Part two to chapter 7. Please enjoy.
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"Enough small talk and focus on building up your power." Much to his own chagrin, Ddraig was beginning to realize the little freak was rubbing off on him. The boy just never shut up. Because of that, he found himself talking more and more with the chatterbox, therefore becoming more annoyed as he fell down the rabbit hole inside the pervert's twisted psyche, and learning far too much about titties than he ever cared to repeat.
How could one person know so many details about sexual intimacy without experiencing any of it? What sorcery did humans possess these days?
"Don't be like that. We're buds now, ain't we?" Issei answered earnestly, despite the sweat dripping down his face from the exertion as he fired off another blast of energy and resetting the Boosted Gear.
"Partners, not buds." A small part of the dragon still shriveled up saying it aloud.
"Same thing, isn't it? Anyway, if I can't talk to you, who else am I supposed to talk to?"
"No one."
"But that's lame. I'm already doing everything I can firing off... these dragon shots, into the sky. That's cool and all, but it'll get stale and boring after awhile. If you go away now, I'll just end up talking to myself, anyway."
Ddraig didn't need to be told that. Too many times already had the boy, without anyone prompting him, began raving about his devious fantasies and his goal of becoming Harem King. The dragon had the tirade on why tits were better than ass cauterized into his memory word for word like it were a rehearsed speech ready for debate.
"...Fine, if you focus on your dragon shots for another hour, I'll let you play with another one of your abilities." Honestly, he'd take just about any deal to shut the boy up so he could rest his poor head.
"Seriously?! Sweet!" Issei cheered, pumping his gauntlet arm, only to wince in pain from the strain overtaking it. He thought back to what Ddraig called his attack and what he'd said earlier. "Dragon Shot... that's a good name, don't you think?"
"Naming your little ranged attack?" Ddraig picked up his implication.
"Pretty good one, huh? Blasting mofo's back while I rep you at the same time. It's perfect." A simple name, but one that felt good. It boosted the appeal of the little orb, allowing him to take real pride in it.
"I'm touched." Clear sarcasm left the orb of his gauntlet.
"What, you don't like me giving you street cred?"
"I don't trust your naming sense."
"I didn't name it anything bad. You think I should change it?"
Ddraig sighed. This kid just didn't know when to quit. "Leave it. The name is fine."
"Say something good about it."
"...I admire its simplicity." The beast struggled to remain patient.
Issei deflated slightly, the answer underwhelming him. "Simple... you're right, it's too simple. The next name's gotta slay."
"By all means, keep it simple. You'd be doing me a favor," Ddraig replied with more vigor than normal. The last thing he wanted from this pointless conversation was guiding Issei into naming his moves something stupid and then try tying himself to them. The red dragon could already imagine names like 'Big-Bitty Blast,' or, 'Booblingual.' Names like that would ruin his reputation that spanned over dozens of millennium. It would take an equal amount of time just to live it down, if he ever could.
The Welsh Dragon refused to have his moniker swapped with something like 'Breast Dragon.' That would certainly be the bad ending.
Issei shrugged off the suggestion, already trying to come up with cool names for moves he'd create in the future. Next move had to be named after tits without question. His mind drifted a sea of pervy names as he idly boosted himself back up to his limit. Releasing the newly dubbed Dragon Shot into the sky a fourth time, he wobbled in place as his legs nearly gave out.
"What gives? I'm stronger now, so why is this so hard?" Feeling his knees quake a concerning amount, Issei gently lowered himself down and sat back on the grass, a current of hot air rebounding harmlessly into his form from the attack.
"Isn't that obvious? You're tired." Ddraig was starting to question the boy's competence on a fundamental level.
"You know that's not what I mean!" Issei replied irritably, though the feeling was mainly directed at himself. "I gained a bunch of skills from pulling The Flaming Sword. I shouldn't, or at least I think I shouldn't have to equip it to get use from them."
"You don't," Ddraig confirmed.
"Then why am I tired? Didn't I gain a whole bunch of mana? I mean, I literally feel it." Gripping his chest with the other uncovered hand, Issei felt the pool of mana swirling inside from the Mana Bank skill as he searched it out. Having been calling on it for every boost and creation of the Dragon Shot, he felt the reserves having barely been tapped.
If his immense mana was so unaffected, why was he?
Ddraig made a small sound, understanding what Issei meant after he explained. "It isn't exhaustion through magical means, but that of the physical variety."
"You mean I'm not buff enough?"
"If that's how you want to describe it, yes. Your body isn't used to casting such powerful magic. Supernatural beings do not struggle with this anywhere near the level humans do, as they are connected much closer to mana. Many spells may not have this effect on you, but the Boosted Gear's high cost will. Consecutive uses needs stamina. If you try to cast spells beyond your current means, you could end up tearing yourself apart."
"So what, that's it? I'm done for the day?" It wasn't an attempt to get out of training. Rather, Issei sounded dissatisfied by his lack of ability to go further.
"Of course not." Ddraig denied. "Rest for now. You'll be good to try again in a few minutes. Just stay within your current limits and allow yourself to grow gradually. With your ability, you'll be able to improve swiftly."
Issei nodded and allowed himself to lay back fully. The grass wasn't uncomfortable - having been created through magic recently - and he was fine with following advice that let him be lazy.
Unfortunately, unless he rested sufficiently enough to sleep, he wouldn't be granted the super restoring effects The Game would bestow. He could recover quickly from Koneko's beatdowns and be ready for more the next day thanks to that. Devils did possess magic that let them heal with skin on skin contact, but when Issei had brought that up to the short girl, he'd went to bed with a couple extra bruises.
As he laid, Issei decided to check up on the training quest he had received. It wasn't labeled as such, but this was the second time now that he had gotten a quest after choosing to train. First was with Koneko over the past week, and now he'd gotten another one centered around Ddraig.
The quest didn't have many specifics. He just had to level up to level 25 and it would be completed. Kind of underwhelming, but the Rare Token reward could come in handy. He also recalled there was a mechanic that allowed for hidden objectives to be complete. Maybe if he did enough branching off and experimenting as he trained, he could trigger that outcome? There was also the question as to whether or not all quests had hidden objectives, and if he missed out on triggering some.
Best not to think about missed opportunities. Instead, he'd keep it in mind and put that extra leg of effort forward to hopefully yield some positive results. Even if it didn't, he could at least say he was proud that he put his all into training.
Issei continued pushing his physical limit throughout the hour, attempting to acquire ten boosts without straining himself into injury. While remaining unsuccessful, he wasn't discouraged. His Dragon Shot was already feeling more powerful each and every time he used it. With every conjuration of the spell, he felt he could squeeze a little more mana into the red orb of power.
Even within this short hour, his growth was still incredibly unnatural.
Level Up!
Level 18 - Level 19