Upon waking, Niphru decided that he shouldn’t just be doing things randomly as he thought of them. Instead, he decided to make some simple pns, starting with improving his usage of magic he was less skilled at. After doing some of that each day, he would then work on his transformations, trying to use forms other thaered version of Dawn.

  In addition, he should also get in touch with the other members of their group more often and try to learn from them. And occasionally, he ought to do things to increase the credit he and Dawn shared; that way, they’d tio be able to get anything they needed from the store at the spire’s base.

  As he was thinking these things, the arm that someone was at the door went off, and he heard Dawn a, apparently talking to Kel, Morris’ panion, who delivered a message.

  Niphru padded out into the living room and asked Dawn, “What is the message about this time?”

  Dawn pulled open the paper and g the tents before answering, “It seems the high mages want to see you again in the same pce as st time. Do you wao go with you again?”

  Niphru tilted his head, w why he was being asked fain, but replied, “I should be fine, but thank you for !”

  After their short exge, Niphru left the residend quickly headed up the stairs, returning to where they had previously met the high mages. He was slightly worried someone else might be there, but Morris’ message hadn’t said anything about that.

  Upon arrival, he rexed, finding only two of the high mages present, both of whom he had seen st time. The man who had sehat his foxfire iritual in nature was there, as was one of the women.

  Oddly, in the ter of the room, there ile of wood, and to the side, a chi in a cage.

  The man o him as he ehe room aured to one of the chairs before asking, “Is your panion not ing today?”

  Niphru shook his head and responded, “No, her of us were nearly as worried this time around, so I came alone. I’m gd there isn’t anyohough; I trust both of you.”

  The woman chuckled at this and remarked, “I’m gd you feel that way. Today, we wao see what happens when you use your fmes and illusions rather than simply having them exist. I’ll be looking for anythied to mana, and he will watch the spiritual side of things.”

  After she spoke, the man requested, “ you please form an illusion in front of the chi?”

  Niphru nodded and plied, creating a brick wall in front of the chi before watg both mages observe the area around the animal. As she watched, the woman used a stone pilr that formed under her hand to i with the chamber’s amplification again, like the st visit.

  A few moments ter, the man remarked, “I ’t spot any mana, but there are signifit fluctuations in the spiritual energy. you spot anything?”

  In respohe woman shook her head and answered, “I just barely sense something, only the fai hint of mana. I think I might see a faint e trying to reach both of us, as well as one going to the chi, but I’m not certain.”

  “Okay, thank you, Niphru. Could you please try to ighe wood here but not focus on keeping it burning?” the man requested as he shifted slightly in his seat to lean forward.

  With another nod, Niphru pulled back his illusion and flipped it bato a ball of fme that he moved to the pile of wood. After just a moment, he pulled it back, leaving the wood afme.

  The man hummed under his breath as the woman remarked, “I actually saw that. There was a fsh of magic as the fire caught.”Nodding, the man responded, “I did as well, not very well, though. There was a fre of spiritual force with a hint of mana involved. Niphru, could you actively try to burn it now?”

  As Niphru followed his instrus, he watched the smoke disappear into the ceiling. Meanwhile, the man tio observe before he stated, “It looks like there is a cost to actively using the foxfire, both in spiritual ford in mana, though it is surprisingly low. The illusion had almost no cost that I could see, however.”

  “I agree. I see a stant flow of mana, though it isn’t terribly strong. You could barely keep a dle burning with that much,” the woman remarked with a ugh.She paused a moment before tinuing, “I must say, that is incredibly effit. Signifitly less than a tenth what it would need if it ure magic.”

  A stone sphere rose from the floor before she waved her hand toward it and requested, “Could you please try to burn the magic there, not the stoself?”

  “I don’t think I’ve tried to burn magic itself before, but I try,” Niphru replied before putting out the fire and moving his fme toward the stone.

  Both mages hummed for a moment as they observed the sphere. Not long after, it began to crumble before falling to the floor.

  “Most iing,” the man stated before rubbing his .

  “It appears that you actually absorb mana from spells, though it does have a cost in spiritual forbsp; This is quite a rare ability you have. Normally, only the most talented of mages pull mana out of a spell they don’t trol, and only spells they are skilled at themselves,” the man tinued with a chuckle.

  The woman nodded and added on, “I saw the mana being siphoned off as well. I’ve heard that both you and your panion steal trol of spells already, and that is the step beyond it, so you are already close to being able to do it normally.”

  After the two mages g each other for a moment, the man oward Niphru and remarked, “Thank you for your time, Niphru. That was all we needed you for today. We’ve learned quite a bit from what we’ve seen.”

  Niphru nodded bad stated, “I’m gd I was able to help! Do you think you’ll need me ba the future?”

  With a shake of his head, the man answered, “I don’t think we will, at least not for quite a while. I’ll try to replicate some of what I’ve seen, but I’m not certain that I .”

  “I see. I hope you have luck with your attempts. Goodbye, and thank you for being so polite about this. I was really worried at first, st time we met,” Niphru responded before he headed toward the door to return home.

  As he got up, the mages did as well, the mauring before the chi’s cage floated into the air, and the wood sank into the floor. The two the as well, the man following him down while the woma upstairs.

  When Niphru turned off onto his floor, the man tinued going downward, likely to the store downstairs. While he could go downstairs to practice his magiiphru only inteo use water magic, fog on his trol, so he simply returo the residence he shared with Dawn.

  As he entered, he noticed that Dawn wasn’t present and took a quient to feel their link, noting that she was several floors dowhey charge mana crystals. With a mental shrug, he sat down in the living room and used his magic to turn the sink on i, pull some water from it, and then turn it off again.

  For the several hours, he pyed around with the small mass of water, eventually managing to get it into the rough shape of a fox, at least from one angle. Other than that, he mainly focused on being able to manipute it swiftly, aware that many situations called for speed rather thareme trol.

  Eventually, he found himself hungry and thirsty, so he simply directed the water into his mouth before heading to the kit to make some food for himself. Afterward, he checked their bond, and it appeared Dawn was down at the base of the spire, so he made his way downstairs as well.

  Once he finally made it down to her, he found Dawn simply sitting and enjoying the small slice of nature in the ter of the spire, resting her head on her hands while she sat on a benbsp; Niphru promptly jumped up to the empty se of the bench before ying his head against her, resulting in her sitting up aly patting his head as she smiled.

  “I was just w what it is like in the deep wilds, Niphru. Do you think we’ll ever go there?” Dawn said, curiosity clear in her voice.

  “I never really thought about it, but I have gone a det way into the forest in the past. Maybe when we are better at magic we could try,” Niphru replied as he shifted his head into her p.

  Dawn ughed and moved to scratch behind his ears before quietly remarking, “Maybe we could make that a goal. I’ve wondered about the other cities ever since I heard about them, but with the wilds having ed them…”

  “We just have to be really careful about it, Dawn. Even with just as far as I’ve gone, I’ve seen things that took groups of people to fight—remember that snake we saw when we all went out? If we ran into something like that, do you think we’d even be able to escape?” replied Niphru, shaking his head lightly where it sat on her p.

  Dawn frowned before responding, “I guess that is a good point. If we ’t beat something like that, it wouldn’t be safe, would it?”

  Niphru answered, “No, it wouldn’t, and remember that even Morris couldn’t puncture the scales back then.”

  Dawn nodded before stating, “Maybe it is just impossible to go deep into the wilds without a strong group, then. I suppose we only keep practig and hope we get there someday.”

  She then yawned and shook her head before remarking, “I think I should go to bed. It has been a long day, even if it wasing. I was trying to see how many mana stones I could charge at ond mao get up to eight.”

  Niphru jumped up and nodded before replying, “I am also tired; I spent most of the day practig my water magic.”

  Sihey both agreed, Dawhem back up the spire before they prepared for sleep.