Another day, another time to train. Unfortunately, there was nothing for Shichiro to train as he was only here for the benefit of his knights. It would benefit him in the future overall due to multiple individuals being slayers themselves. There was no shortage of techniques he could borrow for his one. One such individual he would be training today and as such, he could benefit and learn stuff from her. Walking to a forest clearing, the one where he was training with Hitomi the first time around, Shichiro figured this was the meeting spot to train once again. He figured while he waited he'd also go back to training some of the spells he had previously learned about. He was going to learn how to utilize the thunder dragon slayer's step spell that he had been learning for a little while now. Looking around the forest outskirts there was nothing but tall grass and a few stones the size of the average adult torso laying about. It means nature has already provided potential targets and some places of rest. Well, now that he was here and he planned out his course of action, he'd sit down on one of the stones he was talking about while waiting.

Hitomi dodged and weaved around and past the many trees, training the physical aspects of her body to keep up with the magic. Wielding magic and mana in order to produce spells only worked at its best when everything was in harmony. She couldn't just neglect one part of herself for another no matter how tempting it sounded. She kept her movements tight when as she ran her way to her destination, practicing her lunges and activating a spell that would allow her to walk on surfaces without falling off of them. At this point she was jumping from tree to tree, getting faster with each passing second until she was jumping into the forest clearing where she would be training with Shichiro once more. This time she had a stronger set of spells she needed to get done. Her mana already flowing in a way where she would be able to start the spell, controlling its flow throughout her body. As Hitomi arrived she was just in time to see Shichiro taking a seat on a stone. Walking over to him she gave him her ever charming smile that hardly ever seem to fade. " I hope I didn't have you waiting long? " As she spoke she continued to push the flow of mana throughout her body but more specifically pushing it towards her hands. Most of her spells would be the same from last time, just a lot stronger.

242/1000
Training: Sanguine's Blessing of the Swift III

Waiting for Hitomi to show up, Panther Lily had emerged from his normal spot of beneath his back and his shield. He decided since he was out here already with Shichiro and all, he'd go on to go and train his swordplay nearby on rotting and dead plants and trees. Giving a little wave towards Shichiro, he had spotted Hitomi who was also approaching and nodded towards her as well, before disappearing into the tall grass before him. With that, Shichiro turned his head towards Hitomi who was approaching as she asked if she had been keeping him waiting for too long. Shichiro chuckled, shaking his head 'No' as he just recently sat down. "Nah, just got here. Was gonna waste time until you got here but it seems you got here quicker than I thought. Alright then, what's on the agenda for today then," Shichiro had said, getting up as quickly as he had sat down.  Now that she was here they could commence with training. He wasn't sure how he'd assist her with training but he was sure there was some things he could learn from her right this moment so he could start getting the hang of using techniques himself.

"Wonderful. It'll be the same as last time. Just tell me what you feel, if you feel anything. The spells shouldn't hurt..." Smiling she walked a few feet away from him before turning to him and pointing a finger in his direction. Since these spells were just stronger versions of spells she already trained, she didn't need to do a lot of the steps that she had done before. This was mostly about mana control and how much mana she put into the spell. Put too little the spell would not go off, but too much, and well she didn't know because she had yet to put too much mana into a spell, call her cautious about that. Taking a deep breath and taking all that mana she guided to her hands she pointed at Shichiro and let that mana flow to that finger.

Pooling the mana in her finger a magic circle began to form over her head and one began to form over Shichiro's head. The intricate design of the magic circle seemed to be fleshed out well until it wasn't. The mana she thought she was feeding perfectly fine into her finger wasn't maintaining the circle, in fact, with this sort of deconstruction of the magic circle it only meant that she was gathering the mana too slowly and because of that the spell couldn't maintain it's form and produce itself properly in the world. Quickly dropping the spell she stopped pointing her finger at Shichiro. It didn't look like she was doing much but internally her body was working in overtime. It was an art to be able to control mana the way she was, and it was even more of a challenge when she had to do it when she used to rely on a demon to do all the work for her. To even perform the spells she was trying to master was work enough and a spit in the face to her magic which really shined when she preformed offensive spells.

Moving around in the spot she stood in, walking in small circles with her eyes cast downwards the beautiful mage took to the basics. She didn't think she would have to actually keep doing this, training her spells like this, visualizing the spell in her mind she saw Shichiro with a large and glorious pair of curved horns that matched the Sanguine Dragons horns the only difference between the horns she visualized and the Sanguine dragons was the color. Taking in a deep breath she stopped pacing around and turning her attention towards Shichiro, her eyes burning with determination as she pointed her finger at him.

This time she pooled the mana with enough speed that there couldn't be any way that it would drop the way it did. A magic circle appeared over both of their heads and soon and only a single horn appeared. She wanted to curse. She wanted to shout. Did she fail again? Was A rank spells that hard to train? She was basically doing the same spell that she trained and mastered before but a rank higher. Why couldn't she get it together? Shifting her weight a bit and pointing at Shichiro with the finger on her other hand she took a moment to regain the mana she lost which made it look as if she was just pointing at him for a few minutes or so. Gathering mana in the pit of her center of being she took that mana and gathered it up and instead redirecting it carefully and steadily she shot it out quickly once it was all pooled into her finger. She didn't know what to expect and that was mostly because she did away with her usual way of training and decided to take a different path, one more reckless and based on emotion rather than rationality. She wanted to see what doing things on a whim would do. Would the Sanguine dragon approve of her blasting her mana out like a gunshot rather than a carefully placed sniper shot.

Hitomi knew, she knew that wouldn't have worked but have not seen any magic circle above Shichiro's head and only half-formed horns told her she needed a different approach. With each failure, she gained some sort of knowledge that led her down a different path to create a new way to form this spell and in the future other spells. "I'm sorry. It's always a little hard to create a new spell and then train that spell to perfection and master form. " She spoke with an air of defeat, but that didn't stop her from once again pointing at Shichiro and following all the steps through for the spell to actually now work. A magic circle over his head and hers and a pair of glorious horns bigger than the last on either side of his head. It was the question that would see if she did good, " How are you feeling now? " she knew the answer but she needed to hear it.

1,104/1000
50% WC Discount (Intelligence Modifier)
Trained: Sanguine's Blessing of the Swift III

Now that he assured her that she didn't make him wait long, it seems she was going to train the same spell as before but a more potent version of it. Just like she instructed last time, she would attempt to use the spells on him and he would have to tell her if he felt any sudden changes or not and that it shouldn't hurt. Last time went pretty well so Shichiro was feeling a lot more confident in her abilities and so he'd give her a silent nod and smile. Bracing himself, he'd watch as she started to do her mental preparations as she waved mana through her being. Eventually she began to point at Shichiro as some half ass horns appeared on his head. He had to admit he felt a bit different but this was probably not the result she was aiming for as Hitomi clearly wasn't satisfied with what she saw. trying again however, she managed to complete the spell she was going for. Two horns had sprouted from his head once again, more profound than the last time this spell was tested. Shichiro had to admit, he did feel a lot faster than he did previously, even more so than the less potent version. "Well, this is an improvement from what you performed previously. I feel pretty good, wanna have a race," Shichiro said jokingly.

She knew it was a joke but she kinda did wanna have a race. Laughing along with Shichiro she wondered how much faster he would feel if she shot a spell she had trained awhile back. It was really just a strong and more potent version of the spell she just cast but it wouldn't hurt to see if she mastered it. " I'm sure you'd leave me in the dust, but I can make absolutely certain you'd leave most people in the dust with this next spell I wanna try out. " Smiling she pointed her finger at him, her mana already used to the spell she was performing so it had no problem manifesting when she went through the motions of letting it out onto him. A magic circle appeared over her head and one over his but Shichiro also gained a pair of dragon horns, much bigger than the last, they were in the shape and style of the Sanguine Dragon. Which each iteration of the spell she preformed, with each rank getting higher the horns grew to be more intricate until it was like the person became the Sanguine Dragon to some extent. With the spell cast, she would only wonder how he felt.

Spoiler:

After sharing a bit of laughter, Hitomi had piped up and mentioned she would most likely be left in the dust because of the buff she performed on him. She then mentioned she had another spell she wanted to try out so Shichiro just nodded and said, "Sure, why not. Go ahead, its what we're here for after all." Shortly after, Hitomi had pointed at Shichiro and magic circles had respectively appeared near them, giving Shichiro the biggest horns he's seen her produce so far. He was glad they didn't actually way anything or he'd have trouble moving. It seems this was the most potent version of the buff spell she had been practicing recently and wanted to try it at least once. Looking at the horns on his head, Shichiro figured if she had already mastered using this spell, then he'll just eat it so he can gain the knowledge of it to use on his allies. Opening his mouth while looking at the horns, Shichiro began to dematerialize the spell buffing him currently in order for him to take it was his own. He'd have to practice with it as soon as possible whenever he gets the chance. "What a neat spell, gonna save this for later." 

Spell Used:

When Hitomi saw Shichiro eat the spell she placed on him a light went off in her head. She didn't expect him to do what he just did. As she thought about it she realized she had never seen him use anything in regards to magic but she was damn sure he just consumed her spell-like a dragon slayer...Like her. She was surprised of course and opened her mouth to say something but the words in her brain couldn't send the words to her mouth. Closing her mouth she shook her head and went back to smiling. " Ok, well that was something. Let's move on to the next spell. This one should help you take a few more hits. "

Training spells like these were tedious. She had to put herself in a different headspace for each spell and now she was closing her eyes and imagining Shichiro's gaining scales on top of his skin. These scales were just like the Sanguin Dragons' scales and they were absolutely a marvel to gaze upon. The details in the scales were so intricate that one would have thought Shichiro slew the dragon himself and was wearing the scales as armor.


203/1000
Training: Sanguine's Blessing of the Stalwart III

Finished with consuming the spell she had thrown at him, he realized he had never used his dragon slaying abilities before. He didn't know why he could do it but he just innately knew. This was the first time he was in the presence of another dragon slayer that was throwing spells at him though so he figured he'd also test his own capabilities. After all, he wasn't like the other dragon slayers. He could only steal another's technique and use it as his own once they had completely perfected its capabilities. Guess this means he shouldn't try to eat anything that's incomplete so he'd refrain from eating the one Hitomi was currently testing on him. It was a less potent version of the one he ate but he'd still want it when she finished perfecting it. Glancing at her, it looks like she wanted to say something but couldn't muster either the courage or the words to say it so she simply just smiled at him. Shichiro awkwardly smiled back wondering if he did something wrong but in the end, she just went back to testing out her spells on him. With that, he'd relax and let her do her thing, wondering how panther lily was faring with his training.

For whatever reason, she couldn't manifest the spell that she created. Perhaps she was tired and running on fumes? Maybe she didn't get the proper rest? Or maybe training a spell that was simple in concept but hard to master was starting to take its toll. Cutting the mana flow and placing herself in a resting position she looked at Shichiro and put on a sad smile. Yea this wasn't working out for her. She was struggling too hard for a spell that she should have had a grasp on already. Hitomi wasn't one for giving up but she realized that she had pushed herself a little too hard as of late. That sort of pushing could lead to burnout and she was already feeling its effects. " Sorry, Shichiro. I'm not really feeling too well. I think I'm burning out. I think I'm going to call it an early day. I'm really sorry. " Keeping up her smile as best she could she waved to Shichiro and made her way back to Orchdia where she would stop for some food and essentials before heading right back to suite. Hitomi felt sort of like a failure today but she knew this was for the best.

- exit -

Panther lily was off on his own doing his own thing, swinging his sword around and practicing his swordsmanship, keeping it honed, refining it even further. Shichiro however, was still with his subordinate as he watched her try and cast another spell. It was evident she had failed to do so which raised some questions as to what had gone wrong that time. He didn’t see it outright fail the first few times but he figured he wouldn’t ask. Shortly after, it was revealed Hitomi wasn’t feeling up to it anymore and was probably burning out or running low on mana which was understandable. It was time for them to call it a day once more and probably go back to the city. Shichiro would stand up from where he was comfortably sitting and decided to call out to Panther lily. He figured he was somewhere nearby. Panther Lily heard the call and began to run towards the previous location. Eventually he regrouped with the two Rune Knights and hopped onto Shichiro’s shoulder. With that, he would head off with Hitomi in order to grab something to eat before making his way back to his lodgings in order to relax for the rest of the day. 

[Exit.]