Leaving the training grounds, and eventually Academy, Jahi led us back towards the cottage, a small smile on her lips as she hummed softly to herself.
Anput, Leone and I all exchanged amused glances at our Demoness' obvious incredible mood, her amethyst eyes glimmering with joy as we passed through the crowded streets of the capital.
When we did finally return home, Jahi crashed onto the couch with a relieved sigh, her large frame taking up the entirety of said couch, preventing a pouting Anput from being able to slip next to her.
Leone sat on one of the chairs, her hands already reaching for the book she had left there previously, while Anput let out a discontent huff as she occupied the remaining chair.
Since it was around time for supper, I began my cooking, letting my palate guide my movements as I began to create a breading for some chicken breasts, deciding that I wanted something greasy for today.
I believed that we deserved to go for something unhealthy, yet incredibly tasty for clearing one of our finals.
Whilst I cooked I listened to Jahi recap what Jillian had told her before we took our finals, which made Anput hiss in annoyance.
I didn't even need to look over my shoulder to know that my mate's fur was bristling in anger as she heard the words spoken; I knew what she looked like, because I was feeling the same way.
Taking a deep breath, I continued to listen on as I began breading the chicken, nodding to myself as Jahi began to outline a new schedule for us to follow.
Since we were now able to have a free two-ish hours where Combat Class used to be, we would spend that time studying for the History Final, so that we could truly free up our days for preparations.
Jahi then went over how we would be delving into Zhu'Rong Caverns daily now, going at least to the Obsidian Valley to keep our skills polished as well as to earn money.
Leone then argued that we should push down into the Plains at that point, harvesting some ingredients for Anput and her to begin to use, since on their own the materials were cheap, but could be used to create valuable potions and weapons.
Anput nodded, adding that it would be cheaper to go and harvest coal from the Coal Serpents then to continue to purchase it; though, the idea of lugging such dirty materials from the Caverns to the cottage made me shiver.
All that extra work...
With that, our plan for the immediate future was set, and we slipped into an easy, yet tiring rhythm.
Wake up, prepare for the Academy, leave.
Finish Magic Theory and History, return home and eat.
Study for a few hours.
Gear up and travel down to the Caverns, where we honed our skills and harvested many materials.
Return home again, eat again, train some more.
Then collapse into bed after a nice, thorough bath.
It was a simple schedule to follow, but it was rather fulfilling; each of us noticed a change during these days of strict training and studying.
Jahi insisted that each of us participate in her gauntlet of physical exercise, and whilst Leone hated it at first, she begrudgingly accepted the regimen when she began to increase her stamina, which, funnily enough, wasn't noticed in the Caverns, but somewhere else...
? Anput had begun to tinker with her style again, her fight against Professor Liako spurring her on to improve herself further; she often sparred against me, trying to mirror my style and implement it into her own style.
The Jackalkin's new technique had begun to pay off though, as she now managed to bridge the gap between Jahi and her a little bit more, inching ever closer to being near even with Jahi's prowess.
As for the Demoness, she had continued to practice her magic, often asking me to review and look over both her Ritual Circles and how she actually casts her magic, the large Demoness listening intently to each word that slipped from my lips as I tutored her through basic spell casting.
Leone helped us as well, though her techniques were rather... unorthodox as always, as well as incredibly personalized and complex.
For instance, the Vampire had begun altering how I even thought of magic at this point.
Usually, if you wish to create an incredibly complex spells, it was a string of connected Ritual Circles shaped together to increase the amount of mana surging thought the entire spell; usually they looked like Pentagrams or the like, a cluster of Ritual Circles connected in a circle of their own.
But Leone had to take it a step forwards.
What if you placed a Ritual Circle...
Inside of a Ritual Circle?
It sounded so stupidly simple, and yet it had never once entered my mind, and apparently few others had thought of it as well, as Leone was adamant that she hadn't seen something about this either.
So, the Vampire had been tinkering with it for awhile, pushing the limits of known magic as she began to layer Ritual Circles inside of Ritual Circles.
Jahi had been last very swiftly during our conversation of that, the confusion on her face more evident then even the lust that would eventually appear on it tonight.
Even I myself was slowly growing confused, the countless theories and complexities losing me over time, which made me decide that Leone and I needed to sit down and talk this through with visuals some other time.
Besides the improvement of each of our physical bodies and magical capabilities, each of us engrossed ourselves in our hobbies.
Leone continued to brew potions, managing to create a rather pure set of Healing Potions for each of us, as well as a singular vial of Vitality Potion, which would rejuvenate your body for long fights.
That potion sadly got misused.
However, Leone had displayed her incredible genius with the Arcane time and time again, as her research into Alchemy and Magic began to overlap, creating a tiny inkling of an idea.
An inkling that already confused me greatly, but from what I had managed to decipher from her, she would infuse each droplet of brewed liquid with her own Magic, granting them another effect on top of the Potion's effect.
We see it in times like this, but we all seem to forget that the Vampire in front of us is incredibly gifted with Arcane Research...
We also forget that she can get really~ animated about her research, excitedly speaking about it for as long as she possibly could; thankfully her research was incredibly interesting to listen too.
Next was Anput and her forge; this week had brought about three swords, an axe, and a spear.
One of the swords was Anput's new personal blade.
A long, thin blade reaching four feet long, whilst the width was two inches at the base before thinning up top.
With a two handed hilt, Anput was able to comfortably wield it with both hands or a singular hand, due to its light weight.
Forged from a combined alloy of steel, Ghoul Crystal, and a Coal Serpent Fang, the metal was a deep void black, whilst the edge shimmered with an iridescent green hue from its venomous properties.
Due to the fact that one cut could let some of the Coal Serpent venom seep into the wound, Anput had to find a way to conceal and protect the blade, coming up with something rather clever.
What she created was a second layer over top of the blade made from Battle Iron.
With a thought she could retract the Battle Iron to reveal the pitch black blade, while the Battle Iron itself formed the hilt of the sword, protecting Anput's hands.
It was an incredibly forged sword, and each of us had been surprised when Anput had pulled it off after forging the two other swords, the axe, and the spear.
Each one was rather impressive, and I myself was becoming a little jealous of how Anput's Metal Magic allowed her to create rather impressive hidden weapons that only she could use.
The spear was the best example; in its hidden form, the spear was little more then a six inch cylinder about an inch wide, but when Anput released her magic from the spear, it reverted to the five foot long, sharpened spear that she had forged.
As for the other blades, they were her practice weapons to get herself used to smithing more complex things, and she seemed immensely proud of each one, hanging them up on a custom made rack beside her forge.
Jahi's hobby, unsurprisingly, had been to train and train and train again.
The Demoness seemed to be addicted to swinging her sword, practicing her spells, and improving her footwork, as that was all she did in her free time.
Had she not shown an interest in bedding each of us at random points of this allotted free time, each of us would have been worried about the woman, but she swiftly swept that misconception away with an even quicker affirmation of her lust.
As for me, I continued to practice my enchanting, finally being able to weave a spell onto the back of some clothing, getting a rather rudimentary protective enchantment on my red dress.
I also began to place self cleaning enchantments on each of our normal clothes, which lessened the amount of chores I had to do; it was lazy, and it did remove a little of my experience gain, but oh well.
Speaking of, besides that, I had been going out each night with Jahi, but after a few nights contemplation, and a talk with the system, I began to spend the skill points I had saved up over these two years.
I improved my [Mana Control] to Master rank for three points, my [Stealth] to Expert rank for two, [Enchanter] to Expert from Apprentice for five points, and finally [Growth] from Adept to Expert for five points, using all 15 Skill Points.
The system had clarified that Skill points were going to be rarer from now on, awarded at each fifth level.
So, I decided to improve background skills like those first, wanting to still earn and learn skills on my own.
Besides, these skills were important as well; [Growth] now made awarded 100% more Xp from each source, doubling my speed.
Which is why I had reached [Level 26 - 43,542 / 1,000,000] in this week of slaying monsters and daily quests.
The speed for daily experience gain was insane, especially when we took Requests and I was given Quests to help each woman finish their own.
As long as I put in the effort, I could level much faster than I could before...
Chopping through some lettuce, I smirked as the knife almost sliced into the wooden board below me.
If only this wasn't a head of lettuce, but the head of something else...
---
Kind of 'getting rid of' skill points so I have one less thing to keep track of.
Also, was that leveling speed TOO quick?
Kat's got double xp now pretty much, and monsters already gave so much, as well as her dailies; just curious what everyone else thinks!
---
R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freew𝒆(b)novel.c(o)m Only