my magic doubled or anything.
Also I could now say that the light element was definitely the most present within my star, seeing as there was twice as much of it as any other.
Okay my star had 4 elements... one doubles... it grew by 1/4th of its original size!
I flew towards it trying to investigate.
'Any earth, any earth, nope, no earth.'
"Sigh." Well that's disappointing. I was hoping some earth got in too... but I think I figured out how I'm supposed to strengthen my body.
I'm supposed to NUKE MYSELF with an element. Okay.
'Yeah no. Can I find an easier way? Pain is just an old friend, but he seems to be bringing lots of company recently. Agony and Torment are okay, Obliteration and Death not so much.'
Well I had a better understanding of light now.
For some reason it wasn't thinking of light as creation or life or the source of soul, but it was merely realizing it to be a fuel for life to grow that allowed it to merge with me.
I need to think more on that.
I looked around.
What should I do now? I can't leave, I can't wake up, I don't want to mess with my star...
Should I practice magic? I don't exactly have great control over it seeing as magic is still new to me as a tool.
Instinctual magic or explosions are a lot different than a spell.
Fusion is just enhanced movement, but laying a trap like earlier requires practice I've had very little of, so seeing as all the elements I have are present here... this is a good practice space.
Now if only I had a sparring partner-
I swung my head to the clouds of air magic.
'Kire is here now?'
I immediately flew over.
I flew down to see Kire lying on a platform of wind he manipulated to support himself.
"Oh there you are. Wondering when you'd come."
[Are you... okay?]
"Yeah. Tired. Lots of dinner, lots of talking, meetings with people, propaganda speeches being planned."
[That sounds awful.]
Kire nodded limply.
Oh shit wait. We sleep to recover our mental state... if I'm still aware in my mana realm or dream realm(CAN ANYBODY HELP ME FIND A PROPER NAME FOR THIS SPACE?) then how do I actually rest?
I observed Kire and how his body here is made out of his will and spirit...
So his exhaustion shone clear in how he seemed slightly misty at the edges, a bit less in focus and more fuzzy, out of focus.
However as I watched something in the energy of this place seemed to be feeding into him, his body coalescing as we waited.
This space was simply emptiness with the star and Magic's around it.
Yet some aspect of energy in that space was healing his psyche, replacing the need for sleep?
No... if it's healing him it's probably healing me too.
So there shouldn't be adverse effects... I think.
[Kire, you aren't very good at magic right?]
He craned his head at me. "What?"
[If I had to guess, you usually act using air and water magic fusion, enhancing your body to fight with elemental effects added to attacks and empowering you.]
"...wow you speared that."
I froze, tilting my head.
What? Is that like... a euphemism? Like "nailed it"?
[Uh... sure. But you know you could probably learn spells and such to properly use magic right?]
He nodded. "Yeah I can't even use level 1 spells."
[...yes. Right. Can you uh. Explain.]
He flinched upright, sitting up to look at me properly and converse.
"Oh... I guess you just like. Use magic."
Yeah I'm not going to tell a human who I don't actually know that a multi-elemental dragon hatchling is nearby who doesn't know any actual spells and just reactive magic.
"Well... spells are categorized in 5 levels, so usually you just say which level a spell is, but each level does have an actual name."
[Which are...?]
"How would I know? I know that level 0 is usually called Instinctive Magic, or Reactive Magic, but I don't know if that's the actual name. Any magic not set up as an actual spell is level 0."
[Well I guess you better figure out how to make level 1 spells fast.]
He raised an eyebrow. "Why should I learn fa-BY THE SAINTS!"
He screamed as he threw himself away with air magic and air fusion while my icicle staggers sliced through where he'd lay from below.
"WHAT THE FU-"
He got cut off as I shifted the charge of the clouds around us, causing lightning to chain through the clouds like a serpent flying straight at him!
"...I didn't ask for this." Kire muttered in defeat before gathering moisture into a ribbon he wrapped around him before leaving an end pointed at me.
The water worked like a lightning rod to redirect the lightning!
He knew he could use the salts in the water to redirect electricity? HOW THE HELL DOES A PEASANT SOLDIER LEARN THAT SHIT?
I casually changed my own charge to repel the charge of the electricity, causing it to bend away and around me following the curvature of a magnetic field.
'...wow. I think this is the first moment I have FELT like a spellcaster! Like damn.'
Kire got caught up in the flow now, sending his own barrage of icicle blades formed from rain frozen to hail and propelled by water magic and the wind current behind it.
[In an environment full of air magic, you attack with water magic?]
I sneered mentally, my derision transmitted by the emotions bleeding into his mind through my message, as I gathered air into a solid wall of gas.
Kire smirked as a small spark of lightning flickered in his hand, spreading down thin water wires connected to the icicles embedded in my air wall.
'Oh fuck-'
The lightning charged into the gases I held using the different icicles as cathodes and anodes to jump through, adding thermal energy to the gas I'd forced to solidify.
The solidified gas melted as the molecules moved into motion once again, my remnant magic and his lightning making it liquid, and as I released it his will came over it to replace mine, as he threw the now-liquid gas at me!
I flapped my wings to dodge aside with air fusion.
'Huh, he thinks he's smart? I don't know how you learned so much of how physics works, but I'm the one who's a physics student here!'
Water, moisture pooled together with no salts, completely pure.
I swept through his liquid and water with my purified water, disrupting the flow of electricity as it couldn't pass through the water if it had no salts to conduct it.
'Alright, time to start showing what I've been experimenting with.'