I moved my pawn forward, over to Kerro's side of the board.

  "You betray me lass!" the bearded hunter exclaimed. "It's a sign of weakness that you'd choose to kick a dying horse rather than a spry one."

  I raised a brow at the man. "That analogy makes no sense, why would I kick either?"

  "Why wouldn't you? Horses are cowardly cunts that deserve a good kick every now and again to put them in line." Kerro reciprocated with his own brow.

  I blinked in confusion and tilted my head. "What've you got against horses?"

  "Don't bother," Gren said as he moved his empress to take advantage of the pressure I was putting on the man. "This idiot'll make up whatever nonsense he can think of and follow it with the dutiful faith of a priest."

  "You've never ridden a horse before! You wouldn't be so kind to 'em once you get bucked off because it was startled by a damned forsaken squirrel. The thing was the size of me palm! How could it scare the equine idiot?" Kerro raved, but still put a praetorian forward to protect the mage Gren's empress was eying.

  I snorted and moved my magister over to eat one of Gren's pawns.

  "Ha! Trickery! You had me proper fooled lass," Kerro laughed. "Proper cunning for a proper elf that is!"

  "Elves aren't known for being cunning, idiot," Gren said.

  "Oh, don't be a creaky joint now. You're just peeved the girl got the better of you."

  Gren moved his praetorian to block my magister from making any dangerous moves as he grumbled. Kerro smiled and brought a pawn forward to pressure the empress to move while being protected by his praetorian, Gren's grumbles only got louder, much to Kerro's delight.

  "You know, you two aren't as stuck up as you seem on our hunting trips," I said.

  "Silly lass," Kerro shook his head. "Playing the lax fool is fine in safety and civilization, but once you cross the borders into the wild, there's no time for foolishness. Not with the monsters that prowl the thicket."

  Gren nodded. "For once I agree with the idiot. We have to keep our senses sharp at all times, we aren't blessed with elven ears to hear all the dangers around us."

  I scrunched my brow and considered correcting him, but he wasn't technically wrong, it was just a different flavour of hearing.

  I shrugged my shoulders and moved my equite over to solidify the territory I had under my control. "Well, you're both not very smart, I can say that much."

  "Lass! You wound me." "Now that's just rude." The both of them said at the same time.

  I smiled a vicious thing filled with predatory delight. "Well, if you two were smart, you would've stopped me from winning the game."

  Gren blinked, then scrunched his brow at the board as Kerro did the same.

  Realization dawned on the both of them almost at the same time.

  "Bloody hells!"

  Mana sickness was a bitch.

  I had grown my rivers at a faster pace than my tolerance, so the percent I could use without knocking myself out was getting lower despite my capability to handle more. It meant the sickness got worse each time I vented it all to my body.

  I was starting to get the more...fucked up symptoms of mana sickness. Like skin meting off my body, horrendous bowel issues, and my bones fucking burning.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Which was great! I could feel a bit of progress towards pain, though I'd have to tone it down soon. Dying from mana sickness was a very real thing. I had no intention of turning my brain into a smoothie.

  Remaking the droplets was a pain in the ass, having none of them wreaking havoc through my body made making them all the harder since my subconscious preferred going without the pain.

  Jokes on them, I was risking nine droplets at that point, which meant I was experiencing pain in more places at once. Pain that was getting lesser and lesser as time passed. I wondered when it would be safe for me to let the droplets overlap.

  If it would ever be safe, technically there was a chance that three of them went on a little date right now. A low chance, but a chance.

  I was daydreaming at the time because fuck Alvir was being a cunt. For some reason he'd been tracking my progress through the written word, and recently decided to make me suffer with actual studying.

  We were going through mana theory, and not any kind of theory that would actually be useful. Right then I was recounting a book on the mana passageways (which were apparently called mana tunnels? Stupid fucking name, I was sticking to passages). At least with the biology books there was an excuse, what the fuck was I supposed to do with this!

  The sickness I was suffering through was an extra impediment, but I wasn't going to let a little exposed muscle stop me from getting something out of this. If it'll at least get me closer to an actually higher level. Honestly, learning about the passages was kind of interesting. Apparently they kind of...molded themselves to the person's magic?

  There was some context I was missing, but I found the implications at the very least amusing.

  If only I had time to enjoy myself, but the End waited for no one.

  Still, no concussion of sickness could top the agonizing process of memorizing the minutiae of something inherently not well studied. Sometimes I found an interesting tidbit, but other times it was the musings of mages on flow rates, passage density, thickness, and flexibility? None of that mattered in my opinion because all of it meant little to nothing for spell casting.

  But I was exercising my reading capacities! Wasn't that worth it alone?

  Perhaps it would be if I didn't have to deal with this bitch ass witch.

  Alvir stood enchanting his creations while a rat of black and white fur chittered from his shoulder. Him being here made an agonizing study session into straight up torture, especially with his random tidbits of knowledge that would interrupt my recitations.

  "Most battle-mages are artillery focused, or at least the ones worth their salt. Mostly because they like living. There are plenty of mages who improve their fighting with spells, but that's an obvious indication of the immature or uneducated. Sometimes boldness, but oftentimes just ineptitude.

  "Not to say that they aren't dangerous! On the contrary, a single incompetent mage of the first circle would likely present quite the challenge for you and your hunting friends. A semi-competent mage? I'd be surprised if they even took a scratch."

  So my focus would get thoroughly shattered when some bullshit entered Alvir's mind, sometimes even choosing to repeat it! I was rapidly beginning to understand that the man was in a romantic relationship with his own voice, considering he couldn't spend five minutes with his mouth shut.

  I grumbled and got back to my spot on the page, something about how you could make the passageways move? There wasn't any note on the benefits of doing so, but I still had to read it. And say it to confirm to Alvir that I wasn't dozing off. It was so irritating that I was excited when a hand that was too rough to be Alvir's set itself on my shoulder.

  I turned slowly, for the sake of my stomach, and was graced with the sight of a pale woman of many scars.

  Umi gave me a grin as she noticed my surprise. "We're going to have to work on your situational awareness, elfie. I could've stolen your soul and you'd be none the wiser!"

  "That's not fair," Alvir said from where he was enchanting. "Considering it's you and all."

  "Hush now Alvir, a weakness is a weakness."

  Alvir shrugged. "Sure thing, oh lady of secrets and scars."

  Umi chuckled, and it was an unnatural thing, alongside everything that escaped from her non-existent lips (thought the illusion she was wearing had a thin pair). I sat there and watched the two witches that could easily kill me go about their banter like they were children. It was rather horrifying.

  Then Umi turned to me, and everything in my being felt violated.

  Bearing down on me was a thing that smiled, and the smile was not a smile. It was a story of masks and deception, standing in broad daylight with blood stained hands, waiting for the slightest bit of complacency on a prey I couldn't see, because that prey was me.

  Umi blinked and tilted her head. "Huh. You're not nearly as close to the first circle as you should be, considering how much mana your body can handle. Strange."

  I didn't have a response to that, just ragged breathing and a mental push away from fuelling my body with as much mana as it could handle. I forced myself to settle, I wouldn't a survive a fight with this woman.

  A distant part of myself was a bit proud that I almost defaulted to violence, rather than cower like last time.

  "You need to give some warning, oh magnanimous one," Alvir sighed. "Not all of us are enthused with the idea of having our soul slathered with your filth."

  Umi rolled her eyes. "Please, I just wanted to see what I'm working with."

  "You're not her mentor," Alvir pointed out.

  "But I am her leader!" Umi chirped.