Book 2: Chapter 83 (1/2)

“How much longer until we reach the phoenix nest?” Vur asked a dwarf who was riding in a carriage beside him. He was lying down on Lulu’s forehead with his head turned to the side. A day had passed since the phoenix matriarch was beaten back, but his mana still hadn’t recovered. When he inspected why his recovery was so slow, Sheryl had apologized and said she needed a lot for her evolution.

“About three days at the pace we’re going, Your Gloriousness,” the dwarf said. Since Vur had transformed into a dragon and defeated the phoenix matriarch by himself, the dwarves accompanying him stopped referring to him as a substitute. Some even chose to believe he was actually a dwarf who enjoyed polymorphing himself into a human.

Vur grunted, causing Lulu to cross her eyes and look towards her forehead. “Will you recover by then?” she asked.

“Yes,” Vur said. “I only need a few more hours. My mana should’ve came back after sleeping yesterday, but it was borrowed.”

“Sorry!” Sheryl said from the yellow runes on his shoulder. They were brighter than before with hints of feather-like patterns inside the sun. “But your mana capacity will definitely increase when I become a volcano elemental. Your fire and heat resistance will increase too!”

“Oh,” Lulu said and sighed. “Then why’d it take you two weeks to wake up last time you became a dragon?”

“That was a regular nap,” Vur said.

“Oh,” Lulu said again. “Makes sense. Darn. I made this potion that recovers mana, but I have no idea how it’ll affect someone if they drink it. I was hoping you’d be desperate enough to test it out.”

“Huh?” Stella asked from where she was sitting on Vur’s chest. “You made a potion that recovers mana, but you don’t know what it’ll do? How do you know it recovers mana?”

“Well,” Lulu said scratched her ear. “I put in ingredients that recover mana and mixed them together, and the cauldron didn’t explode. If the individual parts all recover mana, then the final product should too, right? But sadly, that’s not how the real world works, and things can change when mixed with other things. Which is why I want a test subject.”

“Have you considered drinking it yourself?” Stella asked with a snort. “Dumb lizard.”

Lulu blinked. “Someone’s in a bad mood,” she said. “Woke up on the wrong side of Vur’s chest, did you?”

Stella snorted again, but she closed her eyes and didn’t respond, crossing her arms over her chest. Vur frowned at the fairy queen and poked the back of her head, causing her to yelp and fall over face first. “What’s wrong?” Vur asked. “Hungry?”

“A woman’s anger is not always due to hunger,” Stella said and shook her fist at Vur before sitting up and fixing her hair that had fallen over her face. She sighed and lowered her head, biting her lower lip. “I’m just upset. Memories of my previous self keep coming back, but there’s something missing—something very, very big that explains why I’m so angry all the time.” She raised her head, meeting Vur’s eyes. “What happened to me, Vur?”

“You nearly destroyed the world,” Vur said as he sat up, catching Stella with his palm before she could fall off his body.

Stella blinked. She squinted at Vur’s face before tilting her head. “I didn’t know you knew how to make a joke,” she said. “Doesn’t that count as a lie?”

“Dragons don’t lie,” Vur said with a nod.

“We don’t?” Lulu asked from under him. “Are you sure about that? Luke deceives Mom all the time when he runs off to see his girlfriend.”