"Okay, what now?" I asked.
"You tell me, you're the oldest." Agatha chuckled. "I'm joking. Well, at first I was going to teach you the basics of all the schools, but since we're two sides of the same coin, I'd rather you learn the way I did."
"Which is…?" I asked.
"Adaptability. When I was studying, I focused on what I needed at the moment. In your case, I'd say—"
"Survival. Teach me whatever keeps me alive," I said. "Also, it would really help if you could fix the problem with my Instinct."
"Got it," she said, letting go of my hand, standing up, and putting her cloak back on. She flicked her right hand and the green book on the desk flew to us. With her left, she did a different sleight of hand, and the ornate black box appeared again.
"Here, hold the Nexus," she said, handing me the box.
"W‑wait, are you going to put that book here?" I asked.
"Yeah. Why?" she asked.
"I mean… aren't we already inside the book?" I said.
"Oh? Do you think so? Hahaha, no, Leo. We're in my Domain. The book is my story. What were you thinking, Ellie? tehe"
"Ellie? Hey! That's not my name!" I shouted, standing up.
She put the green book inside the Nexus, and our surroundings changed again, swallowing my complaints as reality warped.
We were in a forest. Vegetation everywhere, and the trees were too tall to see the sky. Agatha turned in place with her arms open, breathing in the air. She was smiling.
"Ah! Perfect. Nothing like home. All right, let's start," she said, clapping her hands. "First, the Instinct thing, right? Is that an innate ability or…?"
"Yes, something like that. I think it's the opposite of my Adversity. It says I have it because of my True Name. It's what I used most of my life to overcome things, you know?" I said.
"Yep, that's definitely an innate ability. Well, explain to me a bit how it works," she said.
"Usually it gives me chills or some kind of spasm when something dangerous is happening or is going to happen. And when it's really dangerous shit, it's more like an electric shock. But right now it hasn't been working correctly."
"It says it's being affected by Undetermined," I explained.
"Uh. Well, that's interesting. First of all, it's not an external debuff—any external influence should have been cut off the moment you entered my Domain."
"Then what is it—" A huge chill ran down my spine. I jumped toward Agatha. At the same time she snapped her fingers, and a loud explosion sounded behind me. Something fell from the treetops a couple of meters away—first a rain of blood, then half of a humanoid body covered in grayish fur with a canine tail. Finally, the tree itself toppled with another unnecessary crash.
"Ha! Take that, you mangy dog!" she said, hands on her hips, looking at the mess with a contemplative expression.
"What the fuck?! Why didn't you warn me?!" I shouted.
"Ah! S‑sorry, Sis. Reflex!" Her deer ears trembled as she shook her arms. "B‑but look! That was your Instinct, right? See? It's working." She tried to smile while making a small gesture, sweeping her fingers.
I turned again and saw the half‑body wolf humanoid being pushed away by a strong wind until it flew off, along with the blood and some logs.
Squinting, I faced Agatha again. "What the fuck was that?" I asked.
"Oh, the mangy dog? Don't worry about it. There are a few here and there. They used to hunt my race until I wiped them out on my homeworld a few centuries ago—before locking in," she said lightly.
'Not gonna ask about that.' I sighed and massaged my temple.
Agatha smiled and started walking through the forest, opposite the fallen tree and corpse. I followed at her side.
"When I said my Instinct was failing, I didn't mean it wasn't warning me," I said.
"Eh? Then what's wrong with it, exactly?"
The image of Livia came to mind. More precisely, the first time I ate the sandworm flesh—when the girls forced me to eat it to heal me. Back then, I was full of rage. I remember seeing Livia laughing, but of course she wasn't.
'Back there my Instinct was screaming at me… fuck.'
The second time was when Livia told me about her Gifts. Again I felt anger and repulsion. My Instinct stabbed harder the longer she explained. If it weren't for the message from the Goddess who doesn't believe in friendship, I wouldn't have noticed something was wrong with me.
"It's… There's this girl, Livia. I told you about her—we're on a team with another girl." A knot formed in my throat. The image of Livia crying made me feel like shit. "Fuck, give me a second." I traced a box with an X inside it with my fingers, casting the Sigil.
"Are you okay? Do you want me to read your mind?" Agatha asked, stopping.
"I'm fine," I said more calmly. "You can use Legemens too?"
"Yeah. Not like Vivi, but I defend myself," she said, tapping the air above her head where the antlers should be. "Oh." She lowered her hand quickly when she noticed.
"Ha." I snorted a little.
'She's quite a character, isn't she? I'll ask her later about Legemens—first things first.'
"My Instinct… lately it's been making me feel rage, other abnormal things, and it also made me hallucinate a bit. But it seems to happen when I'm close to this girl—Livia," I said.
"As I told you, whatever's affecting you isn't an external influence. It has to be something inside," she said as we started walking again.
"Milaine, the other girl, also says it could be trauma or something, but I don't think it is," I said.
She stopped. She put her palm on a particularly dark tree and folded her arms beneath her breasts. After a few seconds, a slight tremor—the tree 'stood up' and started walking.
"Mmm. I'm pretty sure it's something in your mind. We could use Legemens to check, but it would take me a bit longer—I'd have to cast it as a ritual. How much time do you want to spend here?" she asked, looking at me.
"I don't know. In theory, we're leaving the cave tomorrow. But maybe they'll wake me up; we're taking turns for guard duty. Why? How much do you need?"
"At least eight hours," she said without hesitation, watching the tree move and 'kick' some bushes and other vegetation. More wolf howls were heard, followed by more crashes into some distant trees.
Agatha smiled and turned to me.
"So? What do you want to do? Do we do the ritual, or do I teach you new spells?" she asked.
'Fuck me.'
I closed my eyes for a second. My Instinct was vital to me. I'd lived with it my whole life; losing it was like going blind. I could keep Undetermined's effect at bay, but that meant not having Instinct.
'Although the Essentia isn't bad… Right, how much do I have? Last time I think it was around a thousand.'
Without opening my eyes, I pictured the Status Window, and it appeared immediately.
[Status Window]
Name: Eleonora "Leo" da Astris (NEW)
True Name: [The Witch of Adversity]
Class: [Apprentice Witch]
Gifts: None
Innate Abilities: [Sense of Danger] [Acid Resistance] (NEW) [Decay Resistance] (NEW) [Fire Resistance] (NEW)
Flaws: [Adversity] [Minor Kink — Sitophilia] [Minor Kink — Sadism] [Minor Kink — Mommy Kink]
Spells (Unique): [Sigil ★] (NEW) [Legemens]
Stored Essentia: 11,326
UNDETERMINED: ---
—
My eyes opened involuntarily when I saw the amount of Essentia.
'That's definitely not around a thousand. Holy fuck, how did I get that?'
I covered my mouth for a second to try to control the excitement.
"Well, part of it must obviously be from burning away the symptoms of menstruation, and another part must be from burning away the chills of my Instinct. But this much?"
The image of the amalgam of flesh Milaine encouraged us to eat appeared in my mind.
'Of course, the damn sandworm. Livia just made it taste and smell good. But I burned the pain away.' I smiled slightly and looked up at the sky, closing my eyes and opening my arms. The wolves' screams of pain, followed by the sound of things breaking to pieces, started to feel pleasant.
'Finally, something good,' I murmured.
"Haaa, I know. It's such a pleasant sound. I always come here after a day's work well done. Nothing beats this," Agatha said.
I enjoyed my small victory a bit more, ignoring Agatha's words. After breathing the air—which for once didn't reek of sulfur and death—I opened my eyes and turned to Agatha.
"So? Finally decided?" she asked.
"Yeah. I don't think I have eight hours. For the time being, I'm going to settle for not using my Instinct and take advantage of the chance to generate extra Essentia in the meantime. Teach me witchcraft," I said.
Agatha nodded.
"You adapted. Good, that was a good choice. Very well, let's start then," she said, clapping her hands. After that, the whole forest went silent. The wind died, the werewolves' screeches stopped, and the giant tree that had been attacking them also stopped.
"I've never been to Vulkris, but it was one of the tourist destinations I planned to visit once I finished my training, so I know a few things. The first thing we should do is work on your Essentia."
"The best way to get it is to burn physical objects, but in your current situation that will be difficult. Burning away pain is smart, but it's only a short‑term strategy. You shouldn't burn all your pain."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Pain is feedback. If you're doing something that's causing pain, you know something's wrong. Most people don't have as sharp an Instinct as you—and right now, you don't have it," Agatha said. "How much Essentia do you have?"
"I have about eleven thousand," I said with a proud voice and a small smile.
"So little? I see why Vivi didn't teach you her Charms," she said, a bit of disappointment slipping into her voice.
"Hey! How's that little?! It took me a lot to get that," I complained.
"What? It is little" She looked at me with a confident expression.
"How much do you have?" I asked.
"Mmm, I don't know. I make about ten million a day, so I lost count," she said with a soft smile.
"Ten million?!" I blurted.
"Well, yeah. That barely covers what I spend when I train," she added.
I sighed.
'I got carried away. I really thought for a moment I'd moved up the food chain, but I'm still so low. How the fuck did you manage to survive, old man?'
"Anyway, don't be sad. The longer you use the Sigil, the easier it is to get Essentia. Really, it's all about efficiency." Agatha said
"Ah! Right, I almost forgot. My Sigil—it says it evolved. That happened when you were explaining about True Names and the Coven. I expected it to change its name, but instead it has a star now," I said.
"Hey, that's pretty good news. That means you ranked up." She clapped softly, smiling. "It didn't change its name because Coven spells don't do that. Only innate abilities and Gifts change when they evolve."
"Our spells use a star system. Just like the schools of magic, there are ten. The higher a spell is, the greater its power—but the Essentia it consumes is proportional. The Sigil is the most basic spell; that's why it has one star."
"Wait, but Legemens doesn't have a star. Why is that?" I asked.
"Legemens is a two‑star spell. It should appear to you now, am I right?" She smiled.
Just as she said, Legemens updated.
[Legemens ★★] (NEW)
"See? That's why I don't like the System. It's a very inefficient way to visualize your soul—it updates based on what you know or how you interpret things. Don't worry, when we have extra time I'll teach you how to upgrade it."
"Okay. Speaking of Legemens, I had problems trying to use it. I mean, it worked at first with my friends, but it stopped because of a 'difference in level' thing. Does the star system have something to do with that or…?" I asked.
"Legemens is a second‑level spell, but its efficiency depends on whether the target has strong mental resistance, knows the counterspell, or is using an extra layer of protection.
"Tell me, when did it start to fail?" Agatha asked.
I paused to think for a second. The first time Legemens failed was with Livia. After receiving the gift from the shitty goddess.
'Maybe one of the Gifts gives her protection? Damn it, I really liked reading Livia's mind. And about Milaine… fuck, I don't know. That chick is a whole mystery box.'
"Hmm. In Livia's case, it's definitely because of a Gift. And that Milaine—maybe her Gift evolved, and now she has mental protection," Agatha said with a smile.
"Ah, that makes sense—wait. Are you reading my mind now?" I asked.
She chuckled before speaking.
"If you want to use it on someone with mental protection or another power source protecting them, you should cast Legemens at a higher star rank. It's not that difficult—you just increase the Essentia spended.
"For example, let's say you use Occlumens, the counterspell to Legemens. If you had Occlumens cast at three stars, a two‑star Legemens wouldn't work. You'd need to use it at four stars."
"Okay? I think I get it, but why not three stars?" I asked.
"In offense versus defense, defense always wins at the same rank. Keep that in mind," Agatha said. "All right, let's give it a try. This should also work."
"Okay, let's take advantage of this. Let's try it with an offensive and a defensive spell." She snapped her fingers, and the forest's sounds returned, followed by motion. The giant tree came back to kick werewolves.
"This time you'll learn the most basic defensive spell: Shield."
***