My mood was elevated by Cellestra’s words. Thanks to her, I managed to find enjoyment in everyday life, even if I was continually bombarded by self-imposed obligations and hardships because of what I was and the power I possessed. One thing was clear: there would be no end to my struggles anytime soon. I wanted, no, I needed to become as strong as I could. To do that, I’d have to kill and eat creatures. Not how I expected my ‘training’ to look, but it was effective, for sure.

Cellestra was right in that we should complete the trial as quickly as possible. There was no telling how long it would take for her to master my healing spell.

“Should we check if Selleron is available to finish the trial tomorrow?” I asked. “I mean, you know I’m always in a hurry. As much as I want to do it together with you, I don’t know if it’s technically the best choice to delay it.”

She nodded. “Yes. I know, and it’s fine. Let’s see if he’s available.”

“Alright. Let’s do that then.”

The priest returned and without a word, handed me a hefty coin purse. I didn’t bother to check the contents as fifty coins would take a while to count and I didn’t really have a nice cover to spread them out on. I’d take his word for it. It wasn’t nice to scam a goddess’s chosen, after all.

Gods, this chosen thing was starting to get to me. I was beginning to rely on it. I realized it and felt disgusted. I shouldn’t, I didn’t want to rely on something which I felt could change at any time, even if Elysa so far had seemed quite caring.

Cellestra handed him the scroll as I stashed the pouch in her backpack. We thanked him, and he us, before we parted ways.

“I hope I can get our shelter somewhat finished. We’ve been lucky enough so far with the weather, but I most definitely don’t want to deal with rain just yet.”

“At least you got the roof done,” Cellestra casually said. “So it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“I know,” I said. “But what if there are hard winds as well? The rain will just blow inside. I was thinking that after getting the walls done, I could reinforce the sides and turn it into a proper nest so it stays warm even when the temperature eventually drops. I don’t know why, but the prospect of that just appeals to me as well. I would feel much more comfortable sleeping surrounded by thick walls.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Cellestra said. “If that makes you feel more at ease, then by all means go for it. I certainly won’t judge you for putting in more time and effort if it makes you feel better.”

“Thank you. I was a bit worried you would think I was taking this ‘nest’ thing a bit too seriously.”

She shook her head. “Not at all. It’s your home, after all.”

“I suppose that’s true. Shame I can’t liven it up with windows and plants and the like. I did like how cozy, albeit small, your cabin was.”

“It…” Cellestra’s voice quieted down into a whisper. “Was small, but… it had everything I needed. That’s what I thought at least.” She looked down into my eyes before she continued. “We may not be able to furnish this new home, but I still feel much more at home here. I liked my books, but somehow, I don’t miss them.”

“We could probably get some new books if you like. We can stash them somewhere along the side.”

Cellestra smiled warmly. “I’d love that, but how will we prevent people from stealing them? It’s not like you can make a door… Can you?”

“Uh. I don’t think so. The one thing I can think of that can help would be to take the spiderling spell, but I didn’t take that for a reason.”

She nodded again. “We’ll find a way to perhaps make it feel a bit more like a home.”

“Yeah,” I said as we reached our shelter. “Let’s do some practice after this.”

“If you think you can still cast spells after you’re done, sure.”

“That a challenge?”

Cellestra giggled. “It may be.” She hopped off my back and watched as I went to work, creating the first wall. I wasn’t too far in when I realized I had grossly underestimated just how much silk was required for just one wall, let alone two. After all, the walls were about twenty feet across.

It took me well over an hour to build the first one. I made sure to fortify it slightly by connecting it to the ground. I was left fairly tired and regretted taking it upon myself to see a second wall finished, but I started work on it nevertheless, not wanting to break the promise I’d made to myself.

Another hour went by. Cellestra was relaxing, lying on her back in the middle of the nest. I chuckled but continued my work.

“I’m happy you like this home so much,” I said.

“It’s comfy. That’s for sure.”

I finished the last wall, feeling exhausted but satisfied. I couldn’t help myself and collapsed next to her, placing my torso on top of my soft back and closing my eyes.

The brunette turned her head to look into one of my large frontal eyes – it had healed enough for me to see clearly through it again – and smiled. “Nice work. I can’t wait until it’s finished.”

“Thank you. Neither can I. I’m dead tired, though.”

“Want to take a nap?”

“Nah. I’ll be fine in a while. Just need to lie down for a bit, regain my mana and energy. We’ll work on our practice after.”

“Don’t overexert yourself, Kealyna,” Cellestra said with a bit of annoyance in her voice. “You know I hate it when you do that.”

I chuckled and patted her head with a leg. “I know.”

She showed me one of her cute smiles as she moved and sat herself down by my side. She reached for, and took one of my hands, forcing me to adjust where I lay on my back.

I’d wanted to do exactly this for a while now. I was more than curious to know how it would feel, but I’d resolved to let Cellestra decide how fast things would go between us.

“You don’t mind, do you?” She asked softly as she held my hand over her shoulder.

“Not at all,” I replied with a whisper.

I didn’t think I could experience happiness quite like this. I mean, I technically did, but moments like these just brought it to new heights.

We remained like that for a good while just enjoying each other’s presence and the soothing sounds of the forest.

“Cellestra?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t you think it’s odd how there has still been nothing that attacked us? Or even got close?”

“It is odd. Do you really think that maybe my curse’s effects are suppressed?”

“I don’t know, but we are moving around a lot as well. Though, we aren’t really straying far. I don’t think the forest has ever been outside your range, but I don’t know. I’ll make sure nothing gets in this nest when it’s eventually finished.”

“Well, it’s not like I can complain,” Cellestra said.

“You know, back at your old home, it turned out to be pretty useful… at times. I’m confident it would have taken me a lot longer to evolve into this otherwise.”

“I’m glad it’s been useful to you,” The brunette whispered. “At least it’s useful to someone…”

“Don’t say that,” I said, trying to cheer her up. “You have an insane supply of mana. That’s something, right?”

“I suppose you’re right, but that’s only because of your magic.”

“Well, that’s fine, right?”

I raised my torso and stretched my arms. “Well, let’s practice some, shall we?”

“Are you sure about this?” She asked in obvious concern.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

She nodded and stood up. “Okay.”

Another hour was spent on trying to get Cellestra’s mana to flow where it needed to go. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t feel like we made any progress. It appeared we had reached a certain point in the spell itself which was extremely hard to replicate.

It was so difficult that after that hour of trying to get past this one point, I felt like it was an impossibility. We decided to call it quits for now and make our way back to the farm. My mood, however, had soured, and I was left frustrated.

Cellestra noticed and patted my back on the small trip.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I feel a bit hopeless after all that.”

“You did your best. We’ll get past that point. I’m sure of it.”

“Yeah,” I said, a small smile forming again. “I suppose we just need more time.” I chuckled. “You know, I’m strangely excited to see your reaction to dinner.”

Cellestra giggled. “You’re really making me want it now.”