Set Of Daggers

Having struck a deal with Luna, Raymond exited the guild to look for a place to stay in. He also had to draw the painting of his grandpa again, and this time, he was going to make some hundred copies of them to hand out to others.

There were several things Raymond wanted to accomplish, and the most important among them would be establishing a network across the continent that would help him search every nook and corner for his grandpa.

That would save him time and effort. Raymond was already beginning to make some headway in this regard. As luck would have it, he had met Arlo and his friends at the opportune moment.

They would take care of the FireBorn empire, and Raymond could focus on other parts of the continent.

Next would be focusing on fixing his core. This would purely depend on luck. If he came across something that could heal him, that would be for the best, but Raymond had a hunch that it wouldn't be so simple.

It was impossible to live with a broken core. So, there was a high chance that no one knew how to fix it. Raymond was sure of one thing, he wouldn't rest until he had explored every possible way.

After all, he wasn't the type of person to accept his fate and settle for mediocrity.

*******

"Not bad for this village," Raymond mumbled, sweeping his gaze across the room he had rented. The bed was not as large as the one he had seen back in the Fireflies Inn, but this would suffice.

Especially in this cold weather, Jasmine and Lyla had been cuddling with him while they slept in order to keep themselves warm at night. So, this small bed was enough for that.

The room was a sturdy wooden structure, and the floor was clean and dry. The nightstand had a decorative oil lamp placed on it, and several of them with much simpler designs were mounted on the walls.

Raymond directly went to sit on the bed and started taking out the things he needed for painting. It was among the things he had purchased for the trip.

"Master, what are you going to draw?" Jasmine asked curiously. "Can you draw a portrait of me?"

She had a portrait of herself, but that was left behind in her old room in the Clover Manor. Raymond had hastily packed everything and had missed her portrait. She liked it very much as it was a gift from Master Thomas for her 16th birthday.

She had almost forgotten it, and if she hadn't seen her master doing the painting now, she would've only realised it when the new year came. That was when she celebrated her birthday since she didn't know when her real one was.

"Mmm, let me finish drawing Grandpa Theo's. I will draw yours later." Raymond nodded as he started drawing the outlines.

Meanwhile, Lyla, who heard Jasmine mentioning the portrait, remembered something and took out a parchment from her spatial ring.

"Jasmine, does this belong to you?" She unrolled the parchment and showed her the beautifully drawn painting of Jasmine, who was still in her teenage years.

Jasmine's eyes sparkled in happiness as she took the painting and carefully held it closer to her chest.

"Lyla, you're the best!" Jasmine exclaimed. "Where did you get this?"

"I got it from Allen Clover," Lyla informed her.

"Hmph, that lecher! What was he doing with my portrait?" Jasmine shuddered, trying hard not to imagine anything repulsive.

"Master, if you weren't in such a hurry, you wouldn't have missed this portrait!" Jasmine complained as she scrutinised her portrait. "See? If it weren't for Lyla, that pervert would've been using this for who knows what?"

"You do realise that if it wasn't for that picture, then Lyla wouldn't have found us so easily and tried to kill me, right?" Raymond questioned in a flat tone, having finished drawing the outlines of his grandpa's face.

"I know that master but this is a gift from Master Thomas, you know?" Jasmine pouted. "So, I can forgive her for attacking you!"

"Oh, speaking of gifts, I almost forgot!" Raymond completely ignored Jasmine, who was forgiving Lyla on his behalf. The set of daggers he had gotten from Mobi was still lying inside his pendant.

He took out the rolled up leather belt and placed it on the bed. "Jasmine, come here," He beckoned her.

"What is it, master?"

"Here, try these daggers. See if you're comfortable with using them."

Jasmine took the belt carefully and unrolled it to find eight slots attached to it. Six of them were carrying daggers with black handles.

"Wow! They are so sharp!" Jasmine unsheathed one of the daggers and ran her finger around the edges of the sharp blade.

The blade gleamed against the light coming from the oil lamps, giving off a dangerous vibe.

"Go on, test them." Raymond encouraged.

"En." Jasmine brought her mana and wrapped it around the dagger. Slowly, the dagger started to hover. She had to be careful with sharp objects like this.

With her focus completely on controlling the dagger, Jasmine suddenly increased its gravity, and the dagger fell onto the floor with a thud, its blade deeply embedded in the floor.

"Hmmm," Jasmine frowned thoughtfully, and her hand moved upwards, causing the dagger to slowly rise from the floor.

This time, she decreased the gravity of the dagger and sent it flying towards the door. It moved at an astonishing speed that even surprised her.

"Woah!" Jasmine tried to stop the dagger, but before she could do anything, Raymond appeared before the door and caught the dagger between his fingers.

"Careful, Jasmine! We can hide the hole on the floor but not on the door. If the proprietor finds out, I will have to pay for the damages!" Raymond warmed her.

Jasmine struck out her tongue at him playfully and looked towards the remaining daggers in the belt. With a mischievous smile on her face, she willed all the daggers to hover in the air.

"Master, how fast can you move?" She asked, tilting her head cutely.

"Alright! Let's see if your daggers can outrun me. It will at least serve as training for you." Raymond answered her reluctantly. The sooner she was tired out, the sooner he could get back to his work.

"Then, here I go!" Jasmine declared and sent the flurry of daggers in random directions.

A few moments later…

"Huff…huff…damn it! How can you move so fast, master?" Jasmine groaned, short of breath. He was toying with her, making sure to catch the dagger just before it touched the walls or floor.

"Hehe, do you still want to try?" Raymond smirked at her.

"NO!" Jasmine shook her head crazily. Her head was dizzy from trying to keep up with his movements. "I want to cultivate. I am exhausted, master."

At least, one good thing came out of their little game. Jasmine had better control of the daggers now than she had before.

Raymond was dissatisfied with the outcome. If she had few spells and better mana control, she would have lasted far longer than this.