After Silver left Sun Village, Ben continued his conversation with Atlas Flame. The Fire Dragon's soul had a message from his future self.
"So, what's the message from me to myself?" Ben asked.
"...Actually, I don't remember everything because it's been 400 years. But I remember the point of the message. He said that you need to grow even faster because the calamity will come soon." Atlas Flame answered.
Ben's eyes widened because he knew what the message was about, Acnologia. That damn black dragon will appear soon not long after he saved his friends and family. Ben was naturally worried and so was Mira.
"Damn, I thought my progress was fast enough, but it's not enough, huh? I don't know what to do though. This is the best I can do because doing more training won't be effective. It will actually be detrimental." Ben said, gritting his teeth.
"Sir dragon, do you know when Acnologia will appear again?" Mira asked.
"Regretfully, I don't. I was summoned to the future, but I don't know the exact time because it was just for a short time. Although it doesn't seem like that will happen soon." Atlas Flame said.
"Why is that?" Ben asked.
"It's because you have long hair, unlike now." Atlas Flame told him while looking at Ben.
Ben's hair is very short now after he cut it for his wedding. So it will take a few years for his hair to become long.
"How long was my future self's hair?" Ben asked.
"I think it reached your waist while being tied in the back." Atlas Flame answered.
"Being tied in the back? Like this?" Ben asked while shaping Mira's hair like a ponytail.
"Yeah, I think that's how you tied it." Atlas Flame nodded.
'A.I Chip, calculate the time for my hair to reach that length.' Ben commands while being pinched by Mira because he ruined her hair.
[Calculating...finished! Estimated time is 3 to 4 years.]
'Hmm, so I have that much time after calculating my hair growth rate. 3 years is a short amount of time. I need to do all I can to grow even stronger. I also need to make the others grow stronger, especially the Dragon Slayers.' Ben thought.
Ben thought of a way to slow his already fast growth. It was easy for him to set up effective training for the others. But it is very difficult to improve his training method. Even increasing his training time won't have a significant effect.
Right now, even by doing nothing, Ben keeps increasing his magic power. He had placed an Anima magic circle on his body. So just by breathing, he can absorb a lot of magic power that also seeps through his pores.
Mira also has one Anima magic circle on her body. He didn't put it on the others though because not everyone can handle the high amount of Ethernano around them and might waste a lot of Ethernano because their absorption ability is not high enough.
There's also a danger of attracting hostile magical creatures and mages as the magic power around them is high. It will put them in danger if they aren't strong enough. That's why Ben only placed it on himself and Mira.
"Son of Escanor, what is it that troubles you?" Atlas Flame asked.
"I can't think of a way to improve my training. Do you have any advice, Atlas Flame?" Ben questioned.
"Hmm, can you tell me what magic you use? I know that you use Dragon Slayer Magic, but it also seems that you use other types of magic. I've seen in the future that you use magic with red and black colors, which don't seem to be normal types of magic. Even now, I can sense them in your body." Atlas Flame said.
"You're right, I have 2 other types of Slayer Magic. Sun Devil and God Slayer Magic. So I have 3 types of Slayer Magic." Ben said while generating 3 small sun balls with those 3 types of magic.
Atlas Flame looked surprised when he heard that.
"Why are you learning the other 2 magic types? Isn't your Sun Dragon Slayer Magic strong enough?" He asked.
"It is, but I need them in order to suppress the Dragon Seed that was created by my Dragon Slayer Magic." Ben explained why he had 3 different types of Slayer Magic.
"Dragon Seed? Isn't that what transforms a Dragon Slayer into a dragon like Acnologia? I understand. So you can remove the effect like that. You must be very smart to be able to learn those 2 magic types while you have Sun Dragon Slayer Magic and your body must be very strong." Atlas Flame said.
"Well, I have a lot of confidence in my brain and physique." Ben boasted.
Atlas Flame thought about it for a while.
"Son of Escanor, do your 3 Slayer Magics clash with each other?" He asked.
"Yeah, that's why the Dragon Seed is suppressed." Ben remarked.
"I think that is the main problem. You need them to harmonize with each other. If they keep clashing, when one of them gets stronger than the others, it will destroy the other 2 and possibly your body." Atlas Flame noted.
"Have them harmonize, huh? It's not like I haven't thought about that, but I don't know how to pull it off." Ben admitted.
They all become silent because none of them know how to do it. This might be the first case of someone learning 3 types of Slayer Magic at the same time. Even someone like God Serena learned 8 magics of the same type, Dragon Slayer Magic, not Devil/Dragon/God Slayer Magic.
Ben's 3 Slayer Magics were different in type and tier, so they are clashing even though all 3 have to deal with the sun. It's like how gods, dragons and demons don't have a good relationship, their magic was the same way.
"Son of Escanor, you will surely find a way to do it. A human like you that is capable of using 3 different types of magic will definitely be able to harmonize them. You are the first human, no, the first creature that has achieved this feat. So you will surely find the answer." Atlas Flame said.
"Yeah, I will try." Ben nodded.
The elder giant who had been silent the whole time suddenly spoke, "You humans are indeed incredible. You can just learn anything, even magical creatures' magic. Even gods might not be able to learn a dragon or demon's magic, unlike you."
"Well, maybe it's because humans are able to adapt to more than any creature." Ben said.
They all then talk about many things, especially past events that aren't explained in great detail throughout history. Giants can live for a long time, so they have witnessed a lot of events, just like dragons. It's just they weren't as strong as dragons.
Ben then asked Atlas Flame about Acnologia because he needs more information on the black dragon. So Atlas Flame told him what he knew which wasn't that much because Atlas Flame didn't interact with humans that often.
What Atlas Flame does know is that Acnologia was a human who learned Dragon Slayer Magic. The black dragon Acnologia actually took that name from a dragon that existed in the past. He killed the original Acnologia and took that name to mock the dragons.
The original Acnologia was actually a kind dragon, a divine guardian of the hidden land, Montes Secreta. He became evil after investigating the war between humans and dragons. During his investigation though, he was badly injured by humans, which made him assume that all humans are bad.
After that, he massacred the people of the land that he protected. The current Acnologia's origin isn't fully known by Atlas Flame. But Atlas Flame thought that he was a survivor from Montes Secreta or someone that survived a dragon attack.
He must've had a deep hatred of dragons so he learned Dragon Slayer Magic to slay dragons. Through years of slaying dragons, he bathed in their blood and became stronger. No one knew how many dragons he killed, but it must've been a lot because dragons are nearly extinct.
"There's always something bad that happened in the past that changes someone into a cold-hearted villain. But he's not the only one that can be this cold-hearted and ruthless. I almost lost my loved ones because of this bastard. So I'll make sure to rip him apart out of revenge and protect this world." Ben said with a serious tone.