The couple kept moving, reaching the city one step at a time. The girl had to force every ounce of her energy to keep moving at Lucas' tempo, and he was enjoying her progress and his own training. He wasn't a sadist like Venion that would enjoy another's suffering, though he did get some form of happiness he chalked it up as joy from watching her grow. Every day she got a little better, which was an unexpected sight for Lucas. He was expecting her to constantly complain, but reality proved to be a treat. Though that couldn't last forever.
They were resting once more, Lucas had added another rune, making him a third complete, just 10 more and he would reach Rank 1. He started to read his books again to see if he could gain any insight into them, but his knowledge proved him wrong. His companion would normally fall asleep or start to close her eyes, but this time she tried to stay awake. She felt bad about Lucas always standing guard at night, even though she wanted to do it herself, she kept falling asleep.
"What are you reading?", yet Lucas was too invested in his book to answer. The sun was about to go down, and the temperature was starting to cool down. Still not receiving an answer, she decided to continue talking. It wasn't clear whether she was talking to him or herself.
"You know, back at my home, I used to read a lot of books since I wasn't allowed to do anything. I was a caged bird only allowed to do certain things and when I finally have contact with the outside world I'm getting chased and have to sleep in the wilderness. The outside world truly is a dangerous place, but there are also good things. Like meeting you!"
'Meeting us was a good thing?'
'No, meeting you was a good thing, if she met me, we would be alone and have that special ring.'
"So you're saying that the first time you go outside you got assaulted and lose your entourage, only to trust a random stranger with your life?"
Lucas wanted to check what her mentality was since he just couldn't understand it.
"Yes, that was a sad event, but it's in the past, when I get back home I get to read and eat delicious food again. Trusting you isn't hard, you look friendly."
"Hahahaha", Lucas didn't know what to say. Her demeanor was against most of his principles, planning was scrambled in her head. She was thinking about the food she gets to eat when she gets back home, but there was no assurance she would ever get there in the first place.
'How much can I push her?', Lucas was wondering how much information he could try to get out of her. "To answer your first question, I'm reading a book about meditation and meridians, but I don't know much about the latter. They aren't explained well, so I need to focus a bit more on the subject."
"Oh, you're reading about meridians? I know those, let me help you!"
"You know the pathways of meridians?", Lucas wasn't surprised by a lot, but this actually made him question a lot of things. 'Why does she know something so magically complex as meridians, but doesn't have any aura of a strong mage? Even the book on magical principles doesn't mention them, so how does she know something above the basics?'
"Of course, I was taught about meridians from a young age!", she started to smile, knowing she could finally help her helper out. "Are you a mage?", with that question, Lucas opened a can of strange worms. She started to look around at first, before showing a slightly sad look before fixing her eyes on him again. 'She really needs to learn to hide her emotions. That was terribly obvious.'
"I'm not a mage, I always wanted to be one, but my core hasn't awakened, making me useless in the field of magical combat.", she looked up at the sky. The sun was gone, replacing the orangy-red sky with a darker sky filled with a plethora of stars.
"I was trained to become a mage of a high rank, but I never got the chance to even start my journey."
'Aren't you someone of high standing? Should we force it?'
'Sure, go ahead, take that risk, and if she runs away we can finally gain some decent items from her corpse.'
"Are you telling me that a princess couldn't have just absorbed a bunch of magic from surrounding mages or something? Couldn't you have forced it?"
"We tried to do that, but my personal doctor said that after a few failed attempts, my core was going to break, destroying my body with it. So fate was against me?", her sadness started to show. Her arms drooped and she was looking at the ground. "Still, I have other talents, I could become a teacher…or something?", she tried to become optimistic again, but the prospect of becoming a mage was too attractive for her.
The fact that she gave away her position went completely over her head as she was stuck in her past, looking back at her unfortunate life.
'So yes, it was a princess, as we thought. That makes the possibility of an assassination attempt a lot higher.'
'Great.'
'Guess I could look at her core, not that I could do much, still…'
"But yeah, I could teach you about meridians if you want to!", her usual childlike demeanor returned and her happiness was shining bright again, but to Lucas that now seemed like a front for her negative emotions. Lucas knew he wouldn't have to try to haggle or give something in return, she wasn't such a person. He never wanted to be like her but had to appreciate how much better the world would be if everyone had such a person inside of them.
"Then please go ahead.", Lucas showed the book and the meridians he was looking for, and after she had understood which ones he was searching for it didn't take long before she explained. "Meridians are a concept invented a long time ago, they are extra pathways where the magicules can flow, making certain spells become more powerful or weaker depending on the pathway. This one is for fire intensification, so the meridians you would need are this, this, and that one.", she said while pointing at certain points of his body. "Try to let the magicules flow through the points I showed, and then redirect them back to the normal pathways."
"Why do you know so much about magic despite not being a mage?", Lucas kept being bewildered by her knowledge of the magical field.
"Didn't you listen, I was meant to become at least a Rank 4 mage, so I know all the theory, it's as simple as that.", something awoke in Lucas.
'Doesn't that mean she would also know the secrets to the entrance to Rank 1?'
'Please tell me you'll listen to me now? We can easily force it from her so please give me control for a moment, I can promise that the results will be satisfying.'
Lucas followed her instructions to let the energy flow through certain points, he messed up in the beginning, cauterizing certain parts of his arm and shoulder.
After a few attempts and more instructions from the girl, did he find the correct pathway. It was something that was always there, but he couldn't see. The pathways always existed, their location was the only problem. It was possible to find them through trial and error, but that could cause your liver to explode in flames or turn your lungs into stone, so it did come at a risk.
Letting the magicules flow through his meridians he found that it was actually a loop, he could keep the magicules active and moving as long as he focussed on it. After a few loops, the princess encouraged to bring the magicules back to his normal pathways.
Using the runes to create a normal fireball, he was expecting the flame to be a bit warmer or a change in size.
"I̴̮̳̙̓g̴̺̲̻̃n̷̹̞̫̒͊́̂̇ỉ̸̡̜̥̹ "
The magic flowed to his hands, increasing in heat the closer it got to his palm. 'Why is it already getting hotter?'
The flame burst out with a crackling explosion. The flame looked like it was going crazy, the normal size was left behind, replaced with a burning sphere of crackling energy. Lucas couldn't control it at all, his hand was already a black scorched appendage. The fire kept building up and slowly taking over his hand, the pain was immense, but it proved the power of the flame.
"Shoot it!"
The princess screamed it out as she was starting to get afraid of the explosive potential.
The crackling from the fireball was destructive to its vicinity, including the weak princess. Lucas quickly shot it at the nearby tree, only to see the entire tree explode in a ball of fire.
BOOM
The crackling flame was big enough to catch a few more trees on fire, creating a beautiful bonfire. Even Lucas was stopped in his tracks but quickly used water magic to put out the fire, as it would give away their location. The princess was baffled, she knew about the magic principle of intensification, but such an increase in lethality wasn't mentioned.
"How many times did you circulate it in your meridians?", she looked at him with her eyes wide open and mouth agape.
"About twenty to twenty-five times, why?"
"That's way too much dummy!", even in her anger, she was adorable and childlike.