Chapter 339: Some Well-Acquired Information_Millennial Mage

Chapter 339: Some Well-Acquired Information

 T felt rather happy as she walked through the early morning streets of Alefast.

 Her training was going well; her new job was well and truly underway; and she was making new friends and acquaintances across the city.

 I still need to drop in on Adrill and Artia

 But there would be time for that. Right now, she was on the way to the Gredial estate to act on some well-acquired information.

 -By me.-

 Of course by you, t. Thank you.

 -You are most wee.-

 In truth, the information hadnt been hidden, it just hadnt been prominently disyed.

 -Dont diminish my aplishment. Its not like theres a central repository I can query for things like this-

 Today was Ranes birthday.

 T, herself, didnt like big todos for such events, and she didnt think Rane did either.

 In fact, she believed that hed likely prefer not to have it known or mentioned at all.

 Therefore, she wasnt going to celebrate his birthday.

 No, she was simply going to spend a day with a friend, and if he happened to secretly enjoy and appreciate it more because the day in question was his birthday, who was she to judge?

 Her smile grew just a bit at the thought.

 She came to the gates of the Gredialpound and almost knocked on the great doors.

 After a moment, she shook her head. It was still early, and she didnt need to disturb the guards. Theyd be awake, of course, but theyd be cozy in the guardhouse off to the side, likely enjoying some coffee or an early morning card game, or both.

 She walked to the side of the small gatehouse and easily leapt up onto the ten foot wall.

 She was bing quite adept at dropping her gravity to near zero as she pushed off, to allow for easy leaps without needing to damage what she lept from from overly powerful push-offs.

 True, it was a slower leap than if she powered through, but in cases where speed wasnt the primary concern, it was quite the eptable tradeoff.

 Shended lightly, nced side to side and hopped off the wall, removing her gravity again after falling for only a couple of feet.

 This allowed her to drift down andnd softly once more.

 Nicely done. Training pays off.

 -Indeed.-

 T knew that she had been added as an exception to the defensive magics around thispound, otherwise shed have created much more of amotion by going around the gate than simply by knocking.

 As it stood, no one would be disturbed by her roundabout path.

 Thus, it was with some surprise that she found Rane waiting for her at the front door.

 T? What are you doing here so early?

 She tilted her head to the side. Why are you at the front door? Were you expecting someone or something?

 I get a magical ping when you enter thepound.

 She felt her eye twitch. And yet, you still let me be brought to you, when Ie to visit?

 He shrugged. I generally use the time to make sure Im ready for whatever shenanigans you have in mind, even if thats usually just tafl.

 She hesitated. I suppose thats fair. So, are you ready to go, then?

 He looked over his shoulder. Well, I was just about to go to the kitchens to ask for breakfast.

 So, you havent had breakfast yet, and nothing is being made for you?

 No I suppose not? He gave her an odd look.

 Good. She grinned.

 With a deft movement, she flowed around behind him and struck at his back with an upward angle.

 As expected, his defensive magics reacted,unching him up and away from the hit.

 Tughed at Ranes sharp intake of breath, though he refrained from crying out in surprise.

 With an expansion of her surface area expansion scripts, sheunched herself after him, hooking the door with the barest tendril of thread from her elk leathers so it would close behind them.

 With all her newly refined and unified techniques, she easily cleared twenty feet, triggering Ranes defenses again on the way up.

 She had to maintain most of her gravity to keep in line with his trajectory, but that was fine. She had just intended to take him well outside his familypound, not all the way to the city wall.

 They came down on a still mostly empty thoroughfare, garnering a few startled nces, but not much more.

 Rane hadnded softly, his magics absorbing the kic energy before he could m into the ground.

 Tnded softly a few momentster, having to keep her speed slow for the same softnding.

 He turned to her. What was that? Some sort of kidnapping?

 She shrugged. You can go back, if you want, but I thought we should eat breakfast on the city wall, watching the sunrise over the forest.

 He frowned. Isnt that not for another hour or so?

 Fine, watch the sky lighten behind the forest.

 He shook his head. Im not sure whats up with you, today, he gave her a half smile, but sure. Why not?

 It was a short walk to the wall where they easily gained ess, and climbed to one of the tower tops.

 This one was clear of guards for the moment, so the two of them set up a table and a couple of chairs. Rane gave T a critical look. Are you on duty right now? Is that why were on the wall?

 Sheughed. No, nothing like that. I did get permission to be up here, though.

 He grunted and didntment further.

 T began pulling out dishes, setting certain ones before her, and others in front of Rane.

 All those for her were on yellow tes, and Ranes were on orange.

 He gave her an incredulous look, then chuckled, shaking his head again.

 A momentter, he nced up at her in confusion. T, these dishes are magical. I cant eat your food.

 Right on both counts. She grinned.

 So care to exin? I trust that you didnt have them separately ted to have variety in your eating.

 Look at the magics.

 He did as she asked, then shook his head. I dont have any knowledge in interpreting natural magics in this medium.

 She opened her mouth, then closed it, grimacing. Finally, she opened it again, Well, that ruins the surprise a bit. I didnt consider that. Theyre your magics, as close as I could get.

 He blinked at her in confusion. What?

 Master Grediv told me about a few of the creatures you modeled your magics on, and I was able to track them down, or at least the founts.

 He blinked at her. You did what?

 Thest time my unit went out to deal with a cell, we stopped by some of the kic founts in the region. While I never found a stop-dive swallow, I threw enough chickens through the fount that we ended up with a few that matched your magics.

 His eye twitched. What happened to the other chickens?

 She nced away. Well, most died passing through the fount, but some came out with other abilities.

 And you just let them run off?

 What? She looked back to him. No! Im not insane. Terry ate them. It was rather entertaining to see him hunt them down. One rooster was actually able to out maneuver him for a good five minutes before Terry got a lot smaller, and I think the chicken lost sight of him at the wrong moment. Things ended quickly after that.

 Rane was staring at her in confused awe. You really hunted down creatures that bore my particr magics?

 Those that we could find, yeah.

 And you made others?

 It wasnt very efficient, but yeah.

 How did you even get the chickens out there? Just within Kit? How did you wrangle them?

 She nced away. We wont be discussing that.

 He looked back at the food. Mistress Petra prepared this?

 Absolutely. Shes really gotten the hang of locking magic into the food in a way thats still essible after you eat it.

 He lifted his gaze back to her. Why?

 Well, I mean, she makes food for me all of the time. She was bound to be good at it, even if she had no experience beforehand.

 No, T. Why did you go to all of this trouble?

 She was at a loss for a moment. Finally, she shrugged. You always see me eating my magical food. I thought it might be nice for you to have some of your own. Its not like it can be an everyday thing; I didnt find or make that much.

 He took a careful bite, and T gave him some guidance as to how to move the power in the food through his body to where it needed to go.

 In the end, the meal took around two hours, as Rane slowly got the hang of it, and T ate her own sizable portions.

 And true to her initial offer, they were able to watch the sunrise over the forest to the east.

 Once they were done with breakfast, T took them underground to an arena that shed reserved for them.

 Rane looked around. I havent been in one of these very often. Why are we here?

 I thought wed spar.

 We do that pretty often.

 Ahh! She held up a finger as Mistress Vanga walked in. But we never go no-holds-barred. This is Mistress Vanga.

 The healer from your unit?

 Yup.

 Rane gave the healer an appropriate bow. A pleasure to finally meet you, Mistress Vanga.

 And you, Master Rane.

 Thank you for being willing to sit in on our match.

 It is my pleasure. She pulled out an Archive te and proceeded to tuck herself off to one side.

 T cracked her neck, pulling out her white steel, scale hauberk and slipping it on before coating herself under the armor with iron followed by white steel.

 Rane grinned at her, though she only saw it through her mirrored perspectives. Going all out, are we?

 She opened a crack over her mouth, moving the metal with her lips to allow her to respond. I wont be going for any one-shots, but otherwise, yes. You call the start.

 His grin widened as he took a deep breath, and his clothing writhed.

 Shed long ago gotten used to his silk clothes making him look like he was always ready to attend a high society function, and theyd long since faded into the background as something that she never really thought about.

 Now, she watched as his clothing morphed into what could only be ssified as armor, with ovepping tes of what appeared to be bone, bound with the same silk that had previously made up his clothing. There also appeared to be a thick padded garment below the tes, also of silk.

 When did your outfit be morphic?

 He shrugged. Ive been doing some hunting and research ofte. I wascking in the defense from an unavoidable hit department. The hard material is from a bone-golem that gained power and existence in a previously undiscovered bone-yard deep in the mountains to the north. That was a beast to put down.

 She grinned. Likely literally.

 Heughed, his armor now fully formed with a smooth helmet growing up over his head. The facete grew down, leaving only thin, perfectly ced slits for his eyes.

 He walked a goodly distance away before turning to face her once more.

 Force came into his hand, its greatsword length seeming right in the big mans grip.

 T pulled with her will and felt Flow snick into her grip even as she resealed her armor. She knew there was a new band of metal around Flows handle, right below the crossguard, but it was so minute that it wouldnt have been irritating even to her bare flesh, let alone throughyers of protection.

 Rane nodded once. Begin.

 A hundred iron spikes shot from T, all angled downward to pierce into the ground even as sheunched herself forward.

 Her aura nketed the whole near-region of the sparring arena, radiating from herself and the iron spikes, causing Rane to take a step backward in obvious, short-lived surprise.

 The second wave of spikes followed the first, then a third, and finally a fourth.

 She was able to guide each sessive wave precisely with her aura, originating from the already in ce iron.

 Rane pushed outward with his own aura, but even when they had been at the same level of advancement, she greatly magically outweighed him.

 Now? It was all he could do to keep her aura from pushing past his armor.

 She closed the distance in a breath, holding Flow up for an obvious downward chop, which Rane readied to block.

 At thest moment, T let go of Flow, keeping it in ce for a brief moment with her aura, and swept her hands down, out, and around, ws of white steel growing on her fingertips as she struck for his gut and chest.

 Then, Flow stuck downward, guided by her aura-enforced will, applied to Flow itself and the three bloodstars embedded equidistantly spaced inside the new metal band.

 The attack wouldnt have her muscr power or her physical weight behind it, but it did have literal barrels of iron worth of mass behind it. So, T was willing to ept the bit of lost power.

 Force mmed up into Flow, throwing the sword back a hair before Ts ws found his armor, even as the counter-force from blocking Flows attack drove Ranes feet into the soft flooring.

 Her raking attacks triggered Ranes passive defenses, and he was sted backward, jerking his feet from the ground and his body out of the way of her swipes.

 Even so, she nted her foot for the next step andunched herself forward again, even faster now. Flow flew at her side in the form of a ive, keeping pace with ease as she pulled it along with a simple act of will.

 In this way, she chased him around the arena, sending out waves of iron spikes to im the area she passed through and keep his aura ruthlessly suppressed.

 Force and Flow shed uncounted times, and Rane, to his credit, struck back at her more than shed expected, not being kept fully on the defensive, but he simply couldnt seize the momentum of the match back.

 She wouldnt allow it.

 Regardless, Rane was a ridiculously frustrating opponent to pin down.

 Finally, she decided to use a trump card.

 She opened Kit and two tower shields were pulled out, triangles of metal affixed to their backs, three bloodstars in each to allow her three-axis control.

 She snapped them around and forward, using her aura superiority to move them into ce, hemming Rane in on two sides from the back, even as she breathed out a breath attack near his feet.

 Flow struck from above, and T drove her right fist forward.

 Her shields snapped toward her at thest moment, performing a blunt-force strike that activated Ranes defenses, sending him directly into her other, slightly dyed attacks.

 His magics tried to react, but her shields were stilling from behind.

 His magics couldnt move him up because Flow was pressuring Force from that direction.

 They couldnt move him down because a cloud of near-burning dissolution magic awaited there.

 His passive defenses couldnt get him out of the situation.

 Her wed hand mmed into his armored abdomen and was slowed.

 With all her strength, all her momentum, her ws barely prated the bone tes far enough to draw blood.

 She immediately tightened her grip, clinging to the armor as she drove her other hand forward.

 Yield! Rane called, hands opening in surrender, obvious strain in his voice. In that strain, T detected the hints of rage.

 T halted all attacks instantly and pulled back her tools, stepping aside as well.

 Mistress Vanga was beside them a momentter, even as Ranes armor faded back into more normal clothes, blood flowing from under the cloth on his stomach.

 T winced. Are you alright?

 A wash of magic moved over him as he allowed Mistress Vanga to heal him, uncontested.

 The healer clucked her tongue. No serious damage, the injury is now repaired with nosting effects or need to coddle the area.

 Without another word Mistress Vanga withdrew.

 Rane?

 Rane nodded, panting. That was

 T waited, uncertain.

 amazing! Heughed out loud. You are incredible! I had no idea that youd grown that much.

 She smiled in return, tentatively at first, but quickly growing to a full grin. Ive been training a lot with some verypetent teachers. I feel like Im really starting toe into my own.

 Ill say! That really was incredible.

 Sheughed softly. You said that.

 He shrugged. True is true. He took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm his heart, and exhaled. Can we go again?

 T nodded. We dont have anything else scheduled until after lunch.

 He hesitated, frowning, Whats after lunch?

 There are a couple of ys. There arent many, as this is a waning, but I managed to find a couple that seemed interesting.

 He gave her a long look, his smile returning. Well, then. It seems like we have a busy day ahead of us.

 Indeed we do.

MillionNovel

Chapter 339: Some Well-Acquired Information