CHAPTER 54: THE GAME OF IMAGINATION.

Dorian managed to sit upright without waking up the girls, their heads resting on his lap.

He noticed their skins were a bit dehydrated, probably due to the fact they had already expended their mana in order to heal him.

It didn’t take him long to figure out Seraphina was the one who initiated it. She is an alchemist, after all, a Master Rank at that; making such a spell is simply second nature.

With his hand holding the side of his head, Dorian glanced to the side—

’Though it’s not like I could die from mana exhaustion, my body is constantly creating more mana, unlike other mages who need to wait a whole day to get back half of what they lost. That said, the rate at which Lili was extracting my mana flow was way too massive.’

Dorian sighed.

’I should check up on her.’

Closing his eyes, he entered a deep dive, linking his thoughts to his summon, Lili.

After a while, he finally got a connection.

[A link has been created.]

{Master! Are you alright?! I have been trying to get to you, but I couldn’t! Are you okay? Should I come over there?}

Lili’s worried voice erupted as soon as the connection was made.

This made Dorian chuckle a bit, fully resting his back on the bed frame.

’I can see you’re doing well at least. Now tell me, what the hell was that? Were you trying to kill me?’ He frowned a bit.

{A-h, the thing is,}

She paused.

{It happened just as you predicted. The dragon egg is growing faster with your mana—too fast, in fact. According to the crawler here, your mana can awaken the dragon egg in a day if you have enough mana fuel to draw it out.}

Dorian stayed quiet for a while.

After what the crawler told him, he understood why it was trying to use Dorian as a slave; it was because of his so-called unique mana.

With Dorian’s mana, the dragon’s birth could accelerate, and it could be born quicker than any other mana source. That was the main reason why Dorian chose to partake in the action.

The strength of a dragon is unknown, but if he can somehow cause the egg to hatch and kill it before it gets the chance to grow, then it’s a win for everyone.

If he were to do the latter, which would be to leave the egg, which is known to be indestructible, then if the egg does hatch, there is a chance it could grow without him knowing, and that is not a risk he was willing to take.

Of course he could always kill the crawler and stop anyone from feeding the egg mana, but that would cause the egg to hatch prematurely, and that might be even worse since it might just be a straight killing machine.

Dorian sighed.

’So that was why my mana got drained quickly? It was absorbing it more than usual to awaken?’

{Yes, it seems like it. If you hadn’t cut off the connection, I am sure it would have kept going. Dragons are terrifying, Master.}

’We were only lucky to have discovered a dragon under us if i am being honest. Nothing more than luck. Keep doing it; when you notice the egg getting hungry for my mana, stop the flow and wait a bit before pouring more into it.’

{Roger!}

’Good.’

[Link has been disconnected.]

Dorian turned his gaze to the ceiling.

’Am I even making the right call here? Well, if anything, securing Ishtar should help make things easier for me.’

He squinted his eyes.

’I can’t afford to lose.’

...

The very next day.

Dorian and his retainers were standing in the middle of an empty land, surrounded by gardens and outdoor tents for meetings.

At the side they could see the white mansion and also the road leading to the next territory, another barony owned by Embre.

Standing at the opposite side was Ishtar, an excited grin on her face, with one hand resting on her curvy waist.

Behind her was her faithful knight Killa, his face hidden behind the black mask as usual.

It was early in the morning, so the sun had not fully formed yet. In fact, nobody present on the field at the moment had eaten anything.

That was how seriously they took the challenge.

Immediately after they had freshened up, Ishtar invited them to join her outside in the mansion’s garden.

One could really call her an addict, seeing how fast she was to have appeared on the field, way before anyone else.

"Lord Dorian!" Ishtar called out, "Are you prepared, or are you objecting to doing this so early in the morning?"

Dorian sighed with a grimace, "Not like you gave me much of a choice, but sure, I am. Just tell me the rules, and we can get this over with."

Maria, standing right behind Dorian, had her eyes scanning the entire garden continuously, making sure there weren’t soldiers hiding and waiting to ambush.

"Right, the rules. I guess that should be announced before we officially make our pact." Ishtar raised her finger, way too excited.

"The rules go as follows:

Neither of us is to create anything living, be it human or monster; all creation must bear no life.

We each get a turn; when you attack, your opponent must create their own creation before the move can be finalized.

The last person standing will be the winner of the duel.

Only a single creation can be made per turn.

The name of your creation must be announced to your opponent."

After listing them all, Ishtar asked with a face that screamed danger, "Is that alright with you?"

Seraphina frowned; it was just as she heard from the people in her barony—these were exactly the same rules.

Dorian replied, not a hint of fear on his features.

"Sure, sounds good to me."

"Very well then. Please give me a second to activate my domain."

While waiting, Dorian turned to Maria. "Maria,"

"Yes!" Maria suddenly yelled, frighteningly.

Dorian was shocked as well, his body rigid as he wondered why she suddenly screamed. Her face was red too, and he could see how she was continually glancing to the side, barely looking at him.

"Eh? Are you alright?"

"Kiss? I was only doing it for you, I swear!" Maria shouted, covering her mouth in shock right after.

Dorian, confused, looked at Seraphina, who shook her head in pity right after.

"Right, anyway..." Dorian focused back at Ishtar. "When I enter her domain, make sure the other dude there doesn’t interfere. Can you handle that?"

"Of course, leave it to me."

Maria took a deep breath, obviously feeling relieved of something.

...

[A/N]

Dorian has the ability to generate mana continuously, meaning he can never run out, which is what most mages dream of having, but that doesn’t mean he can’t necessarily run out of mana; he just regenerates at a faster rate.

Also, the game of imagination will most likely be a battle between magic and science, per se, so if you’re one of those that belive magic is more powerful than modern technology, i apolgixe in advance.