As was with nature. All things that went up had to go down. After enough time, things would stabilize and return to normal as usual.

The same thing happened with his and Ellen’s friendship. For the first week after the end of their game, neither had been able to even look at each other in the same room. Until Erin barged in again and forced them back together.

But now, everything was as it should’ve been. Neither he nor Ellen were doing any odd or questionable activity, and their schedule was looking relatively free for the next few months. No more of him or Ellen trying to embarrass the other, just normalness.

Telling Lily about the illusion spell was also a great decision. Now, the whole academy believed that they didn’t actually do that.

Of course, it was only after he showed Arthur that he finally managed to get most of the convincing done. He might have been a troublemaker, but he wasn’t a liar. He was just very good at twisting the truth to benefit himself.

Since Arthur was a reliable source, most people believed him when he said it was an illusion. Which was a good thing for his own mental sanity.

So while it had caused some slight drama, in the end. Everything was still the same.

Still the same.

Setting him and Ellen aside, today was an extremely important day. Not for any of her plans to become stronger nor were there any important events in the past timeline that she planned to change the outcome of. But rather, it concerned Erin.

"I can go to school?!"

Her red eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Yes. But there are a few conditions that you need to listen to if you want to go okay?"

"Okay!"

Raymond had to wait for when Erin finally calmed down and stopped shaking before he could explain the conditions. Mainly because in her state of extreme excitement, her ears basically shut off all outside noise.

"First. You can’t tell anyone about your horns, or your tail, or your wings."

Given that Erin had been in human morph for so long, yet still kept those particular features. It was safe to say she wouldn’t ever be able to achieve a true perfect human morph for quite a while.

Plus, with how rare dragons were. Hiding this was extremely important.

She frantically nodded her head up and down. "Mmh!"

"Second, you have to listen to your teachers at school."

Given Erin’s less then ideal attitude sometimes. They didn’t really want to cause any trouble for the school.

"Finally, you need to do something for me first."

She tilted her head at the last request.

Sienna, who had been watching the interaction from afar. Took this as her opportunity to step up. Holding a glowing blue flower in her hand, she carefully held it up to Erin.

"This is a Wave Rushing Flower. You need to eat it and circulate your mana to get rid of the blockage that’s affecting you."

Schools on Terra were quite different then what they used to be, especially for students who had the talent to manipulate mana.

For Erin, who was suffering from a mana blockage. It was basically like entering a school for athletes with two broken legs.

Or she could enter a regular school. But the thought of a noble creature like a dragon going to a regular school for non awakened where she wouldn’t make use of her natural gifts was...

Flare would probably scold Raymond if he ever found out.

’You sent a red dragon to a public school?!’

Well, he was all the way in a different dimension anyways. So he probably wouldn’t find out unless Raymond chose to meet up with him again.

"Eat it?"

"Yes. And circulate your mana. I assume Raymond taught you how to do so?"

She nodded in confirmation.

Holding the glowing blue flower in her hands, Erin stared at the light it emitted. Hesitant on whether or not to eat it.

Not because she was scared, but because she didn’t like her vegetables.

Eventually, she managed to muster up the courage to eat it (with a lot of encouragement required). Putting it in her mouth with an expression as if she was eating pure garbage. With each chew looking strenuous.

Honestly, was eating vegetables really that hard?!

Then again, it seemed like ever dragon he knew was a carnivore. Even if they were omnivorous creatures by nature.

While Erin proceeded to circulate the mana in the flower through her body, Sienna turned to him next.

"I believe I’ve found a way for you to enter the elven realm."

"Really?"

Raymond had just made that request to Sienna as more of a hail Mary rather then actually expecting any results.

The term isolationist fit the elves the best. Shut-in and recluse were close seconds though.

"A few dwarves recall meeting with elves during the Convergence of Realms. They still have a few methods to communicate with those elves in particular."

"Let me guess, there’s a catch?"

"Out of all the dwarves capable of communication with the elves. Only one has shown willingness to let you use it."

Raymond actually had a few friendly interactions with dwarves back on Erde. Unfortunately, they weren’t the best at creating wands or staffs. So Raymond never got to try the famed dwarven craftsmanship.

He did commission a full suit of armor for Valerie as a favor when he returned to Erde once. But that was about it.

That commission also costed him a significant amount. He didn’t exactly have a lot of money, and had to resort to bartering with goods instead. This was despite the fact that they supposedly ’lowered’ the price a lot for him, with everything he had done for them on Erde.

Just thinking of all those precious resources he had to give away..!

With that in mind, if Raymond wanted to communicate using the dwarves. It would definitely cost just as much.

"What does he want in exchange?"

"...are you sure you want to know?"

"I’m sure."

For the next minute, his instructor proceeded to list out so many different items. That the combined value of them all would have made even Rayez spit his drink out.

"All that just to use his communication?"

"He’s willing to negotiate."

Negotiate, to jack up the prices even more probably!

But Raymond still had to play along, once he got access to what he had stored. He would be able to recover his strength much faster, compared to now. Where it would still take another few months before he recovered his second circle.

"Any conditions?"

"He’s willing to lower the price if you can offer him things he has never seen before."

"Things he’s never seen before. That would have to be something that’s extremely rare and valuable already. How in the world is that considered lowering the price?"

Items a dwarf had never seen before. If Raymond had access to his safe houses. He could easily solve the problem.

He needed the dwarf to communicate with the elves in order for him to get access to his safe house, and in order to get the dwarf to do so. He needed items from his safe house...

An infinite loop with no answer.

Relying only on items within this dimension, it would practically force Raymond to go broke trying to afford it all.

"He’s also willing to lower the price if you help him. He’s been looking for a mage who can teach him any inscription magic."

"Inscription magic?"

Raymond rubbed his chin at that. Inscription magic was simply the broad term for magic which didn’t rely on the individual’s level. Engravings, enchantments and runes being the main branches.

Admittedly, Raymond himself wasn’t actually all that good in inscription magic. It was just that being an Archmage made him good at all magic. But in front of actual masters, he still fell short.

It was like how all pro athletes were...athletic. But they were athletic in different ways. Some were stronger, some were faster and some were built more for endurance.

Then again, he also used Erde’s system of magic. Which was much more refined and developed then Terra’s.

"That’s acceptable, is he fine with me teaching him?"

Sienna raised an eyebrow, "Don’t think of him as a fool. He wants to learn high-level inscription magic, not the simple things that you could teach him."

Right, Raymond had forgotten. But he wasn’t exactly an Archmage now.

No one would believe that he had the skills necessary. Which was annoying.

"Let’s just assume that I do have the skills necessary. Would he be okay with me teaching him?"

"...I’ll need to ask. Dwarves tend to be quite discriminatory so don’t expect a good result."

"That’s fi-

BOOM

While Raymond and Sienna casually discussed with each other. A certain dragon behind them had been struggling to channel her mana, with the blockage in her body. Just simply letting it cycle a few times should have been enough to eat away and dissolve the blockage.

Except...they forgot to tell Erin. Who, not knowing had to do. Simply tried to force the mana through the blockage with as much power as she could output.

Which ended up being quite a lot.

Staring at the crumbling circular hole in the wall. Big enough for two people to walk in side by side. Raymond let out a sigh, wondering how to explain this to Ellen.

She looked back at the two of them, anxious at the thought of the reprimand she was about to receive.

Only for Raymond to just put a hand on her head and comfort her.

"Am I in trouble?"

"...no."

...at least the blockage was gone. That was more important then a wall.

Although seeing the cracks that were slowly spreading. Raymond was starting to think that the wall was maybe a bit more important then he had assumed.