I woke up the next morning, and immediately began to work on my exercises. It took quite a bit of time, since my weights didn't really help me out that much. Luckily, I didn't have to cook today, so I didn't have to worry, and could just focus on my exercises.
"Sylvain, breakfast is ready," I heard Astra yelling.
"Okay in a minute," I say, as I wasn't finished with my exercises. I was close to being done though, so I should be able to eat breakfast with them. Tomorrow, we will be heading to the cave. I hope I can finish my spell by then.
While thinking of this, I finished my exercise, so I went to the kitchen. Astra and Ana were already in the kitchen, and were eating their food. They had already eaten half of it, so I sat at my place and joined them. It didn't take long for them to finish, causing them to wait for me. Usually I am the one waiting for both of them. I inadvertently started eating quicker, and soon finished my food. Once I finished Astra went to wash the dishes, leaving Ana and me.
"So how was the spell?" I ask. I really wanted to know what I should improve on. Even though I think that the spell is good, I could have failed miserably. I need to know how it went, so I could then improve the spell.
"I was able to use it," Ana says after a little bit of thought. "It was really powerful, piercing through the wooden target I used. However, I wasn't able to use the other version. I tried all three, but they wouldn't work."
"Do you have any idea why?" I tentatively asked. I wasn't expecting much from her, since she doesn't chant spells. As such, she wouldn't be able to tell me where my chant is wrong. Even though she doesn't chant, it is still impressive that she can take my spells, and make them chantless. I really do need to ask about that.
"I don't know why," Ana says as expected. "The spell just wouldn't work when I tried your modified version. It should still be possible to get water from the original spell, though."
"However, it will be a tedious process," I reply. "We could instead just get water from the river, if it connects, or just bring our own water. Either of these options are going to be way easier."
After I finished talking, Astra came back from washing the dishes.
"Well now that everyone is here, how do you guys want to spend the day?" I ask.
"Ana and I will prepare the things we need," Astra says. "While I have dismantled everything, we need to pack it up, and preserve it. Don't worry, we'll pack water, and extra food. That way we'll be prepared for your spell's failure or success."
"Hahah," I laugh nervously. "Let's hope it is a success."
With that as the last words, we all split up. I once again head back to my room. It just feels more comfortable for me to make spells within my own room. After all, this is where I have created the majority of my spells. Of course, this doesn't have any help, but it just feels right.
Anyways, let's focus. The spell I created was "o spell of water come forth as a jet to pierce my opponent," and I have already established that I need to change "pierce" to something less harmful. However, "flow to," "spring towards," and "fill up" all failed. I can only think of different things to replace those words, and test the spells out myself. Even though I don't want to have a low amount of mana, this is the best thing I could do. Otherwise, I won't be able to use the spells, and see if I am on the right track or not.
Using my multitasking skills, I began to empty my body of mana. While this was one of my tasks, I used another to think of different words to create the spell. Finally, the last part of my brain was being used to actually chant, and test the spells that I have thought of. In fact, this was the point where I had made a breakthrough, and began to do 4 tasks simultaneously. I immediately used this to think of new words for the spell. However, I wasn't able to find anything that worked. Nothing worked, and it began to feel like nothing would work.
"Sylvain, lunch is ready." Right when I had decided to take a break to think of something different, Astra called me for lunch. They must have finished the preparations already, which just emphasizes my lack of achievements. However, it really feels like I can't modify this spell. I dejectedly went to lunch. There, I began to eat the food that was served. Once I had finished, Astra gathered the dishes, and began to wash them.
"What's wrong sylvi?" Ana asked once Astra went to wash the dishes.
"There is no progress," I say while sighing. "It feels like I can't modify this spell."
"If you can't modify it, then stop trying to," Ana says.
Once she said that, it was like something clicked for me. I don't have to modify an existing spell. In my mind, I had always separated practical magic and regular magic, and I would always modify a regular magic spell to get practical magic. However, they are both magic. As such, I should be able to create a spell that is practical magic specific. After all, it is magic in the end.
"Ana thank you," I say as I hurriedly run off to my room. Her words have just given me the key to solving this. Now, I have to solve this before dinner, which shouldn't be a problem as I am now able to do 4 tasks at once. I passed by Astra, who was coming back from washing dishes, but I just sped by her. I am on a time constraint after all.
Once I was back in my room, I began to think of creating this chant. I am creating a chant specifically for filling up a container. As such, the ending doesn't need to be my opponent, my enemy, or my ally. Instead, it should be my container. I still want this thing to take the form of a jet, as that would be easier to guide. Since I am making it easy to guide, it should flow from my hands, and it is filling up a container. It took a while to think of all of this, and it took even longer to put them together.
"O spell of water flow from my hands as a jet to fill my container." Finally, after much trial and error, I was able to create this spell, and it worked. I had already tested it out, as I did with my other ideas, and a steady, soft stream of water came from my hands. I already had a water skin prepared, and the jet flowed into the waterskin, filling it up. Once I was done, an immense feeling of satisfaction washed over me. This was also a major achievement, as I was creating magic for a non combat purpose. From what I know, all magic is usually used for combat, which is why it is a common belief that spells had to end in my opponent, my ally, or some iteration of that. However, I had just turned that on its head.
I was also able to upgrade my multitasking skills, and was now able to do 4 tasks simultaneously. This was a great boon for me, as I had been stuck at 3 tasks for a while now. The last thing, is now I have a better understanding of using only one element through our mana links. While I still need to get rid of mana to actually use only one element, I don't have to drop my mana levels so abysmally low. I could instead, get rid of around 90% of my total mana, which is a significant increase. This is also helping to point me on the right path to take. I'm sure this experience will help me greatly in the future. However, the most important thing is that I finished the spell. With this, we won't have to worry about water, ever again.
"Dinner is ready," I hear from the kitchen.
That is great timing, as I had just finished my spell. I left my room, and headed to the kitchen. There, I ate the food that was prepared. We ate in silence, and soon finished our food.
Right when Astra was going to wash the dishes, I said, "I finished the magic spell. We will now have water on hand through the spell."
"That's great." "Awesome."
After they both say their piece at similar times, Astra goes to wash the dishes. With that, Ana is the only one left.
"Can I see the spell?" she asks, appearing to be very excited.
"Let's wait till Astra is finished," I reply. "That way, I don't have to show it more than once. Also, it only uses one element, so you'll probably be using it the most."
"That's fine," she replies.
"So, how is the packing?" I ask to break the silence that had momentarily been formed.
"Oh, we've finished," she said. "We prepared two weeks worth of food and water, since we don't need to carry water, we can now fill up more. I'd say we have enough food to last three weeks."
"That's good, no, great," I reply after her words have registered. We have enough food to last three weeks, and we can produce our own water. However, do we have enough food in the storage? After all, we will need food when we come back from the exploration. I didn't ask this question though, since I will know the answer tomorrow when I make breakfast. After that last sentence, Astra came back from washing the dishes.
"Okay, I'll show the spell now," I say, after seeing Ana's eager eyes, "o spell of water flow from my hands as a jet to fill my container."
With the spell chanted, a jet of water soon flowed from my hand. There was no container to collect it, so it just splashed over the table. I stopped the spell after a little bit of time, since I didn't want to soak the table. Also, I was able to use this spell because my mana hadn't recovered in the time it took for us to eat, which is actually worrying. My mana's natural recovery is slowing down. I can only think of how horrible it will be outside the Forest of Calamity. The good thing is that I have such a vast amount, that I don't think I will run out of mana, unless I am actively trying to, or am in some really deadly situation.
Pushing these thoughts from my mind, I ask, "what do you guys think?"
"This is amazing," Ana says. "I won't have to go collect water from the river anymore. It's been tedious to go and collect it whenever I want to make soup or something. This is going to make cooking even more convenient. If only you can make it into a magic circle. That would make it even better."
"I agree with Ana," Astra says. "This will definitely help all of us in the future. We won't be limited by our capacity to move water. In fact, we can even begin explorations of the entire Forest of Calamity."
"I don't think I'll be able to make it into a magic circle anytime soon," I say, immediately crushing their hopes. "I also don't really see a need to change it into a magic circle. Also, we should think of the benefits of this after we have finished the cave exploration. Speaking of which, how is the packing going? I heard most of it from Ana, but I would like to hear it from you as well."
"Well, we are doing well," Astra says: "we are gonna need some more time to remove the water, and replace it with food. However, it won't take long to do that, and it should be done within the hour."
"Okay, I guess I'll help with that then," I say. "After all, I have nothing better to do."
"Okay, with Sylvi's help, this will go a lot quicker," Ana says in excitement.
"Wel, let's get started then," I reply as I head down to the storage room.
There I see the magic bag. There also seems to be some food strewn about. I'm guessing these are the rotten, or inedible parts, so I just gather them in a corner. I don't want to drop something, and accidentally pick up one of these strewn food pieces after all. While I was doing that, Ana was getting the water skins out of the magic bag, and emptying them, and while that was happening, Astra seemed to be looking over the storage area. The storage area is pretty filled up, I'd say about 40% filled. This will be more than enough for us when we get back.
I soon finished cleaning up the floor, so I headed over to Astra. When I got close to her, she began to hand me food. I'm guessing this is the stuff she wants to store. I received the food, and began to give it to Ana. By this time, she had already finished removing all the water skins. As such, she began to stuff the food inside the magic bag. I became the middle man that brought the food too and from Astra to Ana. It didn't take long for us to fill up the magic bag. After all, we only needed to put the food inside it, since all the food had already been preserved.
"Goodnight," I say while stifling a yawn when we are done.
"Goodnight." "Goodnight."
The both of them respond at the same time. It feels like they aren't tired in the least. However, I'm sure they are very tired. I went to my room, and immediately jumped into the bed. While in bed, I tried to practice both my multitasking skill, and my use of only one element through our mana links. However, I was too tired, so I was immediately knocked out once I was on the bed. I'll have to do double the work tomorrow to make up for this skipping today.
I woke up very drowsily. I'm guessing I'm out of it because of the mess in my sleep schedule. My hand seems to be touching something soft and fluffy. In my drowsy state, I get a feeling of deja-vu, like I have been in this exact situation before. However, I don't stop, and continue to touch the soft, fluffy thing. I even bring it close to me, hugging it. Soon, I woke up from this drowsy state, as I needed to exercise. It is a part of my daily routine after all.
Once I do, I realize what I was touching. It was Ana's tail. Her fox face was also looking straight at me, seemingly blushing. I then recalled that I did something similar to this in the past. However, they didn't wake up that time, and it was with both of them. At that time, the both of them moaned, and it was super cute. No, stop thinking about this. I realized that I was still hugging Ana's tail, so I promptly let it go.
"Sorry," I tried to say, but she immediately ran out of the room.
I then begin to exercise while I think of how this happened. I was in my room, so they shouldn't be here. Wait no, they are using my room to look after the hole. I guess that today was Ana's day to look after the hole. She must have also been really tired, and fell asleep without realizing, just like me.
I'll apologize to her later if I get the chance. Right now, I have my exercises to do. I decreased the amount from yesterday, since today is my day to make breakfast. If I did the same amount as yesterday, then I wouldn't have enough time to cook. I soon finished my exercises, and went out to cook breakfast. I just made something simple and light, which didn't take much time. However, Ana and Astra came to the kitchen before I could finish, since I did spend a bit of time exercising.
"Sorry, for being a little late in cooking," I say to them as I serve them the meal I prepared.
"It's fine," Astra says.
"Huh, oh yeah, it's fine…take your time," Ana says a little afterwards. It seems like she is still bothered by what happened this morning. I'm definitely going to have to apologize to her once we are alone. Even though that might worsen the situation, I don't want Astra to know about what happened. While thinking about it, I ate my food. Astra and Ana also ate their food, and we soon finished.
I then grabbed the dishes, and went to the river to wash them. I dipped them into the river, and then scrubbed them with a cloth made from the leather dismantled from a demonic beast. It is not as good as the cleaning rag I used back in the village. However, it did come pretty close. I think that is because while they process the leather back in the village, we were using leather of a higher quality. This caused the end products to come out quite similar. If the demonic beast leather was processed, it would definitely become even better. However, we don't know how to process leather.
It didn't take me long to finish cleaning the dishes, and once I was done I left them out to dry. I think I might have heard a "what," coming from the kitchen, but I can't be too sure. Either way, after leaving the dishes to dry, I headed back to the kitchen.
"I'm back," I say promptly once I get to the table. I say this because neither Astra nor Ana notice my return. I guess they were still thinking about the conversation they were having.
"Welcome back," the both of them say, however, they seem to be stuttering on their words. It also seems like they are embarrassed as they are also fidgeting. I think I might know why they are like this, but I won't say it, in case I'm wrong.
"So when are we going to explore the cave?" I ask in an attempt to relieve the weird atmosphere.
"Since we have finished packing, I'd say we leave straight away. Give me some time to gather my things, and the bags." After Astra says this, she leaves for the storage room immediately, giving almost no choice for a response.
Hurriedly, before she got out of earshot, I asked. "Do you need help?"
"No," she replies curtly while continuing towards the storage area.
This just leaves me alone with Ana. I can pretty much confirm that Ana told Astra about what happened this morning. After all, she left too quickly for this to be natural. This also confirms that I heard a "what" when I was washing the dishes. This was probably the moment when Ana told Astra what happened.
Realizing that this was Astra's way of allowing us some time, I say, "sorry."
"What are you sorry for?" Ana asks in a teasing tone. However, contrary to her tone, she seems to be trembling, in embarrassment, or disappointment. I don't know which one.
"I'm sorry for grabbing your tail. You definitely dislike it, and even though I did it in my sleep, I am sorry. I won't do it again." I reply with full sincerity. I do feel really guilty about this, and hope that she will accept the apology.
"It's fine," she replies. "I didn't really dislike it, but was more just surprised. I'd let you touch my tail again if you really want to. However, you must help me brush it, as it is a real pain to do so."
"Okay," I replied after hearing the first part of her statement. It took me a little bit of time before I realized what I had agreed to.
"Thanks," she says while I'm still processing. "Grooming my tail will be so easy. I'm sure Astra wants the same thing as well. You could also brush her tail as well."
I fully processed what she had said, but I had already agreed to it. As such I had to stick with it, so I said, "as long as you guys are okay with it."
It was at that moment that Astra came out of the storage area, with the bags, and said, "I'm okay with it."
The timing was just too perfect, that I felt she was listening in on our conversation. Besides, she wouldn't have agreed with anything she didn't know beforehand, so she was obviously listening in. Otherwise, she would have asked what we were talking about or what she would be okay with.
"Okay, let's focus on the cave exploration first," I say, trying to steer back our conversation. However, I'm glad that this came to a quick conclusion.
"Yes, I've got everything in the bags," Astra says. "To make things easy for us, we only have the magic bag. The leather bags, while useful, are just too big and bulky to be used."
"Yeah, I had already assumed such," I replied.
"It'll be hard to determine the time while inside the cave, so we'll eat whenever we are hungry," Astra then continues to say. "Once we have gone through half of our food, we tune back, regardless of anything. We'll also create markings to lead us back in case of split off paths. Take a little bit of time to gather anything you guys want. We'll then meet up in Sylvain's room."
"Okay." "Yes."
We all then split up, and began to gather our own things. I didn't really have anything I wanted to bring. After thinking about it for a little bit, I decided to get a luminense light source, just in case the ones we had brought broke. I wasn't able to think of anything else to bring, so I just went to my room. I was the first one there, so I just waited on my bed. Soon enough, Astra came in. I wasn't sure what she brought, but it was probably in the magic bag. Ana then came in next, and she had brought cooking ingredients.
"You guys ready?" I ask once everyone had gathered.
"Always." "Yes." They reply as we head into the unexplored part of the cave.