Chapter 59 Hiding Spell Improvement

I woke up the next day, feeling extremely tired. I guess the restrictive spell combined with the weights are getting to me. I still get up and try to do my exercises. I was able to do the same amount as yesterday, but only barely. It didn't matter how long I took though, since it wasn't my day to cook, but I still felt like I was wasting time. Even though I know that I have nothing much to do afterwards. Since I had finished my exercises, I decided to go out and see if breakfast was made. Usually, whoever was making breakfast would call the others once they were done, so I wasn't really expecting anything. It was Ana's turn to cook today, and as I went into the kitchen, I was able to see her there. It seemed like she was getting everything she needed ready, except for the ingredients.

"Need any help?" I ask upon seeing her standing there in her human form.

"Just in time," she replies to me with a smile. "Let's go get the ingredients, Sylvi."

"Were you just waiting for me?" I asked upon hearing her response.

"Yes," she replied. "We said we would bring you every time to get ingredients, after you carved your spells into the wall. Don't you remember? So that's why I was waiting for you."

"Sorry," I say, realizing that I made her wait for me. I guess from now on, I'll have to move the time I do my exercises. I guess I can always do it after breakfast. I'll have to wait a while before I start exercising, so I can digest all the food if I do decide to move the time I train to after breakfast. While I was thinking of this, I followed Ana to the storage area. Once down in the storage area, I momentarily admired my spell wall. I felt like I did a pretty good job making it, and my purpose down here was partly to look at it.

"So what ingredients do you need?" I asked after briefly going through all my spells on the combat spell wall. I can already tell that I will get extremely bored of this soon.

"Can you go get some rabbit meat for me to cook?" Ana asks. "I'll look for the other ingredients on my own."

"Sure," I replied. "How much do you want?"

"Since they are small, can you get me 3 bodies?" she asked.

"No problem," I say as I head to where the rabbit meat is stored. Once there I randomly grab three bodies of similar size, and head to the entrance. I then waited by the entrance for Ana to come back. It didn't take long and I could see her coming back with an assortment of vegetables, and mushrooms.

"You got everything you need?" I ask upon seeing her.

She nods her head in response to my question.

"Then do you need any help carrying anything?" I further asked.

"No, I can carry it by myself," she replied before heading back to the kitchen. I also follow her, still carrying the 3 rabbits with me. Once at the kitchen, I place the bodies on the counter, before leaving for the dining room.

"I'll be sitting at the table if you need me," I yelled loudly towards the kitchen.

"Kay, thanks," was the reply I heard.

I didn't have anything to do, so I ended up thinking over the problems with Diego. Even though it has been a while, and we are still in winter, I can't help but feel a little concerned. We still have 3 years to go, but I just can't help but be worried, especially when we have so little information. I really want to just go over to the forbidden zone, and just see what is going on. I know it might just make things worse, but at least then I would know if anything bad was coming. I would know if I needed to train myself harder, or possibly start our escape earlier. However, I just can't think of any way to enter the forbidden zone without getting noticed. After all, the king has already seen through my hiding spell before. It might work if there's a distance between us, but I will be going towards him. He would definitely be able to find me, no matter how well I hid. Thinking like this made me feel helpless and powerless.

While I was thinking of this, a captivating aroma came from the kitchen. It seemed like Ana was almost done making the food. I wanted to help her, but she had never asked for help, so I didn't get the chance.

Still, I wanted to try one more time so I asked, "Need any help carrying the dishes over?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I got it," Ana says as she comes in holding up a giant platter with three plates on top of it. I remembered that even if she looked weak, she was a water fox, born of the rainbow fox clan. Her physical strength was extremely strong from birth, and did not need any form of training. She and her sister are only weak when it comes to mana control, and even that is being slowly fixed thanks to their constant practice. The mana drain magic circle also helped them when I was not around, and their mana went out of control. It feels like they are slowly, no longer needing them. If that is true, then their strength will be able to rise to new levels.

"Breakfast is ready," Ana shouts, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked down at the food that was served before me, and it looked amazing. I wanted to dig in right away, but waited until Astra came here. After all, I eat the fastest out of all of us, so I would finish way earlier than them. If we needed to talk about something after breakfast, I would be left waiting a while for them to finish.

It didn't take long for Astra to come, but it felt like ages, especially with the tempting food in front of me. Once she sat down, I immediately began to eat. It was all extremely delicious, as expected of Ana, however I felt like our drinks were lacking. Sure water, occasionally sweetened with fruit juice, is nice, but I feel like it is not enough. Unfortunately I don't know what is missing. I don't even know what other drinks I can make. I was pondering this while I was waiting for Astra and Ana to finish their food. It didn't take long for them to finish, and I was unable to come up with any good ideas. I would just tell Ana about this later and see what she can do.

"So, Sylvain," Astra began. "Any questions?"

I silently shake my head as I say, "No questions, but I do have something to say. When we go to get ingredients from the storage room, don't wait for me in the kitchen. When you guys are ready, get me from my room."

"Huh?" Astra asks with a start, obviously confused.

"My spells have already been recorded onto the walls of the storage area," I say. "As we said before, I'll have to go everyday to make sure I remember my spells. However, if the both of you have to wait for me everytime, that will just slow us down. So when you are ready, you should get me."

"That seems reasonable enough," Astra says. "You better be prepared when we come to collect you."

"Don't worry, I'll be prepared," I say. "If I'm not, I'll give you guys a warning in time."

"If we have nothing else to talk about, I'll just go wash the dishes," Ana says as she collects the empty plates.

"I am assuming you will be working on your spells again?" I ask as Ana leaves to wash the dishes.

"They are almost complete," Astra hurriedly says.

"I can't wait to see them then," I nonchalantly reply.

"You'll be surprised when you see them," Astra calmly says afterwards before asking, "What are you going to be doing?"

"I am not sure yet," I replied to her. "I think I will try to finish something on my list, however I don't know what to do. After all, I am definitely not gonna finish any one of them soon."

"Well, I guess goodluck with that," Astra encouragely says.

"Thanks, although I don't think luck will be of much help," I reply to her goodwill, before leaving the kitchen, and heading to my room. Even though I said to Astra that I would be working on something from my list, I didn't actually do that. Instead, I tried to think of ways to strengthen my hiding spell. The lack of information was really bothering me, and if I improved my hiding spell, I might be able to make up that lacking information.

With that, I began to think of ways to improve my hiding spell. The first thing I thought of was the improvements to my reinforcement spell. When I focused my mana into specific body parts, I was able to increase the spell's effects in that area. As such, I thought I could do something similar here, but instead of focusing my mana onto a specific body part, I would focus on the concept of hiding.

"O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself."

I quickly chanted my hiding spell, and began to try out my idea. I wasn't sure if it worked though. Unlike my reinforcement spell, I wasn't able to get any clear cut results. In other words, this might have worked, and it might not have. The only way to test that would be with others' help, but I couldn't think of anyone who would be a good candidate. Astra and Ana would definitely be helpful, but they'd ask why I was trying to improve the hiding spell. They wouldn't like the answer of gathering information, and I don't think they will accept any other explanation. After all, demonic beasts can't see through my original hiding spell.

Going off that, demonic beasts would also be useless to try it on, since again, they can't see through my original hiding spell. At best, they would tell me if it was worse than the original, but not if it was better. I also couldn't go to the king, since I am trying to do this to not be seen by the king. Thinking like this, I realize how fruitless my endeavor is. Since there's no one to test my improvements, I won't even know if they will work. I will only know if they work if I test them out for real, but then it would be pointless if I failed. While I was thinking of this, a sudden realization dropped upon me. I don't need to improve my hiding spell. I can just use multiple of it at the same time.

This is the same thought process as using multiple restrictive spells when they don't help as much. Using multiple hiding spells will most likely amplify the spell's effect. I can also easily test if this is the case by chanting multiple reinforcement spells. After all, I will be able to see the effects of multiple reinforcement spells, and if it works for them, it should work for my other spells. Deciding to test this idea, I got up from my room and headed to the entrance of the cave. Astra and Ana must have been doing their practice in their room, because I didn't see them as I walked to the entrance. However, that was better for me, as I didn't want to think of any excuse if they asked what I was doing. Once at the entrance, I stopped channeling my restrictive spell, and started chanting my spell sword.

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

With the spell sword, and lack of restrictive spell, I was able to quickly break through the snow blocking the entrance. I stopped channeling my spell sword once I got out of the cave. I also left the hole created in the snow, since I wasn't planning on being out here for long. I was only planning on testing my sprint speed, to see if there was a difference if I used more spells.

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

I chanted the spell once, and ran as quickly as I could in one direction. While I was running, I was also keeping track of the time, so I could compare the two runs. I only stopped running once I ran out of breath, which took some time because of my natural strength, and the boost given by the reinforcement spell. It took around 20 minutes for me to finish the run. Once I finished my full sprint, I took some time to rest. Then I chanted a second reinforcement spell.

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

Once the spell was chanted, I ran back to the cave entrance at full speed. Since I had only run in one direction to get here, I just needed to run in the opposite direction to get back. I could already tell that using two spells amplified the spell's effect. The speed I was running at now was much faster than when I only had one spell in effect. As if to prove that, I was able to get back to the cave quickly. Timewise, it only took around 5 minutes for me to return, and I wasn't even out of breath.

With that I now knew without a doubt that more spells increases their effect. With this knowledge, my continuous spells could get a serious power boost. The only exception to those would be my spell swords, since chanting those twice would just make a second one. My multitasking skill would now have a great importance in future battles. Also, my mana recovery rate would be of more importance. It is already of pretty big importance, but it will be even bigger in the future.

This will have some bigger implications, but at the moment it will be extremely helpful in gathering information. At the moment, my mana recovery is able to balance out 3 spells, so I would be able to use 3 hiding spells to infiltrate the forbidden zone. I hope this is enough to completely hide from the king, but I am not sure that it will be. I will be more comfortable if I use 4 hiding spells when I am in the forbidden zone. This will give me a time limit, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

I'll have to figure out the exact time limit. That way I would have a maximum limit to always keep in mind. I definitely don't want to stay for the entire time though, as that would mean I would have used all of my mana. That is something that I don't want to happen. After all, if I lose all my mana, I will also lose a majority of my attacking power. I'll, at the very least, want to save enough mana to cast my mana drain spell. I can then work with that to gain more mana from my attackers. I'll also want to infiltrate the forbidden zone after winter. From what Astra and Ana have told me, every rainbow fox would be within the forbidden zone during the winter. Afterwards, some would go hunting in the beastman zone, which will make infiltrating much, much easier. Though it is strange that I haven't come across any rainbow foxes except for Diego, in the long time I have lived here. Maybe its because of the warding barrier formation?

Anyways as long as I have some time, I'll definitely be able to find something important. I'll do the testing over the rest of winter, and figure out my time limit. I'll also use this winter to increase my strength, so I don't have to rely only on my mana. Then I'll do the operation a couple weeks after the snow has cleared. I was thinking of this as I entered the cave. Once I was in, I chanted my breeze spell so I could cover the cave entrance with snow.

"O spell of wind come forth as a breeze to blow away my opponents."

After making sure the snow covered the entrance, I went back down to the dining room. I realized it would be time for lunch, so I just waited there for Ana to come. I didn't want to waste her time, and it would also be awkward if she saw me coming back to my room. I'd have to quickly make an excuse for why I was out of my room, and I don't think I would be able to come up with a good one. While I was thinking of this, Ana popped her head into the dining room.

"I didn't find you in your room, so I thought you would be here," she exclaims upon seeing me.

"I didn't want to waste any time," I said to her.

"If you stayed in your room, I don't think you would have wasted any time," Ana says. "I did go there first to find you after all."

"I could have become engrossed in something," I replied. "Then I would have definitely wasted our time. Anyways, tell me what you want me to grab."

"Same thing as for breakfast," she said. "I still want to work on the rabbit meat and find out why it tastes better than the other meats we have."

"If you are going to be cooking rabbit meat for every meal," I say, "I'd have to go hunting for more of them."

"I don't think I'd go through all of the rabbit meat we have," she pouted back at me.

"I should still go get some more," I reply. "You know, just in case."

"Fine, do what you want."

"Sure, but first let's get the ingredients."

With that, I left the dining room, and went to the storage area. This time, I didn't look at my spell wall, and just went to get rabbit meat. Like last time, I got 3 bodies, and carried them to the entrance of the storage area, while I waited for Ana. She didn't take as long as breakfast, probably because she already knew what she would be making.

"I'm guessing you won't be needing any help from me to prepare this?" I ask, on the rare possibility she might want my help.

"No," she replies, meeting my expectations.

"Well, I'll be waiting at the dining room table then."

"Okay."

With that, Ana gets started on cooking her meal. I went back to the dining room table and waited for the food to be served. I also started to think of random things to pass the time. My thoughts soon turned to what I would be doing for the rest of the day. In that time, I decided that I would figure out my time limit when using 4 hiding spells. I might only be able to get a rough estimation of the time limit though, as I might be interrupted by Ana to help her grab the ingredients for dinner. I would deal with that, if and when it happens though.

"Astra lunch is ready." I heard Ana exclaim, jogging me from my thoughts.

The food was placed before me, and it looked identical to what we were served for breakfast. Knowing her, she probably did something different, to try to test out the ingredients. Whatever she did wouldn't matter as long as it was delicious. I waited for Astra to come and sit down with us, before digging in, and as expected it was less flavorful. I am guessing she used less seasonings to try to figure out how much the seasonings contribute to the meat. Once I had finished my food, I left the dishes, and went back to my room.

"O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself. O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself. O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself. O spell of wind flow around my body to hide myself."

Once in my room, I chanted my hiding spell 4 times. The last part of my mind was occupied with counting the seconds. Like that, I stayed still and counted the time until my mana would run out. However, it didn't run out for a long time. I realized that it was nearing dinner time, and it felt like only 10 maybe 15% of my mana was gone. So taking the worst case, and assuming all my mana was used, I would be able to keep 4 spells running for 40 hours. Assuming the best case and using up all of my mana, I would be able to last for 60 hours. Of course the actual time may be different, so I will still need to fully exhaust my mana to figure it out, but this has already given me great confidence. I am also shocked by the amount of mana I actually have.

"Sylvi, you ready," I heard while I was still thinking of my absurd amount of mana. Good thing she didn't come into my room, otherwise she would think that I was not here.

I quickly stopped channeling my hiding spells and said, "Yep."

Assuming she was going to continue working on rabbit meat, I went to the storage area to get it for her. While waiting for her to gather the rest of the ingredients, I looked at the spell wall quickly, so that it could actually fulfill its purpose. Once I was done reviewing it, Ana came with a lot of foodstuff in her arms. I followed her back to the kitchen, while thinking that I would have to look at the other wall soon. I then sat down at the table, and waited for dinner to be served. It didn't take long, and this time, I ate without waiting for Astra to come. Once I was done, I went back to my room to sleep. Even though I didn't use all of my mana, I was still tired from using a good chunk of it, so I instantly fell asleep.