Taking off my cloak, I stepped forward, into the open space Adra had used to train. There were multiple ways to play this. I could try to simply use my physical abilities and martial skills but I'd lose. Badly. I'd have to add magic to the mix and I had two options for that, going a similar route as Adra did - using my Blood Runes to strengthen myself - or using Ice Magic in conjunction with my shuttles.

Adra softly moved her hand across the blade of her spear, blunting the edges, allowing her to strike without causing serious damage. I picked a fighting-style and used Ice Runes to create two blades similar to my Butterfly Wings, but blunt, and four simple shuttles, each about a foot long and thin. Testing a little, I realised that I was able to lift three at once with my ice-magic but it was a major strain. Satisfied with my testing, I let the shuttles vanish behind my back, sticking them into my belt so my mind was free and they were easily available.

I took on a defensive stance, planning to keep my distance and use the flying shuttles as means of attack. Trying to attack with my butterfly shuttles would be extraordinarily troublesome against a spear. Not impossible, just troublesome.

I gave a slight bow to Adra, ingrained into me as proper behaviour, and with a 'Begin!' from Sigmir, we were off to the races. Well, Adra was, immediately striking at my mid-section, using the reach advantage of her spear to put me on the defensive, only for me to dodge and test her reaction with a single flying blade. She easily dodged it with her magically enhanced speed, and I let the flying blade simply sail away, landing behind her. No need to clue her in on all my tricks just yet, and the blade was in a good position for later shenanigans.

The first strike set the tone, Adra furiously attacking, me dodging and harassing her with flying shuttles. By now I had tipped my hands about the fact that I could freely control them and attack from blind-spots, making Adra's attacks a risky proposition. All of a sudden, Adra sped up, easily smacking my flying shuttles away and pouncing on me. I tried jumping back but I was too slow. Bullet Time triggered and I went for the mutual defeat, letting go of my butterfly blades and using Ice Magic to send them at her. Just as the blunt tip of her spear softly touched my throat, the blunt edge of my blades touched hers.

There was a definite look of surprise on her face, quickly replaced by a smile.

“Interesting choice of style I have to say. Those flying shuttles add a lot of options.” Adra said with genuine interest in her voice. “Again?” she asked.

I nodded, this time going with the other plan I had. It took a lot of focus to create a seven-rune formation that was not a heptagon, but during my talks with the Grandmother, I had an idea for my Blood Runes, using them on specific points of my body. One strengthen-rune on each arm and leg linked to simple blood-runes on my forehead, chest and abdomen. The simple blood-runes would give the spell duration and the strengthen-runes would give it effect. Sadly, I had to channel the spell or I'd run into problems, as I was lacking in endurance. I tested a little experimenting with shifting my magic into one of the four strengthen-runes and realised that I might be able to match Sigmir in raw strength this way.

I called my blades back into my hand and readied myself for another bout.

“Begin!” Sigmir's command sent us both into action, without my shuttles, I'd have to get close or I'd just die at the end of Adra's spear. My sudden aggression surprised Adra, she had to dodge back, trying to gain distance in order to fully use her spear. I chased and the duel became the opposite of the one before. I was chasing, Adra was defending and counter-attacking. I was slightly faster than her but only in linear movement, which allowed her to dance circles around me. I needed to end this, the seven runes on me were drawing a lot of magic and my body was sending me messages that I was overstraining it. I had one more trick, literally, up my sleeve and I'd have to use it now.

After dashing forward, I pushed one last flow of magic into the runes on me, groaning with the power rushing into me and dropped the channel, knowing that a few moments later, I'd be hit with the strain I had subjected myself to. Instead of channelling into the spell, I channelled power into my accessory. In an instant, a single vine shot out, attempting to bind a surprised Adra. The vine entangled her arm, binding it and the spear giving me an opening to get to her. I moved in and just as I touched her chest with the tip of my knife, indicating a good hit, a paw touched my face.

I was not the only one with tricks up their sleeve, Adra had shifted her hand into a paw, armed with wicked claws. We had another mutual defeat on our hands; both of us would probably be dead, were this a real fight.

Stolen novel; please report.

I let out a groan as the backlash of my magic hit me, loud enough that Sigmir heard it and simply picked me up like a child, carrying me over to Kallista's house. Adra grinned and followed us inside. Kallista saw me and let out a chuckle, shaking her head. Yes, I had overdrawn my physical body and now I was paying for it. Nothing a careful application of magic, a hot bath and some tender, loving care from Sigmir could not fix. Well, the tender, loving care was optional, but nobody needed to know that.

I wanted to stand up to help Kallista with dinner-preparations but I found myself restrained by Sigmir. She simply held me in her lap, softly caressing and petting me, giving me the occasional kiss. Apparently healing her had restored quite a bit of her confidence and made her more demonstrative with her feelings. Or maybe it was an effect of the ritual, either way, I would not complain. Accepting my captivity, I simply snuggled into Sigmir, enjoying her attentions.

Dinner was served and during the lively dinner-conversation Adra mentioned to Kallista that she would leave with us. There was a brief smile on Kallista's face and she agreed with Adra that it was a good course of action. We made plans to rest up tomorrow and leave the day after.

After dinner, Sigmir picked me up again and I giggled as she carried me to the bath. We had a lot of fun washing each other and relaxing, enjoying the large tub before we moved our fun to the bedroom and carried on there. I had originally planned to start reading the Grandmother's grimoire but my plans were shattered by Sigmir and her new-found insistence. The day before, I had made sure that the world knew she was mine. Today, she repaid the favour.

As my character slept, I logged out and took care of business in the real world. It worked quite well; I only needed a little sleep in-game, and could function outside without problems, giving me a lot of time. I wanted to know if there were any information on Tegi and with a little searching I found a vlog, venturing into a corrupted area in Beriasa. After watching it and comparing the landscape to Tegi, I knew that I had been lucky. The Nethersprites in the video looked a little more corporeal than those I had fought and looking at the Devourer gave me the creeps, even through the video. But I had an idea how to defeat it.

Back in game, my character woke for a moment before I settled back into Sigmir's embrace and fell asleep.

The next morning came not with a bang, but with a moan. Sigmir had awakened before me and restarted the festivities. Again, I did not complain but enjoyed it. It took a while until we made it to breakfast, causing giggles from Adra who was sitting close to the hearth, relaxing. During breakfast, we made plans for the next day, Sadly Adra had no mount, but her strange goat-form was able to keep up for quite some time. When Adra heard about Tegi and the Devourer, she got pale but was on board with attacking it.

After breakfast, we went out, Adra and Sigmir wanted to train a bit and I wanted to be with them and read my book. They did not spar, but from the exercises Sigmir did, something was different. Her movements seemed noticeably faster and more fluid than before and it took me a few minutes of watching her graceful movements until I understood. The ritual yesterday had rid her of the parasite in her and she had regained her strength, letting her use her class again and the strength of one who crossed the first divide.

I watched a little longer before my curiosity got the better of me and I started reading, though for now I was only able to understand a few pages.

The first one was a spell called Mending; it came with a description and a chant. Focusing on the book, I understood that the chant was not meant to be meaningful; it was meant to move Astral Power in a specific way to manifest the spell. I could cast it - and did - but understanding the principles involved was beyond me. It did, however, clean my clothes and fix a few small tears.

When I was done with the first spell, Sigmir and Adra were done for the day and we all went back to Kallista's house. I harshly abused Sigmir by placing her on one of the sofas and using her as a pillow, snuggling into her and reading. Her smile told me that she did not mind at all.

The next spell within my book was a ward, it was quite simple in design; it used three rocks as anchors, and everything larger than a squirrel crossing the lines between the rocks less than three meters off the ground would trip the ward, creating an audible alarm. This one took me a little longer to cast, but I had a feeling that I might be able to create something similar using my personal magic, only that my wards would involve mist and misdirection. The wards would have to be more complex, linking more anchors together, but it was similar to the mist-field I had used around my original cave.

The third and last spell was something truly interesting. It was a ritual spell encouraging plant-growth making it utterly useless to me. But it used a ritual circle partially made with runes to create a consistent effect over a longer time. With a little experimenting, I might be able to create something using my Ice-Runes to create impressive effects.

Reading through the spells and assorted information took me quite some time, especially as I tried to figure out their applications with my personal brand of magic, so the rest of the day was spent taking a walk to say goodbye to the rest of Neyto, and get some plain and simple relaxation.