Master Of None

Illia also started to use her training method with a much larger piece of the centennial ice. The mana that she would bring in would also be from the snow and air around her because of her large body's demand for it. The training she had been doing for her whole life was also to blame. She had increased her tolerance to the condensed water elemental mana making her need to get more and more to push her body to the limit. The dream of becoming an ancient one day was hidden behind the true desire to become a dragon she had only heard about from historical records in the water dragon villages. 

The final goal of any frost dragon was to become an ice dragon and finally an absolute tundra dragon. The age could be less than an ancient of over a thousand years of life, but would rarely happen. It was the understanding of condensed water elemental mana and the gathering of it. This would push the dragon to form scales of ice over their own that were similar to the cold of centennial ice. 

To become an absolute tundra dragon, an ice dragon would need to understand water and ice as if it was more important than their own being. This would include touching the realm of spirits and most likely learning from the water and if possible ice spirits. The pure understanding would cause real centennial ice to become the dragons' scales. The breath itself would be able to cause frost whereas the breath attacks would cause blizzards and change direct environments. The change was drastic but incredibly attractive. This was the goal that any frost dragon should have. 

Midnight had begun feeling the strength of the water elemental mana that had gathered in the centennial ice over time. She would not have taken this form of training if she knew just how powerful the mana was. It was dense and dangerous compared to the smoothness of the elemental mana crystals that she had eaten before. 

The mana tried its best to force its way out from her and back to the open air where it could return to the centennial ice chunk that was not being damaged. The cold feeling was causing Midnight's mouth to become numb and she desperately looked at Illia for guidance. 

The sight before her was clear. Illia was pulling the mana through her mouth and using the centennial ice to condense and amplify the cold. It would then circulate to her lungs and finally, to the rest of her body through her blood. The mana was able to cause the cooling effect and frost was even gathering on the ground around Illia. 

Seeing that Illia was able to withstand the cold made Midnight feel weak. She hated it. The feeling was gross and would eat away at her mental strength if she let it. The only way to get through it was to force herself forward again and again the same way she had when she would think she might fail at her training. 

The mana that came inward with the deep breath Midnight took was painful. It felt as if her lungs were being pierced by ice crystals and that her blood was freezing within her. Yet, there was a surprising effect when the mana reached the gold flame heart. 

The same feeling Midnight had when she had started to properly use the frost breath hit here but multiple times stronger than before. Instead of just melding the mana with itself and creating the frosty breath, Midnight breathed out a normal breath and saw mist in the air. Her breath was colder than what was around now and the golden flame heart was amplifying it. This was more than she had expected her body to be able to handle in the first few circulations. 

The only possibility explaining this happening was that the golden flame heart was true to its' moniker. The speed at which Midnight could grasp different elemental breath attacks was not the only focus on the golden flame heart. To use those breath attacks she needed to be able to handle and process the mana that made them up. To do so, the golden flame heart would use the ability it had to make the mana flow more smoothly through her veins and in to her scales and bones. The entire process was the same that every single dragon would use to purify their bodies. However, for Midnight, it would allow her to have resistance to that elemental mana in the future and be able to adapt between changes in the mana she used faster. 

The fact that Midnight would be able to switch between the elemental breath attacks faster in battle was something she had not expected. Right now it took her time to gather the mana to attack. The future held the idea that she would be able to use frost breath and then switch to a fire breath in the next attack without pause. That idea excited her and became a slight distraction. The interruption of her meditative process caused a coughing fit and the centennial ice to fall from her mouth. 

The ground around her had a small amount of frost on it which was much less than the ground around Illia. The ground around her had become thick with ice showing that she was close to a breakthrough if she continued for some time. But there was also a few scales that were cracking under the pressure she put her body under. Midnight did not experience such a thing but she had not pushed herself to the extreme. It was clear that Illia would lose scales and grow new ones constantly because of the harsh training she did. 

Before Midnight could move and get Illias' attention she was wracked with shudders. Her body was warming itself from the state she had been in from circulating the water elemental mana in the centennial ice. This was the result she had to deal with after training her body in this way. But it was a worthwhile method to use in the future. The real question was, what other methods of training could she use that mirrored this but with other elements?

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