D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

Chapter 1280 1280 Ladies and Gentlemen…

--- Kat ---

After some more back and forth about Kress their conclusions didnʼt really change. Everyone was quite on board with Nixileiʼs idea that this first week would set the tone for the relationship between Kress and Stan, likely dictating how it was going to survive long term. Once that was settled, Nixilei and Asteodia had relaxed and started drifting together. 

The pair hadnʼt really noticed, but theyʼd originally picked a large beanbag that let them both sit on it without touching. Throughout the conversation theyʼd moved until they were now pressing into each otherʼs sides while leaning back. Lily was of course, simply sitting on Kat without any shame of that fact so the newer couple still had a ways to go, but it was good progress. 

Now, Lily and Katt didnʼt want them to realise what they were doing, snuggling into each other like that. So they needed a new topic, and Lily had the perfect one. ”Changing the topic to something else, how do you guys train your magic?” asked Lily. 

”Why?” asked Nixilei. ”You seem to be doing well for yourself already,” 

Lily let her shoulders slump and her ears droop, looking very cute tin the process. Of course, Nixilei was picture Asteodia with a similar look on her face, but that wasnʼt important. Probably. ”Because Iʼm doing well with paper magic but my shadow magic just feels… lesser. Sure I havenʼt been working on it long… but if I had to explain it… itʼs like… like my understanding of shadow magic is too shallow. 

”Perhaps Iʼve been spoiled by the paper magic book, but so far, all the best shadow spells rely on my shadow actually moving around. Which, now that Iʼm thinking of it… is weird because Midnight isnʼt doing that at all… so now Iʼm wondering if Iʼm going about it the wrong way,” explained Lily. 

”Iʼd guess itʼs because Midnight is aligned with Darkness and not Shadow,” said Nixilei. 

”Wait… thereʼs a difference?” asked Lily confused. 

Nixilei nodded while explaining, ”Yes. It can be a subtle difference at times, and it would be wrong to say that darkness and shadow magic are completely different… but they are a lot like ice and water magic. Closely linked, but technically different. Still, you can probably empower your shadow with darkness magic anyway, but thatʼs just me guessing. 

”Remember, healing and regeneration affinities are quite different as for some reason healing mana doesnʼt like to heal the person who holds it. Healing mana tends to be more diverse in its ability, but regeneration is much more efficient… but it takes a lot of mana and technique to heal anyone that isnʼt yourself. 

”As for empowering your shadow… it feels like youʼre going a long way with that already, in fact… I think you have a lot more mana for that then normal. Or your shadow is oddly accepting of mana,” 

[Huh… I didnʼt think that would be the case. This feels like itʼs taking forever.]

*Iʼm not sure… perhaps itʼs something thatʼs meant to take years?*

[Possibly.]

”Well… thanks for the help? Itʼs still weird to know that Shadow Magic and Darkness Magic are not the same thing… but whatever I guess,” said Lily a little dazed by that newfound knowledge. 

”Well, itʼs also possible that Midnight is a shadow mage thinking heʼs a darkness mage,” pointed out Asteodia. 

Lily groaned and leaned into Katʼs shoulder. ”Kat magic is confusing,” 

”Why are you complaining to me, I donʼt use it,” said Kat while patting her head. 

”Urgh, clearly I am alone in this world and nobody understands me,” grumbled Lily. 

Asteodia and Nixilei shared a look of commiseration at Lilyʼs horrible acting but didnʼt say anything until she got it out of her system. When Lily finally turned back to the conversation, she asked, ”Right, so… how do you both practice magic?” 

Nixilei and Asteodia looked at each other for a few moments before Asteodia bumped Nixilei shortly and the fae sighed before starting to talk, ”For me, at the beginning at least, it was a lot of healing scrapes and bruises around the orphanage. I was heavily encouraged, as long as I wasnʼt exhausted, to heal anyone who came up to me as long as it was just a small injury. Cuts, bruises, that sort of thing. 

”At that level itʼs more about just pushing your mana into your fingers and running it over the wounds. There is a spell for it, but itʼs extremely basic and doesnʼt really help much. Then I moved onto longer cuts and larger bruises, though bruising tends to remain easy as long as itʼs just skin and muscle being bruised. Now, I want to stress that none of this was exactly fast back when I first started. 

”It took me over a minute to heal a bruise and for cuts it could be five or more. Sure thatʼs a lot faster then healing naturally, but compared to throwing fireballs within the first few training sessions, I was stuck running my hands over scabs for like a year. At the time it annoyed me a bit because a lot of kids would just expect me to be able to heal them even if it was more serious… 

”But the adults at the orphanage always ensured that the kids knew being healed by me was a privilege, not a right, and if they were mean about it theyʼd quickly be blacklisted. Usually only for a month or two, but I think it couldʼve been longer? I never had it come up honestly. Most of the kids that got blacklisted for more than a week didnʼt tend to repeat that behaviour.

”Anyway from there I started to learn the spell for healing that sort of thing, and it was nice because I could cast the spell and then walk away. Sure it might still take a minute or two to heal up, but it meant I didnʼt need to concentrate on it for longer then a few seconds. Took less mana as well… 

”Anyway, things sort of escalated from there, but as for what I do now? Well I obviously heal any injuries that my team gets, but that isnʼt exactly ʼtrainingʼ. For me, itʼs quite hard. I canʼt just cut myself and then heal the skin over and over. Iʼve done that training already and itʼs something thatʼs stuck in my head now. I could probably heal that sort of thing in my sleep. 

”So a lot of my practice comes down to imagining scenarios and then going through the motions of healing the fake person, casting the spells as I go. Itʼs rather annoying, and while you can tell if the spell fails… you obviously canʼt tell if you were using the correct spell in the first place, as thereʼs nothing there. For me, I guess itʼs more a matter of gathering knowledge about healing and then going through the motions,” 

Asteodia smiled and jumped in once it was clear Nixilei had finished speaking. ”Yet for me itʼs completely different. I have a good deal of mana, not a massive amount, but a good deal. I focus primarily on manipulating fire without spells, though I know a few of them as well. For me, meditating next to a fire is the best way to practice. Iʼll start a small fire and then practice by trying to get my magical fire to mimic the real one. 

”Itʼs surprisingly intense and gives me a deeper understanding of fire, or at least I feel it does. Itʼs part mental exercise, part meditation and part magic manipulation. My teacher, crazy bastard that he was, practiced that method using four different fires all burning different types of wood, and sometimes with magical catalysts. Then creating twelve flames that would have the two closest to the flames matching them, and the one in the middle a mix,” 

”Thatʼs… thatʼs very advanced,” said Nixilei shocked. 

Asteodia waved Nixilei off, ”Eh donʼt get too excited the guy who taught me didnʼt spend much time on teaching a single person, they travelled around a bunch all by themselves. So I only saw them like… once a year if that. Oh, and personally I think they were cheating with the fancy twelve flame setup… unless theyʼre like Thyme and secretly super powerful… hmm… might be worth asking Thyme if they know my old teacher,” 

”Yes that… I can hardly imagine doing something like that,” said Nixilei. 

Asteodia shrugged and said, ”Well itʼs not like Iʼm anywhere close. I already said, Iʼm still stuck on the first level. I might be able to move up to two magical fires soon, in fact I probably shouldʼve already. You arenʼt supposed to perfect it, just get close, and then move up a level to push yourself better… but apparently I have a bad habit of perfectionism so I havenʼt been moving up yet, probably stalling my process,” 

Nixilei leaned over and gave Asteodia a light peck on the cheek, ”I think I can find a few ways to encourage you to increase your magical training, donʼt you agree?” whispered Nixilei huskily into Asteodiaʼs ear. 

*Ladies and Gentleman. Weʼve got ʼem.*

[That we do Kat. That we do. Mission accomplished.]