Novaris. Septer. 905. AGC.

  Nodel. New Moon??. Days 2 & 3.

  After a day or so of relaxation, it was time to get back to training, but first, they had to get out of bed. However, once that was accomplished and they got some breakfast in their bellies, Tesilim and Lili made their way to the shop. The plan was to spend some of the day there so Lili could do some of her alchemy while Tesilim worked on beginning the process of creating some techniques and spells.

  For spells, the process was somewhat simpler, though it really depended on the individual. Spells tended to require much less mental fidgeting because the words themselves were good at placing the image of the spell in the caster's mind. That being said, it didn't mean it was necessarily easy to learn a spell, since there were many words that one had to commit to memory and pronounce correctly.

  Even then, before one could even pronounce and learn the words, one had to find a combination of words for their spell. Thankfully, that was one of the easiest things to do, since there were many books with plenty of magical words that Tesilim could use to build his spells. Still, Tesilim could only learn a couple of spells at a time, so he had to sort through and see what he wanted to spend time learning.

  Lili added to the entire dilemma by bringing him out of his study session to prompt him to start thinking about how to convert spells into techniques.

  “Look, my chaotic elf, I know that you like slinging spells, and I am not going to tell you to stop,” Lili began as she stopped to sit on his lap and give a peck on the cheek, seemingly taking a break from her alchemy, “It's just that you are a much more melee-oriented fighter, and techniques are naturally better at complementing that. So, learn your spells but also begin implementing them into techniques, that way you can grow both arsenals simultaneously.”

  “Wouldn’t that take even longer to do?” Tesilim asked, already thinking about having the time to spend mentally creating a technique that worked similarly to a spell.

  “No, in fact, it is easier to do than to create a technique from scratch. The thing is that most people, like you, see the two as separate things when they are two sides of the same coin. Not that I can blame them since the culture around magic has caused certain shifts in how people view themselves in fights, at least in the early ranks,” Lili continued as she leaned back into him, and he wrapped his arms around her.

  “What do you mean?” He asked, genuinely curious about how things differed between the ranks.

  “Well, at higher ranks, usually starting at High B Rank, the differences between a self-appointed caster like Alyx and someone focused on melee like me or Rose start becoming less prevalent. It comes to a point where spells are chanted so fast or not at all due to the power of the people fighting that it becomes a thing of simply slinging magic around.”

  “So, do chants and technique names not have any usefulness? I thought they were meant to empower the magic being used.”

  “No, they do, but the effect is not as multiplicative as in the lower ranks. That being said, words are meant to shape the magic and give it a concept, but after you've been fighting for so long, you come to terms with the magic you use. This then lets you infuse your concepts much more easily with even purer mana, so that it basically has the same effect as if you had done it with a chant or word of power. Of course, depending on the fight, you might want to use chants and technique names to give you an edge, but it's not always needed.”

  “I see, still, how does this come back to turning spells into techniques?”

  “Right, basically, a technique is you imagining something and using a word to trigger that image, causing mana to gain those concepts and materialize. Meanwhile, a spell does the same but with more words. So, all you need to do is learn the spell, cast it, and imagine a technique doing the same thing as the spell. Except, you have to encompass it in fewer words or create more than one technique.”

  “Oh, I get it. You do most of the hard work via the spell since it will give you an image of the technique you need to make. From there, it’s a matter of internalizing everything and aligning the effect you saw with the name of the technique you want to use.” Tesilim said, finally understanding what Lili meant.

  “Exactly, granted some spells are too complex to transform into only one technique, so you have to separate the various parts of the spell into various techniques, at least until later, when you have a higher understanding.”

  “Wait, so does that mean that I can turn techniques into spells?”

  “Yeah, the process is just an increase in difficulty and requires lots of knowledge of the Language of Creation, which would let you properly transfer the concepts into words. Alyx can probably do it fairly well, but for all his knowledge, he is also stuck in the culture of magic, and considers himself a caster.”

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  “Wow, I gotta say you are very knowledgeable about this, probably comes with age, huh?” Tesilim told her teasingly.

  “Are you calling me old? That’s not very nice,” Lili responded, pouting a little bit

  “Maybe, but don’t worry, for an older lady, you are still one sexy piece of work,” Tesilim replied, slapping her thigh playfully.

  “Uh-huh,” Lili answered as she got up, shook her butt in front of him, but moved when he went to slap it, giving him a teasing smile as she got back to doing alchemy.

  Picking up his book from the coffee table where he had placed it, Tesilim got back to reading. At that moment, he was looking to learn the classic Fireball spell that Alyx and Lili had used back at the bunny cave. However, mainly the one Alyx had used, since he couldn't find any record of the one Lili used.

  On top of the Fireball spell, he was looking to learn one of the classic blinding spells that he knew of from his tabletop days. He didn't know if he would ever actually have a use for a darkness spell, but one never knew—same thing for an illusion spell that he could create cool images to hopefully trick enemies with. Ultimately, it was also all about learning more words and getting better at the spells he already knew.

  All in all, Tesilim spent a couple of hours looking into the spells he wanted to learn the words of, and see if he wanted to change anything about them. During this time, Lili finished doing some of her alchemy and also sat down with him to read other magical tomes about spells, alchemy, or simply good stories. Then at noon, she made them a good lunch of steamed mushrooms, something that smelled like fried pork, which Tesilim didn’t ask about.

  After their lunch, they continued reading but were soon joined by Rose.

  “Hey, guys, glad to see you are here,” The redhead stated as she walked into the shop.

  “Hey Rose, what brings you by?” Tesilim asked, looking over at the casually dressed warrior, unable to help but admire the gorgeous redhead. Of course, a nudge from Lili and a whisper made him look away.

  “I know she is gorgeous, but I am pretty sure she isn’t into guys,” Lili told him.

  Meanwhile, the redhead didn’t seem bothered by the exchange and continued on.

  “Well, I did some physical training in the morning, and I know I have to work on techniques, so I figured it was best I had some people to talk to and bounce ideas off of.”

  “Of course, you’re always welcome here anyway, so feel free to drop by whenever,” Lili told the redhead, giving her a warm smile and pulling a chair so she could join them.

  “Thanks! So, what are you guys working on?” Rose asked as she sat.

  “Well, I am learning some spells, but now that you are here, I think I should switch over to techniques as well,” Tesilim said, closing the book he was reading.

  “Oh, perfect, because I'm honestly unsure where to begin with this whole thing. Everything I have learned so far has mainly been from seeing my teachers at the academy.”

  “No worries, everyone has to start somewhere, and lucky for you two, you have an experienced fighter here with you,” Lili chimed in.

  “Great! So where do I start?” Rose asked, excited to start.

  “First, you have to find what exactly you want to improve on or add to in a fight,” Lili said, her gaze shifting between Rose and Tesilim as the two started thinking about what they wanted from their techniques.

  Rose started thinking about her role in the party and what exactly she wanted to improve in her fighting style. For one, she was often at the front of the fight, putting herself on the path of most enemies. And though she liked her Shield Wall technique, she wasn't left with much else once the monsters broke through it. So, it was definitely a priority for her to gain an actual defense technique that was more active than her current one.

  Further adding to the entire problem was the fact that even if she was at the front, monsters could run by her and attack the rest of the party. That meant that in addition to the defense technique, she needed something to attract the attention of monsters and keep them focused on her. Meaning that she needed some sort of taunt or binding technique. The thought also led her to realize she did need an actual binding technique.

  Since Rose mostly focused on defense, she was slower than many monsters because her enhancement focused on resilience and defense. This meant she needed to add a technique that would allow her to trap monsters so she could catch up to them.

  Finally, the last thing Rose could think of was having an actual technique to heal others. She could currently heal others by spending her godly mana, but it would be more efficient with an actual technique.

  Tesilim's thinking was mostly the same as Rose’s. And apart from the three spells that he was learning and would hopefully convert to techniques as well. Tesilim felt like he needed an actual defense move. Then, on top of a defensive technique, the elf felt he also needed a technique to trap enemies. The two techniques seem like such core parts of fighting that he was surprised if someone didn't have something like them in their roster. With that being said, outside of those two techniques, he couldn't think of anything else that would currently benefit him. Tesilim felt he was doing reasonably well in the spell and technique department and was happy to wait until he found other areas he needed to improve.

  After getting their ideas together about what they needed, they each shared their thoughts with Lili. Lili prompted them to consider what these techniques would look like and the effects they wanted them to have.

  Of course, it was easier said than done, since they both had to come up with inspiration before coming up with an image for the techniques and what they wanted them to do. Sure, they had the rough ideas of what they would be used for, but they needed more concrete concepts and imagery to make it happen. So that's how the three of them spent their two days as they began doing some studying.

  Granted, they didn't spend their two days solely working on techniques and spells. Instead, they spent most of their mornings and early afternoons practicing their techniques, while in the late afternoon, they sparred with each other to better understand how their techniques would work and the areas they might affect or the range they could have.