Not much happened today, so we have some extra energy to play around in the bath. Also, Oritiki isn't here tonight because the Horns and the men on the Floater need to rest since they'll be scouting for the Maw and the islands tomorrow.

I've been learning how to multitask, so I can just play around with the girls and give them some attention when they aren't in the mood for hardcore stimulation.

Aoi and I work together to appease Hana while Ciel, Roxanne, and Yunia relax and enjoy my caresses. Even though we didn't fight today, stress still builds up, and we're starting to feel the need for some time away from the Chimeras.

We have a cozy dinner under the stars, surrounded by black holes. Having this sort of view every time we eat will leave us spoiled. Even for Lords, we have quite an exciting lifestyle.

After that, while the girls retire to our tent, Yunia and I carefully inspect the entire ship to repair any structural damage that might have come from being slapped away by the Leviathans. We remove the burn marks from the [Beam]s that hit our ship, then we join the girls in the tent.

Everyone's still a bit energetic, so we'll do some work for a short while before going to sleep. Alissa and Hana practice [Mesmerizing Butterflies] together, but Alissa is mostly focused on helping Hana catch up with her; Roxanne excitetedly watches Lina as she adds safety enchantments to her worktable so that she can test the more dangerous and explosive materials; Ciel now has enough points for [Detect Evil], so she tests how the spell works, but since it has zero combat utility, she'll use the extra points somewhere else; Aoi continues stretching her mana organ, very happy with how fast she's progressing; Yunia sits down and practices [Electric Magic], continuing to try to learn how to instant ca-…

Two [Lightning Bolt]s suddenly launch from her finger and fly out of our tent through the exit, shooting off into the sky.

"I… did it…?" Yunia questions, surprised with herself. Lightning flashes and thunder crackles again. "I did it!" She exclaims and beams with a beautiful smile, completely wiping away the usual sharpness of her expression.

"Congratulations," Ciel is the first to congratulate her, then we join in with a chorus of congratulations.

Yunia struggles to contain her brimming excitement, but she does succeed in appearing stoic again, then she nods respectfully towards Ciel.

"It took me a little longer than a month to learn that, so you're doing very well," Roxanne praises.

"The switching around of skill points all the time helped a lot. I could feel and almost see the changes inside me, but I just couldn't 'touch' it. It's weird, I still can't explain it well," Yunia responds and smiles wryly.

Roxanne nods emphatically and adjusts her glasses. "It's completely opposite to how magic is normally taught. We're used to being free to 'build' our spells the way we want, but this 'instant casting' is completely constrained."

"You can learn how to modify the instant-cast spells, though," Alissa comments.

Yunia knits her thin eyebrows in concern and replies, "Well, I have no idea how to instant cast the spells from [Weaverism]. They're all dependent on the target, so it's a puzzle that I don't even know how to begin tackling."

"Well, one day you might learn how. We still have our entire lives to train and grow," I say.

Yunia pouts for a moment, but it softens into a subtle smile.

I sit down behind her and give her a hug. "You're a hard worker, so I'm certain that you'll do it one day, and if you don't, then it might just be impossible, after all," I whisper in her long ear.

She snorts, then looks ahead and continues practicing her instant casting.

I take the opportunity of Aoi diligently training to leech her progress with [Bind]. It's surprisingly easy to "sync" my mind with hers. She's the second easiest to sync, with the first being Alissa.

I share some of my knowledge in [Soul Manipulation] with Aoi while she sends me her experience with mana organ stretching. Now that she can push her soul out, she might benefit from knowing Gify's and my custom [Materialize]. I think the first thing she'll try to create will probably be hands.

Lina finishes adding [Reinforce] and [Wind Armor] to the insides of the worktable so that it doesn't break apart that easily if something inside it explodes. Roxanne claps the tip of her fingers together in excitement and immediately goes to work with it.

It takes only a few minutes for her to make something explode, so it was definitely a good thing that we made her wait until now.

There's still the need for [Telekinesis]-powered manipulators, but they're a lot less important since Roxanne can use that spell herself or recruit the golems to help her when she needs it.

Lina sighs and shakes her head at the crazy alchemist, then continues reading her new book, "Legends of Times Past Series: Nojus, Lord of Fire and Brimstone."

Shortly before it's time for the girls to sleep, I approach Ciel with a smile and say, "It's time."

She hesitates for a moment, then starts to undo her scale armor.

"No, not that," I add with a chuckle. "Why do you all think it's always sex?"

"Because you're always horny," she responds and shrugs. "If it's not sex, then what do you mean by 'it's time'?"

"[Bind]. I think I can add you to our [Bind]."

"Ooh~…"

I smile and sit down in front of her. "Ready?"

She nods, and I cast [Bind]. It's pretty easy to pull her soul into me, which shows that my mind is ready to handle more.

I've done this before with her, so it's pretty simple to dive into her mind and pull back her "internal monologue string."

"H-HEWWO?! Is anybodwy hewre?"

Ciel rolls her eyes and says, "Enough references, Wolfy."

"Ack, my heart! So cold!" I exclaim and dramatically clutch at my chest.

"I think it's cute," Lina comments.

Ciel frowns and says, "It annoys me, for some reason."

Alissa agrees, "Same, but when he says them through [Bind], it's easier to 'understand' them, or at least know when he's using one, so I can just ignore him if it's too obscure."

"They make me smile," Roxanne says warmly.

"I have no idea what they're about, so…" Hana shrugs.

I chuckle at them and reply, "It's my way of celebrating my former home. I focus on the parts that brought me joy, not the… astronomical amount of bullshit that exists over there."

Alissa's tail stops wagging, and her fox ears go flat. "Well, now I feel bad for ignoring you," she mumbles.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Ignoring me just makes it funnier," I calmly reply.

Her ears perk up, and she gives me a slightly worried look. "If you say so…"

"It's a form of teasing, of that I'm sure," Roxanne adds, and Alissa believes her because who knows more about teasing than Roxanne?

I nudge Ciel through [Bind], and she starts patting Lina, then she suddenly jumps in surprise when she realizes what she's doing.

"Tomorrow, we'll have time to practice our coordination," I say and wink at her.

The girls go to bed while Alissa and I start our watch. There are no Horns here this time, so I focus on the bird sleeping between Osaria's breasts and relax, wishing that she and Klein were with us.

When my pocket watch says that it's 2 AM, we switch with Hana and Roxanne.

Today is the 21st.

My [Soul Manipulation] increased by 1 (now 7). We didn't do much yesterday, but today, we're all energetic, so we'll definitely train a lot.

The Floater comes to recharge our ship before they head out, then Oritiki comes over to give us a short goodbye.

The Maw must be a few hours away from us if it hasn't moved from the (assumed) portal, so she'll likely return either tonight or tomorrow.

Paraaone stays with us and joins us in our sparring. Ciel and I pretend that we're sparring behind the bridge, but we're actually just testing the [Bind] to get used to working together through it. By reading the emotions and intentions of each other, it becomes easy to counter attacks, but since we aren't trying to win, and instead, we're just pretending to spar, we can adjust our attacks with extreme precision to be as realistic as possible. I even feel [Dancing] activating as we improve our coordination.

We also get the golems to participate in the sparring practice with the girls, and they make for an interesting fight to watch. Ted and Suzy work better fighting together, one controlling a greatsword while the other controls a large kite shield. They can control two weapons each, but this way, their movements are more precise. The way they fight is, in itself, unique, so it's difficult to teach them how to achieve their maximum potential since they lack the creativity to explore their own limits. They can see my memories, but I wasn't a swordsman in my past life, so the help they can get from them is limited.

"I've heard about magic swordsmen specialized in [Space Magic] who would use [Telekinesis] to control weapons, but they're extremely rare," Roxanne comments to Alissa beside her.

I stop sparring with Ciel, then I blink blankly and look at my own sword. "I could fight like that, couldn't I?" I wonder out loud.

"It would take a lot more points than what you currently have in [Space Magic] or [Mana Control] for you to reach the finesse necessary for that," Roxanne responds through [Bind].

I shrug and continue sparring.

Jarn's fighting style is a bit more grounded since she has limbs to limit her reach, but her joints bend in all directions, and her body is made of pure metal, so she has very different priorities in a fight when compared to a human. However, we come to the conclusion that copying Hana's style is the best option for her due to how durable she is. She can even wield a greatsword one-handed without tiring, but a longsword has the best reach-to-dexterity ratio, so she'll use one of those alongside a large kite shield.

Aoi's style with a halberd is that of a brute. She lacks the dexterity to properly fight with anything that requires more finesse. To compensate, she seems to be able to use that water ball of hers to defend herself like it's a mobile [Water Wall], though she reminds me a bit more of the water benders from Avatar than the mages in this realm.

"If she had a system, her 'Willpower' would certainly be higher than twenty," Paraaone comments.

If only he knew the truth.

I stop our spar again, which slightly annoys Ciel, and ask, "Why aren't there more people who use magic this way?"

"With just 'Willpower'? That's even more difficult than becoming a magic swordsman," Ciel replies.

"Only God-Rulers of the past could use magic like this because they lived long enough to learn how," Lina adds through [Bind].

"She already has an affinity for it, so wouldn't that speed up her progress?" I question.

"Perhaps, but I don't know much more than that," Lina responds with a shrug.

"We are going to live far longer than the average commoner, so she'll have plenty of time to develop this ability," Ciel adds.

"Learning how to cast [Water Spirit] would be much faster and have similar results," Roxanne objects through [Bind].

"She can just practice with it in her spare time if she wants," I reply, and they all agree.

After a while, Ciel and I stop, and we join the others in their sparring practice.

"I've been meaning to ask, but that glaive of yours, it's from a Horn, isn't it?" Paraaone asks Ciel.

She suddenly freezes, and her heart explodes with anxiety, but it quickly washes away, and she recomposes herself in mere seconds. "We found this in the Looping Winds station, but we didn't see its wielder near it."

Paraaone sighs, and his face morphs into sadness. "Oh… that's unfortunate. I'd have liked to know if it was from someone I knew."

She gives him a quick bow. "I'm sorry. We didn't find their armor or body, just the glaive."

"Yeah. I should've asked about that first." He shows her a sad smile, then his expression toughens, and she becomes alert. "We won't ask you to return it. Just put it to good use and kill as many monsters as you can with it."

Her tension washes away, and she gives him a bright smile. "I will, for sure."

Alissa starts practicing a new spell from Nocturna's book: [Daydreaming]. It's another distraction spell that makes the target not pay attention to what they see or hear. Similar to [Ignorance], just single-target instead of a self-buff. It's not that powerful or impressive, but it's a prerequisite for [Sleep], so she'll need to learn this spell first.

Roxanne continues her research on explosive materials, causing quite a few bangs and booms within her worktable.

"I think I should review that [Reinforce], just in case," Lina mutters and looks at Roxanne worriedly.

"This is so much fun!" Roxanne exclaims inside my mind.

"If you hurt yourself, we won't touch you for a whole day," I reply, and Hana agrees internally.

"Gah!"

The Chimeras are starting to add [Conjure Bland Meal] to their rations, so we invite Hukarere, Ririmu, and Paraaone to eat with us. We barbecue some elven smoked meats again because they loved it so much the first time. The veggies are also elven, so they're all juicy and vibrantly colored, making the meal feel rather special.

"My comrades are going to love this story. I'm over here, relaxing and fattening up, while they're flying alone, having to conjure their own meals," Paraaone says with a cheeky grin.

"Enjoying fine elven cuisine. Many would be envious," Yunia says with pride.

Hukarere and Ririmu share a look. The raccoon man is stuffing his face with a salad of bacon, shredded cheese, and endives, while the wolf woman is gnawing on the bone of a harpy Buffalo wing.

"My [Item Box] is huge. I have a lot of food," I calmly say and nod at them before they decide to stop eating.

Ririmu sniffs, and Hukarere's dragon tail wags, then they continue eating with renewed vigor.

My dagger-wielding tentacles are becoming faster. Simultaneously doing all of my women so often has certainly helped with increasing my control. It feels like I'm developing a sub-process for them, giving them almost a mind of their own, which is frightening, useful, and also awesome as fuck.

I think that just focusing on daggers might also be stunting its potential. I should have them wield all kinds of weapons during combat while leaving the daggers for emergencies.

I pull out a spear, a halberd, and a mace, then I grip them with my tentacles. I could potentially fight with six weapons, but the spear and halberd are polearms that require two tentacles to properly wield. I'll keep my last tentacle as a reserve in case I need an extra limb. My mind is already feeling taxed with three weapons anyway, so it's not like I can use my [Soul Manipulation] at the max all the time.

"Now this is ridiculous," Paraaone comments as he watches me test this new fighting style.

"It's a good thing that he's already creating his own style, because I've never seen one like that," Hana comments with a nod.

Yunia parries my spear, then she attacks, and I block with my shield, but she pivots and still manages to touch my neck for a second. If her longsword was sharp, it would've left a nasty wound.

"It's clear that your weapons aren't working together, so it's possible to exploit the side that's being neglected and get inside your guard," Yunia says.

"You're going to need a lot of skill points in various weapons to make them effective," Hana asks.

"It's still better than my usual fighting performance, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, definitely," Hana responds.

"Even a commoner with just a spear and a shield can keep away most enemies for at least a while," Yunia adds.

"You've always had a reach disadvantage since you use a short sword. Now, at least that's… somewhat covered," Ciel continues and smiles wryly.

Yunia does a sweeping slash down low, close to my shins, but doesn't hit anything. "See this? Your weapons are positioned rather high above you, so your legs are your most exposed area," she states.

My halberd is being held above my right shoulder, my mace is above my left, and my spear is positioned above my head, so I don't have any tentacles that could easily reach downwards. Though my spear has enough reach to stab down low, it doesn't have enough leverage to parry as effectively as a shortsword or parrying dagger.

"I can still add another weapon to my waist when I have more points in [Soul Manipulation]," I say and draw a dagger from my belt with a tentacle.

"You're likely to get your limbs in the way of one another if you grow them in front of your body. Going for polearms is the better choice," Hana replies.

"He still has a shield and a short sword, so it's not like he's lacking in close defensive options," Paraaone says.

"Every warrior's weak point is their legs, but Wolfy's style is so oppressive that it encourages the opponent to attack the legs a lot more," Yunia responds.

A few hours after lunch, one of the Horns returns to the Carrier. They've found the Gaping Maw sleeping near a tight curve of the Looping Winds, which is likely the location we set the last anchor at, right beside the portal. Though there's no word of it, maybe it's because the portal would be like an ant when placed next to the Maw, so they must've been too far away to see it.

Hihiriwa turns to our bird on the bridge and says, "The Floater has found a few abandoned farming islands, so we're ready to move. We'll begin the distraction tomorrow morning, then you can do whatever you want near Ozymandias, Ryders."