Chapter 37 - Training

He spent the rest of the night messing around with his powers.

He wrote down a list of all the things he could possibly do with his blood manipulation. He tested a single spike against multiple, and found that the single spike was much quicker. It made sense, since he focused his full attention on that one spike. Next, he experimented with moving puddles, shifting them slowly across the ground discreetly. It worked much better than expected, although he might need to use smaller ones for stealth reasons. He wondered if he could "wear" blood, experimenting with different forms of clothing. All of them failed, mainly because it required too much concentration; failing would cause it deform and splash onto his clothes. At least he could remove the bloodstains without washing.

After a couple hours of messing around, he sat down, his mind exhausted from the increased use of his powers. Hemofemina sat down in front of him, her face beaming. "That's the most you've used your powers in one session ever since you came here!"

"Yeah. I never knew thinking could be this tiring..."

"Magic is its own kind of muscle. You have to train it to get better at it. Here, as a bonus, let me show you another trick you can do with it."

They stood up, walking to a puddle of blood. "By the way, what happens if we run out of meat stalagmites?"

"You won't. They grow back."

"Huh."

She stood in front of him and held her fist out, measuring out the distance needed to avoid punching him. When she was satisfied, she got into a punching stance. "I want you to form a wall in front of you when I move my hand."

"Can I even do it that quickly?"

"I won't hit you, if that's what you're worried about."

She had a point. He kept his eyes open, getting into his own little stance. As soon as she threw the punch, he imagined a wall in front of him. Instead of completely collapsing, the wall held its form, blocking and absorbing the impact of her punch. "Woah!" He exclaimed. "I can do that?"

"I noticed that you weren't forming proper objects to block projectiles and attacks. You only ever used it to attack or heal. That's good and all, but I think you needed a reminder. If you blocked that shotgun with your blood, you wouldn't have been knocked out for an entire week."

"Yeah, thanks. I guess I assumed they'd fall apart because of what happened with Scala."

"The snake woman? To be frank, it probably would've broken your wall if you made one."

"Really?"

"Yes. Your blood magic was pretty weak with just one gem."

"Hmm." He laid down again, sinking a bit into the meat floor. "Man, I'm pooped."

"I'm not surprised. You haven't been using your magic all this time because you were hiding it. That's why this domain is so important."

"Yeah. I'll keep that in mind." He closed his eyes. "Goodnight, Hemofemina."

"Goodnight."

And with that, Peter faded away, his presence disappearing.

Hemofemina walked to the corner of the room again, opening up a book she'd been reading since he became her patron. Perhaps after this fight, he'd stop coming of his own accord again, and she'll have to reprimand him once more. She shrugged at the thought. If she really needed to, she could always call him to her like she'd be doing for news.

Plus, mortals needed a little bit of leeway to reach their full potential. And if Peter was going to be her only follower, she wanted him to be the best one she'd ever have.

. . .

As planned, the four met back at the bookstore, Maya and Alanis visibly more tired than before.

Claire frowned, a look of concern on her face. "How long were you staying up?"

"Basically the whole night," Alanis said. "There's quite a lot of books in this store. A lot more than I expected."

"So what did you guys find?"

Maya pushed towards them a small pile of papers on the table. "We wrote down all our discoveries here, even if it wasn't all that helpful." She placed her head on the table and fell asleep.

Alanis chuckled a bit. "She was exhausted by the time we finished. I've had experience being awake at night, so it didn't impact me as hard."

Claire nodded at Peter, and they both looked through the discoveries. Most were mainly about the history of the Jawbreakers, from their formation in Arkalo to their failed exploits in Vydali. Interesting information, but not pertinent information. Others described their gear, such as their firearms and their chest plate armor. Much more useful.

One bullet point caught Peter's attention. It involved the current leader of the Jawbreakers, Ferdinand Jaw. Apparently, rumors circulated that he was interested in sacrificial rituals, especially in regards to blood magic. He had no real magical capabilities, but he wanted to harness the powers for himself, and he planned to do it through a magical transfer. Of course, it was all conjecture from gossiping citizens, plus he didn't know what a magical transfer entailed. But sacrificial rituals didn't sound particularly appealing or surprising.

After they finished looking through the list, the two sat down, wondering what to do next. Some of this information would be a great help, but they still needed to know exactly where they were in the forest. He thought back to his experience in the forest. If his first day in Deusterra taught him anything, it was that going in without an explicit route to take would be a massive mistake. What could he do...?

Suddenly, he had an idea. He stood up, pushing his chair in.

"Where are you going?" Claire asked.

"I just remembered something. I have a favor to cash in."

"A favor? That's nice. Come back safely."

He nodded and left the bookstore, marching straight into the forest. This was going to be a long shot, but the sooner they found the camp, the sooner they could save Beatrice - and perhaps, the sooner he could absorb the blood gem.

He didn't know exactly where he was going, but he did know who he wanted to find.