Agnisotra: Origin Tails

Day 1. I'm totally not writing the day numbers down now to make sure I don't forget. This is for anyone who reads this for clarity reasons! Yeah, let's go with that! I woke up really early. Since yesterday, something was bothering me. I looked outside and it was still quite dark outside. The sun wasn't high enough yet to shine through or over the mountains. What was bothering me is that I can see that this timeline is different than before. But what I also see is that even though it is supposed to be similar or even the same. This is not the case. It could be compared to you buy a bag of apples; you're expecting to find apples in the bag but there is also a banana in the bag. This is the banana. There might be huge differences, the scary part is that maybe for us it could be the same but maybe in the rest of the world chickens go extinct while in the original that wasn't the case. I guess the spirit sisters contacting me was an indication. Whatever we did in the last timeline is affecting this one. I hope we’re not fucking up the course of this world by trying to escape from this shitty town. If I find books about timelines and stuff, I should give them a read. It could also give me ideas for cool attacks.

I'm getting close to figuring out magic runes and how to mess with magic circles but I'm missing so much information. In general, making new magic is just by altering what already exists by toggling its shape volume, and power. You can get away with a lot if you’re creative but you’re not making new magic since the magic circle and the magic runes it uses are still the same. That is for now reading magic circles is quite unreliable. But I could find nothing about it in Hourai and this place is too tiny to have something relating to that matter. Most of my ice attacks are actually the same magic spell it's just the power and shape are different. The original magic circle is for water bubbles. Anyone who could read magic circles like me would just see that I'm using water bubbles half the time. Not really a reliable skill if that is all they can see me do. And because of this messing with magic circles has been seen as a waste of time and not worth the effort. Anyways Raishin and I were supposed to fetch some seasoning to eat with the PB but I don't think we are actually going to eat it. But since I woke up too early, I have time to kill. I could practice with the sword or could practice with my shadow clones. Or! Do both! I'll make shadow clones and spar with myself.

I haven't found anyone yet who could match my speed but if I do, I might not know how to deal with it. I made 3 clones. They seemed to have a good performance. They didn't look weird. They would be weaker than me though so I boosted them with some illusions. I didn't apply any on myself so it should be a fair fight now. I could gather an insane amount of experience like this since whenever the clones got dispelled, I got their experience too. I gave every clone another sword made out of illusions for variation. I say that but most of them would fight the same with it. Clone A had a different sword though, it was a curved blade but it looks hard to use. Clone A will have to adjust its sword fighting style to use that sword, I'm curious. I have about 4 hours until I will have to go to the town square with Raishin. I realized I was about to start a sparring match inside my room. Hmm, this is a bad idea. I decided to use a small pocket dimension I made a while ago but never used. It is only as big as the town square and also modeled after it. But like this, I won't have to be afraid of destroying stuff outside. Let's see what I can do here!

Oof I'm exhausted, the clones weren't kind to me, I got various cuts, and I wasn't kind to them either. I defeated one. I'm getting a better grasp on how enemies feel fighting me. It was almost impossible to hit these guys. The moment I hit one clone I just locked him into a combo and finished him off. I didn't get lucky enough to do this with the other two. I did get better at [Iai] but using this against fast opponents is risky and it doesn't work well with swords that aren't katanas, I shattered one by incorrectly using it, even my swords made in my illusions shatter... I also got a good idea of how I wanted to develop my sword fighting. What I'm doing is quite standard. The only saving grace is my speed. The moment I get caught, I'm toast, as the clone I owned kindly demonstrated. It might be biased because I know how I fight with the sword but it is easy to exploit once you get used to the speed. It would take one skilled swordsman to break in an opening and cut me down.

For this, I need to make a katana, not just a normal one since that magic sword shattered after just a mild swing. Ok, the swing wasn't mild but it is a problem if my swords can't take my swings. Yes, it was charged with red lightning which seriously packs a punch and almost anything would shatter but that is not the point! I need to make something that is reliable! I will have to find instructions on how to make a relic magic weapon in some dungeons. I do know how to make a katana, in theory, but making a magic sword? I have no clue. I haven't looked at the instructions for the weapons I did find something for but I don't know how similar the process will be or if it needs the same stuff. It will just occupy my mind while I have better things to do. I prepare to go and meet Raishin. I'm a bit early but hopefully, that doesn't cause a butterfly effect and wipes out Boshi town or something. … Maybe I should wait a bit. I will need to find a way to make my frost wall more efficient as in technically less efficient in sucking mana. Or I need to find something in which I can safely dump most of my energy. I would like to think that I will never have to use that again but my multi-layered water and frost barrier and that frost wall are the only good defensive skills I have. I could waste a lot of time and energy trying to come up with a new one. I'm better off trying to improve what I'm already familiar with. Ok, now it is time. I go outside and head over to Raishin. We talk about our last week as we approached the town square.

Uhh, so what comes next? We walked onto the town square. Well, that is not exactly true since Raishin bumped into something.

“Hey, watch out twerps!” I'm sorry, we must've been blind to not be able to see you coming.

“Wha! Hey, Dunkey I think that kid called you fat!” One of his 3 friends said to the chunky guy. Your name is donkey? I said as I tried to hold in my laugh.

“It is Dunkey!” Hmm, this sounds familiar, I also think I've met him before. Oh, it's you guys, please do us a favor and buzz off, we need to hurry else she will catch us. Hey, Raishin we haven't met them before in this timeline, we don't know them and they don't know us. Oh, sorry never mind I was wrong I have no clue who you guys are but we’re in a hurry! Cya!

“Hey, stop messing with us what do you mean you don't know me? I'm Dunkey the one who will be the first to leave this town and make a name for myself! You must have heard that I'm the youngest person to master blue lightning. I will be the next Beatrice Manarune!” Yes, yes, cool story bro, we’ve already heard this story now excuse us!

“Hey! Don't walk away! I am Dunkey Hurado, a descendant of the great hero Hurado. My name is ancient Kaledonian for Brilliant Hurado.” We walked towards Uraya’s shop when I felt lightning magic activate. “Keep them busy guys while I show off my amazing lightning!” Ugh, we don't have a whole minute to wait till you’re done charging your puny spell.

“Wait how do you know it takes a minute?” Agnis can see your future. In a couple of seconds, you will encounter a mother and a troll, Agnis has predicted that you will need your slow-ass lightning for that. I’ll leave a small present for you. I used [Lightning orb] a weak version. A ball of blue lightning weakly approached Donkey and dropped to the ground in front of him.

“Haha, what is that? You missed.” I'd like to tell you that Agnis doesn't miss in general but we have no time, good luck! The lightning orb was still on the ground before Donkey. We entered Uraya’s shop and closed the door. I looked outside and saw Charlize and her daughter arrive. At that same moment, the lightning orb discharged and cracked the troll's makeup.

“It's a troll!” Donkey shot his magic at the troll but missed.

“Who are you calling a troll?”

“Wait it wasn't us those other 2 brats did this!” One of his friends said.

“Lies! Dunkey is the only one who can use blue lightning in this town!” Seems like they were getting along well, we also successfully dodged Charlize. Hello Granny Uraya, we want your special blend.

“I see you made quite the commotion outside.” It is fine no animals are getting hurt. There is a troll attacking a donkey how are there no animals getting hurt?

We did say we had no time for them though.

“So, what are you guys up to this time? She went to the back to get her special spices blend.” We found a PB, and we were planning to eat it but it looks disgusting so we’re not sure about that if we are going to eat it, we should eat it with your special blend.

“Ooh, I'm glad you like my blend, it is one of the 96 products I've made to perfection. And I'm not with the term Paybay Is that something the youngsters say a lot these days?” Oh no, what he means is we found a Pheasant boar it's like they combined into 1 animal or something, but since it is too long, we shorten it to PB.

“I must be getting old but I don't remember an animal like that existing.” Yeah, me neither. Do you have any idea how such a creature can exist? Isn't that simple? When a mommy pheasant and a daddy boar love each other very much…

Please shut up Raishin.

“Hmm, I don't know much about this, I've never seen or heard about anything like that since I moved here.” Oh, you moved to here? Where did you live before?

“Well, It is not really like I moved here I got forced to live here, but I'm fine with it now. I used to live far from here. A big academic city where magical research and the understanding of research were the main focus. You couldn't even enter the city without qualifications and the skills and knowledge to be an asset there.” Ugh a city where you're forced to study sounds like a nightmare, you might be better off here. I smacked Raishin. That is rude! I'd love to visit a city like that, I'm quite interested in the workings of magic myself.

“Ohoho that is good to hear but there is one problem, only women were allowed to live there.” Hmm, weird, guess that's a non-option then. A city full of women? I was wrong! That sounds like a great place. I smacked Raishin again.

What? I sighed and shook my head.

“I don't even know if that city still exists.” Hey, what is this? Raishin, don't touch random stuff! Crash.

Uh oh. Wait I'll clean it up! crash 2x Just leave it be! You’re making things worse! Clank! Some weird potion fell on Raishin and he started floating.

I believe I can fly! I believe I can tou... Hoo boi. I jumped and grabbed Raishin’s ankle to prevent him from floating too high but since I'm not so heavy it did nothing and it carried me up too.

“Oh my, you got an overdose of a levitation potion.” Is there an antidote?

“Yes, but it's the potion he smashed earlier.” Why are you always like this Raishin? You're like a bull in a china shop. I would prefer “tiger in a china shop”.

Whatever. I was hanging on Raishin’s ankles while he floated up and bumped his head on the ceiling. Ouch! He bounced a little off the ceiling and rose again bumping his head again. Owowow! And this kept repeating. That is what you get!

“You boys seem to be having fun.” Uraya said while cleaning up the mess Raishin made. My head! I might become stupid from all these blows to my head! I don't think it is possible for you to become even stupider.

Hey! Instead of making fun of me give me any recommendations on how to stop this. Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Oh, I didn't, let me try… wait how do I do that, I can't can I? Agnissss! Hey, stop flailing we might fall! And just on cue, we fell to the ground. I caught myself in a water bubble but Raishin faceplanted on the floor.

Guess that worked well! Modern problems require modern solutions! But you didn't do anything!

Nobody likes a smartass Raishin.

“Hahaha, oh I'm sorry, seeing you two I wish I was young again and had friends I could talk to like that.” Were you alone in your youth?

“Yes, back then my life was rough, I was a bit stronger than my peers and I became cast out because of fear and jealousy. Looking at you two I wish I was born in your age; I am too old and too weak now to keep up with you two.” Nonsense! I'm not sure why but I have a feeling you’re still quite strong! Want to join us in fighting the PB? Hey Agnis!

“How kind but I will have to decline. I need to make some special products because I lost a bet.” Oh, it's about... Ehh what is it about? I almost let out that I knew it was about when Gregory and I got caught by Cecilia and Charlize.

“This might sound rude to you but the town has a bet running about when you and Gregory get caught by Charlize and Cecilia. My bet was on yesterday but since that didn't happen, I lost.” Well, we did get caught but we also escaped, you weren't wrong. I already took a small sapphire out of my dimensional pocket when she wasn't paying attention. Here, as compensation.

“Ooh, you’re making me blush.” Please don't make this awkward for me.

“Thank you, I will remember this, come by another day I will have some interesting stuff for you boys.” Uhh ok. I looked outside and Donkey and friends got wiped out by Charlize and the troll.

“Thank you for the chat and take care!” Uraya said with a warm smile. We left the store. Charlize was too busy scolding Dorky and co so she didn't notice us. I assume she won't get poisoned now. Even though we tried to do the same as the last timeline, just avoiding one inconvenient encounter changed quite a lot. Are we screwed? At least I can take a leak in peace now! Ah, right it caused us various amount of problems last time. We went to Raishin’s hut where he took a leak and we waited for Ted and Gregory who arrived together.

Ok so last time we tried using magic we’re not familiar with but I'm not sure if that is a good idea since the PB exploded and all. Well, I still need to see the infamous [Raishin kick] so I was hoping he could show me and if it still survives, we can just nuke it before it explodes. I agree! Well, if I don't need to use water magic then I'm fine with any plan, I’d say go for it.

Are you mad? You know how good these guys can vaporize stuff! At least when they do it it's controlled, more or less, I don't want to deal with that dirty bomb. Dirty bomb? Did the PB not shower?

No, I mean that it is probably not aiming to kill with its explosion but with the magic corruption you get when hit by it, I also want to try and avoid Agnis having to use frost magic as much as possible. Don't worry, it is fine if it's not a lot I will be fine.

I like the: nuke-the-PB-into-oblivion plan more. Alright, let's go! I can't wait to show off my [Raishin kick] Oh look what is this? Oh no, that might have fallen in your cape when you were knocking stuff over in Uraya’s shop.

Hehe, I wonder what it does, let's throw this at the PB! Do you want to defeat it by sending it into the stratosphere?

What? What happened in Uraya's shop? He knocked over potions and other stuff and one potion made him levitate; it is good that we were inside. That sounds problematic, so that is the levitation potion?

I have no idea what it does but I’d rather he just returns it to Uraya.

We arrive at the PB cave. Raishin dashed inside. C’mere, c’mere, PB wherever you are! We heard a roar.

Take this! [Random potion attack] Another roar.

Oh shit! This doesn't sound good. Raishin came running out of the cave and the ground started rumbling. A lot of noise came out from the cave and heavy footsteps could be heard. For some reason, they started to become heavier and heavier. I looked inside. Raishin, I have 2 questions, number one: Why? And number two: can you Raishin kick that? Uhh to number one, because I can! and to number two, hell no haha I can't combo that! What happened? What did the potion do? Something huge burst out of the cave causing it to collapse. There stood the PB but bigger than ever and it kept growing.

You can't be serious! A growing potion? We looked by as the PB was growing to enormous proportions. It was easily 50 meters tall now.

This is ridiculous but I'm on board with the nuke-the-PB-to-oblivion plan, you are very persuasive Raishin! Hey, what would happen if I threw this potion at the bakery girl’s ass? Raishin!

What? I smacked him. Let's vaporize this thing. The PB let out an ear-deafening roar.

Great, I'm sure they heard that in Boshi town. What did you say? We were all holding our hands on our ears to block the sound of the roar.

What? Can you repeat that? I didn't hear what you said! Did you say anything? I was watching as my buddies were yelling at each other while holding their hands on their ears, even though the roar ended a while ago. Idiots. I took out a sword and started my [Tail Dynamo]. I was going to attempt a skill I made during the practice with my clones. It was an upgraded version of my potato peeler skill. I imbued my sword with purple lightning and activated [Thunder cloak] I dashed at the PB and unleashed 428 rapid [lightning sword strikes] in succession which I called [Potato peeler v2.0]. Its hide was tough so I couldn't get through but it did start to bleed.

Purple isn't enough, eh? I wondered if I should go red but I'm sure this sword would shatter, it was looking quite beat up and I hardly did any damage. The PB was trying to hit me but it was so big and slow that I’d probably die of old age before it would hit me. And my race technically doesn't have an upper limit to how old we can get so that says something. How could I increase my damage besides using a higher tier of lightning? I dropped the lightning tier a because I was feeling some mild nausea come up. It wasn't anything I couldn't deal with but if I wasn't doing any damage I might as well drop my mana consumption till I find something out. I then remembered the thing I did when I was in the workshop with Ted and Gregory after I got my sword. I wondered if a normal sword would have something like a resonance too. It won't respond with magic since it is not a magic sword but I could try. With the magic sword, I could do it by feel but for a normal sword, I would have to use my eyes to find out when I'm hitting the right wavelength. I poured some mana into the sword and changed its wavelength bit by bit. I noticed that under certain wavelengths some impurities in the blade appeared which disappeared on others. Hmm, interesting, I guess I still have ways to go in making a good sword. At least I had something I could try to make my swords better so they don't shatter when I sneeze on an opponent. The PB was still attacking me but it was so slow that I could easily dodge it while not paying attention.

Oh! Agnis started without us! Took you, slowpokes, long enough! I found the right wavelength. I matched it and poured purple lightning into it again. I used the same attack that I used before [Potato peeler v2.1]. Well, color me surprised. Holy shit Agnis!

What! You didn't leave anything for us! Well, guess that is one worry less. The attack that previously only wounded the PB now sliced and diced it into numerous chunks. The cuts were clean but the sword still shattered. It was beaten up from my previous attempt so that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was the difference in performance. Well, I guess I found a way to prevent swords from shattering or at least make them last longer.

I wanted to fight it too! Well, everything seems to go way differently than the original timeline. We won't get into trouble for this right Agnis? Uhh.

Oh no. I don't know but might as well ride this out. Our actions still more or less line up with the previous timeline. I'm assuming and I hope that only the big actions matter, like how we defeat the PB doesn't matter only that we defeat it! Yes, that sounds about right!

You don't sound very convincing… I know as much about this as you guys do. My [Raishin kick] ... You will get another chance to use it.

So next up is: you two talking about the sewer problem, right? We didn't take as long fighting the PB as last time. Uhm, about that, we didn't fight Charlize this time so there is a high chance she doesn't get mana poisoning. So, I'm not sure how that will end up.

Any more surprises? I think that’s it for now, but hey we got a canister of Uraya’s seasoning. Didn't we already have seasoning? Gregory takes out the canister we got the last time.

Oh… What are we going to eat it with though? This PB looks yucky. I burned the remains of the PB.

Do you want to burn the place down?! Oh, it seems you got a lot better at controlling your fire, it is still hot as fuck though. He said as he backed off a bit. Alright nobody will find out about this thing now, let's go check out the town square Greg, maybe someone else got mana poisoned. What about us? Just do… ehh whatever you did last time.

Alright, Ted let's go! We gotta first make sure they don't steal my stuff! But we don't know if those men are coming! My stuff is in danger! He grabbed Ted by the back of his shirt and teleported away. I looked over at Gregory.

Teleport or sonic dash? I want to try something. I want to see if I can make you [Shadow meld] too and travel with me through the shadows.

Ooh, that sounds cool. You can learn [Shadow meld] too, right?

Uh since I have an affinity for your shadow magic. Alright. We walked towards the side of the rock wall close by.

So, the darker the shadow the easier it is to [Shadow meld]. I can do it on very light shadows but if I'm going to try something new, I will first do this on darker shadows. I looked around. The sun was a bit low because it was a bit later in the noon. The mountains cast a shadow over Boshi town. It wasn't a super dark shadow but the sun wasn't shining fully on Boshi town. The range in which Gregory could easily [Shadow meld] to was insane. Was [Shadow meld] only becoming one with the shadow or did it also count for the shadow?

Alright, stand here on this shadow. I will try to force you to shadowmeld, I will attach my shadow to yours so that you don't get lost in the shadows somewhere, it wouldn't be funny if that happened, it would take a great deal to find you. Sounds scary.

I'm sure that after you feel how I [Shadow meld] you, you can figure out to undo it since it is the same process but let's not take any unnecessary risks. Hey, I have an idea, if you master this could you use it to banish someone into the shadows and leave them there?

Hmm, that is an interesting idea, I could yes if I master it, It will be unusable in bright sunlight but if there are shadows that should work. So, let's say you banish someone in the shadow of like, that rock over there, and after a while, the sun shines on it and eliminates the shadow. What would happen to the guy you trapped in there?

\You have some interesting questions, to be honest, I don't know. I do know that we store the energy we need in eternal shadows. I don't know if you've noticed but it is impossible to make my shadow disappear. That is so cool but also so edgy.

We do this because if the shadow disappears so does the energy it has stored. So, we either store energy in eternal shadows or in shadows that don't disappear or dark places. The inside of your ear or mouth will never get fully illuminated so those are examples. So, you could technically one-shot someone by banishing him to the shadows and let me or Raishin light up the place and make the shadow disappear.

If you say it like that, I suppose. Haha.

What is so funny? You have the lowest attack out of all of us but you have the most ways to actually one-shot opponents, granted the requirements are harsh and strict, but if things line up you could one-shot opponents easier than Raishin or I could. Because they don't seem to care whether the opponent has resistances or high defense, they will just get wiped out regardless.

I guess. Alright, I think I can force a shadowmeld on you. I felt my body liquefy and become a thick black mist as I dropped to the floor and merged with the shadow we were standing on. It was a weird sensation. Everything went black and I felt like I was everywhere in the shadow that the mountain cast over Boshi town. I got tugged along, most likely Gregory, It wasn't a slow process. Since I felt like I was everywhere in the shadow it would be hard for a [Shadow meld] noob like me to appear in one spot. Greggory just tugged on me and forced me to concentrate on one spot. This all went really fast. I went from a feeling of being a large volume of liquid spread out over a wide area to it getting pulled and concentrated into a big droplet in one spot. The droplet that was me rose and eventually broke loose from the ground at which I popped out of the shadow in the alley behind Uraya’s shop.

Seems that went successful, that was an interesting experience. It also seems to go fast. It is only fast because the accuracy increases when the area, I can travel to is big and I can more or less automate it, just pick a spot that makes my shadow coalesce there and I pop out over there. For shorter distances, the accuracy drops, and I have to manually select where I go or just move as a puddle toward it.

So quite useless in battle or going from your place to my place? Unfortunately, yes, I can use it to dodge attacks though, but I don't require that most of the time. Setting up a shadow wall is easier and faster.

Here I was thinking you might shed your slow status but I guess you still got it. We walked towards the town square. We were about 2 hours earlier than the last time we got here. And! Nothing was going on. I had a suspicion this would be the case but it is still disappointing.

How about we visit Uraya? I've been here already today but you haven't seen her in a bit, did you? Sure, let’s go.

We entered her shop but it seemed to be empty. It was nearing closing time so it wasn't surprising. She was also an elderly lady running this shop by herself so we just sat down and waited. There was no trace to be seen of Raishin’s rampage earlier today, it was more than half a day of course. I assume Uraya was replenishing the potions Raishin broke. I was wondering if she had a huge cauldron in which she was brewing them. Gregory was boring because he made most of his potions with laboratory equipment, beakers, flasks, and test tubes. Say, Gregory, what is the difference between the potions you make and that Uraya makes? The potions that I make are those that anyone could make if they have the correct equipment and knowledge. These could also in theory be mass-produced with some modern electronium technology. The potions Uraya makes also needs a deep understanding of the magic that makes the potions work, they are also in general of a stronger effect, so I assume Uraya dilutes a batch that she makes and can sell bottles out of one batch. Meanwhile, when I make 1 batch it is mostly just 1 or 2 bottles.

So, you could be replaced by a machine but Uraya cannot? Yes.

“Ooh, you guys are back. Oh, it's Gregory, I haven't seen you in a while, how is Pietro doing?” Busy as always, he is always going out and working in his small lab he built somewhere in the mountains. He doesn't come home often.

“Oh, how can I help you, boys?” Oh, we just hopped by to visit, we wanted to check something out here on the town square but nothing is happening so we thought we might as well hop by.

“Not many youngsters are as thoughtful as you, do you know that?” We don't interact with them. Uraya sits down.

“I'm curious though, the 4 of you seem to be more mature in behavior, magic, and intelligence compared to the other youngsters here. I do know you arrived together here 5 years ago; does it have something to do with that?” Hmm yeah, we got drilled from a young age in etiquette, useful knowledge for adventuring, and problem-solving. It was rough because we liked to go on adventures and have fun but our mothers also made sure we would be prepared for almost everything. Well, we are still young so our education was nowhere close to complete when we got separated but we’re doing quite well if I have to say so myself.

“How did you get separated from your fathers and mothers?” Fathers? Hmm, now you say that they were never around, only Ted’s father.

I don't know my real father but I consider Viridian as my father figure. But now I think of it I don't think I've ever seen his wife; I don't even know if he has one, he has a daughter though. Hisui, right? I get shivers when hearing that name.

Yes… Well anyways if they weren't around, they aren't that important, I bet our mothers were too much for them. And well to answer your question, we got separated by an attack and got sold into slavery and that is how we ended up here.

“Oh! You 4 are slaves?” Yeah, we hide it quite well, only a few people know that. I showed the slave crest on my neck which I normally have hidden by a scarf, Gregory showed his too which he also hid with a scarf.

“Ohh is that why you guys are never present at the annual Boshi lake festival in the summer?” Not really, this guy here hates water. If I want to get wet, I'll just go and take a shower!

You got to get over it one day! Never!

What if we find an underwater library? Ugh, I'll just have to miss out.

All that knowledge never touched, waiting to be read. Ugh, I'll consider it, are you happy?

Very! I grinned.

“I think I can see why you guys don't interact much with other youngsters, there is not much room for them when you guys get like this, it is as if the rest of your surroundings don't exist, it is fascinating to look at.” Hehe, it annoys Charlize to no end though.

“Oh, that sapphire you gave me was useful, it was so pure it's almost unnatural. It made for a great catalyst.” Oh, I thought you would sell it, but since it’s yours now you can do whatever, you want with it. I'm curious though, what would use sapphire as a catalyst? I don't know much about magic potion brewing but I do know that the stronger the potion the more valuable and unique the catalysts need to be. I'm assuming it is some super strong potion.

“You are sharp, I'm trying to make something I've always wanted to make but never could. I'm sorry but I will have to keep it a secret. Part of the reason is also that I don't know if it will succeed, I miss ingredients so I will have to make do with poor alternatives. I will tell you when it is done.” Anything we could help you with?

“Oh no, you boys don't need to worry about this, this is my problem, you are already helping enough by visiting this old lady once in a while.” It is no big deal we come across a lot of weird stuff anyways, maybe we got something you need. I took a small box out of my coat. It was empty but I could link the inside with my dimensional pocket. If the ingredients weren't too big, I could pretend to have them inside the box and give it to her. I made a habit to gather random stuff and chuck it in my dimensional pocket since young so there is a big chance, I got some stuff she needs.

“Ooh is that a dimensional box?” I guess Uraya partly saw through my trick. Uhh, yeah, I got it from Johnny a year ago. I lied.

“Hmm of the things you might find here are: crystalized earth magic, a sapphire, which I have, a ruby as pure as the sapphire you gave me, Some fresh spring water from the Umbra mountain range, the blood of a strong unusual creature and a mistflower. Things like a dragon scale and blue obsidian would also fall into that but those are things I don't expect you boys to have since they are rare or almost impossible to get.” Let’s see what I got. You can crystallize earth magic right Greg? Yeah. So, Earth magic, check, ruby, is this good enough?

“Oh my, that is beautiful!” Ruby, check, uhh I don't have fresh spring water I'm sorry, I think I can copy its composition with my water magic but I can't make much of it. Mistflower, check, the blood of an unusual creature... Does a PB count as an unusual creature? Did you save its blood?

Of course not! But there was still some on my sword!

“You boys are impressive; a small amount of blood and water will do.” Dragon scale, check. What the!

I don't have blue obsidian though; I didn't know it could be blue. Hmm, I might have some, I found it on the mountain you vaporized... Uhh, a bug on.

Vaporizing a mountain. Ehh bug makes blue obsidian?

“Hmm, that fire pillar of yesterday might have created a bit.” I see. Oh yeah, something like that happened yesterday.

“You are of big help; I won't ask where you got this dragon scale from since I'm not telling you what I'm making but my greatest thanks.” Oh, no problem, we will leave you to your potion, it was nice having a chat. Cya granny Uraya, good luck! Uraya smiled and waved at us while we left her shop.

Did you hear that Agnis? Yeah, we might be screwed. Do you think she knows?

It is hard to tell. What we are talking about is that in her happiness she thanked us and talked to us in old Kaledonian. Because we know Hourai it is easy for us to follow and we responded. But nobody these days would understand old Kaledonian. It makes sense for Uraya who seemed to have studied and lived in an academic city to know old Kaledonian but it makes no sense that 2 random brats can speak and understand it.

I can't believe we blundered like that. I think we can trust her but yeah, we messed up quite badly here. Maybe we could tell her everything and ask for advice if we get into too much trouble dealing with these roots. She might not know specific stuff about it but might know some stuff about seals or a potion that could deal with whatever we are struggling with at that moment.

If it makes things easier for us, I would say go for it. If every guardian is as strong as those sisters, then we could use all the help we need. Oh, by the way I talked with Guila? Gurindi?

Guyani? Yes her! I said while snapping my finger and pointing.

Huh? Isn't she in the spirit world or something? Yah, I had still some energy I had absorbed from her with me and she found a way to contact me by using that. So, I got some information about the spirit world and stuff.

Wait, isn't that something that never happened now that we are on a different timeline? Yeah well, it seems since they are in the spirit world that doesn't apply to them also for them 2 years passed in the half a day that passed for us. They want to come back and asked me to hook them up with a place of power.

They don't like the spirit world, do they? I don't think so no, I think they implied something was going on there but I didn't dig into it too much.

Hmm so are you going to do that? Link them to a power spot? I don't know, it might be good to get allies, in the long run, it is just that their range of motion would be limited. It would have to be a strategic point where we could get their assistance but also not a useless spot. Hmm. We waited for a bit but nothing seemed to be happening. I checked out Charlize’s house but she wasn't there.

Wow, something destroyed Charlize’s house! Yes, that something would be you, did you forget that you made a large volume of water erupt from within her house?

Right… so what do we do now? I guess shadow clone training, I might as well teach you how to use [Shadow meld].

Really trying to stack defensive skills on me now, are you? Was it that obvious?

A little bit. But it might also help you to reach spots that might be hard to teleport to.

Like that underwater cave? Yes! I hope you get good enough so that you can carry us with [Shadow meld] there although that might be a too-tall order.

Why can't you bring us there? To use shadowmeld I have to have been there before or have to see my destination.

Oooh. I will do my best but I can't promise anything. What is the moving around in the shadows called? I might be able to pull that off in a short range. Well, speed and accuracy are your things so I don't doubt that. I don't have a name for the movement.

Mind if I call it [Shadow sneak]? I have the feeling you will use this for mischief in the future but as long as you have more ways out, I won't have to worry about you randomly dying unless you block a laser head-on.

Ugh, you're not going to drop this, will you? Just reminding you since you seem to forget. We arrived at Gregory’s house.

Oh, I will send a clone to tell Philip and Hera I will spend the night here. After I sent the clone we went inside. We started the shadow clone training and when my clone returned started with the shadow meld training. Gregory would accompany me after I shadow melded to make sure I didn't get lost in the shadows. The shadow meld process was kind of easy of course I could only do this on dark shadows even my own shadow was too light to use it on. Moving around and getting out seemed to be quite the challenge. It was time to go to sleep and I only mastered getting in and out of the shadows. I still had difficulty concentrating myself at the spot where I wanted to appear. Gregory and I used the whole of Boshi town to practice since we both knew the town quite well. I could just focus on a location instead of manually going there. But even that seemed a challenge. We left it there for the time being. So far, I could only use it to dodge attacks when I was standing on a dark shadow. I couldn't move while melded yet and trying to without Gregory’s supervision would be risky.