WIEDERGEBURT Act V: Chapter 39

“Eryk!”

Kari shouted as she climbed to her feet atop Feuer’s head, bent her knees, and prepared to jump down.

“I would not recommend doing that,” Feuer said.

“But—”

“Look over there. Does your mate look like he has been injured?”

Kari had been beside herself with worry when Eryk had been smacked away. In all the time she had known him, he had rarely ever been injured by an opponent before. She could count the number of times he got hurt on one hand. Seeing him get swatted away like a fly had sent such a shock through her system that she acted out of instinct.

But now that Feuer had questioned her, Kari was able to clear her mind and look down. Indeed, Eryk had been smacked away, but he didn’t look very injured. After he was sent flying, lightning had burst from his body and struck the ground. Somehow or other, the lightning was acting like an attractive force that pulled him against the ground, keeping him from flying too far, and it wasn’t long before he landed back on the ground. There was a bit of blood trailing down his mouth. However, it didn’t look like the injury was serious. He’d probably bitten his cheek or something.

“Your mate is made out of some pretty sturdy stuff,” Feuer said. “Even I wouldn’t want to get hit by Dozziss.”

Placing a hand on her chest, Kari was finally able to calm down. She replaced her worried expression with a smile.

“My husband is one of the strongest people in the entire world.”

“I believe it. If he ever learned to wield a higher level concept, he could probably fight on par with an adult drakvar.”

“You know about the higher level concepts?” asked Kari. She was unable to contain her shock.

Feuer snorted. “Who do you think you’re talking to, child? I have lived for over a thousand years. I might have been young, but I was present during the war between the Nine Great Races and the Sekbeist. Back then, all the races were embroiled in this struggle. Even the Guddomelig had been forced to take action.”

“The Guddomelig are the God Race, right?” asked Kari.

“Smart child. That is correct. They are the God Race, the race who is said to have created the nine realms. Back during the Great War, it was they who sealed the realms off from each other, to keep the Sekbeist from traveling freely between realms. Their knowledge of higher level concepts is the best among the Nine Great Races.”

The Nine Great Races referred to the races that controlled the Nine Realms. Miðgarðr was the realm of the humans. Other races lived there, but humans were the most numerous and powerful. Niðavellir was home of the dwoerg, Útgarðar was the realm where the lightning giants, the Lintilskudd, dwelled. There was also Rikevrann and Sfærevann, primordeal realms where the Elementals reigned supreme; then there was the realm of the dead, Mørkeverden, and Ljosalfheim, the plain ruled by the Ljósálfar. The last two realms were Vindenket, which was where Siv came from, and Gudeverdenen, the world of the Guddomelig, the God Race.

Kari remembered when she’d been taught about the nine realms by the dweorg. She still didn’t know much, but it was enough to make her curious. One day she wanted to travel to these other realms and explore the places no human had ever been to before.

However, those were thoughts for another day.

Right now, Kari kept her eyes focused on the battle between her husband and Dozziss.

***

I sucked in a deep breath as pain stung my arms. That had really hurt. It wasn’t the soul rending pain I’d felt during my battle against Ask, but it still smarted enough that I was sure the bone was broken.

The dragon standing several dozen meters away looked astonished as I stood there. He stared at me with unblinking eyes like he was looking at a monster.

“I had not realized you were versed in mid-level concepts like magnetism,” he said.

“Mid-level concepts?” I asked, tilting my head. “I’m afraid I don’t know what those are.”

Dozziss paused. I couldn’t be sure because dragon facial expressions were not something I had a good handle on, but I thought he was shocked.

“You mean to tell me, you have been using magnetism without knowing what it is you have been doing?”

“I… guess?”

Dozziss went silent for a time, but I was not planning to stay idle. My Spiritual Power was already trickling into the air, creating more cold and warm air. High overhead, thunderclouds were forming from my Spiritual Power. I was sure Dozziss knew what I was doing by now, but he was instead staring at me and not the storm overhead.

“There are many concepts that govern this world. You could refer to them as world controlling principles if you wanted. The seven basic concepts are fire, water, earth, lightning, wind, light, and darkness. These are what we call low-level concepts. Everyone has a strong affinity for at least one of these concepts. After the low-level concepts comes the mid-level concepts. They are a higher-tier of concepts that takes low-level concepts and expands upon them.”

I finally understood what he was talking about.

“You mean like how magnetism is a force that can attract or repel objects that have a magnetic material like iron in them. There are some properties in iron that can create an attractive force when it is charged with electricity. All I did was use this idea to turn my body into a magnet by charging electricity, or lightning, through myself.”

Dozziss nodded. “That is what we call a mid-level concept. It takes the concepts of lightning and expands upon them. Understanding these concepts will allow someone with Spiritual Power to make a qualitative and quantitative leap, granting them powers far beyond that of normal humans. We dragons are born understanding these concepts, which is why we’re more powerful than humans from the start.”

I wondered if these mid-level concepts was what I called the Fourth State of Spiritualism. It seemed likely. When I first reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism for lightning and water, I learned all kinds of things about those two elements, what they were, what they did, and what I could do with them. It had been like my mind was expanding, or maybe like my awareness of the world had grown.

“If there are mid-level concepts, then there must be high-level concepts, right?” I said, trying to keep the dragon talking.

Nodding once, Dozziss said, “The high-level concepts are the true kings of this world. They are the concepts that govern everything. They are Time, Space, Dimension, Void, Life, and Death. Once someone has an understanding of even one of these concepts, they can consider themselves a supreme existence—at least, they can in the first five realms. The realms after that are where the truly powerful races live. They are the ones who have mastered high-level concepts and attained true immortality.”

This had been the kind of information I had originally been looking for. The entire reason I’d come here this time was to learn about this, so I guessed that meant my purpose for coming all this way could be considered fruitful. I’d learned what I wanted. It was only a little odd that I’d learned this from my current opponent.

It also made me realize what kind of abilities Dozziss had been using this entire time.

“You understand the concepts of Space,” I declared.

“I can only be considered to have a basic understanding of it,” Dozziss replied with a shake of his head. “It is not enough for me to have what you’d call a true understanding, but it’s just enough that I can use it to some extent. What you saw me doing during our battle is the extent of what I can do with it.”

“I’m glad I made this trip,” I muttered to myself before speaking in a louder voice. “Thanks for the information. Since we’re still in the middle of the battle, what do you say we end this in the next attack?”

Dozziss’ lips peeled back in what I took as a grin. “Do you think I wouldn’t notice what you were doing? While you may have been trying to stall for time, I was also preparing so I can receive your attack. My understanding regarding the concepts of space might be middling at best, but it is enough that I can create spatial cracks to block your attack.”

This time it was my turn to grin. “That’s a good idea. I’m sure if I had been another opponent, I am sure you would have no trouble defending against my attack.” I paused as my grin grew wider. “But who said lightning and water were the only elements I could use?”

“What?!”

Placing my hands on the ground, I channeled Spiritual Power through the earth. It was… a lot harder than I let on. I was already doing my best to maintain the storm overhead, which had taken almost all of my Spiritual Power to form. Now I was not only splitting my attention two ways, but I was also using the last of my Spiritual Power to manipulate an element I still didn’t have a good grasp on.

For a moment, I worried about whether it would be enough.

Fortunately, I needn’t have worried.

I only manipulated a single area of the ground. It was the area right underneath Dozziss’ left front foot. I used the earth element to split the ground under his foot, causing the dragon to shift and sway. Dozziss was so surprised that he stumbled a little. It was just a little, and he caught himself relatively quickly, but it was already too late by that point.

He hadn’t formed his spatial crack, and I had already unleashed my attack.

The black storm clouds overhead were already thick and roiling. Lightning flashed across the sky, but they weren’t random streaks. I had been gathering the bolts overhead, compressing them into a single sphere in the center of the storm, until the sphere was about the size of my head. The moment Dozziss stumbled was the moment I released my attack.

Lightning traveled at a speed of 354,055,680 kilometers per hour. The bolt I had unleashed was only maybe a few hundred meters above our heads, which meant it took less than a millionth of a second to slam into the ground where Dozziss was standing. The dragon had absolutely no chance to retaliate and took the full force of my attack.

A brilliant flash of light completely blinded me from seeing what was happening. The world seemed to have temporarily become silent as well. I could hear nothing and see nothing, but that was only for a second, and then a massive rumbling sound echoed all around me as an intense force smashed into my front.

I had already grounded myself by channeling lightning into my feet. The ground beneath me was rich in iron, which conducted electricity well. I was using electricity to turn my body into a magnet that kept me attached to the iron in the ground.

When the light died down and my ears stopped ringing, I looked at where my attack had struck and found a very thoroughly cooked dragon. Dozziss’ scales had already been black, so I couldn’t tell if he’d been charred, but there were cracks covering his body and blood leaking down his flesh. He lay slumped on the ground and was not moving at all.

For a moment, I worried that I might have killed him. Dozziss had been the toughest opponent I’d fought in a while. I knew I wouldn’t be able to win through half-assed means, so I’d simply decided to go all out from the beginning, directing my Spiritual Power to create that storm. Everything else was just to distract Dozziss from what I was doing. Now that I’d finished unleashing that attack and seen the end result… well, I really hoped he wasn’t dead.

After popping two Spiritual Recovery Pills into my mouth, I traveled over to Dozziss. The other dragons were flying back onto the mountain top now. Kari had already leapt off the Feuer and was racing over to me, but I needed to focus on the dragon.

“Uh… Dozziss… you’re not dead, are you?” I asked tentatively.

There was a moment of silence. Then…

“I am… not dead… it will… take more… than that… to kill me…”

I breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive. However, it was clear from how difficult it was for him to say those words that he was in terrible shape. Now that I was closer, I could smell the scent of cooked flesh. It vaguely reminded me of the smell that came from the Demon Beasts myself, Kari, Lin, and Fay would sometimes cook when we ran out of food in the Demon Beast Mountain Range. Did that mean dragons were edible?

Best not to think about that.

My Spiritual Power had recovered a decent amount, enough for me to channel the water element. I placed a hand against Dozziss and began channeling the water element through his body. The element rushed through the injured body, healing everything at speeds so great even I found myself a little astonished. I started with his organs and vitals first, then fixed his muscles, before finally healing his flesh and scales.

“Your understanding of mid-level concepts is more frightening than I imagined,” Dozziss muttered as I finished healing him. “I did not realize you had already completely mastered so many mid-level concepts. Not only that, but you can use three elements. That is very impressive.”

“I can actually use all seven elements to some degree,” I admitted. “But I’m barely at the Second State of Spiritualism with fire, earth, wind, light, and darkness. My two main elements are water and lightning. I’ve reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism with both.”

“What you call the Fourth State of Spiritualism is merely the complete mastery of the mid-level concepts controlling those specific elements,” Feuer told me. “The low-level concepts are the most basic understanding of the seven basic elements. The mid-level concepts are concepts that expand on each element. When you have mastered every mid-level concept regarding a specific element, like lightning, you have reached what is called the Fourth State of Spiritualism.”

All this was stuff I had not known about, but now that Feuer was saying it, I understood what he meant. This explained basically everything I had been wondering about in the past. I also believed this could potentially help me get an even deeper understanding of the elements I wasn’t well-versed in. Right now, I couldn’t understand high-level concepts, but maybe if I gained further understanding of mid-level concepts for the other five elements (fire, earth, wind, light, and darkness), I could become even stronger.

However, this was all stuff I needed to think about later.

“So… since I won this battle, that means you dragons will ally yourselves with me, right?” I said with a smile.

“It does indeed,” Feuer said. I thought he was smiling as well, but again, it was so hard to tell.

“Ha… had I known you had reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism and could use all seven elements, I would not have gone so easy on you,” Dozziss muttered. I got the sense he did not want to admit that he lost. He made it sound like the only reason I won was because he was being lenient.

“Ha! Don’t kid yourself! Everyone here knows you don’t know the meaning of the words ‘holding back.’ You might have been stupid and played around too much, but I know you went all out.”

The one who spoke was a sleek dragon with blue scales and a feminine but overbearing voice. She—at least, I assumed this dragon was a woman—had glowing blue eyes that appeared gentler than the male dragons. Her body was smaller, more compact, and the wings jutting from her back were more elegant than Dozziss’ or Feuer’s. She also had a very long tail and strange frills around her neck.

Dozziss clicked his tongue. “Do not think I won’t beat the snot out of you just because you’re younger than me, girl. I have no trouble bullying the young.”

“You’re welcome to come at me any time, old man. I’ll kick your ass from here to the moons,” the blue dragon said with a sneer. If I was not mistaken, this dragon was the one called Vydet.

As the two dragons began to argue, Kari moved in close and hugged my arm. She looked at me in concern.

“Are you okay?”

I smiled to reassure her. “I’m fine.”

“Let us not fight amongst ourselves right now,” Feuer said, and the two arguing dragons calmed down. I guess he really was the senior amongst senior dragons. “As we agreed, since you have defeated one of our own and proven your strength to us, we will agree to ally ourselves with you. However, I feel like I should mention we are not willing to ally ourselves with humans in general. It is only you we are extending this courtesy to.”

“That’s fine,” I said, waving my free hand. “I’m not asking you to help humanity. I might ask for a few personal favors when the time comes, but this is mostly a formality.”

Feuer accepted my words with a nod. “Since we have agreed to become your allies, we will need to establish a method of communication and discuss some other important matters.”

While Feuer said that like these matters were of supreme importance, we mostly just talked about what I wanted from them. Namely, I wanted their help if the Sekbeist ever came and invaded, and I was hoping they would help me explore the floating island when we finally decided to make our move on the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain. Now that I knew some of these dragons could use high-level concepts, I was even more eager to have their assistance.

After we finished discussing, Feuer released a loud roar that forced Kari and I to cover our ears. I didn’t know what he was doing, but several minutes after his roar, a small dragon—small compared to the ones around me—flew in and landed next to him. It was the dragon I beat up the last time I came here.

“As for the matter of communication, take this brat with you,” Feuer said.

When I first arrived in the Westfang Mountain Range with Siv, this dragon had picked a fight with me and got beaten down. He’d acted so haughty back then. Standing before me now, despite how he loomed over me by at least ten meters, he seemed much smaller and meeker than before.

“This brat’s name is **********, but you can call him Meerand. As the youngest of our brood, he has quite the chip on his shoulders and is quite impetuous. I’m hoping he can grow up a little by traveling with you.”

I stared at Meerand as Feuer spoke, which caused the younger dragon to lower his head in what seemed like deference. Perhaps beating Dozziss had caused him to recognize my power.

“How can he help me communicate with you?” I asked.

“Meerand is Vydet’s youngest brood,” Feuer began explaining. “There is a strong empathic bond between parent and child among us dragons, which allows us to communicate across vast distances.”

I nodded in understanding. So it was like that. This was another thing I had not known about dragons, and it made me wonder if the drakvar were the same way. In either event, this would be a great help to me since I wouldn’t need to keep traveling back and forth between the Westfang Mountain Range and Midgard every time I wanted the dragons’ help.

“I understand. I’ll take him with us.”

“Good. Don’t be afraid to work him hard either. This young troublemaker is something of a maverick. He could do with some straightening out.”

That wasn’t really my problem, but I supposed as a show of friendship, I could straighten him out. I’d need to do something to keep him from acting out of line anyway.

***

After settling everything with the dragons, Kari, myself, and Meerand left the Westfang Mountain Range and traveled across the Northern Plains. I flew alongside Meerand with Kari in my arms. The dragon had not really spoken to me, but I was certain that was because it couldn’t speak the human language like Feuer and the older dragons.

Deciding to test the waters, I channeled Spiritual Power to modulate my voice and began emitting a series of roars and screeches.

Meerand became shocked. He roared something back. It was a question. I answered back with a roar of my own, which made Meerand excited.

“Can you please explain what you’re talking about for those of us who don’t speak dragon?” asked Kari. She seemed a little irate. Perhaps she didn’t like the fact that I could speak dragon and she couldn’t.

“I was just asking him if he understood our language. He asked me how I can speak dragon, so I told him it was something I’d practiced.”

“And can he understand our language?” asked Kari.

“Of course,” I replied.

We had already passed Vesparia and were making our way toward Capistrana. It would only take maybe twenty minutes to reach. That was really good time. It took at least two days to travel from Vesparia to Capistrana on foot. Even traveling by horseback would take at least a full day of nonstop travel.

“It seems we learned a lot on this trip,” Kari said after several minutes of silence. “I never knew the Fourth State of Spiritualism was being able to understand these so-called mid-level concepts, or that these concepts were just a deeper understanding of the elements.”

“Neither did I,” I confessed. “This is all new to me as well.”

Kari bit her lip as she thought about something. I patiently waited for her to finish what she was thinking.

“Do you think… if I begin learning about these mid-level concepts, I’ll be able to reach the Fourth State of Spiritualism without the need for a Yin-Yang Spiritual Enhancement Pill?”

“It should be possible,” I answered with a decisive nod. “The Yin-Yang Spiritual Enhancement Pill is one that lets you force your way into the Fourth State of Spiritualism. Now that I know about mid-level concepts, I understand why taking that pill always results in a violent reaction. When I took the water and lightning versions, I was nearly drowned in an ocean and blasted with lightning. Fay’s entire body was lit on fire, and Lin became buried underneath the earth. The pill draws the element to you, forcing you to understand every aspect of that element by making you come into contact with it, which is what allows you to break through. However, you should be able to gain an understanding of an element without the pill. It will just take a lot longer.”

This was what I had come to understand after learning about mid-level concepts from Dozziss. Now that I was thinking about it, however, I recalled the chefs of that restaurant Kari and I visited had also used mid-level concepts in their cooking.

“You can probably study mid-level concepts at Wissen,” I added. “It seems they have some understanding of mid-level concepts.”

Kari nodded, and I could see from the determined expression on her face that she was already planning to spend all her time at that library. She did not like being the only one who had not reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism. I knew she hated not being able to protect her family, how myself, Fay, Lin, and Siv were always the ones saving her. If our positions had been reversed, I know I would have been frustrated beyond belief.

Silence once more reigned between us for a time. The only sounds was that of the wind whistling in our ears and the flapping of Meerand’s wings as he traveled alongside us.

“I wonder what Commander Ashten will say when he sees we brought a dragon to Midgard,” Kari suddenly pondered out loud.

“I’m trying not to think about it myself,” I admitted.