Two days later...

  A dish-shaped mana construct shot through the sky at wind-disturbing speeds, like a frisbee had been tossed by a giant. The colours of its base were ever-changing, constantly shifting hues to match that of the overhead sky, while its opposite side remained mostly transparent for its occupants to see the blurring land below. Naturally, its passengers were Inkaro and Nuenala(silently unwillingly, in the sense she didn't want to admit she wanted to ride the train to their destination).

  Nuenala was beside herself, pulling at her cheeks and forcing them to redden even further than her blush had already bled them. Her groans of dismay were nothing short of dying fizzles of frustration, barely held together embers of her one steadfast aggression born from Inkaro's Inkaroness grinding at her resolve. At the duo's current speed of travel, Nuenala begrudgingly hid behind Inkaro, swallowing her pride in the process, to shelter herself from the rapids of wind threatening to send her flying. Her back slumped aggressively firm against Inkaro's back, Nuenala groaned defeatedly into her phone.

  Unlike his travel companion, since the moment they set off, Inkaro hadn't budged from his sitting position. He could've been mistaken for a statue had he been coloured grey. Be it the feakishly strong gales or random obstacle that he'd off-handedly deal with, nothing would pry his primary attention from the grimoire currently in his grasp.

  He penned away.

  For once, his Focus Mode was a blessing for the conversing girls behind him, since they could freely have their girl talk, not that they'd mind even if the guy was listening... for the most part.

  "What's caused you to be acting so bratty?" Lizu asked over Nuenala's phone, although the flowing wind distorted the speaker's clarity, the dragon's distinct teasingness rang through clearly. Having had her power to resist any form of teasing expended, Nuenala could only spare the smallest of her dwindling strength to whimper out a defiant huff.

  "He spent... the whole time..., the past two days, collecting wil- ulu grass and other miscellaneous herbs and the likes! By hand. He could've used that locator spell. But no! Ruining the authenticity of the quests, he said."

  "Yeah, that'd about do it.". Lizu continued to pass on her attempt at genuine sincerity for not being there in person, only to be cut off by Neunala retorting that things would've been far worse with the noble dragon's presence. Lizu heartily laughed, to the extent it seemed excessive, and Inkaro wondered if she was playing it up. She didn't even try to deny it. In fact, Lizu mentioned, had she been there, she'd have certainly goaded Inkaro into using a locator spell she'd modified to attract monsters.

  "Well, Inkaro seemed to have considered that idea before some rationality made its rare appearance in that skull of his," Nuenala uttered, using her free hand to lightly tug at the guy's sleeve to get his attention, impossible as it seemed.

  Despite being the obvious target of the insult, Inkaro didn't so much as flinch, his focus on the completion of the syntax for his newest spell taking unquestionable priority above everything save for piloting the floating mana dish.

  "Speaking of him using spells."

  "Are you ever going to explain how you're able...," Lizu asked in a somewhat commanding tone that somehow bordered on being cute. Inkaro raised his head from his current task, almost robotically. He turned his head and looked over his shoulder with a vaguely disappointed expression, like he'd expected such a request, as he rolled his eyes. But before he could say anything, Lizu added, "...in a simple way, for Nuenala, of course."

  "Ah.". He spoke with a somewhat deflated acceptance behind his voice, like he'd expected such an add-on to Lizu's request.

  Nuenala deeply pouted, peeved that Lizu would use her to get a simplification out of Inkaro, and said guy's unreserved acceptance of her seeming need for things to be dumbed down, despite it being required.

  After closing the grimoire in his hand, Inkaro brought it to his face. As he lightly tapped it against his chin, Inkaro thought over how far he should simplify his explanation. He juggled over multiple options before landing on the one that had a zero percent chance of failing... to get the point across.

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  "Spell. Go through."

  Not even letting the guy get out another word, Nuenala sprang into action. With her face burning bright with rage, she spun around with enough force to overpower the strong gales.

  "Not that simple!" Nuenala wailed as she proceeded to wail a handful of light slaps against the back of his head, only to recoil moments later in pain while the guy sat unfazed. He really was a statue. She clutched at her blazing red palms, wincing even harder, before slamming her hands on the object underneath her. The tense face she sported swiftly faded. All that searing sensation that tingled on her palms melted away against the object's cold surface.

  With his life no longer in danger and not wishing to incur such a response again, Inkaro swiftly upped the education level of his explanation to that of a high schooly level.

  "Basically, all spells are fuelled by your soul, or your mana capacity. Which then goes through your body, your mana tolerance. And then the specialised vessels in your body called mana receptors are responsible for your ability to control your mana and spells. When these three processes work in tandem, those of the nine races can wield grimoires, and monsters can employ what they are capable of."

  Nuenala nodded along, but the look on her face screamed, "Quit stalling before Lizu says something."

  So he obliged and skipped over how the three base attributes interacted and were linked together. "And a while back, me and teacher had an idea. What if we tried replacing the body component of that process?"

  At the keyword of component, Lizu's excited thumping of her tail against some noticeably tiled ground boomed loudly over the phone. It was cute, to Inkaro at least, as Nuenala found it less so with her eardrum almost being burst from her proximity to the phone speaker.

  "Is Inkaro going on about his Sky-Style Syntax: Air Writing again?" Lizu asked over the phone, her voice a little higher pitch that failed to hide her excitement for the thing she'd brought up, "Because if you are, when are you going to teach me how to do it?"

  Inkaro deeply groaned, enough so Nuenala genuinely questioned if the guy could physically overpower a dragolyte when she heard a sharp eep come over the phone.

  "I told you it's still in the experimental stages, so I'd rather not risk anything until all the kinks are ironed out; I would've thought me ignoring your calls and texts for the past hour should have made it clear it's not going to happen."

  Nuenala flinched, putting Inkaro's words and Lizu's sudden shift in topic together, as she brought her face dangerously close to her phone's screen, risking her ears to make sure her next message was as clear as day. "Did you really just call me to try and get that out of Inkaro?"

  "... maybe?"

  Nuenala instantly hung up. She sighed deflatedly out of exhaustion, finding Lizu's commitment to getting smarter commendable if it weren't so exhausting to perceive. She flopped down onto her back. With the thought of exhaustion on her mind, the girl brought her fingers to the bags under her eyes and poked them, testing her physical tiredness.

  "Since she already brought it up, you want me to tell you about it?"

  The girl eyed the grimoire maker, looked him up then down, and scoffed at herself.

  "I'd rather you just show me if it meant the chance of you rambling is reduced," Nuenala grumbled in her growingly delerious state, "But I know you'd still sneak one in somehow, so I'll pass."

  Nuenala rolled onto her side and just as quickly drifted into a deep slumber, signified by the light snoring she made. Inkaro blinked a total of seven times in a row before turning to his mini floating grimoire. "Wish I were a sleeping expert."

  Raising a finger, Inkaro closed his left eye. Following a deep inhale and even deeper exhale, a glowing energy ring formed from grimoire syntax appeared around his raised finger. The deep green letters hovered gently in place, letting off faint buzzes as it patiently awaited for its spell to be cast. "Heh, still got it."

  Suddenly, his floating mini grimoire bumped into his hand with a surprising amount of vigour. The impact sent the floating letters flying before they fizzled away.

  Knowing it was hardly unintentional, Inkaro placed a hand on his grin-dressed face and asked teasingly, "Grimoire Galore, are you getting jealous?"

  Grimoire Galore violently vibrated in its position in the air, followed by bubbles of purple mana seeping out of its pages and forming a shaky text. Had it been anyone else, the abysmal state of the grimoire's handwriting would've had it sent back to pre-school. Luckily for it, Inkaro had long grown accustomed to its unique font of choice, so he had no issue reading.

  "...Dummy...," the floating letters read, as shaky as they were. The sight left Inkaro smirking with the pride of a father watching their kid do pretty much anything for the first time.

  "Thanks for that, soon you'll be able to insult me with two words," Inkaro joked before the grimoire floated down to Nuenala and settled down beside the girl's head, in an act of defiance against its owner's teasing. "Heh... I suppose you would mimic the most expressive of those around you. Just try not to get all your personality data from a singular person, even if she's your favourite."