Arad took his shoe off and walked inside, walking past Lilia.
"You give up easily, don't you?"
"I'm not going to start a fight inside my house." He looked back at her, "I know I can't take you down with one hit or even restrain you."
Lilia jumped from the table, landing on the couch, putting one leg on the other and her hands behind her head, "Then I'm resting here until Merlin's come back."
"What do you need from her?" He walked to the other room to wash.
"I do need to teach her a lesson so she won't get her powers stolen again. As you say, they can be dangerous in the wrong hands. She's the only high human I taught in the past centuries that managed to comprehend enchantments to her level." She said with a smile.
"What's a high human?" Arad looked at her through the door before turning toward the stairs. "Tina! If you're here, we have a guest. An unwelcomed one."
"What are you saying?" Tina looked out of the kitchen, "I don't care. We're giving her the best we have."
"Did you see? Did you hear?" Lilia nodded, "That's how people should treat their guests."
"Salt is more expensive, so I'm giving her that with tea." Tina gave Arad a thumbs up.
"You tall human!" Lilia gasped, "I drink my tea without any salt or sugar,"
"Who puts..." Arad sighed, sitting down and facing Lilia.
"They are the same as high elves and elves. In the past, they were extremely weak physically in exchange for ridiculous magic, but that isn't the case anymore." Lilia looked at Arad, "They can lose anything to gain anything, albeit it's decided on birth."
"She's physically weak. But has a lot of magic?"
"No, but that's for her to explain." Lilia looked at him, "You can tell high humans apart by their pure white hair and colorful eyes. Blue is sometimes associated with magic, and red with evil, but those are false claims."
Arad looked at her for a moment, "Wait?"
"You're right," She looked at him, "Jack is a high human. And your brother seems to be the son of one as well."
"Is there anything like a high dragon?"
"No, magic dragons are the closest to a better dragon." She looked at Tina as she walked into the living room.
"AO created the dragons as the perfect living beings. You improve on the best, only get different flavors."
Tina put the tea cups on the table, and Lilia snatched hers. Giving it a taste. "Well, it doesn't have salt in it." She smiled. "But, you woman..." She stared at her.
"It has this." She pulled out a tiny bag of red seeds.
"I knew it," Lilia growled, "Red fennel seeds. Stronger than the normal ones, those don't just cure stomachache and poisoning. They actively force the bowels to move, usually leading to extensive diarrhea and dehydration, even death if consumed in a large amount."
"Don't worry, I only added enough to give you a bad day."
"There is no need for me to even worry," Lilia looked at her, "It won't affect me even if I ate the seeds for dinner." She tapped her stomach, "I've been perfecting my creations for untold eons. This won't harm me," She downed the tea at once, flicked her finger, and the cup got refilled on its own.
"Conjure tea, a spell I created in the past." Lilia smiled, waving her hand, and a whole basket of bakery and sweets appeared out of nowhere. "Conjure Crunch. One of my favorites."
"Magic can do that?" Tina looked at the basket.
"You store the ingredients in a timeless space, then create a formula to cook and prepare everything in the stopped time before pulling it out."
Lilia started explaining how the spell works as Arad took a sip out of his cub, "So, what did you come to teach her."
Lilia looked at him and pulled a book out of nowhere. "This is for you. I'll give her a copy as well."
"Magic encryption by Lilia?" He read the title of the brick-thick book.
"It details forty different methods to encrypt your magic so other people can't dispel or steal it like what happened before."
"You can do that with magic?" He looked at her, flipping the book's pages.
"It does have those methods, but I recommend you create your own encryption to be safe. I'll be staying in Alina for the time being to teach you and her, so visit me each day you have time."
^Doma, can I mix the void's telepathic language with some curses?^
^[I can help you make an encryption that none would crack.]^ Doma replied with a smile. Her curses are volatile and dangerous to the inexperienced user, so no one even wants to take her power, but it's still a new thing for her to learn.
"Do you have a place to stay in? You can take the room to the left," Arad looked at her. ^Bet milk her for every drop of knowledge possible, that's power after all. And I hate losing my powers.^
"Ah! No, I already have a place to stay in." She stood, flying over the table and looking at them as she floated upside down.
"I'll be staying at Cain's house. The herbalist old man,"
"A lot of dangerous people stay with him," Arad remembered Kayden.
"As if he isn't as more dangerous." Lilia shook her head, "By the way, how was the labyrinth?"
"Got a few levels off it, but no items to speak off." Arad sighed, "Well, since trying to bring Amber back was a side effect, I got that magic ball I blew Vlad with."
"That one," Lilia started thinking, "You lack the energy reserve and time magic to make it stable on your own. It's a spell beyond human reach, but not that far away from the best of dragons."
"Really?" He stared at her.
"The upper limit of dragons is higher than humans. Isn't that common knowledge? Or did you expect those two-legged humanoids to rival the mountain-tall, elemental-breathing, raging balls of destruction?"
"With magic, everything is possible," Arad looked at her.
"Listen, dragons are smarter than humans. They can learn magic better than them." Lilia looked at him with a grin, "Let's give humans a chance, shall we?"
"A healthy, trained adult male vs a newborn wyrmling. Who wins a struggle with no weapons, just nature at its core."
"The wyrmling," Arad replied, "Even at that age, most dragons are at least as strong as some big cats."
"That's right," Lilia smiled, "You won't tell me a human can beat a tiger. In fact, wyrmlings bite force is equivalent to that of crocodiles. Their scales are the same as well..." She looked at Arad, "Now that I thought about it. Wyrmlings are just crocodiles with tall legs and wings that spit elemental energy. That makes them faster and able to glide through the air, albeit they can't fly yet."