I continued my spell tinkering, and when Vee finished eating, I encouraged her to continue spell wrestling with Mu, Nu, and Xi. Thankfully, she took my advice and went about it with minimal complaints.
So ti passed, and eventually, Paeris returned, accompanied by Llewel. Once the room was secured, I let everyone join the telepathic conversation, and we got down to business.
"Greetings, Syl, I trust you're enjoying the better accommodations?" Llewel asked.
"Not being dinsionally trapped is wonderful!" Vee replied before I could.
Llewel nodded, "I can understand the feeling of helplessness; it's extrely unpleasant—like trapping a water mage in an active volcano."
"I'd argue it was worse than that, personally," Vee replied.
"As bad as an antimagic zone?" Llewel asked curiously.
"I don't think either of us has experienced that," I answered.
"If it's anything like being continuously Mana burned, then I'd have to say it's not as bad," Vee admitted.
Llewel chuckled, "It's not as uncomfortable as Mana burn or as lethal, but while in the zone, any external spells unravel before you can cast them. The only way around it is to cast spells internally, but once they leave your personal aura, they would rapidly fall apart."
"Sounds dreadful," I comnted.
"It's certainly unpleasant," Llewel agreed. "Thankfully, classes that can create them are scarce, so you'd only really find one in a dungeon."
Paeris cleared his throat while staring at us and looking a bit peeved.
"Right, we should get business out of the way first," Llewel said. "Paeris ntioned you wanted to show your water mastery to for evaluation. At the sa ti, I have the magical item to conceal your affinities."
Llewel reached into his pocket and pulled out an ornate-looking ring. He handed it to . I quickly began to roll it around between my fingers and inspect it closer. However, it appeared mundane visually, and even my [Appraisal] upgraded [Identify] failed to reveal any secrets.
"Congrats, Syl!" Vee cheered.
"For…?" I replied curiously.
"That looks like a big fancy engagent ring!" She answered, I could sense the bemusent in her voice.
Llewel suddenly choked and began coughing as he tried to recover.
"Har har," I groaned while Vee began to giggle.
"P-please don't make jokes like that," Llewel replied.
"Is Syl not good enough for you?" Vee teased.
"No, but I'm not looking for anyone in that matter, elf or otherwise," Llewel replied sternly. "I'm also far too young to get married."
"Hm… Not a bad idea, actually," Paeris suddenly spoke. "Also, you're almost 150 years old, hardly too young to complain about marriage prospects."
A look of shocked dread flashed across Llewel's face, "I don't know what's more horrifying; you making a joke or going along with such an insane idea."
Paeris chuckled, if I could even call it that, as it was so devoid of even a hint of humor, "I just think it would be a good interim thod of preventing would-be suitors from approaching Lady Sylthaeryn when she starts living in the capital. It would also provide a good excuse for you to stay close to her."
"I love that idea!" Vee replied enthusiastically.
"I don't…" I whined.
Llewel's expression suggested that he agreed with , although rather than outright rejecting it, he was mulling over the logic of the plan.
"It would also help cent your joining of the Feirelle branch," Paeris added.
"Genius!" Vee exclaid.
Traitor…
"I suppose that does make sense," Llewel answered, much to my regret, "Although we should ask Mistress Loreleia what she thinks of the idea."
"Look at it this way, Syl. Would you prefer having a bunch of elven princes trying to woo you?" Vee asked before giving a quick snicker, "Actually, that works for too. Imagine all the elven hotties falling over you!"
"Please, no!" I groaned, resisting the urge to slap her across the room.
"It's a considerable possibility. Diplomatic marriages between branches are relatively common, and once the Mistress announces her intention to ascend to a High Elf, many will seek to ally with our branch. If she succeeds, they gain a powerful ally; if she fails, they can assimilate our dead branch into their own." Paeris explained.
"If it's that big of a deal, I'm surprised you don't want Syl to entertain the idea. Wouldn't you want extra allies? Or are you worried about screwing it up?" Vee asked.
"With proper ti and practice with her new skill, I don't doubt Lady Sylthaeryn would be capable of it," Paeris answered; I was half-expecting him to disparage . "However, what happens when Lady Sylthaeryn wishes to explore the world again? There's a good chance the rging branch family would be against it. Furthermore, it could be used as an opportunity to undermine the Mistress, which I will not allow under any circumstances!"
"I thought we wanted to put bait out?" I asked.
"Correct, but not Mistress Loreleia," Paeris reiterated. "In fact, such an arrangent would also draw any would-be assassins towards Llewel, which would also benefit us."
"Kill the fiance, and you can get to the true prize. It makes total sense!" Vee agreed.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
I turned to Llewel, hoping he'd be more against this, but to my horror, I found him nodding along in agreent.
"Surely you don't want to be bait?" I asked. "I don't think you can recover from knife wounds as well as ."
Llewel chuckled, "No, in that regard, I'm definitely not. But attacking a Chronomancer would be quite foolish, and I do have contingencies against such actions."
A dark expression glossed over his face, chilling to the core.
I'm really glad we didn't go with our plan to attack him!
Paeris nodded, "Good. It sounds like we are in agreent. I'll go inform Mistress Loreleia while you discuss her water magic."
Before I could even protest, he promptly left the room. I sighed while turning awkwardly to face Llewel.
"Apologies, Syl, once he sees a benefit for the branch, he relentlessly pursues it," Llewel said. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he continues to try to bribe Vee or even yourself to join the branch as a [Bonded Companion] or otherwise."
"Friend poaching is not allowed," I protested.
Vee giggled, "At least I'm hard to bribe. I bet if he rolled out a wheelbarrow full of sli cores, you'd be begging to join!"
I opened my mouth to refute, but then I wondered what species of sli cores it could be, and I failed to co up with a reasonable excuse.
"Moving on," Llewel interrupted to my relief. "That ring will conceal your affinities. It also appears utterly mundane and is immune to most forms of [Identify], and unless you are willing to destroy it, even a master enchanter would struggle to see what it truly is."
I looked at the ring I was still holding. True enough, even [Soul Sight] showed nothing. Part of was even tempted to say it was so ordinary that you'd find it suspicious, but I held my tongue and placed it on my finger. There was no notification or prompt, and I felt nothing either.
This isn't so elaborate prank, right? I can feel the snickering glee building up inside Vee.
"Excellent," he replied cheerfully. "So, Paeris ntioned that you lack proper mastery of your elents and asked that I examine your current progress and offer any advice or guidance I can."
I nodded, "I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about. The closest thing I could imagine is how elental monsters create their bodies."
"It's actually not that dissimilar," he surprisingly replied. "Or you could say that the elentals are doing a poor version of what true masters of the elents can produce."
"Wait, really? A hydromancer can do more than a water elental?"
"If you are just referring to how they create their bodies—yes. Elentals saturate their respective elent in their Mana and then incorporate them into their being. A water elental would take so ti to incorporate a lake into their body. A true hydromancer, however, can make the very water submit to their will without the need to saturate it with their Mana."
"That seems crazy; what's stopping them from just grabbing an entire ocean?" Vee asked.
Llewel chuckled, seeming quite amused by such a question, "Well, they would need the willpower to exert over that large body of water and then additional willpower to even command it to do anything—so we are quite safe from soone claiming the ocean."
I sighed, "Well, I can't do that. I've not been offered a skill or trait that would allow to do it, and if it's so secret like breaking through your Mana aura, then I've not accomplished it either."
"Perhaps your class just unlocks it later," Llewel suggested. "Unfortunately, my own water affinity is severely lacking, so I can't even qualify for the class and thus can't provide you with a demonstration. Would you mind showing what you showed Paeris?"
I nodded and withdrew water-colored sli into my palm. From there, I began forming it into the whip shape I had made earlier before splitting it into various tendrils and implents.
"Remarkable," Llewel praised.
"Oh, we're just scratching the surface of what Syl can do with those tentacles!" Vee comnted.
"I don't doubt it for a second. I've witnessed silver slis create weaponry and such, but nothing of this caliber. There's also the oddity of being unable to currently tell its sli despite knowing the truth of the matter," he paused to think, rubbing his chin and occasionally pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do you have deception skills or traits to block [Identify]?"
"I have a few things," I responded, beginning to list so of the traits and skills that made up my slimy deception repertoire.
We spent so ti going through my profile. I didn't show him the descriptions, but I did give him so explanations of traits and skills I felt comfortable enough sharing. However, I still held so cards to myself and didn't give him the unabridged breakdown.
To my surprise, after so thinking, he ca up with a reasonable idea.
"This [Chiric Mimicry] sounds like a potent trait!" Llewel praised. "I think there's an unintended synergy going on between it, [Magical Subterfuge] and [Roleplay]."
"Really? [Magical Subterfuge]?" I asked.
"Why the heck would that work with [Roleplay]?" Vee asked.
"For when you want to shout [Fireball] and then actually cast sothing else," Llewel explained.
"That actually works?" Vee asked, sounding dumbfounded.
"Surprisingly well, if you're skilled enough," Llewel replied; he then shook his head and chuckled before continuing. "A boy I grew up with used to shout [Fireball] for everything that all of his opponents in duels would never believe him. He had conditioned so many opponents to expect the opposite that when he actually cast a real [Fireball] spell, they were completely caught off guard!"
Oh gods, there's an elven version of Dewi!
"That… is so dumb," Vee sighed.
I grinned as I pulled up the skill description and shared it for both to see.
"Oh! This used to say [Acting], and if I rember correctly, it was poor efficiency!" I said excitedly.
"Yeah, but I don't see anything about disguising sli as spells ntioned in it," Vee added.
"I did say it might be an unintended synergy," Llewel reiterated. "You want to beguile your opponents and distort the true intent with your water sli there, don't you?"
"Definitely, but I didn't think that would be enough. It seems far out of scope for its intended purposes," I replied.
"Well, true, but that's where your great deception bonus cos into play," Llewel explained. "But, like I said, it is just a guess on my part. On the other hand, you also have the benefit of that sli radiating such an extre amount of Mana that, logically, I can't see it as anything but a spell."
"It was a plan I had before I got a class and learned real magic," I replied, feeling a little smug. "It worked out, and with [Acting], I even gave it a cool-sounding na!"
"Surely not? It doesn't even have a spell construct thing," Vee replied.
"Honestly speaking, you don't need to confirm everything to make soone believe it is real. If you've made a good enough appearance, an enemy mage will assu you're proficient enough to hide your constructs or have an enchanted item capable of doing it," Llewel said.
"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck…" Vee mumbled.
"A profound analogy!" Llewel praised.
Vee grumbled incoherently.
"So I can keep using my sli and pretend it's manipulated water?" I asked.
Llewel nodded, "Although so people might tease you for using it as a bit of a crutch or handicap. Recall I ntioned that an elental infusing the water with its Mana has a lesser effect? Well, one way to enhance or reduce the amount of willpower needed is by smothering it in your Mana."
"So everyone would think that I don't have enough willpower to do it without using Mana saturation?"
"Precisely," Llewel answered. "Although, having said that, most elental mages do keep a storage device full of their respective elent already infused with their Mana. An ergency backup usually."
"That works out even better for ; I can just pretend to withdraw my personal stash of infused water!"
"And while it might be a tad bit embarrassing needing to use the handicap, even if that's not truly the case, most naysayers will go silent when they see your level of proficiency and control."
I grinned happily and winked at Vee.
Looks like I get to be a cheating sli, after all.
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