The reason it started was simple. Lilith felt that having such a huge creature wandering around her all day was not a good idea if anyone happened to see it. So after another round of abstract communication, she taught Belial his first proper Magic, invisibility, which included suppressing presence and sound.
The teaching method was straightforward. Lilith discovered that this dragon's processing ability was absurdly strong, so as long as she showed him the spell structure a few times, he could reproduce it. Belial also noticed then that the way he was used to casting spells was slightly different from normal practice.
Most of the time, he liked to strip away minor Shard and parts of the structure meant to limit power, then replace them with a stronger output end. From another angle, it was like removing the stock and sights, cutting off the bolt, and stuffing all the bullets at once into a shortened barrel to fire them out. It worked, but only because the user was ridiculous.
When he demonstrated his usual casting style to Lilith, her expression became visibly complex. It clearly said that if this dragon were not genuinely strong, he would have blown himself up countless times already. Lilith roughly understood why he cast spells this way, and she did not even see it as a problem.
After all, even if the barrel exploded and blew back in his face, it would not scratch his scales. He truly did not think this was an issue at all. Belial himself realized that relying on a mostly copied and improvised Magic system was not ideal, so it was better to properly learn from this woman who clearly understood Magic very well.
"So you want to learn Magic from me?"
After another round of communication using drawings and gestures, the two finally understood each other well enough. Lilith admitted that she had been curious about how his Magic worked, and found it genuinely interesting. In the end, she agreed, partly because of the eighteenth life-sized, finely crafted figurine Belial had given her.
More importantly, his shameless casting style gave her quite a bit of inspiration. Even the Lord would probably want to see what this creature could come up with after proper study. Still, she pointed out that she would first have to teach him language and writing, which was actually the harder part.
When it came to Magic, Lilith had no trouble at all. Teaching basic literacy, like something meant for early childhood, turned out to be a real challenge instead. In the end, it was not too troublesome, since they could just buy materials from a nearby city.
She realized that Belial did not recognize any known language on the continent. From his reactions, however, it was clear that he had decent intelligence, aesthetic sense, and certain habits. From small unconscious details, she sensed traces of civilization, especially since he even apologized at times, which was not something a mere beast would do.
At the same time, many areas of common sense seemed oddly disconnected. This only made her more curious. In any case, just to allow smooth communication, Belial effectively started early education classes, which felt strange but accurate enough.
This led to a rather comical scene. A tall and ferocious Black Dragon lay beside the edge of Sky Island, while a petite Witch stood nearby, using a Magic Staff as a pointer. She indicated a floating Magic projection board as they began basic literacy lessons.
"Ah… uh…"
"What on earth does this mean?"
Belial stared with eyes larger than a human's at the small floating projection, memorizing the strange and unfamiliar symbols. He then tried to use a voice usually meant for roaring, carefully controlling the volume so as not to blow the Witch away. After realizing his voice was fundamentally different from a human's, he attempted to use Wind Magic vibrations to produce sound instead.
Ironically, his powerful brain struggled with this sort of problem. As mentioned before, processing power was not the same as understanding. Logical language learning happened to be his weak point.
"I did not expect to relive the feeling of old language classes again. I cannot understand it, and I just want to sleep."
Most of the time, Belial stayed in this state. After a few days, Lilith noticed it as well. Both of them suffered a disastrous outcome from this effort.
First, Belial had almost no foundation in this area, and his comprehension was weak. Of course, most people could not master a new language in just a few days either. Second, Lilith realized that her own teaching ability was also disastrous.
You could not expect someone who stayed at home all day and barely interacted with others to be good at teaching communication. After several days, Belial could only be said to have made very limited progress. He could easily memorize pronunciations, but he could not understand what the words referred to without concrete examples.
Even elementary textbooks usually had translations, but there was nothing like that here. Over these days, he only managed to learn words for simple objects, while anything more complex left him completely stuck. Still, he was not in a hurry, since it had only been a few days.
Lilith felt that she could not teach this giant for too long anyway. Once the Barrier was repaired, she would need to return to staying inside Sky Island, since her condition prevented long periods of activity outside. Besides, there was no way the interior could support such a massive dragon.
After repairing the Barrier in a few days, this somewhat strange relationship would have to pause for now. One day, as she touched the huge, thick crystal lance on Belial's tail, she sighed softly.
"What exactly are you?"
After days of study, Lilith discovered that the crystals growing on him were completely different from her own. They felt like something that naturally belonged on his body, an innate organ rather than an abnormal growth. She had checked all known Great Dragon types and found none that grew such energy-related crystals.
She even suspected these crystals might be some kind of parasite. Otherwise, it was hard to explain why a pure dragon beast could possess such exaggerated strength. In youth, dragon beasts and True Dragon were identical in bloodline, but differences, including blood, grew larger over time.
This was due to the dragon soul, which functioned like a genetic seed. After days of research, she gained no answers and instead shattered much of her own common knowledge. After hours of exhausting lessons, Lilith watched the Black Dragon fly off into the distance with a hint of envy, then returned to her tower to continue her research.
"Being able to absorb Magic so freely really is enviable. If only I could do that too."
She muttered to herself while working, having long noticed Belial's nearly limitless ability to absorb Magic. This was probably why he had targeted her Magic Array before, though now that it was repaired, it was fine. She also knew he went around consuming nearby Magic Crystal Ore veins every day, but she did not care since they were not hers.
However, Lilith seemed to have forgotten something. What was it again?
"After class, it is time to eat. Why do I have to experience this kind of life again after transmigrating?"
Belial thoughtfully considered the range of the Magic Circle that Lilith needed to set up, so he flew more than a hundred miles away before eating. The mineral veins here showed no sign of ownership, so he helped himself without hesitation.
The mineral distribution was scattered, making it troublesome to eat them one by one. Remembering his earlier inspiration, he copied the idea and set up a Magic Array with an energy-gathering effect. By lying at the center, he could naturally absorb the Magic gathered from all around.
The efficiency was far higher than before. The best material was his own freely produced crystals, which had excellent conductivity. For Belial, who controlled Energy Field, the speed of engraving was equally astonishing.
Ordinary mages needed great focus and time to construct a Magic Array due to precision requirements. For Belial, outside his Energy Field domain, most Magic Array could be completed almost instantly. The surrounding Magic and elements would arrange themselves according to his will.
Others used pens, while he used printing presses. He controlled crystals to grow in a uniform circle around the edge of the Energy Field domain, then followed the array diagrams he had seen and laid out all the crystal lines at once. Deep underground, vibrations spread as massive crystals grew and forced apart the rock.
This was his first time using his crystal proliferation on such a scale. The crystals formed tunnels in the cavern, shining with polished light like a crystal-filled cave. At the center, where Magic gathered most densely, stood a massive crystal tree that supported a vast underground space.
It was breathtaking. Root-like crystals spread from beneath the tree, faintly connecting to all nodes and Magic Array lines. Belial buried his body directly inside the crystals, knowing he could dissolve them at will when he wanted to leave.
"Now I can finally sleep properly."