Chapter 30 – Errands and Aqua Corona

Closing the door behind me, I sit on the edge of the bed, holding my head in my hands, though a small smile belies my ashamed attitude.

"How fucking embarrassing."

Having woken up face down on an unfamiliar velvet bed with a blanket hastily thrown over me, I quickly realized my predicament and attempted to sneak out before anyone noticed.

Unfortunately, my fatigue from yesterday's fight was more than I reckoned, causing me to sleep well into the morning, thus leaving Mother Astraea's room, I was met by the entire Familia enjoying their breakfast.

Resigning myself to fate, I joined in the meal, receiving a barrage of teasing from the girls that eventually morphed into sincere praise for my achievement.

Indeed, I had levelled up.

As expected, it would be a serious problem if fighting a monster two levels above did not push me over the edge, and the unnatural thrum of power within my body did not go unnoticed.

After breakfast, I was given my status page from Mother Astraea, Lyra having already reviewed it the night before.

And luckily, I had gained both a new skill and magic.

Stellar Sword Style, the crystallization of my sword technique and stellar magic control, more specifically, the combination of the two.

I could already feel the effects of the spatial awareness aspect, being able to sense everyone's positions even when out of my view.

And Aqua Corona, a healing magic, taking my wish to be able to heal myself and making it a reality.

Although now with a magic that uses a chant, I'll need to learn concurrent chanting.

Well, that's a later problem.

Alise already told me she'd show me to the forge that made her sword, the place in question being the Goibniu Familia, known for being the only smithing Familia at the same level of skill as Hephaestus, though being smaller, and being one of the top construction Familia's in Orario.

So, fix up my armour, get a new dagger, and buy some new clothes and under-armour.

Oh, and reporting my level up to the guild.

I wonder what Rose's reaction will be like.

Washing up for the day, I then make my downstairs with my bag full of my armour, Goliath Tooth, and about three-quarters of my saved-up valis.

"Yo Sirius! You ready?"

My red-headed captain who was leaning against a couch, stands up to start heading out.

"Mmm, I hope I have enough valis for everything. What, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Hmm? I don't know what you're talking about! I'm just wondering if you're ok to walk around or if you need some more rest with Mother Astraea."

Feeling my cheeks warm up in embarrassment, I start walking to the front door and decide to reciprocate her teasing.

"Y-You know, if you keep bringing that up, I'm gonna start thinking you're jealous."

Opening the door, I'm greeted by the late-morning glow of Orario against my face as I hear Alise stumble behind me before racing to catch up.

"I-I'm not! It was just something funny! Don't ignore me!"

And so, we made our way toward the center of the city to complete my errands.

----- 2 Hours Later -----

Making our way to our final destination, my bag is now filled with clothes rather than my armour.

Having spent around 7,500 valis at the clothing store, I got a few sets of casual clothes to go along with my under armour, much to Alise's insistence.

As for fixing up my armour, that cost nearly 15,000 valis, though Dvalin did say he was going to upgrade some parts to keep up with my new strength.

Now standing in front of the Guibniu Familia headquarters, I can see smoke billowing out of various chimneys around the central building.

Must be the forges, right?

Letting Alise lead the way, we soon find ourselves in a small meeting room, much like the one in the guild when I first studied the dungeon.

Not wanting to wait around in complete silence, I turn towards Alise.

"So, who are we waiting for again?"

"Ah, we're waiting for someone to take our commission, they'll ask what you want, the materials, find the perfect size, all that stuff."

"Oh, so we don't know whose making the dagger?"

"Nope, unlike Hephaestus Familia, Goibniu smiths don't have as much independence, rather they work as a Familia. The person who'll take our order will find a smith that would work best for what you want, likely someone specializing in daggers."

"Huh, interesting."

Who knew the two biggest smithing Familias had such different policies?

Not long after, a Cat Person girl with curly brown hair enters the room.

"Scarlet Harnel, what can we do for you today? Did you need maintenance on your sword?"

"Aww, don't be so distant Luna! Call me Alise! And it's not me getting something made today. Meet Sirius, the now level 3 Celestial Sword and record-holder for the fastest level-up!"

Dammit, I hate introducing myself with that alias, and from her smug grin, Alise knows it too.

"Haa, yep, that's me. I'm looking to commission a dagger, one that can endure the deep floors. I have a Goliath Tooth which I've been told is great material for it."

"Goliath Tooth, huh? That will cut down the price by a good margin. First question, do you plan on keeping your level up pace?"

"Uhh, I'm hoping to."

"Alright then, can you show me your hand?"

I then went through numerous measurements and exercises while Luna recorded everything on her clipboard.

"Well, I suppose that's it. No need for upfront payment since we'll be taking the Goliath Tooth, and I assume the dagger should be delivered to the Stardust Garden?"

"Yeah, do you know how much it will cost?"

"Daggers like these cost around 1-1.5 million valis, while you did already provide most of the material, it will even out by enchanting the final product with Durandal. Don't worry, the Guibniu Familia pride ourselves on blending art and utility, the final product will be a high-end second-class dagger."

"Umm, ok. Thank you."

"Yes, pleasure doing business with you, Celestial Sword, Scarlet Harnel."

Luna then exits the room, leaving the door open on her way out.

Alise then stands up and does a light overhead stretch.

"Well, let's head back home. You still haven't used that new magic yet, have you?"

"No, not yet."

"Well, it sounds similar to Ryuu's, so go to her for any questions. Lucky you, she is also the best one at concurrent chanting among the girls."

----- 1 Hour Later -----

After returning home, I stored away my new clothes before going to the training ground to get a taste of my new strength and abilities.

Which leads me to now.

While not as drastic of an improvement as my first level-up, I still was significantly stronger than before.

This makes sense, as Mother Astraea said levelling up increases every stat by around 1000, my first level-up would have doubled my stats, while this one increased my abilities by a third.

Will still take some getting used to.

Which means practice, and quite a lot of it.

Thankfully, I can also take this time to learn about Aqua Corona and concurrent chanting.

But before that, I think I should see exactly what Stellar Sword Style does.

Unsheathing Infinite Eclipse, I instinctively feel... better.

If I could describe it, it's akin to the minimal change in lenses in an eye exam, except instead of vision it's my stats.

Weird.

Doing an ordinary horizontal slash, I don't feel anything different from normal, except for my increased stats of course.

If anything, the swing feels ugly, lacking the precise control and fluidness I had previously.

Haa, another thing to add to the list.

Now, what else did it say?

Oh yeah! 'Easily imbue stellar magic into swords.'

While I'm not sure exactly what qualifies as a 'sword' for the skill, Infinite Eclipse definitely fits the bill.

Activating Celestial Ascent, I'm momentarily taken aback by the increase in power, quantity, and ease of control of stellar magic.

Right, magic stat.

Guiding the enhancement towards my sword, it flows into my sword without issue, the previous 'barrier' that separated my body and sword no longer present.

I also feel the same intimate connection to my stellar magic while imbued into the blade, as if my sword is part of my body.

Neat.

Playing around with it some more, I also notice that the second 'barrier', the one keeping me from shooting stellar magic slashes from my sword, is still there.

Though, the fact that I can now feel it gives me hope in adding that move to my arsenal.

Preferably without needing to add Strike of Hope to it.

Well, I think that's enough for now, it's time for the good stuff.

Taking out the note I had written previously, I prick my finger against Infinite Eclipse before sheathing the blade.

Now, how the hell does this work?

"Sacred springs, embrace these children with your fountain of life-"

A familiar pull, one that I felt when first activating Celestial Ascent.

But the pull isn't enough to move my mind, thus, I give it a little help, guiding my mind to follow the direction of the pull.

Circling around my chest a few times before making its way down my arms.

"-heal their wounds, grant your blessing-"

Now with my mind collected at my finger, I can see a soft blue glow on my fingertips.

"-awaken their strength."

My mind exits my body, resulting in me losing control of the magic.

At least, that's what I thought...

But I can still control it, not very well, not very well at all, like guiding a puppet with a 10-meter-long string, but I can guide it slightly.

Mentally setting me as the 'target', the mind leaving my fingertips transforms into clear turquoise water, like the water on Caribbean beaches.

The water then wraps itself around my body, swirling around a few times before half of it concentrates and converges on my cut finger while the rest spreads out, covering my body.

An instant later, the slight fatigue and strain of muscles from my practice dissipate, and I can only stare in wonder as the cut on my finger slowly patches itself together as if rewinding time.

Cool!

Practicing my new magic a couple more times while imprinting the chant into my mind, I make a few more discoveries.

First, the mind control for this chanted magic is different than Celestial Ascent, if I could find a way to describe it, Celestial Ascent is like driving a car, being free to control it however I like but still needing to stay on the road, while Aqua Corona is like a train, I can only control the speed and the odd crossing where the tracks split, but that's it.

Second, by chanting Aqua Corona and not designating a 'target', the magic stays suspended where it can be used at any time, though the mind supplied to the magic loses power over time.

Third, I can withdraw Aqua Corona after chanting, resulting in some mind loss depending on how long it's in its 'suspended' state.

And lastly, I can designate how much mind to use during the chant, and I can only assume from its description that the amount of mind I put into the magic will dictate how strong the effects are, very useful.

As I'm about to test how low of a mind input I can use, I'm interrupted by my favourite Elf.

"I see you've already started practicing, Sirius."

Turning to respond, I see that she's in her training outfit rather than her adventuring attire, consisting of shorts and a loose tank top.

Mmm, very nice.

That reminds me, I need to talk to Mother Astraea later.

"Hey Ryuu, what's up?"

Tucking her hair behind her ear, she then tosses me a wooden sword while holding her own.

"Today was originally going to be me helping you with your magic, but it seems you've already learned most of that. So now, we'll practice concurrent chanting."

"Oh, I see. But what are the swords for? Don't you start practicing concurrent chanting by walking and running?"

"Mmm, but you still need to get used to your increased strength, no? What better way than combat? I also was hoping to improve my sword skills as I have been slacking."

Activating Celestial Ascent, I notice that the wooden sword has the same ease of enhancement as Infinite Eclipse, I guess this thing counts as a sword.

"Oh, alright. What do we start with?"

"Well, unlike most, you've already got controlling your mind in combat down with your chantless magic, so you're already halfway there. Now you only need to learn about the vocal chanting part."

And so, I spend the next couple of hours training with Ryuu.

Turns out, chanting while moving is hard, extremely so.

What they say about it being akin to tying a knot while fighting is true.

Luckily I had two previous experiences helping me.

One is of course the mind control during fighting I use with Celestial Ascent.

The second is, very surprisingly, my lyre skills.

I had been playing the lyre while singing for a while now, bringing my modern-day songs into this world, especially after Mother Astraea reassured me that only technological advancements are monitored by gods.

The simultaneous action of plucking the strings and singing the lyrics was able to translate roughly to moving while chanting, allowing me to be able to walk and chant at the same time by the end of the session.

According to Ryuu, it was marvellous progress.

Now that my mind had been mostly used up, I was now facing Ryuu, both of us with a wooden sword in hand.

Knowing that she had superior strength and was not afraid to use it, I set myself in a defensive stance, ready to parry and dodge whenever possible.

Though with her level 5, S ranked dexterity and agility, my hopes were very slim.

----- 2 Hours Later -----

*Thwack!*

Sent flying backward, I manoeuvre myself during my momentary flight to land on my feet, doing a slight hop to kill the momentum.

"I, I think this is enough."

Hearing Ryuu's signal, I collapse onto the ground, hearing a light 'poof' as she does the same.

Looking at my hands, I see that they're bloodied from the skin being torn during the fight and I can even feel the bruises forming on my body.

Glancing across the ground, I see Ryuu's prone figure in a similar state of fatigue and pain.

Yes, while the start of the spar consisted of me being bullied by Ryuu and her superior status, she eventually realized that she would have to lower her level to gain anything from the training.

From then on it was more of an even battle, with me being superior in instincts due to my skill and sword technique and Ryuu being better in experience and general combat ability, like when our swords were crossed and she kicked my feet out from under me.

So, here we were, both broken and beaten.

After resting a while longer, I decided to put my new magic to proper use and test something I had been wondering about.

Finishing the chant, instead of designating myself as a target, I set both me and Ryuu as targets.

The familiar release of the magic and my mind, this time the water is formed and splits into two streams, one wrapping around me and the other making its way towards Ryuu.

So I can use it on multiple targets, interesting.

Feeling the familiar rejuvenating effect of Aqua Corona, my damaged body begins to heal as the blisters marring my palms subside, leaving only blood and dirt behind.

Now, I wonder if I can change the 'split' of mind for each target, as without me attempting to control it, it split into two.

In that case, I should learn how to discern injuries and what amount of mind is needed to heal the-

"Ahn!"

...

Bruh.

What the hell was that erotic moan?

Raising my body, I see Ryuu sitting up with her arms crossed around her chest and her face glowing red.

It seems that my healing magic surprised her, from how she sounded I can only believe in a good way.

Our gaze meeting, her lower lip begins to tremble and her eyes start to water, her previous blush spreading to the tips of her ears.

"R-Ryuu, are you ok-"

Before I could finish my question, the embarrassed Elf dashes into the house with a speed I couldn't follow, leaving me alone with both of the practice swords.

"Haa, yep, talking to Mother Astraea tonight."

I lay back down while taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart and loosen the tightness in my pants, keeping my mind from going to certain places.