A Jaded Life Chapter 127

We quickly left the ritual site, putting as much distance between it and us as possible. I had a feeling that the bigger black wolves would not be happy if they knew that soone had used one of theirs as a resource to strengthen themselves, once that happened, we would be hunted again. So, it was vital to create distance while keeping up Adra’s anti-tracking spell and my own concealnt spells. Neither were perfect, there were undoubtedly countless ways to beat either, just as there were different ways to hide tracks, But we were using what we had, hoping that the combination of different spells and distance kept us safe.

Or we would have to fight again. But staying was not an option, there were far too many no-win situations that could occur if we did.

So, we hurried, first on foot and later on horseback, with Sigmir running next to the mounts, demonstrating that she had gained power as well, gaining more strength from her connection with Ylva. It would be strange if the spirit-partner crossing the first divide did not give benefits to the contractor of that spirit. I would have to ask Sigmir in a quiet mont, or I would have to wait until Lenore crossed over as well. It was sothing that would happen, I had no doubt about it, now that I knew how to help, I would do so.

Despite our exhaustion after a busy night, we continued to move at a high pace, driven onward by fear or rather caution. None of us wanted to get cornered by a large pack of wolves in the open, that would be a good way to get ourselves killed.

Finally, we stopped for the evening, almost all of us exhausted and in dire need of rest. The only two who had been able to rest during the day were Lenore and Ylva, in their respective Hallows. They shared their strength with their partner, but it was not as exhausting as a day of riding or running.

We made camp for the night on a small clearing, hoping that the indefensible position would not co back to bite us during the night, None of us felt like hunting, so the dinner were ward up-rations from Adernas, cooked into a stew with so wolf-at and served with bread. It was a simple but quite delicious al, with all of us enjoying the warmth after a day of riding in the cold.

I was curious about Ylva’s new strength but I rembered that Sigmir had told once that it was rather impolite to ask sothing like that, so I stopped myself. But just judging by the fact that Sigmir had kept up with the horses for the entire day and her new size, I would assu that she had beco a lot stronger.

Lenore must have felt my thoughts and added so perspective, telling that normally spiritbeasts had trouble crossing divides, as it required them to devour the essence of other beasts, similar to , using their blood for magic. I needed a blood-rune to draw the Astral Power out and bind it into their blood or the power was lost when they died. So, when devouring other spiritbeasts, most of the power was lost in death, even if they managed to start feasting while their opponent was still alive. Bringing an opponent down as a group and having one designated eater afterwards would make it impossible to absorb power.

And bringing down a being strong enough to be worthwhile was difficult in the first place, sure it could be done with either luck, good tactics or more powerful allies but at the end of the day, it was not sothing that happened on a regular basis, I was sure that there were so nobles or other important beings that had the inherited power to have soone assist them in strengthening either themselves or a partner, just like in the real world wealth had its own, inheritable privileges. It seed that even a dieval, multi-species world like Mundus could not escape so social problems.

Shaking those philosophical questions, I let myself slip into a trance, thinking about the ritual I had conducted and possible ways I could further my blood magic, it had passed skill-level fifty after all, allowing to learn about a new rune. There were two distinct paths I could divide the blood runes I currently had, either giving or binding. Giving allowed to heal and strengthen or, if I invested it using Darkness-curse-runes do the opposite. Binding allowed to bind power into blood, using it at a later point, mostly in concert with my non-rune-based Blood Magic. Both paths would allow for interesting possibilities but I had just demonstrated that I was able to use the binding ways to a degree that was sufficient for my current power, so I wanted to focus on the strengthening ways.

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Binding would either allow to bind more power in less volu, aning that it might allow to create a solid substance instead of the viscous liquid I was currently creating or it might allow to bind more than just Astral Power into Blood, allowing for interesting applications but those were less of a current focus and more sothing that might be interesting in the future.

But Strengthening might allow for stronger buffs or better healing, both things that had an imdiate benefit for the group and .

With my mind fixed on a path forward, I dove into the Astral River, looking for the part that represented Blood Magic, soon finding what I searched and feeling the sticky sensation of the power envelop . Each flavour of Astral Power had a different, distinct feeling to them, Ice was crisp and cold, Darkness was epheral and haunting and Blood was a sticky, pulsating warmth.

Feeling around in the sensations, I gained a familiar impression, it was an impression of , using Blood Runes to strengthen myself, allowing for greater acceleration and more force but without allowing for better reactions or increased agility. Sure, higher strength was useful for most fighters, but agility was just as important and for even more so.

Keeping that idea in mind, I tried feeling for a rune that would allow to increase the agility and maybe the reactions of the spelled person.

Threads of power coalesced into an image, forming a rune that I knew to an ‘Hasten’, exactly what I had been looking for, making smile. I stayed in the soothing flow of the Astral River, letting my mind, or maybe my spirit, float as it pleased, only holding onto a connection back into my body.

Spreading my senses, I felt the different elents in a way I had not before, so welcoming the connection with , others rejecting it. The first rejection, I got from what I believed to be fire, the scorching heat burning before I got more than the faintest impression to its nature. I was reminded of the Grandmother’s explanation that I was moving on a path of extres, following and searching for the purest of my chosen elent. I wondered if the rejection of Fire would beco stronger as ti passed and my power grew or if it was based on my personal affinity which I believed to be an intrinsic quality and not subject to change.

After the short but painful experience with fire, I continued drifting, enjoying the gentle contact with air and the soothing sensation of water but not managing to understand anything about either of the elents, other than they existed. I had touched the elent of Air before, but only when working with and through Lenore, not on my own.

It was fascinating, the different elents gave completely different sensations, Water and Air welcod but felt slightly indifferent, Fire and Light reacted with strong rejections while Earth did not even seem to notice my existence, ignoring completely.

It made wonder, if I could learn to use more than just the elents I was currently wielding, rembering an ancient cartoon. But I knew that I would never command all elents, not even the pri elents of Air, Water, Earth, Fire, Light and Darkness. But maybe once I hit a limit to what I could do with the elents I knew, I might delve into the Air and Water, they were connected to Ice after all. Maybe, I could use that connection to learn more. It was strange, feeling a desire to acquire knowledge and magic ability, even knowing that it was not real, I wanted to understand it, wanted to learn all there was to know about it.

I was reminded of the beginning of a classic play, a doctor cursing the world about his inability to learn the fundantal truths of the world, finally summoning a spirit, or maybe the devil, to acquire more knowledge. Sohow, I understood the sentint and made a ntal note to avoid all poodles.

Finally, I pulled myself from the Astral River, erging refreshed but tired, snuggling into Sigmir’s comfortable embrace and going to sleep. Unless sothing bad happened, we should get to Yaksha the day after the next. I was slightly apprehensive about visiting another city. Yari had not turned out that well.