The Silver-haired Witch of the officers’ group, Jane, suddenly spoke up for the first time since introducing herself. Wolfe had never worked with her group before, so he hadn’t noticed that her voice was gentle and musical, far from the stern intonation Priya used or any average voice. Her accent made it sound like she was singing all the time.
“What are you working on today, Mister Wolfe? Perhaps I can assist you since I’m not running any training today?”
“Expanding my spell repertoire. I have to adapt everything from the spellbook unless it’s an element that I can use, so my range of abilities is limited. I am already working with a good barrier and armour spell, plus a few attack spells. What I really need is utility and some area effects.” Wolfe explained.
“Then I have the perfect spell for you to work on. It is an Earth Element spell, which I have heard you can’t use, but it could easily be formed with others. The spell is [Binding Ropes], and the function is just what you expect. It ties up your target and absorbs any mana they try to use.
The police use it for capturing unauthorized Witches and detaining dangerous criminals, but if you made it from lightning, it would shock and stun them.
If you used it on a large area, you could trip and entangle enemies or set traps. It is often placed as a ward on the ground to catch a target running by.”
That was a very versatile spell, and if it blocked mana usage, Wolfe assumed that would make it at least a little harder for the monsters to break free.
“Learning to adapt Elemental Spells is just as important to me. I would be honoured if you would teach me the binding rope spell.” Wolfe agreed.
“Then shall we set up? It isn’t too hard to learn once you’ve used it a few times.” Jane asked, then tilted her chin toward the bunker.
The rest of the group had gone out to train their Witch Magic and were currently working on a charm that would turn loose dirt to quicksand over a wide area, a defensive ward that would cause chaos in any army’s path once they could use it.
The only problem with it was that it required a large amount of time to activate, hours in fact, and couldn’t differentiate between allies and enemies, so it was rarely deployed during combat and was reserved for prebuilt base defences, like the ones that they would soon be adding around their camp.
ƥαṇdαηθνε|
The equivalent Runes existed for both elements, and the Inheritance was happy to show him a list of Elemental Runes. He just had to select them and replace the element-specific ones with the correct alternate option.
“Well, where should I try this?” He asked Jane, eager to test his new spell.
“Go ahead and try it on me. I’ve got an armour amulet active, and Unholy shouldn’t give it innate damage unless the rope bursts into flame. Just focus on the most secure binding you can think of, and cast the spell on me.”
Wolfe focused on the spell and then on binding Jane. The spell took form, sending a black rope twirling around her form in an instant, leaving Jane bound in a rope turtle shell, with her arms bound behind her from wrist to elbow and her legs securely tied together in an intricate rope ladder.
Jane smiled at Wolfe and wiggled a little, verifying that she was securely bound and not going anywhere, not even out of the chair she was sitting in.
“Good visualization. Now, since I can still feel my aura, tighten the bindings. If your target is going to use magic or break free, that is the best way to increase the effect.”
To demonstrate, she sent a spark of magic up into the air and kept it burning, so Wolfe tightened the bond until, with a puff of dispersed magic, the flame disappeared.
“Was that right?” He began to ask when he noticed that her armour spell had also been broken, leaving the Witch nude in the chair and Wolfe blushing furiously.
“It was incredible. It feels just right against the skin, and the crushing effect was enough to take out my armour but didn’t actually deal any damage.” She agreed, seeming innocent about the effect she was having on Wolfe.
“Well, I should release you so that you can invoke your armour again.” He muttered, about to release the spell.
“Or, I can stay like this, and you can show me just exactly what you did to Priya that has her magic power increasing so quickly,” Jane suggested, swinging her bound legs to the side so they were out from under the table.
Wolfe didn’t need to be told twice.
Three hours later, when the morning training season ended, every bit of Jane had been stretched, cleansed and adjusted to perfection. The process was exhausting, and she was still working hard to convert the excess mana flowing through her body into her aura now that her potential had increased by such a large amount.
Once they were washed and dressed again, Wolfe escorted her to lunch, where the other Witches were watching them with knowing looks as they approached.
“What’s with that look?” Jane asked as she tenderly sat down at the table.
“You know we’re Bonded, right? Even if you weren’t still trying to absorb the mana that he gave you, we all knew an hour into the morning that you were having a private training session.” Cassie informed her with a smirk.
“I am so sorry. I mean, I’m not, but I should be, and I should have asked first since he’s your Familiar.” Jane stammered.
“You are forgiven, but only because he fed us a huge gain when his power increased because of you,” Cassie replied quietly, so only Jane and Ella would hear.
“A gain? What do you mean?” The Silver-haired Witch replied.
“Every time he does that, it strengthens his power. We don’t make fast gains as you did anymore because we’re all near his power level and near our innate talent cap.
But you made huge progress, and as he worked with you, his mana focus adapted a bit of your mana’s purity, for the lack of a better word.
The process filters out something and leaves his mana a bit more dense than it was. Like he’s taking the best parts of what you’ve learned and applying it to himself.” Cassie explained.
“You should heal yourself, though. I can see that you’ve still got rope marks on your arms and collarbone.” Ella added with a wink.
While Jane fixed her appearance, Wolfe took a look at his Inheritance information to see what Cassie was talking about.
[True Name] Beowulfe Abraxas Asmodai Lokarth Noxus
[Magi Bloodline] 38 Percent
[Demon Bloodline] 45->49 Percent
[Bloodline Skill Active: Clarity]
[Mana Density] 40->44 Percent/40->44 Percent
[Mana Focus 2/7] 24->28 Percent Complete
[Lightning Affinity] Medium
[Fire Affinity] Medium
[Gravity Affinity] Low
[Unholy Affinity] High
[Other Elements Locked Due to Insufficient Bloodline]
He really had made some progress. The way that his Demonic Bloodline was reaching fifty percent was a bit concerning, but overall, his power was growing steadily.