Mystique

I apologise this is so late, my RR readers know this but I suffer from a chronic illness. Sometimes it severely sets me on my ass. This was one of those times. I've recovered for the most part so we should be back on schedule.

“Again!” a rough voice ordered.

Liliana groaned as she stood again. Her body ached in ways she didn’t think it could. She was dressed in scratchy clothes, though she appreciated being able to wear pants again. When she’d come the first day in a tea gown, Silas had laughed at her and thrown a man's tunic and trousers at her. They were a bit big, but Astrid had tailored them to fit her far better. She had promised to have proper outerwear made for her, but until then Liliana had to suffer in these clothes.

Suffered? Three and a half weeks in a new world and I’m already becoming a spoiled brat, Liliana mused as she dropped into a fighting stance. She had two wooden training daggers in her hand, the weapon of choice for the day. Silas wanted to try out a few different common weapons to figure out which one worked best for her. So far, she’d been most comfortable with the spear; the daggers were not uncomfortable, however.

Astrid had looked positively scandalized, and yet also a smidgen proud, when Liliana had told the Guard Captain that she didn’t just want to train her stats but also learn how to fight. The man, to his credit, hadn’t protested. In fact, Silas hadn’t treated her any differently from any other recruit, other than training her during the evenings and far from where anyone could see. That had surprised Liliana. While it was quite obvious the man was smitten with Astrid, she hadn’t expected him to agree to train her in secret. While what they were doing was neither illegal, frowned upon, nor outright forbidden, none of them were under any illusions about how the Duke or Duchess would respond if they found out. 

Still, every day, Astrid bundled her out of the manor as the sun made its descent, and Silas was always waiting in their clearing with a wooden weapon in hand. Liliana would never be able to properly thank the man for his teaching. Instead, she tried to show her gratitude by taking every criticism and correction to heart and learning as fast as she could.

Once she was once again in the proper stance, Silas came at her, his speed so fast she could barely follow. And that was with him specifically going slower than normal! Liliana side-stepped, feeling the wind of his passage as she turned to slash his open back. The sound of wood hitting wood filled the clearing as their weapons clashed. Liliana tried to disengage, but Silas bore down with his considerable strength. Liliana struggled to push back, her own muscles screaming from the effort. Yet even if her stats had grown these past weeks, she had no hope of standing toe-to-toe with a Level 250 Guard. As her arms failed her, Liliana lost her balance and fell to the ground once more.

Liliana glared at the system notification even as she gratefully accepted the meager offering. It had been a few days since she got her last point for Strength. In the past weeks, her stats had been growing in leaps and bounds. They’d begun to slow though, and she’d read that ten additional points per stat was the cap per level.

 She’d also read that the time taken to gain stat points at levels past level one increased tenfold, though the book hadn’t said why exactly. She’d already maxed out her Intelligence and Dexterity was right behind it. Wisdom was also nearly there. That was thanks to her resuming her daily class with her governess and being forced to complete problems or answer questions from memory. 

Sadly, other than having experience with her own highschool classes, she had no magical fix to learning. Her Intelligence seemed to be increasing her ability to learn new information, but it certainly didn’t make the lessons any more fun. Somehow, in a world full of magic and a history of grand battles, Justine Beckett still managed to make it boring. Liliana was convinced it was some kind of skill.

“Next time, try to slide my blade off yours instead of attempting to overpower me. You’ll never win a straight Strength battle. So try to disengage or direct your opponent’s momentum and weight away from you,” Silas lectured her as he lowered his own weapons. Liliana huffed but didn’t argue. She knew he was right. He always told her to try to use her opponent’s weight and Strength against them, as she didn’t have much of either yet.

“That’s enough for today. You can barely stand,” Silas declared as Liliana pulled herself back up, her legs shaking in exhaustion. 

“One... more,” Liliana gasped out. She was determined to increase her Speed and her [Dagger Mastery] and [Dual Wielding]. Their training session usually ended like this, Silas refusing to fight her anymore and Liliana stubbornly trying to push on.

“No, you’re too tired to learn anything from it. Do your cool down stretches,” Silas ordered, and Liliana glared half heartedly at the man as she started the stretches. Her body complained at the movements, muscles already tightening from her abuse to them today. By the time she was done, her muscles had relaxed, and she felt like she was made of jelly.

“Looks like the daggers are a good fit for you as a second weapon to the spear, but we’ll have you try out archery tomorrow,” Silas informed her when he saw she was done stretching. He had been talking to Astrid, and the maid’s face was flushed as she hid a smile behind her hand. Liliana smirked at that. They acted like kids on the school grounds with their flirting.

“Archery sounds like fun. It’ll keep people from getting close to me,” Liliana nodded. She was excited to try out yet another new weapon. While practicing new weapons guaranteed pain in her muscles, it also almost guaranteed a new skill every time. And she was becoming addicted to the rush of accomplishment she felt every time she got a new skill or skill level. Who knew seeing your abilities so neatly quantified was so rewarding?

“You’ll never be a close ranged fighter. Spear, to keep your distance and increase your range or ranged weapons would suit you best,” Silas agreed as he looked over her. Despite weeks of hearty meals and workouts, and five new points in Strength, she was still small. She could see some muscles under her skin now, but they were lithe. She would have to put aside any dreams of her becoming a buff Amazonian warrior woman. Her body and the System seemed to think that just wasn’t the path for her. 

This wasn’t the first time they’d had this discussion. Liliana had originally wanted to use a sword like a hero from a tale. The first time she’d fought Silas with one showed her how hopeless it was, with a sword she had no reach. Silas could hit her without consequence while she couldn’t even get close enough to scratch his clothes. They were only practicing daggers as a close combat weapon, since if she tried hand to hand combat she would lose. Not that she hadn’t been trained in it a bit, but she would never be a master at it. 

Spear had been Silas’ first suggestion for her, since it gave her reach she didn’t naturally have, was a quick moving and light weapon that would facilitate the fast moving fighting style she had to adopt. Being small and light meant she would never be a hard hitter, but she could become the kind of fighter who hit fast, and death by a million cuts was still a death. She knew being a straight mage was an option, but getting a mage class and the spells needed was difficult. It didn’t help that mages had low physical stats, since they needed to pump so much into Mana and Mana regen to remain useful in a fight.

“Well, if I can knock them all out before they know what hit them, it’s for the best. And it’ll be cleaner that way too,” Liliana declared primly before she sniffed her sweat-soaked shirt with a disgusted face. Apparently, they didn’t have the magic to stop that particular bodily function. Liliana looked over at Silas, who looked as fresh as if he’d simply been on a leisurely stroll.

Oh, to have the constitution of a level 250 guard, Liliana bemoaned mentally as Silas chuckled at her comment.

“Well, that’s one way to look at it, My Lady,” Silas conceded before holding out a hand for her to grasp. The man pulled her to her feet effortlessly and waited for her to steady before dropping her hand. 

“It’s time for us to get you back to your room, My Lady,” Astrid informed her, the woman walked forward carrying her empty basket. Astrid always brought their dinner with them, and there was always enough to share with the Captain. Despite how recently she’d had her meal, Liliana’s stomach growled, and she flushed as the two adults looked at her with ill-hidden amusement. They wouldn’t laugh at her. She was still a Duke’s daughter after all, but their amusement was clear.

“Can you get me a late-night snack, Astrid?” Liliana entreated and Astrid pretended to think until Liliana’s stomach growled louder and broke the woman’s act.

“Yes, as soon as we have you back in your room, I’ll get you something to eat,” Astrid offered and Liliana nodded. She took the offered cape and threw it over her sweaty training clothes. She lifted the hood and when she was satisfied that all evidence of her activities was hidden, she followed Astrid out of the clearing, Silas behind them. There was nothing to worry about in the forest around the manor, but Silas still insisted on following behind Liliana, just in case.

Heading to and back from her training was the only time Liliana followed Astrid. Her maid kept a lookout for anyone who might notice Liliana coming back sweaty and in men’s clothing. That included most of the servants and her family. There were precious few servants who wouldn’t hesitate to report such unseemly behavior to her father or her stepmother. 

They managed to make it all the way to her room without getting caught, and Liliana gratefully dropped her cloak in her bedroom. She’d have loved to rest in one of the chairs in her sitting room, but as she’d found out the hard way the previous week, Alistair would not hesitate to pop into that room uninvited. Just the other day, she’d found a garter snake in her parasol that had been left in the room. It was non-venomous thankfully, but both Liliana and the poor reptile had been scared shitless. 

Good way to find out that I have an almost preternatural ability to calm and soothe animals, though, Liliana thought as she shrugged off her sweaty clothes, leaving them piled in the corner of her bathroom. She had managed to calm the snake down and by the time she had taken it outside to release the poor creature; it had wrapped around her wrist like a living bracelet and seemed reluctant to leave her. 

The tub filled quickly with magically heated water and Liliana sank into the soapy water with a sigh of relief; the heat working on her tired muscles. They’d moved her daily bath to the evening, so she didn’t have to go to sleep covered in dirt and sweat.

Astrid’s magical fingers started working on her thick hair, and Liliana practically melted into the water. With a thought, she pulled her stat sheet to see her progress. 

Not bad. Can’t believe getting whacked with a wooden weapon a million times would count towards Vitality but hey, if it works. Liliana rubbed at one such bruise on her thigh. One of many that covered her today. Astrid would use one of the plethora of poultices she kept with her at all times now to get rid of it before she went to bed. If it weren’t for that magical balm, someone would’ve caught on to her activities in a few days, she’d been covered in bruises after her first few training sessions. Her dresses might cover a lot, but it didn’t cover everything. Like her arms, neck and face, which were rarely spared bruises. Apparently, Health regen did nothing to help with bruises, or sore muscles for that matter. 

Her Magic Control had even raised past where Intelligence should have put it. Liliana had found in her research that one could increase their Magic Control by, well... controlling their magic. Magic Power increased by dumping more power into a spell than it called for. Though from what she’d read, such things could cause a spell to destabilize and explode. 

Depending on the spell and amount of Mana pushed into it, you could have a reaction to anything from burnt eyebrows to leveling a city at high enough levels. It was cautioned to only try to increase Magic Power while in an appropriately warded area or under the supervision of a teacher. Magic Control, however, was not dangerous to practice, and the skill Liliana had gotten, [Mana Manipulation], let her raise the stat slowly alongside the skill. 

She looked over the rest of her raised stats with pride. Granted, the Dexterity increase was a result born more of her embroidery work than her physical training. Embroidery was still the best way to increase the stat throughout the day. No one found anything odd about a noble woman doing embroidery. 

Her Speed and Stamina had increased quite a bit, mostly a result of her running away from Silas and his painful wooden weapons. She still couldn’t even come close to the man's Speed, but she was certainly faster than she had been. She was certain she was faster than a lot of level one mobs in the area even. Silas had confirmed her information that their area had a lot of low-level mobs, mostly because the Guard would cull anything that was too high. There were slimes in the forest, rabbits, squirrels, foxes, deer, even a wolf pack that just teetered on the line of being too high level. But they left people alone, so the Guard didn’t mind them. 

Liliana had decided to go out to fight Slimes as soon as she could. Astrid had been resistant to the idea at first, but she was coming around to it now that Liliana had actually progressed. Silas had thought it was a good idea, the new Guard recruits were usually sent out to cull the low level mobs once a month or so. He didn’t think there was anything within several hours walk that could give Liliana any issues. 

Liliana dismissed the Status Sheet and pulled up the next one. 

A list of skills displayed themselves to her and Liliana let out a happy sigh, blowing bubbles away from her face. She had worked hard for her skills and she was proud of them. She had several combat skills, mostly from her trying out new weapons. Spears and polearms had been her favorite so far, and they’d use them the most. Daggers were a close second, though. She’d been upgraded from one to two to increase her damage potential. 

Her eyes slid down to her Spells, and she tapped her fingers in excitement. She had managed to get into the hidden room in the library one night and had found the hidden spell [Light Burst]. It was technically a high level spell, as to have the Affinity it required usually meant you were at a much higher level, but Liliana had gotten blessed by a Goddess and her affinity far exceeded the requirement. That Spell was a secret. No one knew her affinities as she wasn’t even supposed to have them at level 1. 

The other spell she had learned from a book in the same hidden room. There had been several books dedicated to different magic types, but the one dedicated to Bonding had drawn her. It had given her a lot of information on the magic type. She’d been right. It was meant to bond a person to a creature, though it could also bond people. Not that Liliana ever planned to use that specific branch of the magic. It let you share power between two people, but it also shared emotions and thoughts. And Liliana didn’t trust anyone enough to do that, so it was firmly in the ‘NOPE’ corner of her mind. 

No, what interested her was the Bonding to creatures. It had gone into great detail about the process, and Liliana felt she’d learned enough to actually make a contract. Making the Contract was fairly easy. All ‘Tamers’ as they were labelled, could set up their own standard contract that would be used for taming, or even make several. A basic one, as outlined in the book, would bind the Soul of the Tamer and the Creature together, letting them share abilities. 

The Tamer would give a portion of their Mana a day to the creature, which would empower them and enable them to evolve and progress. Like humans, magical creatures could Rank Up, but when they did, there were usually physical changes that would come about. To Rank Up they usually needed a surplus of Mana to fuel the change. Typically, they got it by living in Mana rich areas or consuming Mana from things they killed. 

Humans apparently gave the most Mana, which was why many creatures attacked them. Forming a Bond let the creatures get the desirable human Mana with less risk. In exchange, the Creature pledged their life to the Tamer. Some Tamers pledged their life too, or added things like a certain amount of food to be provided a day. It varied based on the type of Bond, the Tamer themselves and sometimes the creatures. 

Higher ranked creatures had a degree of intelligence, increasing with their levels and Ranks, and could even modify a contract to add in things they wanted. Liliana had found a basic contract in the book and several days of crumpled paper and ink-stained fingers saw her with her own Contract. As soon as it had been properly created, the page had disappeared and the Spell had been added to her abilities.

It was all incredibly interesting and the more she learned, the more Liliana loved the magic. She had read the books on Light and Life magic, and while both were interesting, neither held the same draw for her that Soul magic did. No, that one, no pun intended, called out to her soul. She couldn’t wait until she made her first contract.

Liliana was dragged out of her thoughts when Astrid pulled her to her feet, her bath done. Several minutes later, Liliana was in her nightgown and in her bed, waiting for Astrid to return with the promised late-night snack. 

Liliana closed her eyes and, like every other night for the past week, she reached for her Mana. It was easier this time to find the small ball of light. It was a blue that matched her eyes, and she wasn’t sure if that was just the color of Mana or if it was impacted by her. Either way, it responded eagerly when she tugged on a bit of it to come into her hand.

Focusing on the warmth in her hand as the Mana gathered, Liliana tried to imagine a small flickering flame there. She hadn’t succeeded in any of her previous attempts. She was fairly certain it was a result of her having no Fire affinity. Yet her dreams of being a fireball wielding mage wouldn’t let her quit. When the Mana stayed in her hand and didn’t turn into anything new, Liliana opened her eyes with a huff of annoyance. 

I know I’m stubborn, but a week with no results is ridiculous. Maybe I should try something else? Liliana thought in defeat. She closed her eyes with a forlorn sigh and focused instead on the Mana becoming a ball of bright light, like a miniature sun, in her palm. She could feel the Mana reacting to her wish, more was drawn into her hand until she felt like she had lost half her Mana when it seemed to condense tightly and push up from her skin. 

Light leaked through her eyelids and Liliana opened them, only to shut them with a curse when the bright light blinded her. She frantically tried to dim the light like she would with the little lamp balls around the manor and the ball of light thankfully dimmed. Opening her eyes and blinking away the spots, Liliana looked at the floating light in her palm. It was no bigger than a marble and it was still pulling Mana from her at a slow rate, but it was there. She had just made her own spell!

Liliana grinned at the level up on Mana Manipulation. It had been leveling at a steady pace since she had been trying to make fireballs for a week now. Instinctively, Liliana used [Identify] on the new skill.

Liliana accepted the new skill happily. It wasn’t a combat spell, but she would never be without light again! The actual skill used far less of her Mana than it had taken to learn the Spell. She checked her Mana and saw it was down to 100 and dropping as she channeled the skill. With a thought, she canceled it and the room returned to its normal brightness. 

Looks like making new spells is Mana intensive, but they get streamlined when the system grants them to you, Liliana mused, grabbing the journal by her bed to note down the failed and then successful experiment and her findings. The journal was over half filled now, all of it in English. It was filled with information she had on her family, her experiments with mana, and her findings with her stats and skills, along with any notes or information she found pertinent to her researching. She found it easier to remember all the new information when it was written down neatly. 

I should probably focus on trying to make new Light, Life or Soul skills. Since it’s probably impossible to make a spell for a magic, I have no affinity to. And I can’t go to a church to have a new affinity unlocked, it would cost money. That I don’t have. Liliana groaned at the reminder. Despite being a rich Duke’s daughter, she herself had no money. She could sell some of her clothes or jewelry, but she had no idea where to sell them, and if her stepmother found out, she’d probably get in trouble. Which led her back to the issue of having absolutely no money. Which she would need if she hoped to eventually escape the suffocating family she’d found herself a part of.

Silas said that the new recruits get to keep any monster parts they get from killing them, and that they can make a few coppers from it. Maybe I can do that? Or are there useful herbs or plants in the area I could collect and sell? Liliana pondered, and she added the options to her to-do list. ‘Make Money’ had been added recently when she’d figured out she herself was poor, even if her family was not. Money made the world go round after all, and if she had a hope of becoming powerful, she’d need money. Money for gear, money for travel, money for food. Money for everything. She couldn’t guarantee her father would give her an allowance, actually she could almost guarantee he wouldn’t. 

Well, if I come home with a powerful Bond he’ll probably give me money, her mind whispered and Liliana frowned. That was true, and one of the plans she had. If she could find a strong enough creature within a few days' trip of her home, she could form a Bond with it and come back. Her father would certainly favor her if she showed herself to be powerful or a prodigy. He was always looking for ways to better their family’s social standing, and a prodigy would do that. The only issue was finding said creature, getting to it, and somehow surviving long enough to form a Bond with it. And if it was strong enough to impress her father, it would also be strong enough to kill her easily.

There was no level requirement to Bonding specific creatures, theoretically a level 1 could Bond a Rank 1 level 600 creature. But the creature would gain no benefit from such a Bond and would probably find it offensive. Normally you Bonded something within your Rank or maybe one above. Any further and the creature likely wouldn’t accept and you’d die when it turned on you.

But if Liliana wanted to gain favor, she’d need a creature no less than a Rank higher than her, preferably two or even three Ranks up. To do that, she’d need to level first, to have a hope of surviving such an encounter. 

Liliana shut her notebook when she heard her door opening and as the smell of warm pork reached her, her stomach woke once more and declared for all to hear that it required its tithe post haste.