<~> Chapter 61I was the st oo wake up today. I stretched and groaned, my body felt a tiny bit sore from everything I've been putting it through tely. The hot bathhouse had helped quite a bit but I was still w off the aches from our prior excursion into the dungeon. In a way it was kind of surprising that I didn't feel worse than I currently did sidering all of the swhting and running around I've doely. Perhaps that's the effect of the Vitality points I had put in.

  I decided to pull up my system.

  [Status]Name: Lilith [Surname Undefined]Race: Succubus [Race Hidden - Dispyed as Beastkin (Sheep)]Gender: FemaleCss: [Novice Mert] Lv. 7Level: 29

  Stat Spread:Strength: 50Vitality: 100Charisma: 10 (92)Luck: 20 (90)Finesse: 50Magitrol: 50Magic Force: 50Speed: 10

  Karmiergy: 700

  Unallocated Stat points: 40

  Skills:Haggling Lv. 15Swordsmanship Lv. 35Illusion Magic Lv. 3Light Magic Lv. 5Light Manipution Lv. 4Uuna Riding Lv. 13Linguistics Lv. 10Ritual Magic Lv. 3Drawing Lv. 8Mana Sense Lv. 4Luck Magic Lv. 1

  Css AbilitiesMert Skill - Calcutions

  Special Passives:Special drop rate upSightspeakDouble Down

  Innate Abilities:KarmiceKarma AwarenessKarmic SeduKarmic ResonanceKarmic RetributionDominating AuthorityKarmic HypnotismSoultouched e Lv. 2

  Racial Traits:Infernal Heat Resistanfernal Cold ResistanceDarksightSexual Appetite Lv. 4SoultouchSuccubus ShiftingSoulbound panionsLubrig Saliva

  I hadn't noticed earlier but the [Novice Mert] css was increasing my charisma too, it robably a good idea to s to it during the iation. The bonus was a bit minor pared to the karma bonus I had at the time but every point ts I guess. I wao s to [Novice Magian] but it was still too early in the day. Unfortunately it's once a day stipution was based on a 24 hour interval... or whatever the length of the day is... Now that I think about it I don't actually know how long a day is. Either way, sing is still on cooldown and should stay that way for another few bells.

  I was a bit flicted. I thought it might be o get some practi on the new css but Bel and I are the only ones with equipment right now so it might be better to just rex until the twins' gear gets finished up. Maybe I could talk tan about the light magic ritual thing I figured out a few days ago, I hadn't been able to experiment with that with everything else going on.

  I sat up and saw that the girls were all sitting around a table pying some sort of... dice game?

  "Good m. What are you all pying?" I asked.

  Bel looked over excited. "Man and Torien are showing Mimi and me a dice game called Trombe! It's fun, do you want to py too?"

  "How about I just watch for a while?"

  It retty simple game, not too dissimir to something like street craps. I was a little distracted this m though so I didn't pay too close attention on how the rules actually worked out. Instead I just let my mind wander while I rexed for a little while.

  "I was thinking about practig some magic today. I wao show Man that light magic thing from the other day."

  Man's ears perked up. "Oh? Light magic thing? I don't use much light magic but something about how you phrased it sounds iing."

  Bel cpped her hands. "How about we split up for today then? I'll go with Torien and you and Man spend the day together. We meet up again for dinner."

  "That sounds okay to me, what do you two think?" I asked looking at the twins.

  Torien looked at Bel cautiously. "That sounds okay to me... Why split up at all though?"

  "I just think it would help all of us get to know each other a little better. Sometimes it be hard when we're all in one big group. Besides, I know all of the magic theory bores you, it'll make it easier for them to focus on it without you there."

  Man ughed at that and Torien looked sheepish. "I suppose that's true..."

  I smiled. "That sounds like a good pn, one sec, let me give you some money." I dug through my bag and pulled out my pouch.

  It had gotten rather heavy at this point. The gold alone weighed several pounds. I ted out 5 gold, 50 silver, and 30 copper, splitting up everything but my gold nearly in half. While I was thinking about it I also ted out 20 gold for Mimi to hold onto, leavih 26 gold.

  Bel pulled out ay money pouch she had been apparently holding onto this eime and filled it with the money I ted out for her.

  I slid the 20 gold for Mimi off to one side. "Okay Mimi, you carry this 20 gold. We'll still probably o use this money but you hold onto it and think of it as emergency rations. If you are running out of mana and we have nothier to give you, or you're separated from us for some reason, you use this gold to sustain yourself if you o."

  "Okay! Sounds tasty," she said eically. The gold vanished and swirled into Mimi's hilt.

  Bel leaned forward, "Mimi, do you want to e with us o with them for today?"

  "Mmm... Man said she would teach me how to dense mana, I'd like to learn that today if I ..."

  I patted her on the arm, "That sounds like a good idea. We'll spend the day practig magic." I turo Bel. "What are you two going to do today?"

  Bel shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. Maybe we'll go out and explore the town. I never really got a ce to look around since I came here. Maybe Torien show me around?" she asked looking over to her.

  "Sorry, since we're sves, all we really got to see was the adventurer's guild and the surrounding gathering areas."

  She nodded. "No problem then, it'll be fun to look around for the first time together."

  We spent a little bit of time pag up our things before we headed out of the bathhouse. We were a lot less... messy than st time so we didn't o take another dip before we left this time time around. The bathhouse was a bit pricy so we decided we would find a cheaper pce to stay tonight. For obvious reasons I was relut to stay at the st inn we were at again though. After splitting up Man, Mimi and I left the town and found a private looking clearing in the forest to practice magic together.

  "So what was it that you wao show me?" Man asked.

  "Right, so because of my history I don't really know if this is something that's been done before or if it's like, obvious but niche."

  I used [Light Signal] to draw out a basic fire ritual spell, then activated it. Using [Light Manipution] I was able to scale and rotate the circle, and by adjusting how much mana I lying through it I was able to intensify or calm the fme.

  Man didn't look particurly surprised or anything but her head was tilted and her right hand cupped her . "Hmm... Iing. To be ho, I've never heard of anyone using light magic like this. While at first g doesn't seem too powerful, the fact you're able to manipute the actual ritual circle and influene of its effects at will is quite novel. Usually the mana version rate for ritual magid the time it takes to set them up is the main limiting factor for them but this method greatly increases the activation time. How fast are you able to create a ritual, start to finish?"

  I released the magid caught my breath for a moment. Once I felt ready I quickly drew out the magic circle again, it took me about 20 or so seds, start to finish.

  "Hmm... that's a lot faster than most rituals would take but I don't know how mubat potential that would have. If even a basic ritual takes you that long to draw, I have my doubts a more plex ritual like a fire projectile spell would be castable in a reasonable amount of time. It's too bad you have to actually write out the spell yourself. I know some people will carry wood blocks with rituals pre-carved oo save time."

  Hmm... I wonder. I pictured the fire ritual circle in my head, then I activated [Light Signal] and used [Light Manipution] to basically draw the ehing all at o's kind of hard to expin but I just drew out all the individual pieces iroke of my hand instead of trag them out line by line.

  "Ah! That's much better!"

  I released the circle rather than activating it to save my mana. "It works but it takes a lot more tration to do it that way. I have to use [Light Manipution] before I even start drawing anything with [Light Signal]. I'm not even sure if it's actually faster to do it this way."

  "Even if it takes more preparation in the beginning, at the very least your oppo would have a harder time preparing for it. I know all you're drawing is a small fme but if you were casting say a firebolt, I would see it ing a mile away. Besides, not having to draw each line individually should make it easier to cast more plex spells that way. Well hopefully at least. You should practice drawing the most intricate ritual you remember using that teique and see if you speed up the process."

  "Hmm... I'll have to look at my reference book."

  "Cool. In the meantime I'll work on teag Mimi how to dense mana."

  Mimi's voice echoed out from nowhere in particur. "Do you think it's safe for me to take my beastfolk form here?" she asked.

  I looked around a little. "Well we are close to town but I don't think it'll be much of an issue." I dug through my backpad pulled out the long cloak I used to take Bitch across town. "Why don't you wear this while in your beastfolk form. If anyone es by, you'll be able to cover yourself up enough that no one should be that suspicious."

  "Okay!" The sword on my hip melted out of its sheath onto the ground in front of me, quickly taking Mimi's amalgamated form. I did however notice a quite obvious ge since I had seen her in her beastfolk form this m. Her eyes had gone from lifeless gems set into her face to actual ruby colored eyes.

  I handed over the cloak. "Hey Mimi, did you ge your eyes?"

  She looked up at me. "Hmm? No?" She touched her face, her fiouched her eyeballs directly which made me wince a little even though she didn't seem to notice. "That's odd, they do seem to have ged."

  Man walked over and took a look. "Ah! Your new eyes look really pretty. It's... holy a lot less creepy to look at than before... no offence."

  Mimi shrugged before starting to put on the cloak. "I don't mind. I didn't do it on purpose but I have noticed that where everyone looks is useful information. Maybe something about this form ged without me intending it. It's not like I particurly chose this form in the first pce."

  Man nodded. "Maybe."

  I pulled the hood over Mimi's head. "We'll just have to keep an eye on you." I said with a smile. "Now, lets get to practig. I'm sure you're ied in densing mana and I'm itg to practice this new light ritual teique."

  I dug out my small book of rituals and got to work.

  Saine

  Hello! Here's the bonus chapter I promised yesterday! I felt bad for posting so te so I made a point to post ara chapter for everyooday to make up for it. chapter we get a bit more character development for Man and lots of world building and magic practice. See you ime!

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