Mash went back to his room after finishing the bath. It was a nice experience and let him think about what he could do to prepare. He really should’ve done many of them already. Opening his storage space, Mash let his treant form cover him. He made an imitation of Priscilla, letting it maintain itself on its own mana. This was something he should test before but was glad to be doing it now. His creations drew on the ambient mana in the space around him, and he wondered if they would be able to do the same while in his storage space.

Opening his storage space, caused some water to fall out. He had forgotten that he had used it to block an attack. Two of the barrels inside had been broken, and the water rushed out as he opened it. Reacting quickly, he made a wooden creation to stop it from pouring into the rest of the room. The water quickly filled his room though, and he didn’t really know what to do. His room had a window, so he opened it.

The room was large, and the water only reached his calves. He walked over the window and looked out to see what he overlooked. He didn’t notice anyone outside. He bent down, tearing a hole out of the wall beneath the window. The water immediately began pouring out, and he just hoped that no one walked under it. Looking at the piece of wood in his hands, he tossed the piece into his mouth. As expected, it tasted like wood, the bark crunching in his mouth. When he didn’t feel anything change, he was a little disappointed. It had felt so alive earlier, and he had hoped that it would provide him with something.

The room's floor was wood, and he would need to dry it. he didn’t know what to do and decided to ask Aifell in the morning. He had a bed in one corner, and a table on the other side. Both were a little wet, but they were big enough that they were mostly fine. He would need to let his sheets dry though. Grabbing them he hung them from the window, making sure to not let them touch the water that was still flowing out. That seemed good enough for now.

Once he dealt with the water, he took stock of his supplies. The ration box that was open had been ruined, but the other ones were still fine. The boxes had some enchantment on them that helped with preservation, and that seemed to have resisted the water. If he properly sealed the one that he had opened, then the food wouldn’t have gone to waste.

Placing the imitation of Priscilla into the storage space, he closed it afterward and just waited a while. The imitation wasn’t super large, so it would take a little bit for it to drain the mana inside. Thinking about it, he made several more objects and threw them into the storage space as well. He made a few of his sword staffs, as well as some normal ones. As he considered what else he could prepare he made some javelins and tossed them inside as well. Objects that he made would decompose like his imitations even if they ran out of mana. He had noticed it before, but the mana just strengthened his normal creations. The lack of it wouldn’t make them vanish.

After he finished with that he moved on to the next step of his plan. He made several imitations of Priscilla. They were very big, and he made over a dozen of them. Once he finished making them, he made another staff. He didn’t make it bladed as he planned on carrying it with him during the day. In the past, he had wondered why people would carry their weapons on them when they could just use a storage space, but he understood now. Any fighter needed to prepare for any situation. Not being ready to fight was lazy.

After making everything in his treant form, he returned to his human form. The thought made him freeze, as he realized that he considered his humanity to be another form. That was him, not something he was changing into. He couldn’t forget what he was. Distracting himself from the thought, he made the imitations of Priscilla crawl into his sleeves. They coiled around his arms as if he was wearing strangely shaped armguards.

His room was large. Easily big enough that he could do some practice swings with the weapon. It had been a while since he relied on a weapon like this. He had been relying heavily on his magic and transformations, neither of which ever needed a weapon. The water sloshed a little as he moved about. The motions came automatically to him, and he found himself moving like he had when he had to fight using endure. Cyclical attacks that relied on constant movement, flowed through him as he swung the staff. Even if he didn’t need to use the fighting style anymore, it was something he shouldn’t forget.

He should try mixing it more with how he fought now and learn to rely less on any one thing. Gerard had made that mistake, believing that his armor would be able to protect him from anything Mash could throw at him. To that end, he tried using the imitations of Priscilla with his attacks. Making them swarm out as he spun. They could grow large enough to capture and eat things, even if his skills were disabled either he or Priscilla should be able to control them still.

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The rest of the morning was consumed by his practice. Only once he saw the first glimpses of light, did he remember to check his storage space. The imitation of Priscilla that had been inside was dissolved, but his weapons were still there. He had expected it to be the case but had wanted to test it anyway. It was a good thing to test either way. Storage spaces didn’t create spaces that generated their own mana. Or maybe there were special kinds of spaces that could do so. He would need to investigate that, or maybe try and find an item that generated mana.

The water had mostly drained at this point, only a few puddles remained on the ground. Stepping towards the door, he pried away from the wooden seal he had made. A little bit of water leaked out but not a lot. He had actually managed to work up a sweat in the hours of training and decided that he could probably do with another bath. However, this time he would go and ask Aifell how to do it properly first.

As he left his bedroom, he noticed that none of the others were awake yet. It made sense considering how late they had been up last night. Their room only had one exit, and he headed towards it. Opening the door, he stepped across the hallway. Aifell’s room was across from theirs, and he knocked on the door. The rooms had some system to let them hear the noise, so he expected her to come to answer him.

The door opened revealing Kirk. He stood stiffly; his back poised like a professional soldier. Mash looked at him for a second, thinking about how relaxed he had looked last night. He remembered that they acted differently during the day. Nodding to the man, Mash asked his questions.

“Um, can you show me how to use the baths? They are different than the ones back home.”

Kirk looked at him for a second, before replying with poorly held surprise.

“Your people don’t have baths?”

The translation item that Aifell had made would let him communicate with him so long as either of them was wearing one. He was glad for that, as he was able to explain what he had done last night and how his baths worked back home. After he finished, the man explained that what he did was mostly right.

Apparently, Mash didn’t need to wash off the waxy soap outside of the bath. He simply needed to cover himself with it and let the water of the bath wash it away. It was a magical construct and continuously cleaned itself. He just needed to enter and let the water do most of the work. Also, the wax would work just as well for his hair as anything else. Finally, he told Kirk to tell Aifell that they would be practicing with the harmonicas later if she still wanted to join. Saying his goodbyes, Mash returned to his room.

The conversation had gone well, but it was clear that Kirk was trying to be as respectful as possible. It would be much easier to talk to people once the sun went down, and he was slightly hesitant about going to a concert during the day. He could bring that up later and just went to take a bath.

He followed the instructions he had received, managing to clean himself quickly. While he was soaking in the bath, Luke entered, and Mash started explaining how everything worked. Understanding, he began taking off his clothes. It was a little weird having someone undress nearby, but Mash tried to ignore it. However, he did notice a few scars on Luke’s legs but didn’t comment on it. He focused on the water, talking idly about random things. Luke noticed the imitations of Priscilla that he had resting by his staff and clothes. So, they talked a bit about what his plans were, and the things he had tested last night.

“You should probably give everyone a Priscilla bracelet or something. It will let us find you and send emergency signals if needed. Plus, they could help any of us if we are ever in that situation.”

He was right of course, and Mash planned to do exactly that. As Mash thought about what Luke had said, he considered what else they could do as a group.

“We should probably figure out some things we can do before ever getting into a fight.”

That only made sense. Mash finished before Luke, but they got out at the same time. He waited a bit longer for Luke to finish, and they got changed quickly. As he put on his clothes, Mash let the wooden imitations wrap around his arms. After which he made three more and let one wrap around Luke’s wrist.

They left the bath and headed to the kitchen, surprised to find it stocked with more fruits and vegetables. He didn’t notice any spices or meats and realized that these people probably didn’t eat those kinds of things. The kitchen didn’t even have all the equipment he expected. They had a device to both heat and cool things, but there was nothing to preserve food for a while. It seemed like they just made food whenever they needed it.

Red and Jill came out eventually. They came out of the bath a bit after Mash and Luke and joined them around a pile of fruits. Snacking, Luke brought up what they had been discussing.

“After the recent fight, Mash and I think it would be a good idea to make some preparations. Do you guys have anything we can do before a fight even starts?”

He showed the Priscilla-shaped bracelet around his arm, and Mash made two more of imitations slither towards Red and Jill. Neither had a problem with it, and they let them coil around their wrists. Jill moved it to be around her bicep, as both her wrists were occupied. Red kept it as a normal bracelet like Luke.

“You guys could get some of my blood. I mean like a vial or something!”

Even as she spoke, the others had begun to stare at her warily. She picked up their looks and explained what she meant. Apparently, her blood could make them stronger but would poison them too. It shouldn’t matter since Luke could heal them. Plus, if Mash drank it should just get the benefit while avoiding the cost because of his skills. It was a good idea, and they hoped they could find a good container for the purpose. It was something though, and Mash felt a little more prepared to face another situation like with Safa.