Chapter 33: I’m Back!

[Well that went horribly, so do I click my heels or...?] - Rose 1For those that don't get the reference it's The Wizard of Oz... I actually hate that movie funny enough

[Ugh...] - Logic

[You don't have legs though?] - Grampa Mor

[It's a reference to... you know what never mind. So just "try" to leave and I'll be out right?] - Rose

[Yes. And when you want to return you should be able to do so easily now.] - Grampa Mor

Nodding noncommittally I concentrated on leaving this place while closing my eyes. A few seconds passed where I thought something had gone wrong and right as I was about to open my eyes again I felt a wave of nausea hit me as my sense of balance went through a merry-go-round. Holding my head as I teetered I realized that I was sitting on something made of wood and opened my eyes quickly.

[Kyaa!] - Rose

Screaming as I was presented with the shocked face of Master Gil only a few inches away I smacked him with my tail while letting out a girlish scream. Shivering with disgust as I checked my body for anything wrong I realized that my body was covered by similar Rune's to the one around the stump.

[Huh? What are these?] - Rose

[Ow ow ow! They're Rune's that I was drawing on you before you so rudely hit me. Ouch that hurt...] - Gil

[W-Well you were too close so I was surprised! Besides why WERE you drawing them on me?] - Rose

[Hmph well I was worried because you were taking too long so I WAS preparing to enter your dream to see what was wrong. Ow that stings!] - Gil

Pulling himself out of a human-sized divot in the ground I nearly blanched at the sight of broken limbs straightening themselves out as the blood pulled itself back into his body. Shaking my head at the shudder-inducing sight I asked him a question to distract myself only to bite my lip when he let me know that he'd been trying to "save" me, more or less. Hanging my head in shame I decided to apologize for the unwarranted attack.

[I'm sorry for hitting you so suddenly.] - Rose

[Ouch! It's fine, it only hurts like hell for a couple minutes afterall.] - Gil

[O-Oh? I-I didn't mean to actually hurt you. Wait why am I apologizing?!? You have some explaining to do! That Mental Palace thing was crazy dangerous! Why the hell would you not tell me what I was getting into?!?] - Rose

[Huh? Mental Palace? What's that? I thought you'd only be dealing with a few rooms and maybe an angry figment of your mind, you're telling me it was actually dangerous?] - Gil

Wait? He really didn't know? I mean I assumed by how my Grampa was talking about Gil that he had known at least a little about what I would face but looking at his face it was clear he'd had no idea.

[You... really don't know? About the Mental Palace, the Place Beyond? None of it?] - Rose

[Wait you were in the Place Beyond? How the hell did you make it there?] - Gil

[Well Grampa Mor, oh he's my grampa on the dragon side of my family, told me that the minds of dragons touches that realm but most of the time Hatchlings, that's me, can't manifest there yet.] - Rose

[Hold up hold up! Grampa Mor? As in Dragon Lord Mortem Restisis? He... spoke to you?] - Gil

[Yeah, I met him in a giant bone maze! Oh you wouldn't believe what happened! At first I...] - Rose

After talking Master Gil's ear off for nearly an hour I finally finished excitedly telling him all of what had transpired inside my inner world. It had been a journey certainly, and a lot of it wasn't fun. But I was filled with a sense of accomplishment at making it through all of that alive and my blood was boiling from the excitement of it all. However, my good mood was not shared by the old immortal as his face had gone pale when we came to the part in the story where my Grampa showed up. It had only gotten increasingly more pale as I mentioned that he was coming to get me.

[H-He's coming here? As in to this continent?!?] - Gil

[Hmph! I tried to convince him that I could take care of myself but he said he wanted to put me through some kind of "test". Not sure what it'll be about though if I had to guess I'd say it'll have something to do with combat...] - Rose

[Knowing his personality I'm sure you're right... Seriously though? He said he's coming here?] - Gil

[Yes? Do you guys know each other or something?] - Rose

[Hah... We do. I was one of the ones that kept him from coming to this continent around 1200 years ago. Most of us died and he would have made it past us regardless but he decided that he was bored and turned around on his own. I spent nearly a year pulling myself back together after that one.] - Gil

[Why would him coming here be such a problem?] - Rose

[Huh? What are you talking about? You saw the size of him right?] - Gil

[Why would that be a problem?] - Rose

Tilting your head in confusion at your mentor's panic that seemed far too excessive for how large Grampa was what he said next blew me away.

[That damn bastard nearly crushed a mountain the last time he came! How can that NOT be a problem?!?] - Gil

[A mountain? But he couldn't possibly do that, he's only like 5 meter's tall or a little more. I can understand maybe blowing it away with dragon's breath or something like that but at his size... He can change size can't he?] - Rose

[Wouldn't put it past the bastard. I can totally see him crushing a mountain for fun just because he can.] - Gil

[Okay now I'm really worried! How do we stop him?] - Rose

[Hah... We don't. From the fact that he's coming to get you we can assume that he doesn't want to cause the extinction of the races. I doubt he wants you to hate him afterall...] - Gil

[That doesn't help me stop him from taking me with him!] - Rose

[You're right which is why we need to pick up the pace of your training! You said you can activate some kind of fire cloak?] - Gil

Nodding as I described to him how exactly I'd done it and what it had felt like I answered questions about what effect it had as well as took tips on increasing it's effectiveness. We spent the rest of the day discussing how he planned to get me ready for my Grampa although neither of us knew how long it take for him to arrive.

[You should mix in more magic while you're fighting. As it is with your mid to close range attacks you're basically a one woman army but if you can add random long distance attacks as well you'll greatly increase your DPS.] - Gil

[Okay but trying to cast large amounts of offensive spells while I'm beating someone's face in is a bit difficult to do.] - Rose

[Well it'd actually be nearly impossible for any normal mage so you'd be correct...] - Gil

[However! The reason that Hero's are so damn deadly is their ability to use physical attacks at the same time as magic, effectively creating a kill zone anywhere near them. For instance. During wartime the best usage of a Summoned Hero is to send them directly into the middle of the largest concentration of foes and let them carve a path through the middle of them.] - Gil

[Oh! So that's why Hero's are such a big deal?!?] - Rose

[Why are you acting like it has nothing to do with you? You're in the same boat afterall.] - Gil

[Huh?] - Rose

[You cast magic with no chant remember?] - Gil

[Right, so one woman army?] - Rose

[Exactly, so I'm going to prioritize sparing in our off time to give you the experience you need to effectively use magic while in combat. Any time we meet outside of training we will do a minimum of 5 minutes full contact sparing. You need to both keep your aura up the entire time as well as use magic. Go ahead and activate your aura now and we'll do a mock run.] - Gil

[Okay? <Look who has suddenly gotten all gung-ho all of the sudden...>] - Rose

Rolling my eyes slightly at the immortals sudden change in behavior from before I wondered just how scared of my Grampa he actually was. Deciding to ignore that question since he was now treating our training with a lot more seriousness compared to his more loose definition before I closed my eyes to reach for that feeling from before only to find. Nothing. Nada! Zilch! What the hell was going on?

[I-I can't do it?!?] - Rose

[What? What do you mean?] - Gil

[I mean I can't use my Fire Cloak thingie! I tried doing it the same way that I did in the battle with the Mirror Demon and I get nothing!] - Rose