BXBX NOVEL Chapter 161 160: Practice, Practice, Practice
After that last win, Anput continued to tease Leone, and the Vampire seemed rather flustered by whatever the Jackalkin whispered into her ears, making her go crimson.
Jahi also seemed rather amused by it, as she would slip in between the two and whisper something to both, making them both blush heavily.
Following them out of the Academy, I enjoyed watching them flirt with one another, the pink and blush atmosphere making my heart warm as Jahi chuckled, Anput giggled, and Leone grew more and more flustered.
Reaching the cottage, I entered the kitchen and started prepping for dinner, putting some meat into a broth and letting it soak inside the herb mixture before moving towards the table.
Anput and Jahi had made their way quickly into the backyard, informing me that they would be training for the rest of the day, and that I was welcome to join them.
As for Leone, she was sitting at the table already, her head buried in a book as she furiously scribbled down some notes.
Sitting beside her, I peered at her book and notes, wondering what she was reading with such fervor.
Seeing the complicated theorems and ritual circles on the page, I nodded as I quickly worked out there use, realizing she was still studying her summoning circles.
Not wanting to disturb her, I grabbed one of the many basic cloths I had beside myself and went to work, wanting to continue to build my foundations with enchanting.
At this point I was adding not only the cleaning enchantment, but also a durability enchantment as well, pushing myself to place two enchantments on the same item, while also attempting to keep the cloth in one piece.
It wasn\'t the most complicated, but I was still new to the whole enchanting process, so I wanted to get this down to a tee before moving onwards.
~~~
Anput PoV
Standing across from Jahi, I readied my wooden blade as I stared at her, my head full of thoughts.
Before the encounter with Lord Pele, I had thought myself to be rather strong, but that fight humbled me incredibly quickly.
The three other women I was in love with had done much more than I had; Leone was the one who killed the damn Draconas, Kat fought against it herself, and Jahi managed to wound it a few times.
Me?
I had been blocked by a damn sword the entire time, and the one chance I had to wound it meant nothing.
Once it revealed its true power, I had been rendered obsolete in that fight; I was being pushed back by a blade that the Draconas wasn\'t even wielding itself!
I needed to hone my skills more; I needed to get strong enough to not only protect myself, but to protect them.
My magic was that of the Metal Element, which meant that I could control my blade; not in the normal sense of using my wrist and arm to move it with precision, but in the sense that I could manipulate the metal itself, to lengthen or shorten it, to turn it blunt or sharpen it...
Not only that, but I had Earth and Fire Magic; I could utilize them more to strengthen myself, apply burns to my enemies...
However, what I needed desperately right this moment was to reacquaint myself with the basics; to ignore all the fancy parries, pivots, blocks and slashes I used now, and instead work on the fundamentals of swordplay.
And, it seemed that Jahi had the same idea; she was staring at the blade in her hand with a frown, her amethyst eyes narrowed.
We both needed to smoothen out our rough edges, because a storm was coming our way; one that we\'ve made worse with our own actions.
I don\'t regret that, nor will I ever regret it; Jillian crossed a line with Kat, and I plan on making her pay for that.
Which is why I needed to improve more.
Why Jahi needed to improve more.
Nodding to one another, we silently lowered ourselves into our stances, our blades held in basic positions before launching ourselves forwards, Jahi swinging her blade downwards while I brought mine up to block her blade.
Tilting my body slightly, I allowed her sword to slide off of mine, and with that moment of freedom, I flicked my wrist towards her side, attempting to land a solid blow against her muscled side.
However, Jahi used the bottom of her hilt to stop my blade, surprising me.
Swiping her hand forwards, Jahi tried to grab my collar, only to grunt as I ducked and slammed my head into her midriff, forcing her back a few steps.
Taking a few steps back myself, I twirled my blade as I waited for her to ready herself again, watching as the tall Demoness gently rubbed her stomach.
"That was a good hit, Anput..."
Smiling at me, Jahi continued to feel her stomach before flickering towards me, making me grunt as I desperately blocked her heavy swing.
Putting her weight onto the blade, she grinned down at me as I tried desperately to keep her from striking me.
Planting my feet into the soft, grainy sand below us, I grunted again as I tried pushing back, only to cough as Jahi slammed her knee into stomach, chuckling as she said "Payback~"
Glaring at her, I stumbled away and took in a deep breath, my eyes watery from the sudden pain.
Blinking, I grit my teeth and charged towards her, holding my blade in two hands.
Thrusting towards her chest, I followed my blade as she parried it, using the momentum to twist and land a slash across her broad back.
Hearing her grunt, I ducked underneath her backhanded swing and stabbed upwards, the wooden blade stopping an inch shy of her throat.
Smirking at me, she stepped back, and we both reset our stances.
"One, you. Not bad, Anput..."
Of course, what followed was a much harsher spar than earlier, as the Demoness gradually took, and expanded, the lead between us.
She had gotten stronger than me, and my speed was no longer working as well as it used to before.
However, I wasn\'t discouraged; I knew that the woman before me was a monster who would eventually reach the same level as her parents, who are two of the most respected and feared women in this Empire, following the Empress.
So, even if the final score was 12-18, I was happy to have managed to keep some of our matches close, and was proud of myself for catching her off guard a few times.
Though, I was more happy with what followed after those thirty matches, but I could recall little more than the pure pleasure that my Demoness provided to me that night.
~~~
Leone PoV
Closing the book, I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose, my head throbbing from reading thousands upon thousands of words, understanding complex magic theories, and developing my own ritual circles to attempt to further improve my understanding of Summoning Magic.
Sadly, the topic was one of the few lesser known branches of magic, and the research done for it was sparse.
I had lucked out when Mother provided me this book from her personal library, but no matter how I scrounged around the rest of the Capital and Academy, there was nothing even remotely similar to this book.
If I continued studying this book today I would drive myself insane; every new answer I got only opened up two or three new questions, ones that required more research and more understanding of the material before me.
Instead, I would rather turn my attention to another important aspect of my training; control.
Even if I managed to understand the tome before me, I would need immense control over a large quantity of mana in order to utilize any of my findings.
Currently, my mana was akin to a keg; a normal person had a buckets worth of mana.
The tattoo on my chest was what had expanded my core and allowed me to take in more mana, but I would need even more than that.
There were a few... taboo magics I could explore, but for now, I needed to focus on controlling this \'keg\' of mana.
Only when my control caught up with my capacity would I continue onwards, and I needed someone equally adept at utilizing their mana for what I wanted to do next.
Glancing to the side, I stared at the beautiful sight of a concentrating Kat, her amber eyes focusing intently on the cloth before her.
Remaining silent, I traced over her gentle features, my heart quickening as she pursed those plump lips of hers.
Recalling how soft they felt on my own, I licked my lips before glancing further down, my eyes raking over her sinful body.
Maybe...
Maybe a break was in order...