Chapter 208

The four of us spent the next few hours brainstorming and working out which ritual circles to put into the first few pages of the book so that we could actually properly test them. We decided the best way to proceed was to test two primary things. The first is if a copied ritual circle would work at all for my purposes and the next was to copy a ritual circle that would allow me to swap out a component on the fly. I wasn't sure if the way the book worked would let me remember two disconnected things at the same time.

"Okay, I'm finished copying it down," I said.

Torien looked over the ritual circle closely. "It looks good to me."

This spell was one that I have had trouble copying before, it created a strong barrier made of water. It was a pretty flexible ritual circle that was normally used for things like fording rivers. What made it valuable was with simple alterations to the ritual circle you could pump more mana into it to make it bigger and grow at specific ratios. Normally the ritual circle would be too complex to attempt to use defensively but in combination with [Light Scribing] I would be finding a whole new use for it.

A big smile grew on my face when I held the book open in my left hand to a blank page. "It works! I can see the image I drew as clearly as if I was looking at it. Let me try and cast a small one." Off the top of my head, I knew the extra ticks I would need to add to make adjustments on the fly so I constrained the barrier to something small and used [Light Scribing] to draw the ritual circle.

Unlike most ritual circles I've used with [Light Scribing] in the past, this one was much more complex and intricate. Since the entire ritual circle animated at once, it meant that there were many more glowing pins of light dancing around in my hand making it hard to look at as the ritual spell resolved itself. Finally, it completed and the ritual circle was floating in my hand.

Torien crouched behind me to my right and studied the complex ritual circle. "...I can't tell. It looks good but there are too many details to know for sure. You should just try and cast it," she said.

"Do you think the elves will be mad if something happens?" I asked.

Morrigan shrugged. "Well, it's a water spell. Worst case scenario we have to do a little bit of mopping."

I laughed and then looked straight ahead. "Alright then, here we go." I activated the ritual circle and then started pumping mana into it. A barrier of water appeared in front of me and grew at the ratio that I specified until I stopped supplying it with mana. Once I stopped feeding it mana, the ritual circle itself was consumed and all I was left with was the pane of hard water in front of me. I could feel a small drain of mana as I kept it going but it wasn't all that expensive to maintain. I tried to move it like I did my light barrier magic but discovered that it was anchored in place. Now that it was done casting I couldn't manipulate it anymore, it was stuck where I left it. Good to know, I'll need to keep that in mind.

Torien stepped over to it and pressed a hand against it. The water barrier was a dark transparent blue and looked a little foggy. Torien knocked on it a few times and turned back around to face me. "It's surprisingly sturdy, I wouldn't be afraid to put my weight on this. I thought it would be wet, but it's completely dry too."

I got closer and put my own hand on it and ran my fingers along the barrier. The edges of the barrier were rounded and the whole thing was about three inches thick. "This will be pretty useful, it wasn't the fastest ritual circle to cast but it costs basically nothing to maintain. I don't even feel any strain when you hit it or anything."

Morrigan tapped her chin for a moment. "Hey Mimi, can I have a spear please?"

Mimi shrugged and materialized a spear in her hand before handing it over. Torien nodded at her and turned back to face the barrier. "Let's see what happens when we try to crack it." She took a grounded stance and thrust the spear into the center of the barrier. It scratched the surface but didn't do much damage past that. The barrier was stronger than it looked. "No good, at least we know it's sturdy but this isn't going to tell us what happens if the barrier snaps."

"Is it fixed in place floating like that?" Morrigan asked.

"Yeah, it's stuck in place. I can't move it anymore," I replied.

Morrigan shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean. If it's suspended like that in the air, could we use these as steps or something too?"

Torien handed the spear back to Mimi and tilted her head. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

"Be careful, Torien," I warned her.

"Pfff, you're a worrywart. I'll be fine. Give me a boost Mori." Morrigan held out her hands and Torien lifted herself up and wrapped her hands over the pane of magical water. Morrigan stepped out of the way and Torien was just suspended there. She lifted her feet and was able to stand on the side of the glass while holding it from the top. "Yup! I can climb it no problem. We should be able to use this as a foothold, or a step if it's in the right position." When she was done talking she jumped back and landed on her feet.

"Any issues maintaining the barrier through all of that?" Morrigan asked.

I shook my head. "Nope, it was fine. Uh, what happens when I release the magic? It's not going to make a puddle is it?"

Morrigan shrugged. "Probably not."

I took a step back and hopefully out of the splash zone before releasing the magic. Rather than turn into a big glob of water like I had feared the barrier turned to mist before disappearing completely.

"Oh! Wait, this spell is amazing!" Morrigan gasped. "All of the light mana you created to cast this spell stayed as water mana when it was released. That means that we could potentially find other ritual circles that are useful for converting the mana you use to something useful for me to cast with. As long as the ritual circle you're using is useful, this could be a pretty efficient way for me to gain access to more mana to work with while wild casting."

"Interesting," I replied. Normally ritual magic is fairly inefficient compared to casting normally but if the process of converting my light magic to other types of magic released aspected mana as a byproduct, that meant that Morrigan could take that mana and do something else with it too. This means the mana that would normally be lost in the conversion could still be useful depending on the spell.

I smiled. "That's a useful discovery and it seems that our first test worked out well too. I can clearly visualize the ritual circles while holding this book and even make slight adjustments necessary to make this spell useful. Now if I can swap out pieces on the fly instead of using entirely pre-formed circles then this will be really something."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Raya called through it, "Hey guys! It's time for lunch! Nealli brought us a big spread."

"Alright, one moment!" I called back.

"You guys ready for lunch? I turned and asked.

The twins both hesitated.

I put my arms on my hips. "Come on, there's no reason to be nervous about this. All of us have been eating together at the same time for a while. You two don't need to do anything different from normal. Just pretend nothing's changed."

Both of their ears went back but the two of them plastered on fake smiles. "Okay..." Morrigan said.

I sighed, opened the door, and held it open for them. Maybe I was being a little petty but I got a bit of satisfaction from the two of them awkwardly accepting the gesture. I didn't want to push them too hard but they could get used to this at least.

The four of us came down the stairs and took our seats around the table. It looked like most of the others had been having fun and enjoying themselves except for Silva who was still brooding in the corner. I got the sense that Torien was making a point of looking away from her and it made me a bit sad. The table was covered with colorful salads, fruits, fresh bread, and baked dishes that looked kind of like casseroles. There was conspicuously no meat anywhere on the table.

Nealli was standing at the head of the table with a slight smile on her face. "This is the lunch we've prepared for you today. You'll have to forgive our lack of meat, for those of you who may not know, the elves of the Northern Greens only eat meat with dinner, if at all. I apologize if it isn't to your tastes. If there is anything else you'd like within reason, please don't hesitate to ask."

"It looks great, Nealli, thank you," I said with a nod. Most of us didn't technically need to eat in the first place but all of the food looked really good.

"Not a problem, you're our guests. I hope you enjoy." To my surprise Nealli sat down with us and started serving herself food as well, it seemed she was going to join us for lunch. No one else seemed surprised so I decided to just let it pass without saying anything.

I noticed the twins hesitating so I poked Morrigan in the side. "What looks good to your Morrigan? Is there anything you need help reaching?"

"Oh... uh..." she went a little wide eyes and scanned the food in a slight panic.

I frowned, put my hand on her shoulder, and leaned in. "Relax, there's no rush. What looks good?" I asked again.

"Oh, um. How about some of that salad," she said pointing.

Without having to ask Sibyl passed the salad bowl over and I passed it to Morrigan who suddenly looked at me nervously. "But... you haven't served yourself yet, what if—"

"Don't worry about it," I said waving her off. "Just take however much you want."

She nodded and put a smaller amount on her plate than I would have liked, but this was good progress so far, I didn't want to push her too hard. She handed me back the salad bowl and I served myself a similar amount before placing the bowl back in the center of the table. Torien practically froze when my eyes turned to her next.

"How about you Torien?" I asked.

She glanced over at the casserole thingie. And then said a name that I can't even begin to remember. This time Nealli on the other side of the table passed it closer and Torien hesitantly served herself as well.

She handed it to me next, and I frowned looking down at it. I normally didn't like casseroles but I didn't know what this was for sure so I figured I would try a little. I gave myself a small amount and handed it back for her to pass back.

"Lilith, I didn't mean!—" Torien started to say.

"Relax, Torien," I said interrupting her. "I've never had this dish before so I'm just trying a small amount. It's okay that you took more than me."

"Oh, um. Sorry..." Torien meekly said shrinking back.

I sighed. Dealing with them like this was a little bit exhausting. It was like they had unlearned everything I had been pressing them into doing since I met them. Last week they had served themselves some stew before me without even noticing and now they were panicking if I took less food than them when they knew I didn't even need to eat. Maybe this slightly more formal setting wasn't helping. We were at a big table with a person we didn't know very well.

Maybe I should ask Lorriene to talk with them this evening. They were being very clingy to me, maybe some time with their aunt would help. Now that I knew her better, Lorriene scared me a little. But she was still their aunt and she had a better idea of what they were going through than I did. She was busy with the others she was helping but maybe some time alone with her would help them accept their change of situation.

...Then again, trying to force them to spend time with someone else might be counterproductive too. I sighed before taking a bite of the casserole-type dish... it was gross. The spices were interesting... but I hate casserole.