“Hahaha! It seems that this young one wishes to do more than train these next few festival days.” Grandpa Arthur laughed. “Why not give Briar, here, a few days off? Even during the story of creation, there was a day of rest involved, after all.”

Madam Rothema sighed. “Very well then. Having not had a day off from homework for almost six years, I suppose Briar has earned a small respite. But, I’m looking forward to seeing her practical applications in the fighting ring,”

Briar sighed in relief in her heart and outwardly bowed her head, displaying a noble grace in her movements. “As you wish, teacher. Thank you for allowing your student to fully concentrate upon her upcoming battles-”

“Ah, speaking of battles!” Grandpa Arthur interrupted. “It seems that there was a young lass in the magician’s contest that’s caught my eye. Come to think of it, she has the same name as you, eh Briar?” Briar’s eyebrow twitched as she saw the Old Man’s bemused expression.

“Really?” She asked, taking another sip of her tea. “That IS a coincidence, I daresay. Any idea of where she’s come from?” Briar asked, pretending that the Briar who she had been on stage was a completely different person.

“I won so much capital off her that I could buy a whole forest of fruits here!” Grandpa Arthur laughed, as fruit trees were the most expensive item that could be found for sale. “Who knows? I did hear one thing, though. It appears that this lady Briar was called Madam Rothema’s student?”

A vein began to throb on Briar’s forehead, although her expression remained deadpan. Old man, if you continue, I’ll have to make you forget…forcibly…. with a frying pan.

“That’s right, Arthur. That Briar is also my student, so don’t you even think about trying to steal one of my students away from me.” Madam Rothema narrowed her eyes and smiled dangerously.

“Hmm? I see. Never mind, then. It seems that even though she is a super-talented once-in-a-lifetime genius, she’s nearly blind.” Grandpa Arthur sighed, playfully.

“Why would you say that?” Briar asked.

“Because she mistook her opponent for her sister!” Grandpa Arthur chortled. “Anyone who can’t clearly tell her enemy from her ally is simply asking for a premature death.”

“Hmm…and yet that didn’t seem to stop her from winning the match, didn’t it?” Briar retorted taking another sip of tea, then smiling slyly. “Still…. Maybe I should go and see this other Briar who has the same name as I.”

Grandpa Arthur’s chortling became coughing as he choked on the tea that he had just taken a sip of.

“Eh?!” Helen jerked her head after hearing that. Since she knew that both Briar’s are the same person, how was Briar going to meet herself?

“Ohoh? I’d really like to see that too. All right, Briar. I’ll go speak to the other Briar and see if she’s willing to meet you.” Madam Rothema said, a wry smile on her face.

Grandpa Arthur couldn’t take it anymore and burst out laughing. He had already guessed that the current Briar and the Briar on the magician’s stage were one and the same person.

Ignoring the easily amused old man, Briar quickly glanced over at Madam Rothema, wondering if she was also joking. Nope. She’s serious. Briar immediately felt cold sweat dripping down her back.

Madam Rothema was essentially this world’s equivalent of a top-notch scientist. Therefore, although level-headed, the desire for research still came up, and at very eccentric times. She was probably thinking of a spell similar to N*ruto’s K*ge Bunsh*n.

I wish her luck on her research. Briar thought, mentally distancing herself from the fact that eventually, Madam Rothema would want Briar to try it.

“No need to bug her. She’s probably concentrating on preparing for the second round, tomorrow. That being said, please excuse me, for I need to prepare for my own match as well.” Briar replied, placing her empty tea cup to the side.

She didn’t notice the mischievous light that started twinkling in Laura’s eyes. If she had, then things may have played out different.

But, as things were, she did not notice.

Placing Yukikage upon her shoulders, Briar left Madam Rothema’s Manor, heading for her recently-created research facility.

But, she had forgotten something very…very important.

---------------------------------------------

Seated in a private room on the second floor of a high-class restaurant in the city, a man sat alone, swirling the goblet of wine in his hand, deep in thought. Suddenly, he raised his head and threw the cloak hood over his features right before a knock was heard at the window behind the drawn curtains.

“Enter.”

A black-cloaked figure seemed to materialize, kneeling on the ground in front of him.

“Speak, what did you find?” He asked the subservient shadow.

“My lord, according to the description given by informer Gypsum, we have confirmed sightings of Thales’ student, Briar, in this city. She did not enter as Thales’ recommendation, but as Mayor Bradley Pendrag’s personal recommendation.

Moreover, it seems that she is companions with the famous Magi, Madam Rothema, and an unknown old man with grandchildren whose background is difficult to discern. But, there is no doubt that he is at least a Black class martial practitioner.” The shadow paused in his speech.

“Is that everything?” The cloaked man asked.

The shadow continued, slightly hesitant. “There is yet another young woman whom she is companions with, who also entered the Ten Year Student’s Contest as Master Thales’ sole recommendation. She is called Laura Murlough. From my observation of her and the subject, it appears that they are close friends…that is all, my lord.”

The cloaked man leaned back in his chair, a grin slowly creeping onto the lower half of his face. “Good.” He stroked his jawline, mulling over things.

Madam Rothema was too powerful. The old man was also too much of a risk, which made him and his grandchildren off limits. Obviously, it would have to be outside the city, for Bradley’s city is not one to mess with. Finally, he waved a hand towards the shadow.

“Have your men keep their eyes out for this Laura Murlough, and detain her, unharmed, should she venture outside the city. She is not to be killed, only detained. Once that is accomplished, please remain on standby until further orders are given.” He ordered.

“As you wish, my lord.” The shadow bowed his head before once more vanishing just as quickly as he appeared.

The cloaked man sat back in his seat, a grin spreading on his face. At first, he began to chuckle, but -unable to contain himself- he ended up roaring with laughter. He drained the goblet of wine in his hand and set it back empty upon the table.

“Now it begins!” He said.

--------------------------------------

Briar slipped stealthily across the town. Now that her face was relatively well known due to the Ten-Year Student Contest, it was not a good idea to show her face openly. Therefore, she made sure that no one could see her face as she quickly headed for the hidden exit she had made at the place where the wall met the river.

Before she left, though, she stopped and looked around, listening for pursuers. Hearing and sensing nothing out of the ordinary, Briar quietly entered the river and slipped past the barrier through the hole she had made, vanishing from the city.

A few minutes after she had passed through, another shadowy figure stopped in the same place, pausing at the seeming dead end.

“That can’t be right. She doesn’t disappear into thin air, and she certainly didn’t go anywhere else…then how? No no, there’s something you’re missing here. Think, me, think! What would Thera do?...”

The shadowy figure removed the hood from her cloak, letting her golden hair shine softly in the moonlight. “Come on, Laura, you know Thera more than anybody! How would Thera get out of this place?...” Laura bit her thumb as she thought long and hard.

--------------------------

Thera had once more arrived at her secret research facility. Yukikage, who by now had fully woken up, jumped down and stretched. Then she sniffed around, exploring the compound for a bit before she came back.

“There’s nyo mice…” She said, disappointed. “Nyow I have nyothing to play with!”

Briar laughed. “Why don’t you go play outside, then? If anything threatens to eat you, then you can just turn into that large form of yours and scare them away.”

“Nya?! That’s a great idea! Why didnya I think about it nya?” Yukikage perked up.

“Just remember to tell me if anyone begins to approach, okay?” Briar added.

“I understand-nya! I’ll be watching outside-nya!” Yukikage’s tail thrashed excitedly as she ran out of the facility to terrorize the local population of wild critters. Seriously, with her new-found large form, not even a pack of Luvmins were her match-and that’s saying a lot.

“Really, though…though I call it a facility, I really should probably call it a reinforced gym. There’s practically no equipment to be found in here!” Briar sighed. But tonight she was going to finish her first technique that used both martial spirit and mana.

She sat down and mentally went over the list of things she had discovered yesterday.

First, it was indeed possible to cast a spell using Martial spirit…however the conversion cost was far too high. In order to cast a simple [Light Sphere] required her to use the equivalent of a hundred times the normal cost of producing the spell using mana.

The technique was too dangerous at this point. Unless Briar found a way of condensing her martial spirit to the point where it was at least almost as dense as mana, then she would just be burning up her martial cultivation unnecessarily. Therefore, Briar decided to drop the point for now.

Second, it is possible to cast martial techniques with mana, for a fraction of the cost. While tempting to use, the skill itself changed in color. Instead of the red glow that usually accompanied the skill, it was the bright blue glow of mana, which would be hard to explain should she be questioned, so Thera sealed this away as a trump card.

Third, Briar had noticed a certain specific effect when using both martial spirit and mana together for both spells and skills.

Should the two forces be used together for a skill, Briar’s perception increased. In the radius of four feet around her, she felt she could sense everything, even what was behind her. Sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch: all her senses received a boost similar to a ‘buff’ in a game. While Briar wasn’t quite sure what this was, but such an effect surely wasn’t unwelcome. She labeled this effect as a ‘domain’ for now.

Should the two forces be used together for a spell, though, the effect was slightly different. Even without using her time dilation barrier, everything seemed to slow down to the point where one second became five. Briar realized that it wasn’t time that slowed down. Her brain was simply processing things much much faster than it usually did.

While there were indeed drugs one could take to enhance individual senses or slightly improve the processing speed of the brain, they were very pricey, and the expense far exceeded the need. Moreover, these drugs usually came with dangerous side effects if used too often.

Briar had her reserves about these new boosts due to the MS/MP combination. Tonight she needed to find out to what extent she could count on these boosts. Therefore tonight would be very important.

Finished reviewing, Briar cast her usual time dilation barrier and stirred up her martial spirit and mana. Tonight she would discover the limitations of her newfound abilities.

-------------------------------

Laura leaned against a nearby wall.

“I can’t think of anything! Is this perhaps a practical joke? Did Thera somehow get out without me seeing? But I was watching the entranceway the whole time! That should be impossible. Argh!”

She knelt down near the river and looked down at the moon reflected in the waters. Then her eyes shifted elsewhere.

“Hmm? What’s this?” Laura slipped into the river and swam towards the mouth of the exit. Then she smiled gleefully. She had found Thera’s exit.