Chapter 23 - Make You Eat Your Words

"Boy, you are in for a world of trouble!" Tom laughed, and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Don't call me boy; I am a spring chicken! Or I will start calling you son!" I warned, and then both he and I started to laugh.

The girls practically carried me out as Tom and I laughed, but I was surprised by what I saw when I got outside.

"Top of the morning to you!" A man I had never met but had seen in the bar said to me with a big smile.

The little town's streets were filled with people strolling around, looking like they were living their best life.

"Good lord! How many people in this town drink?!" I asked in shock, and the girls laughed at me.

"Pretty much everyone in town drinks, but just wait for tonight and tomorrow! These are our busiest nights!" Annie explained, and I sighed.

"Well, I wonder if there is any way I can get some in the meantime?" I asked.

"Dad has a wagon, so I guess you could go get some from the town over, Melsbrook. After you do some training with us!" Annie said, and I nodded, brainstorming in the back of my head.

"Good, then let's head out of town, and we will get started. I already know what I am going to have you both doing," I explained, and we turned north.

If I could get the girls to do training, I could go trad some of the Potions of Restorative Blessings. That would be killing two birds with one stone, literally.

The Potion of Restorative Blessings was lethal to Demons of all kinds, and that stupid witch of a Jessel told me who she sent. This would be increasingly effective against him since it would also remove his control and make the host aware of what had happened.

Even if Tagovia didn't drink it, his days would be numbered. He was strong, but he had almost no magical resistance other than against his mind being dominated.

The three of us reached the edge of town, and the girls finally separated from me. I did enjoy the attention, but I was almost sweating at this point; the girls were like wearing an extra layer of clothing.

Very soft and cute clothing, I might add.

"All right, I am going to get Tracy set up first because I can't really help her that much. Annie, I want you to go find a strong branch from a good sapling about the length of a short sword," I explained, and Annie gave me a funny look but then ran off.

"What am I going to be doing?" Tracy asked as I turned back to her, and I sighed.

"You probably are going to think this is boring, but it has to be done," I explained, but Tracy smiled at me.

"I have always loved magic but had never been able to do it properly. I really don't think anything can be that boring when it comes to magic," Tracy laughed.

"I promise that I will make you eat those words by the end of the day! Today, and for the next three days, you are going to cast Aqu. You are going to cast this spell until you nearly collapse. You're job while casting is to get used to that amount of Mana and how the spell looks and works. Now, raise your palm towards one of the trees over there, and say, Aqu," I instructed.

"I can do this!" Tracy said, and then she shouted, "Aqu!"

A single circle appeared at her feet, and it started to rotate before locking into place. Once it did, a water bubble shot from Tracy's hand, but it never reached the tree as predicted.

This was the lowest of spells and the only one discussed in common books about the Old Blood Magic. This was the perfect starter spell to allow an Old Blood caster to gain some form of control over their spells.

It still would not decrease the power of a spell, but it would help Tracy direct the power better and change the way some spells would work. It was going to take a lot of work on her part, but Tracy was already on her fifth cast.

"Found it!" Annie called, running back over to me with a perfect-sized branch.

"Perfect, bring it over to the dirt here," I said as I left Tracy to her training, walking over to a softer-looking patch of dirt.

I had run into a few problems with losing weapons or having a break during fights in my past life, so I had to fix that. The solution was to learn some alchemy, which was something everyone could do.

I drew a ring for a circle and then carefully marked out the proper Runes around to create a sword.

"You know how to do Alchemy?! That is a lost art!" Annie exclaimed as she stood over me, holding the branch.

"Yes, I only know how to do a couple things. It was probably squashed out because people used human sacrifices to create objects of great power. People just don't know how to use things properly," I said with a sigh as I finished the second last Rune, then turned to Annie, asking, "Can I get a drop of your blood on that branch?"

"My blood?" Annie asked.

"Equivalent exchange requires trade of one thing to make another of the same equivocal value, but blood from a living human can alter that. That is why it is not practiced, I assume, since people would bleed prisoners so they could have an unlimited supply for trade, but that is never enough for most," I explained, and Annie nodded, pulling out her knife and pricking her thumb.

A tiny droplet formed, and Annie pressed her thumb into a leaf, smearing it. After that, she handed me the branch and then stepped back.

"Lastly, never try this. Alchemy is the art of using a type of magic for free, but if you don't have a proper exchange, Alchemy will take your soul and trap it inside of whatever you are trying to create," I explained, and Annie stepped back further.