Chapter 47 Hunting With Astra

The next day came, and I immediately went into my exercises. I still haven't had the time to make weights, and probably won't have the time to do so. After all, I'm going to be busy hunting with Ana, and once we are done hunting, I'll have to explore the other part of the cave. Of course, we'll have to do some testing before that, which will take up some time. So, I basically won't be free anytime soon. Luckily, today isn't my day to make food, so I can spend more time training, which is exactly what I did.

"Food is ready," Ana yells from the kitchen. When she yelled this, I had barely finished the exercises that I would normally do.

As such I yelled, "I'll be out in a bit, so just eat without me."

After I yelled that out, I did a couple more sets. Even though I told them to eat without me, they are most probably waiting for me. That is why I only did a couple more sets. Once I had finished, I went outside. I went to the kitchen, and was surprised to find that Astra and Ana were actually eating. While I was surprised, I quickly got over it and began to eat as well. Because I was a quick eater, we finished at the same time. It also helped that the food was really good. I had already gotten used to our new portions, and as such, wasn't able to notice anything different. Once we had all finished eating, Ana took the dishes and went to wash them.

Since it was only Astra and I, I decided to ask a question, which was, "Are you gonna be hunting with me?"

"But then who will protect the base?" Astra asks.

"Ana can do it," I say. "We can switch out our hunting parties this way. Besides, it should be boring staying here all alone."

"If Ana is okay with it, then I'm fine with it too," Astra finally says after some hesitation.

"Okay, we'll have to wait for Ana to return," I casually say. To be honest, I would also feel very bored if I only hunt with Ana. It's nothing against her, but things will just grow old. Also, our coordination will be in jeopardy if I only fight with Ana. While I am thinking of all of this, Ana comes back to the table.

"So we have something to discuss?" Ana asks upon seeing us still at the table.

"I was wondering if it would be alright if you stayed behind while Astra and I hunted today," I said, getting straight to the point.

"I would love to continue hunting with Sylvi," she responds childishly, "but that would be unfair to Astra. As long as I hunt with him tomorrow, then it's fine."

With that, the hunting party has been decided for today, and all subsequent days. We would be switching the people hunting daily, with me being constant. Once Astra heard she would be hunting, she immediately went to get the magic bag. While she was gone, I reminded Ana to use the mana links if Diego and his crew ever attacked. I also reminded her to focus on her own life, as the base could be changed. Her life, however, was something that couldn't be replaced.

"Don't worry, I know what I am doing," she said in response to my warnings.

"Sure," I say, mimicking the attitude and tone she had with me yesterday.

She also mimics me, and says nothing, opting to prove her words through her actions, much like how I did yesterday when she didn't think that I could successfully sneak upon a demonic beast. I was gonna say something else to her, but Astra came back at that exact moment, with the magic bag in her hands.

"We are leaving then," I say. "Stay safe."

"Don't worry about me," she says. "Just make sure to bring back a lot of new ingredients for me to use."

"O spell of wind spread with me as the center to detect my enemies."

Once we were outside, I chanted my detection spell. Instead of getting 4 hits, I only got 3 hits. This meant that one of them had left the warding barrier formation for some reason. I'm guessing it was to go hunt some food, since no demonic beasts come here. It could have also been a trip to move their items from their old base. However, they should have brought everyone if that is what they were doing.

"You want to check on the progress of Diego's base?" I ask Astra

"Yes, but let's not do anything," she says. "Otherwise they might pack up and make a new base somewhere else. That would be bad, especially if we can't find it."

"Okay," I replied as Astra started to disappear before my eyes. "Wait, don't use the hiding spell. We don't want them to find out about it yet, so we should use it sparingly."

"Okay, lead the way," she says as she stops the spell and reappears in front of me.

With that, I lead the way to Diego and his crew. They were still hanging out within the clearing. One of the foxes was gone, but it wasn't Diego. I could clearly see him in the middle of the clearing. I wasn't familiar enough with his crew, so I didn't know who was gone. Either way, they had a basic shelter in place that seemed to hold the purpose of housing food. The only reason I could say this was because of the bloody smell coming from the shelter.

"Where is Dawn?" Astra suddenly asks while I'm looking at their base. It took me a little while to realize that Dawn was the name of the missing fox.

Once I realized that, I responded with, "she's not showing up on my detection spell, so I have no idea. She may be out hunting for breakfast. Putting that aside, I feel like we should also start hunting."

"Yeah," Astra replies. "Let's just be careful of Dawn."

With that out of the way, we first walked out of the influence of the warding barrier formation. After that, we began to wander the area and look for any hits from the detection spell. Whenever there was a hit, we would first look and confirm that it wasn't Dawn. Once that was figured out, Astra would launch a long ranged fire spell. Astra's fire spells were strong and deadly, usually taking out the opponent before it noticed. The only downside was it charred a large portion of the demonic beasts.

This way of attacking was faster though, since we were able to attack from range. We don't have to get close to them, which significantly shortens the time it takes to kill. Ana couldn't really do this, since water spells aren't really known for their deadliness. As such, they aren't really a good choice to use when attacking an opponent from long range. However, even with this, our efficiency was still on par with yesterday. This is because of 2 reasons. The first is that it is impossible for me to find demonic beasts at a quicker rate. So while the time between fighting has changed, the time looking for them has stayed similar. The time was definitely not the same because different factors affect demonic beasts movements. The second reason is our constant vigilance. We are always checking to make sure Dawn isn't hiding anywhere nearby. The time spent doing this is canceled out with the time saved from killing the opponents at range, which is why we aren't any more efficient.

Since we had the same hunting efficiency as yesterday, we finished at roughly the same time. Also like yesterday, it was decided that we would head back to the cave. I could have kept hunting, since I didn't use much of my mana, but we would have no space to store the bodies. Also, even if I still had mana, the same couldn't be said for Astra. As we went to the cave, I kept the detection spell up, and guided us through the best path.

"Do you want to check on Diego and his crew again?" I ask Astra once we have gotten within the warding barrier formation. We would be going out of our way if we did this, since we would have to pass our cave to get to their base.

"We already saw them this morning, and their base shouldn't have changed much," Astra says. "I would much rather rest and regain my mana."

"Okay," I replied as I led us to the cave. Once inside, I could see Ana in the kitchen. It seems like she is preparing lunch for us. I'm not entirely sure because I can't see how much she is making. For all I know, she could be preparing food for herself only.

I wanted to sneak up and scare her, but my plans were ruined by Astra yelling, "we are home."

"Welcome back," Ana says without even looking in our direction. She is probably focused on making lunch. She also most likely recognized Astra's voice, so she just continued her work. I got closer, and was able to take a look at what she was making. She was making a stew, and it was a big enough pot for all of us to eat. It also seems like she is at her final steps. As if to confirm my thoughts, Ana stops channeling mana through the heating magic circle, and begins to bring out bowls and spoons for the stew. She places the pot in the center of the dining room table, and places the bowls and spoons nearby.

"Come on, let's eat," she says once everything is set.

I grab the magic bag from Astra's hand saying, "the both of you eat. I'll set up the bodies so their blood drains. After I'm done with that, I will eat."

"Well let me help you," Astra says. "That way, we can finish faster."

"It's fine," I reply. "I still have my mana, so I'll be able to use my reinforcement spell to help me speed up the process. I'll be able to join you guys really quickly. Besides, you should take a break since you did most of the hunting."

"Okay," Astra says reluctantly, before she begins to dig into her stew. Ana glances over at me, asking if she should help. I shake my head in refusal, prompting her to eat her stew alongside her sister. I leave the two of them to enjoy their food, while I head down to the dismantling/storage area.

"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself. O spell of wind, form from my hands a sharp dagger that follows my movements to dismember my enemies."

Once I went down there, I chanted my dismantling dagger and reinforcement spell. Once the two spells were chanted, I grabbed a body from the magic bag. I then look for the wound that killed it. Since Astra had killed most of them, the wounds had mostly been charred over. I take the dismantling dagger, and scrape off the charred parts to let blood flow through the wound. Then I place them in a position that allows for the most optimal blood flow. I did that many times, but my reinforcement spell helped speed up the process.

It didn't take long for me to finish setting up the bodies so their blood would drain. The most tedious part would have to be scraping off the charred parts. However, that was only tedious due to the smell of burnt meat and fur. It didn't really take me long to do, but due to the sheer amount of bodies, quite a bit of time has passed. They should have already gone through a bowl or two of stew.

I am comforted by the fact that I have one bowl of stew already served to me, so I would at least be able to eat Ana's cooking. However, while I may be able to eat one serving, I'm not too sure that I'll be able to eat multiple servings. After all, Astra and Ana could have eaten all of the stew while I was busy. I really hope that isn't the case, since I'm sure one bowl of stew would not be enough to satisfy me.

As I walked to the dining room table, I could see Astra and Ana still eating. I quickly peeked inside the pot, and was happy to see that there was still some stew. Once confirming this, I quickly got my bowl and began to eat. Ana had already served me a bowl of stew before I went to let the blood drain from the bodies. However, even though it had already grown cold, it was still enjoyable. I quickly finished that one bowl, before serving myself another from the pot. It was so much better warm. I was so lost in eating, that before I knew it, all of the food was gone.

"Did we ever dismantle yesterday's bodies?" Astra asks while I'm still enjoying the lingering taste of the stew.

"I don't think we did," Ana responds, before both of them look at me.

"I'll dismantle them," I say once I realized they were looking at me. "In fact, I'll get started right away."

With that, I went to the dismantling/storage room. The bodies that I had put up hadn't been drained yet, so I looked for the other bodies and found them in a corner. They were mostly placed with their necks on the ground, since I had decapitated them with my sneak attacks. However, their bodies weren't near the river, so the blood just pooled onto the ground. I didn't mind it much, and just moved them next to the dismantling desk.

"O spell of wind, form from my hands a sharp dagger that follows my movements to dismember my enemies."

Once all the bodies had been moved near the dismantling desk, I chanted my dismantling dagger spell. Then, after the spell had formed, I began to dismantle the bodies. Like always, I looked for the wound that had killed the demonic beasts, in this case the head. Then I would remove the fur from the meat, and place the fur to the side. Usually, I would continue and separate the bones from the meat. However, I wanted to try something different, so I instead moved on to the next demonic beast. Soon enough, all the demonic beast's fur had been removed and placed in a neat little pile.

Then, once that was done, I began to separate the meat from the bones. Instead of completing it all in one go, I switched it up and did it in sections. This had actually slightly sped up the process. I can't say for sure why, but it did seem like I had finished quicker than I had before. However, that might be for different reasons, so I would have to do more checks on this. Once the demonic beasts had been dismantled, I placed the meat, bones, and skin where they belonged, before heading to my room.

In my room, I decided to recreate my weights that had been lost during the battle with Diego and his crew. With my weights gone, my training has really been negatively affected. While it may only be an increase in time, it is still time being wasted. I could use that time on other, more productive things. As such, I had decided to remake my weights, and make them heavier than before. From what I see, I could do this in two ways. The first is to increase the amount of stone used in their creation. The second is to find a heavier material to make the weights from. At the moment, I don't have any material heavier than stone, so I will just use more stone when I create my 4 new weights.

With that decided, I went to the dismantling/storage area. I looked around for the extra stone that I had the last time I made weights. I thoroughly looked, but wasn't able to find my stone. I was able to find some of the leftover wood from the comb and brush, but the stone was gone. Astra and Ana must have gotten ridden of it. Since I didn't have any stone in storage, I just needed to get more of it.

"O spell of wind, form from my hands a mighty blade that follows my movements to destroy my enemies."

As such, I chanted my spell sword. I was gonna go to my room, and continue gathering my stones from there. However, we were still digging the tunnel, so I decided to just take the stones from the tunnel.

"O spell of wind spread with me as the center to detect my enemies."

Of course, before I started carving out a big chunk of stone, I chanted my detection spell. I didn't want this tunnel to be caught by Diego and his crew due to my negligence. Luckily. My detection spell only placed the reactions at the clearing. In other words, they weren't nearby, and wouldn't be able to find me digging. I quickly stopped channeling my detection spell once I confirmed that, since I would need my mana, especially if we were surprise attacked. Even if they aren't nearby now, that doesn't mean they won't attack tonight.

Well anyways, I found a part of the tunnel in which the walls were just stone. Then I drove my spell sword through the wall before beginning to cut in a circular motion. Once I had finished the circle, I stopped channeling my spell sword.

"O spell of wind flow through my body to reinforce myself."

I then changed my reinforcement spell. I grabbed the chuck of rock from the cut I had made, and began to pull it out of the wall. My reinforcement spell greatly helped with this, and I soon pulled the entire chunk out of the wall. Once the chunk came out, I stopped channeling my reinforcement spell, before I brought the chunk to my room. I didn't see Astra or Ana while doing this, which made me think they are doing their own things in their rooms, not that I was any different.

"O spell of wind, form from my hands a sharp dagger that follows my movements to dismember my enemies."

Once I was comfortably in my room, I chanted my dismantling dagger. With my dismantling dagger in hand, I began to smooth off the edge that was stuck to the wall. My reinforcement spell made it easier for me to pull, but it was still attached to the wall, so there are some cracks and edges on that side. After that was smoothed over, I began to make the weights like I normally would. Well, I did leave more stone on them, but other than that, the process was the exact same.

I had soon finished carving all 4 of the weights I wanted to carve. I was familiar with the process after doing it so many times, so I had completed them fairly quickly. Even though I said it was fairly quickly, it still took a lot of time. I had also forgotten to get some leather to use as an adjustable strap from the storage area. As such, I went to the storage area to get the leather. On my way to the storage area, I happened to glance at the entrance of the cave, and happened to see Astra up there. She was probably just looking out for Diego and his crew. I didn't have anything to talk about, so I just continued what I was doing. In the storage area, I came upon Ana. She was most likely gathering the ingredients she would use for dinner.

"Sylvi perfect timing because I need some help carrying the ingredients for dinner," Ana says once she notices me.

"Sure I'll help," I reply. "Just tell me what I need to move."

"Thanks for the help," she says as she points out the items she will be using for her ingredients. Most of them are still on the shelf, so I have to grab them. Luckily one of the ingredients she needed was placed near the stash of leather. Of course, I used that opportunity to gather what I had come here for. After I helped her move the ingredients, I immediately went back to my room.

She yelled, "thank you," at my retreating back. She said it in a low voice, so it was barely audible.

"You're welcome," I said back to her, not sure if she heard me or not. She most probably heard though, since I wasn't trying to be silent about it. Either way, it didn't really matter. I took the leather I had gathered and made the adjustable straps for the weights. Once that was done, I put one on each of the weights onto my limbs. I tried moving around, and it was very hard. This is most likely because my previous weights were lighter, and I haven't worn any weights recently. I will be able to adapt though.

"Dinner is ready," Ana called me while I was still trying to get a handle of my weights.

"Okay, I'll be there soon," I replied before heading to the dining room table. Dinner was hard to eat because of the weights. They pulled my hands down and often clanged against the table. My hands would also occasionally land on the edge of the plate, flipping the food into the air. I hated when this happened because it was a waste of Ana's precious food.

Astra and Ana looked at me with concern, but I signaled with my eyes that I was fine. We didn't really have anything to talk about, so we split up after dinner. I went to my room to sleep. Of course before going to bed, I practiced my mana links and multitasking skill, before truly falling asleep.