Someone's talking. My back is cold. The night sky has weird patterns. What was I doing? OH! Right! Magic. Pretty cool. Slightly underwhelming how easy it actually is. Why am I lying down again? Drusil is leaning over me, saying something. I sit up in a hurry, getting dizzy, and feel my cheeks heating up.

  "Precious, are you okay? You've been out of it for a while now."

  You kissed me, you stupid vampire. You can't just kiss people. Not without asking or something leading up to it. I'd scowl at her, but that would involve possible eye contact. I mean, I guess it was nice. She was being awfully cute. Wah. I don't know. Let's just get up and make this future me's problem.

  "Yep. Fine. Nothing to see here. So what's next?"

  "If you say so. For now, let's see how long you can go. It's cruical knowledge for any caster to be able to spot the signs of mana deprivation so you don't find yourself colpsing in the middle of a fight. Now ordinarily this would be a few minutes of channeling a spell for a new caster, but your quite frankly prodigal reserves will probably take a while. As a warning, this also means you'll feel worse once you've run out of mana."

  ***

  "I can honestly say that was one of the most impressive dispys of magic I've seen in my long life. Even I'm slightly envious of the sheer amount of mana you possess."

  Urgh. Shut up. I'm tired and sore. I can feel my heart beating uncomfortably hard despite the slow pulse. My head is all throbby, and my throat feels like I've spent all night screaming. Just let me curl up into a ball and die. I've had enough magic for a lifetime. Turns out the question of how long can Strax cast spells for isn't an easy thing to answer. Spells that, as far as I know, have a set duration can keep going for as long as I can maintain focus or ignore a pounding headache. Also turns out you can superpower a basic spell like Spike Growth to the level that you can cover as much floor and walls in spikey pnt growth as your mana pool? pool of mana? mana source? allows if you're fine with feeling like you're standing in a 100°C sauna.

  I asked, and apparently the feeling is decided by what your dominant affinity is. A water caster might feel like they're drowning, and an earth caster might feel like their limbs are petrifying. You'd think a druid's dominant affinity would be nature and cool and refreshing. Shit's weird, and hopefully I never have to deal with this again.

  "Are you ready for the next part?" she smirks at me.

  I barely muster the strength to lift an arm to flip her off, and she just chuckles at me before picking me up in a princess carry.

  "Hnnggh"

  "Yes, yes. You did very well; now let's get you out of this... outfit... and into a bath so we can wash all this sweat and grime off you."

  The thought of being a bath fills me with an odd amount of dread. Sure, I don't like water or swimming, but I'm not exactly scared of it. Despite my discomfort at the idea, being carried by a pleasantly cool-skinned, beautiful vampire when I can barely move is enough to convince me it'll be fine.

  After a bit of walking around, we arrive at what I can only describe as a giant steaming pool of indeterminable depth. I don't think water is supposed to be purple, but I could be wrong. Nope, water isn't supposed to be that color. I don't care if it's another world; water isn't supposed to be that color, and the closer we get, the more upset I feel at the idea of submerging myself in any type of liquid.

  "Can we not?"

  "Not what? Bathe? Strax, you're absolutely soaked in sweat, and this... garment... is so drenched you'd be better off burning it with your magic than washing it. Really."

  Okay. Rude. But probably true. She sets me down, and I'm still a little wobbly, but no worse than waking up after a long sleep.

  "Besides, this isn't water; you'll enjoy it, don't worry. Now strip."

  "Wut?"

  "You heard me, young dy. Strip and scamper off into the pool with you. Or do you need help?"

  Don't think I don't see that fang poking out from your cheeky smile, vampire.

  "Uhm. Can I have some privacy, please?"

  She turns around, and I don't know what I was expecting. Sighing, I just take off my dress. Aww... It was a really pretty dress. A few hours of stress and sweat, and it's certainly seen better days. Taking off the underwear, which is surprisingly modern, I scoot over to the pool of death. That's certainly a color I'd assign to a pool of poison. I poke it, and, huh, is this like a giant slime? It's some sort of squishy liquid. Doesn't seem to be acidic. Ahhh, fuck it. In the worst-case scenario, I can probably cure a poison or whatever is going to happen.

  Stepping into the slime... it's clear that it isn't actually all that deep. It stops around my navel, and at a guess I'm around 160 cm tall. It does feel weird to walk in though.

  "Are you done yet, Precious?"

  Time to immediately sit down. Oh. This is an interesting experience. It's like a sort of squishy hug. Oddly, it doesn't seem to stick to skin and just sorta schlumps off if I lift my arm out. It's a delightful temperature, contrary to what the weird steaminess led me to expect.

  "Good girl. See? I told you that you'd enjoy it."

  Drusil sort of ys down next to the pool and pats my head, and I rex a little more. My skin is sort of tingly, and I'm suddenly very thankful that this liquid is opaque. Being called a good girl and getting head pats is causing... reactions... It doesn't help that she's started stroking my scalp with her nails, and I'm just beyond worn out.

  "You did well today, Strax. I'm not sure if it's to do with you being a world traveler or just natural ability, but you've picked up casting at a frightening speed. Your spells also seem to have a great deal of versatility, albeit very fire-focused. You might be one of the most talented casters I've met. Certainly in the top twenty. You've been a very good girl."

  Myaaah. Stop complimenting me. If I don't already have a praise kink, this'll certainly develop into one. Future me problem. I'll just not think about this.

  TriNcess