Rennia's afternoon in this barely functional "household" had been a hell of a lot better than the morning. Nothing like a midday nap to chase away a nasty mood. But now she needed to get ready, prepare for tomorrow, and that meant jotting down a checklist of things she needed for the dungeon while practicing her sword play and what little skills she had for monster warfare.
She hummed to herself in the kitchen, determined to make something very sweet for once. They had gotten white sugar of all things, and plenty of honey. Sweet, sweet honey. Some eggs they had bought from the farmer's market, sour flour that had been expensive, and then some heavy cream that was hard to find. A ping went off in her head as she stared at her creation.
[Cooking Lv. 3] > [Cooking Lv. 4]
By no means was it an illustrious delight, but it was a league ahead of what she had made earlier. Sweet bee nectar. She poured some sugared syrup over the top. It was makeshift icing, but hey, she was getting her bearings first. She was bored: no books, and no one to sit around near the campfire except the old nymphomaniac who sat behind her sipping from an old chipped cup, seated lazily on a wooden stool, staring at a burnt patch in the wall where the shadows of someone had once been.
She really needed to find some entertainment soon, or at least someone "else" to talk to besides these weirdos around her.
Rennia covered the honeycake and smiled to herself. "Should take a few minutes to cool, maybe half an hour. I'm sure your stomach can wait a while."
Ishmere gave her a giggle of disbelief. "You sure know how to make a girl wait, don't you, Rennie?"
A nerve went off. She really shouldn't call her that. "I'd prefer if you wouldn't abbreviate my name like that."
"Why, bad memories? Does it bother you, Rennie?"
"Among other things. Speaking of..." She stopped mid-sentence when she spotted a half-naked and green tribal midget running across the clearing. She glared for a moment, not bothering to shout at the trespasser. "Are you seriously going to let the goblins stick around near the tavern? It's going to be a bad idea. What if they attack travelers, or Dontellin, or the carpenter?"
"Ignore the green folk. I've befriended their chief during their 'spiritual communion.' Not to mention I have an agreement with them. They're nervous of Ivarcant, Rennia. Goblin politics is different, you see. And they require human protection. What you see as a raid could be a last-ditch effort of survival. That country of yours is a bit overzealous when it comes to these things."
Rennia couldn't believe her ears. "Spiritual communion... you mean wild and violent sex."
"That too. Not to mention, I made a deal with them. They will be handling the rat infestation around the tavern, so forget about them. I sold bits of that spider we slew. All is well, at least temporarily."
Rennia gave her the side-eye. "Uh-huh, and what happens when they get hungry and their next meal is half a day away? Will they turn on us?"
"Don't be ridiculous. You're just like your mother in that way, needlessly prejudiced. Open up. You don't know the wonders of a goblin's tongue, sharp teeth, and untamed..."
Rennia put her hands over her ears. She didn't need to hear another second. "I get it, I get it."
Ishmere kept on sipping, staring kindly at Rennia. There was always something she didn't tell. Only time would tell what she was hiding.
Rennia's attention turned toward other things, like the preservation and future of her new "homestead," at least for the foreseeable future. Carpentry work would resume tomorrow. It irked her that they might need a mason or an engineer to help work on the windmill. More unnecessary people to have around.
The best thing was, all the walls had been sealed, the windows had been replaced, the doors were functional, and there were no more roof leaks. That said, the place was in desperate need of renovation that would have to wait a while, she guessed. These dusty tables never got clean. No amount of cleaning had changed that.
There was one issue though. The warm water was slowly cooling. Ishmere had stated that the pipe system functioned off a rune and enchantment system. They'd need to get an alchemist or a mechanical mage to address the issue with the system, maybe a new crystal to reheat the pipes.
She made a mental note on that one. Her future was that of a blank slate. Enchantment and runesmithing shouldn't be off the table. What if adventuring didn't work out for her? And speaking of, back to preparation.
She waited until Ishmere had sipped the last of her tea. Then she bounced. Ishmere was nitpicky, especially about what she would do and when. "Ishmere..."
"Yes, my apprentice."
"I'd honestly just prefer Rennia. Anyway, you said we were due a lesson, a proper one, a non-sexual one. Actual magic?"
Ishmere perked up, her ears twitching like a rabbit's, but said nothing.
"I have all of these weird mana sensations in my stomach. I've never felt anything like that before. It's overwhelming. There has to be a way to expend all that, right?" She lifted her belly slightly and rubbed at it, exposing her bare stomach. Ishmere jolted and jerked up.
"Well, I'm barely at full capacity to be teaching. Then again, I do feel bad. I'm guessing 'energy' and endurance training won't satisfy you? The fundamentals are key to ascension."
Rennia furrowed her brows. This person was a horrible teacher, but maybe she would redeem herself.
"No, I'm quite fatigued from our casual sexual encounters, Ishmere. You have to understand, I have to adapt to a lot of things at the moment. A lot of things." Rennia motioned to the door. "If you don't mind, maybe you can teach me a spell or two, just for survival's sake, you know, since I will be entering a dungeon."
Ishmere pondered a bit, her face as happy and bland as an old painting. "Okay then."
She really needed to take this mentor stuff seriously, honestly. She was a bit of a disappointment. Why was she so lazy... and slow? Rennia didn't blame her, of course. If she had been trapped and forced to be in a metaphysical state for years, she'd go mad too.
Ishmere conjured purple light with her hands, a long lance between them. She chucked the violet spear at a nearby tree with destructive ferocity. The plasma arc tore through the sky and struck the tree head-on. A massive wave of purple light reflected back to them. Rennia covered her eyes. But the spectacle wasn't over. The tree reacted strangely, almost animated. Its roots stuck out of the ground and its leaves fluttered or were ripped off.
Rennia watched, awestruck and very jealous. She turned to the wizard in front of her. Just when had Ishmere obtained this sudden strength?
"Fucking cool! Can I learn something like that?"
"I'm afraid not. At least not yet. So no. That was [Plasma Lance], a level 7 spell. Not something to just throw around. Your mana reserves need to be huge, or your class needs to permit it. You'll probably be more of a paladin than a sorceress, Rennia. Can you think of something simpler, like Fireball perhaps?"
Rennia snorted. May as well take boiling water to a monster fight.
"I was thinking more in line with... [Haste]." She skirted around the issue, as if believing tiptoeing around the answer would make Ishmere accept. "You know, that thing you did when that Cassandra girl chased after me."
"Right, your friend you don't want to speak about."
"That deviling is not my friend. Can't the past simmer for the moment?"
Ishmere sighed. "Haste will be too difficult, believe it or not, but there's something much easier, though only half the benefits."
Rennia nodded. "I'm listening."
"It's called Quicken. Think of it as proto-haste."
Ishmere walked toward a shelf and produced a small book. Rennia checked the insides and was confounded. Orange, yellow sheets of paper, no text, just blank pages.
"Take this. It's an old grimoire I have no use for. You will be tying yourself to it. Your self in essence."
Rennia's mouth hung open. "A grimoire? What am I, a witch?"
"All users of magic, far and old, near and young, have one. A priest might call it a divine spellbook, or a personal testament. The point is, we as mortals here on this plane... well, except people like me... aren't wired to remember every spell. Keeping this small book with you will do wonders for memorization and magical technique, so take it. You don't even need a class, just lots of mana."
Really. That was weird. Then why did mages have classes in the first place?
Despite the thought, she wasn't that interested in magical theory. She'd focus on the practical stuff. But the grimoire? It was the first time she had heard about such a thing. Certainly Lyanna didn't do anything like that. All her magical knowledge was self-studied or passed down.
Rennia took the grimoire, but Ishmere didn't let go of the cover. A page filled itself, and the words of freshly inked wounds hovered around in her head. Letters slowly aligned themselves along structured lines, and lines seeped from Ishmere into the book, the spell almost shaping itself for her.
The words filled her head. [Quicken]
But the incantation... she knew she needed an incantation if she was going to master it. There was none.
Ishmere took a step back, then took a far leap away from Rennia. She looked up at the air and whispered these words: "A river's glide, and eagle's wing, swift as summer's past, future's spring. [Quicken]."
Ishmere accelerated and started running along the distance of the dirt road barefoot without a care. Rennia stared in astonishment as she blitzed away. She must have been going what... a mile in a few seconds?
The immortal dashed back, gleefully laughing. The effect of the spell wore off, or Ishmere shut it off, and then she huffed for air. "That... was fun. I hate to admit I've forgotten what it was like to run so carefree."
She had all the time in the world to run. Why wait till Rennia needed her to? Was her head that skewed?
Rennia stepped forward, ignoring her tired teacher. It was simple enough. Incantations were personal, and yet some were studied and used universally. Why? Because it was easier than creating something from scratch. Not everyone was a poet, but that reminded her of Lyanna. Lyanna refused to personalize them. Refused to. But what could she do? Imitate Ishmere.
She spread her legs apart. The memory was fresh in her mind, but her wording was all different. "I sever old threads and chase the light, I skip what is slow, and twist what is tight. [Quicken]."
The grimoire tied to her glowed dimly. She could feel its attunement. Rennia's feet started tingling and she started dashing backward. Her feet skidded across dirt, across pebbles and rocks. She was running faster than Ishmere, she thought, at least.
"Nicely done!" Ishmere shouted from behind. Rennia's turn had turned out to be a fatal mistake. She tripped over a large rock, and her momentum stopped. She fell backwards, and the grimoire hit the ground.
Ishmere ran over, amused. "That's not how you run, you idiot." She laughed and pointed at her, made fun of her.
That was rubbing Rennia the wrong way.
She wasn't done yet. She still had more in her. She stood up again, dusting herself off. The words rang out, and the statement in mind the same, she aimed toward the tree Ishmere had zapped.
"[Quicken]." She felt her mana come alive, and she felt something spark in her body. Ishmere instinctively backed away as Rennia sprinted with exhilarating speed, muscles exploding in volume, legs barely feeling the stress. She ran what felt like seconds along a great distance, and then... it wouldn't stop.
Rennia felt something clawing at her throat, like the magic was choking her from within. Nearby things hovered around and disintegrated. A small rock... and she could feel the energy within her disappear. She started frantically jumping up and down.
Ishmere flew toward her. Yes, flew. And held out her hand and then waved at her. The spell died and Rennia collapsed to the ground, scrabbling for air.
Level 2 spell [Quicken] obtained
Attribute earned, [ +1 reaction speed.]
"You moron, you ought to have waited for my say-so. Now look at you, a total mess."
Rennia lay silent on the ground, struggling to find air. Ishmere stood over and lifted her up. "Well, can't say I haven't had my days of magical failure. Still, you've much to learn before tomorrow."
"Yeah, I guess. I need it."
*****
The words flashed in Ishmere's mind as she stared at the running girl, horribly failing but improving through adversity all the same.
The living system, her eternal partner, said the magic word she wanted to hear, and slowly she could feel little tiny bits of what was formerly her life force come back to life.
[Divine Pact Level 1] > [Divine Pact Level 2]
Things were starting to work out after all. But the sheer amount of magical energy she had to exert these past few years had driven her to the edge. It would be another while, maybe a week, but... things would go according to her plans once again.