Mage And Wolf
Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Chapter 63

Lala meets us in the Garage, taking everyone’s reports quickly before we head back for a much needed bath. As we’re scrubbing away the day, a smoky black aura settles over Hui’Jin. It doesn’t appear harmful and it fades in a mere moment, leaving us all confused as to what the Goddess of Death was trying to convey.

But when we’re finally clean, after no fewer than 2 changes of the perpetually hot bath water and many bubbles, it becomes immediately clear. Hui’Jin removes her towel and wills her robes to appear, only to find they’ve changed. No longer are they unadorned penitent’s robes, the mark of an Acolyte is embroidered into the rough cloth in gray, with two dragon heads underneath, showing she’s the personal acolyte to a second rank High Priestess.

"Congratulations! You’ve served your punishment and you’re back on track to earning your full title" I grab her for a hug and notice the embroidery isn’t the only change. Her robes now have notches in the back and her wings proudly extend behind her.

"This is wow. Very wow." she stammers nonsensically "I thought it would take years to earn forgiveness, but in just a few missions with you, the Goddess saw fit to end my Penance."

"See how happy it makes her when we burn things to ash?" I joke and we all break into laughter before heading off to our respective beds.

When morning finally comes I climb out of bed, still attached to Lala, who didn’t manage a full night in her own bed, as usual, and find Hui’Jin sitting at the coffee table doing her schoolwork.

There’s a post it note in front of her to call Jurgen when I wake up, sitting on top of a blue bound book, but other than that everything seems calm. The television is on, possibly still on from last time we watched the news, and it’s still updates on the same horrific stories from 2 days ago, so we’re safe on that front.

"What’s the news Hui’Jin?" I ask.

"Neisa dropped off this book of cultivation techniques this morning. She says they’re only to be taught at the personal request of a High Priestess, so I thought you should have it. The other is a phone call from Jurgen. He said it’s not an emergency, but to call him when you were awake."

Oh, better cultivation techniques. Very nice, I’m feeling close to another breakthrough. According to the hand written note from the Blue Priestess, these techniques are separated into 4 groups, for the 4 realms they cover. But currently everything that enters this world is limited to the peak of the second realm. Which likely means that the dragon Priestesses that have come here are significantly more powerful on their own homeworld, but are limited by the nature of mine.

Let’s see, first up is the Foundation realm. Where Hui’Jin is, so I’ll let her choose from these. Looks like the only restrictions are that they must be chosen of the Gods, so this book is for the clergy only, unlike the ones she put in the university.

I find one flagged for followers of the Death God, It’s a 24/7 technique, active not only during meditation, but also during your everyday activities. That alone would be a huge improvement, but it promises to be far more efficient than traditional techniques. I have Hui’Jin copy it out quickly and start practicing it, so she can get it working while she does her school work.

The technique seems to be quite simple, once you know the exact pattern to rotate energy in and get it to merge with your Goddess’s energy residing in your body.

I flip a few pages to the next bookmark and find a similar pattern for the Fortification Realm where I’m currently cultivating the first rank, having gotten a giant boost when I was elevated to High Priestess. It’s likewise, very simple to grasp and use, and within minutes it’s all but running on auto pilot in the back of my mind, the energy from my mark merging into my body at an astounding rate.

Now, I guess I should call Jurgen back and see what’s up.

"Jurgen, what’s up?"

"Oh, perfect timing. We’re just about to head out, and I wanted you to know you’ve got a day off. Karl cleared the boars from the dungeon with us first thing this morning, and then we got a call to go on roving patrol."

"Farmers have complained about some small monsters roaming around attacking livestock, so a bunch of teams are going out to play. There’s nothing else going on, but maybe you could pay Jake and Mary a visit. They seemed stressed."

I smile at Jurgen’s enthusiasm. Any excuse to go for a run, a werewolf to the core. He was likely afraid I’d make him clear the dungeon again today.

"Sounds good buddy, you guys have a fun hunting trip and we’ll see you when you get back."

Jurgen hangs up before I can say any more, and I decide it’s time to get washed up and get Lala dressed. Or I could just take another bath. With scented bubbles, and a bath bomb. I’ll just carry Lala in with me, the water should wake her up.

We’re about 45 minutes into a lazy bath when Hui’Jin comes in to inform us she’s done her daily school work, banging her wings on the door frame in the process.

"Guess I’ll have to get used to that. My robes won’t let me hide them anymore, if I try the binding falls off as soon as I get dressed and the robe forms with my wings out."

"They’re good wings, take pride in them"

"Yeah, and they’re warm too" Lala adds.

"Alright troops, let’s go help out Jake and Mary."

The newly christened Adventurer’s guild had found itself a prime spot. Along the Wall, only 20 yards from the East Gate. With the South Gate being the main gate where all the shipments and patrols came in and out, this more or less gave the mercenaries and farmers with bounties to claim their own private entrance, as nothing else but a Kebab shop was open in the area yet.

It’s a good one too, it was serving Water Buffalo magical beast meat as an option the last time I was here.

Today there is a huge lineup not only at the Kebab shop, but one extending past the shop to the Adventurer’s Guild, where I can hear the harassed sounding voice of Jake trying to get everyone in order.

I’m wearing my robes, accompanied by two other black robed women, and it’s enough for the crowd to part for us. Everywhere I go I hear the increasingly tall tales of my adventures, so not many don’t know who I am at this point. Something I’m sure I’ll find annoying later.

"No pushing, No cutting in line, No swearing at me. Understand?" I raise my voice so the entire lineup can hear. A chorus of ’yes ma’am’ and ’yes Priestess’ comes back from the lineup, along with one cheeky ’Don’t mess with the blood wolf’

"Good, now we’re here to lend a hand, so keep things orderly and you’ll all be taken care of in short order." I can see Mary’s relieved face even from here.

"Is there a reason you didn’t hire any help?" I ask quietly when I reach the counter.

"Well, I put up a wanted ad, but the place to put them is here, and until you actually reach the front of the line you can’t see that we’re looking for staff."

Minor technical difficulty, that’s all. But it’s the first day open and everyone wants to sell what they’ve got.

"Lala, go find the other Bunnies. See if any still need full time work. Hui’Jin, make a copy of the pricing list for common materials in large print and post it outside. In fact, make a second copy and post it closer to the Kebab shop, near the end of the line."

They both scurry off to complete their orders and I take a spot behind the counter, finally dropping my hood to reduce the intense aura in the room.

"Who’s first?"