Chapter 117 - Shock and Circle

"Alright, y'all have already met Azalea, my Bushinado", I said as I placed my hunting knife onto the table, "and my other partner is Rakka". Rakka's and Azalea's drajules began to glow as they reacted with the spell circle on the table.

"A knife holster? How practical", Albina said as she took her pipe from off the table and began to take a huff from it.

"I never heard of a Bushinado before, what affinity is she?", Bori asked while staring at my hunting knife intently.

"Verdant, Wind and Fury".

"Huh, neat. Which of those affinities was added by the primal drajule"?

"None? I made the drajule myself".

"What"?!

The moment those words left my mouth, Bori looked like lightning struck him while Albina choked on her smoke.

"Is there an issue?", I asked a little confused.

"Are you kidding me? Natural triple affinity majimonsters are incredibly hard to find in the Wildlands!", Bori said excitedly.

"And they tended to be incredibly dangerous and large majimonsters as well", Albina added as she coughed, "the fact that you managed to find one without being a noble or another binder helping you out is astounding good luck".

"Huh...what if I had two?", I asked curiously.

"Then I'd call you a liar or that you had the luck of a demon, why?", Albina asked as she stopped herself from taking another drag for her pipe. She began to gave me a wary look.

"Well...", I began to trail off.

"Silvia. What kind of majimonster is Rakka?", Bori asked.

"Does the name 'Ragnaceros' mean anything to you guys?", I asked innocently.

"It's an extinct and extremely dangerous deer-like majimonster, why-", but as the words left Bori mouth he suddenly stopped and began to stare at my knife with even bigger look of shock on his face. The next moment, he had duck under the table and I could feel his gaze at my feet.

"Bori, what are you doing"?

"He's probably checking if you have literal rabbit's feet", Albina said as she began to huff her pipe.

"Why?", Savina asked in my stead.

"Because the only people I know who are this lucky are from the kaiju Lagodrassil", Bori said seriously.

[There's a rabbit kaiju?], Voxea asked me.

_________________________________________

As laid in my new bed, I listened closely for the sounds of friends falling asleep. For obvious reasons, Voxea asked me to wait for everybody else to fall asleep before summoning her.

[Can I come out yet?], Voxea asked a little impatiently.

[Not- wait, can't you detect this kind of thing]?

[Not while inside the drajule. Magical energies and life force sure, just not biological idiosyncrasies. Now can I come out yet]?

[Huh. More you know, and yes you can]. In the next moment, I rolled out of bed and quitely summoned Voxea from her drajule.

"Perfect", she whispered, "now come along my darling apprentice. If that relic is what I think/know it is, it will help you break that little wall of yours quite easily".

"Alright...why aren't we using the link to talk?", I quitely asked as I opened the door.

"Because...reasons", she said as she flew out of my door and into the common area. She and I may share a mental/spiritual bond, but there are somethings about her that throw me for a loop.

As I followed after her, Voxea had already reached the table and had begun to lean closely and poke at the spell circle inscribed in it.

"Hmmmm. That's odd...", Voxea muttered.

"What's up"?

"Take a look at this spell circle, do you see anything familiar and anything that seems off?", she asked in scholarly manner as she gestured to the spell circle.

Looking it over, I could immediately see the runes representing the ten affinities as well as the runes for "gathering", "dragon" and "sky"... waitaminute.

"There's a rune here I don't recognize you teaching me", I said as I stared closer at the carving.

"That's the rune for 'beast'. It's a third grade rune that is normally used for transformation spells. I'm not entirely sure why it's included alongside the other", Voxea explained.

"There's something the great Voxea doesn't know"?

"Oh don't get smart with me", Voxea said while rolling her eyes at me, "What I mean is that the array should work just fine without it. I do believe there's a second use for this circle other than healing your majimonsters".

"Like what"?

"Don't know, but let's find out".