Arc 2 – The Weasel – Chapter Twenty-One

Arc 2 – The Weasel – Chapter Twenty-One

I quickly concentrated on the new information and this was what I saw revealed.

[Level] 8 [Class] Fae-Bonded 0/20

Concentrating on the Class brought up further information.

By agreeing a covenant with a Noble-blooded Fae of the Seelie court of who has become your servant, you will gradually take on more of the aspects of the Fae, who are renowned for their great Fortune and Charm. ?????? will increase and ????? ????? increases more rapidly. There may be ??????????? depending on the Fae you are bonded with.

Damn, I guess my Self-Examination Skill isn’t high enough as there are still things I can’t understand. Still, Fortune and Charm... those are pretty neat.

“Oh yeah, before I forget...” I concentrated on my Territory and with that dismissed my degraded weaselkin, who dissipated, axe falling to the ground with a clang. Now free, the Kamaitachi rushed over to the wounded Shaeula.

“Princess, are you-you going to die?” he asked, frantic.

She smiled at him with as much energy as she could muster and responded “I do not-not believe so. It hurts, but I think I will live-live.”

“You definitely will.” I promised. Concentrating I made the spear vanish from her body and re-appear just above her, withdrawn from her torn flesh, and I grabbed it. With that done the blood began to flow rapidly, causing her to groan and the Kamaitachi to try and staunch the flow with his own paws. Relax; I know what I’m doing.

With that thought I channelled most of the ether that she had bequeathed me with to aether, and with that I closed her wound, pristine fur and flesh covering it. As they looked shocked I grinned wryly.

“It’s not a perfect job, restoring the blood lost is beyond me at the moment, but with some rest I’m sure you’ll be fine.” To be honest I was a little worried that I hadn’t fixed all the internal injuries, but luckily I remembered what I was taught in biology class so my imaging of injuries was decent, and I trusted that since she was a fairy of some kind... wait, they call themselves Fae... That aside, I had a feeling that once I had closed her wounds she would heal, even if the same would probably not be said if I tried the same thing on myself.

As she struggled to her feet I looked around the cave we were in. Other than the chair, the table and the glass on it, the place was bare, the walls brown dirt, lit by the purple and green glows of the light-orbs. “It’s kind of... dingy... for a princess in here, isn’t it?” I said, provoking a scowl from Shaeula.

“We wanted to establish a firm control of this land before we brought over our Seelie treasures. Should any of them-them be stolen by other factions, or worse outsiders, then it would bring great shame-shame to us and my father.” I got the impression she was pouting, maybe I had touched a nerve. Her gaze was wandering a little too, suspiciously at that. Oh well, I guess it isn’t my business.

“That makes sense.” I nodded my agreement, trying to soothe her. “Oh, I need to fully integrate this place into my Territory. Do you have a Territory Anchor here anywhere?”

She looked at me strangely, a bit puzzled. “I am not-not sure what you mean. But my Territory extends from this-this throne.” She gestured to the wooden chair she was sitting on earlier. It had survived the gales of wind she had called up before, which was a testament to her control.

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“Very well-well then.” Shaeula said. “In that case, what-what can I do for you now? Bear in mind I am injured, so do not-not treat me roughly.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I replied. “What I would really like is if you could teach me how to use the wind like you do?”

There was a long moment of silence, and then Shaeula let out another deep sigh, longer than the others. She sure does sigh a lot.

“Well-well...” she allowed. “It is not-not as though you can not-not, you have been drawing in wind elemental energy all this time-time. But it is not-not easy to learn this.” Her eyes glowed a pale amber as she looked at me. Another deep sigh followed. “Your foundation is quite-quite terrible. Your Chakras are imbalanced, most-most of them barely active. The wind energy you have used recklessly has-has also corroded them. The network is also largely useless and full-full of damage, and strange routes and tangles. Were you self-taught? No, wait... that is strange-strange.” Her eyes went to my wrist where I had received the bracelet from Exposition-san. “It looks like that did-did something to your root Chakra, allowing it to draw in aether... But it seems a strange way to go-go about it.“ She took a harder look at me. “Your teacher was quite-quite useless. I feel insulted that you managed to defeat me-me.”

Behind her the Kamaitachi let out a chuckle, but it fell silent as she whipped her head around and glared at it.

“Sadly, I only had a very brief time with my teacher, so I suppose they did the best they could in the time they had. They did say they could have got my whole system set up, but it would have limited my growth in the long term.”

“Maybe so...” she allowed. “But still, with such-such a lopsided balance you could suffer irreparable damage if not-not lucky or careful enough-enough. There is already much-much wear and tear. I will need to train you up-up from the basics until your Chakras and network stabilise. Then you can-can support elemental energy. If you continue as you are now-now it could cause you permanent damage to your higher self. The wind energy you absorbed earlier has done some-some harm to your root Chakra, as it was treating it like the pure aether. Still, it can-can be repaired.”

“I can see asking you about this was very wise. You seem to know a lot about how to use aether and elemental energies.”

“Hmph.” She crossed her arms and nodded, snorting. “Of course, I am a princess of the Seelie court, were I not-not to know of these things I would bring shame to all-all of the Fae. But now...” she glared at me, her eyes glowing. “Your lessons will have to begin another day-day. Your weak network cannot support your Astral form any-any longer. When you next return we shall begin your training. Work-work hard, because you need to be strong enough to keep-keep our Oaths. I will not-not hear any excuses you can not-not do it or it is too-too hard.”

Tsundere much? “Of course. I eagerly look forward to your teaching. It would be of great benefit to me, and thus to us, if I could master my abilities. After all, if we are to fight off this Grulgor, who is giving such a noble Seelie as yourself trouble, then maximising everyone’s abilities is paramount.”

“Yes-yes, you speak the truth.” She allowed, pleased at my show of respect.

“I would ask that once I return to the Material you and your Kamaitachi clear out the route to the main Territory and connect it up. That will help us with defence in preparation for my Territory to merge with yours. If you can gather whatever ether you can that would also be great, as we will need it to build up our power base and speed the merger. Put your safety first though, it is more important that you remain unharmed.”

“Of course-course. I am much too valuable to risk in battle unless the need-need is great.” Shaeula agreed.

“Still, if you could clear the buildings on route safely that would help a lot. If you find any intelligent beings that will join us, take them under your control. We already have some kobolds with us, and any extra forces will be a benefit to us.”

“Bah, dog-headed little pests. Still, I shall take-take your advice. I shall see it done.” She wasn’t pleased, but agreed grudgingly.

“All right then. I’ll be returning to the Material. I’ll see you in a few days.” With that I stopped fighting the persistent and escalating drain on my aether and let myself lose consciousness, dropping back to the Material world.