Chapter 17: Chapter 15 – Training with a Valkyrie

Jake realized something, and decided to check the familiar information sheet.

 

He was happy to see that her bond level had been repaired, and that it was already at the third level, whatever that meant. Jake thought that some factors might be related to the magical bond and their soul, but others probably had to do with their feelings for one another. The bond had only just gotten repaired, so he was surprised it was level 3 already.

Jake was working through his usual morning routine of making breakfast with Fhesiah, when the valkyrie emerged from her room. To Jake’s surprise, it was Fhesiah who spoke aloud, perhaps wanting to resolve the odd home situation that she had created.

“Sleep well?” she said, to the valkyrie. The valkyrie seemed somewhat surprised, but responded. “Yes,” she paused, as she looked over to Jake and Fhesiah herself, narrowing her eyes at the demoness. “Thank you…Did you get bigger?” The demoness flew quite close to the valkyrie, and took on a somewhat unhappy expression, with narrowed eyes of her own, invading her personal space. “Are you trying to say that I am small?”

Ophelia was distressed and tried to take a step back from Fhesiah to which she merely floated with her, and almost seemed to look to Jake for help, but replied “N-No, it’s just…yesterday, weren’t-” The demoness then interrupted the valkyrie “Why, is that any way to talk to your Captain? Such a lack of respect, such insubordination, just how should you be punished?” The valkyrie looked like she wanted to be anywhere but here, and she was about to cry. It almost looked like she was going to bolt for the portal, when the demoness peeled over in laughter, once again floating and rolling through the air as she did so, shocking her. Fhesiah caught her breath, and then spoke with a smile.

“Sorry about that, Ophelia. My game went a little bit too far, but your expressions were just so cute. How can you be like a lioness on the battlefield, but then a little rabbit at home? I suppose I have had enough, for now. I wanted to welcome you properly, this time. Welcome to the family, I am so glad to have you with us.”

The valkyrie seemed a little shell-shocked, but she needed some clarification. “Game?” she said. The demoness replied, “Yes, the act about Jake being a commander and me a captain. Really, Jake was only recently drafted and given this refuge; only taking on incursions for several weeks. Did you really think a commander would live in such a dump?”

“Hey!” Jake replied, weakly. The demoness just smiled at this, her teasing successful, and the valkyrie looked unsure, but said “I didn’t think much about it, and I only know a little bit about what I learned in school about the military of The Alliance. I was…still just lost in my thoughts, yesterday.”

The demoness gave the valkyrie a reassuring smile, grasping her shoulder, and spoke. “Well, I hope you will forgive me for my fun. What Jake said to you yesterday was mostly true. You are now still part of something greater than just yourself. We will work hard together, all trying to be the best that we can be, but as a family rather than a military unit. Once again, welcome. We are both happy to have you with us.” The demoness then hugged the winged woman, to which she returned it, surprised.

Jake watched this exchange from afar with surprise. The valkyrie seemed somewhat happy or perhaps just relieved, but he couldn’t help but think that this game did more harm than good. Also, the demoness was true to her word, and she had kept the thought-link as she promised.

Jake was not so sure he should be happy about this, as nine out of ten thoughts were about how she could tease both him and the valkyrie next. The other one out of ten thoughts can only be described as “horny old man,” thoughts about both him and the valkyrie. His image of the demoness from just yesterday was completely ruined.

Jake thought this was a good time to interject, “Once again, welcome, Ophelia. It’s true: I am very glad that you are here. Now, let’s have breakfast. We have lots to talk about, and plans to make.” They all joined Jake on his small table, and the demoness for once ate as well. It seemed her body was much more substantial now, so she would now be joining them from now on for meals in the [Refuge], skipping meals and keeping a lookout in the dungeon, for when they ate there. Cultivators didn’t have to eat, but they could. It was due to her spirit-like nature before that caused her to be unable to.

The demoness spoke, “This was very good Jake. You would make an excellent house-husband. To answer your question from before, Ophelia: yes, I did get bigger. I should reach about your height within the week. I was healing, but I am almost in good shape now. I should be able to provide much more assistance in the dungeons soon, but it would be best for me to be fully restored, first.”

Jake did his best to not react to her teasing, but he knew some heat rose to his cheeks a little bit at the barb about being a house-husband, to which the demoness of course enjoyed his reaction. He added speaking to the valkyrie “we’ll be taking a break from the incursion for a bit. We would like to practice our magic and team-work before heading back in to complete it. Your runic magic: you think you could teach me what you know?”  

The valkyrie hesitated, but replied. “Maybe. I saw that you could cast spells, but I am not very good with them. We need a book with runes, as well, as I only have a few that I know well enough to teach.” Jake nodded, and felt that this was better than nothing.

With that, he tried to work out a plan with Fhesiah in their thought communication. Jake looked through the menu, and found that a generic book on Nordic runes was quite cheap at fifty credits. It did not teach how to use runic magic, and he assumed this was why it was affordable.

Jake felt that his learning of spell-forms would soon be at an end. While it felt like a waste, it was only a tool, a stop-gap measure for his inability to have a ranged attack. It helped train his mana control as well, and get him to being able to use Nordic Runes. He would discard that tool now that he had a better one, unless something changed. Most likely though, he would mix system-based casting with Nordic Runes, and enchanting, and using spell-form based casting would be an odd corner-case.

Jake looked over at the valkyrie and asked, “I saw that you had the smithing skill. Are you interested in continuing with improving that skill? We could use a smith, to take advantage of some of the materials we will find.” The valkyrie looked hesitant, but replied, “I think so. I’m also not great at it, but I would like to learn more. My dad taught me, but I was so focused on wanting to be a Shieldmaiden…” Jake was very interested to learn more about her life, but took her hesitation as her being uncomfortable with the discussion, so Jake just nodded, and realized he would need to add another thing onto his list of purchases he needed to make. The goals were adding up, but he didn’t think that it would take very long for him to add a smithy to his [Refuge].

Jake wondered if the demoness had a trade-skill of her own that she was interested in taking up. It appeared she did, but she really needed to focus on her cultivation for the time being, and also, it was probably not worthwhile until they reached the greater multiverse. It turned out that the further away you are from where the item is being sold, the larger a transport surcharge was; it was not free for [The Framework] to send items to your portal. That heavenly energy crystal was expensive, but only because it was being sold from so far away. It was far from rare, nor was it truly more valuable than the mana crystal. Being closer will reduce the prices for various cultivator materials.

With that, Jake set about doing his normal training but this time with the valkyrie to help and participate. Her spear skill was two stages above his, so he was able to learn a lot from her. She showed him a few things that he was doing wrong with how he shifted his weight or his overall posture, but seemed impressed when she learned he’d only been using the spear for under a month.

Jake voiced his appreciation for her help, “Thanks for the pointers. You’re pretty good at teaching.” She seemed surprised at the compliment, and replied “I’m just doing what my teachers did. I had joined an adventurer boarding school when I was young to be more like my mother, because my father is not a fighter: he’s a smith.”

Jake nodded and took in what she said, and what she did not say there. Clearly, her mother was no longer around, otherwise she would have been there to help her become more like her. She grew up in a contested world, so there was absolutely no way that a valkyrie parent would prevent their child from preparing for battle. Still, it showed that her mother did not marry a combatant with her father being a smith.

So, they kept at spear training until they had completed a good workout, and did some light sparring with Ophelia giving Jake pointers, while Fhesiah seemed to only pay light attention to what they were doing, meditating. They then moved on to practicing [Runic Magic].

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She seemed quite embarrassed, but she showed him the few things that she could accomplish with her magic. She could create a light spray of water, and a small gust of wind. Not even what Jake would consider spells, more of a cantrip type effect. Still, it was a start, and they settled in for him to inspect how she went about creating the effect with forming the runes.

As it turned out, using Runic Magic was not very different from forming spell-forms. There were still differences, but they were similar enough that Jake was able to produce the splash of water effect within only a few minutes. Instead of forming a shape and encapsulating it in another layer of mana, then that in his intent, it was like creating the shape of the rune activated its effect and locked it in once it was completed. It would impose change on the world depending on its meaning, and he would then use his intent to push that effect to do what he wanted. For example, if he produced a series of rune words that created a ball of water, he could then control it with his intent.

 

And so, they settled in to read and copy down runes that were in the generic book on runes and really study this. After a few hours of this, they settled in for lunch. Once again, Jake cooked for everyone, and the ladies both enjoyed it. Things were not nearly as awkward now, as each of them got to know each other.

Jake kept his thoughts closed off, but thought about how he felt about the demoness. He realized that he was only just now getting to know the real her, and her bombastic attitude was quite jarring compared to what he had known of her up to now. Still, it wasn’t all that different: she had been mischievous and teasing from the very beginning. 

Jake hadn’t really been in love in his life, maybe only had a few crushes while in highschool. Jake wasn’t so sure what he had with the demoness was love, but he knew he was at the very least in love with the idea of her. He had long since wanted a family of his own, and desired a partner to face the challenges of life with. She was amazing in many ways, and offering those things to him with nearly no conditions, just that he tries his best. 

And what about Fhesiah’s love for him? Isn’t it just the same? She had heard his thoughts, and knew Jake all-too-well, perhaps better than most women could know their man. At the same time, she was in love with the idea of Jake put into her mind by her mother and her divinations. Would he really live up to her expectations? But he felt her feelings over the bond: she had no doubts that he would, and that he would make her happy and they would be successful together. He felt the love she had for him, and he felt that his for her was similar but less in its intensity.

Jake was far from an expert, but he felt that loving the idea of someone would probably be okay, so long as that person ended up living up to those expectations or ideals, and also that you were right in that those were the things you wanted. For everything else: there’s compromise, something Jake was very familiar with making in his life, in his many foster homes with difficult foster parents.

It was with that thought, that he decided. He would risk his heart and bet on the demoness, that he would love her and she would love him, and he would go all-in. He would not doubt that they would end up happy, and he would do all he could do to meet her expectations. 

Fhesiah flashed Jake a predatory smile, as a package exited the portal. Jake went ahead and bought the heavenly energy crystal. They were now down to below a thousand credits, but Jake could always make a run to slaughter some gnolls. She would work on absorbing it this evening, but for now they would work on seeing if they could form a core for Ophelia.

They settled in to work on it, and the valkyrie showed some surprise at the premise; she had never heard of anything like it. As they worked on it, it showed some promise. Jake was in fact able to control and sense the valkyrie’s mana, and even the demoness seemed to be able to tag along, perhaps able to piggyback through Jake’s bond and into the valkyrie.

The valkyrie in short order was able to improve her mana control, and saw some improvements there. Jake was also able to use and practice his mana transfer spell, which seemed to help quite significantly, from what Jake could tell. It had a bit of an unintended side effect, though, as her skin became flushed, and she had to stifle a moan minutes after he began using it.

“What is it?” Jake said to the valkyrie. She seemed embarrassed, but she eventually said, “It feels good, er, I mean weird…it kind of tickles...” Jake knew what was coming, but- “Oh? Jake pushes his mana into you and it feels good? Where does it feel good?” the demoness said, taking absolute delight in the valkyrie’s embarrassment. The valkyrie got even more uncomfortable, and had trouble answering, “Er…my magic?”

The demoness smiled, but decided to just leave things there for now. It wouldn’t be good for her to bolt away, after all. Jake asked, “do you want me to stop? Was it even helping?” The valkyrie replied, “I…think it helped a lot, as I was able to get the mana spinning even faster than before. It…didn’t hurt, I will try to get used to it.”

With that, they settled in once more, but Jake called it for a break not more than fifteen minutes after that, as her breathing became short, and she was getting even more flushed, but most importantly: her control was nearly completely lost. They were not making any progress, and he thought that if she did the wrong thing it could potentially harm her. 

Jake decided to watch the movie before dinner, to which the valkyrie seemed to watch with interest. He picked a lesser-known film, where a young man goes to find a fallen star for his beloved in return for her hand in marriage. When he retrieves the fallen star, it turns out it is actually a woman. Still, he tries to fight off witches and others to return to his beloved, only to fall in love with the star, instead. Besides, the first girl was kind of a bitch anyway. A story of romance and adventure, and both the girls just ate it up.

They settled in for dinner, then went back to rune studies and practice. Jake knew it would take him most of this week to manage making any rune words with any real value. He spotted a book on the market that would help him learn more spells, but it would have to wait until after they completed the gnoll dungeon next week as the price was simply too high.

At any rate, Jake could tell that working on these runes in the book would set a good baseline for learning anything else. He would have to learn the meaning of the runes; the names and their shapes were not all that challenging. There were only 24 Elder Futhark runes, after all; less than the number of characters in the English alphabet. The work is deriving the meaning, and deriving patterns and structure for creating the rune words and sentences. Jake had a lot of work ahead of him, learning this language.

They settled in for the night, where Jake and Fhesiah bid Ophelia goodnight to her room. They returned to theirs, and while Jake would be heading to sleep first, it was going to be a real struggle. The lust coming from the demoness was palpable, and that raised his in turn. Jake voiced his thoughts, “I’m not sure which of us is more excited.”

[Don’t worry Jake, I forgive you for not being as excited as me. You might have been right the first time.]

Jake was bewildered, not knowing what she meant-

[You thought that I might be a succubus when you first saw me. You might have been right; A Kitsune is a demon not very different from them, after all. We will just have to find out.]

It took Jake a while, but he eventually fell asleep once the demoness finally focused her work and attention on cultivation in earnest.

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