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I took Nefert.i.ti back to our camp carrying her in my arm. I kept checking on her the whole way to the camp and found that has become more powerful both physically and spiritually. I don"t understand the reason for that sudden growth but I need to do more checks.
What is more concerning that she was evolving mentally.
While I was carrying her, she felt me close and held to my robe as if she doesn"t want to let me go. I could only put her on the bed and rest beside her. Not until some time later as Nurina and Jullanar returned.
"Where were you two?" I asked them.
"We were looking for you." Jull said while smiling.
"Yes, we were feeling a bit naughty so we tried to find you." Alina continued.
I see, this is a full moon night after all so everyone is either h.o.r.n.y or turning into a werebeast. Amazing!
"I know it is mostly my fault but you two need to control your desires a bit." I said.
"Don"t worry, we got that covered." The two said and smiled at each other.
So they did it together again, huh! Not sure how to feel about that though.
"What"s wrong with her?" Jull asked pointing at Nefert.i.ti.
"Well, it started like this..." I started telling them what happened through the hunt with Nefert.i.ti.
"This is strange. You said the Essence-Energy in her body increased?" Alina reconfirmed.
"Drastically. It is as if she is cultivating like us." I replied.
"Then can"t that be because of the "Beastmaster" ability that your family has?"
"Not possible. It is only a mental link, to affect her like this then it must be something like a soul link which I am not sure if it is possible to establish it between two separate ent.i.ties."
Soul Links is like how the Augur attached his Astral Extension to me and how Hircine attach his Astral Extensions to the Werebeasts. Becoming a Werebeast is like having a part of Hircine inside you, that is why when the Werebeasts die, they end up in Hircine"s Realm of Oblivion, the Hunting Ground.
"I am starting to think that keeping her as a Werebeast is a bad idea." I said.
Jull seemed sad when I said that but Alina replied.
"You have no right to say so, she enjoys being a Werebeast."
When Alina said that, Jull and I were utterly shocked. Alina sighed and kept talking.
"It is true that Kyne is the mother of both men and beasts while Hircine is the one who curses people with his Therianthropy and makes them into such horrible creatures. We follower of Kyne have a bad history with Hircine yet we understand the Prince of the Hunt and his big game. For a cat like Nefert.i.ti to surpa.s.s her limits as a beast and become a larger beast is actually not as disturbing as a man turning into a beast. I don"t understand the will of the Stag Prince but let"s not do something we don"t understand for now." Alina said.
"She is right." Jull continued, "I feel like the cat is getting smarter day by day. We won"t understand unless we wait. All I know is that this cat loves you so much and she is a part of our family so think carefully before you do something you might regret."
"Yes, and regarding Nefert.i.ti"s connection to you, I think it is deeper than whatever we may understand, she this the only one other than you who can withstand my eyes without falling to agony, it is not because of her but that is because of you, her link with you protects her from my eyes as if you two are linked in a way we never saw before. I suggest if you ever have the chance to ask the Stag Prince then do so."
"You aren"t worried about me from meeting up with a Daedric Prince now?" I asked while smiling wryly.
"The Stag Prince is fair, that"s a given. He won"t mistreat a mortal unless he was directly offended."
I nodded to Alina"s words and patted the sleeping Nefert.i.ti.
She may have a fate I can"t figure out too. Picking her up that day may have ruined her life but I am sure she wouldn"t want to become an ordinary cat ever again.
***
I slipped Nefert.i.ti into my Haven Cube and started preparing dinner, a few minutes later, Wulf and Jorna appeared.
The two of them looked a bit energetic and all smiles.
"Oh no! I know that look on their faces." Alina said with a laugh.
"Did you give Wulfur one of those?" Jullanar asked and pointed at her training scroll.
I nodded silently.
Wulfur came towards me with a funny smile and sat silently while Bjorna kept a poker face. These two have strong energy around them which meant they have cultivated very well.
"We never got tired!"
"Pffft!"
Wulfur spoke and I laughed right away. He must have had it real good.
"Hey, Jon. What was that scroll you gave him?" Jorna asked with an annoyed face.
"It is my two years of hard work, something that you are lucky to experience in this lifetime."
"... I am not sure how to feel about it! Angry because you interfered in our private matters or thankful because…"
"We never got tired!"
"Pffft! I am dying."
I could endure it no more and laughed again. Wulfur"s brain was still in some place else.
"Anyway, why did we have to mediate between every step and after the whole thing?" Jorna asked.
"Well, it happens like this. You guys transfer different energies to each other and use it to nurture your own."
"We read the scroll." Jorna said.
"The point is that the energies outside your in your Energy Center are not really belonging to your body and eventually it returns to the world once the body dies. What you do is that you take that energy and trap it in your soul, which where your Essence Energy is, by the Meditation or what I call the Cultivation. It is basically stealing the Energy and making it into your Essence. It will increase your Life Force and Magicka as well as make you get tired less often as you just experienced."
"We were like animals!"
"Pffft!"
"SHUT UP, WULFUR!"
Bjorna started shouting at Wulfur who was smiling at her with a silly face. The guy is in love, what can I say.
"So by Stealing that Energy and storing it in our Soul, we are stronger?"
"Physically, nope. Magically, yes. And your Aura also will experience a leap in power."
"What does the Aura have to do with any of that?"
"Do you understand what the Aura is?"
"... Uncle Jonrad said it is an imitation of an ancient Akaviri art known as the Battle-Spirit art. It is the manifestation of the warrior"s will that would make him stronger and produce a certain effect related to that warrior"s style." Jorna replied.
[A/N: that is semi-canon lore, I just called the Aura to make things easier to understand. Check the Dragonknight lore article on the Wiki.]
"Well, it is a textbook answer but let me explain. You see, when a Necromancer dabble a lot with the dead or a Shadow Mage deals with the twisted nature of the Shadow Magic, their personalities tend to change, you find the Necromancer always walking around with a gloomy atmosphere around him and don"t care too much about ethics when dealing with corpses of people and the Shadowmancer becomes twisted with a vague personality. Same goes for the Paladins who carry light and the Fire Mages who burn things without remorse. In the end, power takes its toll on a person, this is when a person becomes immersed in that power and gain a lot of understanding about it to the point where it becomes part of his nature. Now couple that Nature with raw power, that Essence Energy I talked about just now, I said it is in the Soul or the Spirit or whatever you would like to call it. The point is, once you couple that Skill Nature or the Personality Nature with that Essence Energy, you get your Battle-Spirit. Its properties are to buff your physical power as a basic property and act the same way your Nature does.
Take Alina for example, she is the perfect representation of the Skill Nature as the blessed child of Kyne, her white Stormy Frost Aura, resulted by the constant use to Frost and Wind Magic, is so powerful that it chills to the bone. Jullanar is the perfect representation for Personality Nature, she is stealthy and fierce, her grey Stealth Aura buffs her speed and make her harder to notice."
"I see!" Everyone hit their palms with their fist and spoke together.
"When Jon puts it that way, it sure has some understanding behind it now."
"Truly better than Uncle Jonrad"s vague explanation."
[A/N: Truth be told, I tried to add something cool to the story without fully understanding it and had to explain it that way. I am a bit sophisticated when it comes to Semi-Lore stuff.]
"What about you Jon? Your Aura doesn"t represent you at all!"
"Yes, it is strangely a green Madness Aura and you are not that good with Illusion Magic."
"Well, as you know, I am a special case. I study all Schools of Magic and practice Martial Arts with my long history of practicing the stealth arts in Riften. Overall, my style is a mix of my Skills and Personality are all about overwhelming the opponent in all aspects. I am a bit of an S as you can all tell..."
"Bwahahaha, very… ehem." Jull interrupted but let"s ignore that.
"... I personally think that my Aura needs an upgrade but I still need to find the perfect mindset to make it better."
"That was really eye-opening."
"What will we do tomorrow then."
"Finally back to business. Phase 2 is about a Black Book hunting in Benkongerike Cave, a Treasure Hunt in Gyldenhul Barrow the resting place of Haknir Death-Brand, and finally White Ridge Barrow to face another powerful Dragon Priest and take his treasures and Black Book, after all of that is done I would love to visit a Dragon Wall in the North of Solstheim. Our time limit is one week."
I announced my grand plan right away.
"You know what? This guy is a s.a.d.i.s.tic f.u.c.ker." Wulfur said went away.
"""Humph!""" The tree girls snorted and went away too.
"Hey! There was that thing about…"
"SHUT UP, JON!"