Chapter 193
Magical Radiation And Other Challenges
(Mallory)
“So what do you think?” Mallory asks, holding her arms out wide as she holds her breath in anticipation for what she might hear in response.
“About what?” Gwen asks, turning her head towards Mallory, still not quite understanding what her partner was asking about.
“About my new skin pigmentation changes? Isn’t it cool? I mean it is not the ethereal blue of a cosmic night sky like you and your mother have, but for us mere mortals this is pretty cool, right?” Mallory asks.
“What?” Gwen asks, then opening her third eye that still allows her to see real colors, Gwen pauses as she takes in the bare skin that is on display. “I will say this now, that I prefer you regardless of how you try to change your exterior. For me, I can see your true essence and that is far more captivating than any skin pigmentations.”
“You know, if I heard that line from anyone else other than you or your mother I would have thought you were trying to feed me a line.” Mallory stated.
“What makes you think I’m not feeding you a line?” Gwen asked.
“The fact that I asked your mother what she thought of the recent change and she had no clue. Even after staring with her third eye all she could note was a slight minor pulse of energy from where she said my Qi core should be, but then nothing else.” Mallory stated.
“So you asked my mother what she thought of your cool trick before me?” Gwen asked, a clear note of challenge to her words.
Hearing that tone, Mallory quickly went into damage control mode, as she realized she was in the middle of a pregnancy induced emotional minefield and had to placate this issue carefully.
“Yes, for she was the one that started this recent change of mine. Though from my understanding I was not the only one who was impacted by her recent breakthrough, as you too seem to be glowing with even more resplendent beauty than normal.” Mallory stated, while going forward and grabbing Gwen in a loving embrace.
Gwen fought her feeling of disappointment for but a moment, before ultimately melting into the strong arms of Mallory.
Sigh.
“I can understand why you would go to her for her opinion on anything magic related. She is the smoothest and most graceful caster I have ever seen. Even her Simulacrums have skills that make me feel like a mere novice at casting.” Gwen reluctantly admitted.
“You can tell the difference between her and her Simulacrums?” Mallory asked, somewhat surprised by the statement.
“I believe so, but it is tough. Basically, the Simulacrum despite how perfect it is at casting, doesn’t adjust to the slight variations of the world around them the way that Cass does. The way Cass uses the wind to both propel her spell forward when working with the wind, and the way she casts her spell through the wind when the wind is against her is impressive. Something that seems almost like its second nature to her. Well, who am I kidding, that is her first nature, casting spells. Her second nature would obviously be using Qi within her body, something else that she makes look way too simple. Then here I am, barely able to see what she is doing, let alone trying to figure out how to alter a spell to account for temporal and physical changes.” Gwen said, speaking deeper and with more insight into what it is that makes Cass so special as a caster than anyone else has ever been able to describe.
“You are certain of this? That she alters her spells to fit the environment that she is in?”
“Well yes, I thought that was obvious by the way her spells always hit with the exact amount of energy needed for the effect.”
Huh. Was all Mallory could say to that, as she took in those details and decided to try to comprehend them.
“You had no clue did you?” Gwen pressed.
“Well I did know she was really good, and easily the best caster I’ve ever seen. Though I guess having your Angel’s Sight is a huge advantage when it comes to these types of things.”
“Yes, it does help. Though really all it does is show the vast level of difference between Cass and everyone else. Which is only compounded by the way the higher-level mages scoff at hear teachings when they think she isn’t looking, or can’t see them.”
Hearing that Mallory sighed heavily at hearing that. “What does she do?”
“She pretends like she can’t hear them and continues trying to teach them regardless of their attitudes.”
“Are they learning?”
“Learning yes, almost all mages in her classes have shown drastic improvements in their casting abilities from where they started until now.”
“So you think we will make the four year quota and be able to get our college accredited?” Mallory asked, a note of excitement and anticipation in her voice.
“Yeah, if we don’t reach the minimum proficiencies by the end of the four year mark I would be highly shocked to say the least. No, we will pass, and this group of students will all get their degrees, and get the school accredited, I have no doubt about that.”
“Then what are you afraid of?”
“What will Cass do once that challenge is over?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, she already has experts coming to teach certain classes, with Rahul joining for helping with teaching Enchantments.”
“Gah, don’t remind me. I have gotten so many complaints already about how the Lich is ogling every female Guild member.” Mallory stated.
“Yeah, worst part is, mother is right. Meeting the real Rahul has completely ruined any fascination that I had with those stories.” Gwen said, a note of depression in her voice.
“I know. We need to find a new series to read, and then make sure that Cass never does anything crazy, like finding out who the real historical people were. Instead, we just keep the story short and smutty.”
“Mallory!” Gwen joked as she gently smacked Mallory on the arm, before just hugging Mallory.
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Silence.
Finally, after a long moment, of Gwen trying to stay still, but then slowly feeling the effect of gravity on her body slowly pulling her away from Mallory’s embrace, she cursed, “stupid pregnancy.”
“Yes, any clue on the due date yet?” Mallory asked.
Sigh.
“Cass swears that it will be in exactly thirty-three days.” Gwen noted.
“Well she is the expert…” Mallory began, but then trailed off as she realized something. “No, that can’t be?”
Gwen just nodded her head with a sad reverence.
“You mean, she set it up so that your due date would be the night of the wedding coronation between the Midnight Hunters and the Deolarian Empire?”
Gwen just nodded in agreement.
“To quote Cass, it is exactly what the world would do to make it so we failed one or both of the quests.”
“One or both?”
“Well, Cass also thinks that at the same time that I give birth to your granddaughter, while you are away getting married to Cass. That is the exact moment that the Dire Phase wolves should also give birth to their litter of thirteen children.”
“Thirteen? There are going to be thirteen of those frightening beasts that drool acid that corrodes the ground?”
“You know, I can see where you come from with that, but if you just look at them from a magical perspective, which is basically all Cass can do, they are kind of cute.” Gwen admits.
“Cute? The Kujos? The monsters with the last name of an animal that went wild?”
“Yes, again, magically speaking, they are cute. Now the one time I made the mistake of trying to view them with my third eye, they were completely frightening and have caused more than one set of nightmares. That said, magically they are up there with what I would expect a unicorn to look like.”
“I saw one of those. Well a Pegicorn.” Mallory stated.
“You mean an Alicorn?” Gwen tried to correct.
“No, your mother got to name it, thus it was a pegicorn.”
“Okay,” Gwen said nodding to herself as she really didn’t know what else to say about that.
More silence.
The two were now close enough to not feel awkward by silence, instead the two mostly used these moments to stop and reflect about how their lives were constantly getting better.
“So you think she will leave?” Mallory finally asked.
“Oh yeah, unless we giver her something like a never ending dungeon of books we are going to lose her completely.”
“She still has the Arcanarus Tower to complete as well.” Mallory replied and shuddered slightly at the thought.
“You are still frightened by that place?” Gwen asked.
“Not going to lie, being in the realm of the dead for months on end has a slow unnerving quality to it that is hard to explain. Being there for a day or even a week is fine. It is just the way the shadows move, the way the mist of death clings to you the longer you stay there. Your mother just cycles it into herself. Me on the other hand, I constantly felt it grabbing me like a deep sweaty sleep that could not be removed. When we left, and she came with me, I was so happy.”
“Did she ask you to go back with her, recently?”
“Yes,” Mallory answered, then pausing for a second, Mallory found herself asking the same question. “I take it she asked you again?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think she is going to go back soon?”
“If she hasn’t already, then I have no doubt she will do it this weekend at the very least.”
“This weekend?”
“Yes, it’s why she has been so in our faces with her and her Simulacrum both going about at times in the guise as different avatars.” Gwen answered.
Hearing that Mallory could only nod in agreement. “You know I could see your mother doing just that. Maybe even getting her Simulacrums to pose as her during class.”
“No, she tried that once and it failed miserably.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, she was a student, and her Simulacrum was pretending to be her, but again when her Simulacrum tried to cast a spell the way Cass can it wasn’t smooth and didn’t have the same flow. I was about to call Cass out on it, when she switch places, reverted back to her normal form and then had her Simulacrum leave under a cloud of darkness.”
“She made her own Simulacrum do the walk of shame out of class?” Mallory asked a note of incredulity to her voice.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Finally, after a long time, Gwen decided to ask the ultimate question that had been plaguing her all this time.
“So, with you getting this apparent skin pigmentation ability, what else did everyone get from witnessing my mother’s breakthrough?”
Smirk.
At that Mallory smiled brightly, “that’s guild secrets, it will cost you. Now just what would you have to offer in exchange for my guild secrets like that?”
With that, Gwen smiled back and replied, “I’ll not only tell you, but show you my new trick that I too can do, and trust me, it is far more impressive than some little changing of skin colors.”
“I think I can go invisible, if I practice the ability and related skill enough.” Mallory protested.
“And you will still be visible to me.” Gwen said coyly.
“Maybe I want to always be visible to you.”
“Uh, gods can you two get a room.” A voice cut in, breaking the two from their intimate moment.
“Cass?” Mallory all but squawked trying to cover herself, only to realize that Gwen was perfectly placed to block anything that might be immoral or indecent.
“Mother, you need to learn to knock at the very least.” Gwen stated.
“I tried to wait, but it is almost midnight and you two looked like you were about to be engaged in far more than I want to be privy to here shortly. So I decided to drop in before your hanky-panky and give my daily touch ups to the granddaughter, before she loses the balance.” Cass said, quickly going over to Gwen, placing her hand on Gwen’s stomach and cycling energy into her.
“Oh look at that, you have the basis for a core. That’s so cute.” Cass said, staring with her third eye directly at Gwen’s stomach. Then just as she had seen everything she wanted to, she nodded to herself. “Okay, as you were.”
Poof.
Then like that, the whirlwind that was Cass was gone.
“Do you think she is gone?” Mallory asked.
“Gone from here, no. Gone outside my visual range, yes, but that isn’t hard.” Gwen stated.
Mallory just nodded at that, then asked. “When did she get that dragon tattoo?”
“What?”
“She had a dragon tattoo on her right bicep.” Mallory noted.
“Oh?” Gwen replied.
Then after a slight pause, Mallory realized something. “So you also got the basis for a core from your watching your mother breakthrough?”
“Yeah, even when she chaotically impales everyone gathered around with irradiated and polarized Qi and Mana particles, I must say, she makes the entire thing look impressive.”
“Oh, well that will be interesting to hear. From your perspective what did it look like?”
Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but then paused herself as she just waved her finger back and forth. “No, you first. Then I’ll tell you what it looked like.”
Hearing that Mallory paused, but then shrugged and answered honestly. “Okay, so there were a total of One hundred and eighty seven guild members there witnessing the event. Not including the Kujos who were watching from directly behind her. Of those that watched, everyone that was in her Qi classes now at least has the foundation for what I am told is the first tier of the core. Twenty-five others experienced Qi like sensations and developed skills related to cultivating Qi. A totally of ninety-eight received quest notifications that they had begun the process of awakening a Royal Bloodline within their bodies. Sixteen others who already began the process of awakening a Royal Bloodline completed the process. Another twelve more who had Royal Bloodlines activated received quests to begin awakening Legendary Bloodlines. And those with Legendary Bloodlines all reported as receiving indications that Bloodline Evolution Perks were either identified or activated. Even the mages that were present all received notifications that they had either increased in a few skills related to magic use, and a few that had no magical affinity beforehand all noted a magical awakening of some kind. Or an increase in magical potential up to Tier IV.” Mallory stated.
As she spoke, Gwen’s jaw could only drop as she took in all the changes that happened.
“Bloodlines?” Gwen asked.
“Yes, it is something that is unheard of in world history. Basically, if we weren’t already the most powerful Guild before, then we are well on our way of doing so now.” Mallory stated.
“Will this cause problems?”
“Actually, that is what I needed to talk to you about. Now that your daughter has fully recovered, is she ready to be our informant?” Mallory asked, a note of hope and desperation in her voice.
Hearing that, Gwen paused, realizing that she couldn’t quite answer that question, so she did what her mother taught her to do in such situations, she deflected. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I got from witnessing the transformation?”
“It’s called a breakthrough, and don’t think I didn’t notice what you just did there, but yes, please tell me what you received.”
“I received a new Bloodline evolution marker for mana and qi core manipulation.”
“That is interesting, especially as your mother already noted a similar breakthrough a week ago.”
“A week?”
“Yes, this means that you are following a parallel evolutionary path, which is odd, as supposedly you are at your maximum evolution, at least according to what you were told when you first transitioned over.”
“I was, I mean, I am. Though it seems that these Bloodline evolution markers don’t actually change your bloodline status. Though I think they would obviously increase if I were somehow able to make my bloodline evolve.”
“But you can’t?” Mallory asked, trying to confirm.
“I can’t.” Gwen admitted and then feeling somewhat defeated, just buried her head on Mallory’s shoulder.
Silence.
There was a long pause, before Mallory finally spoke her thoughts. “You are good, I have to give you that. But I must ask again, what happened to our trusted informant? She did survive, right?”
With that Gwen just nodded, not liking where this subject was invariably heading, though it was clear she would not be able to distract Mallory again.
“She did survive, and we can still trust her.”
“So why haven’t we started getting information from her?”
“Well, it has to deal with her daughter, my granddaughter, Cassidy, a person who was named after the very trouble we all deal with daily.”
“Named after great grandma?”
“Yes, and she is just like her in so many ways.”
“Just like how she was?”
“No how she is, everything even down to height. Barring the slight racial differences and the missing wings and they could almost be twins.”
“Almost, but missing that one magical thing that makes Cass stand out?” Mallory asked.
With that Gwen just shook her head, “no I mean it when I said exactly alike.”
“Okay, so what’s the problem?”
“The problem is how do we keep a fully awakened mage from a government, or any government for that matter…” Gwen began.
Poof.
Then just as she had appeared earlier, once again Cass was there in the flesh.
“It is so good that I just happened to be listening in on this conversation so I could fix it.” Cass stated.
“Wait, did you even leave?” Gwen asked, seeing the magic and then realizing it for what it was, “that wasn’t Teleportation magic that you just used. If anything that was Illusion Dispelling mana.”
“Good, you were paying attention,” Cass said, turning to Gwen and honestly impressed by what she was saying, then pausing she wanted to focus on the seriousness of the situation at hand. “Look, we have two minutes left to talk about this, and then never bring it up again. Do you two understand me?”
There was a long pause as both Mallory and Gwen just stared at Cass still wondering how she felt so comfortable just popping into the middle of their tent.
“Okay, I will take that as consent. All right, no one will hear this conversation, ever. That said, you two need to be more careful about this in the future. I will tell you everything about Cassidy, and then if you ever speak of her again, you will need to wait until another day, and signal me, at which point I will make sure we can talk in earnest. Now, with that disclaimer out of the way, let me begin by saying…”