“I’m not sure how I feel about being worshiped like that,” Lucy said. “It just isn’t something that I think would fit me.”

  Viana giggled, “Once it happens and you get used to it, it won’t be that bad. The problem is the whole getting used to it part, though. Unless you are an egoist.”

  Ardonis shrugged, “Then maybe I’m an egoist because I don’t think I would have an issue with it. Not to say I want it to happen, but I wouldn’t mind either way.”

  “We should get going before a certain priestess gets impatient,” Nilons said. “I assure you, you do not want to piss her off. Her smile is terrifying, and she lectures for hours while making you sit in a very uncomfortable position.”

  “I assume you were on the receiving end of that once or twice?” Viana teased.

  “Perhaps, perhaps not,” he said, shifting his eyes as he started walking.

  “Avoiding the question only points to one answer you know.”

  Ardonis sighed, “Viana, stop teasing him, he is our guide.”

  They flipped their hoods back on as they went out to the front. Nilons led them through the town to a large church in the center. It was no grand cathedral, but it was a fairly good-sized church building. “Suddenly, I’m wary about entering a place that worships the goddess,” Viana said. “Are we sure tat the bitch won’t be able to scry us? I know I’m the one who said she’s too stuck up to keep track of a wild faithful, but still. If we enter that domain, she will instantly know of our presences.”

  “I’m sure that as long as we keep a tight hold of our magic, it will be fine,” Ardonis said. “Just to be sure, though, Lucy, I want you to conceal yours as well. Not all of it, just enough to bring it down a notch or two.”

  She nodded, and a moment later, her magical presence halved, she took a deep breath. “This is much harder for me than it is for you, so could we make this quick?”

  Nilons wordlessly continued on forward with the others following behind. They entered the church and found a striking beauty behind the podium. Long and slim elven ears that extended past the back of her head. Flowing golden hair, a tall but slim frame, pale skin, kind but powerful glowing blue eyes, and white priest robes. A large staff the size of her, and taller than Ardonis, held casually at her side. The main body of it was a slightly glowing silver metal, with the bottom of it extending outward with golden wings. The top portion had what appeared to be a gentle praying face with a sun behind it.

  Ardonis was shocked as he felt how much power was within the staff. It was between his current power and Lucy’s; whatever that staff was, he got the distinct feeling that even Milsa would wield it. Then it dawned on him, the sword that was being crafted would be equal to the staff as a base. Which meant there was only one who could have forged it.

  “Welcome to my church,” the elf said with a kind tone and soft smile, bowing lightly. “I see you have already acquainted yourself with Dornal, allow me to introduce myself. I am Hyva, high priestess to the church of the goddess and truth. You are here to learn how to wield magic while concealing it correct?”

  “So… you were scrying on us, without any of us realizing,” Ardonis stated a bit cautiously. “That alone proves you are a master of using magic while staying hidden. But that also means you know who and what we are.”

  She nodded sagely, “That I do. Two of you are young gods of magic, and the third is a genie. One that coincidentally helped us a few centuries ago to win a war.”

  “And you aren’t going to kick us out or alert the goddess of our presence?” he asked. “I mean, we are enemies of the one you serve.”

  “I am not ignorant of my goddess’s personality, or her wrongdoings. That is why I broke away from the main church and established my own to begin with. I still value and follow her core principles. To aid and assist whoever is in need, to rid the world of corruption, and fight for what is right. To seek the truth in all things. Even if the main church or even the goddess herself has forgotten that, I will not. You are being hunted for an injustice done by my goddess, you are not my enemy even if you are hers.”

  Viana chuckled, “I think I’m beginning to understand why you are called “The Wild Priestess”. I have to say, it is refreshing to hear such a thing from a mortal who worships that bitch. Excuse my speech and tone about her, but after what she did, I don’t really give a damn what she, or her followers condone or not.”

  Ardonis sighed as he flipped back his hood, “Well, unless you are a master liar as well, I believe we can trust you to train us. If you are so willing, of course, whether we are gods or not, I doubt we could make you do anything you didn’t want to.”

  She smiled at him gently, “I may be a priestess and a healer, but that also means that I can make your life a living hell without leaving a scratch afterward if I so chose.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “So, you aren’t our enemy,” Lucy chimed in, “But we will inevitably have to fight your goddess at some point. And depending if we have the power to, kill her. Despite knowing that, you are still willing to teach us?”

  “I suppose I should come fully clean, I do not worship goddess Milsa. Rather, I worship and have faith in her original ideals, as I mentioned before, who she used to be. The goddess in her current state has gone against those beliefs, and therefore is not deserving of my worship. That is the real reason I established this church. For those that believe in the true ideals, not the puppets of the main church that simply do as they are told.”

  “Whereas I still do not wish my goddess to be killed, if it must happen, then so be it. She has changed since I served her in the main church, or perhaps I was merely disillusioned. When the church wanted me to abandon the helpless, when the goddess’s voice reached out and told me the same, that was when I left.”

  Viana sighed, “You were disillusioned, she hasn’t changed at all in fifty thousand years. Actually, she’s gotten worse, at least before she was open about how she truly was. It was easy to fight against her followers at the time because of that. Following a goddess like her while not being deceived? I have a distinct feeling you wouldn’t have been one of her priests back then.”

  She shrugged, “Perhaps, perhaps not. I admit, it is a strange and somewhat giddy feeling to meet a being from the age of myth. When Morin went to see you about wishes, I was quite angry with him that he didn’t let me tag along.”

  “Oh? Then you must have read some very ancient texts, although I doubt they do anything more than put Milsa into a good light. But we can talk about all of that later, right now, I believe the three of us have something to learn from you.”

  Hyva smiled softly and nodded, “Then please, allow me to teach you how to use your mana while keeping it concealed. This ability has saved me an innumerable amount of times during the war against the demons.”

  “Ardonis, you have already grasped a basic principle of it when you were showing off your skills earlier. Although it was very rudimentary, the logic is along the lines of using concealed mana. Only the way you were doing it would inevitably strain you to a point where mana use in general would become difficult. As the inner pathways within get constricted like a strained muscle. As a divine god, I don’t know if that would happen to you, but it would be best not to risk it.”

  “Then how do we go about doing it without potentially destroying ourselves?” he asked.

  She smiled, “By creating a subspace within your mana pool, separating it off from the main source, working on the same principles of charms, enchantments, and other things of the sort. It will inevitably need to be refilled no matter how large you make it, as it is its own separate space. Especially depending on the power of the spell being used, as you can imagine.”

  She held up a fist, and it began to glow with a golden light. “But this allows you to use any spell in your arsenal without being noticed. A prepared spell of sorts on, say, a scroll or something, only far more versatile.”

  Her glowing fist got even brighter before it flashed out and temporarily blinded them for a few seconds. Ardonis laughed as he regained his vision, “Because it is a separate space, your mana can’t leak out. That is absolutely genius. And the larger you make the subspace pool, the more you can use.”

  “What’s the catch?” Lucy asked, “I find it hard to believe that something like this is without its own consequences. Sure, you have to refill it every now and again, but I do not feel that’s a big enough of a drawback. There has to be more to this.”

  Hyva nodded sagely, “That is correct, Lady Lucy. The caveat is that in order to make the subspace, you have to permanently remove a portion of your mana pool. And the bigger you make the subspace, the more you will end up reducing your main pool.”

  Viana nodded along, “So that’s how it is, you are making your mana pool permanently smaller, and risking weakening yourself to create this subspace. Which will then need to be occasionally filled up by that same, now smaller source.”

  Ardonis sighed, “Not only are you risking weakening yourself by creating it, but if you accidentally make it too big, you’ll have far bigger problems than simply being weakened. Of course, we can always work on making our pool deeper again, but that could take an untold amount of time.”

  “That is why I recommend that you create a space that holds no more than a maximum of ten percent of your mana pool. As the amount removed directly translates to the subspace size. And for the average person who can handle doing this, that would still take a couple of centuries to get back. I speak from personal experience as I only recently succeeded in deepening my pool back to what it was before I made my subspace.”

  “Then I suppose it’s a good thing for me that my pool had more than doubled recently thanks to a dangerous stunt I pulled,” he said with a chuckle. “Ten percent for me will be enough to cast even my most powerful spells several dozen times.”

  Lucy smiled, “Maybe so, but that also means it will take you twice as long to increase your pool back to what it currently is now. If I am understanding all of this correctly. But you had better not think this means you can escape being a Spellsword. It would also take a few hours at least to refill that subspace. Besides, I think it will be interesting to see you combine magic and swordsmanship.”

  He held up his hands in surrender, “I’m not going to suddenly change my mind just because of this. I will only use higher-tier spells if it is an emergency. That much I can promise. It wouldn’t be wise to use such powerful spells anyway, whether it is detectable or not. The physical remnants left behind would indicate a few things of who could do such a thing.”

  Viana chuckled, “This is such a powerful and amazing boon. I can hardly believe that such a thing exists. Had I known about this fifty thousand years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been captured and trapped in that damn lamp.”

  Hyva cleared her throat, “The process of making it is also long and tedious, it is a good thing you will be here for a couple months. As I expect it to take at least one to successfully turn ten percent of your main pool into that sub-pool. So I hope you are prepared for some agonizing pain as well, you are essentially ripping off a limb and relocating it somewhere else after all.”