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"I believe you heard me. Domains are a way to regulate the entire environment around you—including the magical environment. If you don’t use a domain when fighting creatures with the magical pressure to affect your body…"

A shalk suddenly shot out of nowhere. Kline pounced and slashed at it, but it blinked out of the way and jumped at Elana. Elana flicked her fingers at it, and the beast’s skin boiled and mutated like sputtering bath foam before rupturing in a violent explosion that sent invisible blood slamming into my face, hands, and clothing. I stumbled backward, hitting the ground.

"Once you hit fourth evolution creatures, they will all be able to boil or freeze or rupture your blood in many forms just through the mere build up of a magical spell," Elana said. "There are some beasts in the third evolution that can do the same—especially to a being as weak as you. You’ve been lucky. Thus, from now on, we will intertwine training for alchemy with combat training."

I liked the sound of that.

"Okay… so? What is a domain?"

Elana presented her palms, gripping her left hand’s fingers on an invisible sphere. "Here is a raw domain. It doesn’t look like anything because it’s not—it’s simply the same atmosphere we’re breathing in. However—" A fireball flickered to life in her right hand. "If you were to try to change the elemental nature of this ball…" She put the fire over the domain and the flames around the invisible sphere as if it were a solid object.

I cocked my head in puzzlement. "Wait… so… it’s a barrier?"

"No. A barrier is a physical or one-way permeable object made of mana." Elana summoned a golden sphere in the domain’s place. The fire still licked around it the same, but when she cut the flames and knocked on the ball, it let out a hollow twang. "It’s tangible. Domains are created from soul force. They do not affect the physical world." She passed her finger through it. "But it cannot be influenced by elemental or magical changes that are less powerful than the domain. Sharp external attacks can break through it temporarily…" She shot a fire spell inside it, and it broke through before fizzling out. "But you can’t manipulate magic within it—"

"So you can’t make someone explode."

"Correct. But don’t interrupt me."

My eyes deadened.

"The question is—how does this affect your alchemy?" Elana asked.

"Because you can… control the atmosphere? If that’s the case, you’d be able to work with a liquid that turns into a solid…"

"Precisely." Elana created a small flame within the domain, heating it like a lamp. Then, the flame flickered left and right, increasing and decreasing in size, and turned into a small tornado. "In your domain, you control the atmosphere. It is perfectly sterile, immune to contamination, and allows you to control gasses."

I felt like anxiety raked my ribs with a drumstick.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." Elana turned to the alchemy equipment. "This isn’t a requirement to make this recipe. There’s many spells to accomplish this. But if you want to learn it from me, it’s how you will do it. From now on, your alchemy and battle strength will be intertwined."

Any grievances I had with Elana earlier melted away, marbling with excitement.

"Now sit. We will be chanting for quite a while." Elana turned to Kline. "You too."

He did, and we began.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours, and soon, my skin was shivering, wrapped in a sheet of goosebumps from a light breeze. I chanted on, continuing as my skin lost its moisture and then became drenched with sweat and then frozen to the point of shaking.

I chanted as my skin turned red, and my air became stale, and I felt like I was underwater, bore down by physical weights around my body. I chanted until I didn’t realize that I was chanting, and soon, as if waking from a dark and distant haze, I could hear the symphony bugs playing their tune and could see the orange and drifting light permeating through my eyelids. It was only once my skin felt burnt, stinging all over, sensitive to the air, and I heard Kline yowling that I finally opened my eyes and found that Elana wasn’t there.

I looked at Kline, who seemed equally confused, looking for Elana.

"Guess I’ll have to make a new meeting."

I did, and to my surprise, she was available the next day.

Seems I’ve got a good teacher, I thought, smiling warmly.

That was a joke. The next day, Elana taught me how to create a domain in-depth, teaching me how to churn my soul core to release soul force to suppress my environment. I was excited—until it was time to practice.

"From now on, you will practice your domain by putting your hand in the camp fire."

My eyes widened in horror. "W-What?"

"I said you will practice with your hand in the fire. Now stoke the flames or I will force worse training upon you later. At some point you will lose a limb and come to me to heal you—and you’ll pay the price then."

I shivered and complied.

Practice went about as well as expected. Twenty minutes later, my arm was pockmarked with blisters so bad they were white and numb from nerve damage. I activated mental shielding to block out the pain, trying to conserve the Diktyo River water, but ended up using it anyway.

I lay for an hour after she left, watching the swaying canopy as Kline practiced his Warp Step, then disappearing into the forest to practice whatever mystery spells he was developing.

Then, time after time, he kept bringing stronger and stronger prey back to the fire. One was the size of a deer, and he had carried it in his invisible jaws like telekinesis, showing the vast power of this tiny house cat.

He’s getting strong… I thought, turning back to the crackling fire. I’m gonna get left behind. I closed my eyes and breathed, feeling fresh air expand my lungs.

"I’ll skin it in a moment," I said. "Just gotta finish my practice."

Without hesitation, I thrust my hand into the fire. I would get stronger—at any cost.

2.

As Mira practiced her domain, Aiden limped through the array tattooed doors to Halten’s room, still wrapped in bandages. What he saw made him wince.

Halten was lying on the ground, wheezing, body radiating blue light in the shape of magical arrays and characters from a strange language.

It was only then, recently released from the medical facility after blacking out, that he realized that Halten recursed himself. He was a centur—a beast that had almost gained power up to a second evolution beast. Now, he was stripped of all of his magic and the ability to heal.

Aiden didn’t know what to say, so he just sat down instead. Share the space. That’s all he could do.

They sat there in silence for about two hours before Halten finally opened his eyes, annoyed, turning his glassy eyes to Aiden.

Are you going to say something? Or have you come to share your misery?

Aiden smiled wryly. I don’t know what to say.

Halten rolled his eyes. Then say something.

What deal did you make?

The human Brexton offered to negotiate a deal for my release. I must complete fifty deliveries to obtain my freedom. Yet, as per our pact, I only have to complete one to satisfy the agreement.

So if I don’t go…

I’ll die.

Aiden fell silent, trying to find words to say but finding none. At some point, he asked the only question he could think of. Do you actually trust me that much?

Halten paused, clearly indicating his lack thereof. But he left the statement with a hint of truth. I trust you more than anyone.

That statement hit Aiden hard. He thought about the pain and helplessness he felt, and the fact that even hating himself for that helplessness hurt Halten bothered him. So he refused to say sorry and wallow about it. Instead, he turned to Halten.

We’re gonna need some training if we wanna pull it off. He looked him in the eye. You wanna fly?

3.

I crashed onto the ground after drinking some of the Diktyo River water, watching as the crimson and white ridges on my skin smoothed out as if I had never burnt.

This’s ridiculous…

My next meeting with Elana was almost a week out, and I was drinking water daily. So I decided to take a trip to the river, praying that the River Guardian wouldn’t tell me to leave.

Turns out, she didn’t need to.

Kline stopped me halfway and activated active camouflage. Ten minutes later, I heard a roar and snap, followed by another fifteen cries from various beasts, all releasing their war cries in a strange, forgotten melody. Then I saw him rush past me, mentally communicating to run—I did, leaving as the cacophony of obligate predators rattled the forest trees behind us.

Two hours passed at the campsite before we felt safe again. My shoulders relaxed, and I crashed onto the ground again.

Looks like that’s not gonna work… I groaned. I forgot they got their pond back.

I freed Arithiel Pond, the one that I developed my soul core in, from the lignan bugs, which allowed beasts access to the mana vein underneath it—a natural spot for beasts to thread their cores. Now, there must’ve been hundreds or thousands looking to make the trip and get stronger.

I’ll needa go south…

The river was massive, moving from the First Ring to the Seventh. There was a build-up, but I should be able to make a trip to a part that wasn’t so populated. I hoped.

Till then…

I looked at my backpack’s bladder. It was half empty. The water bottle was the same. It was a lot, considering that I only needed a swallow—

—it was very little, considering that I used it daily, and it was a key to my fast growth.

I needed alchemic creations. Fast.

That night, Kline and I ate under the stars, reheating meat over the fire. Kline groomed after, curling up next to me when the fire was reduced to hot coals that periodically caught flames again.

The next morning, I continued my training. I stretched my limbs under the rising sun and then tested them by fighting a dozen reiga, using a combination of mana sharpening and Moxle Dilation to kill them. I placed the skinned meat on the fire and practiced creating domains above the same flames, holding my domain until it broke. By day’s end, my arms were pocked with blisters so severe they were white and painless with nerve damage, but I drank the water, and it disappeared.

That night, I threaded cores until I fell unconscious, then woke up and did it all again, lacking much variation.

Things changed on the third day. It rained so hard that the ground flooded underneath my legs, and poison sap from different plants turned my barefoot feet and ankles purple with swelling. Kline and I drank some of the antitoxin I earned from the trial, thinking we could conserve the water. Instead, we shed our stomach linings, and I had to practice mental shielding with one eye open, trying to deal with the pain.

But I saved water.

The following day wasn’t much better. It rained again and Kline and I sat in the tent as the wind howled and batted against the cloth, using a heating array inside for warmth as I threaded and practiced mental fortification training. There was no domain practice that day.

Our fifth day promised to be the same, but it surprisingly bore fruit. It didn’t rain, but it was windy and terrible, howling hard and shaking the leaves, making it impossible to have a fire. It was so frustrating that I released all my soul force and released that the spatter of rain stopped and the wind abated.

At that moment, I determined that I would practice my domain by creating a fire in the hurricane-like winds.

I failed.

Ten hours later, I collapsed on my bed, shivering as Kline curled up next to me, but I didn’t give up.

I woke up on the sixth day with fury in my eyes and returned to the bleak skies and rainy days, determined to succeed. I spent twelve hours pushing my soul core to heights not yet imaginable and finally managed to make a small fire in the heavy winds and rain.

On the seventh day, when the skies were clear and sunny, and the fire was bright and hot, putting my hand into the fire yielded no pain or sensation. I could finally use a domain.