I felt like I had a roadblock with fire magic. While I had moderate control, it was still lacking in many ways. I needed a teacher. I could only go so far by myself.

Fang watched over me while I practiced if they were not out hunting. The hunting trips got longer and longer though. Making me worried since there were a few times now that Fang returned with some minor injuries.

I wish I could help heal them, but could a demon even be healed? Dark mana sped up your natural healing rate. I had already discovered that. But Fang’s injuries seemed to persist longer than I would have expected.

Light mana would only make it worst I felt. For me when I first had filled my body with dark mana, Father healed me. It eliminated the dark mana, leaving me drained afterward. Not that I could use light mana though.

Maybe giving Fang some of my mana might help? They didn’t seem to be lacking mana, but if it sped up healing, would more be better?

I needed to get a feel for it first though. So it was time to stop putting it off and start practicing with it. I hit a roadblock with Fire Magic, so it was either that or continue to Crosta. Would Fang come with me? They didn’t seem like they would be aggressive, but could I risk putting Fang, or others in danger?

I wanted to stay here if I could. I was scared to interact with people now, how would they treat me? Would they accept me? Would I need to keep my demon features hidden?

Father was vague in his letter. I had no idea about Crosta before. It embraced the corruption in the world? Did that mean there were more people like me?

I could only hope that was the case. But I couldn’t go unprepared.

Sitting down by the fire. I started to feel out my dark mana. There was a bit passively spread through my body. Ever since the ceremony, it’s been constantly there.

I did have more though, I could direct it much like my fire mana. Though I could not empty the rest of my body of it. Anytime I tried, more would take its place.

Father had purged my body of miasma when I was a kid. But back then I still had the blockages in my mana channels. If I could fully re-block my mana channels and purge my body again, would I be able to return to normal?

Doing so would cut off my path to fire magic, but it might be a small price to pay, still, I could only close off my mana channels about halfway and that took constant effort. I would need to find out if the ceremony could be reversed in some way first. Something I was not going to be able to do out here.

I shook my head. I was getting distracted. Subconsciously I wanted to procrastinate on this, but I needed to just see what happens. It was better to know the effects of dark magic than be ignorant of it.

Much like my training with fire magic, I tried to expel some out of my hand. However, as I did so, my muscles seem to attract it and get saturated by it.

Looking down at my hand, the form of my muscles became more distinct, and my fingernails had grown and taken on a black color. Panicked I tried to reverse it, funnel the mana back into my core. But once it entered my muscle, it seemed to want to stay there. Great.

Now my left arm didn’t match my right. Would I be able to use up the mana? Could that work?

I grabbed my sword and with just my left hand, swung downward at a fallen log. I didn’t put much effort into it, but the result was beyond what I expected. The sword was halfway through the log, in one light swing.

My arm did not change though, so I tried harder, putting as much effort as I could into it. The log was cleanly chopped in half.

The tone of my muscle did decrease though. So I did it again, chopping 5 more times with high effort. The mana in my arm seemed to be used with every swing and finally returned to normal. Even my nails shrunk back to their normal size.

Thankfully that means that the passive amount in my body is what my body will seek to maintain, anything beyond that would be used up. I had to hope that the passive amount would not increase with training though.

I looked over my sword. They were not well suited to chopping logs so I worried about damage. Unfortunately, my fears were realized. There were various nicks in the blade, but it was not damaged beyond being usable though.

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My bag did contain some tools I could maintain the blade with, but there was only so much that could be done for this kind of damage. I would have to find an alternate method to drain my mana while practicing.

As I pondered, Fang returned with some food. No injuries this time thankfully.

I switched over to prepping for a meal. Fang had taken a liking to cooked food, so I had to cook plenty and share or else I would have to deal with constant whining. Fang had brought it so I couldn’t exactly complain. But trying to cook the amount Fang brought back for every meal was hard. I had to disappoint them more times than not and make them eat parts raw.

The day ended after we ate and washed off. I had gotten used to this but could not stay here forever. I didn’t want to have to separate from Fang.

As the days continued. I had set up furs from our many meals and tied them to a large rock near the cave. Using it as a makeshift punching bag to practice my dark mana. Better than using my sword, but even with the furs cushioning, it still hurt to punch it with all my might.

I discovered that just one arm was a bad idea, the recoil could negatively impact the rest of my body depending on the amount of force I used. Using a leg as well I could stay standing, but then my back took the brunt of the recoil. I am not making that mistake again.

Effectively, the best use I could find was evenly spreading the mana across my body. I avoided the head though, afraid that my horns might grow further, and they had torn the skin to grow before, so even if they went back, it was just going to just be painful.

I got better and better with managing my dark mana, it was a bit easier than fire mana since it was less affected by my mana channels to saturate my body. But having to use it up to return to normal was a pain.

There must be a way to disperse the unneeded mana or draw it back into my core. But I could not figure it out.

I wonder if Fang would know, but how would I even ask? Fang was smart, but not to the point of us being able to communicate things like how to use mana.

Well, maybe since Fang likes to watch me, I will just watch them. Maybe I will learn something.

So the next time Fang lounged and was going to watch me train. I instead sat in front of Fang and just watched them.

We were at a stalemate. Staring into each other’s eyes, Fang just tilted their head at me. Confused about what sort of Game I was playing.

I had to keep a straight face though, bursting into laughter would only truly turn this into a game.

After a while. I added dark mana in my left arm and raised it, then raised my right arm. To show the difference.

I repeated the process and finally, Fang seemed to realize something. When I lifted my left arm, they gently bit it. Not breaking the skin.

As I wondered what they were up to, I felt a suction force in my arm. The mana was being pulled out and into Fang. They had ‘eaten’ the mana by the looks of it.

After finishing, Fang stepped back and tilted their head again.

This time I let my laughter out, got up and hugged their snout. While it was not exactly what I was looking for, it was a start. It gave me something to ponder. Fang responded with a sneeze.

I couldn’t handle how damn adorable this demon was. I know most demons are bad, but why are they so condemned if even a fraction of them are like Fang? Maybe I could find an answer in Crosta. For now. Bath.

I had to deal with the usual bath antics, but I was well accustomed to the water now. So getting soaked before I even got in felt more refreshing than cold.

That night I gave it some thought. If Fang could draw in mana from me, could I actually expel it somehow? I had tried many times but maybe I was coming at it from the wrong direction. I was using my knowledge of fire mana and applying it to dark mana. But they worked in fundamentally different ways.

Pure demons’ blood would turn to miasma when they bled, so dark mana had to be tied to blood in some way. That would explain why it was so tied to the body. But expelling blood was not something I was keen on trying.

Fang had drained my arm without drawing blood, so there was something I was missing.

The next day I still did not have an answer. Trying to just think over the day rather than do any meaningful training. Fang had left early to get food but did not return by the time it got dark. Not abnormal but I still felt a pit in my stomach each time.

Sleeping alone sucked. Fang was so warm and comfortable.

Fang did return the next morning. Didn’t seem to have much luck hunting and did have some injuries. Even with the fur coat that hid them, miasma still leaked in various places.

I gave Fang some of the dried meat I had. There was quite a stockpile now, Not enough for Fang’s appetite, but thankfully they were smart enough to not devour our entire stockpile.

I looked over Fang’s injuries in more detail. Usually, they were small and very spread. This time they seemed more localized and looked like a big claw mark across their side. It was not deep enough to do much real damage, but I had a feeling something that could contend with Fang was out there.

Did Fang beat it? Or have to retreat? Without coming back with a kill, I had a feeling it was the latter. Predators often contended over territory, demons had to be the same.

What it could be I was not sure. But we might have to leave if it was truly trying to take Fang’s territory.

Fang seemed to sense my worry and started to act cute to distract me. While it worked, I did make a mental note to make ready to leave quickly. I had spread my things around the cave so I would need to fix that.

Would I be able to convince Fang to leave though? I had no idea where we could go. While my goal was Crosta, taking Fang was not really an option was it? Could I help Fang take on this attacker? Or was I just overthinking things?

I would have to think about it tomorrow. For now, I will make sure my bag is ready if I have to leave in a hurry, better safe than sorry.