74 Chapter 74

Well that explained a lot. Especially her reluctance to explain the situation to me. As she no longer had the ability to withdraw from my service I could withhold my energy from her to force her to do what I wanted her to do. No matter what it was. I didn't like the fact that she didn't feel like she could trust me. I knew she hadn't known me for long, but I still felt disappointed.

"How long will it take to transition?" I asked the last thing I needed to know.

"It varies, but I have never heard of any case where the transition was finished in less than a decade." Aura replied.

"Can it be hurried?" I asked.

Aura considered that for a few moments then nodded. "Yes, if you provide enough energy it can increase the speed of the transition. However increasing the speed costs more energy. Finishing the transition costs a lot more energy, far more than you have now." Aura explained.

I nodded and was quiet for a few moments. "And you want that as well?" I asked Aura.

Aura nodded, "I do." she replied.

I nodded then considered it for several more moments. "If that is what you want, I will not stop you." I told.

"Seriously?" Ariel asked.

I nodded. "Why not?" I asked. "I am not the kind of person to send you out to do the dangerous jobs just because you can't die. Not being able to die, doesn't prevent you from being captured. We might not have seen anyone who can catch any of you, but we also haven't run into anything that can use magic yet. As such I gain more from allowing her to transition."

Ariel just stared at me for several long moments before she sighed and nodded. "Fine, I will stay and watch. Perhaps this time things will end differently than the last one."

"I will also stay." Elmera told me.

I nodded. Then I closed my own eyes so I could shift my consciousness into my mana core. Once inside I dragged some wisps out to create the link between bond and the last three elemental abilities.

Once I was done I stared at the elemental abilities for a few more moments. With the links I had before I could see a partially formed shape taking form with the elemental abilities and bond. The issue was that bond had more links to other abilities making a mess of the links. I took a moment to shift the abilities around. With the elemental abilities I formed a ring with a bond being linked to each one of them to the side forming a cone on its side. That left plenty of room for the other links to not interfere. Then as I stared at it for a few more moments I considered linking the rest of my elemental abilities but decided not too. I needed more information before I could accomplish that. Besides I didn't need even more abilities when I hadn't even come close to mastering the ones I already had.

Finishing, I shifted back out of my mana core and offered the same contract I had with the others to the three new fairies. Each looked them over for a few moments before agreeing to them. I felt the bonds form as each of them agreed.

"So are we done?" I asked.

"Yes." Aura said.

"No." Delilah cut in.

"No?" Aura asked looking at Delilah.

"You have felt the chaotic energy of this world right?" Delilah asked.

Aura nodded.

"Not long before you were summoned rifts between the worlds formed all over this world after four gates opened close together." Delilah told her.

Aura frowned but nodded. "So what do you want to do?" she asked.

"Our master has a very large mana pool. With you here I thought we could combine our powers to allow him a chance to practice his abilities. He currently can use shadow fire and lightning, but he is barely capable of wielding them." Delilah told her.

Aura considered that for a moment as she looked back at me. "He does have an abnormally large mana pool which is brimming with energy. As a platinum core he should be able to recover it pretty quickly." she said to herself.

"What are you two thinking of doing?" I asked.

"We also retrieved some mana fruit when the rifts were open." Delilah added.

"We would need the air elemental to practice the lightning." Aura told her.

"He should focus on one for now, and he is already a little familiar with the shadow fire." Delilah replied.

Aura nodded. "You have a point, and this doesn't have to be a one time thing." she agreed.

"Girls?" I asked as I got a bad feeling from everything they were saying.

"It's alright master, we just want to help you grow." Delilah told me.

"Then why do I have a bad feeling about this?" I asked.

"Because we are going to need access to your mana pool to make it work." Delilah replied.

"And what is it that you want to do?" I asked.

"Training." Aura told me with an evil smile.

While that didn't sound bad, I had a feeling they were leaving a lot out.

"Master, please trust us." Delilah asked.

"Like you trusted me?" I asked her in return. It might not have been the best time to point it out, but her resistance to telling me what it was she had done boiled down to not trusting me to do right by her.

Delilah seemed to flinch but she didn't relent. "It is necessary for Master to gain control of his shadowfire. If you can do that, then the monstrous satyrs won't be any threat to you or your wives." she told me.

Straight for my weak point. For some reason I really didn't like Delilah right now. "Fine. What is it you want?" I asked.

"Aura and I will combine our abilities to create a training space within your mind that she, Enya, and I will use to train you in mastering your shadow fire.

"Wait!" Ariel said. "When Aura drops her perception manipulation to set up the training space with you, we should summon the air elemental back. If you have a mana fruit we should make full use of it and train to the last moment. Shadowfire as the primary, then each of our elements, and lightning if he is a quick study."

"That is a good idea. The mana fruit will advance him to mythril, with enough excess to refill his mana pool so we don't have to worry about him not having enough energy to fight after we finish training." Delilah agreed immediately.

"Hold on, I need more of an explanation before I agree to anything." I told them.

"It's simple Master." Elmera told me. "We are going to combine the light element and the shadow element's ability to alter your perception to create a space for you to train in. It will all be in your mind so the only mana you will actually use will be what is needed to sustain the space. With our assistance you will still be able to gain an understanding of how to use our elements as if you were really using mana to train like normal."

That sounded way too good to be true. "What is the catch?" I asked.

"What is your mental ability at right now?" Elmera asked.

"One ember." I replied.

Elmera looked to Aura and Delilah then looked back at me. "No catch." she said.

That was way too fishy. I bit my lower lip in thought then shifted back to my mana core and pushed an additional ember into my mental ability. This whole thing sounded fishy, but what I needed more than anything right now was training. Even I knew I had a literal boat load of potential. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to train in how to use any of it. Since they said it was all going to happen in my head, then increasing my mental ability should only help me.

"Alright." I agreed.

"Perfect. Let me drop this. Delilah, call the other one." Aura said.

As things seemed to shift around me I pulled something out of my storage space. I looked over at Karen and met her eyes. I gave her a smile that she returned just before Sil appeared by Delilah then my world turned dark. I felt like I was floating in the dark for a while before my surroundings brightened into a large dojo like room.

"An interesting choice." Aura said as she appeared in the room with me followed by the other five elementals.

"This was my choice?" I asked.

"It is your mind." Delilah replied.

I looked around at our surroundings for a few moments before I remembered where I had seen this place before. It was the training space from the Matrix where Neo and Morpheus had fought after Neo learned martial arts. While I wasn't here to learn martial arts, it fit what we were here to do. With that thought I imagined myself in a gea. As a few moments my clothes changed until I was standing there in a white gea with a white belt.

"So now what?" I asked looking at Delilah.

"Now we train." Delilah said as she shifted into her wolf girl form and gave me a feral grin. Her own black clothes changed into a white gea with a black belt.

I swallowed as my bad feeling reappeared.

"Of course the best way to train is through combat." Delilah told me.

Yep, I was tricked.