After the rather rude elf left, Lasair called Apollo back into the room, and told him what had happened. The wisp was distracted, apparently very excited to try out his light affinity now that he had seen one in action. He eventually floated back to her core room to practice. Once he was occupied, Lasair decided the best thing to was make a to-do list.
1. Replace the [ARTIFACT] elf boy took.
2. Replace the [WILL-O-WISPS], and make a few extra now that I have the room.
3. Apollo and I both try to advance our control of affinities.
She resolved to wait until her mana was full to start. Waiting for the time to pass felt a bit harder than usual. Her perception of time was absolutely skewed. Without the need to eat, drink, or rest, she had very little indicator of passing time. Until recently, she couldn't even see the outside world. The time still passed quickly, but from the position of the sun Lasair could guess that hours had passed. Well, nothing she could do about it, new [ARTIFACT] time. This time, she decided to be a little more creative. She knew that [MANASTONE] could interact with normal mana from how the [DRAGON'S BREATH WAND] could draw it in. So what if she used an effect to simulate direct [LESSER MANA CONTROL]? She made a handle of wood, only long enough to be held by a single hand, and embedded a [FLAME-TOUCHED MANASTONE]. It looked like an upside-down sword hilt. For the effect, she had it constantly channel a single stand of mana through, but kept it connected to the handle. The strand should stay about two meters long and be a single line of flame. Bringing up the illusion, she tested the effects.
Aw yeah. Fire whip.
Satisfied, Lasair allowed it to settle into the [CHEST], gifting it the name [SILKEN FLAME]. It would normally be nought but the handle, but channeling mana through it would produce the whip. Seeing as the effect wasn't as costly as last time, she was still sitting on about a third of her mana. It was about enough for six [WILL-O-WISPS], which she summoned. After waiting once more for her energy to recharge, she summoned nine more, and did a bit of leveling, bringing the total up to fifteen level three wisps. The moon was now high in the sky, and Apollo had finally ceased his practice to get some rest. Lasair resolved to recharge once more and give him some more levels in the morning.
Once the sun had risen, so too had Apollo, so she gave him two more levels. Now level eight, he was about the size of a fist, and his crimson glow could light up almost all of the core room. Last night's practice had borne fruit, and he now had [LESSER LUMENMANCY]. For now he could only use it on his own glow, not creating new ones, but he was excited to learn more. Perhaps if elf boy came back Apollo could study the displacer beast?
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Moving her view to the second room, Lasair decided to do some practice of her own. But first, her status.
[STATUS LOADING...]
[STATUS]: LASAIR
[CLASS]: {SOUL BOUND} DUNGEON CORE
[ROOMS]: 2
[AFFINITY(S]): FIRE, MANA
[LIEUTENANTS]: {SOUL BOUND} [WILL-O-WISP]{APOLLO}
[ABILITIES]: SHAPE SELF, EXPAND, INSPECT, SPAWN, LESSER MANA CONTROL, LESSER PYROMANCY, ALERT, A DUNGEON'S PURPOSE
Hopefully she'd be able to upgrade her [LESSER PYROMANCY]. With that as a goal, she began to practice. Fire affinity, mana strands, fire mana. She warmed up like this, just repeating the basic process, until she felt comfortable moving on. She began to try different patterns of mana, such as making the weave of strands longer or thicker. Most results were as expected, with more mana equaling more fire. Lasair felt that she understood fire mana a little better now, and after a few hours of practice she could feel herself on the boundary of the next skill. Just one more burst and... her concentration shattered. A feather had fallen through the opening at the top of the room and drifted right through her ball of fire mana.
Stupid birds.
Lasair was about to return to her breakthrough, before the feather caught her gaze once more. It had absorbed some of the fire affinity and was slowly burning.
{CREATURE [FIRE-BIRD] UNLOCKED. USE [SPAWN] TO CREATE [FIRE-BIRD]? Y/N}
YES.YES.YES.
The mana flowed through [SPAWN], much more complex than a wisp, condensing in the air. It was about three times as expensive as a wisp, but seemed to be about the same size. As the mana became structured and settled, a small figure formed. It was about the size and shape of a hummingbird, with the majority of its feathers being jet black. The primaries on the wings and the crest on the head were both the same crimson as Lasair's core. Its beady little eyes darted around the room, situated above a beak that looked much sharper than it had any right to. As it took flight, its wings moved so fast that they became a blur. A blur which...spread? On a second look, the secondary blur was heat haze, from the [FIRE-BIRD] super heating the air around it.
[INSPECT]: [FIRE-BIRD]: A SMALL BIRD WITH HIGH SPEED AND MANEUVERABILITY. CAN USE ITS FIRE AND WIND AFFINITIES TO FLING BLADES OF BURNING AIR AT FOES.
Liking the sound of that, Lasair commanded the bird to demonstrate. It hovered in the air for a moment, seeming to gather energy, before a particularly hard flick of its wings sent out a burst of heat haze. Like a ripple in the air, it was about half a meter wide, but only about as tall as the bird itself. As the blade of air hit the wall, there was not an immediately visible effect. However, closer inspection revealed the stone steaming slightly, having been made incredibly hot. She was loving this new [CREATURE] already. She should have just high enough of an energy maximum to get the bird to level five, if she wanted another [LIEUTENANT]. Floating over to her core room, Lasair's gaze settled on a certain nightlight.
Apollo, how would you like a little sibling?