27 A Temporary Home (1/2)

Rainer already regretted the decision to take a roundabout way as they walked in the forest. However, his complaining thoughts ignored his lack of money and that it wasn't so much a decision but a necessity. Made even more so apparent as Kara explained why she had a conflict with the Baron.

”He was quite irritating. Especially since he inherited his position quite early as his father retired to prepare for his 2nd class Quest,” Kara said as she explained her conflict with the very city they were heading to. ”It wasn't too much of an issue until I wrongly assumed he was even a fraction as capable as his father. He tried to grab my tail, and I threw my drink at him. But being the incapable one that he is he got cut with glass. We left immediately after and I do not know if I am wanted in the city.”

”What do you think the chances are that his father has reached the 2nd class by now?”

”None at all. He'll likely train and prepare for several more years if not decades before he attempts it. Even then he'll probably fail as a vast majority do.”

Kara herself was worried about Rainer wanting to try it so soon after hitting Level 25. Rainer's primary goal was to return to Nalmar in time to finish the quest, but even with all his abilities beyond his powerful class she couldn't help but worry.

Luna being able to go with him and him wanting to stay in town to train for as long as he could are the things that stopped her from outright kidnapping Rainer and holding him hostage for 6 months. That and the insanity of such an action. Either way, she'd try to convince him when they finally settled into town to abandon the quest. Gunthar had come with them; there was little reason in her mind to return.

”Then who cares. Not even mentioning you, but I doubt there is anyone below the 2nd class as strong as me when under [Arcane Rage].” He said while rechecking his improved level 25 status.

[Primary Classes: Arcanist Lvl 25/25]

[Titles: Arcane Scholar, Fae Contractor, Arcane Elementalist, Dungeon Pioneer, Philanderer, Trollsbane, Immortal Slayer, Wielder of Space and Time]

[Exp: XX]

[Sub-classes: None]

[Race: Human]

[Skill Points: 17]

[Talents: Excellent Arcane Affinity, Human Growth, Gift of the Fae(Luna)]

[Stamina: 15/16]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 63/63(67)]

[Mana Regen: .0048 per second]

[Arcane Power: 36/36]

[Conversion Ratio: 1-8]

[Arcane Aura: 5/5]

[Constitution: 13(+2)]

[Affinity: 67]

[Vitality: 12(+2)]

[Endurance: 14(+2)]

[Strength: 14]

[Dexterity: 14]

[Intelligence: 65(+2)]

[Willpower: 24]

[Arcane Attunement: 36]

[Aura Control: 5]

[Aura Attunement: 5]

[Attribute points: 6]

”Sorcerer, are you referring to that ability of yours that causes your magic to surge and you to glow with its power?”

”Yeah at full power it increases my attributes by 80 or more percent,” Rainer said hoping to surprise Gunthar again, but to his disappointment, he immediately changed the subject. Though in paying attention to Gunthar Rainer had missed how Kara's eyes lit up at the revelation.

”It should be useful in training your aura then. Either way, we need to start with the basic Aura skills.” Gunthar responded quite commonly, though his lack of facial expressions as a skeleton hid any visible emotions.

As they talked, Kara took the lead through the forest on the lookout for anything of concern. It was Rainer's assumption that the reason there were already parties of higher level hunters nearby was because there was a monster that required their attention.

Though now the dungeon had taken away their attention from such a thing.

”Aura can be divided into 4 primary skills. Manipulation, Cladding, Manifestation, and Enhancement. Manipulation is the general control of Aura and is required for every other skill we will…”

”I already have General Aura Manipulation.”

”Then Cladding…” Gunthar said without missing a beat.

”I already have Cladding,” Rainer said as he covered his hand in a thin amount of Arcane Aura. Different from direct Manipulation this Aura was only visible to those who can detect it.

”Then Enhancement!”

”I don't have that yet.”

”Hah!” Gunthar triumphantly pointed at Rainer before he realized he hadn't won anything. Rather Rainer just ignored years of Gunthar's hard work and now he'd have to watch it all over again with Enhancement and Manifestation. In this case, he'd just prefer if Rainer knew them all already.

”I assume you used that strange sleeping ability of yours. Then I will simply explain and demonstrate everything before we move on to something else and you can just practice it, while...sleeping…” The frustration in Gunthar's voice was evident.

He had to a degree looked forward to actual training with Rainer, but now it seemed he would be little different than a talking book. The idea of Rainer's Academy came to mind brightening his mood back up.

”All Aura skills are based on these four. Kara's skill to lighten her blades is a combination of Enhancement and Cladding. My Aura blade I've modeled after your magic is based primarily on Manifestation and Manipulation.”

”Cladding is at its base to mold aura as a protective force around you, but it can be repurposed. Kara clads her blades and then uses enchantment on that clad to alter the weight in the simplest terms. Manifestation wields the aura in an offensive manner. Enhancement increases the power of the body or changes the property of Aura. Manipulation is at the center of all of this and brings the Aura forward or shapes it.

Gunthar had Kara demonstrate Enhancement a few times as Rainer looked on with [Aura Detection]. This continued as the group made their way forward until nightfall. Gunthar showed his Aura Blade a few times for Rainer to watch, but Rainer would focus his [Sleep Learning] on his enhancement.

They found a large enough clearing where they could make camp. Gunthar would stay on guard the whole night needing no sleep as an undead allowing Rainer and Kara to rest as they pleased. Though just before they went to sleep Rainer needed to check something.

”Gunthar spar with me.”

Gunthar shot over excited, but Rainer seeing that immediately clarified.

”I just need you to test if my Cladding is stronger than it should be. I have 5 Aura control and Attunement along with level 3 in the Cladding skill.”

”Punch me in the chest with an Aura Clad fist, use a single point of aura in cladding it,” Gunthar said slightly disappointed though he was curious in what exactly Rainer wished to test.

Rainer did as told, and Gunthar clad himself in Aura. Having [Bare-Fist Fighting] at level 1, Rainer, while not a fighting expert in any manner Rainer punched quite well. Yet Gunthar budged not an inch, as if a stone wall.

The cladding encompassed not only his skin but also his bone and muscle meaning apart from the minor shock that traveled up his arm Rainer was mostly unharmed.

”I guess it doesn't apply,” Rainer said prematurely seeing Gunthar not even affected. But within Gunthar's head, he couldn't believe how strong Rainer's cladding was with only a single point of Aura.

”I do not know what you mean, but your Aura is beyond abnormal…”

Rainer grew ever more excited concerning his Aura training at the mention of this.

”I guess once more, Sorcerer, that this is a result of your class.”

”Correct,” Rainer said not paying attention and staring at his own fist.

”Well, I have some preparations to make,” Rainer spoke while Kara went off to meditate and Gunthar as well.

As Rainer sat down, he recalled how useful the Arcane Weaved chain was and began creating it once more. He was in no hurry as he weaved the Arcane energies as strong as he could. With the spatial ring, he didn't need to worry about the upkeep as he could just store it away. Though until he could create his own space he'd have to resort to manually taking it out of the ring and not being able to attach it to a spell.

Getting an idea he tried adding in his Aura and while it strengthened the chain, his control over it lessened prompting him to abandon his idea for now. He spent the next hour making the chain as tough as he could manage while also making sure it didn't drain too much Arcane Power to maintain it. Having his Arcane Power depleted just taking the chain out of the spatial ring would certainly not be an ideal situation.

With the sun completely set Kara and Rainer prepared to go to sleep, with Luna already tucked away still tired from her ordeal. Both Rainer and Kara filled the [Incubation Ring] with Mana and Aura. Rainer only gave it a bit of his Arcane Aura and left the rest to fill for Kara per Gunthar's direction.

”Where do you think we should stay once we get in town?” Kara asked as Rainer and her laid together.

”Hopefully I'm right about the higher level parties being here due to a monster hunt. Should be easy enough for us to make enough money and maybe we can buy a house of some sort. It wouldn't be bad to have a place to call home, if only for a little while. I can personally speak with the lord's father. I have an extra [Ring of the Nalmar Knighthood] I can offer. I doubt he'd refuse such a thing given his current goal. I'd rather not have even another enemy unless I need to.”

”That would be enjoyable…”Kara said while closing her eyes and hoping they could stay there longer than he planned. Seeing that Rainer's Aura was even affected by his class made her even more fearful at the trial he would face.

Demons, herself partially included, respected power. She always enjoyed the feeling of Rainer's Arcane power, but this did not mean she wanted him to take such a risk to get stronger.

Late at night, nature called. Rainer got up gently from Kara and nodded to Gunthar still awake on guard before he went into the forest. After sleeping for a few hours, he hadn't had any success with Enhancement. Perhaps because he already learned to clad from internal protection, he struggled to change that into an Enhancing force instead.

Manifestation was even worse from his few experiments. Every time he would just call upon extra Arcane Power instead of Aura. But, he didn't particularly desire this skill. He had a small Aura capacity, and he certainly wouldn't be using it on attacks.

He checked Luna was still sleeping in his pocket before starting his business in the forest.

Immediately after Rainer found himself overtaken with a thought, exploration.

He walked straight into the forest intent on the search for something of interest. Several minutes had passed before Rainer finally understood what was happening. Were it not for his fear of getting lost and his [Mental Resistance] he would not have so easily escaped the implanted thought.

A key point of mind magic is unless you have significant power over the target you cannot get them to do something that deeply disagrees with their personal being, such as getting Rainer to kill himself.

Fira had tapped into Rainer's natural curiosity, but his fear of getting lost was eventually stronger. She had set a trap further ahead of where Rainer was walking, but now she had to act unprepared, they were too close to the town, and she had overheard Rainer's conversation of attempting his 2nd advancement. Though, she missed the part where he would train for a while.

Immediately Rainer activated [Spatial Domain] and [Arcane Rage] shaking off the magic that had been affecting him. He upped it to 21% and empowered his 8 armed [Arcane Bolt]s, something now possible at level 6 of [Arcane Energy Manipulation].

Slowly he extended [Spatial Domain], but felt nothing out of the ordinary, that is until a shard of ice entered his range. Just barely he managed to dodge it with the forewarning, though it shredded through his shirt and caused a small cut on his chest.

”Rainer, What's going on!?” Luna asked as she flew out of his pocket, awakened by the magic.

”A trap...Someone used mind magic on me and led me out here.” He spoke quietly with all his focus on sensing around him. At the same time he then also clad his body with an extremely thin amount of Arcane Aura. Just enough to give him a little extra time to dodge.

Rainer summoned an [Arcane-Fire Bolt] causing Fira in the distance to tense up thinking he found her, but instead he fired it straight into the air causing a resounding boom.

Fira rushed, still hidden by illusion magic and fired two more ice shards before promptly moving to a new position. This time on full alert Rainer fired an Armed [Arcane Bolt] in the direction of the shards, their speed too fast for the automated part of the spell.

The ice shard easily shattered under the force of the Arcane and the bolt slammed into a tree soaring past Fira's original location. Fira's face paled at the strength of such a casual spell, but she continued, confident in her ability to stay hidden.

”Luna, can you find whoever is doing this?” Rainer asked as Mana and Magic detection essentially went haywire only reporting that everywhere around him there was magic and mana.

”I'm sorry Rainer I can't.”

”Just heal me if I get hit and stay inside, protect yourself any way you can.”

Ice shard after ice shard came at Rainer, the speed and strength increasing and decreasing at random causing Rainer to waste magic. Some were even so weak he could have taken them bare skinned and been unharmed. Not being able to realize that quick enough he wasted an armed bolt in any case and had to hastily re-arm another.

Getting pissed off Rainer upped [Arcane Rage] to 56% and poured more mana into [Spatial Domain] expanding it further. In reality, if this went on he'd run out of mana and Arcane power long before he could do anything to his hidden foe. And it seemed that somehow Gunthar didn't get his message yet or he traveled far further than he expected. He tensed his legs in preparation as he activated a localized [Gravity Domain] to only affect his body. Luna sensing the damage occurring to Rainer's body began healing proactively.

The moment the next ice shard came he jumped forward. A chain flew out of his spatial ring as he used yet another armed [Arcane Bolt] to block the shard.

Fira had yet to get far enough away and was caught just at the end of his [Spatial Domain]. The [Spatial Domain] extending beyond the normal senses and couldn't be fooled by an illusion of this caliber. As if attacking thin air Rainer cast an [Arcane Bolt] with the chain attached straight towards his foe.

Fira with her hundred years of age and magical prowess dodged the bolt, sensing it long before it hit her. She, however, had not expected to be caught or for a mage to burst out with such speed. She couldn't understand the opponent she was facing in the slightest. So how could she have predicted the unreasonable magic that would control the bolt to come back and catch her in the chain?

Before she could even react the chain slammed into her back and brought her out of the illusion as she flew toward Rainer.

The [Arcane Bolt] soared past him bringing Fira with it. His Arcane Clad fist slammed straight into her stomach sending her flying back. Fira collapsed a few feet away, and sooner than she could reactivate her illusion, Rainer already controlled the chain to wrap around her completely.

Unhesitantly he tightened the chain until her arms and hands became immobile and then he brought an [Arcane Blade] to her neck.

Gunthar had arrived just in time to see the ending of the fight.

”What the hell happened Sorcerer?” Gunthar said as he ran over replacing Rainer in threatening her with his own sword.

Rainer sat on the ground as Luna continued healing him with her fire.

”Mind Magic and Illusions.”

[Fairy, Female, Illusionist lvl 25]

Just as the Fae was about to speak Gunthar slammed his hand into her head knocking her out and deciding it'd be best to interrogate her with Kara around as well.