As the days passed by as Igneal continued preparing the portal. One day, in a regretful tone, Igneal explained "The spell will take some time to be completely safe. I don't specialize in this form of magic, so I don't want to drop you off in an unfamiliar environment. So please be patient."
Kai nodded. He was fine waiting, it was better than climbing up to the edge of the mountain.
While Kai trained his Fire magic and chatted with Igneal, he noticed a few things. Igneal exemplified the cliche "Don't Judge a book by its cover." Contrasty to his intimidating appearance, he was kind, patient and warm.
"He reminds of my parents, in the way that they both managed to be tender while scolding me when I do something wrong." As Kai thought so, he suddenly frowned upon remembering an unpleasant memory.
"Those mages along with the bandits deserves worse death than they had suffered." These were Kai's dark thoughts but he was suddenly attacked. Igneal flicked Kai's forehead.
Even though he was gentle, a flick from a dragon was nothing to make light of. Kai was sent flying before trembling to the ground.
"What was that for?" Kai angrily asked when he recovered.
"Kai, Perhaps you're not wrong in that those bandits deserve death." Igneal said.
"Then why did you flick me?" Kai asked shortly
"However, Do not let your heart be clouded with the continuous thoughts of hatred and vengeance. Continue proudly with your life and gain strength to protect those you care about from harm. Along the way, you will face dangerous situations, maybe even worse than the ones have already survived already but don't let negative thoughts like rage and grief corrode your heart. Move on and learn from those experiences, better yourself so that they won't happen again."
Kai blinked, a bit surprised to be lectured by a being said to be the epitome of destruction. But Igneal's words struck a chord within Kai and he responded with a blank nod.
As the time passed, Kai noticed Igneal's movement becoming sluggish. At first, Kai didn't notice it, however, it was becoming more noticeable. Igneal even tried to hide it but it was growing more and more obvious.
Noticing Kai's concerned gaze, Igneal said "Don't worry, child. This happens from time to time so pay it no mind."
One day, while Kai was training using his magic, Igneal suddenly interrupted "Try channeling natural mana into your spells."
"Eh?" Kai asked with a look of confusion.
"Channeling natural mana into your spells, it allows you to generate something known as True magic."
"True magic?" Kai asked while tilting his head. It's a cute act of a penguin.
"By focusing mana of nature into your spells, it allows you to generate the real element of the magic, which is known as True magic. For example, Let's say a mage who uses lightning magic focuses mana of nature into his spells, his lightning magic becomes True Lightning Magic and generates real lightning. Because it utilizes the vast amount of mana in nature, the strength of the resulting spell is far beyond what the mage would be able to produce by themselves." Igneal explained
"In order to do so, you must form runes out of natural mana and arrange them to form instructions for your magic to follow, such as "pursue the target" or "grow bigger". These arrangements can be applied directly to a spell or be formed into a larger magic circle. Simple instructions only require simple arrangements, but larger, more complex designs can create more powerful spells and effects." Igneal added
"From what you explained, it doesn't seem like it's doing to be easy." Kai said
"No it's not, but considering your talent for mana manipulation, it shouldn't be a problem for you. It's the same reason why you were able to use mana and magic despite having a defective core (Origin), most mages won't be able to do so." Igneal said shortly.
"Is that so, then I will try my best." Kai said with a look of confidence. But he wondered why he never heard of such a method, it wasn't recorded in any books in the towns library.
Months passed as Kai kept Igneal company, telling stories about himself and the town he was born in and continued to improve in the mana technique thanks to Igneal's instructions.
Igneal didn't reveal the name of the technique to him so Kai decided to name it himself: The Mana method. He didn't only train his magic during this time, he also trained his body. To use magic efficiently, one must be in top condition. Needless to say, he has made noticeable improvement. Before he had a skinny body, but he now had a lean and muscular build.
It would be understatement to say that Kai had grown close to Igneal. Igneal treated Kai like his own blood and in response, Kai had grown attached to Igneal.
Because of their growing relationship, Kai couldn't simply ignore what was happening. It was crystal clear that, as the portal that would take he home became more distinct, Igneal's condition was getting worse.
Especially on one bad night, after Igneal vomited a pool of blood, Kai couldn't hold back his concern.
"Igneal please tell me what's happening to you, why is your condition getting worse? it wasn't like this before. You said you become like this from time to time but it's obviously a lie. This isn't going away on its ow.." Kai paused as the dawn of realization struck him.
"Why didn't i notice before? he was getting worse while creating the portal. In order to send me home. He was sacrificing his life to send me back."
Igneal let out a deep breath, knowing that Kai has realized what was going on.
"Yes Kai, I'm dying. But I will get angry if you blame yourself, thinking that you caused this. I've been dying for quite a while now. You are doing me a favor allowing me to leave this forsaken cave earlier." Igneal said with a sheepish smile.
Just when Kai was about to say something, he was suddenly pushed back, Igneal used one of his claws to pierce Kai's chest, where his mana core was.
A sharp yelp escaped Kai's mouth as he blinked, confused and surprised. Kai continued to stare at Igneal as he drew his claw back, leaving a trail of blood from the hole in his shirt. Kai's sternum had bled, but when he placed his hand over the area, there was no pain.
Suddenly, a mind-numbing pain took over him.
Kai felt like he was strapped to an electric chair, only he couldn't die, while simultaneously being struck by hundreds of hammers and needles on every inch of his body.
Inside Kai's body, mana raged as his body, organs, bone and even his blood started becoming refined. At the same time, multiple dragon-like scales appeared and disappeared on Kai's skin, while his eyes became reptilian before that receded as well. Within his throat, Kai felt a burning sensation akin to swallowing the sun as he endured.
Throughout all of this, Kai stayed conscious. He could only focus on the pain he felt and the sensation of his body essentially becoming a flesh bag and then being healed back to normal over and over again.
Seconds turned into minutes which felt like hours to Kai, and then the pain suddenly stopped.
"Haa..haa.."
Kai caught his breath the torture he was forced to endure almost made him insane, but now that the pain didn't cloud his mind, he could feel what happened to him.
His eyesight along with the rest of his senses has immensely sharpened and his body was on a completely different level. He felt that he had become a bit stronger and faster than he was before.
Igneal's expression had become visibly pained and weak, it was apparent even for a mighty dragon. Perhaps most notably, his once shimmering yellow irises were now just a dim yellow.
Kai opened his mouth to ask what he had done but Igneal interrupted him.
"I know you have a lot of questions but everything will reveal itself when the time comes." After saying so, Igneal bought out a white scarf decorated with scale-like patterns and gave it to Kai.
"Take this as something to remember me by." Igneal said with a smile as Kai wore the scarf around his neck.
"I'll open the portal now," he whispered, his eyes solemn. "I don't have enough power to make it go directly to your home, it should take you to a place with humans nearby." Igneal said so
"Igneal, come with me, there has to be a way to heal." Kai begged.
"I cannot go with you. Plus I can't be healed with any healing magic. My soul was taken by the black dragon in the past so I can't be cured" Igneal wiped Kai's cheeks with a claw and a gentle smile appeared on his face.
"You once asked me why I chose to save you. The truth is, it was to satisfy my own greed. I wanted to you as my own, even if it was just for a little while. I intentionally prolonged the transportation spell, because I wanted to spend more time with you. I'm sorry, Kai, for my selfishness- but I have one last request to make. Will you call me 'grandfather' just this once." Igneal requested.
"I don't care about that, but I will say it as much as you want if you come with me. Grandpa I can't let you die like this, not like this." Kai said so as he desperately tried to pull Igneal's claw with him.
In the next moment, Igneal's face blossomed into a smile as he pushed Kai through the portal.
"Thank you, my child."