"Toba… What is that?"
Standing in front of me ready to attack, Toba was holding a wood club over his shoulder with one hand. The only problem was… The club was bigger than him.
What the hell? Is he going to start rolling all over the place while drinking estus flasks too?
"Luna said Toba is strong, needed bigger weapon." He said in a smooth and composed manner. Toba's speech had improved a lot this past 2 years.
"This… Luna are you trying to get me killed?"
"Hey, aren't you the one always pushing him to eat mountains of rice and do all those exercises with tree trunks? Now you deal with these muscles you had him build." She had an amused expression as she laughed at my expense.
"So, this is what you've been training in secret while I learned magic… Don't think you'll win this just because you have a bigger weapon now."
Toba was undoubtedly a lot stronger. Ever since we started our special regime with Luna 2 years ago, she wouldn't let me see his training after our morning fights with her.
Still, I weightlifted with him every day, so I knew how strong he was getting. I assumed he would switch a mace or a greatsword eventually, but that club… That club was just too big.
His size also increased considerably, we were now biologically 10 years old, and our muscles were way more apparent.
We weren't hitting any walls on our bodybuilding endeavor, it seemed this world's bodies really had no need for steroids, because a kid back on earth wouldn't get jacked like us naturally.
I miss the needles though… Maybe I should find an acupuncture place to scratch that itch.
But strength aside, he wasn't the only one with new cards up his sleeve. And since I had to save my spells for training and couldn't use them in our spars with Luna, he didn't have a clue about them.
"Start."
If he was going to rely on strength, I had to beat him with speed.
As soon as Luna gave the signal, I rushed towards him with my trusty gladius in hand. According to Luna, that blade was especially well made and had great potential, so we made some interesting modifications to it.
Toba reacted to my advance with a step forward and a horizontal swing. The club was bigger than him, so its range was deceptive, if I didn't pay enough attention I would get hit by the tip and it wouldn't be pleasant at all.
I slipped past his blow with a slide, since a jump would leave me defenseless, and a block would be suicide.
Just as I imagined, the weight and length of his weapon threw him off balance, and after his blow hit the ground making chunks of dirt fly everywhere, his stance wavered, and he staggered forward a little.
That's my chan- SHIT!
Just as I thought I had him, he used the momentum of his blow to spin his body around and kick me.
I managed to guard with my hand behind my blade, so it wouldn't bear the full strength of his blow, and the force made me roll backwards into my initial stance.
"Back to square one, huh?" I said while we met glances. One gaze was provocative and amused, and the other serious and focused.
This time it was him who moved first. He was surprisingly nimble with that club on his shoulder, but I was faster.
From his over-the-shoulder stance he quickly landed a vertical strike that shook the ground slightly, and after my quick backstep to avoid the blow, he advanced and thrusted with the tip that was still partially buried after his initial attack.
Dirt flew everywhere as I turned my body sideways to avoid it, but as soon as I did, he again stepped forward, this time kicking his own club in its midsection to send it towards me as he held on to the handle with only one hand.
It was a clever and unexpected blow, but I knew he was going to play some kind of trick on me, since his first two attacks were way too simple.
I also had a trick of my own.
"[Repel!]" I chanted after slightly touching the convex guard of my gladius, where an intricate magic circle shined in an amber light.
As the middle and index fingers of my left-hand were almost touching the shaft of the Greatclub, a golden light flashed, and I was surrounded by a barrier.
The force behind his blow was repelled back to him. It wasn't enough to cause damage, but it was nothing to scoff at either.
The awkward stance he had put himself in, as well as the fact that he was holding his weapon with only one hand, resulted in him losing the grip on the club as he was sent flying along with it.
I wasn't done, however.
My right-hand's fingers again crept along the guard of my weapon, but this time on the opposite side, touching a red magic circle that shone ominously.
"[Ignis!]"
A fist sized firebolt I was very familiar with at this point exploded out of my fingertip, flying straight towards him.
His eyes widened as he watched the spell getting closer. Well, one of them did anyway.
Luna nimbly touched a brown magic circle in her tome, she was going to cast a spell called Rubble sphere to protect him from the explosion of fire, signaling the end of the fight.
"Phew… That sure wasn't easy." I said as I sheathed my blade and looked away from the smoke and fire curtain my spell had made.
I was light on my feet due to the consumption of all my mana, so it took me a second to notice that Luna wasn't saying anything and was instead looking straight at me with a poker face.
That second was fatal, and as I finally turned to look in front of me, I saw a tan half wolf with his clothes burnt and tattered and his white ample hair charred charging straight towards me on all fours.
What? Isn't the fight supposed to be over if Luna has to step in and help?
I didn't have time to unsheathe my sword, and so I raised my arms in an attempt to block his blows, but he wasn't planning on striking.
He kept his stance low and went for a takedown. I tried to move my still dizzy body and dodge him, but he managed to grab me by the legs and take me to the ground.
"OK, OK! I YIELD!" I said while tapping his shoulder, and he finally released his choke hold.
Damnit! This bastard dared to use BJJ on ME? I'll lose my pride as a Brazilian if I allow this to go unpunished.
If I had not run out of mana, or at least had not relaxed, I wouldn't allow this outcome. There was another issue in my mind, however.
"Hey Luna! Isn't the fight over if you help either side?" I said with a look of disbelief on my face.
"I was going to help him… But I ended up not needing to."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
She didn't respond, and instead just looked at the place where my minor firebolt landed.
I was still angry, but I followed her gaze, and when my eyes finally arrived, there it was, in all its glory: A half exploded greatclub, burning like a giant match.
"You bastard! You managed to block it!" I said while looking at Toba in shock, and he responded with a smile that could scare a thousand children.
I grabbed the hand he had extended to me and stood up with his help.
He had really done it, I didn't for one moment think I would lose, especially after all my training, but my carelessness along with Toba's determination and skill got the better of me.
I finished standing up and looked him straight in the eye with a stern look. But I couldn't keep my facade up for long.
"Great Job, Toba!"
"Brother fought well too."
Just like that, our first battle was over, and the victor was my brother. Warriors 1, Spellblades 0.
…
After my loss, Luna decided we should take this day off to rest a little. After all we were training almost nonstop for 2 years.
Fighting Luna and improving our battle coordination, lifting weights, learning all about magic, monsters, and dungeons, practicing sword and dagger techniques, and even learning how to sneak upon enemies and target weak points.
It was no exaggeration to say that I was being trained as a mage, a fighter, and an assassin all at the same time.
Toba wasn't slacking off either. Although Luna preferred to focus his training entirely on the warrior path, that didn't mean he was behind me at all, as was proven by our duel.
He even managed to overcome his fear and eventually leave the barrier, and although it led to an interesting story, he did get over his trauma. We even hunted some beasts together, but we weren't able to find another rare boar like the one Luna killed that time.
As if there wasn't enough confirmation already, these past years showed us that Luna was elite, which meant we were receiving elite training, and the results were definitely showing.
She was also mysterious and wouldn't talk about her past, not to mention her weekly outings into the forest which never stopped, but I was keeping secrets from her too, so I didn't bother her too much.
"Cona, Toba, come look!" Luna shouted excitedly from behind the tower.
"She must be done with it, let's go check it out."
Toba nodded in approval, and we got up from our resting spot.
For the past few weeks, Luna had decided that the boar hide we got from that special beast was sitting idle for far too long, so she decided to make something for us with it.
"Hoo… When oneechan said she was good at working leather, I didn't put that much faith into it, but this looks great!"
"Hey! I wouldn't brag about it if I couldn't do it!" She pouted as she held a slightly orange fur cloak with metal fittings.
"Well, you also said you could build us a shack to sleep in…"
"Hey, do you want me to go sell this in town right now? I could use some new shoes." Her face seemed void of all emotion as she threatened to sell our newly made fire-boar cloak.
"Sorry, sorry! I won't bring it up again!"
Luna had tried in the past to improve our housing conditions after I brought up the idea, but suffice it to say, it didn't go so well.
"Anyway, there was only enough hide for one cloak, so you two need to share it. It needs to be appraised but it probably has good fire resistance."
"Warm…" Toba said in a low voice as he touched the fur of our new equipment.
"You wear it for now, Toba. You won the duel so it's only fair."
"…"
Toba slowly put on the boar hide and looked at me in anticipation in an uncharacteristically cute and innocent manner. It was a little big for him, and almost touched the ground, but he would soon grow up and fill it in, especially since I was his bodybuilding coach.
Ok, I must admit, there are moments where he doesn't look so hideous. I'm proud of you brother, you deserve this.
I slapped his shoulder as I said proudly:
"It suits you brother, now let's- "Before I could say any more, his head was swallowed by Luna's breasts like a defenseless ant sinking into a sandpit.
"SO CUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!" I could hear his bones creaking as Luna squeezed him tight like she was trying to kill the poor guy. For once I wasn't jealous, if not for the fact that he gained a nice tan these last years, he would be as red as a tomato.
It was like a chokehold, but the pressure was applied in the whole body and the suffocation was induced by something else.
F… I won't forget you, homie.
…
Toba was still regaining his breath after being attacked with the force of a boa constrictor, and Luna left to Alport to fetch something along with the rice and other monthly supplies. She had a naughty smile before leaving, and the only thing she said was "It should also be ready by now."
Whatever it was, we had to wait to see it.
This rare opportunity of having nothing to do made me reminisce about all I had done since getting reincarnated.
Also, now that I think about it, who brought me here? Well, no god-like entity manifested itself yet, and I didn't receive any special boon or ability, so while I'm in doubt: 'Thanks Jesus, you did me a solid one. A loving mother would have been better but now I have Luna so it's ok.'
More or less 5 years and 6 months had passed since I got here. I tried my best at counting it using Earth's calendar, but I was 100% sure made a mistake somewhere along the way, so it wasn't that accurate.
Some months passed like weeks for me, especially my early days in the cave living with the wolves. Well, at least they felt that way now, but it could be that my memory is weird because I was still a baby back then.
I still remember finding this tower and thinking to myself it was completely fine to live alone with Toba like that. If that had come to pass, we would just become two absurdly large bestial bodybuilders with not even the capacity to speak. That's how legends like the Yeti are born, except Toba would be much scarier than a Yeti.
When I think about it like that, Luna was truly a Godsend for us. Sure, I had my merits too, like being able to hunt from a very early age and managing to keep a balanced enough diet so that I wouldn't be malnourished.
My bodybuilder stomach also helped me a lot in enduring things that would make ordinary people starve themselves to death in disgust. The smell of wolf udders will never leave my mind.
That was all because I had kept my past life's memories though. If I was truly just born as a regular baby, I'm not sure what would've become of us.
I also managed to keep a clear head and find joy in life again.
If there were any steroids here… I'd take them again for sure of course. But I'd keep the neurotoxic ones on short cycles.
"Hey Toba."
"…?" He turned his head to look at me, still breathing a little heavy.
Are you sure you didn't break any ribs from that hug?
"What can you remember about our early days, before getting here."
He paused for a long time as he looked at the sky before answering. He didn't know any language back then, so his memory must be limited.
"… Before tower, Toba cannot remember a lot. Remember taste of fruit and rabbit at night, and training. Also remember ridding wolf kin into forest following brother… And tiger attack."
Wolf kin, huh?
I hadn't placed much thought on it, but Toba is a beast hybrid, and he looks like a wolf too. He was also being raised by those wolves before I got there, so he was abandoned a little sooner.
In conclusion, Toba probably had more emotional attachment to the wolf pack than I did.
"You know, we're almost strong enough to travel back to the cave by ourselves. When we complete our training, let's go back there and take some of the wolves with us as pe- I mean, as hunting partners."
Toba almost jumped to his feet when I said that. He started looking at me like he saw a ghost and had a look of disbelief I've never seen on his face before.
"Toba are you ok? What's wrong?"
Did I say something I shouldn't? I did almost call them pets but stopped before completing the sentence. He's not quick enough to pick up on that though.
To my surprise, his eyes started to get moist, and his face contorted in a hideous way, almost as if trying to compensate his borderline cute behavior with Luna earlier.
"Sniff… Toba will get strong… And see wolf family again." He said while trying to hold back his tears.
I gave him a hug with one arm over his shoulder, I was still not sure how much he remembered, but it was certain now that he held strong feelings for those early days.
"We both will, let's do our best."
Surviving alone in the forest wasn't as easy as it sounded. One wrong move and our necks would be ripped off by tigers or worse, not to mention that I couldn't rely on spells since the trip was long and we had no mounts, so I would simply run out of mana on the way.
Of course, we could easily get there with Luna, but we would have to explain our past to her, and I also didn't want her babysitting me forever. This was our journey to take.
While we waited for Luna to get back, I went upstairs to check out some spellbooks.
It was Luna who decided the last 4 spells I learned. Them being minor repel, minor fire repel, minor water repel, and minor earth repel. Basically, all 4 repel spells in the minor category.
Minor firebolt, however, was chosen by my own initiative, and since I would probably be able to learn a new spell soon, I had been looking through the tomes in my free time trying to choose one.
Also, since I was able to cast two minor spells already, I should be able to learn a regular one now.
I had already looked through a ton of wished spells and natural spells. I hadn't found any law spells, and the wished spells didn't really seem to have something that stood out as unique to them, so I just categorized them as "unnatural".
There were quite a few that caught my mind, but minor web, minor ice spike, and fog cloud seemed like the most useful ones. Those were all minor spells though… What I needed was a powerful trump card.
The issue was, the most appealing regular ones were all offensive natural spells, and they all seemed a little too destructive to be used reliably in a pinch, at least for now.
That's why my eyes shone when I spotted an ominous looking book bound in black leather with silver fittings. It was my first time seeing it, so it must have been hidden well. The cover said simply "Dark arts", and there were no illustrations to be found.
Luna must have been copying it since there were writing materials on the table. What most caught my attention, however, was a large pearl with engravings partially done on it.
What is this, some kind of magic item?
I left it aside for now and started flipping through the pages, so I could at least see the names of the spells.
"Shadow web spell, Dark blade spell, Hide presence minor spell, Umbral steps spell, Feather foot minor spell, Spider aspect spell, Shadow hop major spell, Darkness spell."
Just "Darkness"? No edgy adjective?
There were more spells in the tome, but the pages were written in a code I couldn't understand. Not that I tried to, either.
The ones that most caught my attention were the Dark blade spell, and the Darkness spell. The others seemed nice too, but too situational.
Dark blade was a spell that weaved together shadows to create an ethereal weapon that could partially pass-through armor and physical barriers.
The only problem was that it got considerably weaker in sunlight, and although I did live a considerable amount of my life as a nocturnal creature, I wasn't exactly too fond of the experience.
Darkness was a spell that created a vast cloud of magical darkness that couldn't be swept off by wind or fire type spells. It was basically a vastly improved version of fog cloud, and apparently almost nothing could see inside of it, at least no humanoid races, according to the book.
The only problem was it required a material component, specifically, a pearl where the extremely complex magic circle needed to be engraved all over it. I also had to spin it in my finger or something as part of the set of movements involved, but I was a yoyo master and a butterfly knife enthusiast in my youth so I'm sure I would learn it easily.
Well, I said easily, but during a fight everything gets more complicated, balancing a small object in my finger would be tricky during a confrontation, even more so since I intended to use this spell as a means of escape.
My idea was, if I were ever in an unescapable pinch, the spell would cover enough space that I could easily run away from my enemies while they lost track of me.
Animals with heightened senses of smell and hearing would still be a little tricky, but growing up in the forest my own senses were not so bad, and Luna's training on sneaking and ambushes would certainly help as well.
I would also be prepared for the lights to go out, so it would be far less disorienting for me than for my enemies. All I had to do was burn my surroundings in my mind (Something Luna also instructed us on) and plan an escape route while then using my ears and nose to avoid my confused foes.
All that sounded like the perfect trump card I needed… If it wasn't for the fact that I would need to perform a very awkward movement in a life-or-death situation.
Well, it won't hurt to practice it, right? If it's possible and it fits my needs, all I need to do is get over my laziness, I'm from Goiás, not Bahia.
Although I'm even more lazy than the average Baiano… Speaking of which, why haven't I built a hammock yet?
I had already made my decision; I would train in secret for this spell… Why in secret? Because I had no idea how to carve magic circles, I didn't even know how to draw them.
I depended entirely on Luna to finish carving this pearl… And if she said no when I asked her to teach me the spell and carve one for me, I wouldn't be able to do anything.
Normally I wouldn't even entertain that possibility, and for all she had done for me, even if she did refuse, I would accept it just fine. This spell though… It was way too perfect for me, not to mention it was cool as hell.
My plan was to learn all I could while the engraving was being made, and then train until I could reliably cast it.
After that I would nonchalantly ask her if she could teach me a spell from the book… And depending on her response, I would show her I could cast it already, and ask for another engraved pearl.
If things went well, she would even compliment me for my hard work, even though I technically deceived her.
Yeah, that's the only plan I can think of. It won't be easy, but I'm not willing to give up on this.
Having made my decision on which spell to learn next, I quickly copied its description and step by step in a scroll and took it with me. I also copied the Dark blade spell just in case.
Luna should take some time to arrive, but it would be better to practice away from the crime scene, so I left everything as it was and left.
This particular spell didn't involve many movements, just a really complex one. Basically, I had to spin the pearl at a high speed in my index finger, and while balancing it, activate the spell with the word of power "[Darkness]".
From then on, shadows were supposed to leak out from the spinning pearl, and while maintaining the spell I needed to force them out and spread them around me. How I would do that… I had no clue.
This book was written in a much cruder way in comparison to the standard tomes I used to learn Minor firebolt and Minor repel, and it was clearly relying on external knowledge from the reader to fill in the gaps.
In fact, if it wasn't for me having learned Minor repel, which required me to maintain control of the spell after activating it with the word of power, I wouldn't even guess I needed to do that with Darkness.
Still, I needed to start somewhere. It's true that I was sometimes quick to give up on things, but this plan had an air of mischief to it, and the reward was good too, so I was motivated.
…
Shortly after I stopped training, Luna returned with the usual supplies, as well as two large objects wrapped in cloth.
I had trained for a little more than 6 hours, with some pauses in between. All I did all day was basically try to spin the pearl on my finger and nothing else. I also found a roundish enough stone so I could practice even when Luna was around.
I didn't check on Toba the whole time, but he was mostly practicing with daggers, since his giant club was destroyed by me.
Luna usually took between 5 and 7 hours going to Alport and returning, so it shouldn't be that far. I never saw a horse or anything similar with her either, but I couldn't imagine why she would prefer to go on foot.
"Cona, Toba! You two need to see this!" She had a big smile on her face, whatever she was holding, it was a special surprise.
"What is it? Luna Nee-chan?"
I had no clue what all the variations of "Big sister" meant, but I used them all regardless.
"Hehehe. You two didn't think the cloak was all I could make from that boar, did you? Although for these I had to get some help." She said as she put down her comically oversized bag full of groceries and took out the two large sticks covered in cloth that were strapped on the side of it.
"… More gifts?" Toba glanced at the objects in confusion while Luna slowly unwrapped them, as if trying to increase our anticipation.
"I was actually going to sell the rest of the boar and buy normal ones for you two to train with… But I thought they would look cute in combination with the cloak."
Luna was staring at Toba with a scary smile as she finished unwrapping our new gifts.
You're treating him like a barbie doll Luna… I was raising him before you, so don't make him grow up weird.
The cloths fell to the ground revealing twin spears. The tip of each one was a red boar tusk with orange fur attached just below them, giving it a fancy look. The tusks were lightly straightened out, but not as far as to erase their curvature completely, and the shaft was made of a very pretty dark wood.
"Wooooah! Are these spears?"
"Sugoi ne?" Luna said proudly.
Ugh… I forgot she was learning Japanese… Makes me cringe every time.
It's fine when I do it though.
"My masters always said you can never go wrong with a spear, and that it paid to learn how to use different kinds of weapons to confuse the opponent or take advantage of different situations. So, since you two have been training with only swords, daggers, and in Toba's case, a greatclub, I decided it was time to introduce spears as well."
"These are so pretty… Did Luna have them made for us in town?"
"Well, let's just say I have my sources… These spears should also deal some amount of fire damage, but it's not so relevant unless what you're fighting has ice properties. I also asked for the tusks not to be straightened completely, so you two can learn to hook with them."
Luna sounded super serious as she explained it all, but her face betrayed her. She was completely fixated on Toba who now had matching gear, and she looked like she was going to pounce on him at any moment.
I regret letting him have that cloak now…
Still… She not only handcrafted equipment for us using her own catch, but she even had weapons specially made, and good quality at that.
I was starting to feel regret over my earlier decision, but a little mischief couldn't be that bad, right? It's not as if I was going to steal the pearl or anything like that, I just needed to use my effort to persuade her into making one for me too.
It couldn't be that hard to make, since it was my first time seeing it on her table, and it seemed to be mostly done already.
"Luna sensei, thank you for taking such good care of us."
Even if her training almost killed us several times these last years and made me unable to eat solid food for a week once, the truth was that the effort she made for us and the care she put into our training and education was simply hard to believe, and the results also spoke for themselves.
Watching her do all this for us without expecting anything in return, and even delaying her own activities and interests as a consequence, it was crazy to assume any reason for her actions other than love.
Me and Toba were now trained in such a way that a normal bandit like the one I faced wouldn't stand a chance. Maybe I could even take on that damn tiger by myself if I wanted.
I didn't know how regular adventurers would compare, but considering the fact that I had learned five minor spells before completing five years old (Even if four of them were mere variations of the same principle), I was sure we were way ahead of the curve.
Toba's strength is also acknowledged even by Luna… I might have created a monster with my personal trainer skills.
With a satisfied smile on her face, Luna brought us closer to her and caressed our cheeks with her soft hands.
"No need to thank me… Staying in this tower for so long would be pretty boring without you two, you know? I have a lot of work to do here, and it's also thanks to you two that I was even able to get into this treasure trove of spells and books." She completed her sentence with a carefree chuckle, but soon her face took a slightly more serious tone.
"Besides, it's nice being able to train promising talents like you two without any strings attached… Being able to live here together as family is an experience I never thought I would have."
Like she had done many times, Luna said cryptic words while having a distant gaze full of emotions. I was not attentive enough to try and piece together her past, and when I asked her directly, she just ran away from the subject.
Even so, I could tell she had her own baggage and a long story to tell. I was glad we were being of some use for her, even if it was only an emotional one.
After an interaction so sweet, it could compare to the average American's diet, Luna broke the comfortable silence.
"So, you two want to keep lazing around, or are you going to test these beauties already?"
"Let's go!"
"Hm!"
…
For the remainder of the day, we were taught spear fighting techniques from Luna.
The spears, just like the cloak, were made for us to grow into them, so they were a little too big at the moment.
With our strength, however, the size didn't hinder us too much.
Spear fighting was going to fill an important gap in our repertoire, and that was reach and swiftness. Currently, I could fight with daggers and swords, so I was not lacking when it came to quick and precise attacks, but I had to get close to be able to attack, and I wasn't well equipped to keep enemies at bay either, since my blows lacked power.
Toba could fight with daggers, swords, and a greatclub. That meant that in addition to what I could do, he could also easily keep a safe distance, since his greatclub had ferocious strength behind it, not to mention the reach of that thing.
The problem was that it was too slow. Even if the reach was good, it wasn't quick enough to pursue enemies, and so he also had trouble getting close to attack, as evidenced by our battle where I could easily weave in and out of his danger area.
The spear would suit both our needs, giving us a fast and medium ranged attack option, and with the added utility of the curved tips. Whenever we needed to keep enemies at a safe distance, or close the gap with fast attacks, the spear would be great.
Basically, it would be our safe option. No matter the enemy, the spear would be a good choice, which made me remember Luna's words that you can never go wrong with a spear.
Even in tight environments the spear would shine despite its size, since it relied entirely on thrusts to attack (At least these ones did, since the tusks were not sharpened, except for the tips).
The training this time was more lighthearted than usual since it was our rest day, and so the hours passed quickly, and soon the day was over.
I still had something I wanted to do, but it would have to wait, since I needed to be upstairs for it and preferably at a night when Luna wasn't using the lab.
"Don't worry little cricket, I'll soon put you to use… Fufufu." I said as I caressed a little wood box, before putting it away again under the shelf besides my bed.
***
A couple more months had passed.
Every day after our usual routine of getting our asses kicked by Luna, learning weapon techniques, weight training, and regular classes, I was free to work on my plans.
What I would work on each night would depend on whether or not Luna would go out with her writing utensils or stay at home working on the pearl.
If she stayed to work on the pearl, I would practice spinning the round stone on my finger like the spell required, and occasionally spy on her to see the engraving process. She surely noticed me observing her, but it didn't look out of place for me to be curious about what she was doing.
If, however, it was a night in which she decided to go out into the forest, like she had been doing once a week ever since we begun our special training, I would go upstairs to either practice with the actual pearl, or experiment with blood crickets, trying to extract their poison.
The alchemy behind poisons and healing potions was something Luna was teaching us fairly regularly, but she wouldn't allow us to get hand's on with it. For some reason, she didn't want us messing with poisons yet, even though it would aid us a lot on our hunting.
It didn't seem that complicated though, and ever since she explained to me years ago how the blood cricket's poison was used, I got the itch to try it out. It was also my way of trying to impress her, since she showed on more than one occasion how excited and knowledgeable she was about alchemy.
Today was one of the rare opportunities I had to try it out, and so, a little while after she left the tower in the middle of the night, I got to work.
Extracting the poison from its abdominal cavity was the hardest part, and this was my already my third attempt at it. After carefully piercing it with a needle, I managed to slowly extract the poison onto a glass dish.
Like Luna taught us, one blood cricket had just about 5 drops of poison, just enough to halt a large beast's movements for a couple of seconds or paralyze a human for a couple of minutes, it also caused blood to flow from the eyes.
It was almost never used on it's on, however, since blood crickets are not so easy to find and catch, and their poison doesn't last long when exposed to the elements.
Normally, it would be mixed with purple death petals to make a super deadly and concentrated poison, that's when it would truly shine. I had no intention of messing with such a dangerous weapon though, I had other plans for it.
Alchemy in this world used a base solution of alcohol and different herbs called "misce" to dilute potions and keep them from spoiling.
Even a healing potion, if too concentrated, could be aggressive to the body since it worked differently from healing spells.
This solution served to spread out the effect of different substances over a long time in a way that it wouldn't cause harm.
If used on poison, it would make a slow acting toxin that could be accumulated over time, gradually wearing down the target, or left as a minor effect over an extended period if it wasn't applied again.
It would be a slight debuff that could be used multiple times instead of a single use novelty, solving the problem of having to catch and harvest a cricket for every beast hunted, which was obviously not viable.
I had no clue if my idea would work, what I wanted was to put into practice what Luna had taught me in a way that at least made sense, while also showing her I was ready for more practical applications.
As I was taking the cork out of the bottle to combine the misce and the poison, I heard slow footsteps coming in my direction.
"Brother… What is brother doing?" Toba said between yawns, as he rubbed his intact eye. He was wearing an eyepatch Luna made for him to cover his exposed eye and let him sleep better.
"Oh, it's you Toba. I'm making poison, want to join me?"
"Ok…"
…
In the middle of the night, a small pink haired woman was sitting under a tree, reading the letter she just wrote on a small piece of paper.
"This should be able to buy me a few months…" She wore a cold expression on her face as she took one last look at the message and rolled it up, fitting it into a tiny scroll case.
Those who were familiar with her knew that when she was in this mood, and her usual cute smiles and chuckles were nowhere to be seen, it was best not to approach her.
"Tsk, the elders keep pestering me more and more, I have to finish the boy's training in time."
As she kept thinking to herself, feelings of joy were mixed with sadness and anger, as she knew she would have to go back to her clan and say goodbye to those two boys she came to love so much.
"After all I did for the clan, can't they give me some autonomy? It's not like I'm lazing about either, the resources I'll give them will be well worth the time I spent here."
"As for Cona and Toba… Should I bring them back with me? If I did, I would be able to keep training them…"
Conflicted thoughts were rushing through the lady's head, she didn't want to part with them, but she wanted even less for them to follow her footsteps.
"Sigh…" She looked at the moon, and after a snap of her fingers, a small white owl landed on her delicate forearm, making no sound even in the dead of night.
The owl was wearing an intricate leather harness, and on it was carved the symbol of a thin dagger with a drop of blood at its tip.
She was about to attach the message on the owl's feet, when she suddenly started hearing shouting and hurried footsteps in the distance.
Normally, she would not hesitate to pursue and kill whoever it was that witnessed her in this private moment, but for some reason, the shouting sounded familiar to her.
"Luna! I screwed up! Where are you?"
Any parent would recognize that tone of voice. The voice of a child who screwed up so bad, it wasn't even possible to cover it up. The voice of a child desperately seeking assistance to deal with the mess they made.
It was never a good sign.
Her newly awakened motherly instincts were dialed up to the max, and she even forgot she had her owl in her arm as she set towards the shouting at max speed.
In all her years of experience in the field, she had not once made such a carefree mistake like this, but if she continued to be involved with these kids, it wouldn't be her last.
As she finally arrived at the source of desperate shouting, what the saw was a green haired boy holding his beast hybrid brother in his arms, both had a slight trail of blood running down their eyes, but the boy being carried was convulsing.
"Cona! What did you do?!"
…
"I swear I diluted it properly! I even tested it myself and nothing happened, but Toba started convulsing! I gave him the antidote too but it's not working!"
This was bad, really bad.
I had intended to test the poison a bit on myself to show Toba how weak it was, and it all went as expected, I got a little dizzy, a little numb, and a bit of blood came out of my eyes.
Even if I had made a mistake in the dosage, I knew where the antidote for blood cricket poison was kept, so there was really nothing to worry about.
The problem was that the diluted solution I prepared got me a little high aside from the normal effects, and when Toba noticed I was enjoying it, he wanted to try it out too.
I didn't want my brother to be a junkie, so I resisted and didn't let him, but to my surprise, he disobeyed me and ingested some of it.
All would've been fine if his experience was the same as mine, but soon after he took it, he started saying his throat was closing, and then fainted and started convulsing.
I tried everything, including the antidote, but nothing worked, and he was getting worse and worse.
That's how I ended up having to run and look for Luna.
"YOU POISONED HIM ON PURPOSE?" Luna was furious as expected.
"N-not him! Just me, I tested it on myself and tried to keep him from copying me, but he didn't listen!"
Luna was about to shout some more, but she stopped for a moment and looked at Toba while analyzing the situation.
"You said the antidote didn't work, are you sure you gave him the right one?"
"I'm sure!"
Even before I finished answering, Luna had taken out her grimoire and started flipping frantically through the pages, except she didn't even touch them. It was like she was blowing wind into the book to turn the pages, but I didn't see her casting any spell.
The pages stopped on a pink magic circle. As Luna touched it with the same hand supporting the tome, she used the other to press hard against Toba's twitching stomach.
"[Cardimoma!]"
For an instant time seemed to have stopped, and I looked at Luna for answers.
"You should probably move." She said while stepping to the side, away from Toba.
"Huh?"
As I stood there confused, I felt Toba's stomach twitch several times in my arms, and when I looked down…
"BLAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
A torrent of vomit hit me square in the face. The pressure from it was such that it was enough to disorient me and make me fall backwards, dropping him in the process.
"Uhhhh… Brother where am I?"
I didn't answer, I was too busy adding my own vomit to the pool that formed into the ground.
Getting shot in the face with vomit like I was fighting a zombie Squirtle was the most disgusting experience I had ever been through.
I know I probably deserve this… But I still feel like killing you right now, dear brother.
"Here Toba, drink." Luna said in a now calmer voice as she held a waterskin near his mouth and cleaned a little bit of vomit off of him. Surprisingly, he himself didn't get so dirty from his own attack.
It seemed everything was under control now, and Luna had a face like she figured out what happened.
"Sigh… Let's go to the waterfall to clean you two up, it's not far from here."
"Sure… But Luna… can I ask a question?"
"Hm?" She glared at me, still a little mad.
"What is this owl on your shoulder?"
As soon as I asked her that, her face went pale.
"W-wait here just a moment." She said as she rushed into the forest with great speed.
Not even a minute later and she was back, no owl in sight.
"Let's keep going, I'll carry Toba since you're covered in vomit."
So… No talking about the lvl 80 mythical frost owl with +4 leather armor?
The way to the waterfall was filled with awkward silence and the smell on my nose was unbearable, but with Toba seemingly safe now, I felt a huge relief wash over my body.
"Luna sensei… I'm sorry I disobeyed you…"
She kept walking in silence for a while, considering her response.
"I don't want to encourage your behavior… But you probably didn't make a mistake with the dosage. It was still stupid to test poison on yourself, but I must admit that even I wouldn't see this one coming."
"What do you mean?"
"Unfortunately, it was not the blood cricket poison that got Toba like this… You used misce to dilute it, right?"
"Yeah, but isn't it fine? It's used in potions and all."
"That's the thing…" She paused with a look of pity in her face, as she looked at Toba who was sleeping peacefully in her arms.
"I think he's allergic to misce."
"Oh…"
If Toba was allergic to misce, which was a component in basically every type of nonmagical potion existent, then it meant that he could never make use of them, at least not any storebought ones.
Thankfully, from what I knew about potions they weren't crucial or relevant enough for this problem to be a major setback to him, but it would certainly be an inconvenience.
Magic potions aside, potions could help with a variety of things.
Healing potions weren't effective in combat since they only accelerated the body's own regeneration, but they helped a lot when recovering from injuries after battle.
Stamina potions were also convenient for fighting against fatigue, they were similar to caffeine in that they didn't give you extra energy or replenish it, but rather borrowed it for the moment and later had a crash effect.
There were also tons of other different mixes with mild beneficial effects that were a useful and cheap option to get a slight boost in battle, but none of them were essential to survival.
Basically, it was like Toba was lactose intolerant. Would someone die because they couldn't consume milk? Certainly not. Was it a pain in the ass? Certainly.
…
After finally reaching the waterfall, we cleaned ourselves up on the river in turns. Toba was already fully awake, and he looked completely fine.
It seemed like it really was the misce that got him like that, and Luna's spell made him throw it all out… Right at my face.
Luna had a distance face, and she was acting weirdly aloof. She was usually extremely sharp whenever we were outside, so I easily noticed her lack of awareness since it made such a stark contrast with her normal self.
Rotten to the core as I was, and now realizing It wasn't really my fault that Toba got like that, I got in the mood to steal some glances.
I was still careful of course, and I was hoping for just a second or two of glory before I would retreat, but the scene I was greeted with left me speechless for a while, and before I noticed it, I was staring without a care in the world.
Luna's body was facing away from me and was partially submerged in the pond, which now mirrored the night sky. The drops of water reflected the moonlight, adorning her skin like tiny jewels, and she was staring straight ahead, deep in thought.
It was beautiful enough to turn even a brute like me into a poet, but no matter how poetic the whole scene was, anyone's eyes would instantly be glued to her delicate curves.
I say would, because something else caught my attention, bringing me out of my daze.
Decorating her delicate back was an eerie tattoo of a dagger with a drop of blood at its tip, it looked out of place in her otherwise pure body, and it was something one would associate with a faction or gang.
Wait, haven't I seen this before?
I normally wouldn't remember, but since I had just seen it, it all suddenly came back to me.
That symbol was on her owl earlier, as well as on the stamp she had with her writing utensils.
I was having a hard time thinking, since my blood was currently divided between my two heads, but for quite some time it had become clear that Luna wasn't just an elite adventurer.
Of course, I still didn't know who exactly she was or what was her job, all I knew is she occasionally mentioned a mountain and her old students, and that she was skilled in a variety of things one wouldn't typically associate with adventurers.
She was probably part of some elite group or something, and that's why she acted all mysterious regarding her past, but I wouldn't pry too much.
I didn't care either way, and I wasn't currently interested in joining anything other than the adventurer's guild for now.
Besides, even if the symbol looked ominous, she treated us with so much love and care, and was such a sweet person… Whatever organization she was a part of, I'm sure it wasn't a bad one.
After waiting for my buddy to calm down, I went to check in on Toba, and shortly after we all returned to get some sleep.
I should do something nice for Luna though… In just a week I started learning a spell in secret, disobeyed her experimenting with poison, and now even spied on her. Not that I regret any of those things, but she deserves better.
I have exactly two acquaintances in this life, I can't afford to be on bad terms with them. I can't afford being abandoned again for acting like an asshole.
Cona Stats
Strength and resistance:
5 weighted pull-ups (Large rock attached to waist)
10 Tree trunk squats (1 tree)
6 Tree trunk bench press (Half a tree)
30 minutes light sparring (Against Toba)
10 minutes nightmare sparring (Against Luna)
Spells:
Minor firebolt
Minor repel
Minor fire repel
Minor water repel
Minor earth repel
Mana: 1 regular spell
KDR 0/1/1
Toba Stats
Strength and resistance:
13 weighted pull ups (Larger rock)
20 Tree trunk squats (1 tree)
15 Tree trunk bench press (Half a tree)
30 minutes of light sparing (Against Cona)
20 minutes of nightmare sparing (Against Luna)
Spells:
None
Special powers:
Allergy