Chapter 141: Little Progress

Raymond was busy honing his skills in mana manipulation. By the end of the first day of his training, he was able to take fifteen steps without disrupting his mana circulation.

At first, it required a lot of time and patience to even take more than a few steps without disrupting the flow of mana. Raymond was stuck repeating this process again and again until he found his rhythm.

The trick was to keep his breathing even. Whenever he felt the mana travelling from one node to another while he was walking, he would get excited unknowingly which resulted in disturbing the flow, prompting him to start all over again.

However, after countless retries, Raymond managed to pick out the problem and made some headway into his training.

"Haa…!" Raymond let out a shout and jumped to his feet keeping a firm control over his mana as it circulated between two nodes.

Without wasting a second, he started moving and crossed the mark of fifteen steps easily. Still in control, he went further and completed thirty steps before he lost control over his mana and it went to a different node from the one he had intended. It was remarkably more than his previous attempts and Raymond was ecstatic over this small success.

"Good job, Raymond!" Celestia chirped from a distance. She was curiously observing his progress, cheering internally with each extra step he took. It was so refreshing to see his face when he was completely lost in his work. She found it incredibly fascinating to watch him do his thing.

"It is already late at night, we will stop for now, and let's continue tomorrow." If she had her way, Celestia never wanted to leave this place and keep watching him, but she knew if she let him be fully absorbed in his training, he would lose track of time and not care about anything else.

It was not a good thing. There were so many other things she wanted to teach him besides manipulating mana.

Raymond gave her a perfunctory nod and ordered the room to shrink down.

"Eep!" Celestia pretended to be surprised and faked her falling as she neared Raymond in the blink of an eye. "Help!"

She yelped in surprise before feeling a hand snaking around her waist and preventing her from falling to the ground.

"Really? You couldn't keep your balance?" Raymond's lips twitched as he stared at the High Priestess without blinking.

"Ahem! It happens sometimes. I can't be on my guard all the time," said Celestia shamelessly and averted her eyes, though she felt her heart swelling with happiness as he firmly held her by the waist.

Didn't the romance start with little things like this? Celestia had done her research into this subject and had devised a plan.

Little by little, she would make her way into his heart—

-Knock! -Knock!

Celestia cursed inside her mind as Raymond let go of her body since the knocking sound echoed out in the now smaller chamber.

As soon as Celestia steadied herself and opened the door, Jasmine and Lyla burst through the door.

"Masterrr…!" Jasmine screamed as she jumped into his embrace.

"What happened?" Raymond quickly caught her before she headbutted him in the chest and asked.

"Were you bullied by someone in the tribe?" Raymond questioned, his eyes turning sharper for a second.

"No, it's…Vivi's grandpa!" Jasmine said in between her sniffles.

Raymond let out a small growl of irritation. "Did that old man try something funny with you? It seems words alone aren't enough for him to mind his business! Where is he? Let's go!" He grabbed Jasmine's hand and started pulling her towards the door.

"No, master, wait!" Jasmine quickly stopped crying. She wasn't even that sad. It's just that seeing her sister Vivi crying rivers had charged her up a bit emotionally.

She almost sent her master after old man Ronan. He was already down and under medication by Elder Clearmoon, there was no reason to send her brute of a master there. Who knows what might happen if Ronan suddenly woke up and started cussing out her master for sleeping with his granddaughter?

Her master definitely wouldn't take it lying down. He would retaliate in kind and the rest didn't need to be said.

Even though Ronan was annoying and Jasmine didn't like him all that much, he was Vivi's grandfather, as such he was family to her. Vivi would be heartbroken if her man did something to her only remaining blood relative, wouldn't she?

"He didn't do anything! Actually, someone messed him up for good. He is in Elder Clearmoon's house. She is treating his injuries and Vivi is there too, looking after him." Jasmine babbled off agitatedly in a hurry to stop her master.

"What?" It was Celestia who uttered in shock. "What happened to Ronan? Never mind… I will check for myself!" With that, Celestia took off in the direction of Elder Clearmoon's house.

Though Raymond and Jasmine were completely unaware, Lyla, ever the cautious observer, clearly saw the longing look Celestia directed towards Raymond when he had almost dragged Jasmine to deal with Ronan.

Lyla recognised that look immediately. It was the same she used to have when she had just met the duo of master and servant back in the Capital.

[She has that crazy look in her eyes. You need to watch her for a while.]

Lyla gave a mental nod at Heartsbane.

'If you think she is crazy, then she must be really someone to look out for.'

[Hey! What do you mean by that?]

However, Lyla didn't deign to answer that question which left the poor Innate Spirit rather frustrated.

~~~

Celestia's face frosted over as she entered Elder Clearmoon's house. Not because of seeing Vivian there, it was because of the sorry state her teacher was in.

His upper body was bare to see with his chest heaving up and down in tandem with his agonised breathing. Blood flowed out of his mouth even as Vivian was cleaning it with a wet cloth.

"Elder Clearmoon, what happened to Elder Ronan?" Celestia asked as she took a seat by his bedside.

"I don't have the entire picture of what happened but he must've been backed into a corner," said Elder Clearmoon. "I mean… I can't think of any other reason as to why he would detonate his false core."

"What!?" Celestia reeled back in shock.

"Don't worry, My Lady. He managed to make it back here within time. He will recover in about three days."

"I see… that's good to hear. Elder Clearmoon, please treat him to the best of your abilities." Celestia's nose stung a bit and her eyes became misty as she looked at her teacher's weak form.

"Obviously, My Lady, you don't have to worry. I will do my best." Elder Clearmoon shook her head at Celestia as if those things shouldn't need to be said.

"..."

"Uhmm, Celes…" Vivian broke the silence as she saw Celestia was feeling miserable. "Grandpa mentioned that Eldric Greenwood is back and told me to inform you." She said as a way to distract her old rival's mind.

"Eldric Greenwood?" Celestia recalled where she had heard that name and her eyes softened as she looked at Vivian. However, she quickly schooled her features. "I've heard that name before. Did Ronan say anything else?"

"Yes, Grandpa said that he is creating Puppet Makers!" Vivian repeated the words her grandfather had said before he passed out.

"Ahh! It all makes sense now!" Celestia exclaimed and started pacing around the room.

'But what is he planning to do with Puppet Makers?' Celestia furrowed her brows in contemplation. She glanced at Ronan and prayed for his speedy recovery before exiting the house.

As soon as she came out, Celestia went to her tree house and locked the door tightly before screaming out in frustration.

"Why? Dammit, why now!?" Celestia pounded her fist against the wall, sending splinters flying everywhere.

"How am I to get closer to him if you fuckers keep meddling in my life?" Celestia roared furiously. If she saw that bastard Eldric now, she didn't know what she would do to him.