Sarah listened intently at Adara's instructions.

Djinn's usually limit how much you can ask of them initially and increase that limit as you pay your dues.

At first djinns will grant only smaller favors and blessings, unless you were inclined to grant immediate payments.

Defaulting on a payment from a djinn would result on a cursed-mark, you would also have a bounty on your head by the entire race.

Then they went into the application of external blessings, which Adara mentioned to apply only one to spirit, one to mind and one to body at most.

Most Djinn could grant a few runes, which were some form naming magic even she could learn.

It would take years of study for her to properly use runes according to Adara however, so most simply performed an invocation for this service instead.

Not everyone was immortal with infinite time on their hands after all, nor could they find a knowledgeable teacher learned enough to teach the complicated deeper magic 'naming' and it's corresponding language 'runes'.

Apparently these runes were works as blessings and could bolster someone or something with extra temporary attributes.

Runes were typically used to alter properties to some degree, such as the power of a sword swing by ignoring friction or the effect gravity has on the body.

One of the most well known and well used is the ability to temporarily alter iron into what is known as 'cold-iron', which has powerful magic resistance.

Adara lectured the Djinn would have a list of such runes they could apply, and their prices.

Apparently invocating involved the djinn sort of lingering within her mind to perform a service.

Adara assured Sarah the Djinn would not be able to possess her through invocation, as long as she followed the proper procedures.

Adara continued and said a Djinn would have little reason to even try either way.

Once the initial partnership was established it was much easier to contact the djinn, the circle will not be needed, at least that is what Adara says.

"Well. I think that is enough for that. Let us begin on the warding procedures against spirits to prevent risk of possession. Also remember an invocated spirit is a guest in your mind powered there by your circle. The connection can be cut from your side easily and at any moment." Adara.

Sarah nodded, it was easier to let Adara lecture and listen.

"The basic possession ward is a mental construct. Follow my instructions. Close your eyes." Adara.

She did.

"Now feel slowly spread your senses throughout your being. Do one part at a time. Start from your head to your toes. Include every part of yourself as well, picture your mind, body and spirit. Take your time. Confirm when you have done so." Adara instructed.

Sarah took her time doing this and once she did she nodded.

"Good next picture a singular room around yourself. Repeat the previous exercise to ensure all of you is within, then picture the walls use you as a source of power. Tell me when you have it." Adara.

"I picture it." Sarah said after a few tries.

Strangely her mind tired slightly at the image.

"Good, this is called an inner sanctuary. After setting it up you can exit, it shall stay up till the PSI energy you place in it is naturally expended. If something attempts to possess you will visibly see them there as a visual entity. Mental strength is all that matters there, that will manifest as physical strength, grapple with the entity to resist. Even the weakest mind holds much power within their sanctuary. It will buy you enough time against a stronger foe to break the connection. Even I would have trouble dominating you there." Adara.

"Really?" Sarah leaned forward.

Sarah was intrigued by the possibility of being forever safe from possession.

"Yes. I actually want to test your defenses. Better you get some practice now, where you are safe than to experience it first hand in actual danger. Are you ready?" Adara grinned.

"That's....a little invasive isn't it?" Sarah's lips tightened.

"We can skip that part if you wish, but I assure you. You may likely regret it if something actually does attack you so." Adara's face contorted.

Sarah spent a while contemplating it.

"If it helps any. I assure you, I could actually attack you without your permission. If that was my end goal I could have attacked you from the beginning." Adara explained, though her voice sounded a little flat.

"Oh." Sarah narrowed her eyes.

She spent some more time debating it.

"I guess there's no harm in working on my metal defenses. Miss Adara." Sarah concluded and crossed her arms.

"Very well. Focus on your sanctuary and nod when you are ready. I will attack you as soon as I enter." Adara looked her in the eye.

Sarah prepared her mind for the invasion and nodded.

Suddenly she felt the beginning of a head-ache.

She saw Adara within her sanctuary casually break through the walls.

Adara lunged at her and Sarah felt strong arms wrap around her.

Slowly her mind began to blur as if she would faint, she fought back feebly.

Before her mind fully succumbed everything snapped back to normal, her headache also vanished.

Adara stood a few feet away.

"You need to focus your energy more on fighting back. Ready?" Adara stared at her eyes.

"Y....Yes." Sarah braced herself.

They kept at it until for many hours.

******

By the end of almost a day Sarah could reliably last a minute.

Sarah let her sanctuary collapse afterwards.

"That should be enough time to cut any connection. Good work." Adara nodded.

"Thank-you." Sarah looked down and away.

"You are welcome little Sarah I hope this protects you from all those whom seek to harm you." Adara smiled sweetly at her.

After a short pause Adara's face hardened slightly.

"Beware that this will only give you time to break a invocation circle. If something powerful is next to you, you will need to kill its physical body or find another way to not get possessed." Adara.

Sarah felt guilty for having doubted Adara.

She had not directly lied to her as far as she could tell.

She had told her directly when she was unable to tell her something.

It was very strange as if Adara knew how her mind worked, which was strange as they had never met before.

'Then again the oracle could have just told her everything about me I suppose.' Sarah sighed.

"Very well. I shall teach you a basic invocation circle. There are many circles that use less power or go directly towards your desired realm, but those require much more detail and concentration as well as experience in either invocation or summoning. The one I shall teach you will tie you to the center of all universes: the nether." Adara.

"The Nether?" Sarah wondered what that meant.

"Yes. The nether is the gateway between universes, planes and even realms everywhere. It is expansive and very difficult to travel within physically." Adara.

"Is that how I can get home?" Sarah asked.

"It is a way you could travel between worlds. Once you are more powerful I will gladly teach you how." Adara stated, which made Sarah's brows twitch, something about the wording felt strange.

"Can you tell me when?" Sarah was anxious to learn.

"It is still a bit away yet. I do not want to discourage you, but I swear it will be less than a year till you can go home. Even at a much slower pace than you are currently going, but the faster the better." Adara.

Sarah sighed, she was tired of not knowing everything.

"Alright this basic summoning circle must require a number within. It matters not in which numeric system is used, only that you understand it. The number to connect to the Djinn is nine-hundred-fifty-three. Try to evade writing the number six-six-six. It is the realm of demons." Adara.

"Oh!" Sarah was astonished that was actually a thing.

"Yes. Now let us move to the actual circle. It is a basic circle with six-equal-circles inter-lapping inside, they form a sort of flower symbol at the center. Each circle represents a type of energy and you have to fill them each. Then you may use the circle once full. Let us begin the training. The less imperfection the circle has results in better results and more fuel efficiency. You may carve out the outline, place ash from animal flesh or even droplets of blood within to make it a more solid circle." Adara.

Adara taught Sarah how to carve the symbol into different large floors.

She would change the flooring constantly.

Dirt, stone, tiles, wood, gravel, even carpet which Adara said was sort of a waste.

Though Sarah couldn't get a perfect circle, Adara commented her PSI needed to be higher to achieve closer perfection.

Adara implied it wasn't bad for now, Adara then taught her how to charge the spell circle, Alex couldn't help her with that apparently.

She would have to sit in the circle and link herself to it as well.

Apparently the bargaining worked similar to how Adara was meeting her, it would happen at a faster mental-speed.

"Well now that that is over let us do a few practicing hours on djinn interactions, I will give you time to mentally rest as well. You need to be sharp when dealing with such beings." Adara.

They did everything from greetings, to favor sizes, to pricing to specialities.

Djinn's typically divided favors into low, small, medium, large and special, but there were exceptions.

Special favors weren't always more expensive than others, but were used for special circumstance, such as when the djinn needed a greater djinn to work a favor.

For reference Adara told her an hour of normal-mercenary-service is usually no more than two silver-standard unless you were deemed adequate, an hour of elite-mercenary-service is typically around a single gold-standard which was ten silver standards.

She told her however than elites typically were already bound fully with two or three enchanted items and came with full combat-gear.

Adara lectured that the buy-out for mercenary service will be stated by the djinn, extra hours were sometimes also included.

For energy transfers filling a large external energy well will grant her about a single silver-standard, it is a fairly common method and used by many people so supply is near endless.

The djinn apparently would require her to go to a designated area and work for him doing nothing but filling these until her payment was done, he would of course pay for her food and boarding as extra.

Many other types of payments existed of course and the djinns would tell her what they required of her and they're going rates for the services.

After what felt like days Adara deemed she was ready to at least contract a djinn safely without her help.

"Very well I believe you are ready. You cannot contact a Djinn from here as your mind is under tremendous strain just to speed it up this much. So you will need to go out and do it. Let me teach you about other invocations and more detail on other deeper magics. Any questions?" Adara warned.

"What other spirits can I invocate? you've only mentioned demons, djinn and gods." Sarah wanted to know more.

"A good question. Pure elemental creatures would also be willing to be invocated by a mage of their element. In exchange for energy of course. Other beings such as certain archliches would gladly deal with a mortal for a price of course. Angels sometimes deal with those whom have certain virtues, but usually demand certain good-deeds to be done on their behalf, similar to a mercenary-quests but more time-consuming and typically more dangerous. Certain beast-spirits will also deal with you and grant totemic powers in exchange usually for helping a suffering animal or a lingering spirit. I recommended djinns because they are a type of jack-of-all trades." Adara.

"So djinns are the best?" Sarah was confused.

"Djinn's have a wide variety of skills, but charge a little more as well, but other beings specialize wholly on other things. I didn't teach you these because these beings are sometimes a little harder to deal with and could cause much more harm to you for an insult. Djinns will simply not deal with you or increase their prices and trick you into paying more for less." Adara.

"You were ready to teach me demonology though." Sarah pointed out her flaw.

"I would only have taught you lesser-demon-lings. The lowest of the lowest. Those demons aren't as dangerous as you would think. These demons are so weak they would have trouble harming you, even as you are. Most are also in a perpetual hell, as they are bullied, eaten, killed or enslaved by other demons at a whim. They would love to get out by accumulating a mortals favor, so their services are typically cheap and as a reward usually ask to be summoned and freed, as I said they are physically and magically weak so that is not a problem. You cannot summon them easily yet of course, but with enough time to gather the energy and a large ritual you could. They also aren't as cunning as their stronger compatriots. I also warned you not to experiment on anything that I have not taught you remember? That includes messing with stronger demons, until I would have taught you more." Adara clarified.

"Oh." Sarah blinked amazed at all the information.

"You doubt my logic little Sarah. I am well learned and know exactly how to bring out your potential." Adara sounded a flat by the end.

Sarah felt a little bad at that, Adara hadn't led her astray yet.

"Sorry my world has a lot of legends about demons. You said summoning, what is the difference between summoning and invocating?" Sarsh thought they seemed similar.

"It is fine. I understand. Summoning and invocating are similar, but different. Invocating involves contacting a being and bargaining for an spell or effect they grant through you, be it through mind, body or spirit. Summoning involves bringing them to your location and having them fight or aid you in some way, it is far more costly than invocation." Adara.

"How does summoning work?" Sarah was curious.

"It works similar to invocation with circles, but it requires much more power." Adara.

"Would it work in reverse?" Sarah was curious if she could be summoned to her world.

"I know what you are thinking. It could, but as I said it would be costly. Also someone must open a doorway on the other side. That person has to be there to pull you through, so that would be a major problem." Adara.

"Can't you go there and summon me?" Sarah finally saw a way out.

"Any other time certainly, but I am currently occupied with this task. I fear I will be unable to summon you for quite some time." Adara.

"How long will it take you? Can't you summon me where you are?" Sarah.

"By the time I am done, you would already have had enough time to get home on your own. I cannot summon you from where I am now." Adara.

"...." Sarah sighed.

Sarah waited a while and organized her thoughts.

She asked about the other deeper magics.

Adara had mentioned Alchemy, Enchantments and Scripts.

Adara instructed that it takes years to study Alchemy and generally required different magical ingredients that do not exist in all worlds.

Alchemy was used to create potions and powders with various magical effects such as regenerating limbs and restoring spirit.

Enchantments were much more complicated and require a combination of powers Sarah did not yet possess, Scripts were much the same.

"Are there any other deeper-magics?" Sarah.

"Certainly, but most require you to have a little more PSI for concentration. Elemental-diversity is what I have in mind for you next, it will drain you faster than normal however. As you are it will be a bit hard, but you should be able to use the other elements except water for now." Adara.

"Elemental diversity?" Sarah wanted to know more.

"Yes it is the process of converting your energy into another element. Once you have the focus you will be able to mix many elements together for various effects. Crafting the spells will also not be natural, unlike how you manipulate fire. It requires a lot more work and the understanding of various spells." Adara.

"So anyone can use any element?" Sarah was astonished.

"Yes. Water will give you the most trouble however. You will have to first convert you magic to another element at a loss, then to Water at another loss. Water will thus be four times more taxing once fully mastered, thus it will be extremely inefficient. Not to mention the increased difficulty of spellwork." Adara.

"Amazing can I learn that now?" Sarah was anxious.

"The conversion technique is difficult and will take days. Once you have it down, it will take even more to learn the appropriate spellwork. As I have mentioned your control over fire is natural, it will not be so with other elements. You will also no gain the elemental gifts from those elements." Adara.

"Amazing!" Sarah lost her cool at the possibilities.

"Take into account that other elements possess some difficulties that you will have to find another manner to circumvent. For example Death energy will naturally harm you following through your body. I will teach you the best way to deal with these effects as well." Adara.

Sarah listened intently to Adara's words.

"We do not have time for it now. It will have to be till next time, little Sarah. I also don't want you to confuse your lessons. Focus on the djinn first then, we will begin another deeper magic. Let on move unto your next power." Adara.

"What is it?" Sarah.

"It is the ligthning bolt. The previous power simply gave you the ability to channel. Now you can focus it a bit more. It is still imprecise at longer ranges, but far more efficient than an arc." Adara.

******

Sarah blinked and noticed Alex and Jessica were looking downwards.

She heard multiple sounds of howling and flesh tearing.

Looking downwards there were many animal corpse about.

"What happened?" Sarah.

"A lot of wolves ate a bear! It was scary!" Jessica smiled, which Sarah found strange considering the circumstances.

"A two packs of wolves arrived first. Then a huge bear came over and killed most of them, till the wolves hurt it and begun eating it alive. Jessica and I killed remaining four wolves from the lower branches easily. Now more wolves came and are chewing on the bear and the dead wolves." Alex explained.

"How many are there?" Sarah.

"We killed most!" Jessica looked happy.

"At least three left from the last batch. Relax Sar. You can just burn them from up here easy. Me and Jess kill them easily when they try to climb the tree. They're size makes them awkward at it and they drop if you hit them sometimes." Alex.

"Oh?" Sarah raised her brows.

"Yes I've killed four of them! I'm winning Alex right now!" Jessica smiled.

"Yeah good job Jess." Alex smiled at her enthusiasm.

"Oh I guess I was worried for nothing." Sarah.

'At least they didn't take the time to go fuck in the woods or something....Did they?' Sarah tilted her head and observed the two of them.

They didn't look any different and they smelled terrible but that was the same smell from before.

No sticky sweat, no weird smell, no heavy breathing, no flushed skin and no anxiety.

Alex wasn't wearing his armor, but he had taken it off to climb the tree.

So far they weren't showing any signs of it.

'Not that it really matters.' Sarah thought as long as she wasn't dead because of them.

"So? You are you going to kill the rest or not?" Jessica questioned after her apparent silence.

"Easy Jess, she's probably tired." Alex defended her.

"No. She's right. I'll get to it. I have many things to do before we can find Eian anyways." Sarah.

Sarah easily killed the remaining wolves by lighting them on fire.

The trio got down and everyone re-equipped their armor.

"So you can track Eian now? Where is he?" Alex, Jessica simply shook her head.

"I need to do a few things before I know. I should be able to find him afterwards if he's alive." Sarah.

"He has to be alive! It's not even been a day! We have to believe he can take care of himself." Alex looked sad.

Sarah told them about what she needed and all about djinns.

She answered their questions as they worked.

Sarah had Alex gather the wolves.

She burnt some meat for food and another for spell ashes.

Once the circle was complete, Sarah began charging the circle, apparently it could only work with one energy type or they clashed.

It took close to two extra hours of charge, Sarah had to take breaks at about seventy-five percent to allow herself to recharge faster.

A few boars came by and Jessica's tattoo's managed to blink after her next kill.

She selected mind one last time and she froze.

Sarah worked as she was frozen wondering what happened.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Jessica held her head with both hands.

Sarah was spooked and froze, as she watched Jessica fall to the floor.

"What?! JESS?!" Alex rushed to her side.

He tried to heal her but she kept screaming.