Beast's POV
""Where are you going ? » asks Eldric walking next to me
"I'm going to train," I say honestly as I walk in the forest.
"Can you become stronger by training?" he questions doubtfully .
It's logical to doubt that a creature like me can evolve through "training," and it's not entirely false.
My magical energy reserve isn't contained in an organ like witches, but my entire body is my magical energy reserve and it's fixed from birth, at least under normal circumstances.
I can increase it by forcefully absorbing that of a witch or magical creature, but Master Leylin doesn't want me to abuse this method. I could risk destroying the ecology of this forest and, in the long term, of the island.
"I can increase my strength by asking the island," I lie slightly.
"What, is that possible? No, no, only the emperor can communicate with the titans," he says, looking at me with doubt.
"Think what you want," I say simply.
During these two years since my creation, Huntress and I have grown closer to Master Leylin's family.
Huntress has become very close to Emira and Amity, it seems their views are similar from what I understand.
Personally, I preferred to be closer to the master's parents since they indirectly control laboratory number 1 and I can see that the master respects them.
Recently, I've surprisingly become close to Eldric.
"Here, it's perfect," I declare as I arrive at one of the rare cemeteries I haven't yet desecrated.
"Are you sure this is where you can become stronger?" he says nervously, he's surely not comfortable here.
"Stay calm and observe," I declare as I set down my special lamp that Leylin created for me and my favorite axe.
Willow uses a sword but I prefer an axe, I've even developed a unique fighting style combining the fire from my lamp and the ice from my axe.
Master Leylin also finds this unique, he particularly likes that I don't abandon magic since I can still use glyphs without both hands using my legs.
"Everything is in place," I say looking at the ceremony.
Master has named this an "offering" spell formation. I began opening the tombs one after another to remove the witches' corpses.
""Beast?? What are you doing!!" Eldric shouted, catching my shoulder to stop me.
"I told you, didn't I? Ordinary training can't increase my strength directly but only improve my combat techniques and control." I say, pushing his hand away.
"But these are corpses," he says, dubious.
"Yes, but it's an abandoned cemetery, look around you. And I need them," I say as I continue to move the corpses to the middle of the spell formation.
I still don't understand the meaning of the runes used in the spell formations that Master Leylin often teaches Willow, but one thing is certain.
They often bring me unexpected gains when I ask Master Leylin for advice on them.
I activated the magic formation with me at the center, in the middle of the corpses. I was kneeling, "praying" for my offerings to be good enough to be accepted.
The runes began to glow, it was the signal that I should start chanting.
"All-Powerful 'demon world,' true ultimate sovereign of this dimension, I, Beast, call upon you with reverence..." I declare, kneeling with humility.
I could feel myself getting exhausted, I wasn't just using magic here but the energy of my soul.
According to the master, the soul possesses energy that can be used but the master can't use it correctly.
He's far from fulfilling "the conditions" and doesn't really have a great sensitivity to it, unlike me who was born partly from spiritual life forms.
"I'm far from qualified to use soul-linked energy but you, Beast, have an innate talent for it,"master Leylin said with a mysterious smile while giving me a small book named "Path of Offerings."
"What's this feeling," Eldric mutters, looking around. The corpses scattered around me had begun to transform into energetic particles.
There was an ancient and mystical atmosphere around us, I could hear whispers often repeating the same thing.
"thank you , descendant of the titan"declares a voice in an unknown but strangely understandable language
I could feel a small increase in my magic, but also my soul felt satiated and slightly larger.
"Thank you All-Powerful," I say, concluding my "prayer" to the demon world with a "sincere" thank you.
"wait a minute, you are not the creation of Leylin but the descendant of the titan !!! " declares Eldric in a shocked tone.
....
Leylin's POV
"I want you to keep it for me temporarily and if you want it to be your queen, it's okay with me," I say, looking at the group of gnomes in front of me.
It's been a few minutes since I obtained journal number 2 and before leaving Gideon's house, I had to make some modifications to the memory of his father and the old woman at their place.
Currently, they've never had a child at their home according to their memories.
"Oh great magician, I willingly accept to watch over this modest creature," Jeff responds humbly.
It was easy to find them and deal with them, I'm literally the worst possible opponent for them with my bard magic.
I just have to use a few whistle blows to beat them and submit them to me, I even managed to get some interesting information about Gravity Falls that I didn't know about, like the cursed doors or the supernatural creature market in this town.
"Excellent," I simply declare before leaving for Willow.
I needed a calm and secure place to talk to Bill, I wanted something from him that I could hardly obtain with my current strength.
"Willow, I'm back," I say as I enter the bunker.
The place has become clean and I can see that she has used the knowledge of basic runes that I passed on to her to reinforce the bunker.
This place has become decent but it would need to be modified enormously for it to be usable in the long term.
"Professor..." Willow declares, rushing towards me.
I could see she was sweating and her current clothes are different from those she had before I left a few hours ago.
"You're training?" I ask, slightly frowning.
"Yes, you're not here and I'm bored without my plants so I thought..." she explains quickly, observing my frown.
"Willow, we're currently in another dimension that possibly has extremely dangerous things," I say trying to be as calm as possible, I shouldn't demoralize Willow but make her understand her mistake in this expedition.
"You're right professor, it's just that..." she says before stopping and looking at the ground, I can clearly feel her frustration.
It seems she still blames herself for that mistake with that stupid...
"Tell me Willow, why does Amity hate me and why did you two separate," I say, slightly passing her so that I'm behind her.
I don't want her to see my current facial expression, from doing experiments and training without a lot of human contact. I've noticed that my empathy has significantly decreased.
That doesn't mean I don't care about Willow or my family, far from it since I care about them. It's just that I think too rationally, which has resulted in me becoming my absolute priority.
So, Willow's current emotional state is really annoying for me.
I need to put her back on track and remind her why she followed me.
"Amity lacked the mental strength to oppose your mother and she lacks the strength altogether to beat you," she explains calmly.
"And you?" I simply ask.
"I lacked... strength to help Amity at that moment," she explains with hesitation, I see she's starting to understand.
"So, you know why you feel bad right now... Willow," I say, holding her from behind before bringing my mouth close to her elf ears.
"Do you want more strength Willow? No matter the price?" I ask, whispering in her ear like a devil.
"Yes, no matter the price, I don't want to disappoint you anymore," she says, turning to look at me with a resolute air.
"Excellent, we'll begin your ascension towards power as an official magus soon but first..."
As I utter these words, I walk towards a room with runes installed by Willow and I could see that Ford had reinforced this place to the extreme with various materials.
"What are you doing, Professor?" Willow asks from behind as I walk.
"A foolishness or one of my best investments," I simply declare while opening journal number 2.