Another year has passed and nothing eventful has really happened, every day I train, every day I study and at the end of the week I hunt, that's how things have been going, although in a couple of months I will be visiting the king and I should be released as a free person, able to return to my family and start doing things again, although it will be under the supervision of some kind of guard.

I say nothing eventful has happened, but in truth, my mana manipulation skill is close to evolving, so I hope I will be able to try my magic once it does.

Anyway, so far today seems a day as normal as any, I got out of bed, put on fresh clothing, and wandered downstairs for breakfast, and like normal there was Wolfram waiting for me.

[Good morning, young miss, late as ever I see.] he greeted me

[Hehe... so, what's for breakfast?] I replied

[Porridge.] he said, getting up and going over to a slowly simmering pot, before returning with a hot bowl of porridge.

I sat down at the table and started to eat, it was slightly plain yet comforting, homely, and as the warmth of the porridge spread from my stomach to the rest of my body with it came a feeling of calming which eased any feelings of homesickness I may have had.

[Thank you for the food, Wolfram.] I said as I finished the last bite of my porridge.

[You're welcome. You have a few hours spare before your training session starts, what shall you do?] he asked

I thought for a moment before answering [I suppose I will do some reading, after all, the mind is a muscle, if you don't train it, it will wither.]

He started clearing the table and I went upstairs back to my room, I walked over to a bookshelf in the corner of the room.

[What should I read...] I muttered, my hand wandering around the large collection of books.

I landed my finger on one, 'Various Flora of the Realms' it read.

'I suppose this could be interesting' I thought, pulling it from the shelf and carrying it over to my desk, I placed it down and began to flick through the pages.

[Let's see here.] I said to myself as I stopped on a page.

It read the following, Nyx's Embrace, it is a common tall bushy plant found growing in shade and forests, it grows to around 7ft and has oval-shaped leaves, with dull purple bell-shaped flowers and it produces green berries that ripen to a shiny black in late summer, they are slightly sweet. The plant is poisonous to consume and the effects are based on the amount, in small amounts, it causes confusion and hallucinations, in high amounts, spasms, and death, it is often used for its poisonous qualities, most commonly to ease to the suffering of a child by a mother, in certain regions some tribes and spiritual people use it for the hallucinogenic qualities with a mixture of other plants for the purpose of something, it varies, the tribe of jackal-kin crush the berries along with the leaves of the Repmet plant and they then drink the juices produced, the mixture supposedly grants them visions which guide them on a spiritual journey as a part their traditions.

[This is Atropa Belladonna, I mean the uses are somewhat different, but I'm sure this is the plant I know of as deadly nightshade.] I mumbled to myself.

I read for a little while longer, recognizing a few other flowers and herbs, I even learnt of some plants that I couldn't identify and concluded that they're exclusive to this world, one example being, Lyssa's enmity.

The page read as following "As required by law before I describe this plant, I must inform the reader that if it is ever found growing, it must be eradicated immediately, but with that out of the way, I shall continue. Lyssa's enmity is a rough, tangled, prickly shrub, which grows rapidly and encases all nearby structures, it produces tiny, white, and very sweet berries, that emit an alluring scent, all year round, these berries are not directly poisonous and are in fact very healthy and filling, however, consumption of these berries send the individual into a frenzy that lasts several days, causing them to indiscriminately attack any creature they can perceive, due to this most countries have quests at adventurer guilds to destroy the plant as if it is allowed to grow wild animals and monsters go berserk, rampaging and destroying large amounts of property, and it also ruins a large amount of potential profit and food, since creatures who eat the berry and die before the frenzy wears off are capable of spreading it to creatures who eat their meat. Although to end on a positive note there is a group of warriors who consume this berry and build up a resistance to the effects, making the frenzy last only a few hours instead of days, they're known as berserkers or barbarians and surprisingly they allow anyone to train under them, although not many do as their training is quite harsh, one of their main principles is "strong body and stronger mind", remarkably they have honed their minds to be capable of controlling the effects of the berry, as long as there is more than a single creature within sight they're able to resist attacking their comrades and focus on the enemy, although when I asked a berserker in person he said, 'The berries are the last resort, I only use it if I would be in danger or if there is only me and the enemy, I cannot bear the idea of harming my friends'."

'Interesting, I had heard of berserkers belonging to the old Norsemen, it was theorized that they consumed psychedelic mushrooms, but it seems these warriors are slightly differing...' I thought

then unexpectedly,

{Master, the skill, Floristry, has reached max level and can evolve, here are your options.}

'That doesn't sound like a choice' I thought

{It's not. It would seem the skill has evolved into 4 separate skill and you have gained all of them.}

[So I just gained 4 skills, including a rather menacing one... tell me are they any good at least.] I quietly replied.

{I am unable to assess them by your definition of good, but for the most part, they would be considered fairly strong, with the exception of the Flower of Despair, as I cannot evaluate its nature.}

H'mm, well I will think about it later, for now, I will attempt to evolve my mana manipulation skill'

I close the book and place it back on the shelf, I walk over to my bed and sit down, I close my eyes and focus on breathing, the ambient mana entering me through my lungs, I move it around my body and then after practising moving mana around my body for a while, I start trying to move the mana in the air around, forming it into shape, I open my eyes and I compress it into a small ball in my hand.

If I had to explain what mana feels like it's hard, as in difficult, not hard like a rock for example and it's best described as barely noticeable, like air, it's there and you can sort of tell that it's there but you don't really pay attention to it, but after a while, you can feel it when you breathe and feel it flow around you when you move.

{Well done Master, basic mana control has reached max level and can now evolve, here are your choices.}

'Right, let's go through this carefully, advanced mana control sounds boring and I doubt that it will allow me to use my tattoo magic, Draconic mana manipulation might allow me to use it but I'm not a dragon so I'd prefer to avoid it, Holy mana control is a bit too specific and focused on holy magic, Decaying mana control is not very clear and I'd prefer to avoid it as it sounds a bit ominous, Demonic once again sounds odd and I'm definitely not a demon,  The Musical, Wh-... As if the title says it all! Next, Sacrificial sounds way too ominous, as much as I like the sound of explosions it's going to be a no, Creative mana control? Interesting... soul eater, yeah, no.' I thought, evaluating my choices.

[Really it comes down to two, advanced mana control, which is the sensible choice as I have no doubt that in a few evolutions I will be able to use my tattoo magic or I could take Creative mana control, which is a bit of a mystery... I have decided, I'll take the gamble, Callista evolve the skill into Creative mana control.] I said in a hushed voice.

{Understood, skill evolution in progress... evolution stage complete, Creative mana control Lv1 gained, the skill is almost capable of using your tattoo magic, at Lv 3 you will be able to cast basic spells.} she replied in her usual cold tone. 

[Tyr, come down for your training.] Wolfram shouted up to me.

[I'll be there in a second!] I replied loudly

I quickly changed into clothes more suited to training and ran out of my room and down the stairs, waiting at the bottom was Wolfram and Markus, they both looked at me oddly.

[That's an interesting flower bud in your hair, where did you get it?] Wolfram asked.

[What flower?] I replied confused 

[The black flower in your hair, didn't you place it there.]Markus replied

I ran back up to my room and looked at my reflection in the mirror, in my hair just above my ear was a small closed black flower, I tried to pull it out but it was like it was fused to my hair and I was unable to take it out and after further inspection, I found that its stem was part of my hair, I decided to cut it off, after all, I don't know what it but surely it can't be good, but when I cut it, another grew back in its place.

A memory flashed into my mind, a thin, young girl with blonde hair, I was holding her in my arms, her eyes were open but there was no life left inside of them, she was dead in my arms, recently murdered, by whom I do not know, who she was I do not remember, but for some reason, there is an endless cascade of sadness from my eyes.

With tears streaming down my face I looked around but there was nothing, I was back to my senses in my room and I wiped the tears from my face, I thought about it for a while, but I still could not remember much about the memory other than what I had just seen.

After I had regained my composure I went back downstairs.

[So, the flower?] Markus asked.

[Ah... I found it at some point and thought it looked nice.] I replied.

[Right... anyway, you should get to training.] Wolfram said.

[The captain has gone away for a while, something to do with a meeting with higher-ups, I don't know the details, but for a couple of weeks it will just be me sparring with you.] Markus added.

And so I trained for a few hours, then I ate a meal and before I went to bed I asked Wolfram if he could get me some ink or paint, he said he would do what he could.

A few days had past and in that time I have leveled up the Creative mana control skill to level 4 and Wolfram has acquired some paint for me, it seems to be non-toxic and so I started practicing designs and trying to figure out how this magic actually works, I tried asking Callista but she said since it's new magic, she doesn't know how it works.

So, a week went by and in that time I've grasped the basics of how my tattoo magic works, simply the thing I had been doing wrong was I wasn't channelling mana into the paint, I know it sounds stupid that I didn't try that sooner but what do you expect, I hadn't used magic before, I thought it would just be kind of automatic, then we have the other two parts which didn't take me as long to figure out, first I need to imagine what sort of effect I want it to have, then I need to paint something that actually looks kinda good, or at least reasonably represents the ability I want it to manifest, and if I do all three perfectly I should end up with a strong power that lasts half a day and slowly gets weaker, this problem, unfortunately, comes from the fact I'm painting onto the skin and not placing ink underneath it, the power starts of reasonably strong when the paint is still fresh, but as the day goes on the image slowly fades and with it so does it's power, another problem is rain or any water really, as this paint washes off quite easily and when the paint is gone so to is the magic, and so I've decided I need to either find or make some paint that is more resistant to water and doesn't fade as quickly, other than that I need to improve my ability at art. The only other interesting thing that has happened in this time is that the black flower in my hair has started to bloom and has opened slightly.

Today was not like normal days, I awoke to the sound of soldiers shouting outside, curious I quickly got dressed and went downstairs, I looked around but Wolfram was nowhere to be seen and so I went outside to see what was going on. When I went outside, however, the shouts had stopped, it was quiet, very quiet, I look around but there was no sign of anyone, that was when I heard a large thud outside of the metal walls, I look towards the direction of the sound but there was nothing, then a moment later another thud, I see something quickly move, just a blur, but from what I saw it was something big.

Then finally the creature revealed itself, over the wall a large, pointed, golden scaled snout rises up with the head it belonged to, it came in to view, a massive serpent-like head covered in dull golden scales, with fierce, dagger-like orange eyes and a white fluffy fur mane, it darted around erratically, looking all over the place until it spotted me at which point it locked its gaze upon me, but yet it still kept moving from place to place sporadically, I took a step back out of instinctual fear.

Just as I was thinking it couldn't get worse, another head slowly rose up, it was near identical to the first but this one had two black horns on either side of its head, poking out from the top of its mane, this one also moved a lot more carefully and steadily compared to the first.

The first creature quickly dart at the second, it barked and snapped at the other one, the second creature just moved away and looked towards the first, it barked once before returning its attention to me, a large five-toed foot reached onto the wall, its claws tearing into the metal, it climbed over the wall revealing the body of the creature, I soon saw that it wasn't two creatures but one two-headed monster, it had a colossal, oversized body covered in the same dull golden scales, it had two very thin necks attaching the heads to the body, their manes when down the entire length of their necks and stopped just past the shoulder blades, it had large bony ridges which ran along it's back and down a very long and narrow tail, finally just where the mane stopped were a pair of gargantuan wings, it walked up to me and it's heads approached me before twisting around one another, they started to merge together, it's whole body began to crack and snap as it twisted and warped in a gruesome display, slowly crushing and collapsing in on itself, it fell to the ground and from it's weight a large dust cloud flew up, it obscured my vision and all could see was a shrinking silhouette, although I could still hear the spine-chilling sounds, after a few minutes the sound stop and the shadow had vanished.

As the dust cloud dissipated, a tall man came into view, he wore a leather jacket over his bare chest and black leather trousers, he had tan skin and orange eyes, his hair was hidden by a white fur hat with two short horns at its front, his chest was covered in countless scars from innumerable battles, he walked up to me and spoke.

[Hey, the name's greed, the avaricious, and you are little miss envy, or at least you could be, but for that, you'd need to kill the old man, and trust me when I say that it's impossible. But anyway, you've been noticed, there's a lot of people who know who you are now, and I'm one of them, how would you like to be mine, you'd make a sweet little concubine, what do you say?] he remarked arrogantly.

{Potential titles available, you should be careful how you handle this encounter. Options, Title: Greed's concubine. Difficulty to obtain, Easy. Title: Demon King of Greed's Queen. Difficulty to Obtain, Very Hard.}

[Erm... I'm afraid I don't really want that.] I replied meekly. 'Callista! What is the chance of beating him if I fight him now.' I asked in my thoughts.

{considering you have the advantage of a surprise attack, the chance of killing him and living is 0.001%, the chance of you both dying or being severely wounded is 0.3% and the chance you could wound him enough that he would flee and you somehow survive is 0.35%, also the chance of survival if you use peaceful means is 97.38%, thus I recommend you negotiate.}

[Are you sure? I could keep you safe and you could have riches beyond your wildest dreams.]He replied.

[I'm sure.] I responded adamantly.

At this moment Wolfram rode in through the gates on horseback. [Run away, Tyr! it's not safe here, there's a dragon.] he shouted.

He rode up to me and on the back of the horse was Markus, bleeding and in tatters.

I look toward this so-called Greed and shouted [Were you the one who did this!]

[So what if I was!] he mocked.

Tears fell from my eyes, despite the sadness and anger I was feeling, my vision blackened and I lost my consciousness.

---

What's up with this new envy, I mean she starts to confront me then immediately starts crying and falls to her knees, it looks like she's unconscious.

How odd, that flower in her hair has bloomed fully.

The flower then slowly turn from black into a dark red, the corner of her eyes turned black, which spread until all the white in her eyes were black, her once clear tears thickened and turned black like ink, they slowly slid down her face leaving black trails behind, from there the blackness spread slowly crawling across her once snow-white skin turning it a sombre black, the flower grew larger until it was half as big as her head, it became a brighter red and her red hair darkened, not long after it seemed like her transformation was over, she stood up, her entire body apart from the flower and her hair was now jet black, a substance that looked like ink dripped from her fingers and two pairs of black-feathered wings spread from her back, all four of the wings also dripping the ink, it took me a while to notice but every creature within 100 kilometres except for me, was weeping heavily.

She looked at me and spoke in the draconic tongue [Do you not Know DESPAIR]

[I know it all too well, hahaha.] I laughed in response

She extended her hand towards me and from it, black vines flew towards me and wrapped around my ankles, wrists and neck, their thorns cutting into me slightly, I felt them draining my blood [Pathetic!]I laughed as I grabbed the vines and ignited them, they burnt away but the flames died out faster than I expected, must be resistant.

She turned to a weapon rack and picked up a spear, she brandished the spear, glaring at me with intense bloodlust, I, in turn, summoned my perfect gold spear, I took the first move and charged her, I thrust my spear three times in one quarter of a second, somehow she parried all three strikes, she then countered with a flurry of thrusts and slashes, I was able to block most of them but she landed a couple and drew blood.

[That's it enough games!] I roared angrily and tossed my spear aside.

I reverted to my draconic form and roared while spreading my wings

[I am tired of this, let's leave.] I said.

[What? Why? I thought we were going to take her as our property!] my other half said.

[It's too much trouble, well get her eventually, but for now, I will help her sleep.] I replied

[N'meni M'lam esta aurum!]I bellowed and a golden wave washed over the area, everything slept a long deep sleep as I flew off.