Ruby says "Don't try to avoid the question!"

Myria says "Hi, Isabella! How have you been?"

Isabella says "I've been good, Myria. How was your trial?"

Myria says "It was really hard, but very rewarding! I have gotten a lot stronger thanks to it!"

Isabella says "Is that so? Maybe I should come back and try the mage trials! Will my summoning magic work in the trials, Ash?"

"It should work. I just don't know if your summons will be useful. When I did them the golems were immune to physical damage. I would ask Yui before you try it."

Isabella says "Alright, I will."

Ruby says "Stop ignoring me! Why didn't my fire hurt you?!"

"Because I am completely immune to fire damage! In fact, just like you, fire heals me now."

Ruby says "That's not fair!!"

Isabella says "Is this fire immunity from a technique that can be learned?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

Ruby says "You don't need it! I would never hurt you, Isabella!"

Isabella says "I know that. I just thought it would be nice if you didn't have to worry about not hurting me!"

Ruby says "Oh! Yeah, I guess that would be nice."

"Well, while it isn't a skill that can be learned there is another option. I have recently been teaching myself how to enchant properly. When I get back I should be able to make you something to protect you from fire."

Isabella says "That would be great!"

Myria says "Could you make me one too?"

"Why do you need one?"

Myria says "You have no idea how many times Ruby has threatened to barbeque me!!"

Isabella says "Ruby!!"

Ruby says "I haven't threatened her, recently!"

"Only because you haven't seen her recently!"

Ruby's response is to throw another fireball at me, but that only makes me laugh at her. Even Myria and Isabella giggle when they see her face when her fireball does nothing to me. This sparks an argument between Ruby and Isabella and they soon leave the soulscape.

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"Well, that was entertaining. We may not have gotten to ask how things are going, but I'd say they are okay. Oh, yes I will make you a protective item when I get back!"

Myria says "Thanks! So, anything else we need to discuss?"

"Not that I can think of right now, but I will invite you whenever I open a soulscape. If there is nothing to report you can just play with the kids or leave."

Myria says "Alright!"

Then she kisses me on the cheek and leaves the soulscape, just like last time. For some reason I get the feeling she is doing it intentionally, but I can't think of a good reason to stop her. Not that it is unpleasant, it is just that her motives worry me, she is planning something.

Anyway, I will worry about it later, I end the soulscape and then wake up Grimgar. It is still the middle of the night, but I spend the rest of the night teaching him. The first thing I need to do is teach him how to meditate, but that isn't enough.

For him to be able to teach others he needs to have more than just a basic understanding. By the time the sun comes up he has made some progress, but this is only the beginning. I am guessing it is going to take several days at the minimum just for him to learn about meditation.

However, he is a good student, he listens well and does his best to follow instructions. He is a lot more intelligent than I expected, but that is my own fault for judging by looks. Just because he is big and strong I was expecting his intelligence to be lower.

If he is an example of an average member of his tribe, then the Black Lion race is definitely superior. If they can all bring up the level of their cores they should become rather terrifying. It is almost enough to make me feel sorry for the humans that are attacking them, almost.

Of course, that will all depend on the members of his tribe and their capabilities. At any rate, once I teach Grimgar it will no longer be my problem, he can deal with his people. Although, I admit I am curious about his tribe's legend, but I don't have time to visit them.

At least not right now, maybe I can find time to visit them later, it will depend on how things go. If I can increase my mana pool enough it might be possible to gate back to the main continent. It will all depend on what happens after I finally get back to the peninsula.

"Grimgar, would you mind telling me where your tribe is located?"

Grimgar says "Of course I don't mind!"

"Great, I have a map here. I don't have time to visit your tribe right now, but I would like to later if I can. I am really curious about the legend you told me about!"

Grimgar says "When I get back I will be sure to tell my tribe about you so that anyone you encounter will know what our tribe owes you!"

"Alright. Let's have some breakfast, then I am going out. Do you want to go with me or stay here and practice?"

Grimgar says "Unless you need me, I would prefer to practice."

"That's fine. I am not doing anything dangerous."

After we are done eating I leave Grimgar to practice and head out into the city. I want to try and find information about the heavily guarded estate, but I don't know where to start. Considering the level of defenses I am guessing the owner is paranoid and will hear about it if I just ask randomly.

Other than the slave trader, I don't have anyone that I have had much contact with. The way the slave trader ran off as soon as he had my money I doubt I can find him again. So I need to make contact with someone else and the best way to do that is to spend money.

Luckily, I still have tons of gold so spending money isn't a big deal, I just need to decide what to spend it on. The elves shouldn't need any more supplies for a long time, so buying more would be a waste. Although, there might be other things that they could use, like crafting materials.

Even if they don't need them, they could come in handy for my crafting later. With my mind made up I head into the market area and start looking for a merchant. For this to work I need to spend a lot of money in one place, so I am looking for a big merchant group.

They are the only ones likely to have a lot of crafting materials in stock. Luckily, after wandering around yesterday, I know where the merchant group shops are. So, I head there and look around to see which shop currently has the most stock.