As Arad absorbed all the cursed metal in the mine and digested it, something started changing in his body. This was the first time that he had eaten such an energy-rich meal. His body which was barely living on the flesh of monsters could finally stretch out a bit. His mind became clearer and he felt strongly lighter, the muscles on his body expanded a bit as his heart rapidly raced.

Due to the scarcity of cursed metal, Arad had been holding off on eating what little he had as he wanted to save it for evolution. That cursed Metal, which is Uranium, is still unnamed in this world. People call it with its only effect, a metal that kills people by just being close, a cursed metal. To Arad, that was a highly efficient energy source that helped his massive body function at 100% for a longer time.

While eating a whole tall neck {brachiosaurus} only allowed Arad to fight and train seriously for a day, this cursed metal had several hundred more energy, which would allow him to stretch his wings further.

Arad looked at his shredded limbs growing a bit larger as the muscles finally got enough energy to grow. It was just now that he was basically starving on top of extreme nutrient deficiency. He was like a man suffering from anemia going on a heavy diet.

Arad stomped the ground gently with his front talon, flexing his muscles as he looked at his scales and counted them. He had indeed grown a few more scales and gotten a tiny bit bigger. Not only his stamina, but his maximum output should’ve increased substantially as well.

The killer among the shadows, escaped. The dark elf goddess of swords and dance voice boomed inside Arad’s head once more, You’ll get her next time.

Arad looked up, “Instead of just speaking into my head, how about you help a bit?” Mira will die seven months from now while giving birth. Catch that shadow drakaina before that time, otherwise, you’ll never save Mira…you’ll never…ever… Her voice boomed in Arad’s head, fading away as she left him standing in the same place, shocked, stunned, and baffled. No matter how much he thought about it he couldn’t find a link between Mira giving birth and a shadow drakaina…Can the shadow magic help her give birth safely…no, if that was the case learning shadow magic would be easier than hunting an insane shadow drakaina.

It had just come to him; Mira is a demi-goddess now…regular birth complications shouldn’t be able to kill her…even though he doesn’t know exactly what complication could happen or how they could kill…But she’s a demi-goddess…that should help at least a bit…

As Arad asked Doma, she replied that she too doesn’t have a solid idea. She knows what complications might happen during birth, but has never experienced or seen them personally to be able to judge their effect on a demi-goddess.

Since the subject had far exceeded Arad’s understanding, he decided to postpone the questions until he met the three people he thought would know something. The only experts around him, Tina, Lyla, and Hati…if that sly woman was willing to help.

His wings started glowing and vibrating as he slowly floated up, mana rose from the ground and got sucked into his body as his scales glowed like stars. In the blink of an eye, he teleported to the surface using Void Step

As Arad landed, he saw Mora still standing there, now he was squatting the mountains. “You’re still training?”

“Never skip leg day…I’ll look like a chicken otherwise, especially with how short and wide I am.” Mora dropped the mountains and looked at Arad, “So how was it? Had fun?”

“There was a shadow drakaina in there. The cursed metal mine was large though,” Arad replied and Mora burst laughing, “So…did you get some action? Or was she the one to get some fun?”

“Nothing like that.” Arad sighed as he started shifting back into his humanoid form. “I tried to capture her, but since I knew nothing about shadow magic… she managed to run away.” As Arad took his humanoid form, Mora noticed that he had changed slightly.

Arad had grown half a foot taller; his back had become wider and his body as a whole looked far leaner and more shredded. Now that he has energy stored as cursed metal, his body didn’t need to waste space on storing fat, so everything got dropped. When Arad’s arms flex as he walks, the strips of the muscles become clearly visible. As for why his back got wider, that was because his wing muscles, the largest muscles in his body had also gotten a bit bigger.

“Now you look healthier for a dragon. The moment you start feeling hungrier, call me through Hati and I’ll locate another mine for you.” Mora moved aside and pointed at the adamantine bar holding the two mountains together. “Can you lift that up? You failed before.”

Arad approached the bar and looked, “I don’t know if I could. It’s two mountains after all.” He grabbed the bar with both hands and took a deep breath. Arad’s back and quads started steaming as red lines of magic burned on them, he never had enough energy to fully fuel them, but now he does.

The bar creaked, and the mountains shook. Arad’s legs slowly straightened up as he deadlifted the two mountains, but he immediately dropped them. Falling down with an exhausted gasp, he had never attempted to carry such a heavy load without using gravity magic.

Mora laughed as he smacked Arad on the back, immediately blowing on his hand as it burned due to how hot Arad’s back was. “That was…ouch! Ouch! A good lift…Ouch! It burns!” He grabbed a tree and squeezed it hard enough that was splashed on his hand, cooling it down. “You’re taller than me, so it’s harder to move such a heavyweight, but you did it.” Mora looked at Arad with a smile. “This is the importance of eating healthy. Don’t skip your meals.” With a single clap, he disappeared into the golden mist, leaving Arad alone in the forest.

Arad looked at the bar for a few seconds, and then shifted back into his draconic form and flew back to the Hati’s house. As he landed in the backyard in his human form, he could sense Lucia, Matilda, and Selina inside the house. By concentrating for just a bit, he could hear them talking with Mira about some alchemical homework…

He walked toward the door and opened it, walking inside toward the room where they were talking. As he looked through the large open door, he saw them sitting around a tea table. Selina, Lucia, and Matilda sat on one side, Mira faced them while Lyla, Hati, and Merlin were drinking at another table. Astrid was polishing Merlin’s toenails as Frida polished her hands and engraved magical seals onto them.

Tina who was pouring them tea and drinks noticed Arad and approached him, “Welcome back.” She said with a smile, her eyes quickly scanned Arad and noticed that something seemed off, she had to look a bit higher than usual.

She didn’t stand taller than his chest, and her shoulders could fit in his thin waist. The doors he barely walked through before now required him to bend down a bit.

“ARAD?!” Matilda was the first to cry, she could smell him so she was sure he was Arad, but he seemed to have grown larger. “Did you get taller?!” She stood and approached him, pulling everyone’s attention toward him.

“Did he get fatter?” Hati looked toward him, “I guess not…” She sighed.

“Wait!” Merlin cried, “How am I supposed to deal with that? Don’t tell me all my calculations are going to be for nothing!” She was afraid that Arad had gotten stronger in a way that her plans to defeat him would fail. Astrid and Frida seemed to care less about Arad getting stronger and were more afraid that Merlin was going to overwork them to compensate for that change. Especially after she almost worked herself to death, they were sure she wouldn’t have a problem working them until they shriveled and died.

Mira stood and approached Arad, “You finally got your back fixed?” She said with a gentle smile.

Arad was confused, he didn’t understand what she was talking about, but she kept going. She stood between him and Matilda. “Due to how physically strong he was, his muscles were shrinking his spine and making him shorter. We’ve heard that there was a skilled healer around here, and Hati sent Arad to him.” She looked at Arad, “Is that right?”

“Yeah…” He replied, deciding to let her keep going.

“I talked to her about it.” Isdis walked into the room, immediately picking up on what Mira

was doing, and helped her.

“There is such a skilled healer here?” Selina looked at Mira and Arad, “I never heard of him,

and I looked into the village.”

“He’s a traveling healer. Doing good by going around and healing people, he stopped in

another nearby village so I used my standing to get him to give Arad a session.” Hati replied, leaning back on her seat and sipping her wine.

While Selina remained a bit skeptical, Matilda on the other hand had no doubt. She had seen Arad running backward after their goddess. Hearing of him running to a nearby village and

returning seemed normal.

Arad’s gaze quickly shifted to the other side of the room, looking at Lyla and Hati. “Tina, Lyla, and Hati as well if you have time. Can we speak in another room?” Arad pointed toward

the room facing the guest room, he could tell it was empty. “About what?” Mira who standing beside him asked with a puzzled face.

“Sorry, but I’ll tell you after I talk with them.” Arad replied and Tina was already heading

toward that empty room. Lyla stood and stretched her back, “My mother’s hunch is kicking in…” She smiled, “I hope I got some advice.”

“Well…” Hati leaned forward and sipped her wine, finishing it as she stood. “I can already

guess. But a grandma like me probably won’t help.” She took a step forward, and each moment her feet touched the ground a faint pulse of magic, too faint that only Merlin and Arad could sense sparked across the room. She had called herself a grandma and got angered

by it.