I walked down the stairs and stretched. Vanessa and Hazeel had never come back to the room last night, but I could hear them partying even from my room, so I didn’t worry too much about it.

However, I couldn’t keep myself from thinking about what had happened in the bath last night. If Vanessa really had recovered some of her memories, that was a huge step over just retaining the feelings she had for me, because now she had the actual experience to back it up.

I had really wanted to go and see her, but I figured that Dantae had been smothered enough by her own situation, and whatever we needed to talk about could wait until the next day.

Rexir had even visited in the middle of the night with a worried look on his face, but I sent him back to his room with a wave of my hand. I trusted Vanessa and Hazeel not to go too far, and to keep Leresa safe and sober.

It was a feeling I was currently telling myself not to have again in the near future. When I actually reached the living room, an explosion of fabrics, and a tangle of limbs, is what greeted me.

I sighed as I walked forward and looked over the spectacle on the couch. Hazeel was wearing very revealing clothing, and was lying on her back on the couch. For some reason, her mouth was occupied by Vanessa’s foot.

Vanessa herself was lying face-up on top of the wood elf, and was clutching one of Hazeel’s muscular legs like a body pillow. She was breathing quietly into Hazeel’s foot, while also using it as a pillow.

Leresa had it the worst though. Her body was contorted in a weird angle on the couch, and her head was hanging off of the bottom of it. The top of her head was on a footrest, and she was currently devoid of any clothing.

I sighed once more and made a mental note to apologize to Rexir later for the mistreatment of his betrothed at the hands of mine.

I snapped my fingers, and both Hazeel and Vanessa sank through a portal that appeared below them, one which would place them on the wide bed in our shared room.

Leresa was a subject of a bit more delicate nature, so instead of doing anything to her, I summoned a very groggy Rexir, who had been in the middle of brushing his teeth.

He went wide-eyed at the sight of his naked betrothed, looked over at me, then back at her before rubbing his head with his free hand.

He nodded to me, and walked over to Leresa, covering her up with a blanket that had been on the floor. “When you’re done putting her in bed, come with me. We’re going to do some more sparring before the others join us.”

Rexir tilted his head, so I followed up with, “I know Vanessa’s alcohol tolerance. She won’t be up until noon at least. Hazeel is much stronger, so she might very well wake up in an hour or two. I’ll have her join us if she does that. Do you know anything about Leresa’s tolerance?”

Rexir looked at me, back down at Leresa, and shook his head. “I see. That’s alright then. We’ll just assume the same as Vanessa and leave her to wake up on her own. Meet me at the training field in an hour. Go get yourself some breakfast first.”

Rexir pointed to his mouth. “Oh, yeah. If you don’t need breakfast, you can join me immediately then. I’ll be doing some basic exercises while I wait there for you.”

Rexir gave me a thumbs up, and slung the pile of covers containing Leresa over his shoulder. I immediately opened a black hole in front of me, stepped through, and closed it once I was on the training field.

---

I had just finished stretching and running by the time Rexir rolled around to the clearing. He had a red mark on his face, and was rubbing it absentmindedly when he arrived.

“Let me guess: Leresa woke up while you were carrying her, and, because she was embarrassed, spalled you?”

He shook his head, and mimed out a scene. He acted as though he were carrying a large, heavy object, and placed it down. Then, he tilted his head, and threw it back as though struck by a hard object.

“She hit you with something after you put her down?” He nodded, confirming my suspicion.

“Was she awake? What did she hit you with?” He shook his head, and then pointed to his foot.

“Ah, so you got kicked as she was moving around.” Nodding, Rexir started to stretch his arms and legs, limbering himself up for the coming exercise.

“Starting without me?” I stood stiff and turned to see Hazeel, who was crouching through a small portal she had opened up.

Rexir’s eyes went wide, and he shook his head with an annoyed look on his face. “I told you she’d make it. Hazeel’s chronic alcoholism comes through again.”

The wood elf walked up with a pout on her face and a sway in her hips. She grabbed my collar and pulled my face close to hers.

“First of all, hurtful. Secondly, why didn’t you wake me up? I would have been perfectly content to accompany you this morning.” I shrugged and smiled at the grumpy elf.

“I wanted you to rest if you needed to, but I guess even I underestimated how much you needed to get drunk.”

She sighed and released me before moving next to Rexir. “Well, you can start warming up now. As you can see, Rexir just got here as well. Plus, even though it was so short that you had to squeeze through it, you’ve completed the first step in your training, which is manifesting a black hole yourself.”

She smiled, and started to do squats. I merely sat down and watched the treeline, taking a moment to relax amongst everything that had happened.

Regardless of the severity of the training, and sense of urgency that we now possessed, the entire experience felt very relaxing. It had been so long since I just had time to hone myself, and my own efforts.

One thing happened after the other in such quick succession, from our problems with General Armando, to falling into this world and losing my memory. Unintentionally helping Bella take the throne, and even coming to the Gold Continent to fix Vanessa’s blade.

Everything had a more in-depth purpose than what was readily available on the surface, and I had to think of who to befriend, who to ally with, and, the most important of all, who to trust.

I was lucky that I had met Hazeel when I did, and that she put a slave contract on herself in order to placate me. I had criticized her choice at the time, but in reality, it gave me the one thing I needed in order to calm myself down: a person in whom I could place my unconditional trust.

Of course, I wouldn’t appreciate her sacrifice until much later than when she had done it, but such was the problem with foresight and hindsight.

I smiled as Hazeel finished her warm ups, and, along with Rexir, walked over to me. I stood up and gave them both an approving nod.

“Alright, you two. I wanted to go over The Oaths today, but seeing as how You’re missing a wielder, rexir, and Hazeel doesn’t have any experience, I figured that we’d have Hazeel practice the actual thing, and Rexir can watch.”

Rexir nodded, but Hazeel looked a bit confused. “What are The Oaths, Leo?” I smiled at her, and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Good question, one which I’ll be answering today. The Oaths are vows that you make with your partner during a transformation, and, depending on the strength of your bond, and your mastery with using Photons, it can increase your strength and durability many times over.”

“I think we’ve talked about this before…” Hazeel muttered to herself, and Rexir nodded in assent.

“It’s possible. Hazeel, take my hand. Rexir, I want you to look at the two transformations that we are about to perform, and tell me if you notice anything different between the two.”

Rexir gave me a blank look, and then pointed to his own mouth with a very condescending look on his face.

“Oh yeah… well, I guess if you notice anything, just nod when I ask. As for more advanced questions, we could wait until both Leresa and Dantae have joined us.”

Rexir nodded, and I took the wood elf’s hand in my own. She smiled, and intertwined our fingers in a more intimate fashion.

"Hazeel, let’s do a normal transformation first. Alright?” She nodded, and closed her eyes. I felt the surrounding photons shift around her as she replaced her physical body with the manifestation of a buster sword.

“Are you feeling ok?” I swung her a few times and inspected the blade from various angles, but she only returned my concern with laughter.

Of course I’m ok. I feel great, actually. I nodded, and reported her condition back to Rexir, who simply nodded and decided to sit down for the rest of the lesson.

She undid the transformation, and came out panting. “Ugh, Gods' blessings above! Why does it feel… weirdly exhausting? I’ve only been in that mode for a few moments.”

I smiled, and responded, “Because your exhaustion when you leave your blade form is equal to the amount of photons you took in during your transformation, not to the amount of time you spent as a weapon.”

Rexir’s eyes narrowed, and he nodded in understanding. Hazeel, meanwhile, had regained her bearings and was standing up straight once more. She looked down on me as she stretched out her hand, and gave me a giddy grin as I took it.”

“Next, I want you to repeat this line after I speak my own: ‘By the Tracker’s Oath, I shall become your Sword.’ When Leresa is with us, I will tell you what the oaths mean. For now, just saying the lines should be enough.”

Hazeel nodded, and looked me in the eyes. I spoke first, touching my forehead with the wood elf’s, “By the Hunter’s Oath, I shall become your Shield.”

Hazeel leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the lips before shouting, “By the Tracker’s Oath, I shall become your sword!” I watched in admiration as the photons around us were practically forced into the container that was Hazeel’s body, before she transformed into an even larger version of her buster sword form.

Rexir stumbled back, his widened eyes revealing that he saw perfectly what had happened, and the difference between the two methods of transformation. “So, Hazeel, do you have any questions about what you just experienced?”

Was… was that really a transformation? They felt worlds apart in terms of physical feeling. It was as though… I felt a sudden rush of power before that transformation.

“Exactly. The Oaths force the photons around you into your transformation, like a vacuum. On the other hand, a normal transformation only passively draws the energy into you, and most of the energy comes from your own photon reserves.”

Rexir nodded, and started drawing diagrams in the ground with a stick. Hazeel on the other hand, had transformed back into a wood elf, and was now leaning heavily on me.

“So… why wouldn’t we do this every time we transform then?”

“Oh, you will from now on. It’s just… the backlash is painful for people to deal with. Only with hard work and repetition can you build up a tolerance to the aftereffects.”

“It doesn’t seem that bad. It feels about the same as when I transformed the first time.”

“Oh, that’s because it hasn’t hit you yet.” Hazeel gave me an incredulous stare, when her pupils dilated and she leaned into me even more, screaming over the physical pain that had started affecting her body.