The Sage is a reclusive god that chronicles the events that happen and records any and all knowledge that he can. His followers are known for having knowledge of forbidden arts that are banned by other gods and most nations. He does not forbid any knowledge and has extensive rules about how and when to use the darker lores, including how to evaluate circumstantial issues.

Adrian

“Can’t you see a difference between your spells and others'” Danny asks changing to Draconic.

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with my mana and what do you mean see?” I ask slightly worried. Did my Ravnos powers reduce my mana talents again? If Spheres lower it, I may as well abandon it.

“There were gaps in that spell you used to call an object to you. Why haven’t you used your eyes to look at it? You’re a full dragon, you should be able to.”

“I can see mana?”

“Just focus on it like. . .” I don’t pay attention to the last part of her sentence as I focus, not unlike when I shift my vision to Infrared.

The world shifts to a mostly empty blackness with thin trails of blue. Tiny streams of energy flowing through many but not all of the living things around me. I look around for a moment before my vision shifts back to the normal spectrum. I try to focus on seeing mana again but my sight keeps reverting back faster than I can switch to this manasight.

“Danny, what do you think about making a deal?” I ask and she just stares at me in surprise and fear as I once more have to stop myself from moving closer. She’s more useful alive than in my stomach. That thought calms my instincts once more but I don’t think it will last forever.

“My name's not Danny.”

“Teach me all you can about mana and dragons, pay tribute to me in blood, and help me in acquiring more draconic things to eat. What do you want in return aside from not being eaten and protection?”

“You to use my name and. . .”

“Your name's too long, next request” I interject.

“. . . help me with my own endeavors” she continues frowning at my rejection of using her full name.

“And those are?”

“I, I want to become a full dragon” she says while looking down as if that were something wrong.

“Okay, why did you say that like it was wrong?”

“It’s blasphemous.”

“So? Wouldn’t it be a good thing to become what you look up to?”

She pauses for a moment before something clicks in her mind and she nods. Then I think she remembers what I am and cowers ever so slightly, moving slight farther away from me.

“Anything else?” I ask.

She just shakes her head.

“Alright, I'll help. What racial classes do you have?”

“That’s a very rude. . .”

“I have to start with something. Now answer the question.”

“Dragon Disciple and Mana-borne” she says with that fear of me creaping into her voice again but I ignore that detail for the moment.

“What's are the details of Dragon Disciple?”

“Venerating your draconic ancestor thus becoming more like their half dragon child that is your connection to them for you are also a child of a dragon.”

“That sounds like a step below Dragon Knight.”

“Dragon Knight?”

“Emulate the dragon whose blood you share and become it. When you reach the pinacle, you fully become one.” At least here it does. . .

“How did you get it?”

“Hereditary, but it is something for you to look into.”

“How can I gain access to a hereditary class that I didn’t start with?”

I pause for a moment before answering, “Ravnos Magic.” Wouldn’t it be similar to how I helped the twins before? I don’t have quite the same ability yet but . . .

“Ravnos Magic is a ridiculous myth. A power that can ignore the Laws of Conservation can’t exist. And even if they do exist, how would we ever find and get one to help? They don’t. . .”

Something in me finds her rant amusing and I start laughing at the end. I don’t know what she ended on but she stops shortly after I start laughing. Ria interrupts bringing me a bowl with cooked venison cubes in it. “What’s so funny?” she asks with her tails wagging.

“She's going on about how Ravnos are just a myth, can’t exist and aren’t on this plane” I answer before taking a bite of the deer meat. It’s a little undercooked but I’ve been enjoying rarer meats since becoming a dragon.

I smile at Ria as she points and laughs at Danny, who is not very confused. “You don’t know” and similar phrases come out of Ria's mouth for several seconds before Danny asks, “why is this funny?”

“Adrian is a Ravnos” Bryan states slowly before going back to the he thinner of the two books I just gave him. He must have already meditated and used the Architect’s System to get the language.

“You’re a Ravnos?” Talia asks in skeptical disbelief.

“But the Ravnos are supposed to be a human only House” Danny says not believing me.

“Shall I do some manaless magic then?” I ask

“How can we know your not cheating with another energy source or base manipulation?” Danny asks.

For an instant I want to say “scale” and just throw everything into a lightning bolt towards the sky but that would probably draw too much attention. Instead I go for scale in another direction weaving and switching between the Spheres of Fire, Light, Lightning and Darkness.

Motes of colored light, strange fires, shadow and static discharge dance through the air. Light and shadow forming images of random patterns before they negate each other while the fire and lightning circle me as they spread outwards, never touching any of those in our group.

I can feel building tension of reality pushing back, the growing threat of a backlash but I hold it for a few seconds longer. Just long enough for whatever detection spell Danny cast as to show her nothing.

Then I let reality reassert what should actually be here and all that I did fades, leaving only the smell of soot and ozone in the air as proof it even happened. “I’m actually a lot better at Ravnos Magic than mana-based magic” I say as Kythia walks over and then whispers “do you want to go hunting tonight?” in my ear.

“Sure, but not yet” I whisper back as Danny's louder voice keeps everyone else from hearing what we said as she says, “but, you don’t have the control to do this. Let alone the inversions that would be needed to conceal the mana to where it can’t be detected.”

“Inversions?” Bryan asks.

“A method to keep mana from being detected” Lysan answers his question as Danny is not paying attention to him.

“There are multiple ways to hide mana?” Bryan asks but no one answers that question.

Only a few seconds later does Danny comes to the conclusion that I could not have done it through any way she knows of. By this point however I’ve finished with talking to her for now. Ria walks up to me with another bowl of the partially cooked meat and says, “feed me?” with a smile.

I smile before patting my lap. She smiles and lays down and I start giving her the pieces one by one. I start absent mindedly playing with one of her ears just as Danny says, “I agree.”

I nod towards her before saying, “go eat and leave me to think.”

The twins are looking at me while trying to hide it; Lysan with curiosity while Talia is more guarded. Should I mess with them? No, there actually are important things I need to think about.

I need to help everyone else become stronger, practice with both Ravnos and Mana magic, find more dragons to eat, continue Martial training, help the twins get back to the elves, vengeance on the Althaen with some extra on the Holy One's church, and figure out how to open and close rifts without Ravnos magic all while giving my girls the attention they deserve. . .

I’ll need to get a look at Bryan’s, Ragnan's and probably Analais's reflections on the fabric of reality to actually help Bryan. . . Wait, could I also use it to help Analais? Is his runt version of lycanthropy due to it being incomplete like the twins' Solar Elf or some other defect?

No, lycanthropy is a supernatural viral infection at the start. His constant contact with Alana would have filled it in. Perhaps something about your physical body resists or can’t support it? I’m not sure I have the skill to figure that out. Not yet.

But Bryan, I can probably help him now. First, he’ll feel weaker as it spreads through every cell in his body. Then under the full moon he’ll gain his wolf half. Not sure how that works but it will be interesting to watch, especially if I manage to get some sort of soulsight going through Ravnos magic. But what can I do now?

Heal the damaged caused by the virus sacrificing some of his cells to multiply. . . and what? I need something that will help him handle the instincts of a beast. I glance at Abagail, should I stage a way for her to be 'married' to him? Or would it be easier to find another female? No, he may not calm his instincts the same way I do. Meditation maybe?

Perhaps all three, I doubt Abagail could tire a moonlight empowered lycanthrope and it would also be amusing to see how she copes with having competition. What else? Nothing that can help him now. I need to learn more about the body and soul first.

I look over to Kylana just as I run out of meat to feed Ria.

“I’m not bringing you food to feed your pet fox” she says and Ria just sticks her tongue out at her.

“I wasn’t going to ask that. Would you teach me blood magic?” I say in response.

“Why? You have no need of supplementing your mana with blood and I doubt it’ll be more useful than whatever power let you do what you just did.”

“Ravnos magic has its own drawbacks, some that mana based magic does not have. I can also probably use the ideas from blood magic to add to both of my repertoires.”

“I thought that the Ravnos were against all forms of dark magic.”

“Certain kinds yes but others depend on the use. Sometimes dark magic is a good thing, what happens is more important than the title given.”

Kylana smiles at that and says, “tomorrow then, I can teach you and Kythia the basics as we walk.”

“Thank you.”

“How did you do that?” Kythia asks me quietly.

“What?”

“Mother never just agrees to teach magic so easily.”

“Really? She always seemed to be fairly willing to teach me.”

“You never wanted to put in the work to go beyond the basics and expected it to just work because of your high talent without the work your mate put in before I even started teaching him. I still think your control is lacking but there’s no reason for me to repeat myself all over again in a few weeks” Kylana says to answer her daughter’s question.

“I need to borrow Analais and Kylana. We’ll be back before dawn so don’t let Ragnan die before we get back” Alana says before grabbing her friends arm and winks at me.

“But. . .” Kylana begins before she is cut off by Alana saying, “it’s not that, not yet. I’ll be performing the Rite of the False Moon for you.”

I look to K, wondering if she can fill me in on what that rite is but she doesn’t seem to know and Alana has already managed to pull Kylana a fair ways away from us.

“Why are they leaving?” Abagail asks.

“Nothing that concerns us.”

“But aren’t they supposed to be protecting us?”

I don’t bother answering Abagail’s question. Short of a powerful supernatural creature or someone with several abjurations on them I should be able to handle anything that just shows up. Instead, I start making a mental inventory of Void Cache. I need at least five tents, four if my guess for what Alana pulled her denmates away for is what I think it is.