All of us were crowded around Elfrafim like schoolchildren as she began her lesson. She summoned a bucket of water except without the bucket, and then dumped it all on herself.

“Are you okay?” I joked.

“Peachy,” her beautiful voice answered.

She demonstrated the washing process for a bit, which basically consisted of just surrounding herself with a bubble of water and soap, and then spinning it. Rinsing was pretty much the same process, and only required her to change out the water, but this time clear and without soap.

Elfrafim then summoned a good quantity of water mana, and completely surrounded herself with a big bubble of it.

I watched as she focused, and the water on her body and soaked through her clothes were sucked out and away. It was like a light drizzle of rain, emanating out of her body as a cloud in every direction. Except upwards, because then it’d just fall back on her.

She was done after a minute of this.

“That’s really clever,” I said. “Why isn’t this more common knowledge? Hell, couldn’t we have used this to just clean and then dry everything?”

“We can’t just use it for everything.” Baston chuckled. “Mana doesn’t grow on trees.”

“They do on some trees!” Elfrafim said. “Well, kind of. Trees often absorb mana from the planet itself. Everything has mana within. It’s crucial for anything to be remotely powerful. And a good enough mage can even extract mana from sufficiently magical trees.”

“So I was correct!” I exclaimed proudly.

“We can’t do those things, Haell. And magical trees don’t grow everywhere.” Baston explained kindly, as if to a stupid child. “I imagine the Grandest Forest has a lot more of them.”

“Yep! Pretty much every tree is magical enough at a certain point, since they do have nature within them by default.”

“Okay, fine. But we can still save a lot of time by just doing all cleaning with magic.” I crossed my arms stubbornly. I did not actually enjoy cleaning up, aside from baths, so if there was a better way to do it then I was all for it!

“That’d be an entirely too frivolous use of mana even in town. Getting repositories charged that often…”

“But we can afford the silver, or I guess gold, can’t we? The Angelore Empire is the place for magic! No one has easier recharges than us! ”

“Well, yeah, but…” Baston sighed. “Mahka and Rallem really shouldn't have spoiled you so much.”

“Hey! If I earn enough money, then why not? I can do what I want.”

“If you’re spending that much, I’m pretty sure it’d be cheaper to just hire a cleaner.”

“Okay. That makes sense. But consider this: I’m committed at this point !” I stomped my foot down and held my chin high.

Baston just chuckled and didn’t engage me on the topic further.

We all tried out the method afterwards, but I could hardly control that much water mana. The element just didn’t agree with my psyche. It wasn’t very good for Baston or Luine either.

Moonwash on the other hand could water magic just as well as nearly everything else, which was to be expected at this point. Her control was lacking though, so she just prepared the spell for a few minutes before all the water soaking her was sucked away nearly all at once. She forgot to exclude certain directions, so some of it just rained back down on her.

“I can make an enchantment out of this. A drying one,” Moonwash said, just allowing herself to be damp and wet. “It wouldn’t be hard. Haell, get me more materials from The Endless Dive.”

“Eeehhh. Well, fine. Next time we come there. Let’s just hunt a lot. Those with genuine repositories and focuses are still rare though.”

Luine and Baston tried the process out as well, and while neither of them were particularly talented with water, their sheer levels allowed them to learn it eventually.

I did miss the advantages of pattern recognition brain. But I loved my current one too!

I just couldn’t choose.

~~~

I arrived at a large clearing with Astan and Elfrafim. There was a warsymbol there, but my elf friend volunteered herself for the fight before any of us could react. Donning her large staff, she struck the monster across the head before it even knew of her presence. I preened at the resounding crack that produced, and Elfrafim was already gone the next time I looked. The warsymbol was equally confused as its enemy twirled her staff and struck again as its flank, a tempest of wind both following and directing her every move.

Elfrafim ran circles against the monster that I could not yet hope defeat, until it died without getting a single chance to retaliate. Its dying throes were useless, sometimes striking in the entirely opposite direction, and at other times tripping over itself trying to follow the blur that was its opponent. Perhaps it never once saw who its assailant was.

“Well then! I heard you wanted to fight!” Elfrafim grinned and positioned herself in the center of the clearing. I gulped and reconsidered my life choices. Astan was perched atop a high tree, looking smugly down at my direction. He wasn’t helping.

“Of course! Just give me a moment!” I took this chance to examine my new friend’s staff. Focuses were usually not used in the same way Elfrafim treated hers like a bludgeoning weapon. They weren’t brittle, but they were usually quite a bit weaker than the rest of the staff. That was why my mother struck using the butt end of her staff, but Elfrafim didn’t have that option because both ends were covered by a thick and metallic dark green focus!

It went against all the established design principles of a staff, but no one could argue with the results. The staff was specially made for this kind of combat, and I knew that its structure affected the potency of what magic and spells could be cast with it.

It was terrifying, and it was just what I needed. A wall that I could not topple no matter how hard I tried. A friend who would not be hurt and who could control me even in my berserk state. I needed her help to train my Hyperdemon Gland up to Level 20. I needed to have all of my Mutations at the next milestone level if I hoped to achieve another evolution. Not of a single Mutation, but of the whole self.

Of course, I was aware that it didn’t have to be Elfrafim that helped me. Luine and Baston could’ve probably pushed me around in my berserk state as well. At best I could land a scratch, I could cause them some pain, but I was never against sparring with my friends and giving them a bruise or ten.

In the end, I just wanted an excuse to procrastinate on this. I was reluctant to use the hyperdemon gland again. It was genuinely terrifying, more than anything else, to have my identity be overwritten with another.

But no more. Today I shall face this part of demonhood. I shall overcome it and win!

Elfrafim waved at me excitedly as I had been staring her down for what must’ve been minutes by now. I waved, affecting a similarly happy smile. My good friend had waited for me patiently all this time as I settled my nerves. Perhaps she thought it was just that difficult of a Mutation to use.

She would be wrong.

All it ever took was a single exertion of will.

~~~

Kill her destroy her feast on her flesh I will never forgive the theft that stupid bird was mine to kill so I’ll skin this elf alive and drain the marrow out of her bone as watch and watch and watch all she can do is watch I will destroy her and consume all that she is dance on her grave piss on her grave she is nothing I will kill her and bury her she will not be able to breath she will suffocate and burn burn burn burn fire is more painful than any other death so I give death death dead by flame drown in her own blood suffer suffer suff–

“AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!”

I charged at the adversary that pretended to be my friend, tiny, weak, frail, and afraid. I had it in my eyes, she was frozen solid by my presence, I chopped off her head. Except that didn’t happen, my triumph was thwarted at the last moment by a staff striking at supernatural speeds, heavy with both metal and wind. Another strike and I was tossed away. I was humiliated again. Just like when she trivialized me like an ant. All that hatred, I unleashed in a wave of menace magic that will confuse her to no end but it never arrived as she spun her staff and summoned a tempest that blew the semi-physical magic away. It was frustrating, maddening, I hated her I hated her I hated her. Menace magic exploded out of me but of course that did nothing too. I jumped back into her range, I tried to attack from sides and behind her back anywhere at all but she spun around in place and thwarted my every strike. She rung my armor, and the dents echoed back into my flesh. Organs ruptured and bones broke but jokes on her I was already doing that to myself. More and more mana I burned into my movements. The damage wanted me to stop moving but I only flooded it with more magic to make it stop being a bitch. I slashed at the stupid elf again, but yet again it proved futile. The world was her friend and it was my enemy and I wanted to destroy it all for that but even that was not granted to me. I roared and I raged, my menace magic became stronger but it was all still blown away. Maddening maddening maddening. I growled at the futility. I slashed and slashed and slashed but it all felt so useless. My fire was equally useless. My eyes, my charge, my menace magic. Nothing worked but I kept on going because all I knew was to kill and to make her suffer but I never get what I want. My body was fraying at the edges but it was still only I who felt pain. I wanted to share my pain. Mutual destruction double suicide. Just let me kill the both of us. I screamed. Blood poured out of my mouth and I spat it at her but it only collided with my helmet. I burned with fury at the further humiliation. My blood burned at the fury and humiliation. I blurred forward and reached her, but she disappeared like a fucking lunatic until I felt a sharp impact on my nape.

“You shouldn’t overcharge your curse magic like that, you’ll destroy yourself! But I think that was a great first session! Good job!”