Chapter 29 Dismantling Teaching

After that talk, I began to work on modifying my spell sword to make it into a dagger. If I wasn't able to do this, then we would lose a major food source, which will be a major problem for us. However, I am not too worried about it. After all, I have modified my spells before, so this should be easy. All I have to do is replace "blade" with "dagger" and the spell should work. Of course, I would have to try it out first.

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

With this spell chanted, a smaller blade did form into my hands. However, the blade didn't seem very useful for dismantling. It just seemed like a smaller version of the original spell sword. I tried moving my hand to see if I could actually use this smaller blade, but when I began to move it, the blade started to vibrate. I felt like if I continued, the spell would deactivate, and not in a peaceful way. Due to this feeling, I immediately deactivated the spell by myself.

So the spell does technically work. If it didn't, then nothing would have happened. This means that I am on the right track, but it needs something more. The new spell seems to be extremely unstable, and can be easily stopped just from some simple movements. I guess this means that there is something conflicting with the spell, meaning I would have to change up some more words. The things I might want to change are "mighty" and maybe "destroy." These seem too destructive for what I am intending the spell to do, and could be the reason for the spell's instability.

I thought for a while on what words should replace those two. I already had an idea for "mighty" to be replaced with "sharp." After all, a sharper dagger would make dismantling a lot easier. However, I was stumped on the "destroy" part. I couldn't really think of anything to change it into. Since I was in a slump, I decided to chant the spell once again. This way I could see if my thinking is on the right track.

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

With this spell chanted, another blade appeared in my hands. It looked much more similar to a dagger, indicating that my thinking was right. I then tried to move it, and there were some vibrations in the blade, meaning that the spell is still unstable. My gut is telling me I need to change that "destroy" part, but I still don't know how. However, I felt like I could use this spell as is for the time being. Then I could think of ways to change it later. After all, our most pressing matter is not being able to dismantle the bodies we have, and this spell, though unstable, would be able to do that job. It may not be able to do it well, but it will be able to get it done, and I can compensate with technique.

Once I had finished this, I headed out of the dismantling room, and entered the kitchen. I got out of the cave, and looked up at the night sky. It seemed like I had spent a while trying to modify my spell, and earlier I thought that this wouldn't take too long. However, it actually took me a whole afternoon, and then some. I entered the kitchen once again to make a meal for myself. It seems that Ana and Astra had already had their dinner and went to sleep. I assumed they probably tried to get me to eat with them, but I ignored them, more focused on modifying the spell.

A quick look around in the kitchen showed me a plate full of food along with a large leaf sticking out from underneath the plate. I first lifted the plate and took out the large leaf from under it. On it was some writing, seemingly created from ash. I guess they took inspiration from me before. I quickly read the note, and it was a basic summary of what they did, while I was modifying the spell, before going on to say that they have gone to bed and prepared some food for me to eat. Once I finished reading the entire note, I began to eat the food from the plate.

The food was so good that I ate it ravenously, not once looking up from the plate. Once I had finished the plate, I went to wash the dishes that I used. Once I finished washing the dishes, I looked for the note, but it was nowhere in sight. Thinking nothing of it, I returned to the dismantling room to actually start dismantling some of the bodies we had. Once I had finished dismating 5 bodies, I went to bed, sleeping in the dismantling room.

The next day, I woke up to the smell of grilled meat. I looked around, surprised that I was in the dismantling room, before remembering that I had fallen asleep here after dismantling some bodies. I looked at the dismantling desk, half expecting to see the remains of the last body I dismantled. However, it wasn't there. After some thinking, I realized that Ana or Astra must have gotten it off the desk, and used it to cook today's breakfast. Once I realized this, I quickly headed to the kitchen. In the kitchen, I say Ana by the stove, while Astra was sitting at the table. I then went to join Astra at the table.

"So it seems like you were able to successfully modify your spell sword," Astra said to me in a cheerful tone upon seeing me.

"Haha, yes," I say in a slightly forced tone. After all, while I was able to modify it, the spell was unstable, and could fall apart while I was dismantling. That wouldn't be a bad thing on its own, but it could have side effects that might harm me while I'm dismantling.

Astra ever astute asks, "what's got you bothered this time?"

"The modified spell is still unstable," I respond, seeing no reason to hide it from her. "So it has the chance to backfire at any moment. However, other than that, it still works perfectly fine and will allow us to dismantle our prey."

"I'm guessing you'll want to fix up the spell while keeping in mind our food situation?" Astra asks in a tone that seems to imply she already knows the answer.

"Yeah, while Diego is our main problem, our food is a close second," I respond. "We need to be able to dismantle our prey. Wait a minute, why am I doing all this? Aren't the both of you foxes? Can't you both use your claws to dismantle the prey we bring back?"

"Probably," Astra says. "However, we would not be able to dismantle it properly as we have no experience in that regard. We would probably be wasting more food that way."

"It's not like I was really good at it in the beginning," I quickly responded. "Besides if we have more people who could dismantle, that would seriously reduce my workload. I feel like it would be beneficial to us, if at least one of you learns how to dismantle."

"I guess I'll be the one to learn then," Astra replies. "After all, Ana is working on cooking, and I wouldn't want to force her to dismantle as well."

"Well, as long as you are fine with it," I reply.

"Yes I will be, because I'll be able to spend some alone time with you." She says, mumbling her later words letting me only make out the beginning part.

"Well as long as you are fine with it," I reply once again. "We'll be starting after we eat breakfast. We will then finish dismantling all the bodies we have before going out to hunt more."

Right when Astra was going to respond, Ana came over with plates full of food. It seems like she has just finished cooking. I wasn't that interested in what it was, since I know that Ana is an amazing cook. Because of this, I just eat the food with gusto. The food really is great though.

When we finish eating Astra asks, "so what are we doing now?"

"I'm going to be teaching Astra how to dismantle," I say nonchalantly, "while you can do whatever you want. Once we've finished dismantling, we'll all go hunt for more food."

"Lucky, can I also learn how to dismantle?" Ana asks after hearing what I've said.

It seems like she is jealous. I can only guess she wants to spend time with me. After all, what other reason does she have to be jealous? Well, I don't wish to teach her dismantling though. She is an amazing cook, and wasting her time on dismantling would be horrible.

"Well, if you really want to, then I won't stop you, but I feel you should focus on cooking," I say as sincerely as possible. "You are already able to make such good food, and I'm sure you'll keep growing in that regard as long as you spend more time on it. Learning to dismantle would take away from the time you have to learn better cooking techniques."

"Fine," Ana said happily. "But you'll have to help me test all the new food I create, and give me your honest opinions in it. Otherwise I won't cook again."

Even though she says that in a teasing tone, I respond I a serious manner, afraid this might actually become a reality. "Don't worry, I'll test anything you make, and honestly give my opinion."

Ana then starts laughing at the serious tone I responded in. As a way to get out of this situation, I quickly head to the dismantling room. Astra has also followed me to the dismantling room. Once there , I get out the remaining bodies that we have.

"Okay, watch me first," I say to Astra. "I'll dismantle this one as a demonstration, and then you'll work on your own portion. Once I'm done with my portion, I'll come over to help you out, and point out your mistakes."

After I said that, Astra nods her head. Once I see her nod her head, I begin to dismantle the demonic beast. I Intentionally slowed my pace, so that way Astra would be able to see my movements. I know that I am not a good teacher, indicated from the time I tried to teach them how to control their mana. I was only able to lead by example, and create methods that helped them, but I never actually gave them any teaching. This is going to be similar. I'll show her the proper method, and point her out when she does something wrong, but it'll be up to her to learn. While I was thinking of all these things, I had already finished dismantling the demonic beast.

"So how was that?" I cautiously ask Astra. "I can do it again if you need to see it."

"No thanks," Astra says. "I'll try to master dismantling just like when we tried to master our mana control."

"Okay then," I say. "I'll first finish off my portion of demonic beasts then."

I feel like she said something to me after that, but I wasn't paying attention because after I had finished talking, I immediately began to dismantle the remaining demonic beasts before me. Since I didn't have to slow down my movements, I was able to get them done at a very fast speed. However, I made plenty of mistakes because of my new dismantling tool. Soon I had finished my portion, and then began to watch over Astra. She seemed to be concentrating intently while she was dismantling.

Not wanting to disturb her, I just continued to watch by the side. She was actually already on to her second demonic beast, so I began to observe the first one she dismantled. It was honestly abysmal, but better than when I had first tried my hand at dismantling. There was still some fur on the meat, and meat was still stuck to the bones. Again, it was better than my first attempt, since mine had much more fur, and a lot less meat.

There was also the problem that she wasn't cutting from the already created wounds. She would just create a hole whenever she couldn't get off a particular area of fur. Honestly, for us, this is not really a bad thing. After all, we only really need the meat, and nothing else is of value to us. However, if we were to try to sell this, it wouldn't sell well, since there are too many holes in the fur to be used for anything. So while this is an area to improve on, it isn't really that big of a deal. She should mainly focus on getting off all the fur, and trying to get the most meat off the bone.

Another problem I was able to see was with the bones. They were cut up and damaged, which honestly surprised me. I know how sturdy these bones are, and she seems to be chipping them. This is actually a pretty bad thing for us, since the chopped bones could carry into the meat. If that happened, their sturdiness would make for a tough challenge to eat. I guess this problem is mostly a problem related to her claws being too sharp.

There also might be another problem, but I won't be able to tell. The other problem would be the draining of the blood. After all, these demonic beasts have already been drained of their blood. If she had to dismantle them after a recent hunt, then she would have to also prepare, and drain blood by herself. However, this shouldn't be a real problem, since she has been fighting. Of course, just because something shouldn't be a problem, doesn't mean it won't be a problem. However, that will be something for later. Soon enough Astra finished the demonic beast she was working on. She was about to do her next one when I stopped her to tell her the problems I found.

"Okay, I'll tell you the flaws I found so far. The first is that you are making too many holes into the fur. As a dismantler, you should strive to be able to just use the wounds on the demonic beast, and take off the fur in one fell swoop. Although this doesn't really affect us much, if we were trying to sell this then this would be a detriment. The next thing is that you are chipping the bones. This is much worse, since the chipped bones can get stuck into the meat, and with how sturdy the bones are, eating them will be a pain. The final thing I have to say is that there is too much fur on the meat, and too much meat left on the bone."

Once I have said my piece, Astra nods to acknowledge that she understood. Then after that short nod, she instantly throws herself back into dismantling. I would occasionally adjust her claw movements, and tell her any flaw that I could find. Soon enough, we had finished dismantling the demonic beasts. Once we were done we went out and into the living room. Ana is there, which is surprising since I thought she would be trying new cooking styles.

"Are you guys done dismantling?" Ana asks exhaustedly once she sees us. I can't tell why she is so exhausted though.

"Yes, don't worry, we'll go hunting soon," I respond to her. "Just let Astra go get the magic bag. Then we'll head out of the cave and depart."

Before I had finished talking, Astra had already gone into her room to go and get the magic bag.

Trying to keep the conversation going, I ask, "so do we need to gather edible plants today?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Ana responds. "We should have enough for the time being. Besides, I'd like to work with what we currently have, before heading on to new materials."

While she was talking, Astra had come up to us with the magic bag in hand.

"Okay then, now that we are all here, change into your human forms and grab onto my hands," I say to them. They do so, but this time I was already looking away so as to not see them naked. After a short while, I was able to tell that they were grabbing my hands. I then look at them, just to make sure that they are clothed, since not a lot of time had passed. Once I found out that they were properly clothed, I chant the hiding spell.

"O spell of wind flow around our bodies to hide ourselves."

With that we are once again invisible.

"Okay I'll let one of you set the pace this time," I speak out loud.

"Well, follow me then," Astra suddenly says from my right side. Soon after, I feel a tug from my right side. I quickly relay the information to Ana, in case she hasn't heard, before pulling her in the direction Astra is moving. As we walk, I try to cover our tracks the best I can.

I soon realize that we are just wandering in circles so I ask, "do you want me to use my detection spell?"

"Yeah, that would make it easier on us," Astra quickly agrees.

"Huh, if only we could use the detection spell as well," Ana sighs discontentedly. "Even though we can use our mana links, our detection spell will attack afterwards. That doesn't really help use when we are trying to be subtle."

"O spell of wind spread with me as the center to detect my enemies," I quickly chant my detection spell while the both of them are talking. Even though I am chanting, I was able to make out the conversation that was happening between them, so after I finish the spell I add in my own opinion. "You do know that the both of you can just create your own original detection spell. It can even be based on mine. You don't need to only use our mana links."

The two of them seem to pause for a moment. I can't really tell since we are all invisible. However, they have stopped talking, seemingly contemplating what I have just said.

Then all of a sudden Ana exclaims, "sylvi is right. We can just create our own spells."

Heading her loud voice I immediately say in a quiet tone, "be quiet. We are still trying. To lay low. We don't want to be caught right now. I know you are excited, but calm down."

"Sorry," Ana mumbles to my scolding.

"Forgiven," I immediately responded. "Anyways, there seems to be no demonic beasts in the vicinity, so just go wherever you want Astra. I'll tell you when I can detect a demonic beast."

"Okay," Astra replies. I like to imagine that she nodded her invisible head to my words. I then once again feel a tug from my right pulling me in a direction. I also begin to guide Ana along the way. I don't forget to cover our tracks to the best of my abilities.

Soon enough my detection spell is able to find a couple of reactions so I quietly tell Astra, "there seems to be demonic beasts in the vicinity. It seems like there are mostly pairs, some in trios, but that is the maximum. There are no demonic beasts with four in a group. As such, it is highly unlikely that Diego and his group are here."

"Can you tell me the direction?" Astra asks in response.

Instead of replying to her, I begin to point out the direction. However, I forgot that my hands are being held, and that we are invisible. In the end, I just do my best to give her their positions. To tell her, I use the closest tree as a reference point, and explain where each group is.

"It seems they are far enough apart that we will be able to hit down a group without alerting the other," Astra begins to say.

Taking this as a question I reply, "yes that seems to be the case, but we'll have to end our fights really quick. Otherwise, our fighting might attract the other demonic beasts."

Ana joins in after me saying, "Astra and I will be able to use long range spells to kill those demonic beasts. We have been training our accuracy in our spare time. While it isn't much, we definitely improved, and will not miss."

"Okay, I'll let the both of you handle this matter, while I clean up the mess afterwards," I rely.

With this, we stop our conversation, and head to a pair of demonic beasts. The are the farthest away from the others, and would be the least likely to get help if something goes wrong. On the way, Ana and Astra begin to gather mana, and form it into lances. I can clearly see the lances being formed.

Once we are a good distance away from the pair of demonic beasts, Ana and Astra immediately fire their lances. Like they have said, their accuracy has improved, and their lances strike the heads of both demonic beasts, at nearly the same time. With this, the demonic beasts slump over, dead form a shot through the head. We then begin to walk over, before I hide any evidence of our involvement, and store the demonic beast. The rest of the demonic beasts here are killed in a similar manner. Before long, we already have a good amount of bodies.

We saved the trios for last, and once they had been killed Astra said, "I think it's about time we head back."

Neither Ana nor I reject that decision, so we all begin to head back to the cave.My hiding spell and detection spell have been up constantly ,so there's no need for me to rechant them. While we are walking, I also begin to cover our traces. I am more meticulous on our way bavk, since I don't want them to just simple follow us to our home base. Soon enough we have made it home, just as the sun reaches its highest point, with no troubles.