"What? You want me to make you as strong as me? Where did that come from?" I asked Aurora, who was soaking in the bath. "First you drag me all over the city making me buy you stuff, wasting my whole day, and now this? Hell no. I don't have the time to play with you anymore. I came to the city of 'Babel' with a mission, remember?"
She pouted. "Well yes, technically you didn't force me to buy you stuff, but how could I not? You look so infuriatingly cute when you want something." An idea sparked in her head. She turned to me. "No! Don't give me those puppy dog eyes, I won't help, I have stuff to do."
She looked at me again, her expression - mind numbingly cute. "... You're the devil… Fine, I'll help!" Her face beamed with excitement. "Just… You won't be able to cast ranged spells and I'm not even sure whether or not you'll be able to use fire in the first place."
"Apart from 'Spirit foxes', beast men aren't able to become casters, making them inferior to humans, or at least that's how humans justify enslaving you guys. Where? I learned it in a place that, at least in theory, was supposed to make us the saviors of this world - the light of mankind."
"We were being prepared to fight the demons and uphold the Cheliyan kingdom, that was supposed to be our sworn duty, meaning that we were taught not only combat, but also the way and order of this world - elves are arrogant, dwarves are stubborn, beast men are stupid and demons are evil. You are the first beast man that I've ever met, so I'm ashamed to say this, but until now, I believed those generalizations. You aren't stupid, just an idiot. A mind numbingly cute idiot that uses her cuteness to get whatever she wants from me."
"Well, either way, I'm not fit to be a hero, so who cares? Just think about it - this borderline alcoholic with a disposition to kill anyone that displeases him a hero? That's the biggest joke that I've ever heard! Yes, yes, I certainly have the power for it, but with my personality? I'd end up killing the other saviors for the stupid shit they'd do." I kept talking and talking and Aurora kept listening intently. When was the last time that I actually talked to someone about myself in length? This sly girl knows how to extract anything she wants from me. Got to get my guard up. "Well, anyway, keep all this between us, at this point the other heroes think that I'm dead and I'd like it to stay like that." She nodded.
"Now then, let's see about awakening you." She gave me her signature confused head tilt to the side. "How should I put this… All living things in this world possess mana, some have a lot of it, some barely any, it's predetermined at birth. Those living things use that mana to survive and to thrive - it gives them strength, heals their wounds and so on. The problem is that they can't control it at will. That is where awakening comes in."
"I'm going to pour a large amount of mana into your body, that way you will feel its circulation and will be able to use it yourself. That is called awakening. Don't worry compared to what you've been through, it won't hurt. What do you say? Ready to try?" She nodded vigorously. "In that case, here goes nothing."
I placed one hand on Aurora's back and started channeling my mana into her. Please don't explode, please don't explode. She gasped, tilted her head back and, a moment later, the bath froze over and the ice shattered in an explosion of wind. Good, she's still alive.
She was gasping, her body covered in ice. "Yes, it did work, don't you sense it yourself?" She nodded. "By the looks of it, you have an affinity for 'ice' and 'wind' magic, not only that, but you're an 'A' class. Yes, that is good, very good in fact." She gave me a big smile. "Yes, yes, I know, I'm the best."
"Now then, you should get out of the bath or you might just freeze to death before learning how to use your new powers. No! I'm not teaching you today, I still have things that need to be done. I'm going somewhere, be a good girl and stay in the room. No, you can't follow me there, it's not a place that you'd want to be anyway. Look, it's a place for adults, you're not going. Yes, I know that you're just a year younger than me, but…"
"Wait. How do you know how old I am? Oh, you sneaky little witch, you actually found a way to dig in my mind via the mental link!? Don't! Don't access those memories! I warn you, you won't like what's in them. And… Too late. I hope you're happy now…"
I sighed. "Fine… I won't go, I won't leave you behind, just… Don't dig in my brain anymore… There are some personal things in there that I'd like to keep personal, okay? Yes, yes, I know… I'm the worst…"
I sat on the couch, reading one of the 'borrowed' books while Aurora dozed off with her head on my lap. I should fix 'that' flaw in the mental link while I have the chance. I closed my book and placed one of my hands on her head. After a good ten minutes, my work was done. Because of this sneaky little witch, I wasn't able to visit a brothel tonight, but… I looked at the sleeping Aurora on my lap. This is nice in another way. After some time, I gently lifted her head off of me, placed it on the couch and went to the master bedroom to get some shut eye myself.
I awoke the next morning, having rested surprisingly well and felt something soft pressing on to my side. Deja vu much? Oh, I'm probably dreaming about the good times when I was still living with Diana. Wait, what if it's not a dream? Well, there's one way to figure it out. I stretched my hand and squeezed the soft object that was pressing on to me. Nothing. Diana would either moan or hit me, this isn't her. Wait, maybe this is a dream where I can do whatever I want to Diana? That would be nice…
Just to be sure, I should probably turn to look at who's there. I turned to the side and opened my eyes. "God damn it, Aurora, get out of my bed! Did you learn this from one of my memories?" She slowly rose up, rubbed her eyes and smiled at me. "I said get out!" The bed sheath that was covering her fell, exposing her. "And for the love of god, put on some clothes!"
"Look, I don't care that my bed is more comfortable than the sofa and I certainly don't care that it's more comfortable to sleep naked, this is MY bed, this is where I sleep. YOU sleep on the SOFA! No, no buts ifs or ands, get out! Don't give me that face, you're playing with fire here!"
After a hearty breakfast of mostly meat, because veggies are for wussies, I suggested going out of town for some training. This immediately piqued Aurora's interest. "Yes, I did kinda promise you to help you get stronger, so there's no time like the present, am I right?"
We walked a few miles out until we found a forest. The training ground is set, now then, what the hell am I supposed to teach her? The only training that I've got was for the assassin job, but it won't suit her since she doesn't possess a 'shadow' affinity. While I was pondering, Aurora just stood there, looking at me and wagging her tail in excitement.
The only other skill that I can teach her would be 'mana transfer', but that's a basic skill and my understanding of it is rudimentary at best. Well, it's a good start at least. I approached a tall tree, placed my hand on the trunk and concentrated. Aurora was following my every move with her eyes intently.
The tree exploded, sending shards in every direction. "This is basic 'mana transfer'." I said. I'm still not proficient in it enough to use in actual combat, but if you're interested, I'll teach it to you." She looked completely amazed, but then her amazement turned into fear. "Yes, I used the same skill in order to awaken you. Yes, you could have exploded too… Don't worry, this wasn't my first time using it on someone." This made her relax a bit. "It's actually the second" I was bombarded with thought and emotion cocktail, so violent that it almost made my head explode.
"Relax, you're fine, aren't you? Yes, yes, I'm the worst, but what's done is done, the question now is whether or not you want to learn it?" She gave me a pissed look and nodded slightly. "Good, let's start."
Aurora was a natural at this, it took me around four days to just grasp the basics of this technique, but, by the end of the day, Aurora was already hunting monsters with it. Her growth rate is impressive, I, as her teacher, should step up my game as well.
The next day was dedicated to weapon training, while I had an impressive collection of them stashed in my dimensional ring, I was only proficient with daggers and short swords, so that's where we started. Again she learned at an incredible speed. In two days, she went through my entire teaching schedule that was supposed to last at least a month.
That day, after being thoroughly defeated and on the verge of giving up, an idea struck me. An idea so brilliant that I couldn't believe that it came from my brain. "Aurora, your physical abilities have indeed grown, but in order to truly become strong, you have to study as well." She gave me a confused look. "Yes, no matter how strong you become physically, you will always be held back by your head if it's lacking." She seemed to understand. Keep bulshiting, it's working.
"So, from tomorrow onwards, you will focus on learning to read and write, the basic history and etiquette." And a fuck tone more useless stuff to buy me time to prepare your training material. "It will be an arduous journey, full of challenges and hardships. More like boredom and misery. "Are you ready to embark on this journey, a journey that will lead you to power?" She nodded vigorously, looking impressed, almost in awe.
"I must warn you that when you start, I won't let you quit midway, are you still ready for this?" She nodded. I smiled on the inside. This idiot is easy to fool. Good thing that she can't access my memories anymore to see the hell that is studying. "Very well, my pupil, get some rest tonight, because tomorrow real training begins."
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