Paul could feel Dazien’s nervousness radiating throughout that aura the kid had actually lost control of. He had known the orphans both had poor aura control, but he hadn’t realized exactly how bad until the moment the kid let it get away just from being excited. Anger was the most common reason for people to lose control of restraining their aura, even he did at times since it was such a votile emotion and often triggered suddenly.

  He had thought that given Dazien had trained with the god, Warrior, for so long, that aura control would have gone along with that. Now that he thought about that assumption, he realized that he had never heard of any god assisting in aura training directly—most likely due to the overwhelming nature of the divine auras they had.

  “Who taught you how to control your aura?” he inquired as they walked down the hall towards one of the training rooms he could sense was currently empty.

  “Ah… um… me?” Dazien replied a bit awkwardly. Paul halted his walking to look back at the man who quickly tried to expin, “Anybody I asked wanted payment for their time, which I understand and I wasn’t exactly seeking charity, but it’s not like Adventurers are coming to the temple of the Parent to look for Protégés every day and the few who did wanted to be able to have complete control over the Aspect choices and the ways they would fight and live…”

  The kid ran a hand through his shiny hair and said with an odd mixture of sadness and anger at the memories, “The only one who might have helped was Monk Nemor, but she focused more on the sword if she had the time to spare on me.

  “Nobody else with the skill wanted to deal with a Warrior King determined to forge his own path. Nor did anyone believe me when I said I couldn’t afford to pay for their services when Warrior himself was training me.”

  Dazien looked back up at him and crified, “Warrior didn’t give me Bits, he gave me knowledge and advice. Uriel and I were barely making ends meet, so I did what I had to do and just… figured it out myself. I am sorry that I lost control of it back there. I thought I had gotten much better from training with the others recently.”

  “Why didn’t you ask me?” he found himself asking curiously. Paul had been present for a lot of their training sessions; though, he had focused most of his time with the group on combat specifically.

  Those gem-like purple eyes slowly blinked at him before Dazien carefully chose his words, “I’m not your Protégé, Lord Waynd. I am grateful for whatever guidance you grant when allowing us to join Phoenix in her training sessions with you, but I’m aware of the boundary between us. It would be… wrong of me to overstep like that and request more than you freely offer.”

  “Waynd has never told the party that they could,” Orebe pointed out in his mind. He could already feel the mild headache forming at the realization that just because he ignored politics and etiquette didn’t mean that the others would behave the same.

  Paul started walking again, moving towards a different training room this time, opening the door with runes engraved into it and noting the tremor of worry in the kid’s aura as he gestured for him to enter.

  “Ah… Why do we need to be in the room heavily warded against damage?” Dazien asked, gncing at the enchantments on the inner walls, ceiling, and floor.

  “Because today we start training your aura and your new Execute,” Paul replied, magically constructing his own sword in his hand.

  The excitement was instantly detectable in the kid’s aura. Paul flexed his own to smother it in response. “Don’t get too happy, kid. I’m not going to go easy on you,” he crified, though he wasn’t sure the message was clear since the kid’s grin didn’t vanish in the slightest.

  “I’m always up for a challenge,” Dazien stated resolutely, then asked a bit more awkwardly, “Does that mean you’re actually offering to train me? Like a mentor would?”

  “I can’t have a half-trained kid leading my Protégé,” he pointed out and made sure to explicitly state this time, “I’m not going to cim you as one—doing that would likely cause too much political disruption and it’s unnecessary at the moment—but know that I see all of you as apprentices and am willing to offer my services as a Mentor. Ask me questions. Trust that I wish to see all of you grow and succeed.”

  “Because we’re Phoenix’s party?” the kid asked but didn’t seem bitter about the insinuated stipution.

  He contempted that for a moment. It was hard to separate the Protégé from the Party, but eventually he gave a crooked grin and admitted, “If Phoenix had actually died during the battle for Tulisuda, I would still be offering.”

  He began walking towards the rge combat dummies near the center of the room used for training some of the more destructive abilities.

  Dazien’s smile widened as he followed after and constructed his own gleaming diamond sword, “You know Uriel is still terrified of you, right?”

  “Good,” he replied almost instantly at the thought of the other boy who could likely kill his ward by accident… or maybe on purpose, considering the history there.

  “Waynd is being unfair to Little Storm again,” his Familiar piped up just as Dazien also came to the destructive mage’s defense.

  “Uriel is a good man,” Dazien said with an edge in his voice and determination in his aura, “You of all people know better than most about everything he has gone through. The horrors he still struggles with and yet, despite all of that, he tries his best to do good.”

  “I know, kid,” Paul said with a sigh, “I know he was dealt a poor hand in life.”

  “That’s a bit of an understatement,” Dazien scoffed, “Most of the orphans I grew up with could say that, but we both know Uriel is a whole other level beyond ‘a poor hand.’”

  “You’re right,” he admitted, “I’ll try talking to him. Or you can let him know that he doesn’t need to fear a random smiting from me. I’ll be gracious now and give both of you advanced notice should you earn retribution.”

  “I’m not sure that’s going to help calm him much…”

  “That’s what the earrings are for. My goal will be to help him not need any of those accessories anymore,” he stated before activating his Execution ability, [Judgment of the Zealous]. It had started off at Crystal Caste exactly the same as Dazien’s had, and he proceeded to annihite the combat dummy waiting between them.

  Phoenix looked at the rge box in the center of the prep table in the rge kitchen area, which she was pretty sure took up the whole floor of the extravagant Waynd estate.

  Uriel stood beside her, also taking in the green marble chest, and asked her, “Can I see that description again before we dig in?”

  Item: Crystal Caster’s Complete Cooking Kit

  An enchanted set of cooking tools that assist in the creation of Crystal Caste meals.

  Caste: Crystal.

  Avaibility: Epic.

  Type: Tool, kit.

  Requirements: Crystal Caste or higher.

  Effects:

  Decreased ingredient loss rate when using the [Crystal Pot] or [Crystal Mixing Bowl].Increased success rate of infusing rituals when using the [Crystal Cutting Board] or [Crystal Baking Sheet].Slightly increases the quality of the ingredients when using the [Crystal Knives], [Crystal Spatu], or [Crystal Shredder].Increased success rate of enchantments when using the [Crystal Ptes] or [Crystal Pan].

  “So, um… I’ve never actually cooked anything before,” she admitted, “Let alone tried infusing or enchanting ingredients while doing so.”

  Uriel gave her a slight smirk and asked, “Schor didn’t see the need to give a Knowledge Tome of Magical Cooking?”

  “She probably thought you were all I needed,” she teased, returning his smile, “I’m gd we’re finally getting a chance to use this. It feels like ages since I gave it to you.”

  He raised a brow, “It’s only been a single week since then.”

  “Really?” she said aghast and began counting days backward, “So much has happened since then, though, it feels more like a month.”

  Uriel chuckled softly and pressed a sequence of the runes that were engraved in the chest where a keyhole normally would have been. They heard a faint click as it untched for them to retrieve the spoils within and he asked, “Ready for a crash course in magical cooking?”

  She grinned, “Just tell me what to do, Chef.”

  He chuckled again, shaking his head at the nickname, “We’ll just do an easy favorite of mine to get you familiar with the process,” he expined while pulling out the rge Crystal Pot, and stated simply, “Monster Stew.”

  Phoenix ughed, “Let me guess, bring water to boil and toss in various monster meat for eight hours.”

  “Basically,” he said with a spark of humor in his ember eyes, “There’s a bit more, but that’s what I pn to show you.”

  As they proceeded to set up everything, Phoenix conjured some various monster meat options that had begun to stack up in her collection from the hunting they had done previously. She decided to take the time while they were partially distracted by the task to talk about the things she had been hesitant to broach with her friend.

  “So… I know Dazien has struggled a bit with all my secrets that have been revealed in like the st two days,” she began, and while he made it clear that he was listening with a nod, he was also kind enough to not fixate his attention on her, “But I was wondering how you felt about it? You don’t seem distressed like he was, but I don’t know if that’s actually how you feel or if…”

  “If the effects of my earrings are just keeping it from showing?” Uriel finished for her while setting up the Crystal Cutting Board.

  She gnced at one of the long tapered ears that sported a set of five small golden cuffs that she knew were enchanted to work together in an effort to keep him calm. Otherwise, his anger might escape and trigger his [Raging Inferno] talent to make him rampage.

  He noticed her gnce and returned the look with a shake of his head, “No, Princess. I’m not angry about any of your secrets. Even after our talk where I revealed some of mine, I still have a lot that I don’t share with others—not even Daze. So, I’m the st person that’s going to get upset for you to keep your own or what they might be about. I’m fairly certain mine are worse than anything you might say.”

  Phoenix felt a small weight lift at his words, and the relief she felt made her realize that she had cared about his opinion a lot more than she originally thought, “I’m still sorry I kept things from you, especially after you trusted me with yours.”

  “We do what we have to in order to protect ourselves,” he stated in a way that made her recognize it as recitation. “Priest Jacob tells me that when I’m worried about my friends hating me for having secrets,” he gave her a pointed look, “Exactly like I’m sure you felt. Believe me when I say that I understand, Phoenix. Want to pick which meat you want to try or that has simir attunements?”

  “I have mostly Ice and Earth I think,” she replied and moved closer to look over the options again with her book dispying the information for the various types. “I don’t think we want to use the Corrosion-attuned meat those Icespitters gave.”

  He chuckled again, “Might be useful to get some resistance from it if we can.”

  “Let me rephrase: I don’t want to eat acid-meat,” she crified with a roll of her eyes.

  “Fair enough,” he ughed, “Let’s just do some of the Ice ones then.” He gestured towards a stack of snolf meat and surprised her slightly when he added, “Any more questions or concerns you want to ask me about? I’ll be honest and will let you know if I’m not comfortable divulging something.”

  She felt a bit like Paul the next moment as she carefully observed him while she handed over the various cuts of meat. She even tried to use her aura to sense his to understand his goals better, but with the Chains of Silence currently pushing his aura back into his core, she couldn’t sense anything at all. So, she took the more mundane route he suggested and asked, “Do the earrings and chains make you feel… well, I mean, do you dislike having to wear them?”

  “I’m not sure it matters whether I do or don’t,” he stated, pcing the meat she handed him onto the cutting board, “They keep you and the others safe and that’s what matters.”

  “Your feelings matter,” she countered, “Don’t they make you feel uncomfortable? I can barely stand the suffocating sensation.”

  “Ah, now I get why you’re asking,” Uriel said, then pulled a few other things out of a small bag he had brought and pced a couple of Elemental Metal Shards around the edges of the cutting board before gesturing her to come closer, “You have salt already in your collection, right?”

  “Um, yes. Are we doing an infusing ritual?” she asked, remembering the information from her book on Artifice. She knew infusion referred to the process of making a mundane material magical or adding more or different magic to an already magical material. Natural resources came in a variety of different attunements and Caste levels as well depending on the environment.

  “Have you done one before?”

  “No, I usually just obtain the natural versions of the magic materials. I haven’t needed to do an infusion yet,” she expined.

  He nodded and asked, “Do you know the runes for a Metal infusion?” At her nod, he gestured around the edge of the board, “Just start doing that around the edge here then. The talent that lets you draw with light will be much more accurate than trying to draw them in the salt. That’s honestly the most annoying part for me.”

  Phoenix could imagine how frustrating that might be as she began to write, only pausing for a moment before continuing when he finally answered her original question. “The earrings make me feel numb sometimes,” he admitted softly, “Like I can’t fully feel things? Which only really makes me uncomfortable when my conscious mind is telling me that I should be feeling more. Like when Daze was so excited about us becoming Adventurers. I felt like I should have been feeling just as excited as him, and my mind was, but the emotions were just… not. It’s like as soon as I start feeling too much of anything a switch gets flipped to make it stop.”

  She nodded as she continued sketching runes with light, “I know how that can feel. Sometimes the treatments they put me through to help manage the pain would mess with my emotions like that too. It’s not pleasant to feel apathetic like that.”

  “That’s exactly what it is sometimes,” he agreed, then grabbed her drawing hand before she finished the circle, “Sorry, we’ll want to change this part, here,” he expined, then guided her hand in his to draw the st few runes differently to indicate that they were targeting meat to cook instead of stone, which was the default most of her artifice knowledge assumed.

  “The chains don’t make me feel as uncomfortable, though,” Uriel continued as they drew together, “If anything, I get anxious without them. My fears of hurting any of you outweigh any uncomfortable sensation my aura undergoes.”

  “Perhaps if you trained it more with us then it wouldn’t be such a worry?” she offered a bit awkwardly, “I remember Jacob mentioning something about confronting our fears as a way to overcome them or something like that.”

  They stopped drawing as Uriel lifted her hand away from the board and pulled it back towards him causing her to turn to face him. She found herself looking up to see his face since they were so close to each other.

  The smell of raw meat mixed with the scent of a storm brewing—the kind that came with freezing snow—but from outside a cozy cottage window with a lit hearth filled her lungs. It took her a moment to realize all of it—save the meat—as belonging to the man before her.

  He gave a sad smile as he admitted, “Perhaps I’m just too afraid of myself to risk that.”

  She felt the urge to hug him again at the pain she saw in his gaze, but he interrupted the thought when he released her hand and gestured to the board, “Want to try activating it now?”

  Phoenix gnced at the small ritual and asked, “Is there a chance it blows up?”

  Uriel took a step back in silent answer as his actions betrayed his words, “I’m sure it’ll be fine. The board is helping after all.”

  She shook her head and chuckled, then activated the ritual that would make the pile of Ice-attuned meat into dual-typed Ice and Metal that should hopefully give them even rger benefits when they were done cooking it.

  Once the ritual finished—thankfully without any explosions—Uriel began cutting up the infused meat into stew-sized chunks with one of the various Crystal Knives that had been included.

  She then proceeded to start searching through the bag Uriel had brought for various vegetables to add to the stew as well, lifting up each to gain information from both her book and friend about what exactly it was and if they should include it.

  “Can I ask you a bit of an odd question?” Uriel prodded as he dropped the cut-up meat into the Crystal Pot.

  “Pretty sure there’s nothing you could ask me that isn’t weirder than most of the questions I’ve had to ask since arriving in this world,” she pointed out, trying to lighten the mood a bit more.

  “Fair point,” he admitted with a slight smirk, then took a steadying breath before asking, “Why did you accept the quest from Hero and Rebel?”

  At her raised brow, he crified, “You could have just told them ‘no.’ That you weren’t comfortable with the responsibility it would bring. That it wasn’t fair or reasonable for them to ask a literal stranger to the world to save a piece of it. Why did you say ‘yes’?”

  Phoenix contempted the question for a bit, giving him the benefit of serious consideration and understanding the point he was making. Looking back, she knew he was right; she could have just said ‘no’ and not bonded herself to the deities that triggered a cascade of divine favors and anxiety that came with it.

  Then she recalled the thought she had when initially accepting the quest and the words Paul had said about standing up to people who behaved like monsters, “I didn’t want to be the person who refused to save others that needed help. Even if I’m doomed to fail, I didn’t want to be the person who refused to even try to save them.”

  His warm eyes met hers and he gave a crooked smile as he replied, “I think I see why they offered in the first pce now.”

  Phoenix flushed crimson as she muttered, “‘Cause I’m a fool that just goes along with whatever anyone else tells her to do?”

  Uriel shook his head as he began setting up another infusion ritual for the pile of vegetables, “No, because at your core, you were already a hero.” Before she could protest, he gestured for her to come over again, “Let’s make these tunions a bit more magical and no more talking down about yourself; I do enough of that for the both of us.”

  She snorted and admitted, “Maybe you shouldn’t be such a bad influence on me?”

  He chuckled, “Noted. No more self-degradation until after we finish these meals fit for our royal court to feed us during the next set of missions.”