Jiran woke up slowly, his senses returned to him one at a time. First, he noticed the red light of early morning filtering in through the open window.
Did I sleep in? The last time I slept in was after fighting that Rook, I was half dead then.
What happened last night? Am I injured again?
The next sensation to register was how good he felt.
The only description that fit his current state was divine. He couldn't remember ever feeling so comfortable and warm.
Jiran languidly reached above his head to bask in a luxurious stretch. However, his left arm was completely stuck.
That's odd, why won't my arm move? That's the arm that feels so soft and warm.
Soft?
And warm?
With his rapidly returning mental faculties, Jiran grabbed his bed sheets and ripped them off.
There she was, wrapped around his arm like it was some kind of lumpy body pillow. Wearing the clothes he had tossed outside the previous night.
Drool leaked from her mouth. Her tiny whiskers twitched, tickling his armpit and chest.
Jiran shook his arm, attempting to free it from the clingy blue-haired girl.
He opened his mouth wide but then caught himself. Mana pulsed and a sound-proof dome popped into place around his room
Only then did he yell at the top of his lungs.
"What are you doing in my bed!?"
The girl went from happily drooling to flipping through the air in a heartbeat. She landed face-first on the floor as her legs tangled with the bedpost.
She flopped and rolled, trying to get to her feet. Jiran, not wanting her to break anything, scooped her into the air.
She stared at him in incomprehension for several seconds. Their eyes met, and she seemed to relax so Jiran set her on her feet.
Finally, she broke eye contact and looked around.
"Why are you in my room? How did you even get in here without my aura noticing you?" He asked in a more normal voice.
"Chuangaka feralga mortalla bo durnka?"
“You can’t speak Imperial, can you? Wonderful, what am I supposed to do with you? I don’t even know what you want or how I’m supposed to help you.”
“Help!” She happily latched onto the one word she understood.
Her large brown eyes looked up at him hopefully while she nodded her head up and down. Her blue hair danced around her shoulders with the movements of her head.
“Help, me, you!”
Jiran facepalmed at the completely incomprehensible statement.
This is a waste of time, I’m already late for everything I wanted to do today.
He hopped out of bed. Standing before the pretty girl, wearing nothing but his underpants, he was suddenly aware of the embarrassing nature of the situation.
“Do you mind?” He asked while motioning in a circle with his finger.
The girl blushed a bright scarlet and flipped around with an adorable squeak. Her tail flipped through the air with the motion, almost smacking him in the tight confines of the room.
Jiran got dressed as quickly as he could while avoiding the twitching appendage. Once he pulled on his boots and cinched his belt he turned back to her.
“Okay, I’m dressed. Let’s at least figure out each other's names.”
“Jiran,” He said while pointing to himself. Then he held the same finger out toward her.
Realization blossomed on her face, replacing the fading scarlet.
“Mayalyn,” She said while pointing to herself. Then she pointed to him.
“Jiran.” She arched her eyebrows as if questioning if she had understood his intentions correctly.
Jiran nodded and repeated her name.
“Mayalyn, it’s nice to meet you, I guess.” Jiran’s lack of enthusiasm caused Mayalyn to puff out her cheeks in irritation.
“I need to go, it’s going to take an hour to get out of the city and likely another to find a good spot. You're welcome to stay here if you want.”
Why am I still talking to her? She has no idea what I’m saying.
“Stay,” She shook her head back and forth in an easily understood gesture of objection.
Jiran barely held back another facepalm, instead, he released a deep sigh with his shoulders slumped.
“Fine, let’s go. Standing still like this first thing in the morning is driving me crazy.”
Not wanting to waste another minute, Jiran headed for the door. Mayalyn snatched her tattered cloak from a pile of clothes near the bed and followed.
Jiran looked back at the troublesome girl and held in another sigh.
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The fifth mana channel running through his body hummed as a flash of light traveled from his heart through his chest and down his arm before exiting through his extended hand.
The casting shot out and latched onto the girl's big mouse ears, causing them to vanish from sight. He then repeated the casting on her tail. Once done he used the casting a third time creating a reflective mirror in the air.
Mayalyn gasped as she saw the perfect image of herself floating in front of her. Jiran pointed to her ears and tail.
“Nobody will see them now, okay? Let’s go.
He did not pause to observe her reaction as he exited the building. Jiran entered the fast lane and took off at a light jog. Mayalyn easily kept pace with him so he steadily adjusted their speed until she was struggling.
Not bad, she’s Tier three but has fifty percent more speed than average. I wonder if that’s normal for her clan? People? Race?
What the heck is wrong with me? Why have I been so reluctant around her? I have an opportunity to experime— Ahem, learn about what might possibly be an entirely new sentient species.
She has her own language which supports her not being from the empire. How did she get here? Even the emperors can’t exit the borders of the empire, yet this Tier three girl did it?
Well, step one in getting those answers is communication, and the best way to learn is to do.
Jiran glanced over his shoulder with an excited smile.
Mayalyn nearly tripped and fell when she saw the look on his face. She barely caught herself and kept running. Jiran wondered why she was looking so apprehensive all of a sudden but brushed it off.
They were not stopped at the gates, even though the guards scrutinized them heavily on their way past. Jiran came to a stop around a kilometer outside of Cruex.
They were on a hill with short wild grass growing in patches. Stunted trees sparsely dotted the landscape and a massive lake spread to the east, with a small town on its shore. Several boats were already out on its surface, supplying fish to Cruex’s populace.
To the southwest, not far in the distance, Jiran saw what looked like a valley surrounded by hills. Hoping that spot would provide cover, he headed in that direction.
The valley had several boulders and a small cistern at the base of one of the hills.
He found himself in a much better mood after the relaxing jog. Mayalyn was panting with her hands on her knees. She gave him a slightly suspicious look while eyeing their surroundings.
Jiran turned to face her, and with a light reassuring smile, he dropped into a low stance with his legs spread wide.
“Follow my movements,” He pronounced each word slowly while motioning her to join him.
He took her through his normal routine slowly, giving her time at each change in position until she got the movement correct.
Confused at first, she soon showed signs of enjoying herself. Right up until they completed the series of movements and Jiran started over. This time he wrapped her in his aura, forcing her to use considerable strength to move from one form to the next.
The two struggled through the routine three more times before Jiran sank fluidly to the ground in a meditative posture.
First Father and First Mother had risen high enough to fill their valley with heat and light. Jiran formed a shaping of water and doused himself clean. He chose to stay wet and let the natural heat dry him while he recharged his mana.
“I’m going to meditate for a while to recharge my mana. Then we can head back for breakfast.” Again Jiran spoke slowly, making sure to enunciate each word fully.
Preparing himself mentally, Jiran sank deep into his state of meditation and created the mental images needed for the task ahead.
He started with molding. He created a spider web of mana threads that extended away from his body. They grew from each other as they propagated, until an area shaped like a sphere, stretching thirty meters in every direction, was covered in a loose tapestry of his mana.
He sectioned off half of his brain power to maintain the web as he activated the next step.
Opening his third channel, Jiran pushed mana through it. A small white light sprouted in his chest and began moving in a circle around his heart. With every rotation, the light increased in speed. After a few seconds, it was moving so fast that the circular channel looked like a fluorescent bulb embedded under his skin.
When he released the flowing light through his now open fourth channel, it burst through his chest, down his arm, and finally out of his hand at a pace indistinguishable from the speed of light.
The properties of the fourth mana channel converted the energy into an attractive force that raced through the spiderweb of mana moldings. Small clumps of loose dirt and grass began to rise into the air then stick to his moldings.
Quickly now, two more steps.
Jiran oozed his mana body over the modified web. When his aura covered a section of the attractive force covered moldings, the dirt would fall to the ground as the energies were blocked and would no longer affect the nearby matter.
When his thirty-meter sphere was ready, he oscillated his aura like a plucked guitar string. Simultaneously, he activated the skill everyone acquires upon reaching Tier four: expansion.
The two actions combined to send his attractive aligned mana soaring through the air.
The ambient Density for several kilometers reacted to the complex spell. Like a tidal wave, it rushed toward his web and stuck fast to the attractive membranes.
Pulse after pulse of his willpower extended through the sphere along the threads. The wild energy was repeatedly grabbed and pulled into his body where he claimed it.
With his mana now full, Jiran used several pulses from his web to recharge his mana body as well, until it felt near to bursting.
Jiran hopped to his feet and patted the rest of the water out of his clothes with a mild heat shaping. He found Mayalyn napping near the water, basking in the warm, mauve sunlight.
A gentle nudge from his foot was all it took to wake the sleeping girl. She yawned and stretched before hopping to her feet.
“Let’s go get some food,” Jiran said while rubbing his belly and pointing back toward the city.
“Let’s go get some food,” She repeated with a nod.
Jiran didn’t rush on the way back, walking slowly alongside Mayalyn, he pointed to each part of his body and said its name, patiently waiting for her to repeat each one.
Then she did the same for him while he dutifully repeated her strange words.
He struggled with the pronunciation of several words. She seemed to have more advanced vocal cords, capable of a wider range of sounds.
When the gate was in sight, Jiran used his fifth channel’s casting on her ears again.
She reached up a slim hand and gently touched her ear before giving him a brilliant smile. Despite his best attempts to ignore how pretty she was, he found himself mesmerized.
Jiran scratched the back of his head while breaking eye contact until he felt the heat recede from his cheeks.
The same guards were still at the gate. Two rough-shaven older men. One of them held out his hand for their entrance fee which Jiran paid without complaint.
The guard grinned while giving him a conspiratorial wink. Jiran just shook his head with a chuckle of amusement.
Get your mind out of the gutter old man.
Jiran occasionally observed Mayalyn as they walked through the city. The shaping that obscured her nose was of particular interest to him.
That is definitely a shaping. I wonder what natural reaction inside her body allows her to mimic an effect like that. Unless I touch it with my aura I can’t tell it's not a human nose at all.
She seemed far more relaxed walking through the city now that she only had to focus on a single effect.
They arrived back at the inn without incident, the doorbell announcing their arrival. He sat down at a table and Mayalyn occupied the seat opposite him. Jiran placed payment for the extra meal on the table in advance as they waited.
Only a few moments passed before Miila entered the room. Her usual good-natured and polite demeanor vanished when she saw them sitting together at the table.
“Jiran, you have a girlfriend?”