[Fred] Chapter 8: Training Again!

[Linwelin]

Fred flinched a little at the sudden shout and approach of Tiffany, as he'd not expected anyone from outside the conversation to answer his question. He was also left rather speechless with her bold style of volunteering for the mission. At least until Edyth broke into her passionate exclamation to calm her. "Right, well, I don't think she was pushing herself, I did ask for volunteers. And I'm happy to have the both of you, thank you." Fred said, trying to defuse the sudden hostility. That was much more 'competition' than I remember...

"That leaves two more spots. No more volunteers to go into the caves? Hmm...in that case, I'd like Bethany, Filiane, and Gu Bai to join as well. Any of you are free to refuse if they feel more useful at the camp, or don't wish to explore the cave. Fred expected his words to stir up concern, especially around the request of a certain individual, but he felt it was necessary. "The rest of the Ravens can continue to work on base fortifications, as well as preparing a new location for the next flower that we're bringing back. Also-" Fred paused to change the subject. "I also have a request of those present. I need to analyze a new ability I have, and would like some insight on it. Oh, don't worry, it has nothing to do with 'Destroy'." Fred stated knowingly, trying to address any concerns.

Fred took a moment to focus before stating his command. "Barrier!"

Since I have a few mages present, I wanted an opinion on my new Barrier power.

[Throndir]

Spirit Tree Camp
Day 9 - Morning

When you mentioned Gu Bai's name, Bethany rose her eyebrow, and glanced around at the rest. Edyth narrowed her eyes slightly. Gu Bai, who was at a short distance away, heard her name be called, so she began to draw nearer towards the group.

"I guess since the hero is here, we won't be stabbed in the back."

"Lady Ninetail!" Edyth whispered fiercly.

Gu Bai, of course, heard the comment, but she only tightened her lips bitterly. She did look towards you though.

"Are you sure you want me to come, Fred? I don't want to be a problem..."

"Hey! I'm teasing!" Tiffany complained, realizing her joke was being taken too seriously. "Didn't think it was too soon! We've all seen you making an effort to talk with everyone the last week we've been down here. Plus, there isn't much privacy so everyone can pretty much see what everyone else is doing."

Once you stated the Barrier command. A blue bubble appeared around you, surrounding you completely. The casters of the group, Filiane, Bethany, and Tiffany looked at it curiously.

"I haven't seen anything like that before. It's made of mana? It's magic?"

"It almost looks like a Ki Barrier." Lai Fen said. "Jed can do something similar, but it uses his ki to fuel it."

"I know something that will help you test out your new power." Her eyes shone almost lustfully.

"Fred. Let me whip you."

[Linwelin]

"She's right, Bai. You were in a tough situation, and to my knowledge, we've all come to understand that. If anything, you've been purposely misinforming the Red Hand." Fred says, confirming Tiffany's words. "It's still taking time for many to get used to the idea that you were a spy, but your intentions were the same as the Gu Bai we knew before this. I think everyone just wishes you'd come forth about what you'd been doing before. That's it. You're still part of the family."



"Yes, it seems like a shield made of mana. Is it really that strange?" Fred looks down as his now-mana-cloaked hands. "With all the other magic I've seen, I would have thought a defensive ability like this existed. I wanted to compare the two." Fred says, somewhat in disappointment, before turning to respond to Fen."You can make something like this with Ki? I guess it makes sense since I now know you can emit it for attacks. How does this compare?"

Fred sighs at Zhihao's request, "You're not giving up on that, are you?" He pauses a moment in quick thought. "Fine. Do it. May as well make your odd request productive. I want to know how strong it is for future use."

[Throndir]

Spirit Tree Camp
Day 9 - Morning

"Thank you, Fred..." Gu Bai said, bowing her head slightly towards you.

"Yes, exactly! See! We're all... uhh..." Tiffany paused as she blushed a bit. "... family, or whatever. I guess." She said, not being able to really look at anyone in the eye. "ANYWAYS! That means we can pack up some supplies."

"Let me gather what's necessary." Edyth replied in deference who had been standing near Tiffany the entire time. Tiffany simply nodded at this, and with that Edyth separated from the gathering.

"Nyahahaha!" Bethany's voice boomed when Edyth left to gather supplies. "It's nyime for Bethany to show what she's made of! Nyi've been training hard since the first time, too."

"When nyare we leaving?" She asked glancing towards you.

"Of course it's strange. You're the one who's breaking all the rules, Fred." Lai Fen responded.

Bethany and Filiane nodded.

"Nyusually defensive myagic involves Earth myagic, and sometimes Air myagic." Bethany said explaining. "Nyu can't use mana to do things that Ki can do. That just doesn't make anyu sense."

Filiane continued the explanation.

"It's like a person... To nurture and grow someone's body, you need nutrition, rest, and exercise. But to nurture someone's mind, you need them to think, to learn, and to develop critical thinking skills." Filiane's eyes continued to eye the mana barrier, and even test it with her hand. "You creating a shield with mana is like having a student go through learning how to do mathematics, but result in them getting muscular instead."

"See, leave it to our mages to explain it. You can't do with mana, what you can with Ki, or vice-versa. So, Fred, what you're doing is actually really weird." Lai Fen concluded.

"He gave me permission." Lu Zhihao said, her face cracking into a smile as a whip suddenly appeared in her open hand. It took you a brief moment to realize that her whip was actually part of the clothes she had wrapped around her body. "He gave me permission!" She repeated in an almost daze-like trance as a bit of drool slid down the corner of her mouth.

"CONSENT!" She began to strike, each one more frantic than the last. Her eyes too looked more and more crazed for each strike of her whip.

You can start a side-thread with your experiments for Barrier, or leave it here if you want to use the main thread for it. Feel free to simply list out all the experiments you do, and what information you're trying to figure out specifically, and I can state the results of it.

[Linwelin]

Fred nods back in affirmation to Gu Bai, before turning his attention to Tiffany as she spoke. Seeing the obvious blush of embarrassment, and thinking back to the enjoyment he'd had getting similar reactions from the Lai sisters, Fred had a mischievous grin creep onto his face. "Ohhhh~? What's this? Tiffany, don't tell me you're bothered that we're all a FAMILY!?"

As Edyth separated from the group, Fred gives her a knowing smirk, communicating that we'll handle her Lady's outbursts while she's gone.

Soon after, Fred was greeted by the energetic and boisterous appearance of Bethany, "Ha! Good! I've been doing training of my own. Hopefully I'm not as much of a- oh how'd they say it...muddy stick?" Fred looked around in a questioning confirmation. "As for when we leave, let's go in 1 hour. Now that we know how to handle these flowers, we can bring some supplies to make extracting and carrying it easier. Other than that, I'd like to check on the well being of the rest of the base, and see how the defensive building has been progressing."

I'll be touring the base after this conversation, checking on Ai, Lai Ju, Shuren, and the base building progress. Just leaving the note here as a personal reminder.

"Ohhhhh..." Fred says with wide eyes, looking back down to one of his hands. "Strange, since it feels so natural. I could have never guessed it was such an impossible ability, considering what else I've seen. Making a shield with my own mana, instead of forming it by infusing an element...I imagine it will be much faster and more stable, then?"

Split topic to Chapter 8.1