It didn't take long before the food was brought before me. I was extremely ravenous after not eating for an extended period of time, so I just ate without restraint. While I was eating, my mana didn't grow chaotic. I have no idea why it didn't grow chaotic now, but I will accept it. After all, I am already troubling Astra and Ana as I am now, and I don't want to trouble them anymore if necessary. I was eating in total silence, which is normal for us to do. Usually we talk after we have eaten, so I didn't feel anything wrong with this. However, the queen looked like she really wanted to talk about something.
"Anything you want to talk about?" I promptly asked her after finishing the mouthful of food I had in my mouth. I hadn't even finished ¼ of my plate yet, but I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. After all, while uninvited, she is still technically our guest.
"I just wanted to know how you guys are doing." she started out. "Are you getting enough food, enough water? Is this cave really a good place for you to live?"
I felt like she was talking more to Astra and Ana, so after asking the question, I stopped paying attention to her. I also didn't want to talk to her for an extended period of time because I really don't know much about her. We have only met once before, and had spent a small amount of time together. They on the other hand are family bonded by blood. They should have a lot they want to talk about. As such, I continued eating my food while intermintally listening to the chatter they were having. In the beginning, they were talking about the life we had lived in the cave. It seemed like she was a really caring mother, as she was concerned with her kid's lifestyle. Once they were done talking about that, they moved on to reminiscing on the past. I listened more intently for this part, because I wanted to know more about their past. Although we had a general understanding about each other's past, there wasn't anything in depth. Now that I had the chance, I was definitely going to treasure it.
As it turned out, the stuff they talked about were mostly things that they had already shared with me. I wasn't too disappointed in that though, as I could get a different perspective on it thanks to their mother, the queen. It was interesting to see her view on their past, even if the events were the same as I was told. By the time they finished reminiscing, I had also finished eating the remainder of my food. I wanted to try getting up, but when I tried, my mana grew chaotic. I guess I would be bedridden for a while again. It seems like every time I fight the king, I am instantly bedridden after the fight.
While I was thinking of that, another thought suddenly occurred to me. According to the king and queen, my mana has been growing in quality and quantity ever since I have come to the Forest of Calamity. Because of this, my body is growing to house the changes of my mana. I am not exactly sure what this entails, but thinking about it logically, my body would be growing in a positive way. This might just mean that my daily training and exercises were all useless. After all, my body would be naturally growing to adapt to the greater level of mana. All this time, I thought my increase in strength was because of my training, but it may instead just be because of my increasing mana. I honestly hope that this is not the case, as it would mean that I was just putting in useless effort.
No I can't think of it in that way. First of all, there is no guarantee that a stronger body is one that is capable of housing a mana of better quantity or quality. The growth of my body could just be referring to something else. Also, even if it did increase my strength, I'm sure the daily training I did helped speed up the process. And even if they didn't help me increase my strength, they should have at least helped me warmup and refresh my skills. All in all, what I am trying to say is that this is something that isn't useless. However, I should make sure what exactly is improving. When I looked over, I could see that they were still talking. It seemed like the conversation topic had moved onto me.
"Sorry to interrupt," I began, continuing once their eyes were on me. "I just wanted to know what changes I would go through while my body adjusts to the new mana quantity and quality."
"Oh, that, it's nothing bad if that is what you are worried about," the queen states in response to my question.
"I could kind of guess that it would be beneficial to me," I said awkwardly, "but I kind of wanted to know the specific changes that would happen."
"Oh, the specific changes," the queen exclaimed in acknowledgment. "We don't really have humans coming in, so we only have information related to demonic beasts. For demonic beasts, they would get stronger, and tougher. If lucky, they will also be able to use mana to instantly cast spells, but that is a rarity. For you, you'll probably just get stronger."
"Okay, I am grateful for an increase in strength," I say happily. Although, thinking about it now, I may be extremely strong. After all, right now, I am able to kill demonic beasts in the beastmen zone with one strike. I am also able to hold myself, although not well, against the king, who is at the moment, the strongest within the Forest of Calamity. Maybe this increase in strength is not a good thing.
Wait no, this is not a good thing. I shouldn't be overconfident. After all, while I can one hit demonic beasts within the beastmen zone, I am only able to do so with a sneak attack. I doubt I could fight them in a fair one versus one. Also, while I am fighting the king, he definitely is fighting me, or at least not seriously. He is only testing me, and not my fighting skills. He is testing my mana drain capabilities. I am definitely not that strong. I don't even have a proper fighting technique. I only know the basics of the sword, which was taught to me like 20 years ago. While I have been fighting with my spell sword, I wasn't practicing any techniques, and just getting through using my and my spells strength. Thinking about it this way, I have a long way to go before I truly get strong, and the first step of that is improving my sword skills. I should just practice the basics that were taught to me. After I have mastered the basics, I should try to create my own style. After all, I would have no one to teach me within the Forest of Calamity.
With that, I had decided my future plans, but I wouldn't be able to do anything with them for now. Right now, the most important thing I have to do is calm my chaotic mana which will just take time. Only after I have fully recovered will I be able to fully focus my efforts on training. There are also the problems that we have with Diego, which won't go away until the succession ceremony is over. I should spend the time I have growing stronger. Only with strength will I be able to protect the family I have gained for myself. If I want to get stronger, then I must not waste a second of the time I have. I should also train while I am recovering. I shouldn't move my body, as that would just be a detriment. However, I should be able to train my multitasking skill, and the use of the mana links. Once I am able to do 9 tasks concurrently, would I truly be able to unleash the power of my strongest spell. The mana links would also be a big help in lowering the mana cost, and keeping my family safe.
Since I have decided what to do, I immediately set out to do it. While the king and queen are still within the cave, I have no way to entertain them. Besides, I think they will be more entertained talking to Astra and Ana than to me. I decided to train my multitasking skill while simultaneously training my multitasking skill. To do this, I first drained 50% of my mana with a variety of spells.
"O spell of wind, flow around my body to hide myself." Once I drained 50% of my mana, I cast my hiding spell. This way, I wouldn't bother the others within the cave, and I would be able to offset my mana's natural regeneration. Of course, I made it so that the hiding spell wouldn't completely offset my natural regeneration. In other words, I would slowly recover my mana even with the hiding spell active. I did this so I could train my mana links. With that, I had used 3 of the 5 tasks I could use. One of the tasks was keeping up the hiding spell. The other was using fire based spells. The final one was put to use casting water based spells. So I was mainly casting my fire and water arrows. Of course, I wasn't always casting, since my mana regeneration couldn't keep up with the use of 3 spells. I would just make it up with other things.
The rest of my mind was used to finish up the things on my list. I had already completed a majority of my list, and the only things left require much thought to be solved. As such, they would take a long time, and I didn't expect them to be completed any time soon. There are only 3 things left on the to-do list at the moment, which are increasing my mental training efficiency, analyzing the patterns on magic circles, and figuring out how to make magic spells, chantless. I used the rest of my mind to think of answers to these 3 questions. While this may seem like I was doing 6 tasks at once, I wasn't really doing so. After all, I would need to occasionally stop my magic in order to let it naturally regenerate. So, it was more like I was doing 5 tasks at once, but it was pushing my limits.
I didn't even notice the time passing by, as I just laid in my bed, practicing. At some point, Aastra and Ana came into my room. Once they came into my room, I immediately stopped my training. Ana was carrying the food towards me. I don't know why, since it should have been Astra's turn to cook today. Yesterday was the day that Ana cooked after all.
"Why is Ana bringing the food?" I decided to ask the question, but they seemed confused by it. As such, I clarified my thoughts. "Ana's turn to cook was yesterday, so today should be Astra's turn."
After I clarified, Astra said, "Since the king and queen had come, we decided to give them our best. Obviously that means that Ana will cook. Of course, we will have to cook twice to fix the schedule."
"Okay, that makes sense," I replied, not thinking too much into that answer. After all, it means that I would be able to eat Ana's cooking again. Although it would definitely suck that I won't be able to eat it for 4 days. While I was thinking of this, the food was placed before me.
However before I began to eat, I asked, "So are the king and queen still here?"
Once I asked that question, I began to eat my food as I waited for an answer. I didn't have to wait long though, as my question was promptly answered by Ana.
"You don't need to worry about them," she said. "They left after they ate lunch."
I nodded my head in understanding as I continued to eat my meal. It was great food, no less than I would expect from Ana. I finished it pretty quickly, a testament to the chef's great skills. I'm not sure, but I think this was the best meal she had created yet.
Once I finished my meal, I asked, "So how are we going to hunt?"
"We shouldn't need to hunt for a while," Astra said. "We should be fine with the food we have stockpiled. If not, then we will just have to hunt while winter is ongoing. I doubt Diego and crew will attack us in the winter."
"Okay, if you both think that is the best option, then I won't fight you on it," I said. "After all, I'll be relying on you until I can move my body. I hope I can move soon though."
"Don't worry, we'll take care of you really well," Ana says in a mischievous tone.
"Okay, I'm relieved by that," I say. "Don't worry about me too much though. I'll just be training my mind while I have all this free time."
"We'll leave you to train your mind then," Ana cheerfully says, as she takes the dishes out of the room. Astra leaves a little bit after Ana.
When Astra left the room, I continued training. I did a similar set-up to last time. However, I tried a little thought that I had that might increase my training efficiency. Unfortunately for me, the idea didn't really bear fruit and instead hurt my training efficiency. Because of that, I just continued what I had been doing. Of course, I would stop whenever I had an interesting idea that might help increase my efficiency. However, in the end, none of the ideas had helped in any significant ways.
I did get a lot of ideas for the magic circles and chantless casting, but I didn't act on them. After all, they would take up a large portion of my time. I would also need to move to see the effects that these ideas had, so I would rather just store the ideas in my head and try them out at a later time.
Soon enough, Astra and Ana came into my room, with food in her arms. This time, everyone had food. It seems like we were going to eat within my room today. I didn't have anything against it. However, my room didn't have any tables and chairs to seat all of us.
"Sorry I don't have anywhere for you guys to sit," I say apologetically once I realized their intentions.
"You don't need to worry about that," Ana said. "We will be fine sitting on the floor. All that matters is that we are all together."
"As long as the both of you are happy then." I said before digging into my food. Astra and Ana also began to dig into their food after seeing me eat. We all ate in silence. It wouldn't have been any different if they had eaten here or in the dining room. In fact it would be more comfortable for them to eat within the dining room. However, I am glad that they ate within my room.
Once I had finished, I mumbled, "thank you."
I didn't expect for anyone to hear my mumble, but apparently Astra did as she asked, "what was that?"
"Thank you," I repeated what I said, but not in a mumble.
"Your welcome," Ana and Astra said in unison.
"I just hope you do the same for us," Ana said afterwards.
"We'll do this anytime," Astra said at the same time.
"Don't worry I will," I said to Ana, before saying to Astra, "I'd be glad if you did."
After I said those words, Astra and Ana left the room. Of course they took the dishes with them when they left. I would have to trouble them once again, just like last time. I hate the king, due to how I am always bedridden after his visits, but I am glad to see how I am improving. Hopefully, this time, I won't have to take a week to recover. It shouldn't really take that long. After all, my body just needs to adapt, and to do that I just need to get stronger. I feel like my daily training will help me, so when I can move, my rate of recovery will get higher. Until then, I will just continue with my multitasking training, and the use of multiple elements through the mana links. With that decided, I continued to train my multitasking skill, before falling asleep.
I woke up the next day, and immediately tried to move. It still hurt a lot, but if I pushed through it, I could move. Of course, doing that wouldn't be too helpful, and instead would hurt my recovery, so I would just lay in bed. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will be well enough to exercise, which should then help my recovery substantially. But until then, I will just continue my mental training, as that would help me with my use of magic. However, before I could do that, Astra and Ana came into the room. Astra was holding two plates full of food this time. Ana was also holding a plate of food when she came in.
"So we all are eating in my room?" I asked despite already knowing the answer.
"Yes," Astra immediately said. "This way we can talk after we eat."
"Besides, eating together makes the food taste better," Ana added cheerfully.
"Okay," I replied before receiving the food. Once I received the food, I then began to eat the food that was given to me. Soon enough, we had all finished eating. The dishes were gathered and placed to the side of the room before we began to talk.
"So what are we going to talk about then?" I asked since I had no idea. After all, I would just be stuck in bed, so the plans they have don't really have any connection to me.
"I just thought that you would like to know our plans for the day," Ana said sadly.
"Okay, what are your plans for the day?" I ask though not expecting much. I'm pretty sure they won't be hunting, as they said that we have enough food stockpiled, but I don't know what else they will do.
"We are going to create spells," Astra enthusiastically said before Ana could answer my question. "This way we can help out more in fights."
"Okay, if that is what you want to do," I said calmly.
"Shouldn't you be more excited?" Ana asks worridenly to my calm response.
"You guys are just going to be making spells," I replied. "I most definitely won't be able to use them, as they will be chantless. Also, I have my own variety of spells, so it isn't really that impactful. Of course the help in fights is much appreciated."
"I'm sad there wasn't more of a reaction, but that is what we will be doing," Ana said.
"Okay, and I'll just be here doing the same as yesterday," I replied.
With that, Astra and Ana left my room. Of course, they took the dirty dishes away with them. With them gone, I began my training, using the same methods as before. Astra and Ana would come in sometimes to ask for help. I would try to help answer their questions to the best of my abilities. I couldn't really help them though, because I couldn't really understand their questions. They also came to eat lunch. After lunch, they didn't really come to ask any questions. Dinner soon came, and we once again ate in my room. After dinner, I went straight to bed, as I didn't feel like training anymore today. Tomorrow, I should be able to move around, which will be much more fun than just lying in bed.