The water ball I had summoned, disappeared from before me and reappeared a distance ahead. It continued spinning for a few seconds before dispersing with a puff. The teleportation was successful, and the link was strong.

This time, I was able to easily track down its course as it traveled across the unfamiliar astral plane. It was much easier than when I had used lightning magic. Just to be sure, I repeated the process a few more times before nodding in satisfaction. Using water magic, I was able to easily keep track of its course, that much was confirmed.

'What about earth magic?' I inwardly mumbled.

I glanced at the ground below my hoofs and urged the earth mana to comply. Almost instantly, a sharp earth projectile drilled its way from the ground and towards the tree ahead of me. Right before it reached it, however, the familiar cosmic mana descended with swiftness and encompassed the projectile causing it to disappear.

Not even a second after, the sound of another tree to the left toppling down was heard. Seeing that, I slowly nodded in satisfaction. Earth mana was also doable, I managed to keep track of it as it traveled across the astral plane, though it was significantly harder than when I used water mana, and a tad better than when I used lightning.

This made me come to the obvious conclusion that all of this depended on how high my affinity was with the element was. When I used water mana, it was significantly easier to track it, earth was harder, and lightning was even more so.

With this out of the way, I quickly found myself growing curious in regards to the astral plane. What was it exactly? And if mana could travel through it so should I, right? The entire teleportation matter still weighed heavily on me.

The only time I tried to teleport 'someone' was back when I had fought Ember because he dared attack little Essie. At that time, it was done almost unconsciously, and I only went through with it cause the suicidal idiot attempted to use his soul space against me. Hence why it was an action done at the spur of the moment.

Another factor to be considered was that it was another dragon, not me. This time, however, it was different. 'Okay, think rationally Aether, if he was able to survive it with no affinity to cosmic mana, why should I not? I have an even higher chance at this,' I took a deep breath steadying my mind and gathering my wits.

"I can do this!" I yelled out.

"I'm a proud dragon, this is nothing!" I yelled out again, cosmic mana slowly began to surround my whole body.

"Fuck it, I'm doing it!" I cried out, still feeling somewhat anxious. My eyes glared at a particular spot a few meters away from where I stood.

"I'll start slow, little by little," I gulped down as the cosmic mana seemed to sense my resolution, it suddenly intensified. The world before my eyes quickly lost its color, the forest seemed to stretch far into the distance.

The feeling of weightlessness assaulted me as I felt myself cutting through 'something', a veil of sorts. It was momentarily, and the feeling came and went as soon as it did, yet in that millisecond, I managed to catch a single glimpse of the astral plane.

I quickly blinked in confusion, only to find myself a distance away from where I previously stood. "I did it...?" I muttered in disbelief before bursting into laughter, "Hahaha! I did it! Fuck yes! Who said it was hard?! Hahaha!" With my successful attempt, all strength seemed to seep out of my limbs as I collapsed to the ground, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

I survived with all my scales intact. I managed to teleport. A wide grin promptly made its way across my face as I rested my head on the soft grass, a contented feeling in my chest. After a few seconds of laying there doing nothing. I lazily stood up and stretched my limbs before turning my attention to a tree a dozen meters ahead.

The distance was a bit further than before, but I was confident in making the jump. Steadying my heart and breathing, I focused all my attention on the previous feeling I had. Sensing my will, Cosmic mana steered excitedly an even larger amount quickly surrounded my whole body.

Soon, the familiar feeling descended as the entire world lost its colors before it began to stretch outwards. I once again caught a glimpse of the astral plane, yet it was too fast for me to make sense of what I saw. Before I could, I was already out. The feeling of something weighing down on my back greeted me before I collapsed to the ground, the tree falling on top of me with a loud bang.

"Ah shit, that was too far," I muttered while standing up, causing whatever remained of the tree to collapse to the ground. Although I did manage to successfully teleport, this time, however, I went a tad too far and teleported inside the tree.

Patting myself clean from the wood bits, I quickly shook my head and turned towards another direction, this time one that was clear of any trees whatsoever. I walked over there and using my claws drew an X mark.

Satisfied, I turned around and made my way back to the collapsed tree to try again. With my eyes on the target, Cosmic mana quickly descended once again as I disappeared from my place. This time, I did not pay any heed to the astral plane, instead, I did not beak focus from my target.

The world changed before my eyes once again as I glanced downwards. The X mark was a couple of steps ahead. Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I resolutely walked back towards the collapsed tree to try again. 'Close, but not close enough,' I inwardly mumbled.

###

Sunset blossomed upon the clouds, the orange-gold color stretching far and wide. Sitting down on the edge of the cliff, I watched the sea, lost in the rhythmic percussion of waves on the rocks. My eyes were steady to the horizon as I thought back to my earlier teleportation attempts.

Most of the trees before me were destroyed, the ground full of various crevices. If one was to stumble upon this scene, they would have without a doubt thought it to be the remains of an intense battlefield. I took a deep breath, the smell of the sea easing my mind before I curled around myself, letting my body get its well-deserved rest.