Kasa had large bags under her eyes and bed-hair that made her look like a witch. She pointed at the stack of books and asked "Which piles are mine?". I pointed at two stacks farthest from me, " Those two, do you need help carrying them?."

"No need, I'm pretty strong myself." She was right, she carried one stack with each hand. I was a bit surprised, and I couldn't help but ask, "How are you so strong?".

"I told you this already, but when people gain a phylactery, their body naturally becomes stronger." She paused for a bit before adding "Ah don't worry, you've been practicing gathering mana for a few years now, you're getting closer by the day." Before I could reply, she already left.

In truth, I had given up hope of being a magician 5 months ago, it was apparent that I lacked talent. I still practiced when I was with Kasa, but I knew that the only way I could create a phylactery was through a fortuitous encounter. In truth, I was thinking about something else. I knew that mana and ki caused the body to form an organ once the body accumulated enough, but what about soul power? I wondered if it was possible to increase the amount of soul essence in the body through ingesting souls. I've tried to sense the souls of others for the past few months but it's harder than I expected.

I've tried experimenting with other aspects of soul essence to increase the tools at my disposal. I tested my body like a martial artist, or throwing out soul essence like a magician throws out spells, but all attempts so far have been unsuccessful. The problem stemmed from allowing the essence to leave my soul, without the circulation technique of Tracking, soul essence is released too quickly. The circulation technique of Tracking doesn't allow enough essence to do anything other than Tracking. It's frustrating, but I know I have to still try.

The reason I'm experimenting with soul techniques is simple, I need a trump card in case things go wrong. Although I have insurance in the form of Kasa, insurance does not everything, including out-of-country damages.

A few minutes after Kasa left, I put away the book I was reading and went outside to practice dagger techniques. None of the servants noticed it, but I smuggled a few knives with me before I left. Perhaps I'm spending too much time at the prison.

I decided to pretend a chair I found is an enemy and began practicing. I stabbed through the holes in the chair with the front of my dagger and hit the chair with the back. I also kicked and punched the chair, although I didn't hit the chair too hard. The chair committed no crimes. After a few hours of practice, I heard Kasa scream "It's too loud!" so I decided to stop for the day. Instead, I visited Kasa's room.

Kasa's room was a blast to the past, it was like she never left her shed. Because I started bringing her books as well, I think there might've been even more books than in the past. I started stacking books into the shape of a chair and greeted Kasa, who was engrossed in her book.

"How's it going, what magic are you practicing today?"

"No magic, I'm just circulating mana today. In case you're wondering, I can do it subconsciously now, so I can spend time reading the books you got me."

"Which book are you reading?"

She took her eyes off the book and started to reply. "It's called Two Paths that Never Cross, it's about two generals that fall in love during the war. When the two generals first met, neither knew the identity of the other. They fell in love at first sight and were heartbroken that they were at war with each other. The book talks about the struggle both of them face between their duty and love..." I didn't hear the rest of it because I began tuning it out. I found it hard to focus on books in the romance genre, I knew most of the cliches already and find the romance to be annoying.

Instead, I began stacking books to form armrests, I was aiming at creating a book throne for myself. As I was stacking books for the second armrest, a gust of wind blew down the first armrest I made.

Kasa started tapping on a nearby book "Do you really have to ignore me every time I start speaking about a romance book?"

While trying to restack the broken armrest, I replied "You know I find this genre incredibly boring."

As I was stacking the first armrest, she blew a gust of wind again, knocking down my other armrest. "It's better than those books you read, they have as little depth as the strength your armrests have."

I just scoffed and finished rebuilding my first armrest. Unlike last time, I added some books behind the armrest to prevent it from being knocked over. While I started to rebuild my second one, I felt a gust of wind behind me.

However, this time, the gust didn't knock down my pile of books. I wryly smiled and said, "Maybe my books have more depth than you thought." Without missing a beat, she blew a stronger gust of wind and broke down my armrest. "Nope, I don't think so."

The pattern of knocking down and rebuilding continued until dinner was brought to us. After eating dinner, we spoke for a bit on random topics before I finally brought up a question I wanted to ask.

"What did the Duke give you in exchange for listening, he gave me some money."

"He told me I can go to the noble academy earlier, instead of two years later, it's one year now."

I was happy for her, this was her ticket out of the Duke household. If she managed to attract a mage's attention in the academy, she could train under them without caring about Duke Pendle. I wondered if this was his plan all along, but I can't figure out his intentions. Why not let her go under a mage directly? Either way, once she becomes famous at the academy, I'll be known as the future archmage's friend in the Pendle household, they would think twice before harming me. As I continued to mull this over, Kasa asked me a question with some sadness in her voice.

"Once I leave, won't you be lonely?"

"Focus on your own stuff, for now, I'll be fine."

"Don't worry, I'll somehow try to bring you out once I graduate."

I was thankful for her thoughts, but I didn't care much about her declaration. It'll probably take her a few years after the academy to actually bring me out, by that time I'll probably be long gone.

After conversing with Kasa a bit longer, I decided to head to bed. As I was drifting off to sleep, I couldn't help but thank Marquis Venson again.