74 To New Horizons (1/2)

After Rainer had void-walked his sister back to the mansion following her gain of the translation skill, Sarah had left on her own, interested in watching Kara, Laneth, and Gunthar spar.

Her brother had also told her about his Dragon and apprentice and she was keen on meeting both. Heading out into the courtyard, Sarah briefly tensed at the sight in front of her at least until she noticed that no one else seemed to be bothered.

A large Werewolf glowing with dark blue runic lines and a skeletal figure covered in grey and black musculature faced off against one another. The ground rumbled with every clash, though the fight ended up short-lived. It wrapped up quickly as the fighter, who she now recognized as Gunthar, returned to his original skeletal form.

Sarah noticed that his Aura was depleted; the massive Aura pool she sensed from Kara apparently giving her a huge edge in endurance.

After her grandfather had learned about her skill to enchant herself, he opted to get her combat training from the Qi users of China. The ”System” of this world called the energy she learned about their ”Aura”, and the odd power she sensed in Kara ”Demonic Aura.”

Sarah had tried to learn to use Qi in the past without success, though she had managed to learn how to sense it. She watched with interest as the Werewolf grew smaller.

Kara shifted back, her bracelets' transformation to clothes all but instant.

”Still struggling with the cost?” Kara asked Gunthar. They had yet to finish a duel with Gunthar's new form. Apart from both of them being more durable in their transformed states, the former Sun Elf ran out of Aura too quickly.

”It is proportional to the power of the form, though even with the current cost, I feel as if I have only scratched the surface,” Gunthar responded. He suspected that if he could wield the full power of the stolen Soul, Kara would not be his match, even transformed and using her enchantments.

”Don't think just mastering this will let you catch up,” shifting again, Kara teased in a vibrating voice caused from her werewolf form as if knowing what the Undead was thinking.

For a moment, Gunthar was thankful for his own lack of a living face, though it didn't help hide the tone of his voice. ”I have no such thoughts, little Wolf,”

Both of them continued their duels, Gunthar using only the Aura he could recover with [Battle Meditation] and testing out his recently acquired Fae Soul from the failed assassination attempt. Neither of them wished to travel to the Dragon Isles only to end up as burdens. And so, their training had only increased in severity after they received improvements from Rainer. Both feeling a renewed vigor to reach the 2nd Tier.

Following the continuing duel and with her original goal in mind, Sarah went over to Lilia, only to stop short as she saw the Dragon beside her.

She had already lowered her expectations towards the creature of myth given its current age, but this was a little too much to witness.

Rolled over on her back, Tiamat purred contentedly as Lilia absentmindedly rubbed her belly while reading the book Rainer had given her.

I wonder what other mages would think if they saw one of the so-called Rulers of Mana in such a state…

Sarah thought. It was true that the little dragon had an obscene mana regeneration rate, but…

Suddenly losing interest in studying the Dragon as she had planned to, she opted to instead watch the spars, enjoying them as a third party for entertainment rather than participating herself.

Eventually, she went to find Rainer again and exchange status screens.

Back in his room, Rainer sat in a chair with Luna on his lap. He was beginning to gather his initial thoughts for making another Absolute spell, Luna with him looking on as before, though this time she opted to keep her full size as Rainer worked on the Runic formula.

He was thankful she wasn't too mad at him.

Adding on to that was him explaining that if the System wasn't active on Earth, meaning he would struggle to return, she and Kara were more liable to become experiments for the council than enjoy their time on Earth with him.

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Luna couldn't argue against that reasoning for not bringing her, no matter how much she wished to.

Suddenly gaining courage, she decided to share a bit of her past she kept hidden before. She knew how much it would upset Rainer and had done all she could so that he would not pursue Yulia before he was ready. But with her already dead…

[Heat Resistance lvl 7/10]

[Burn Resistance lvl 6/10]

Luna shared her skills with Rainer, causing him to blanch and do everything he could to restrain his anger. Such was both a benefit and an issue of the familiar bond in that she would fully know what he felt if the emotions were strong.

To gain such a level of resistance would normally be an admirable thing. Something that a person of great willpower suffered through, and trained relentlessly with, in order to achieve grand heights, but forcing such a skill on someone could only be akin to ruthless torture.

He refused to let Luna think that speaking of her past would upset him, and be reluctant about sharing in the future. And Rainer knew his fairy would do exactly that if she knew how furious he was at the soul of Yulia in his ring.

With a silent drawing of his Void Will the anger left him.

He kept his arms around her as she talked about the preparations for nurturing a Faerie Fire to Sacred levels. And how it was Quera who reasoned that it would be better to make Luna forget about the experimental parts and to treat her in a manner that would make her less likely to turn the flame on all of them or try to escape.

Luna herself understood that fairy's actual intentions. Which was what made her struggle even more with the memory of Quera and her eventual death caused by Luna's escape.

Especially the part where she nearly killed Quera with an outburst of uncontrolled flame. She killed three other Fae in charge of her as well in that incident, whose role was keeping up the Princess role she had grown up with. All of whom treated her well, though she never knew whether that was due to compassion or otherwise.

”There is no one to blame but Yulia. Nothing that happened to Quera or anyone else is on you.”

The pair then merely sat in silence, as Rainer brushed Luna's hair with his hand. He wondered how someone so kind could be a result of such twisted circumstances. All he could do now was try to give her a better life, and despite him not minding her attachment to him, he knew that he needed to do more to let her grow out of her over-reliance on his presence.

Following a knock on the door, Luna opted to shrink and take her place in Rainer's hair, the feeling from the familiar bond radiating closeness as she enjoyed her favorite spot with a weight off her chest.

Out in a hallway of the mansion, both Rainer and Sarah sat side by side as Luna looked on from his hair.

”I'll show you mine if you show me yours,” Sarah said, eliciting an eye roll from Rainer as he received her status screen and class in return for his. He was quite happy at having his sister here to distract both him and Luna from recent and past memories.

”Luna too,” the fairy remarked as she showed her class to Rainer's sister. Though for some reason she did not want to show her status screen to either. Something about Luna being a proper maiden went unremarked by the two.

[Manaborne Lvl 1/25 One created under a natural baptism of Mana, who can wield such energy as if another limb. Mana is but another extension of their existence, for their use and for their taking. Mana serves to fulfill their will. +5 Affinity, +1 Willpower per Level past Level 1]

[Name: Sarah Nvos]

[Age: 16]

[Titles: Manaborne]

[Primary Classes: Manaborne Lvl 1]

[Sub-Classes: None]

[Exp: 0%]

[Race: Human]

[Skill Points: 0]

[Talents: True Mana Affinity, Manaborne, Human Growth, Gift of the Fae(Maya)]

[Stamina: 14/14]

[Stamina Regen: .1% per second]

[Mana: 413/413]

[Mana Regen: .0612 per second]

[Constitution: 14]

[Affinity: 72]

[Vitality: 13]

[Endurance: 14]

[Strength: 7]

[Dexterity: 14]

[Intelligence: 72]

[Willpower: 102]

[Attribute points: 0]

”Gift of the Fae…” Rainer spoke, he would never ask this of Maya, no matter the debt between them. In the end, he wasn't sure what he should be most surprised with about Sarah's status screen.

”Maya called me back just before we left and suddenly kissed me. Before I could even retort that I wasn't interested in joining their marriage, I noticed my Mana regen surge.”

”They can only give it out once their entire life…” Rainer remarked with surprise.

”I mean, you saved her wife... really, from what she told me it's not even that big of a deal compared to that. And you already have Luna's, which is probably why they felt bad they couldn't give it to you,” Sarah responded.

”But it's not like I did it for free.”

”What? Some spells in exchange? Writing down something she already knows is hardly a big deal. Besides, would you care why someone did something?”

Rainer already knew the answer to that. Laneth obviously had no idea he was saving Rainer's party members by helping him leave the Fae Realm as quickly as possible. And yet Rainer couldn't care less. For him, it was not the thought that counted.

Was it so hard to believe that it was the same for someone else?

”How are your Intelligence and Willpower so high?” Rainer asked, noticing that tidbit. Along with an endurance and dexterity that surpassed his original ones. He opted not to ask about the absurd amount of Mana, given that she was hiding it at least where [Mana Detection] was concerned.

Sarah resisted making a joke for once, given the reason that Rainer didn't know this was the same reason he was sealed. She also ignored his own class' ability to learn skills extended beyond anything that could be called unfair. Jealousy for him inheriting their grandfather's power had never occurred because of his lack of Mana ability. Though now, there existed a tinge of it.

”An evolution after learning Affinity Attuning and Runes. You form and meditate on certain series of Runes in your Mana Pool to improve your mind and magic. Which in this case would be Intelligence and to a lesser degree, Willpower. Well for most anyways. I had a natural affinity towards Willpower type Rune sets.”

Rainer grimaced. He had found it strange that Yarik could even put up a fight against him when [Arcane Awakening] essentially made him a double [Archon] and with Arcane's naturally ability versus other schools. He attributed it to the joint effort of the other two tier 2 mages, but what if it was something else?

And with how Mage Towers of Gunthar's world and Mage Guilds of this world kept secrets, he all but knew this world had similar methods. Perhaps not as good as his Earth's but they may exist nonetheless.

He even then recalled his inability to use [Mana Reading] on George.

Was it related?

”Stop pouting, you grossly overpowered mage. It was impossible for you before, but with your new Affinity levels plus [Sleep Learning], it shouldn't be hard for you to train it up before trying it out for real. Really, the huge problem with it is that you can lose Mana regen for a few days if you screw up. And since it costs Mana to train with…”

Rainer nodded. At least in this rare case [Sleep Learning] could partially make up for his lack of Mana Affinity. Sarah had never learned the skill despite his grandfather always trying to teach it to his descendants. Only Rainer had managed it, making Fredrick believe it was Arcanist exclusive.

The skill itself required Rainer to learn a Runic formula, but his grandfather had done something else to him when he cast it. Apart from guessing that it is related to the creation of the White Void, Rainer was truly clueless as to what Frederick did.

”And the beginning stages of forming Runes in your Mana Pool has the largest increases. It tapers off fast, unlike Affinity Attuning which is steady. Really, it's how certain Mage families stayed above others. They had more methods than anyone else and could use multiple ones, constantly getting that starting boost.”

Rainer nodded. He still wouldn't get the same effect those with a Mana Affinity could, but it wouldn't be useless.

”Still…250%,” Sarah said, looking at her [True Mana Affinity], ”I don't see how that's big enough to cause such a large problem for you.”

”The difference between a 100-pound bench and a 200-pound bench, versus 200 and 300. Learning and growth are never linear. Among other cases relating to Human progress. Affinity Attuning could be like crossing a wall. Without a boost, no matter how much time I put in, I may never reach the top of the first hurdle and keep falling back down.”

”Hey, did you receive experience for what happened on Earth?” Sarah asked, still thinking over what he said.

”No. Maybe. I don't know. I was a bit pissed at the time. Even if I did, everyone was technically [Classless], so it wouldn't be worth anything.”

Sarah wondered if she should tell him she wasn't actually in any danger but saw no reason to as of now. It isn't as if it would make him any less angry.

A part of her enjoyed how closely he looked after her since the rescue, even if she fully knew she'd get annoyed with it sooner or later. Being the little sister protected by her brother wasn't bad for just a little while.

Especially after the years she spent thinking she'd have to be the new protector of the family after her Grandfather would finally run out of methods to extend his life.

Amer interrupted further conversation as he entered the room. Rainer had asked to be present when he remade his Avatar.

”You want to come?” Rainer asked Sarah.

”Watch the so-called Devil use rituals and magic to split his Soul in two and make a clone body that simultaneously lets him use parallel thought processes?”

”You're right, stupid question.”

Rainer watched with rapt attention as Amer begun the process of building an Avatar. As Amertiyus finished the massive and complex ritual circle, nearly 30 feet in diameter, he sat in the center to calm himself. Another ritual circle, nearly the same, lay across from him.

Numerous Mana crystals dotted the other ritual circle in preparation for creating the second body. Amer had traded some of his knowledge with the Seeker's Circle to acquire them. With Rainer providing an introduction, the exchange was an easy affair.

Sarah stood off the side, interested in this new form of Magic. A modern mage society had of course done away with the concept of 'evil' magic, except for certain organizations. A ritual circle was nothing new to her even if she didn't know any blood magic herself beyond a simple focusing ritual for Affinity Attuning.

Waiting for the Devil to be ready, Rainer thought back to Amer's explanation on Souls and the Undead. Something that interested him greatly given recent events.

Rainer was originally unsure why putting Sasha's soul back elicited such a divine reaction. At least until Amer explained him the basic theories on the Soul that he had learned as a result of studying the Avatar ritual.

When resurrecting an undead, parts of the Soul were inevitably lost. Undead were essentially both dead and alive in more ways than one. He guessed even Gunthar and Theodore lost a part of their Soul when they had been raised, even if it was far less than usual.

And so long as that part was lost, it didn't matter that the rest stayed, was what Rainer assumed. Even taking them into the ring likely didn't happen fast enough to avoid loss, especially considering he often needed to attack them first with [Devil's Soul Language].

But according to Amer, the Soul would heal so long as the lost parts of the Soul disappeared and the original wasn't overly damaged. Which meant Rainer had unintentionally screwed Amer over when he captured the Devil's Avatar's Soul.

But with Sasha, he had a tight grip with [Void Hold] over the entirety of her Soul. There was no chance of any part of it escaping. Nor could he let a small part escape, because he needed to use the Soul in turn to hold her Life Energy.

A huge part of the Avatar ritual was protecting that Life Energy while you split the Soul and keeping it within your main body.

”Then onto the first step. I have level 7 in [Devil Anatomy] as a base. Had I a higher skill perhaps I could create a separate Mana Pool, but with the Avatar they are instead connected.”

”So, if you cast a spell, the Avatar has less Mana to work with as well?” Rainer asked and the Devil nodded.

”This is also part of how Life is shared between the two, without it affecting the other.”

It seemed like a large disadvantage, but the ability to do two things at once overshadowed that. Especially when one of those things included venturing into the Void and hoping to land some place habitable.

”Wait, you are literally creating another self? One that is as strong as you and can do anything you can?” Sarah suddenly asked. She automatically assumed there would be some huge decreases in strength, among other things. The part where it essentially granted you two minds was already ridiculously powerful in her opinion.

This, however, was too much.

Amer nodded.

”Is all magic on this world so crazy? And splitting your Soul, what level of insanity did this ritual's creator reach to try something like that?” Sarah said, secretly enjoying her pun and awaiting Amer's reaction. Whether a laugh or a groan she'd be satisfied.

”I cannot say,” The Devil simply responded. The hardest part of the split was doing it in such a way that the half that remained in the original body could regenerate back to full form. Otherwise, the Avatar ritual proved a dangerous risk as opposed to a free life.

Sarah stared at him for a long while before she felt Rainer put a hand on her shoulder.

”The translation magic isn't perfect. It's rough, huh.”

”How can anyone live like this?”

”Gunthar had a few awkward moments when we first met him. I later figured out this was the cause.”

”Poor guy. Maybe I shouldn't play around with him so much.”

”Once again, please make sure I'm not there to see it.”

”Not a chance. I have to get revenge for nearly falling in love with you.”

”You lusting after my perfect form is hardly my fault.”

”You constantly bringing up that momentary lapse of judgment is, in fact, your fault.”

”Hey, you brought it up this time. Oh, woe is me to have a corrupted little sister who can't get her brother off her mind…”

”If you two are done lamenting about the ludicrous all-language translation skill not letting you make puns and whatever else you are talking about, I am about to start.”

”So, it did translate?” Sarah asked knowingly.

The Devil huffed and wiggled the tentacles of his hair at the girl, enjoying her squeal, and opted just to start.

Both ritual circles surged with magic. With a combination of [Flesh Manipulation] and [Mana Manipulation] the circle not containing Amer, formed his second body.

The Mana Crystals started decreasing in size as a figure matching the seated posture of the Devil formed within. With an eruption of power, Amer chanted in the [Devil's Soul Language] severing his own Soul in two.

And with an effort of [Soul Manipulation], sent the less crucial half into the newly forming body.

A tense few minutes passed the as the clone formed to match Amer perfectly. Any alterations to the second body were beyond Amer's ability to perform safely.

”Now just to learn this, and who knows what worlds I can explore,” Rainer muttered.

Sarah herself saw the possibility of sending back an Avatar of herself to steal Mana Pools from the Council with no risk.

But both of them were quite far from achieving any singular part of this ritual.

A few hours later, they all gathered in Quera's Mother's house. Even with Rainer's claims of healing Akhor's sickness, the Fae woman refused to let them in, apparently outraged at the cruelty of playing at her hopes in such a manner.

Taking that as implicit approval, he stunned the Fairy and prepared to heal her.

Sarah looked around the room as Rainer prepared to heal the unconscious Fairy. If one went by Rainer's expression, nothing of any concern was happening. And yet the visible tension in even the battle-hardened members of the party shone through all too well.

Rainer's sister had some clue of how understated her brother's view on the Divine. After all, both Luna and Kara had been in the room when he told her of his months in this world.

Luna had only further impressed upon her that fighting against gods and liches was a normal occurrence whereas Kara, on the other hand, had visibly tensed at the reminder of what happened when Rainer had healed Sasha.

Spending time with this party, it didn't take long for Sarah to realize that the wolfkin was pretty much the closest one to normal. A battle maniac she was, but mostly normal nonetheless.

Not even Rainer could take that title, to her surprise. Sarah had made the mistake of asking Rainer about what he's been doing in [Sleep Learning]…

Never again.

Even if it's virtual, how anyone withstands that kind of torture for learning even common spells was beyond her. She had severely underestimated how much he enjoyed magic. His excited and excessively vivid explanation about advancing his so-called [Arcane Rage] to [Arcane Awakening] was not a story she had needed to hear.

The ancient Goblin seemed more akin to a giggling school girl when he talked with his recent Fairy infatuation, more than likely leading to a marriage.

Gunthar certainly appeared normal on the surface, but spending time with him compared to his father made one realize how strange his complete and utter acceptance of existing as a walking skeleton was. He seemed to even see it as a benefit. Hearing him joke of using his centuries of necromantic slavery as a perfect opportunity to improve his Aura was a strange experience.

She questioned her brother's influence on him.

Theodore at least had the recent excuse of being in some strange pseudo relationship with a far-too-beautiful Fairy. Mana transferring and all. Though his moods alternated between normal and depressed a bit too much when not around Elru. That, in Sarah's mind, was normal for a man-turned-undead. Or rather Sun Elf.

Imagining Gunthar as an overly pretty, prude Sun Elf made her want to tease him more.

Sarah didn't want to think too hard on that situation with Theodore and Elru. Though he seemed nice enough of an undead to be happy for. Wrapping her head around the Fae seeing only Mana pools when it came to attraction was already too much for her. The fact that the tentacle-faced Amer was an eligible bachelor was not a fun thought.