Chapter 89 - Practice, practice, practice (Patreon)

Scarlett concentrated as she compressed the two spheres of fire in front of her further and further, trying to focus on and grasp the strands of mana that made up her conjurations. It was like trying to clasp a piece of clay in your hands. Forming and shaping it was as easy as clenching her fist, but trying to separate it into the different constituting parts was as good as impossible. Or at least it felt like it was.

She finally succeeded in grabbing hold of a handful of ‘strands’ and gently pulled at them. Immediately, they slipped out of her grasp and all the other strands came loose like a ball of rubber bands, and the fire dissipated into nothingness, leaving her with only one sphere left. She let it dissipate as well, picking up a small towel from her lap to wipe away the sweat from her forehead.

This was hard.

It was only recently she’d realized that her magic wasn’t actually just one clump of mana moving according to her will, but rather an immense gathering of tinier strands working together in ways she didn’t quite understand. Perhaps her upgrade to [Greater Mana Control] was part of what helped her notice it. She didn’t have any skill to see the mana per se, so the vague connection she felt to her magic was the only way she could gauge these things, and mana control seemed to be the only skill that affected that.

She glanced to the side.

[Mana: 843/4575]

She would have to recharge the [Depraved Solitude’s Choker] again soon. Though it’d probably be best if she rested for half an hour first. She had already recharged it twice today, and even though she’d been taking it slow with her mana use, she was already stretching her limits. Her arms and legs were starting to feel like spaghetti, and she’d be lying on the ground if it weren’t for the chair she was on now.

Taking some time to regain her breath, she turned to look at the porch beside her. The raven-haired woman sitting there hadn’t moved an inch, gaze lowered to the book on her lap for the two hours Scarlett had been spending practicing her magic. At times she’d looked up, looking at the kids who had been playing around on the village square earlier—who had all seemed enraptured by Scarlett’s displays for a while as well—but she didn’t seem to care much about Scarlett.

Scarlett was really hoping all of this would actually lead somewhere.

This whole tutelage thing was her own idea, and not something you’d done in the game. As such, she had no idea if it would work. Still, there wasn’t much else for her to do here at the moment, and she felt it was the best alternative. Considering the woman didn’t seem to consider her strong enough, it was unlikely she would be able to get any of the ‘quests’ that were related to this questline.

So she would just have to make the best use of her time here while she could. After resting for a while longer, she returned to her practice.

It was getting late. The glaring sun that had started high in the sky was now closing in on the horizon.

Scarlett breathed heavily as she forced her arm to move, wiping away more of the sweat on her face. It bothered her, being seen in a condition like this in such a public space, but she had to fight through that discomfort.

She’d continued having Rosa refill her necklace as the day passed, taking several long rests just so that she could continue pushing herself and practice her magic over and over. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that she felt more tired now than she’d ever had before. It was like she had reached the brink of mana exhaustion several times over, just to stop right before the edge every time. Perhaps it could be compared to studying for ten exams at the same for twenty-four hours straight, while running a marathon.

She wasn’t even aware one could feel this tired. It really wasn’t a pleasant experience. But as long as there was even a morsel of benefit from this, she was willing to continue.

She leaned back in her chair, wondering if she could force out one more session if she rested for a while longer.

“I’m surprised you’re still moving,” a voice said from the side.

Scarlett slowly turned her head, looking at the woman on the porch.

“It’s getting late. You should probably leave.”

Her eyes lingered for a while, then she gave a soft nod. “…Very well.”

She turned to Shin, who was sitting on the ground in front of the porch. He looked up from the book in his hands.

“Call for Rosa,” she asked him.

She could hardly bring herself to do it at the moment.

The young man put away his book as he stood and called for the bard, who sat on the wooden platform at the center of the square, klert resting on her legs as they dangled in the air. The women looked up, then jumped down and started moving towards them.

While Scarlett had been focusing on her training, both Shin and Rosa had seemed to find their own ways to pass the time. Unsurprisingly, Rosa had entertained the kids for a while after they tired of watching Scarlett’s magic, until they had eventually been picked up by some of the wary parents when it started getting late. After that, the bard had spent most of her time just strumming away on her klert, it appeared. Though, after spending so much mana refilling Scarlett’s necklace over and over again, even Rosa was looking a bit tired by now. Still, the fact that she was still standing showed how lacking Scarlett was in her mana levels. Rosa had at least five times as much as her.

“What’s up?” the bard asked as she approached, holding her instrument by its neck in her right hand. “Need me to give you some more of my youthful vigor? Or a song to cheer you up?”

“While I am loath to admit so, the latter is more fitting,” Scarlett said. She gestured to her legs. “We are leaving, but I am in no condition to move on my own. Are you able to rejuvenate me for a short time?”

Rosa blinked a few times, then look over at Shin and the woman on the porch. “What, are we finished here?”

“We are.”

The woman eyed Scarlett for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. “Alright then.”

She brandished her klert. A smooth note rang out from the instrument, and with it, Scarlett felt a wellspring of energy rise up from inside her.

It was far from enough for her to recover completely, but now she didn’t feel as much as a dead fish. Slowly rising from her chair, she turned to the raven-haired woman on the porch and inclined her head. “Then we will take our leave. We will see each other again.”

“I’m sure we will,” the woman said.

Scarlett turned around and, somewhat unsteadily, started leaving the square along with Rosa and Shin. Soon after they’d left the village, walking along the dirt road towards the forest where they’d originally exited, she noticed both of the other two giving her curious glances.

“So, what was all that about?” Rosa eventually asked.

Scarlett looked at her for a moment, before looking ahead. “To what are you referring?”

“I was expecting a bit more after all that buildup. Especially after you spent the whole day with your fancy displays. What was the point behind that, if we’re already leaving?”

“It is exactly what it looked like. I was practicing. And the ‘point’ is for me to be taught by that woman.”

“She didn’t seem that enthusiastic about the prospect,” Shin said.

“We will see how matters proceed.”

This much was within Scarlett's expectations, anyway. The truth was that she was probably still too ‘low-leveled’ for this place. But considering the rather unique circumstances of this place, it was still worth a try.

“Who was she?” Shin asked after a while.

“If you were curious, you could have asked. Though I am not sure she would have given you her name.”

Even she didn’t know the woman’s name, after all. It had never come up in the game. She had always been referred to in ways like ‘unknown woman’ or ‘raven-haired woman’, among other titles. Scarlett wasn’t certain if there was a reason behind it, or if the game just never bothered with it because it wasn’t necessary.

She had avoided asking now in case there actually was a reason behind it, but was planning on asking later. It would make things a whole lot easier, having a name to refer to her with.

Forgoing any further conversation, with Scarlett feeling a bit too tired just focusing on not falling over—Rosa’s magic was starting to lose its effect—they soon reached the edge of the forest surrounding Freymeadow, treading along the same pass as before until they reached the glade where they’d originally entered this place. The bright orange of the setting sun was drawing its last streaks across the sky, painting a rather intimate scene over the silent glade.

She turned her attention to the center of the glade, where the strange portal was. Just like before, it was a pocket of air that had strange ripples to it. Saying nothing, she simply continued up to it and stepped through. The world morphed around her; the environment taking on the colors of fall as she returned to the glade they’d first been in. At the same time, she felt refreshed, as if all the tiredness and mental exhaustion she’d piled up over the past hours was nothing but a dream, floating away with the passing breeze.

[Mana: 4575/4575]

A small smile grew on her lips. It seems like her suspicions were correct.

“You’re back?”

She turned her attention to Fynn and Allyssa, who sat on the ground a short distance away from her.

A moment later, Rosa and Shin appeared beside her.

“Whoa—” Rosa let out, placing her hand against her chest as she blinked.

Shin knitted his forehead, turning his eyes up to the cloudy sky.

“Was there nothing there?” Allyssa asked, studying the three of them.

Shin paused, looking down at her. “What do you mean?”

Allyssa gave him a confused stare. “I was expecting you to be gone longer. Was it just a dead end?”

“…There was a village there.”

The girl’s eyes widened. “Wait, really?”

Shin gave Scarlett a long look, before returning his gaze to Allyssa. “How long were we gone?”

She cocked her head. “What, you mean exactly? I don’t know, I didn’t count.” She turned to Fynn.

“Seven and a half minutes,” the white-haired young man said.

“Oh, wow.” Allyssa blinked at him, then looked back at Shin. “There you have it.”

Rosa laughed.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the bard as she showed a wide smile. “Well, time sure flies by when you’re having a blast, doesn’t it?”

The sun stood high in the sky once more as Scarlett walked down the dirt streets of Freymeadow, with Rosa and Shin in tow.

Just like it had in the game, the time of this place passed differently than in the real world, and you could only enter it during the day. After leaving, the next time you went back, it would automatically be day once more, no matter what time it was outside.

It was exactly because of this feature that Scarlett had wanted to visit this place as early as she could, to make use of the opportunity it gave. Unfortunately, the number of times you could enter in a row had been randomized in the game, so she wasn’t expecting to be able to use it without limits. After this place ‘closed’, she would have to wait at least a few days before she could return.

And while any exhaustion she piled up while here seemed to disappear as she left, that also seemed to go for any other physical—or metaphysical, if you wanted to call it that—changes, like increasing her mana levels. That was a shame. But the ability to train here and push herself to her limits with no real drawbacks more than made up for that fact.

Although, if she’d actually had a choice on the matter…

Well, she probably wouldn’t have come to this place if it wasn’t completely necessary. For now, the best she could do was keep some of the others away as best she could.

After hearing about this place from Shin and Rosa, Allyssa had been excited about coming with and exploring this “mysterious” village, but Scarlett had ended up ordering her to stay behind.

She was thinking about doing the same for Rosa and Shin. But she needed at least one of them to refill her mana. Rosa was the best option of the two, considering Shin was a fighter and wouldn’t have much more mana than your average person—which was still a bit more than Scarlett had, apparently—but Scarlett was honestly a bit more hesitant about keeping the bard around.

The longer she waited, the worse it was bound to get. But she didn’t know what she was supposed to tell them. If she could convince the woman in the village during that time, it would solve that issue. But she wasn’t banking on that.

Eventually, the three of them reached the village square. It was roughly the same time of day as when they’d arrived yesterday, but there were no kids playing around near the platform now. Scarlett had seen a few of them helping their parents with different tasks walking through the village, so perhaps they would come around again later. They’d all looked excited when Rosa had given them a wave.

Crossing the square, Scarlett and the others stopped before the building where the raven-haired woman was sitting on the porch.

“Good afternoon,” Scarlett said. “I hope the day finds you well.”

“That’s yet to be seen,” the woman said, looking up from the book in her lap. Her eyes stayed on Scarlett for a moment. “I see you’re the persistent type.”

“When the circumstances require it of me.” Scarlett walked over and picked up the chair she’d used the day before, placing it on the ground in front of the porch. “Unfortunately, lately I encounter many situations where they do.”

She raised her hand, conjuring a mix of water and fire before her.

It was time to return to her practice.