Ch81: Learning More Magic

“Ugh! I cannot believe that you are just wasting mana like this! Especially after how much you were hounding me for more!”

“I’m not wasting mana...” Krvavy replies with a sigh.

“You are not working on our home, therefore you are wasting your mana!” Thea reaffirms, stubbornly crossing her arms and glaring at the barbarian.

Krvavy just clicks her tongue. “I already told you, Inanna is working on her designs for the pump. I made her the parts she wanted, plus a bunch of spares, but there isn’t much else I can do until she has all of that sorted out.”

“You could keep digging into the cave, excavating out more than enough space and stone to build the rest of our home! You could start moving these walls around like you said that you wanted to!” The bratty girl loudly lists those two things, rolling her eyes as she does so. “You could do a variety of things better than wasting mana to try learning another school of magic! Magic that you will not even be able to use for a while, need I remind you!”

“Come on, do I need to fuck you unconscious or something?” The barbarian exasperatedly groans. Her unimpressed eyes stare straight into her girl’s soft-blue pair. “Or are you just jealous that I’m going to learn how to throw fireballs around...?”

“Hmph!” Thea makes a pouting noise and turns her head away.

“Okay. Guess I will be fucking you unconscious. Just after I’m done with this.” A blush appears on the bratty girl’s face, growing brighter and more intense as she is ‘targeted’ by those stern, threatening words. “I do need to top my mana up after wasting it, after all~.”

That seems to shut Thea up, though Krvavy can’t quite tell if that is because the girl doesn’t want the barbarian to do anything more extreme or because Thea got exactly what she wanted... It is hard to tell with that beautiful brat, and Thea would never admit to actually wanting Krvavy to ravish her. At least not outright. And not with an audience.

“Ahem.” Beryl clears her throat, having sat by and silently watched that interaction. “My dearest love, are ya sure tha’ ya don’t want me ta teach ya Nature or Beast magic?”

“I do, at some point. Just not right now.” The barbarian calmly replies, putting her little spat with that brat aside. “I want to try this first. If it doesn’t work, then we can go with one of those. Or both, if I have the mana.”

“Alright.” The Wood Elf nods her head and takes a deep breath. “Ya ready ta begin?”

Krvavy shuffles slightly in her spot, getting as comfortable as she can. “Yeah,” she nods and closes her eyes. It only takes her a few moments to clear her thoughts and enter a meditative state. She is almost surprised at how easy that is, but she pushes that thought aside with the rest and begins to focus.

Bit by bit, piece by piece, limb by limb... Her misty and translucent form takes shape within her mind, a hazy ghost copying how she is sitting and mimicking her every motion, from the faintest flutter of her eyelids to the rise and fall of her chest as she slowly breathes. Veins of purple-blue energy appear beneath ‘her’ ethereal skin, swelling into rivers that flow from a sphere of blinding light pulsing beneath her breasts.

“I’m ready.” The barbarian’s voice echoes out, sounding distant to herself.

Beryl slowly exhales. “Think o’ fire, the warmth o’ crackling flames on a snowy winter night. The flickering light o’ a lantern illuminating the darkness. The heat o’ a hearth cookin’ a delicious and fulfillin’ meal. The burning inferno consumin’ entire forests and peoples’ ‘omes alike, reducing it all ta nothin’ but ash. It is a force o’ destruction, yet also a force o’ life. Dangerous when left ta chaos, a vital necessity when kept in order.”

Like last time, the Elf gives Krvavy a few minutes to take all of that in, slowly repeating what she has said with just a slight bit of variation.

“Keep all o’ tha’ in yer mind, and look deeply inta yerself.” Beryl slowly moves on. “Focus on yer core, on the power radiatin’ off o’ it, like the heat o’ a fireplace. Breathe in then out, fannin’ the flames and ‘elpin’ them grow. Ya can do it. Now push the energy out from yer core, let it fill yer body. Feel the warmth o’ a campfire on a cold night, the light pushin’ back the darkness and showin’ ya the way. Feel the flames lickin’ at yer skin, hot but not burnin’.”

Krvavy follows her Elf’s soft instructions. She lets her mana bleed out from their channels, suffusing into her ethereal form. Her body tingles and warms up, and beads of sweat begin to drip down her forehead as a feverish heat envelops her. Krvavy pushes past the growing discomfort, directing her mana down one arm and into her open hand.

“It worked!” Beryl excitedly gasps.

The barbarian opens her eyes just in time to see the small flame flickering in the palm of her hand snuff itself out.

“Oh! Ah’m sorry, my dearest love! Ah didn’t mean ta break yer concentration! Ya did so well on yer first try!”

“It’s fine.” Krvavy waves off the apology. She takes a moment to simply breathe in the cool air that fills her home. “I’m not sure if I could have kept it going much longer anyway.”

“You did not just waste all of your mana on that tiny little flame, did you?!” Thea interjects, annoyance clear in her voice.

“No. Not even close. It barely used any.” The barbarian slowly shakes her head. “But the heat was... kind of intense.”

“Ahh... Tha’d likely be my fault as well.” Beryl leans forwards and, with a small cloth, wipes the sweat from Krvavy’s brow. “Ah wasn’t sure ‘ow ta walk ya through learnin’ Fire Magic, somethin’ so far from wha’ Ah know, so Ah... Ah pretty much just winged it. But tellin’ ya ta make yer whole body heat up was... probably not the right thing ta do.”

“Well, it worked.” The barbarian shrugs her shoulders.

Beryl lingers so close to her lover, blue-green eyes trailing up and down the barbarian’s completely naked body. She suddenly shakes her head. “Aye, and tha’ says... tha’ says more about yer ridiculous affinities than anythin’ Ah did.”

“Ugh! Ridiculous is right!” The silver-blonde noble girl whines, crossing her arms in an adorably bratty pout.

“Okay, I’m ready to give it another try.” Krvavy states, completely ignoring Thea and choosing to not acknowledge her Elf’s slight squirming either.

“Oh! Ah think... Ah think it worked!”

Krvavy slowly opens her eyes, careful to not lose her concentration. In the palm of her hand is a strong red flame, hissing ever so slightly as it burns. “Huh.”

“Did ya get a spell?” Beryl curiously questions. The stiff nubs of her nipples stand tall atop the pert and perky mounds of her breasts, nearly rubbing against her Draconic lover’s side. She is doing an admirable job of hiding her desperate arousal, but she can’t keep her body from being honest.

“It doesn’t look like it, no.” The barbarian idly responds, staring at the odd fire in her hand. It looks completely static, not flickering in the slightest. Even tilting her wrist side to side doesn’t change its slightly conical shape.

Bringing her middle finger in, Krvavy touches the tip of the flame. It is, unsurprisingly, rather hot. But not painfully so. The small jet of flame parts around her finger, diverting in opposite directions. It kind of reminds her of the old bunsen burners back in her high school science class, just with a red flame instead of blue...

“What a sad little flame...” Thea slowly and heavily sighs, sounding both annoyed and bored. “Ugh... Why did I bother waiting around? I will be in the hot springs, if you are looking for me.”

The silver-blonde brat rises to her feet with a shake of her head, picking up a blanket to wrap around herself in the process.

“Alright. We’ll probably join you once we’re done here.” Krvavy absentmindedly calls out to the girl, who is already heading towards the door. Thea simply makes a dismissive noise as she steps out of sight.

“Tha’ is... quite warm. Ah can feel its ‘eat from here.” Beryl pulls back a bit, all but hiding behind the barbarian while looking down at the flame from the corner of her eyes.

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like it should be so hot...”

“Magic can make imagination inta reality, so a coloured flame isn’t much o’ a surprise.” The Wood Elf shrugs her shoulders.

Krvavy hums in agreement as she continues to stare at the flame. It is so... strange looking. So captivating... “I guess this will work if I need to light a fire, but... I was kind of expecting more...”

“Ya only just learned Fire Magic and don’t even ‘ave a proper spell fer it yet.” Beryl points out. “Tha’ flame is more than impressive considering all o’ tha’.”

“Fair enough.” The barbarian replies, closing her fist around the little jet of crimson flames and unceremoniously snuffing it out. “At least it didn’t use much mana.”

“Speakin’ o’ tha’, my dearest love, do ya ‘ave enough left in ya ta learn even more magic? Ah’d love ta teach ya some o’ my Beast and Nature spells now, if ya’d like.”

The barbarian nods her head. “Yeah, that sounds good. I should have enough to try for at least one spell. Probably two, if I’m being honest.”

“Any preferences on wha’ ya want ta learn?”

“Hmm... Not really, no.” Krvavy idly responds with a shrug. “But I don’t exactly want to clutter myself up with spells I’ll barely ever use. At least not until I start running out of options for gaining experience.” A thought suddenly occurs to her. “Oh! There isn’t a limit on how many spells I can learn, is there?”

“Ah wouldn’t think so, no.” Beryl replies, though she doesn’t sound too certain. “Normally, one could only really learn as much as their affinity fer tha’ school o’ magic permits, but ya ‘ave max affinities fer all types o’ magic... So Ah’m really not sure.”

“Hmm... In that case, we should probably stick to spells that would be useful for me.” The barbarian states. “Any recommendations?”

The Wood Elf woman thinks for a moment. “O’ the spells tha’ Ah know, Ah’d say tha’ Calm Creature and Oakflesh would be the most useful ta ya.”

“Oh?” Krvavy curiously raises an eyebrow. “Why those two? I mean, I’m pretty sure I get why you picked them, but I want to hear what you were thinking.”

“It’s quite simple, my dearest love,” the Elf replies, “most o’ the spells tha’ Ah know are not particularly good fer ya. These two are simply the ones tha’ ya will find the most useful. At least Ah ‘ope so...” Beryl softly shakes her head. “Calm Creature should be able ta counteract ‘ow animals react ta yer Draconic scent, and Oakflesh should make ya more resilient without decreasin’ the protection ya get from yer blessin’.”

“Alright, that is pretty much what I thought as well.” Krvavy slowly nods to that. “Guess we should get on with it then. And I don’t really have a preference here, so you can pick which one we start with.”

Beryl smiles warmly and leans in to give the barbarian a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Whew...” Krvavy tiredly mutters out, slumped forwards and resting her head in her hands. “Who knew that meditating could be so exhausting...”

“My dearest love, ya did just learn ‘ow ta do the magic o’ three different schools.” Beryl replies, her nimble fingers kneading into Krvavy’s shoulders as she gives the barbarian a rather deep, kneading massage. “It was enough work ta cause ya ta level up, so it only makes sense tha’ it’d be tirin’ too.”

“Fair enough.”

Krvavy ended up using far more mana to get these spells than she had intended. Hopefully they will, at the very least, be a decent way to get some fairly easy experience. Not that she’ll be able to grind out levels with them just yet, but that is something to keep in mind when she is finally done building their home.

The Elf’s hands continue to rub her shoulders, relaxing Krvavy as she brings up her notifications.

Level Up! You have reached Level 14. As a Drakling blessed by a divine power, you have 5 attribute points to allocate and have gained +2 to Might & Toughness. If not allocated by the time you fall asleep it will be done automatically.

+1 Divine Favour, for growing in strength.

All five of those points go straight into Composure, almost causing Krvavy to mournfully sigh out. Only two more levels until she gets a new trait and can start focusing on other, more important, stats... But with that now out of the way, Krvavy turns her attention to the descriptions of her two new spells. She might as well actually read them.

Oakflesh: Nature magic infuses your body, giving you the strength of the Great Oak to reduce damage taken. Costs up to 80 Mana per use, lasting for 15 seconds per point of Mana spent. Associated attributes = Endurance & Toughness.

Calm Creature: Beast magic soothes the minds of nearby animals, pacifying them to your presence. Costs up to 100 Mana to activate, increasing radius by 1 meter per 8 points of Mana spent, & 5% of the initial cost per minute to maintain. Associated attribute = Insight.

She wasn’t really expecting much, but seeing the descriptions for her two new spells has brought a few questions to her mind. For one, both of these descriptions are different than what she remembers from using Inspect on Beryl. And that isn’t just the fact that they now show how much the spells actually cost.

Beryl’s version of Calm Creature was worded in a way that made it seem more like something that would be used on a single creature at a time, while Krvavy’s version is... Well, it is pretty much an entirely different spell with how it functions.

Granted, that at least does kind of make sense, as it fits with what she knows of magic.

These spells are forming according to her desire and will. For Calm Creature she was expecting to get a spell that would, well, calm animals. But with her scent spooking anything that smells her, a spell that she has to manually cast for each individual animal wouldn’t be the most useful, especially if its range was limited. A part of her must have unconsciously recognized that, as this version of the spell is much more useful for her.

But while that makes sense, Krvavy is still puzzled by the extra bit of description on how these spells function. Oakflesh actually tells her how long its duration is and Calm Creature specifies its range. That is useful, yes, but none of her other spells do that. So why do these two?

Not a single reason comes to mind.

It definitely isn’t the variable mana cost, as Seismic Stomp specifically mentions that it costs up to 40 mana per use. And from what Krvavy can tell from actually using that spell, spending less mana on a stomp makes it weaker and smaller. But its description doesn’t outright say that.

And, while she is thinking about this, there is also the question of wording. Most of these spells are in second person, specifically mentioning you regardless of if they are Krvavy’s spells or not. But some are more vague and avoid that. Like Seismic Stomp, which just says that ‘a stomp’ sends earthen magic into the ground. Not that your stomps send earthen magic into the ground.

And then of course there are those that are even weirder, specifically mentioning her girls’ names or written like they are directly speaking to Krvavy herself. Granted, so far she has only seen traits do that, specifically the ones involving her soul getting tangled up with Thea or the fact that she broke Khalia’s mind. But still, that is really odd...

“Are ya alright, my dearest love?” Beryl’s gentle voice snaps the barbarian out of her thoughts. “Ya are gettin’ more tense.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m... Just getting a bit of a headache...” Krvavy lightly groans, rubbing her temples. “Do... Do you know why some of my spells give more details on how they work than others do?”

“Hmm...” The Wood Elf thinks for a moment. “Sorry, my dearest love, Ah’m not sure. The fact tha’ ya can use those skills means tha’ ya should know wha’ they do, even if just instinctively. Perhaps it is simply too complex ta easily put inta words?”

Krvavy purses her lips. That doesn’t really sound right to her. None of her skills seem overly complex, least of all Seismic Stomp, which is really the one she is questioning the most here. Sculpt Stone is pretty much as descriptive as it can get, and her Blood Magic spells aren’t that bad either, with Knit Flesh giving a cost per second and Transmute Blood specifying that mana received depends on the quality of the blood...

“Ah suppose tha’ it could be a result o’ ‘ow ya are learning magic.” Beryl idly comments. “Ya are self-taught, aye? And the way tha’ Ah am ‘elpin’ ya learn more magic isn’t standardized either, so there are bound ta be inconsistencies. Ya likely wouldn’t ‘ave these problems if ya used a much more refined technique, like some fancy magic school would use, or if ya ‘ad a solid understandin’ o’ the theory behind wha’ ya are tryin’ ta do.”

“Actually knowing what I’m doing probably would help...” The barbarian thoughtfully mutters out.

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Krvavy confusedly questions, turning her torso to just barely be able to look Beryl in the eyes. “A lot of what I’m doing is just guessing, so at the very least I would save time not having to fumble around all the time.”

“Bias, my dearest love. It’s about ‘avin’ a bias, consciously or not. Magic isn’t just a game o’ numbers, and thinkin’ o’ it tha’ way can be... detrimental.” A rosy blush colours the tanned tomboy’s cheeks, even as she does her best to stay professional and in control of herself. While also continuing to knead and massage the barbarian’s tense shoulders, of course.

“Isn’t that also a bias though?”

“Aye, it is. Tha’ Ah will admit. Every person ‘as a bias, whether they admit it or not, and the best ya can do is acknowledge tha’.” The tanned tomboy gently replies. “Ah’m a Wood Elf, my dearest love. Ah carry my peoples’ beliefs. We see magic as more a force o’ nature, as emotions and thoughts made manifest. Ah won’t try ta force tha’ belief on ya though. Ya should find wha’ feels right ta ya.”

The barbarian looks down at the ground, considering what her Elf has said.

“My dearest love, does a ‘unter need ta understand why and ‘ow the wind blows ta know ‘ow ta adjust ‘er aim? No.” Beryl almost whispers into her Draconic lover’s ear. Her breath is hot and needy and oddly sensual despite the rather academic, and partially philosophical, conversation... “Ya can leave those thoughts ta scholars, unless ya truly want ta know the answers...”

With that the Elf falls silent, continuing her massage and leaving Krvavy to her thoughts.