Novaris. Septer. 905. AGC.

  Nodel. Waxing Crescent ??. Day 6.

  Arelion sat quietly as Rose explained her thoughts on their relationship and how she wanted things to change.

  “So, you want to use me as a means to spend more time with Jasmine even when she isn’t here?” Arelion asked expectantly, with venom in his voice.

  “What! No! Where did you get that from?” Rose blurted, Arelion’s words catching her by surprise.

  “Well, that’s what it sounds like to me. Sure, you feel bad about not treating me better, but in the end, all this is pushed forth by your realization that you could have been spending more time with Jasmine,” Arelion coldly pointed out.

  “I-I, no, that’s…” Rose began, but her words failed her as she thought about his words.

  “Face it, Rose, I am still a barrier between you and her. So, you thought that if you and I could be friends, it would be almost like you and her spending time together. Granted, I am glad you have finally realized how you have been treating me, but you have yet to even apologize for it. Not that I have made it easier, or that I can blame you, since you had her all your life, then suddenly I am here, and not necessarily the friendliest.”

  As Arelion spoke, Rose couldn’t help but feel ashamed. He was right. She hadn’t brought up the issue until now, and instead of trying to apologize, she tried to sweep everything under the rug.

  “You’re right,” Rose began, her words shaky as she paused to take in a deep breath, “I am sorry, Arelion. I shouldn’t have kept you at arm's length, and I definitely shouldn’t have tried to move on past everything without addressing our issues properly. I do hope you can forgive me, and we can have a fresh start,” Rose finished her words filled with resolve as she met his grey eyes.

  Hearing her words, Arelion gave her a smile that didn't reach his eyes and spoke, his tone much less cold and hostile.

  “I forgive you, Rose. However, it doesn't mean that we can start over. At least not now, since no matter what, it would feel like you're just using me to be with my sister.”

  “But!” Rose began, but was cut off.

  “But nothing!” Arelion said, raising his voice before continuing in a much calmer manner, “Look, we are in a party together, and I am happy to work with you as a party member, but that is about as much as you will get from me. However, we do want the same thing as far as Jasmine is concerned. So, I say for now we leave it at that, maybe we will become friends in the future, or maybe not. However, as things stand now, it feels like I am just a tool. With that, however, I thank you for checking on me, like a good party member would, but I will ask you to please leave.”

  Hearing his words, Rose didn't want to believe him, but his eyes told her another story. They were hard and cold; clearly, he was still angry, but he also told the truth. Rose felt terrible for what she had tried to do, even if it hadn’t been her intention.

  And upon hearing his resolve, she had to be happy that, at the very least, if his words were truthful, they were only back to the status quo. So unwilling to make things worse, Rose left without another word.

  Nodel. Waxing Crescent ??. Day 7 & 8.

  Knowing it was best to be safe than sorry, Alyx had sent out a message to all his party members the night before, after leaving Ally's place. By then, it had already been about two days since the whole dragon incident, and he felt like everyone should be good to go. Not that they would head out to find danger, but at the very least, they should start back up with training. With that being said, and on a completely different note, the gnome and Ally were officially dating. Of course, he wouldn't tell the other party members yet since it was very recent and unplanned. However, after the beautiful elf had listened and comforted him, Alyx felt like he couldn’t leave her out for someone else to take. She was an amazing woman and just his type, so he had asked, and she had accepted. Even then, their relationship wouldn't be normal.

  The main problem was that Alyx was an adventurer, and she wasn’t. Sure, the elf was a High D Ranker, but that was only thanks to a very slow and painful process of refinement during her 105 years of life. Due to this, she couldn't join the party, and he wasn't very comfortable with the idea of taking her on their dangerous adventures. Sure, he could stick her in his special room where she would be very safe, but that was a terrible idea. She would be bored for long periods of time, and essentially have no freedom, something that repulsed him. So, it would be a touch-and-go sort of long-distance relationship, as Alyx spent time out of the city. Honestly, he didn’t even want to think about what would happen when he eventually left.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Anyway, moving on from the gnome’s love life, he was happy to find that the party was in Lili's shop. They were all armored up and chatting about one thing or another, and finally turned to look at him.

  “Hey Alyx! Feeling better?” Tesilim asked before anyone else spoke.

  “Yeah, what about you guys?”

  “No problems here,” Lili answered.

  “Same,” Arelion added.

  “Yup, just no more dragons for a while,” Rose said, glaring at Tesilim.

  “No promises,” Tesilim answered with an awkward laugh.

  “All right, good, means we can start doing some more training and adventuring,”

  “What do you have in mind?” Lili asked him.

  “Well, considering everything, we only have a week, more or less, before our half-elf can’t roam about too freely. So, I want to head out and do some proper camping, teaching everyone various things about the subject, even if we now have Tesilim’s tree.”

  “Is that all?” Tesilim asked, surprised at the rather lax training.

  “Well, no, Tesilim, we will also be doing some combat training, and you specifically will be doing Presence training. Also, just generally trying to get you guys to use more specific enhancements.”

  “Also, it will be good to get you three working on the images for your techniques; it’s a long process, but the better you can conceptualize them, the better they will serve you,” Lili added.

  “Alright, everyone ready?” The gnome asked, and everyone nodded.

  “Great, let's get going to the Adventurers Guild!”

  Though Alyx had tried to make the entire endeavor sound appealing, it really wasn’t. Which, to be fair, Tesilim wasn’t sure why he had expected anything less than what they had already been doing. Like many times before, they picked up one or two quests from the Adventurers Guild. This time, the quests were slightly harder than what they had done the day before the dragon incident, which apparently no one had noticed or did notice and said nothing about.

  Of course, the quests themselves were just an excuse to be out and about since they ended up staying overnight in the woods, camping in the rough. Well, most of them were camping in the rough. Alyx was sleeping in his room, even if it made the rest of them a bit grumpy.

  Obviously, during their camping time, they were taught about ritual circles and how to make them. Tesilim specifically was pushed further than anyone else, as he was forced to exercise his Presence abilities. Thankfully, at the very least, this time around, Tesilim sort of understood what the gnome said about rituals and runes. It wasn't much, but he began to grasp the ideas behind the ritual circles and how they could be overcome. Because, in the end, nothing was truly infallible, there were simply higher qualities of creation and those who eventually learned to overcome them.

  Essentially, ritual circles were interconnections of the varieties of the Language of Creation. There were different types of rituals, some acting like classic rituals with chanting, while others were more static and functioned like arrays. Usually, classic rituals used materials, while arrays were more like interconnected enchantment runes spread over a large area rather than a weapon. Even then, enchantments themselves use what Tesilim called the emoji version of the Language of Creation, instead of the spoken one. All in all, it was a mess, and Tesilim lost half of the stuff the gnome ranted about.

  In addition to all the enchantment and ritual-related things, the party did plenty of fighting using the same strategy as before. They would split into small groups and take on larger or stronger monsters. It went without saying that they also sparred with each other. This would, of course, let them get better at fighting humanoids and get the rhythm of each other's combat. More importantly, all the fighting allowed them to continue imagining what their techniques would do and what they might look like. Tesilim himself had been working on his Chaotic Slash for a hot minute before he finally used it.

  Adding to everything else—and possibly one of the most important points in everyone's training—was learning how to get new enhancements. The main enhancements themselves weren't too hard to understand, but slightly harder to implement. This was because enhancements sort of worked like techniques, and it was all about internal processes, which made sense since techniques were one of the best ways for someone to boost themselves without chanting.

  From what Tesilim understood, they had to work backward from their General Enhancement, which was the easiest for anyone to learn since it did everything. The idea was to narrow down what the enhancement did and have it focus on an aspect of the body someone wished to enhance. So, if you wanted strength, you had to effectively find that portion of the magic within yourself and focus on it. The entire thing was an interesting process, which they didn’t nail down completely in the first two days of their training.

  The headmaster of the Adventurers Guild in the City of Wildwood was an A Ranked Wood Elf. She had greenish skin like some of her kin, with dark green hair and brown eyes. Her name was Jafiel, and she sat in her lavish office wearing light blue robes with gold and white trimmings, which some might recognize as the colors of Meril, the Goddess of Heroes and Adventure.

  Jafiel was speaking with Rokor, a fellow A Rank, but one who acted as one of the Captains of the Guard in Wildwood City. Rokor was a burly wolf beastkin with grey fur and, like others working for the city, wore the colors of Amphis, the green and gold going together rather well.

  “So, still no sign of this dragon?” Rokor asked, his voice rough and a bit guttural.

  “No, though I'm beginning to question if there was ever one. Are you sure the guard felt it correctly?” Jafiel answered.

  “Yes, there was a B Ranker working at the time, and it is a hard thing for them not to notice.”

  “I understand, but a dragon, so close to the city, and one not spotted by anyone else? More importantly, not having been seen since?” Jafiel replied, trying to get Rokor to see reason.

  “Hmm, you make a good point, still, don’t you think too many weird things have been happening lately?”

  “Yes, I agree, but we haven’t found anything in the city or the immediate area, so who can say?” Jafiel said, sounding annoyed at their lack of information.

  “True, still, that mana issue is worrying. Do you think it might have something to do with the tribes? How goes the expedition planning by the way?”

  “I agree, but you yourself were told to drop that. As for the expedition, well, everything is going as well as can be, and we should hopefully be leaving by the end of the month.”

  “Good, good. Alright, I will let you be. I know you have lots of paperwork, and so do I,” Rokor answered with his version of a smile that would send anyone running once they saw all his sharp fangs.