Isabella says "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"No, probably not."

Isabella says "What do you want me to do?"

"First, be Ruby's friend. Take her side against me."

Isabella says "Easy enough. What else?"

"Do what you can to calm her down. Her fixation on me is not healthy. You already carry her medallion, when next we meet I want to transfer her contract to you."

Isabella says "That won't be so easy!"

Myria says "Ruby is going to kill you, Ash."

"She might try, but she is nowhere near strong enough."

Myria says "But she will get stronger!"

"So will I!"

Myria says "Do you think you can stay ahead of her?"

"Yes, I am pretty confident that I can."

Isabella says "Why? Do you think she is weak?"

"No, I just know the secret to getting stronger."

Myria says "What's the secret?"

"Taking risks."

Myria says "Really? Or are you just trying to excuse all the stupid stuff you do?"

"No! It's true, the higher the risk the higher the reward."

Isabella says "All that aside, why do you want to give up her contract?"

"As things stand, when I die she will be banished. If you hold her contract then she can stay as long as you live."

Isabella says "There is no guarantee I will live through the war."

"No, but my death is guaranteed. With you at least she has a chance."

Myria says "What does it matter? Can't she just get summoned back?"

Isabella says "Without a contract it would be very difficult to summon Ruby. The stronger she gets the harder it will be."

"Exactly. You are not a frontline fighter, which means your odds of surviving are higher."

Isabella says "Okay, I see your point. I will discuss it with her once she calms down."

"For her to calm down I need to be gone. So, after I read this book I will return to Illium. Wait a day or two before you begin trying to calm her."

Isabella says "Okay."

Myria says "Won't she just get more angry because you ran off again?"

"Maybe, but I can't afford to sit around waiting for her to be done giving me the silent treatment."

Isabella says "This will just get you in more trouble."

Myria says "I guess that's a fair point."

"Now, I'm going to go read that book and then we are going back to Illium."

Myria says "Okay."

As I head upstairs to the library I can't help but wonder if I am doing the right thing. Isabella is a good choice I think, she is caring and gentle, pretty much Ruby's opposite. Hopefully, they will balance each other out, but mainly I hope Isabella can calm Ruby.

Come to think of it, maybe I should find or make an item that will give Isabella fire immunity. Just in case Ruby has a fit of temper when Isabella tells her about her taking her contract. It isn't likely, but lately Ruby hasn't exactly been stable where I am concerned.

"Yui, what reading room am I in?"

Yui says "Room two."

"Alright, can you bring me something of Isabella's that she can wear regularly?"

Yui says "I can, but why?"

"I want to enchant it with fire protection, just in case."

Yui says "You think she will need it?"

"I just want to take precautions against an accident."

Yui says "Alright, I will have a sprite bring something."

"Thank you."

Once I am inside the library I head for the reading rooms, room one is taken by Roddick and Belliza. That must be why Yui told me I would be using room two, not that it matters. When I enter room two I find a thick old book sitting on the table, so I sit down and start reading.

The book is very interesting, so much so that I don't notice the sprite who enters at first. After a few minutes it makes a ringing sound and I take the shawl it offers me. As it leaves I apologize for making it wait, to which it brightens before darting off.

Setting aside the book for now I begin gathering the mana in the room. Once I have it gathered I begin applying it to the shawl until the shawl cannot hold anymore. Now that it is full I begin organizing the mana in the spell pattern for fire resistance.

Luckily, the shawl is well made so it can hold a decent amount of mana. After making the fire protection as strong as I can I use the leftover mana to make the shawl repair itself and keep itself clean. Then once all the enchantments are in place I slowly add sacred power to enhance them.

Once that is done I put the shawl aside and go back to reading the book. The writing is very technical, it seems the mage who wrote it was very fond of words. His explanations are way more complicated than they need to be.

In fact, his explanations make it harder to understand the method that he used to shapechange. I end up having to simplify everything before I can put it together and have it make sense. This guy was definitely not familiar with nature, he let the magic do most of the work.

If he had known even a little of animal anatomy he could have done a lot more with this magic. As it is, it is no wonder his fellow mages couldn't be bothered with his magic. All his animal forms were stiff and blocky, more like robots than animals.

The magical theory behind his spells was detailed and very thorough, exactly what I needed. It will take some time to deconstruct the spell and get rid of the useless crap, but it should work. Then all I will need to do is convert it to use sacred power, which shouldn't be too hard.

Once I have read through the entire book I close it and put it aside. If I need to study it later I can recall it inside the soulscape easily enough. Grabbing the shawl I leave the reading room and let Yui know that I am done with the book.

Yui says "Was the information useful?"

"Yes, thank you. It will make my experimenting go much smoother."

Yui says "I'm glad it was of use to you. Is there anything else you need?"

"Nope, I'm good. Are the girls still in the dining hall?"

Yui says "Affirmative."

As I leave the library I wave at Roddick and Belliza, but they don't notice me at all. When I enter the dining hall Myria and Isabella are right where I left them. Whatever they were talking about, the conversation ends when I walk in.

Myria says "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Here, Isabella, this is for you."

Isabella says "Um, isn't this mine already?"

"Yes, but it is enchanted now."

Isabella says "Oh, thank you, but why?"

"It has fire protection now, just in case."

Isabella says "Oh, I see. Better safe than sorry, I guess."

Myria says "Aren't you being a little too paranoid?"

"Hopefully!"

Isabella says "I appreciate the thought, and I will wear it, just in case."

"Good. Well, I will see you when I get back from the north."

Isabella says "Take care, and try not to do anything stupid."

"No promises."

Myria says "Figures! Take care of yourself Isabella. I will visit when I can."

Isabella says "Alright, see you later!"

The goodbyes over with Myria and I return to Illium through the teleporter. It is fairly late so Myria goes straight to bed and I sit down at the table to enter my meditation. I spend the next few hours going over the shapeshifting spell in detail and breaking it down.

Once I have gotten rid of all the crap and streamlined the spell I start converting it. I just have to get it close enough and hopefully the system will take over from there. After another hour or so I have it as close as I can get it, now all I have to do is test it.