<~> Chapter 224I scratched out the po I had beeing for the improved 'detect hostiles' ritual circle. Since I couldn't figure out a way to test the hostile part of the ritual circle, I was testing a few variations that would give me a meneral detect person effe top of the detect hostiles part. It was a much more plex ritual circle but hopefully more useful. Unfortunately, I had a rge number of different pos to test and figure out the best options. This st one was a much meneral detect life po but it was too busy to be useful. While I could mentally distinguish between the people in this guest house and the worms, flies, birds, cats, etbsp;running around, deteg everything that lived was too much of a nuisa was hard to judge what to worry about at a gnce. Making the circle restricted to humanoids had its own problems though. It would be useful in this specific situation and probably others, but most of the time I'm more worried about mohan people.

  "I wonder if there's a way to restrict this po based o or size..." I said tapping the table.

  "Let me see?" Man asked.

  I opehe ritual po book to one of the pages I had bookmarked and ha over for her to look at. She took the book and squi the description while biting her knuckle. After a moment of ption, she shook her head. "No, I don't think that would work. Or, well, it could but it would make the circle signifitly more plex and it might take too long for you to cast even using [Light Scribing], let alone someorying to freehand it."

  "Yeah, I think so too," I said with a sigh.

  Man and I were w oing more ritual circles, this time more focused on the raid on the sver's guild we were pnning. It was our sed free day and only two days before the uping riot happened. A ritual spell that could direct us around hostiles while finding groups of sves would make the job siderably easier. It was easier said than dohough. I didn't have a clear image in my mind of what we were trying to do, I was just trying to figure out a solution with the tools I had. A lot of it rested on bining pieces with this pohat was supposed to detect hostiles. The description for this po was so vague that I wasn't sure if I was incorporating it properly. At the same time, there wasn't anything else that was simir in fun and the ability to detect hostiles would be tremendously helpful.

  "What about tremor sense? You could bihe hostile po with the ability to see moving objects," Man suggested while handing the book bae.

  I scratched the base of my horn. "I had the same thought but tremor sense doesn't work well at long distahrough stone. I already tested a variant of it."

  "Ah, yeah, that would be a problem sidering most cheap stru is made of stone. If not the entire building, then at least the foundations."

  I closed the book a aside before rubbing my face with my hands. "I need a break. Let's go see what Bel is doing."

  "Sure," Man said before putting down her notebook.

  I locked my precious book bato my chest ahe room I had been staying in. I felt a bit stiff, having spent a lot of time w on new ritual circles. I hadn't slept st night, something that retty rare for me. Despite not actually needing any sleep it was a bit difficult to break the habit. I had spent my entire previous life sleeping every night, I presume, and just not sleeping didn't feel right normally. Cuddling with my lovers at night was also kind of a bonding ritual, even if most of them didn't need sleep either.

  Looking around the on room of the guest house we were in, I didn't see Bel around. Silva, Torien, and Cecilia were pying a card game together, it was o see Silva and Torien spending some time together again even if it was just cards. Silva noticed me looking around and spoke up, "If you're looking for Bel, she's out in the courtyard with Neali."

  "Neali? Why?" I asked.

  "The elf had seen Bel reading a book about nature magid Neali took Bel into the courtyard to practice or something. That was a bell or two ago now," Silva said with a shrug.

  "You wanna go see what they're doing in the courtyard?" I asked Man.

  She smiled. "Sure, let's go see what they're up to."

  As we walked through the courtyard and past the fancy decorative fountain in the ter, we noticed Bel and Neali sitting with crossed legs in the grass. They were sitting uhe shade of some of the rge trees that surrouhe perimeter of the embassy pound, quietly talking. Lying in the grass on top of a folded piece of cloth was the nature magic book that I had bought for her a long time ago in Traehall.

  Neali noticed us approag and tapped Bel on the shoulder befesturing with her head toward me. When Bel saw me approag she looked surprised. "Lilith, did you need me for something?"

  "Ah, no. I just wao see what you were up to. I hit a wall in what I was w on, so I decided to take a break," I said with a sigh. " I sit with you two?"

  Neali gave me a warm smile. "I would not mind more pany."

  Man and I sat in the grass across from Bel and Neali, I looked over at Bel curiously. "What are you doing out here?"

  Bel scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Lately my skill growth in nature magic has stopped improving and Neali offered me some help. She's been showing me more advanature magid was trying to teach me some ricks with it. I've kind of reached the limit of what I learn from this book..." she said somewhat sadly.

  "I believe you've done very well developing yic with only this introductory book," Neali said soothingly. "You should be proud of your aplishment."

  Bel smiled and looked down at the book. "I am proud of myself. I hought I'd be able to do so much before I met Lilith... I'm just disappoihat I haven't been progressing much tely."

  "What level is your nature magic at?" I asked curiously.

  Neali's eyebrows rose and Man chuckled at my bluntness. Bel just shook her head and smiled. "Your brazeo ask about other's skill levels is still funny. My nature magic is level twenty."

  I almost choked. "Bel, that's higher than most of my skills. Only my swordsmanship is higher than level twenty."

  Neali's turo me in surprise. "Perhaps... I should not be present for this versation?..."

  Man shook her head. "Bel is more specialized than you are, you're developing a lot of different skills at once. What level is yht magic at?"

  "Eleven," I answered.

  Man nodded, "And you have a manipution for that aspect too, you're also developing your ritual magic. If anything, you're spread a bit thin, but versatility is also very helpful. The magic you've developed is basically versatility inate."

  "[Light Scribing]?" I asked.

  She nodded. "Yes." Man turo Bel. "At the same time, level twenty is quite good for the time you've been w at it. You hadn't been adventuring long when we first met. I also think you're uimating yourself."

  Bel's ears perked up. "Really? I had been trying to keep it matched to my level but it started falling further and further behind..."

  Man ughed. "Bel, with the kinds of things we've been doing, even keeping your nature magic at half your level would be impressive. rowth has been very quione of my skills are matched with my level either. We quered a dungeon, fought off a dungeon break, cleared out the Goldeh Castle, and barely survived against that hellhound. Skills take time to develop, they don't work the same way as general levels do, those take from the experience you get from killing monsters or abs mana in other ways. Skills usually level faster than general levels for non-batants, but we're adventurers, at the pace we've been going, we haven't had enough time to develop our skills."

  "How big of a problem is that?" I asked ed.

  "Well... it would have been ideal if we spent time w on mastering our skills but we haven't really been able to. Aing a better breadth of knowledge is also very useful. Internal mana manipution isn't a skill I already had, but I still took the opportunity to learn it and work on it when Theo was teag us. If I ignored his guidao focus on the skills I already had, I wouldn't have been able to expand my repertoire of magic that I use now. Learning to wild cast an armor skill will be exceptionally beneficial to all of us."

  "So twenty for my level isn't bad then?" Bel asked, sounding relieved.

  Man smiled. "Of course not. It only shows how dedicated you've been to getting stronger."

  She nodded, picked up her book, and carefully flipped through it. "This was something Lilith bought for me early on. Books are expensive and somewhat rare but she still bought this for me so that I could get stronger. I've nearly memorized the ehing now and I cast all of the spells in it sistently. Now that I've gotten to this point, I don't know how to get better anymore."

  Neali patted Bel on the leg. "I think you're looking at this the wrong way. Books are excellent resources and they be very helpful when learning magic. But to truly uand something you o experiment with it yourself. Push the boundaries of what you know and find out where your limitations are. As I told you earlier, nature magic is fluid, vibrant, and intuitive. Books help you learn the basics, the structure, but you o explore and uh nature to truly uand it."

  The young elf woman turo me. "Before you came I was about to teach Bel some meditation teiques. I believe it would be beneficial for her growth as a nature mage and healer, but these teiques are helpful for anyone who uses magic because it help your body restore your mana more quickly if you bee skilled in it."

  "Meditation huh? I suppose it might be fun to try out, and if it helps restore mana it might be useful to know. How about you Man?" I asked.

  Man had a sad smile on her face. "Ah, unfortunately, I think I'll have to pass. I learned some of these teiques when I was younger, but because I have almost no mana pool they aren't useful for me."

  Neali tilted her head in fusion. "I'm fused, I had thought that you were this group's primary mage. How do you have such a small mana pool?"

  "I'm a wild mage. I only use wild magipensate for my small mana pool," she replied. Man g me and a smile came back to her face. "But I have a better uanding of magic than a lot of people because of that. While it is not ideal, I believe I more than make up for it with superior endurance when pared to a typical mage."

  Neali bowed slightly. "I believe what I said was rude, I apologize."

  Man waved it off. "Don't worry about it. This is something I've worked around my entire life. I'm just gd I've been able to be as successful as I have been with a... friend who sees value in what I have to offer. But I'll leave the three of you to it."

  Before Man got up Neali shook her head. "I feel that I still have a meditation teique that would be of value to you. Perhaps I should instruct the three of you in that one first, so that you may tinue while I teach Lilith and Beldonna the other teiques. I promise it will not be a waste of your time."

  Man looked at me, then looked at Bel before sighing. "Alright. At the very least it will be good to rex and spend more time with my friends."

  Neali smiled. "I'm gd. First, please find a fortable position."

  The four of us spent the several bells learning Neali's mediation teiques. At first I was just participating on a whim but the more I learned about the unique way meditation ied with the magic of this world, I was intrigued to learn more.

  Saine

  Hello! A bit of research time for everyohis chapter! Everyone is getting prepared for the infiltration a to see some insight into Bel's own efforts to improve! She's gotten less of the spotlight this book so I wao include a bit of character development here. I hope you enjoyed reading!

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