105-106

"Well, that was lucrative…"

Jahi was staring down at the various pouches each of us had filled with materials from the Ash Ghouls, Lava Goblins, and now from the Coal Serpents.

Of the three monsters we harvested materials from, the most expensive would be the Coal Serpents Fangs and Bones, but the sheer quantity of the Ash Ghoul Cores and Crystals was going to make us the most in the end.

How much, none of us knew for sure; the market for these materials was ever shifting, and we would need to find either individual merchants to sell small amounts of these materials too, or sell in bulk to an organization, be it the Guild, a chain of stores, or some kind of group for Alchemists and Smiths.

I would need to count out each material and create a list of them before setting out to sell everything, and I'd have to dust off my bargaining skills…

I hadn't really done much bargaining since my previous life, and even then it was very minor…

Securing the pouches and placing them inside our packs, we all double checked our gear before setting off for the entrance of the Caverns; we had done more than we set out to do, and with us having the Academy tomorrow, we needed to be rested.

As we started moving back over the Plains of Yama in silence, I was reviewing the spells I had used, the advancement in my healing magic, and slowly theorizing more spells I could create.

The first spell, the one that I used against the Goblins, was my attempt at creating a 'Domain'; my skills benefited from a certain environment, and if I could create a stable, blizzard like area around myself, I could not only get mana regeneration from the low temperatures, but also from how windy the area was.

Besides that, it would allow me to utilize the frost on the ground as weapons; I could alter the structure of the spell since the area around me was the spell; it was my 'Domain Spell'.

As for the spell I had used against the Serpent, that was a variation on the Domain, creating a more focused, stronger storm around myself.

The Domain was just my Ice and Wind magics mixing to create a cold, windy area around myself, whereas the spell I had used against the Serpent was a storm, which required all three of my mana types.

The Water mana was used to create rain first, which would then freeze over due to the freezing temperatures created by my Ice mana. That would allow an easier, and less draining, creation of the chunks of hail, which I could eventually shape into spears, arrows, or even merge together to create giant boulders of ice.

Now, my time with Mister Goblin was fruitful, both as a release and as a learning experience; may he rest in pieces…

Anyways, I had learned that I was, currently, capable of only regrowing flesh, cartilage, and keratin, or what our nails are made from.

However, I was incapable of regrowing limbs, nor was I able to do much with bones beside reattach them and heal fractures.

Thinking of that, I almost facepalmed as I realized I had forgotten to try something incredibly basic…

Could I cut off a limb and reattach it?

If I took the Goblins finger and held it back against the wound, could my healing magic prompt the bone to reattach and flesh to grow back?

Sighing, I decided I needed to check that if we encountered another monster before leaving for today.

Even without that, knowing what I could do with my healing magic was important, and I could start improving my Water Cloak to be more of a healing support spell than it already was; if I learned that I could reattach limbs, I would be able to keep my wives whole if they were in that cloak.

Now, for new spells…

Besides improving the control on my current repertoire of spells, I had a few ideas, but would need to delve heavily into more complex combinations of runes and sequences.

Could I, theoretically, create an environment so cold that it freezes everything around me?

What about sharpening snowflakes, creating the deadliest blizzard in the entire world?

Turning away from ice's conventional uses, what about creating thin mirrors to amplify Jahi's Light magic? Would I be able to 'control' her light and its effectiveness?

On that same note, could I use ice as a way to create invisibility for myself?

Or how about shaping orbs of ice to carry Leone's Fire magic, or Anput's Metal magic?

Using them as projectiles that, unless the enemy had already seen it beforehand, or witnessed the forming of those projectiles, would completely surprise and decimate the enemy?

Could I create constructs from my ice? Large, towering golems that moved and acted on my commands?

There were so many possible spells that I could create with Ice magic alone, not even including the near limitless combinations of Water magic, Wind magic, and Ice magic…

Humming softly to myself as we walked, I kept my guard up as we passed by various groups of monsters, some adventuring groups, and a few suspiciously clear and empty parts of the plains.

We managed to exit the Plains of Yama with little incident, but…

Staring up at the gentle slope of the Obsidian Valley, we all sighed as we saw the various hordes of Ash Ghouls stumbling about, knowing that we weren't going to let such a good opportunity to make money slip through our fingers.

Jahi and Anput went towards the top of the horde while Leone and I made our way around it, slowly meeting in the middle.

Wading through the various ash scented, weak muscled Ghouls that made up the horde, I found myself curious as to if my healing magic works on them as well.

After all, I didn't know if my magic only worked on only living things or not.

Would that be useful to know?

Who knows, but it's better to find out now than when I might actually need it.

Grabbing one of the last remaining Ash Ghouls, I shackled it similar to the Goblin from earlier, before freezing its jaw to stop it from groaning at me constantly.

Slicing off a piece of its arm, I then attempted to heal it, my palm flaring a deep blue.

I watched on in fascination as the flesh grew back, making me wonder if this Ghoul was actually 'alive' or not.

Confirming that my magic worked on Ghouls, I then wanted to solve another question of mine; could I reattach limbs at my current stage?

Chopping off the arm, I then attempted to reattach the limb, tracing my fingers over the line that separated the arm from the shoulder.

Seeing that the flesh was attempting to rejoin together, I poured a little more mana into the spell, a relieved grin on my face as that too proved to be successful.

The others were standing over me, watching in morbid fascination as I performed my experiments, Jahi letting out a low mutter.

"This is incredibly creepy…"

Glancing up at her, I replied "I don't care; now I know the capabilities of my healing magic. Unless you were willing to donate an arm for this?"

As I spoke I lanced my dagger through the Ghouls throat and twisted the blade, severing its head from its body.

Maintaining the same grin from earlier, I watched as Jahi shivered, while Anput and Leone were giving me complicated looks.

"No… I'm fine… Are you uh… done?"

Getting up, I dusted off my clothes before nodding, gesturing for her to lead the way.

The large Demoness gave me a nod before turning around, leading us up the Obsidian Valley and into the first cavern.

Our pouches were bursting to the seams with materials, and I could tell that Anput was getting giddy at the thought of selling everything; she was staring at her pouches with a grin, her ears and tail twitching as she walked beside us.

As for Leone, she was excited as well, but beside the small smile on her lips as she secured everything again, it was more of a subdued excitement.

Standing beside her, I asked "Are you keeping some of the Cores for yourself? Either to start creating a stock of them or to start practicing on your own?"

Glancing over at me, Leone pursed her lips before nodding.

"Yes… I think that would be best. Just like I kept the Ghoul King's Talon… However, it's going to be awhile until I start brewing potions; an alchemy set costs quite a bit."

Narrowing my eyes at her, I asked "How much is 'a bit'?"

Leone glanced away before muttering "For a good one that would last me a decade or so? A Platinum…"

Blinking a few times, I stared at her in silence, making the Vampire gulp, still facing away from me.

"One whole Platinum… just for a 'good' set? What does an excellent one cost?"

She pursed her lips again, her voice meek as she muttered "Around 15 Platinum…"

Feeling my mind slowly slipping from the numbers she was telling me, I just pinched the bridge of my nose before saying "Y'know what, it's not my money… make that much on your own, spend it as you wish! One whole Platinum…"

Shaking my head, I continued walking behind Jahi, hoping that Leone had a knack for Alchemy.

The amount of money to get a 'good' set must mean that the prices of 'good' potions is insanely high…

Right?

We had left the Caverns with little issue, and it had been decided that we would make a return to the Adventuring District the next day after the Academy was over to get a feel on the prices for our spoils.

When we pooled everything together and counted what we had gotten, I had to blink a few times as I stared at the list, which had been double checked by Leone and I.

There were 132 Ghoul Cores, 98 Ghoul Crystals, 31 Goblin Fangs, 49 Serpent Scales, 27 various Serpent Bones, and 5 Serpent Fangs.

That was… 342 individual materials, and we needed to sell it all off.

The Cores were after Leone and kept half of her own shares as well… which was rather insane.

After we had counted everything out and organized each into a separate pile on the table, we then had to discuss how everything would be split when sold.

How much would go to a 'family' account, which would be used for general expenses, the main on being groceries.

Then how much would each individual person get?

Which was a surprisingly heated debate…

Between Anput and Leone; the Jackalkin and Vampire were currently hissing at one another as they stood on opposite sides of the table, both arguing on who deserves more.

Jahi and I had decided to let them fight it out; both had good points, after all…

Though I was getting a bit of a headache from the argument.

"You just stand in the back casting spells! Therefore, I should get the higher cut! I'm up close to every monster we fight!"

Anput leaned forwards, her fur bristling as she glared at Leone, while the Vampire's ashen hair sparked a little, her crimson eyes flaring.

"And you can only do that because Kat and I support you from the back! You'd be overwhelmed otherwise! Do you know how many times I stopped Ghouls from encircling you today?!"

Hearing my name suddenly dragged into the mix, I sighed as I glanced at Jahi, wondering why she was being silent.

Her amethyst eyes were alight with mirth as she watched the two go at it, making me sigh again.

Now wasn't the time for her to be admiring them…

Coughing, I drew the attention of the two snarling women, making them frown as I glanced between them.

"We'll be placing half of what we make into this family account, leaving the remaining half to be split between the four of us. 10% will go to Jahi, 10% to me, and 15% to each of you; unless, of course, you decide to continue arguing, in which case you can have fun with just 5% each."

The two women frowned again, while Jahi tilted her head, curiously asking "Why do you and I get 10%? Or more specifically, why am I getting 10%? Aren't I the head of this family?"

Giving her a dry look, I said "You are; which means you're the one in charge of that other 50%. As for me; I don't need the money, since I don't buy anything besides food and other necessities. Though I would like to be paid. As for these two, I'm hoping that if we invest in them now, they'll start making their own money from their dream professions; alchemy for Leone, smithing for Anput."

Jahi nodded, a smirk on her face as she looked between the other two; when they heard that Jahi technically had access to 60% of the overall funds…

They were currently trying to glare at her, wanting a larger cut, but…

"Maybe I'll give you both a little extra if you… please me~? Though I imagine Kat'd be the one you'd need to try and get that money from."

That made them turn towards me, their gazes both hopeful and pleading, only to frown when I shook my head, crossing my arms.

"Nope; you won't be getting a single copper extra from me. You're both grown, get your own money. I'm not your parents, nor am I the 'main' wife. So, deal with your 15%. I think I'm being generous with that number alone."

Letting out sighs, they both stared dejectedly at the table, and I was tempted to throw in the fact that Leone would always make more than Anput; after all, she would likely keep the materials she needed or wanted…

Ah…

Now I know what Jahi was feeling earlier; they were rather entertaining to watch bickering…

The room fell silent for another few moments, before Jahi said "Alright, I'm going to be going with Kat down to the Adventuring District to sell everything off tomorrow; are you two coming with or are you going to stay home?"

Anput pursed her lips before saying "I'll be going; I want to know what everything comes out to."

Leone nodded, making Jahi chuckle.

"Good! That means we can all go out to eat somewhere and-"

Cutting her off, I gave her a dry look as I said "Conversely, I can make us dinner and we can retire early, since we have our tests in two days. I'd rather not you all not flunk out of our classes. Especially you, Anput."

The Jackalkin grumbled in annoyance, making Jahi and Leone chuckle, much to her annoyance.

"Alright, we'll be home early mother~! No need to worry~!"

Giving her another dry look, Jahi grinned widely at me as she leaned on the table, her eyes heated as she said "Now that's a wonderful thought to end the night~ You as a mother…"

The other two gave me equally heated gazes, making me sigh.

I likely had another long night ahead of me…

~~~

I was correct; another long night was certainly what awaited me, and it was much like before.

Once bound, I was handed away to each woman like an offering, meant to appease their urges.

After that, we had another uneventful day at the Academy; with the tests being tomorrow, Vice-Headmaster Bijilo and Professor Xiant were offering us self study time, telling us it would be best for us to review everything on our own or in groups rather then relying on them to guide us through our review.

As for our Combat Classes, we did more basic practices to warm us up for the fights against the Professors the next day, each telling us that a review of the basics would be the best help to improve our scores.

When we finally made our way out of the Academy, we were all surprised by the lack of Jillian being a pain in each class; she had grown even more reserved since her banquet, but I definitely knew that her hatred for Jahi had grown.

If looks could kill, Jahi would have been dead, crushed into pulp, tossed into a fire, and the ashes spread across the world to prevent anything from piecing her back together.

However, she made no snarky comments, no provocative statements…

She didn't even glare that often anymore; she seemed to be trying her best to distance herself from us.

Which, admittedly, was slightly worrying; I'd rather keep an enemy close than let them slip further and further away into the murky background.

It made it easier to accuse her of something if she remained obvious with her hatred, but…

Sighing, I moved that up to the top of my list of things I needed to keep an eye on.

What she had said during the banquet was rather worrisome.

Well, there was little I could do as of now besides be on guard, so I turned my attention back to the here and now, which was the Adventuring District.

We were going to first try the Guild, then we would move to the Alchemist Organizations and the Smithing Organizations if the price didn't sound too high.

As we walked, I tried to keep an eye and ear out for anyone else doing business as well, specifically with the materials we had on us.

However, the market was incredibly boisterous, with merchants shouting out to promote their wares, parties of adventurers laughing and joking with one another, and the sounds of people fighting, hammering away on anvils, and even the very rare sounds of explosions.

It truly was the typical Adventuring Hub feel, with the large variety in people walking around us, the different things being sold and purchased, and so much more.

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Next chapter will be a bartering one as well as them buying some things, so more of a slice of life-ish chapter, before we move onto the tests, which will be a few chapters; obviously, the Combat Class will have each of their perspectives, but I won't draw it out, so I hope it doesn't get too long.

Anyways, I was just curious as well, but what did you all think of the spells I thought up last chapter? Obviously Megiddo was inspiration for two, what with using the ice as a way to affect light. Then there was elementals, as well as Domains.

Were they too… standard for spells? It is kind of hard to create something completely 'original' when there are SO many other places that have already expanded on ice magic already…

I just hope to add my own twist on them!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed these chapters, and I hope you enjoy the ones to come!

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