The good news was that he could fly. The bad news was that he didn’t want people to know about his kinetic affinity. Therefore, he might as well not be able to fly at all, and so he found himself falling out of the sky, waving his arms wildly.

Thankfully, he wasn’t completely out of options, and he sent several concentrated bursts of aura toward his feet. It worked… somewhat. It was nothing like using his kinetic energy, and he had no idea how to fly using his aura. He floated for a little bit, but he also ended up flipping his body around in circles. He managed to dampen his downward acceleration and unelegantly splashed into the lake rather than body-slamming into it.

He didn’t have time to gather his thoughts because the creature who had tossed him up into the sky was waking up. And they didn’t seem very calm about it. Powerful pulses of aura and mana blasted into him. Massive waves created by their giant body rocked him back and forth. He quickly got himself to the shore. Seraphyne had joined him, and together, the two of them watched as the enormous snake-like creature emerged from the lake.

The previously dull, lifeless scales were now shining brightly; the blueish-green hue shimmered beautifully in the sun. The entire creature sparkled as the iridescent water trickled from its body.

The inner disciples of the sect were already on high alert; all of them had their skills activated and weapons charged with mana. Though they weren’t making any moves to attack. He was glad they had chosen to do so as well. It meant he wasn’t the only person who felt the danger exuded from the monster.

While it was clearly still injured, it was obvious they were in the presence of a powerful Tier 5 monster. Julius would have even dared to say that the creature was on the same level as the bird he had interacted with in the forest. Perhaps, even more powerful, which was a scary prospect. Thankfully, it was injured, so he doubted it would be able to bring its full power to bear. With that being said, Julius doubted it would need to rely on that to take care of their little assembled group.

He looked on as the creature’s head finally emerged from the lake. The head was just as large as the rest of its body, and to be honest, it was quite a shocking sight. The head was vaguely snake-like. It was sharp like a viper’s head, almost triangular. But there were several large differences. For one, he didn’t think snakes had horns.

This creature had many horns adorning the top of its head. There were five really large ones that protruded, but dozens of smaller ones that filled the gap. Some of these horns were broken and chipped. Whatever had fought this creature had clearly done some extensive damage.

However, it was the eyes that really drew his attention. Large and bright. Golden orbs of light that shone with power. It was like they could see directly into your soul. And at the moment, they were levied at Julius.

The creature was staring at him intensely. He wasn’t a psychic like Lily, so he had no idea what it was thinking. He was hoping that it was more of a grateful look, rather than an “I’m going to eat you” look.

He didn’t want to get eaten.

The snake was still staring at him, not moving a muscle, just hovering over his much smaller form. Feeling awkward and uneasy, he opened his mouth before he could help himself.

“I’m not worth eating. I’m too small and don’t have enough meat on my bones,” he said with an awkward smile.

He still didn’t get a reaction, and he spotted the disciples of the sect slowly packing up their things. They didn’t seem to have any plans to come and help him. From the looks of it, they were ready to leave as soon as they could.

These motherfuckers...

In fact, he spotted a couple of inner disciples already grabbing Albertus, who looked like the only person who wanted to stay. They tried to grab him, but he fought with all his strength. The flamboyant guy had two fists full of herbs and was trying to hit them with the bushels.

They wrestled with him for a few moments, but it was clear the alchemist wasn’t a fighter, and they restrained him without causing too much more of a commotion. Mavis tried to say something, but they grabbed her too before she could try to help.

Aaron looked like he wanted to help, but seeing that nobody else was planning to stay, he hesitated. Finally, it was Nora who pulled him away, and with one last apologetic glance, they were already halfway back to the canyon they entered from, pretending that he didn’t even exist. He stared at them in disbelief. Were they really going to just leave him behind like this? Was this how the Burning Sun Sect treated their honored guests? Just leave them to face a massive snake alone?

Before he knew it, the entire group had fled back into the canyon, and he was left entirely alone, stuck having a staring contest with the giant monster.

***

Julius and the monster continued to stare at each other for a while longer. It became so long that he eventually got comfortable and even sat down. He was still a little wet, so he used some fire mana to dry himself off. He also put on some clothes. Getting glared at by a big snake was bad enough, but it felt even more awkward when he wasn’t wearing any pants.

He glanced over at Seraphyne, who was waiting beside him.

“What’s going on? I’m really confused here. Is it just going to stare at me all day?”

She held her little flippers up. “I’m not sure. I don’t think she wants to eat you, though.”

“That’s promising. Wait, how do you know she’s a ‘she’? As a matter of fact, why did you have me heal her in the first place?”

“She’s similar to me in that she is part spirit. I’m not sure if she was born this way, or simply evolved to this point, but I could feel it when I got close enough,” she explained.

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“And that is enough reason to help a stranger and a potentially deadly monster?”

She looked at him with a frown. “Why not? Spirits by nature are not evil beings.”

She explained it in such a matter-of-fact way that he didn’t know how to respond, so he shrugged instead. “So what now?”

“Now we wait. I think she is still healing and needs time. Your healing skill made sure she didn’t die, and so I believe she will be pretty grateful to you.”

“Oh, nice.”

While Julius waited for the snake to do something, he decided to eat a little snack. He opened up his lunchbox and found himself a sandwich to eat. He munched on it and even shared it with Drasil, who had come out the moment he heard food was involved.

Eventually, the snake started moving again. The massive body shifted, and water splashed everywhere. Julius was halfway through his sandwich and quickly covering it in three separate barriers of mana so that the bread didn’t get soggy.

The eyes that had been staring at him finally blinked. They were surprisingly expressive, and he could see confusion as well as curiosity bloom in those large irises.

“You’re the one who healed me?” a soft female voice asked him. It might have been soft, but there was a vast and regal tone to it.

“Yep.”

"You don't seem very scared to be in my presence," she noted with a squint of her eyes.

He tilted his head. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, but most humans would be."

"I don't see why. You seem like a kind lady." He was being completely genuine, too. Despite his original worries, he didn't sense any malice from her.

She seemed amused by his words. "You also carry a unique mark on your hand. Do you know what it means?"

He shrugged. "The guy who gave it to me said that other creatures of the forest would consider me a friend. Why? Is there something else?"

“No, but I guess that is a good enough explanation. What is your name, child?”

“It’s Julius.” He was surprised at the turn of events, but he had dealt with weirder things, and so he went along with it.

The head bowed to him. “Thank you, Julius. My name is Velmora Brightscales, first of my name. I would have died without your aid.”

He smiled and waved her off. “No worries. And it should be Seraphyne you should be thanking. She’s the one who asked me to heal you.”

Velmora bowed once more to Seraphyne. “Thank you, young spirit. I am forever in your debt.” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Seraphyne bowed her tiny turtle head in response. “The pleasure was mine, Velmora Brightscales. But if I may be so rude, might I ask how you ended up in such a dire state?”

Velmora craned her neck back and looked off into the distance. “I was fighting a horde of corrupted beasts. Normally, it wouldn’t have been an issue, but they were stronger than your typical corrupted beasts.”

Julius frowned. “Corrupted beasts?”

Was it a coincidence? Or was it something else? They were pretty far away from where he had entered that corrupted rift. The odds were that this was entirely unrelated, but it still drew his attention.

“Yes, there was someone else as well. A human,” Velmora added, finally showing some anger.

Julius furrowed his brow. Corrupted monsters were one thing, but being led by a human? That was truly unusual.

“How’d you end up here?” He asked, deciding that he could figure out that particular issue at another time. Currently, he needed to figure out how he was going to deal with this massive serpent standing in front of him.

“During my escape, I found this little valley and tried to hide. But my wounds were too great, and so I hid myself in the lake to heal. But the corrupted energy was too much for my wounded body to handle. Thankfully, you came along and helped get rid of it before I succumbed to my injuries.”

“Do you need more healing?”

Her eyes widened in amazement. “You still have enough mana to heal me? I would have thought you would have run dry already.”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a lot, but I can replenish some mana and heal you some more. It looks like you haven’t completely healed yet.”

Her scales were vibrant and somewhat healed, but there were still scores of injuries over her body. Her horns were cracked, and there was one particularly large wound on her upper neck. It had stopped bleeding, but there was still a gaping pit in it.

“I can’t possibly accept. You have already done enough for me, young Julius.”

He rolled his eyes and waddled over to her while uncorking a mana potion, dumping it down his throat. The feeling was just as unpleasant as always, but he felt his mana slightly replenish. But he had a decent amount to start with and placed his hand on her scales.

[Phoenix Renewal] flowed through him and into her. It was actually a lot easier to heal her than it was to heal humans. Humans were delicate creatures. Too much power and he would pop them like balloons or mutate their limbs into cancerous flesh.

However, all he needed to do was feed her life mana, and her body knew what to do with the rest. Drasil came in to help, and even Seraphyne offered her life mana. He went a lot slower this time around. She wasn’t in a critical state anymore, and he needed to balance his output with his mana regeneration.

Plus, it wasn’t like he was doing this purely out of the goodness of his heart. He had other reasons, for example, he had some questions he wanted to ask.

While he was slowly healing her, he decided to ask the first of his many questions.

“So what is your species called by the way?” He tried to hide his enthusiasm, but probably failed if the amused chuckle from Velmora said anything.

***

Julius asked many questions and found out many interesting things. For one, Velmora was a kind of creature called a Gleaming Azure Drake. But she had evolved further when she reached Tier 5, so technically, she wasn’t a pure Gleaming Azure Drake anymore.

That was the spirit part that Seraphyne had noticed, and despite Julius’s prodding, she didn’t seem to be willing to disclose what she did to get such an evolution. However, she was amused by his attempts.

He also learned that the lake's water had changed because of her unique constitution. Her bloodline was heavily influenced by water concepts; it also combined easily with other water sources. So when she bled into the lake, the very nature of the water changed.

He listened as she explained and continued to heal her. From the sounds of it, she didn't trust or even necessarily like humans, but he seemed to be a unique case because she showed no issues with him talking to her.

He had no idea how long they talked for. It might have been hours at this point; the sun had already begun to set over the horizon. Of course, they didn’t just talk about her and her abilities, but they talked about other stuff too.

He told her where he was from, about the Empire, and his friends. He wasn’t worried that she would tell everyone she met; he doubted many people would want to approach her, given how scary she was. He also shared his issues he was having with his new technique.

To his fascination, she had several ideas how he might address something like this. He listened attentively, already aware that her body was able to achieve the very balancing of positive and negative energies he was looking for. He had no clue if it could help his own situation, but he didn’t think it would hurt him.

In the end, he and the friendly drake talked until the sun set. It certainly wasn’t expected, but not an unwelcome development. In fact, he believed he had just made a new friend.