95: Testing

Pulling out the salt crystal, turning it in my hands.

I had only used it on Lily’s food since the day it nearly destroyed my mana channels, but if all it took was to purify it…

I used Transformation on it, watched as the blue glow appeared and faded. Looking up, I saw Liane watching me with a guilty smile, and it only took a second before Jen threw her hands up.

“There’s no way to stop this happening, is there?” Jen asked, defeated.

Liane put on her best hurt look. “This is important to test, and we have everything ready to go if it goes bad!” she tried to reason.

“We also know that this was enough to push Trev to paralysis. I don’t know exactly how much mana Trev has, but it’s more than you,” Jen countered in a stern voice.

“Trev also didn’t know to burn off mana, or what was going to happen,” Liane tried to counter.

“You have what, fifty mana? What if it ticks up mana faster than you can burn it, even with your ability? No—this time I’m going to have to put my foot down and say we can’t risk it. We’re too far from anyone capable of helping you, with a possible angry army only a day away,” Jen said, her tone final.

“Forty, and Fine.” Liane mumbled and handed the crystal back to me.

I was surprised when Milo grabbed it from my hand.

“She might not, but I can. Let’s go outside first so that if I need to burn mana quickly, I am able to,” he said, heading toward the entrance.

Micca had just been watching the exchange with rapt attention, she quickly got to her feet to follow him outside. Jen said something I couldn’t quite make out and ended up following Milo as well.

Liane looked like she’d won a prize, even if she wasn’t the one trying the salt.

As we all came outside, Hari’s attention immediately turned to us.

“What did she do?” Hari asked before Liane had a chance to answer.

“What? I didn’t do anything this time!” Liane said from behind Milo, trying not to look guilty.

“That’s not entirely true,” Milo began. “Trevor realised that he could purify the drake and make it safe to consume, so now we are testing the salt since it’s also been purified. But first I needed to burn off a bunch of mana,” Milo explained, handing the salt to Jen, who appeared on his right.

“Are you sure about this?” Hari asked; concern was clear in his voice. In the background, I noticed both George and Darren had weapons in their hands, which surprised me—I didn’t expect George to start today.

“Well, I wouldn’t have been if I didn’t just see drake get purified, and I suspect if we don’t do this safely, our wild child over there will do it behind our backs at some stage,” Milo said, gesturing to Liane when he mentioned ‘wild child.’

She put on her best fake-outraged face, but there was no hiding the smile behind it.

“Fine. Just be safe, please.” Hari sighed and turned back to George and Darren.

Milo walked off to the side, moving to where there was nothing around him, before he started to unload spells in dramatic fashion. I just watched in awe as giant pillars of stone appeared and crashed into the ground, or the very earth itself erupted into jagged stone spikes.

Micca had come to my side and was watching in absolute amazement as the massive display of power continued. Even Darren and George had stopped whatever training Hari had started as a gale formed between the spikes—followed by an absolutely colossal piece of stone forming above the spikes, and crashing down with a deafening boom.

The dust cloud that was kicked up from that attack then seemed to collect and condense into a ball before forming into small stone spikes and exploding outward.

I knew Milo was powerful, but seeing this display really put things into perspective—just how strong they all were.

I couldn’t see anything surviving those attacks, yet I knew from experience just how powerful some creatures could get now.

Before long, Milo had seemingly used enough mana. Dusting his hands off, he turned back to us with a smile on his face.

“Right, let’s try this salt then, shall we?” he said happily.

I thought he would lick the crystal like I had, but he took a much better approach and scraped off the corner of it, gathering a little on a knife, then placing it in his mouth. He handed the crystal back to Jen—presumably in case he needed to burn mana.

But after a short pause… nothing. Milo didn’t cast anything.

He was smacking his lips together, though. “Strange,” he muttered.

“I think you’ve purified it. There’s no mana generation, but it’s made my lips tingle—and there’s a spice to it, as well as the expected saltiness. Very strange,” he muttered again, pulling out a notebook.

Stolen novel; please report.

I had to chuckle, but already Liane was over by Jen, clearly trying to try it herself.

Then she stopped. Her eyes shot wide as she turned to face me.

“The dragon!” she said excitedly.

“No.” Hari’s voice cut through.

“It’s one thing to try these rare ingredients, but we’re high enough level that we’d probably survive if it goes wrong. That dragon is of legendary quality. If it goes wrong, there is no saving you—you will die. Absolutely not,” he said angrily, before turning to me.

“Trevor, no one but Lily or an equally powerful creature eats the dragon. Is that clear?” Hari said in a very stern voice that brooked no argument.

I just nodded. I wasn’t about to argue otherwise or try my luck on this issue.

I heard Liane mutter, “No fun.”

But Jen immediately hit her on the back of the head. “He’s right, you know. Don’t push your luck.”