<~> Chapter 208The four of us spent the few hours brainst and w out which ritual circles to put into the first few pages of the book so that we could actually properly test them. We decided the best way to proceed was to test two primary things. The first is if a copied ritual circle would work at all for my purposes and the was to copy a ritual circle that would allow me to s out a po on the fly. I wasn't sure if the way the book worked would let me remember two disected things at the same time.

  "Okay, I'm finished copying it down," I said.

  Torien looked over the ritual circle closely. "It looks good to me."

  This spell was ohat I have had trouble copying before, it created a strong barrier made of water. It retty flexible ritual circle that was normally used for things like f rivers. What made it valuable was with simple alterations to the ritual circle you could pump more mana into it to make it bigger and groecific ratios. Normally the ritual circle would be too plex to attempt to use defensively but in bination with [Light Scribing] I would be finding a whole new use for it.

  A big smile grew on my face when I held the book open in my left hand to a bnk page. "It works! I see the image I drew as clearly as if I was looking at it. Let me try and cast a small one." Off the top of my head, I khe extra ticks I would o add to make adjustments on the fly so I straihe barrier to something small and used [Light Scribing] to draw the ritual circle.

  Unlike most ritual circles I've used with [Light Scribing] in the past, this one was much more plex and intricate. Sihe eual circle animated at o meant that there were many mlowing pins of light dang around in my hand making it hard to look at as the ritual spell resolved itself. Finally, it pleted and the ritual circle was floating in my hand.

  Torien crouched behio my right and studied the plex ritual circle. "...I 't tell. It looks good but there are too maails to know for sure. You should just try and cast it," she said.

  "Do you think the elves will be mad if something happens?" I asked.

  Man shrugged. "Well, it's a water spell. Worst case sario we have to do a little bit of mopping."

  I ughed and then looked straight ahead. "Alright then, here we go." I activated the ritual circle and then started pumping mana into it. A barrier of water appeared in front of me and grew at the ratio that I specified until I stopped supplying it with mana. Once I stopped feeding it mana, the ritual circle itself was ed and all I was left with was the pane of hard water in front of me. I could feel a small drain of mana as I kept it going but it wasn't all that expeo maintain. I tried to move it like I did my light barrier magic but discovered that it was anchored in pow that it was done casting I couldn't manipute it anymore, it was stuck where I left it. Good to know, I'll o keep that in mind.

  Torien stepped over to it and pressed a hand against it. The water barrier was a dark transparent blue and looked a little foggy. Torien knocked on it a few times and turned back around to face me. "It's surprisingly sturdy, I wouldn't be afraid to put my weight on this. I thought it would be wet, but it's pletely dry too."

  I got closer and put my own hand on it and ran my fingers along the barrier. The edges of the barrier were rounded and the whole thing was about three ihick. "This will be pretty useful, it wasn't the fastest ritual circle to cast but it costs basically nothing to maintain. I don't even feel any strain when you hit it or anything."

  Man tapped her for a moment. "Hey Mimi, I have a spear please?"

  Mimi shrugged and materialized a spear in her hand before handing it over. Torien her and turned back to face the barrier. "Let's see what happens whery to crack it." She took a grouand thrust the spear into the ter of the barrier. It scratched the surface but didn't do much damage past that. The barrier was strohan it looked. "No good, at least we know it's sturdy but this isn't going to tell us what happens if the barrier snaps."

  "Is it fixed in pce floating like that?" Man asked.

  "Yeah, it's stu pce. I 't move it anymore," I replied.

  Man shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean. If it's suspended like that in the air, could we use these as steps or something too?"

  Torien hahe spear bai and tilted her head. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

  "Be careful, Torien," I warned her.

  "Pfff, you're a worrywart. I'll be fine. Give me a boost Mori." Man held out her hands and Torien lifted herself up and ed her hands over the pane of magical water. Man stepped out of the way and Torien was just suspehere. She lifted her feet and was able to stand on the side of the gss while holding it from the top. "Yup! I climb it no problem. We should be able to use this as a foothold, or a step if it's in the right position." When she was doalking she jumped bad nded on her feet.

  "Any issues maintaining the barrier through all of that?" Man asked.

  I shook my head. " was fine. Uh, what happens when I release the magic? It's not going to make a puddle is it?"

  Man shrugged. "Probably not."

  I took a step bad hopefully out of the spsh zone before releasing the magic. Rather than turn into a big glob of water like I had feared the barrier turo mist before disappearing pletely.

  "Oh! Wait, this spell is amazing!" Man gasped. "All of the light mana you created to cast this spell stayed as water mana when it was released. That means that we could potentially find other ritual circles that are useful for verting the mana you use to something useful for me to cast with. As long as the ritual circle you're using is useful, this could be a pretty effit way for me to gain access to more mana to work with while wild casting."

  "Iing," I replied. Normally ritual magic is fairly ineffit pared to casting normally but if the process of verting my light magic to other types of magic released aspected mana as a byproduct, that meant that Man could take that mana and do something else with it too. This means the mana that would normally be lost in the version could still be useful depending on the spell.

  I smiled. "That's a useful discovery and it seems that our first test worked out well too. I clearly visualize the ritual circles while holding this book and even make slight adjustments necessary to make this spell useful. Now if I s out pieces on the fly instead of usiirely pre-formed circles then this will be really something."

  Suddenly there was a kno the door and Raya called through it, "Hey guys! It's time for lunealli brought us a big spread."

  "Alright, one moment!" I called back.

  "You guys ready for lunch? I turned and asked.

  The twins both hesitated.

  I put my arms on my hips. "e on, there's no reason to be nervous about this. All of us have beeing together at the same time for a while. You two don't o do anything different from normal. Just pretend nothing's ged."

  Both of their ears went back but the two of them pstered on fake smiles. "Okay..." Man said.

  I sighed, opehe door, and held it open for them. Maybe I was being a little petty but I got a bit of satisfa from the two of them awkwardly accepting the gesture. I didn't want to push them too hard but they could get used to this at least.

  The four of us came dowairs and took our seats around the table. It looked like most of the others had been having fun and enjoying themselves except for Silva who was still brooding in the er. I got the sehat Torien was making a point of looking away from her and it made me a bit sad. The table was covered with colorful sads, fruits, fresh bread, and baked dishes that looked kind of like casseroles. There was spicuously anywhere oable.

  Nealli was standing at the head of the table with a slight smile on her face. "This is the lunch we've prepared for you today. You'll have tive our eat, for those of you who may not know, the elves of the Northern Greens o meat with dinner, if at all. I apologize if it isn't to your tastes. If there is anything else you'd like within reason, please don't hesitate to ask."

  "It looks great, Nealli, thank you," I said with a nod. Most of us didn't teically o eat in the first pce but all of the food looked really good.

  "Not a problem, you're uests. I hope you enjoy." To my surprise Nealli sat down with us and started serving herself food as well, it seemed she was going to join us for luno one else seemed surprised so I decided to just let it pass without saying anything.

  I noticed the twiating so I poked Man in the side. "What looks good to your Man? Is there anything you need help reag?"

  "Oh... uh..." she went a little wide eyes and sed the food in a slight panic.

  I frowned, put my hand on her shoulder, and leaned in. "Rex, there's no rush. What looks good?" I asked again.

  "Oh, um. How about some of that sad," she said pointing.

  Without having to ask Sibyl passed the sad bowl over and I passed it tan who suddenly looked at me nervously. "But... you haven't served yourself yet, what if—"

  "Don't worry about it," I said waving her off. "Just take however much you want."

  She nodded and put a smaller amount oe than I would have liked, but this was goress so far, I didn't want to push her too hard. She handed me back the sad bowl and I served myself a simir amount before pg the bowl ba the ter of the table. Torien practically froze when my eyes turo her .

  "How about you Torien?" I asked.

  She gnced over at the casserole thingie. And then said a hat I 't even begin to remember. This time Nealli oher side of the table passed it closer and Torieantly served herself as well.

  She ha to me , and I frowned looking down at it. I normally didn't like casseroles but I didn't know what this was for sure so I figured I would try a little. I gave myself a small amount and ha back for her to pass back.

  "Lilith, I didn't mean!—" Torien started to say.

  "Rex, Torien," I said interrupting her. "I've never had this dish before so I'm just trying a small amount. It's okay that you took more than me."

  "Oh, um. Sorry..." Torien meekly said shrinking back.

  I sighed. Dealing with them like this was a little bit exhausting. It was like they had unlearned everything I had been pressing them into doing since I met them. Last week they had served themselves some stew before me without even notig and now they were panig if I took less food than them when they knew I didn't even o eat. Maybe this slightly more formal setting wasn't helping. We were at a big table with a person we didn't know very well.

  Maybe I should ask Lorrieo talk with them this evening. They were being very gy to me, maybe some time with their aunt would help. Now that I knew her better, Lorriene scared me a little. But she was still their aunt and she had a better idea of what they were going through than I did. She was busy with the others she was helping but maybe some time aloh her would help them accept their ge of situation.

  ...Then again, trying to force them to spend time with someone else might be terproductive too. I sighed before taking a bite of the casserole-type dish... it was gross. The spices were iing... but I hate casserole.

  Saine

  Hello! Magic exploration and new growing pains this chapter! No but really, I've always thought casseroles were disgusting. I'm ly the kind of person that doesn't want any of my food to touch, but I also don't want it all mixed up in one dish either, baked or not. Maybe it's partially just bad memories I have of ed green beans (also disgusting) but even the idea of a casserole makes me gag. Anyway, I hope you ehe chapter!

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