“Alright! Now let’s start leveling you up, Branwen!” Scarlet shouted after having placed a ‘wind ward’ around her room that was strong enough to stop all sound from escaping. They had returned home not far off from midnight so everyone else was trying to sleep, but Scarlet had meditated on her way back in the carriage, so she was ready to go all night long if she could.

(Yeah!) The tiny bird tweeted from Scarlet’s shoulder.

“Then, let’s go! Spirit Merge!” Scarlet shouted, as if in an anime. 

Branwen returned to being made of pure mana before rushing into Sharlet’s chest, triggering a wild transformation.

...Okay, so it wasn’t really that wild. All that happened was the tips of her hair changed from red to white and the smallest wing, only about two inches long, poked out from Scarlet’s back. Not even enough to be visible underneath her dress. Even the feathers on them were still the baby fluff rather than real fathers. A white line of the same kind of stuff a bird’s beak is made of appeared on Scarlet’s own nose, starting from up between her eyes.

“Doesn’t look like we are going to be able to fly just yet.” Scarlet mumbled as she tested the tiny things, getting them to move with a bit of concentration.

(They will grow as I do.) Branwen insisted. (So if we want to fly through the sky, we’ll have to train hard.)

“Yeah, I’m sure we will have it down in no time!” Scarlet agreed.

Unlike with General Skills, Bond Skills didn’t level up with use, but a Bond leveled up as they used mana. So the more Bond Skills you used, the more Bond levels you would get, and a Bond also evolved three times based on its level. 

The first time was at level 30. The second evolution was at level 80. And one final time at level 150.

She quickly checked her mana levels to see how she was holding up and how hard she could train like this.

It seemed like ‘Spirit Merge’ consumed about 2 mana a second to maintain, bringing Scarlet’s passive mana regeneration down to 10 mana per second. It was a sizable hit for her, but most people would barely be able to maintain equilibrium with basic enchanted items.

Her [Arcane Magic Resistance] really was a cheat skill.

Scarlet stretched herself about, getting a feel for the changes to her body. She felt lighter. She was probably faster too, though she couldn’t tell by how much, since it didn’t get displayed to her in the soul’s built in status check. She’d need to test that out sometime. But for now, her skills.

“Alright, let’s start with [True Sight].” Scarlet said. Branwen agreed and drew on Scarlet’s mana in order to enhance her sight.

Instantly, Scarlet’s vision became crystal clear, despite the room having barely a single scrap of moonlight coming in through the window. Scarlet blinked as she looked around the room, seeing the world as if it was the middle of the day.

No. Her vision was better than that.

Glancing out the window, she found she could see the individual segments on the Slave Camp’s walls. She could even make out the night guards, sitting lazily on their posts, yawning widely. 

Scarlet checked her mana reserves again and found that this was consuming another 1 mana a second. Cheap when compared to the cost of using [Body Enhancement Magic] to do something similar, and this was more effective as well.

“So cool!” Scarlet said cheerfully as she looked about. “Forget ‘Eagle Eyes’. This is way better.”

(It is. Isn’t it.) Branwen said, happy for the praise. (But this isn’t all it can do. Get a load of this!) 

Scarlet blinked as suddenly a filter was placed over her vision and spectrums of light she hadn’t seen before. But as she compared them to her [Mana Sense] she started to understand what she was looking at.

“We can see mana?” Scarlet exclaimed in surprise. 

But that wasn’t all. Suddenly, her vision lurched, and she found herself looking down at herself from above, while still seeing through her own eyes as well. Then she wasn’t just looking at herself from 3rd person, she was also looking down at her house from a bird’s eye view. And another one appeared, showing her Judith’s room, the maid laying there in a mess with an uncharacteristic line of drool coming from her mouth.

“This… this is the ultimate scouting skill.” Scarlet said as she took it all in. “Isn’t this a little broken for a level one skill?”

[Branwen has reached level 2.]

[Branwen has reached level 3.]

...Huh? 

“Branwen stop! Cut the power! Cut the power!” Scarlet panicked as she noticed her mana levels dropping like a rock. 1670 units of mana were consumed in 8 seconds. “That was close.” Scarlet said, feeling a little faint as her mana levels dipped below 50.

(Sorry. I overdid it.) Branwen said sheepishly. 

“Don’t feel bad. I got overly excited too.” Scarlet said with a shake of her head. It seemed that while [True Sight] was cheap at its base level, using it for seeing mana and looking through other perspectives ate through mana extremely quickly. She'd have to experiment with it later to see by how much. “At least you got some good experience out of it. Let’s wait a little while for my mana to recharge and then we can try something else.”

(Alright.)

Two minutes later, Scarlet was back at peak condition and ready for more.

“Let’s try to use the [Necrotic Claw] this time.” Scarlet suggested, picking up a piece of enchanted cloth from one of her early experiments. Working together, Scarlet and Branwen used [Necrotic Claw] on the cloth, which deteriorated a little bit. 

(It… Didn’t do that much.) Branwen said, embarrassed.

“No, it was great!” Scarlet said with a shake of the head. “It looks like we are doing necrotic damage with our touch, which isn’t very good against something non living, but most monsters don’t have any resistances to it. And since we aren’t injuring ourselves, we must be resistant to necrotic damage ourselves, which is super useful.” 

(Really?) Branwen said, Scarlet feeling the little bird perking up inside of her own body.

“Yeah!” Scarlet said, looking inward towards her mana reserves again. “Seems like it takes about 100 mana. That’s only about as much as a Tier 2 spell, but the damage it can do to monsters should be the real deal.”

(That’s great!)

Yes, it was great. ...But again, wasn’t it a bit much for a tier 1 skill? 

It should permeate through the body the same way as a heal spell, only using necrotic mana instead of life mana. Even if it costs the same as ‘cure small wounds’, damaging something is easier than mending it, and Bond Skills were said to be more effective than General Skills.

Now that she had mastered it, Scarlet’s basic ‘cure small wounds’ spell could heal for about 50 health. She couldn’t even guess how much damage [Necrotic Class] could do. She might be able to kill the average man in a single hit.

They let 5 year olds get access to this kind of power?

(What do you think will happen if we put more mana into it?) Branwen asked.

“...Let’s save that for another time. Not something to try out in the house.” Scarlet said. “The final skill you have unlocked so far is [Song of the Earth]. Want to give it a shot?”

(Let’s.) Branwen quickly agreed.

Scarlet just did what felt natural and started to sing a low hymn. The rhythm of it was catchy, reminding her of that one opening song from that Elder Scrolls game. It could be sung in a basically endless loop, and as she sang it, she could feel it generating life mana and healing her of her exhaustion. If she had wounds, they would have probably healed those as well.

[Branwen has reached level 4.]

“It seemed to be an area of effect healing spell that heals continuously.” Scarlet said as she cut the power and took stock after using the skill for 15 seconds.

The skill appeared to be burning about 25 mana a second, on top of the 2 required to simply maintain Spirit Merge.

“It’s good… but a bit on the expensive side.” Scarlet said, scratching her chin. It seemed to be the equivalent of casting a ‘cure light wounds’ spell every second, but you never really needed that kind of healing.

...Or did you.

Remembering something, Scarlet got up and went to her closet, pulling out a set of clothes she had just recently been working on.

She had known that getting her new Bond would mean an increase in mana costs, if she wanted to continue to train her general magic skills while leveling her Bond up as well. So she had prepared newer, higher level enchanted clothes in preparation for that.

Only, rather than clothes for constant use, these were a mere training set.

While wearing them, Scarlet could give a command to cause them to start to absorb mana into her for three seconds before stopping, giving her a chance to recover before doing it again.

After ten hours with it going on and off, she had leveled up her [Arcane Mana Resistance] up 1 level. With her only able to do a loop every 2 minutes, as she needed to cast 3 100 mana cost spells to catch up to the damage, with only her staff to make up for the loss of her equipment regen.

But if she had constant healing coming in, that meant she could train with a constant amount of damage. She could train 40 times faster.

(Are you sure you want to do this?) Branwen asked.

“Definitely. Not only will it let me have a higher level of [Arcane Mana Resistance] for later, but it will also power level you up too.” Scarlet said. “If it becomes too much, the enchantments were shut off by themselves, so there isn’t any real danger. So let’s go! No pain, no gain!”

(Alright, I’m right behind you!) Branwen said, shouting her encouragement.

Putting on the entire set, Scarlet activated it and felt the mana rushing it.

This new set was Tier 6 mana regeneration, triple the power output of the Tier 5 she had before, giving her a total mana regeneration rate of 36 mana per second, and causing her to sustain a large amount of damage every second that it was active.

Her entire body felt like it was on fire, but Scarlet pushed through, starting to use the [Song of the Earth] to repair the damage as quickly as it was being stacked onto her. She was aware of Branwen’s consciousness there with her, feeling the pain she felt.

She almost stopped because of that. She didn’t want to hurt Branwen, so she was planning on stopping and just continuing this kind of training without the use of Spirit Merge, but Branwen sensed this and urged her to continue.

(Don’t stop for me! If you are doing this, then I am going to do it with you!) Branwen said. (Let’s get stronger together!)

A tear of happiness came through the pain as Scarlet felt that Branwen was truly with her. “Right. We’ll get stronger. So strong that we will blast straight through the moon!”

And so the two continued to press forward against the ocean of pain, long into the night, singing their [Song of the Earth].

[General Skill: Arcane Mana Resistance has reached level 32 | Rewards: +1 Health, +1 Mana, +2 Fortitude]

[General Skill: Pain Resistance has reached level 50 | Rewards: +2 Fortitude]

[General Skill: Recovery has reached level 42 | Rewards: +2 Health, +1 Fortitude]

[General Skill: Singing has reached level 53 | Rewards: +1 Charisma, +1 Artistry]

[Branwen had reached level 20]

“Wow, you sure did grow a lot.” Scarlet said after they had canceled their Spirit Merge in the morning and saw that Branwen was now about the size of a normal raven. While standing, Branwen’s head was level with Scarlet’s hip, and her wingspan was as wide as Scarlet was tall.

(Well, you did feed me a lot of mana last night. Of course I would grow quickly.) Branwen said, puffing out her chest.

It was true. They had spent over 600,000 mana in that single night. As much as most children would be able to spend in their first 5 years with their bond, without the help of mana regeneration enchantments. And that was being generous. Though with basic enchanted equipment, like those used by the normal Priests, it was only about 4~6 days worth, depending on how much the individual sleeps and if they were diligent about spending every drop.

Still, it was a lot for just 8 hours. It was no wonder that Branwen’s levels had skyrocketed. With how things were going, they were probably only two more nights away from seeing her evolve for the first time.

‘I am so glad I went into enchanting early.’ Scarlet congratulated herself on her own smart decision. 

During the process, she had also unlocked two additional Bond Skills. 

[Messenger] allowed Branwen to speak normally from her beak, if she felt like it. It did use up mana as a means of creating sounds that her beak wasn’t supposed to be able to make, but the mana cost was almost inconsequential.

She just preferred speaking mind-to-mind, as it felt more intimate and came more naturally.

As for [Control Wind Currents], they didn’t get much of a chance to test it out, but it seemed like it would be good for controlling oneself in the air once they start flying.

(How many more nights do you think it will be before you can wear the Tier 6 equipment freely?) 

“Well, given that we grew 6 levels last night, and the requirement curve… I’d guess we got another 20 more of those before I can wear them comfortably. Assuming we just have to get [Arcane Mana Resistance] to level 50.” Scarlet said and then laughed. “But by that time, you will have already evolved, and we might need more mana still.”

(Just make sure that we always have a safety net.) 

“Yeah. I know. We’ve only got one life here. No do overs. But that is exactly why we need to get as strong as possible.” Scarlet said with a nod of her head. “I still don’t have the materials needed to create Tier 7 equipment. Even Tier 6 has been a stretch.”

Her Tier 6 equipment was pretty low quality. Otherwise, she could have probably made some with double the current mana regeneration on it. But in order to do it, she would need Magic Crystals, the higher tier of Magic Stones. Unfortunately, because of their potency, Magic Crystals were regulated by the government. So even if she had the money, she couldn’t get any. Her attempts to create them artificially had also ended in failure due to lack of proper resources, as those were regulated as well.

...Not that she didn’t appreciate it when the government actually did their job of keeping the community safe from dangerous elements, but they really were a pain in her ass sometimes.

Scarlet paused in her thoughts as she heard what sounded like an odd purring sound, and turned her head to see Branwen shaking herself, with her feathers puffed out.

“Are you tired?” Scarlet asked her partner.

(N...No. Of course not. What would make you think that I am...) Another purr-like sound exited her.

“If you need to sleep, just sleep. It’s alright. You had a long night.” Scarlet said in a comforting voice.

(Will… Will you stay with me while I sleep?) Branwen asked, seeming embarrassed.

“...Sure. I’ll be by your side the whole time.” Scarlet assured her.

(...Okay then. I’ll just be… a few minutes.) Branwen said as her eyes slowly shut.

Scarlet lifted up the bird and tucked her into her own barely ever used bed to rest. Then she grabbed the same stool her mother used to sit on when she was a baby and brought it close by, pulling out some cloth to stitch together while she sat before Branwen.

Even the melody that her mother had often hummed came to Scarlet as she got to work on making the resistance training equipment she wanted.

Her mother came up to check on her an hour later, and squealed in delight at the scene.

Honestly, sometimes her mother was such a child.

Hubert Scolz sat in his armchair at the Mage’s Guild, absentmindedly stroking the back of his tomcat Bond as he stared out the window, watching the world go by. “I can hear his footsteps in the hall already.” Hubert said with a sigh, his cat looking up at him. “That man will never change.”

There was a knock on the door. A polite knock. Probably going to be the last polite thing there was going to be here for the next hour or so.

“You can come in. The door isn’t locked.” Hubert said, and watched as the Archbishop, Joshua O'Moriarty, opened the door and entered the room, along with his shaggy St. Bernard, the dog looking as dopey as ever. The gentle, grandfatherly face he showed the rest of the world had been replaced by the face of a angry school teacher moments away from beating someone’s head in with a ruler. Just the way he remembered it. “Please, take a seat. I prepared your favorite tea. It’s gotten a little cold, but I honestly expected you sooner.”

“I see. You knew I would find out then.” Joshua said, taking the seat and checking the tea. Twenty years and the man still couldn’t make a decent cup of tea.

“I’m going to assume you are talking about Scarlet, my student’s student. You saw her at the awakening ritual, became curious, looked into it enough to see that I am indirectly connected and now you are here to ask me what I know.” Hubert summarized. 

“Indirectly connected? Do you expect me to believe that you don’t have your hand in this?” Joshua said in a reproachful tone.

“I’ve never even seen the girl’s face, and have only ever gave my student some pointers on lesson plans.” Hubert insisted.

“The girl has been practicing the [Arcane Mana Resistance] skill. Your tag skill, if I recall.” Joshua accused.

“So she has discovered that one already, has she? Can’t say I’m surprised. Girl is crafty as they come. Craftier than even I am.” Hubert said, running his hands through his beard with a smile, until he saw the other man’s face. “Why can’t you just believe me. I’ve never met the girl, nor am I her teacher. I’ve barely done anything other than observe from a far and fill out paperwork.” He said in exasperation.

“If you want me to believe you, then take off the ridiculous disguise.” Joshua said curtly. 

Hubert gave him a dirty look before his entire form seemed to simply dissolve around him into a black liquid soup. The stuff slowly started to run off of his body in order to reveal smooth, creamy blue skin. The white hair was replaced by a mane of midnight blue with a pair of horns poking out from underneath and his beard disappeared entirely, causing him to look like he was in his late teens, rather than his actual forties. 

His hand once again moved to his Bond, only now the cat had revealed its true form, being a wiry monstrosity that only bore a somewhat similar shape to a cat, with six legs, black leathery skin, massive glass eyes and horns growing from its head. Small tendrils growing out of its back touched the hand that pet it.

A Displacer Beast.

“Better” ‘Hubert’ said with an annoyed smile as he glared at his old traveling companion with pitch black eyes.

“It’s how I remember it.” Joshua said, as he looked into the face of half demon from his traveling days, Typhus. 

Even though he was masquerading as a mere 4th Tier Elemental Magician, his true identity was Typhus, one of the ten companions of King Edmer during his adventuring days, alongside Joshua. And after all of the hells that they went through together under that suicidal idiot, he had grown to a Tier 7 Class. 

The Tier 7 Illusion Magic Class, Shadow of Shadows.

“Don’t be getting too jealous of my everlasting good looks. It’s not like I’m allowed to show my face in public. Not with the hate stiffy for demon kin that your wonderful church keeps spreading around.” Typhus said with a huff, taking his tea and drinking it in a single swallow. “Ah, that’s the good stuff.” He said before pouring himself some more. Clearly the taste buds of a half-demons were simply different from those of a human.

When he was still just a child, Typhus had been a thief who had broken into the Royal Palace to steal from the royal treasury. He succeeded and even managed to escape, but Joshua and the rest of Edmer’s party managed to track him down pretty quickly.

It wasn’t that hard to find a street urchin trying to exchange royal jewels for massive quantities of food. Actually catching the slippery bastard was a pain though.

...Only, rather than making the boy face justice, Edmer took a liking to the half-demon. So instead of the death penalty, he was collared and made to serve as a traveling companion on his many ventures. Though that probably seemed about the same as a death penalty to most people. 

Joshua had disapproved, but that initial disapproval didn’t last long and could be considered water under the bridge. It wasn’t that Typhus was evil, so Joshia forgave him for his ill behavior in his youth. No, there was a different reason that they didn’t get along.

“I’m telling you the honest truth. I have never met the girl in person, and have had very little influence on her. Even Willy only really teaches her theory classes, and she never accepts theory without proof. The girl is just an honest to god super genius.” Typhus said, taking out binder and putting it on the table. “Here is a list of all the contributions the girl has made to the fields of magic and industry over the last 2 years. She works under the name ‘Rebecca Garza’ whenever she publishes or patents something, and I arrange it.”

“...And this girl just so happened to become connected to someone close to you?” Joshua said in disbelief as he looked over a record that would look pretty good on someone requesting a full professorship.

“The Mother weaves as she chooses. Who are we to question the pattern?” Typhus said with a shrug. Suggesting that fate was the true ringmaster here.

“...I suppose she does.” Joshua said with a sigh, remembering the girl’s Bond. While Bonds came in all sizes, shapes, colors and species, pure white bonds were exceedingly rare and almost always belonged to important figures in history. And on top of that, the white raven was closely associated with Mother Earth. “Is she to be the next Oracle?”

A heavy air descended onto Typhus and Joshua as they remembered the last person they knew of to have received a pure white Bond.

“Don’t go rushing off trying to protect her.” Typhus said after a moment of silence. “She’s a smart girl. As smart as Jess was. But if we don’t let her handle her problems by herself now, she won't be prepared to take care of herself in the future. Tough times make tough women.”

Joshua glared at the man, but the glare was short lived as his face fell back down to his own clasped hands. “Gods, please watch over them carefully this time.”

DyslexicWriter

Remember that leveling requirements grow exponentially. So unless Scarlet gets more mana regeneration to feed Branwen, or starts hunting monsters to train that way, it will take her 1 week to reach level 30, but then 175 years going at the same rate to reach level 80. I guess if she goes from doing it 8 hours a day to 24 hours a day that would be more like 59 years, but that is still an extremely long time.

Yes I gave her basically inflict wounds as one of her Bond Skills, and I think any of us who play D&D can agree that 3d10 necrotic damage is stupid powerful for a level 1 spell.

Damn Death Cleric. You scary.