Today is the 2nd.

-

I increased my "Charisma", [Sense Mana], [Nature Magic] and [Space Magic] by 1 (now 12, 2+6, 15+15 and 11+19), my [Summoning Magic] by 2 (now 12+17), my MP by 20 (now 710) and my "Magic Power" by 5 (now 270).

Today we can't even go outside since it's raining, worst of all the griffin spirit doesn't appear and Aoi gets depressed. Without Lina to hug I sit on Hana's lap while she practices her control by making the smallest [Earth Bullet] that she can. Roxanne asked for a corgi so she can cuddle with it while she works.

I bring Holly, a nature elemental, and my Shad in front of me while I observe them. The secret to level up is on them, Nononya's notes had a lot of information about anatomy but it isn't the same information that I can get if I use my soul to look inside their bodies.

I "expand" my soul towards them and "enter" their bodies to explore. I don't cut my feeling of taste, I need to know precisely how each of these are made.

Holly has a weird, diminutive body. She feeds on blood from unconscious victims, but the size of her stomach is too small to digest it, she must be absorbing the mana inside the blood. Mana courses through the body by using the veins as "guides", this makes blood the most mana charged part of our bodies, because of this many MP potions use blood of monsters as base ingredient.

Holly also doesn't have any sort of fat storage, she must be using inverted [Manasynthesis], converting mana into energy for the body. The poison gland is interesting, it's a mix of using digested blood with some other ingredient created by mana, this is something that's not on her entry on the monster book.

If I concentrate I can see in much more detail, I can go up to discerning the borders of every cell. Her cells are not glued by mana so these monsters shouldn't be vulnerable against emellanat. For their size they cost more mana than the elementals, it must be because their cells are more well developed. I wish I could look deeper into the cell, it starts to hurt my brain if I try to see more detail.

Hana hugs me and rests her head beside mine.

Shad's anatomy is basically nonexistent, it absorbs mana from the environment so it doesn't starve easily but it seeks out sources of mana, like mages. I can't see anything on their "bodies" besides where the soul rests, they are "magical beings", they do not follow the laws of physics like most monsters do. Roxanne's tail, wings and horns are considered to be of the same class of matter.

They are not even considered spirits or ghosts, they are literally shadows. Their ethereal tendrils are semi-corporeal though, they have a very weak interaction with matter, allowing them to move things like when one tried to remove my sword.

They react to interactions like Living Armors do, they get "cut" and "crushed" until their form breaks and dissipates. They easily interact with magic, which breaks apart their cohesion, but they have a lot of resistance to it. For example they don't "burn" from the [Firestorm], only the storm of mana raging through their bodies causes their cohesion to break.

It's all interesting to learn more about their anatomy but it isn't doing enough to level the skill faster. I need to look deeper, this anatomy analysis is only after the summoning, I need to learn how matters is formed the moment the monster is summoned.

- Hana starts getting frisky -

"Hana?" I ask.

"W-what you did, it felt so good," she answers, her breath is ragged and her face is very warm.

Oh, I guess she touched my soul "expansion" for a moment.

"We have to do it fast, we still have to train more."

"Okay…"

-

The girls open their eyes for a second and then go back to their own training.

-

Back to training, this time I put my back to Hana's so she won't "accidentally" brush on my soul. I cast [Summon Monster] and use the orb method, I throw the summoning orb in the air and expand my soul, absorbing every moment as the ball falls and turns into Holly.

There's too much information to process. I couldn't really see how it "appears" but I saw how it grows. It literally grows, from an embryo to a baby to a young monster to its adult form. It's like watching a video of a baby growing in fast forward, but I could also see how its insides grow.

I dismiss it and summon a Shad. This time instead of it an embryo appearing it simply grows into its maximum size. I summon it again and focus giving it more power, it only grew a little bigger. I do the same with Holly and instead of being bigger it was "older", it spent more time "growing".

I can modify the shape of the elementals at will but I can't do it with the monsters. If I killed a different kind, say an older or bigger type then sure, I can summon the bigger version, but I can't change their form. The only thing I can control is the age, I can only summon a "younger" version than the one I killed, I can even summon embryos, which are disgusting and die quickly. Interestingly I can summon armored goblins.

Maybe if I increase my magical knowledge and mana control I can dabble on summoning customized monsters. There's many "safety measures" on this skill system that limit versatility.

I try to focus on the moment the ball of light turn into an embryo to see if I can absorb more details but it's so fast that I actually doubt there's something in between these moments. It could even be that there's nothing there and it instantly turns into an embryo as soon as the light ball hits the ground.

I observe every other monster that I can summon, except for the big ones like the Kite Dragon or the Symbol of Hate, they wouldn't fit inside this room. My knowledge of anatomy reached a limit.

Today is nature class, more theory, at least we ended the talk about mating habits.

The Gloomy Pervert taught us about the importance of the moons to nature, the brightest moon should influence the behavior of nature and the spirits. You shouldn't try to interact with nature when the brightest moon is red (aspect of aggressiveness), like for example, hunting, they are very aggressive during this period and many animals that are passive or skittish will actively fight back. When the purple (aspect of wickedness) moon is the brightest things get worse as the entire forest might hunt you and "play" with you. Indigo (aspect of othewordlyness) things just get... Weird, so it's also not that great of an idea to go to the forest. Any other color is fine.

Alissa going away and coming is getting annoying, losing and gaining her blessing is stressing to me. I really do feel good when I'm near her and I'm starting to dread when she goes away. I'm tempted to ask her to always stay nearby.

Lina spent the afternoon at home, sparring with the girls. I have cut her time at the library in half until she has gained all the combat skills she needs. She will stay home the same days I have to do strength training, we will do this training together, me for muscles, her for [Stonebody].

When we are getting near home Holly spots a cloaked man who was at the same spot since last time. I tell Alissa to stop, I pull my sword out of "Items" and tie the belt to my waist.

She goes back home to call the girls and in a minute everyone is by the corner of the street.

This stalker is not even trying to hide, it's a big burly man with his face hidden by a hood. He is simply staring at our house a block away.

"I don't think it's related to Darean, he's too obvious, maybe he just wants to talk?" Alissa says, slightly confused.

"It's very suspicious to be cloaked and just staring at our house. Why doesn't he just come and knock?" Hana says and sends him an obvious glare, the man doesn't move.

"He looks a bit drunk," Ciel says.

After looking more carefully I see he's swaying slowly.

"There's no one near him to help, Holly scouted the area and he's alone," I say.

"Then there's nothing else to do besides confronting him," Alissa says.

"Turn on the scrubber for safety," Lina says.

I hope no space mage dropped a "coordinate" nearby.

We carefully approach him. Once close enough I can see past his hood, black beard, round face, dark brown skin, it's Logan from Escutcheon.

"Wolf... Ryder!" He says with a slur on his voice, clearly drunk.

"Yes, me and my wives. And you are Logan."

"Yesh...! I have been meaning to... talk to you..." I see a toothy grin.

"What for? Why not just knock on our door?" Hana says, clearly very annoyed.

"That's... Well, it'sh no matter! We are here now so let'sh talk!"

Hana clenches her teeth.

"Sure..." I say.

"You remember little Hilde, right? That... Woman we were with sssome time ago? How long washit?"

Uh... I'm bad with dates.

"About a month," Alissa saves me.

"Already!? Huh..." He loses himself in thought.

"So, what about it?" I ask.

He jolts back to reality and takes two steps forward.

"We were shuppos' to protect her... Right?"

"Only us, you were paid to kill the dragons."

He takes another step forward. The girls are getting anxious.

"Yesh but, we were shuppos' to help, like all good humanoidss we are shuppose' tha be."

He takes another step, I can smell he didn't take a bath. Hana is gripping her sword.

"And we did, we did all we could but it wasn't enough," I say, bitterness seeps into my voice as I'm being reminded of this.

Lina makes a pained face, holding some tears.

"It washn't enough!"

He takes another step and falls on his knees. I can only stare at him, bewildered.

"We weren't enough!"

He grabs my waist and pulls me closer. He sobs and the hood falls off his head, he's completely disheveled, his beard is unkempt, and he lost considerable weight. Tears flow freely on his face.

"We, didn't, do, enough," he mutters between sobs.

Gods help me.

After a few seconds of sobbing I put my hand on his shoulder.

"There, there... We did all we could. Sometimes that's just not enough," I try to console him.

"And that's how life is," Ciel says, she lowers herself to his height and rubs his other shoulder, "We live and we die, we do our best and even then we fail, so we should always live life to the fullest. Don't let her death ruin you too, if she could she would tell you not to waste your life with sadness."

He hugs my waist tighter. Please stop, this hurts.

"She was a strong woman, she will certainly spend some time in paradise. Now you need to grow more, you need to be stronger so you can join her when it's your time too."

This does something to him, he loosens his grip slowly. Ciel grabs his chin and makes him look forward.

"Remember to live well, you can still see her again one more time."

"One more time..." He repeats.

Ciel takes his arms off of me and pulls his hand so he stands again.

"I'm younger than you so when it's my time I expect to see you there," I say.

Logan chuckles. I hope this "paradise" works like this.

Ciel grabs him and sends a few more words to him. His beard is wet but his tears ran dry. At least his eyes regain some focus, some of their wildness returns. She pulls him back and they walk a few steps until he stops.

"Thank you, priestess," he looks at me and nods, "One more time…"

Ciel taps him on his huge back and he walks away. Ciel comes back to us and sighs.

"You worked well," I say.

"His type is the most common at the temple, people who lost loved ones so they lose their way."

I feel proud to have such a woman with me, I give her a kiss on her hand and she looks at me warmly.

"You are a wonderful woman," I say and give her a pure smile.

She waves me away and goes back home, cheeks dyed red.

I feel like training to get my mind out of this. I have to train my strength with Lina so I have Hana work us both hard, Lina needs to clear her mind too, those memories are still painful to her.

-

At night I spend my time studying Andraste again. It reminds me of greek, not that I ever heard someone speak greek but the letters are strikingly similar. I will likely never forget them, I have seen too many alphas, betas, and thetas in math to forget how they look.

"Ciel, why are there so few people with accents?" I ask.

I barely remember anyone but Simon having an accent.

"Most places have a teacher with a few points in Andraste, only the very small or isolated villages don't have a proper language teacher."

Knowing how Simon behaves I'm not surprised. But this is interesting, it's not an "everyone has an accent" situation, people literally do not have accents due to the skill never changing along time. Words get added but the pronunciation of existing words never changes.

I slowly play with Alissa and Roxanne in bed, can't have anyone feel neglected.

Today is the 3rd.

-

My [Summoning Magic] and [Andraste Language] increased by 1 (now 13+17 and 6+4). It seems I have to change my training regimen, simply repeating what I was doing won't take me much further. Even my MP increase slowed down.

This morning I train my MP. I use [Fireball] this time because I actually miss having this spell readily available. The next days I'm going to train Wind and [Water Magic] too because the first spell of each of these schools can actually be useful.

Leaving only Lina's Shad and Holly out I have enough mana to train. [Manasynthesis] is becoming really useful for this type of training.

"What does the spell [Rush] has in common with electricity?" The professor asks.

That's actually a good question.

"It's for the same reason why [Lightning Bolt] is effective against metal armor while natural electricity isn't."

Holy shit, I completely forgot about Faraday cages. Metal armor should protect against electricity except for burns due to heat, the way I use my bolt it flies through the body of my target completely unimpeded. Electricity wasn't my forte anyway.

"It's all about the 'abstract concept'. Magic has two ways to work, the first is 'copying', it's when we try to copy a phenomenon, like say, a lightning strike. We try to copy all the conditions necessary for the phenomenon and supplant whatever we don't know how it works or can't recreate with our own pure mana, creating things out of nothing by sheer 'Willpower'.

"The second way is the 'concept'. We copy characteristics of phenomenons and use them to create a spell that ignores the laws of our realm, we make it work in much more complex ways than a simple bolt of lighting.

"[Lightning Bolt] copies the physical part of a real lightning strike but it ignores certain properties, in fact it completely inverses a property. [Lightning Bolt] 'copies' the affinity electricity has for metals and also uses it as 'concept' so it can ignore the individual differences in resistance, making the spell behave the same way regardless of the metal it touches.

"It also uses a 'concept' of 'path' where charging the atmosphere with particles with opposite potential will 'ease' any sort of traversal. This is how you 'target' someone or 'guide' the bolt towards the body of the target.

"[Rush] works on the same 'concept' of the 'path', it just takes it much, much further and has it affect yourself instead of a bolt of electricity.

"So understanding these 'concepts' is what allows you to improve your magic and create more complex and frightening spells. Whenever you are training in a school of magic keep in mind these 'concepts' and you will increase the level of your skills with much ease."

Lyle stares at his hero with a mouth hanging open, I believe he just got his mind blown.

The professor takes us to the training range again so we can try out our new found inspiration. I mostly focus on [Rush], if I can couple this spell with [Telekinesis] my fighting style could become really ridiculous.

Lyle became the class... "clown"? Everyone is eager to see what is he gonna do this time, whenever we have a proper increase in our skill levels Lyle tries something ridiculous. This time he's trying to use [Rush] as a way to increase the speed of his punches and kicks. Apparently he didn't see my [Rush]-powered facepalm, needing Hatara to heal him after he hit his shin at the training dummy with such force it gave me a chill.

By the break, Lyle calms down and we can have a proper conversation with him.

"Hey, Wolf. I couldn't say this last time but our families took us to a dungeon so we could increase our levels. This time though, father made us fight together against a few Samu Stalkers, some wolves that live in the cold."

"How did it go?" I ask.

Garanae smiles.

"Fur burns very well," he says.

"Though the smell was horrible. I just wish I had more attack magic, staying behind like this isn't that pleasant," Hatara says, her green eyes look gloomy as she stares at her half empty tea cup.

Garanae rubs her hand, bringing her back to her now usual gracious demeanor.

"It's best that you don't have to work," he says with an unusual gentleness on his voice.

"Stil doesn't help with the boredom," he answers with a bitter smile.

"Anyway, now that father is giving us more freedom I wanted to explore a dungeon called Wisps of the Proud," Lyle says.

Both Hatara and Garanae look away with a slight cringe. Lina reacts the opposite, her little mouth hangs open.

"What's..." I pause to observe Lina's cute frozen expression for a moment, "So special about that dungeon?"

"It's supposedly a burial site for a king of the dragonoid race."

"Wait, dragonoid?"

Lina's Trivia, part one: Dragonoids are more dragon than human while dragonkin are more human than dragon. The dragonoids that I saw in books have a dragon body full of scales but they are at most 3-meters tall and their bodies have skeletons similar to humans. They have long necks, long dragonic faces with thick horns, wide leathery wings, a thin but strong tail as long as their bodies, good affinity for magic, very muscular arms and legs that end in claws, and enough dexterity to rival humanoids.

Lina's Trivia, part two: Most types of dragonoids are extremely brutal, they have a tendency to eat those who they fight and rape the survivors amidst all the blood and carnage, no matter if they are alive or not. Their extremely bestial behavior makes them very dangerous and I made sure to avoid dungeons with them.

"It's suspected that this was a race that live in the Sea of Trees but got extinct before they ever made contact with anybody. The Sea of Trees is surrounded by mountains, it was rather difficult to get out of it until the empire carved an entrance with the forts Erda and Reita. The existence of the dragonoids would explain why the Sea of Trees has so many monsters of the dragon type.

"And you wanna go there? A dungeon crawling with barbaric dragonoids?"

"No no, Wo-... ,aster," Lina answers me, her bangs shake with her head, "These dragonoids are very subdued, they are more like emotionless guardians than the standard barbaric dragonoid."

"Hmm... then it's not a very popular dungeon if I never heard of it before."

"Indeed, it's also not very hard to enter, but there's not much there. It's mostly an investigation site but not many people have interest on it because no one knows how to go deeper into the tomb."

Lina's Trivia: Dungeoneering is exactly what the name implies, dungeon engineering. Seeing how the formation of a dungeon is a natural phenomenon, researchers found ways to manipulate how a dungeon is formed and even how to induce an artificial mana storm. Kings of old have created many tombs for them and their families using mana storms, the robustness of a dungeon as a tomb is unparalleled to anything even the empire of today can build.

The most common signs of a dungeon-tomb is when the dungeon doesn't grow and when there is no reasonable way of getting deeper to reach the core.

"So I have a proposal for you Wolf, how I about I hire you to escort us there?" Lyle asks.

Lina barely contains her excitement.

"I will have to talk to my wives but it's likely we will accept."

Hardly anyone will have the heart to go against Lina's cuteness.

"Wonderful!"

"Are you two coming too?" I ask to the inseparable couple near us.

"Archaeology is something we do not really know much about, you see," Garanae tries to excuse himself.

Lyle rolls his eyes.

"These two are like newly-weds, they completely abandoned me during the half-cycle break," Lyle gives a mock disdainful look to them.

"We kinda are..." Hatara mutters with a blush.

"You should enjoy your youth Lyle," Garanae says barely keeping a smile as his face distorts in embarrassment.

"I am! You know that we have slower aging due to our Levels, I'm taking my time building my base until I have enough power to enjoy myself," Lyle turns his nose in a snobbish manner but still blushes.

Lyle is level 28, Garanae is level 26, Hatara is level 19. Nobles normally have their children create parties with servants wearing the Ring of the Servant, then they kill monsters for them, power-leveling their children.

"We do not need to tease you all anymore, you embarrass yourselves without our help," Alissa says with smug smile.

They do not have a comeback, they all look away and try to hide their faces.

Conversation goes back to normal after a while, Lina and Lyle start discussing where we are going to go. I talk to Lina at night about what she reads but I'm not such a history buff like Lyle is, I feel like he is her first friend ever since she joined us.

I do feel irrational amounts of jealousy towards Lina, I just have such a protective feeling over her it's making me anxious. It's wonderful she's talking with someone but she's mine, she's my little thing, I just wanna hug her and kiss her and pet her -.

I unconsciously grab Alissa's hand and squeeze it. I only notice it when she's rubbing my hand with her other hand, this calms me greatly. I'm being irrational, gotta calm my heart, too much love will wilt our relationship.

Back at home, a single look at Lina and everyone agreed to Lyle's proposal. I discussed it with him quickly and we agreed in 1 gold per person escorted. We will meet on the eastern end of The Smirk at the 11th.

At night I give Ciel some of the attention she was craving, I put on [Massage]. I start with cuddling and some light flirting, then I slowly massage her neck and give it some kisses. -

-

Today is the 4th.

-

I gained [Fire Magic] with 1 point, I increased my [Electric Magic] by 2 (now 9+11), my MP by 30 (now 740) and my "Magic Power" by 10 (now 280).

Alissa learned [Illusion Magic] with 2 points in it, she increased her [Mana Control] by 2 (now 3). Now she can properly mold her spell not to affect us. Her MP Increased by 110 (now 235) and her "Magic Power" by 41 (now 65).

At breakfast Roxanne comes out looking haggard.

"You didn't sleep well?" Ciel asks.

Hana snorts.

"She decided to spend more time working on those potions instead of coming to bed," she says.

"I'm getting close to having a breakthrough on a poison, I just need a little more time, the training is taking too much of my time," Roxanne says, her mouth curves into a slightly evil smile.

"Don't start overworking again, Roxanne," I say.

"It had seemed she changed since the time she spent on the temple hospital, but I guess it didn't last long," Ciel says.

Roxanne pouts in response.

This morning I have to spend at the Dungeoneering Guild taking a look at information about the Wisps of the Proud. Alissa accompanies me, she takes her time analyzing the anatomy of the dragonoids. Interestingly they do not have nipples or breasts and have little sexual dimorphism. Thankfully these guardians of the dungeon aren't similar to the monster types, they never berserk like the monsters do.

We have to buy some mountaineering equipment, we are going to have to scale some large walls and cross some big gaps, the terrain is not friendly there, specially if we cannot fly. I have to get Ciel to teach me [Wind Magic] so we can use [Fly]. We could use the dinghy but I'm afraid of the wind there, without protection from it like [Fly] does we risk getting swept into a wall or something, that dinghy is not very strong.

Ciel visits Arantos, she had been visiting him regularly during the afternoons, this time she wants to have a word with him about Logan.

Alissa got some nuts and not-olive oil that came from the empire Mainland. With this I show them "pesto alla genovese". Alissa thinks she heard about a similar dish, it might actually be a thing on the Mainland.

TIme for Blessing class. After a long time chanting I manage to cast [Rainbow Shield], with this I raise my [Blessing Magic] by 1 (now 0+15) immediately.

"Wonderful, wonderful," Professor Alciel claps her hand in excitement, "You are a natural at this type of magic, your chanting is not the best and your voice needs some adjustment but you have some inherent ease to learn magic that's envious."

She unconsciously summons her angel wings, which quickly flap about in excitement.

Well, I'm just a cheater.

I wonder how much more powerful Roxanne can get if I use [Rainbow Crystal] on her. The problem with these spells is that they cost shit tons of mana, specially when I want everyone to have them, it takes quite a while to have everyone properly buffed.

"Where's Miss Lina?" Lyle asks.

"She's back at home practicing her combat techniques, she's going to fight on the front lines so she has to be in top shape."

"Oh..." Lyle looks a bit disappointed.

"Don't worry, you will have a long time to talk to her during our trip," Alissa says with a mischievous smile.

Lyle looks away in embarrassment and changes the topic.

I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. It's okay to be a bit jealous, she's just his friend, that's right, just friends, friends are good, she needs friends, just friends. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine...

-

Today is the 5th.

-

This morning I spend training my mana using [Wind Magic]. I wish I could focus on [Golemancy], I really want to give Ted and Suzy better voices and more physical strength. My morning gets interrupted when I feel my pocket get very warm.

I take out Vanea's lithograph. The black liquid slowly forms words.

"Tomorrow, 10PM, Baalfire's Tavern".

Shit, already?

Lunch is very tense. The expertly seasoned bacon, beans and cornmeal that Alissa and Ciel made with so much love tasted like sand to me.

"How's Lina's training?" I ask Hana.

"She's ready to fight grunts toe-to-toe but anything else she will get suppressed. I focused on teaching her how to defend properly first so she won't die easily," Hana taps Lina's shoulder with pride.

Lina herself gives me a confident smile and a nod.

"She and Hana also have enough mana and power for a proper chantless [Earth Bullet], it will certainly catch whoever fights them unaware," Roxanne says with another proud smile.

"Remember it's only as a trump card, don't tell them of our skills," Ciel says.

With Alissa's [Illusion Magic] ready, [Ghost Lights] makes it very difficult to dodge her arrows, if you look at her you could get nearly blinded by lights.

"I will keep out my 3 Shad's and Holly, I still don't have much mana for anything else so depending on the terrain I will be on the back line. The Shad's will cover me, Alissa, and Roxanne. I will focus on scouting with Holly."

I learned that summons know everything I know so I can use English with them to give them secret commands. Yelling your commands to your summons will ruin certain strategies since the enemy will know.

Lina increased her "Strength", [Hammer Use], [Parry], [Dodge], [Muscle Explosion], [Shield Bash], [Battlefield Perception], [Dwarven Pride Style], [Mana Control] and [General Enchanting] by 1, her [Earth Magic] by 2, her MP by 70, her "Magic Power" by 35.

Hana learned [Earth Magic] with 1 point, she increased her MP by 95 (now 220), her "Magic Power" by 36 (now 60), and her "Intelligence" and "Wisdom" by 1 (now 9 and 10).

Roxanne increased her MP by 100 (now 1205) and her "Magic Power" by 21 (now 380).

Ciel increased her "Willpower" by 1 (now 13), her MP by 80 (now 885) and her "Magic Power" by 20 (now 270).

Tables for the girls:

Spoiler: Spoiler Info Name: Alissa Age: 19 Race: Fox-Type Wereanimal HP: 100 MP: 235 Magic Power: 65 Level: 29 Experience: 100/8000 Stats Strength: 11 Endurance: 18 Dexterity: 22 Speed: 20 Intelligence: 11 Wisdom: 12 Willpower: 16 Charisma: 10 Piety: 15 Perception: 17 Sanity: 15 Other Status Effects: NONE Titles: Blessing from the Goddess of Love, Blinding Arrows Affiliations: Wolf Ryder (fiance), Blood Slave (Owner: Wolf Ryder), Helios (Fellowship) Companions: Wolf Ryder, Roxanne Succubus, Hanafuria, Ciel, Lina Crimes: NONE Alissa Skill Report Physical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sword Use 9 Bow Use 26 Parry 4 Dodge 2 Sense Presence 6 Hide Presence 4 Enhanced Olfact 5 Enhanced Hearing 3 Hawk Eyes 3 Muscle Explosion 2 Quiet Steps 4 Quiet Action 2 Enhanced Stamina 1 Tracking 2 Magical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sense Mana 1 Mana Control 3 Fire Magic 1 Light Magic 1 Space Magic 1 Conjuring Magic 1 Illusion Magic 2 Fox Transformation (innate) 5 Miscellaneous Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Housework 3 Cooking 4 Cleaning 2 Washing 5 Riding 2 Oral Technique 4 Pain Resistance 2 Hand Technique 2 4 Remaining Skill Points OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point) Info Name: Roxanne Succubus Age: 21 Race: Succubus-Type Demon HP: 100 MP: 1205 Magic Power: 380 Level: 33 Experience: 7059/10000 Stats Strength: 8 Endurance: 9 Dexterity: 11 Speed: 8 Intelligence: 18 Wisdom: 17 Willpower: 14 Charisma: 15 Piety: 10 Perception: 10 Sanity: 12 Other Status Effects: NONE Titles: NONE Affiliations: Wolf Ryder (fiance), Helios (fellowship) Companions: Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Ciel, Lina Crimes: NONE Roxanne Succubus Skill Report Physical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Dagger Use 2 Magical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sense Mana 3 Mana Control 25 Reduced Mana Cost 3 Mana Efficiency 9 Fire Magic 22 Water Magic 23 Light Magic 1 Space Magic 8 Conjuring Magic 5 Alchemy 3 Potion Brewing 11 Poison Brewing 2 Miscellaneous Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Housework 1 Cooking 1 Cleaning 1 Washing 1 Riding 1 8 Remaining Skill Points OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point) Info Name: Hanafuria Age: 23 Race: Fire-Type Dragonkin HP: 150 MP: 220 Magic Power: 60 Level: 36 Experience: 11050/12000 Stats Strength: 19 Endurance: 24 Dexterity: 10 Speed: 13 Intelligence: 9 Wisdom: 10 Willpower: 19 Charisma: 16 Piety: 11 Perception: 9 Sanity: 17 Other Status Effects: NONE Titles: NONE Affiliations: Wolf Ryder (fiance), Blood Slave (Owner: Wolf Ryder), Helios (Fellowship) Companions: Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Lina Crimes: NONE Hanafuria Skill Report Physical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sword Use 20 Spear Use 14 Bow Use 9 Two-Handed Sword Use 9 Pole Arm Use 6 Dagger Use 4 Shield Bash 6 Block 8 Parry 6 Dodge 4 Tatesomu Style 4 Muscle Explosion 4 Battlefield Perception 2 Taunt 3 Intimidate 2 Enhanced Reflexes 2 Enhanced Stamina 4 Enhanced Strength 2 Enhanced Endurance 4 Magical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sense Mana 1 Mana Control 1 Fire Magic 1 Earth Magic 1 Light Magic 1 Space Magic 1 Conjuring Magic 1 Miscellaneous Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Housework 2 Cooking 1 Cleaning 1 Washing 1 Riding 3 Massage 1 Dismantling 4 Oral Technique 1 Pain Conversion 1 Fire Breath (innate) 5 Summon Wings (innate) 2 5 Remaining Skill Points OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point) Info Name: Ciel Age: 21 Race: Human HP: 100 MP: 885 Magic Power: 270 Level: 31 Experience: 3500/9000 Stats Strength: 14 Endurance: 13 Dexterity: 17 Speed: 18 Intelligence: 15 Wisdom: 18 Willpower: 13 Charisma: 17 Piety: 21 Perception: 12 Sanity: 19 Other Status Effects: NONE Titles: NONE Affiliations: Wolf Ryder (fiance), Helios (Fellowship), Templar Knights (Honorary Member), Temple Priestess (Former Member) Companions: Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Lina Crimes: NONE Ciel Skill Report Physical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Glaive Use 15 Sword Use 5 Parry 8 Dodge 6 Block 4 Imperial Hasterrum Style 2 Muscle Explosion 2 Battlefield Perception 1 Magical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sense Mana 2 Mana Control 6 Reduced Mana Cost 1 Mana Efficiency 4 Wind Magic 15 Fire Magic 1 Light Magic 24 Space Magic 3 Conjuring Magic 1 Diagnosis 7 Miscellaneous Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level First-Aid 3 Housework 3 Cooking 2 Cleaning 2 Washing 1 Riding 1 5 Remaining Skill Points OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point) Info Name: Lina Age: 18 Race: Dwarf HP: 100 MP: 270 Magic Power: 140 Level: 21 Experience: 1240/7000 Stats Strength: 8 Endurance: 8 Dexterity: 12 Speed: 11 Intelligence: 16 Wisdom: 11 Willpower: 17 Charisma: 10 Piety: 10 Perception: 14 Sanity: 11 Other Status Effects: NONE Titles: NONE Affiliations: Wolf Ryder (master), Helios (Fellowship) Companions: Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel Crimes: NONE Lina Skill Report Physical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Hammer Use 5+9 Parry 1+4 Dodge 0+4 Block 6 Muscle Explosion 1+1 Shield Bash 0+1 Battlefield Perception 1+1 Dwarven Pride Style 1+1 Enhanced Speed 2+0 Magical Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Sense Mana 1 Mana Control 4 Mana Efficiency 1 Fire Magic 1 Earth Magic 3+2 Ligth Magic 1 Space Magic 1 Conjuring Magic 1 General Enchanting 8 Magic Tool Carving 1 Miscellaneous Skill Name Level Skill Name Level Skill Name Level General Blacksmithing 4 Sweing 4 Housework 1 Cleaning 2 Washing 1 Math 4 Riding 1 Stonebody (innate) 3 15 Remaining Skill Points OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)

We have to level Roxanne and Ciel so they can learn more advanced spells, Hana is also suffering from only having 2 skill points left.

We tried to formulate a plan but aside from brushing up on our team tactics there's not much else to do, we don't know who and where we are fighting.

Due to the tenseness of the atmosphere I summoned a corgi for the girls.

"Roxaaanne, It's my turn now," Ciel cries.

"Nuh-uh you spent 15 minutes with it last time, I'm not even 10 yet," Roxanne answers, keeping the corgi away from her reach.

"We didn't even get a chance to cuddle with it yet," Alissa says, her fox ears drop.

I massage my eyes and try not to laugh at them.

"How about this, we cycle the corgi, Ted, Suzy, and Aoi. Ten minutes and then you girls change the one you are cuddling with," I say.

Aoi raises her head, just waking up from her nap on Hana's shoulder. Hana looks at me as if I was stealing Aoi.

"Let's all share the things we love, we are all mature enough for that, right?" I say, the two girls look guiltily at each other, "Just like how you all share me we should share other things, right?"

They nod. I look at Hana, she purses her lips and then nods.

I'm glad I did this. Lina and Alissa monopolize everything until it's time for my classes. I certainly did not expect a teddy bear riding a corgi having a mock battle with a cloth doll riding a small dragon.

I try to focus on my mana cost class, I feel it's related to how mana in general works. It's essentially the same thing as "Magic Power", you do more with less, it's just that it's something deliberate. With the skill you learn how to do it while "Magic Power" it's your body that increases its "affinity" with mana.

The professor is telling us to focus on the unit of mana, the smallest amount of mana you can invoke and turn into a spell, to focus on this and repeatedly try to increase the power of the spell while maintaining the same mana cost.

Normally this is impossible, mana cost equals power used but he's trying to have us disassociate these two concepts. Mana equals power but the conversion isn't static, it's dynamic, it depends on our "Intelligence" to learn more about mana, our "Wisdom" to refer back to what we already know and our "Willpower" to force the world to bend to our will. In the case of [Light Magic] our connection to the gods helps us change the world in accordance to their will, we understand more of it and allow them to help us channel magic through our bodies.

I feel like I understand it, somewhat. The focus on the unit of mana is helping me, it's like it's on the tip of my tongue. It's dangerously close to direct mana manipulation, or rather, it's nearly the same thing, we are manipulating how the mana is used for our spells. We are rejecting the reality of how mana works and replacing it with our own.

I feel refreshed and excited, this is kind of a mindfuck for me but I feel like I grasped something significant over this lesson.

"It's all on the unit of mana, that's the secret," I say.

"Hoh, for me it's more on the 'building' aspect of the spells, I feel like there's redundancy," Toroo says.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I have been observing how mana flows through me and I see that every spell has many similar aspects, the gathering, the conversion, the building, the expulsion, and the trigger. The 'building' part seems very similar, like a 'stack of boxes', just that they are not all boxes and instead they have many shapes and forms. I have been trying to see how they can fit better together, the more 'snug' this building is the more stable the spell is, requiring less mana."

Interesting. I haven't been looking very closely to how exactly the mana transforms into a spell, my concern was more philosophical, I guess.

"That's a completely different view from what I have. I guess mine is about rejecting the way magic is formed and creating your own in a more efficient or rather, personal way."

"That! That's what I was thinking about!" Lyle exclaims.

Hatara and Lyle are leaning more to my side, Garanae is leaning to Toroo's side. Well it's not really a "side", more like a perspective. I can focus on training on my perspective but when I reach a wall I can switch to Toroo's perspective to continue leveling the skill.

Alissa and Lina pay a lot of attention to our discussion, both are wanting to get more involved in magic so it will be useful for them in the future.

Back at home I spend all my free time giving attention to each of them. -.

Tonight is Ciel and Lina on our bed. I crawl inside and nearly collapse, life's good.

Ciel comes behind me and squishes my head against her chest, it's her turn to cuddle with me. I grab Alissa and hug her from behind, Lina is then hugged by Alissa. It's going to be warm but I can deal with it, I'm already used to sleeping like this.

"Say, Wolfy. What is sex to you?" Ciel asks.

"The ultimate bonding activity with your partner, that's the common interpretation on my world. Why do you ask?"

"Well, your world is different so I wanted to know if we thought things similarly."

"In comparison to my world, people here have sex much more easily. The most unusual thing I see is prostitution being so accepted, religion in my world is not very fond of casual sex."

"So 'love' is the only accepted reason for having sex?"

"Kinda, the idea of having sex only for pleasure is accepted up to a certain point but it's complicated. The idea of selling your body is definitely not accepted in a large part of the world, even on the parts that are accepted it's not a respected profession. Also, people would definitely be disgusted to what I did to Alissa, Hana, and Lina."

Now Alissa and Lina turn their heads towards me.

"What do you mean?" Alissa asks.

"Slavery is not accepted, in my world you are basically sex slaves, I have absolute power over you. Even if you consent to having sex with me your decision would be considered biased, tainted by the fact that I can punish you in any way I want if you deny me. Even if I treat you like an equal you are still subservient to me, you are not able to give me proper consent to me, so in a way, I am raping you."

Alissa grimaces.

"The Gods say it isn't so, I do not care what your world is like, I am yours and you are mine," her voice is tinged by anger.

Hearing her say these words brings me peace.

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do, that's a saying in my world. I'm trying my best to adapt to this world, I do not care what others would think of me back at the home I abandoned. I already made my decision to live here as Wolf Ryder."

Alissa kisses my lips lightly, Ciel kisses the back of my neck. I extend my hand to Lina and instead of coming to me she kisses it, that's not what I wanted but whatever.

"In this world sex has more uses," Ciel says, "It can be a way to give comfort to loved ones or help ease their pain, even if that person is merely a friend or family."

"Wait what, incest is a thing?"

"Incest?" Alissa asks.

"Parents having sex with children or siblings having sex with each other."

"Yes, as long as you don't procreate," Ciel continues, "Keep in mind the Sin of rape, family rapists suffer in hell for much longer."

"Is there an afterlife? Like, when you die your soul goes to suffer in hell or have pleasure in heaven?"

"Heaven?"

"Paradise."

"Yes, there is. Sinners suffer in hell in proportion to their sins, some necromancers try to trap their souls eternally or simply break their spirits making them dissipate into nothing so they don't have to go through hell, no one knows if that works," he shrugs, "Others try to become undead, but that is another thing completely. Paradise is a place for family to reunite one last time, it's also for heroes that did not get to live long enough to enjoy their rewards. Anyways, we are digressing, you said that prostitution is not accepted?"

"Yes, selling your body is not accepted."

"So who heals the broken and the lonely?"

"Therapists, I guess. These problems of the mind are given much less attention than the ones of the body. Things were improving on that area, though. Do prostitutes do that?"

"Prostitutes are trained by priests in how to help the lonely or those with a broken heart or mind. During sex people bare their hearts to each other, it's in this most vulnerable state that we can truly see inside someone's mind and give them the proper help they need."

Sex as comfort and healing, seems progressive.

"Seeing how prostitutes might be the most common client for priests it makes sense they help each other."

"Indeed. Surprises me it isn't like this in your world, you said they had more evolved knowledge of the non-magical sciences."

"Things are more complicated than that, the morality of my world is different. Over here people are pragmatic and hierarchical, in my world people are very individualistic. It's a very heterogeneous world, I think that the lack of the Gods made people go their own ways, only in science can we find the most things in common that we agree upon."

And even in science there's a lot to disagree on.

"So the world is in the Age of Discord," Lina says.

"A proper comparison, but my world is much, much less deadly."

The conversation dies down on this point. Prostitutes with a degree in psychology, incest, and sex for comfort. This world never stops to surprise me.

Today is the 6th.

-

I Alissa her close to me and hug her tight. The shrieks of the dying space mage woman replay in my head every time I think about tonight.

"What are you feeling?" Alissa asks.

"... Scared…"

"So am I…"

There are no more words that need to be said.

I pull strands of her hair from blocking her beautiful orange eyes, which then look deeply into mine.

I grab one of her ears and just massage it, she lets out a sound that was almost a purr.

She runs her hand through my hair and we give each other a massage until Ciel and Lina properly wake up.

I increased my MP by 20 (now 760) and my "Magic Power" by 5 (now 285), it seems I couldn't focus much on training yesterday due to Vanea's message. I learned [Wind Magic] with 1 point and surprisingly I learned [Reduced Mana Cost] with 2 points.

The gloomy mood spreads and we eat breakfast in silence.

"Let's just relax this morning, we already trained all we could and it's best that we don't go into battle too tense," Alissa says.

There are no arguments against this. We spend this chilly morning in front of the fireplace, we bring blankets and pull the table away so we can all cuddle in front of it. I spend my time brushing Alissa's tail and hair, I just love to touch this fluffiness, it's not the fluffiness itself that makes me happy but it's the person it's attached to.

After a while, I just hug her from behind and rest my chin on her shoulders. Lina is sleeping on Ciel's lap, which in turn is playing with Lina's silky hair. Roxanne is taking care of Hana's hair, she grumbles whenever she finds a matted patch, she first brushes it then she passes some oily hair product so it won't mat anymore, Hana is just obediently sitting still. Ted and Suzy are awkwardly dancing with each other in front of the fireplace, something Roxanne taught them.

Aoi is on Alissa's lap, she traces her fingers lightly over Aoi's scales. Aoi raises her head and looks at me.

"Saa?" She asks.

I feel she wants to know why we are all so sad.

"We are not sad, we are tense, we will have to fight."

"Faig, fuun," he strains herself to talk.

She thinks fighting is fun. It might be if we are on a dungeon and we know what's coming.

"We are fighting other people again, it's not fun for us to fight other humanoids."

She looks confused and tilts her head, imitating Alissa. Cute.

"For us, fighting other humanoids there's no glory, it's... Almost like fighting a friend," Alissa says.

"Freen?"

Aoi is starting to understand what the other girls talk, but they don't fully understand her yet.

"Almost a friend," I say.

"Udeer-tan…"

I reach over and rub her slick head.

In space class the professor made the students demonstrate [Item Box], then he held a discussion about how the skill feels and how it could be modified. Not that many space mages actually reach level 20 on this magic school, those who are dedicated enough can improve the amount they can carry without increasing the level of the skill. I didn't participate much and thankfully the professor didn't mind.

Listening to Lyle and Lina helped me clear my mind, even though jealousy burned in my heart.

I cast on everyone [Wind Armor], [Sharp Blades], [Swift Foot], [Rainbow Shield], and [Rainbow Crystal]. The last spell creates a faint rainbow diamond on the back of our hands, it's certainly more visible than the other spells.

We make a simple dinner and by 9:30PM we leave towards Baalfire's.