Spell Weaver [Book 2 Complete]

Sunlight barely crept through the gaps in the curtains and painted warm stripes across Alex's far bedroom wall. He opened his eyes and savored the quiet of the early morning. Wriggling back and forth within the sheets, he marveled at the luxury of his new bed.

He didn't feel tired. He felt like he'd slept and rested more in the last two days than he had in a long time, but for some reason, the comfortable bed and warm sheets called for him to close his eyes again.

Despite the comfort, he forced himself to sit up and push his legs over the side. His muscles protested as he stretched, and he was careful not to disturb Olivia's sleeping form beside him. The scar on his shoulder pulled tight, and he remembered the fight with Naraka, the Firstborn. He rubbed the spot and then traced the slashing wound on his other shoulder from when he was ambushed weeks before that by the shadow sect members. Both had healed well enough, though scars still remained as slightly discolored and puckered flesh. From there, his fingers drifted to the bridge of his nose, and he felt the raised line there.

At least that one makes me look tough. Or maybe like I can't dodge a sword.

Behind him, Olivia stirred but didn’t wake. He looked over his shoulder and saw her dark hair splayed out on the pillow and smiled. She’d spread out to occupy the space as soon as he sat up, taking up twice as much space as he had been.

Slipping from the bed, he paused to watch her chest’s steady rise and fall. As he watched, he saw wisps of dark shadow curling around her shoulders through his Heavenly Eye.

We'll figure this out. Whatever that thing is doing to you.

Alex walked down the stairs, and as he passed his office, Valtherion stirred and followed him. The gym welcomed him with silence, and he only turned on half of the lights to keep it somewhat dim. He turned on some music at half volume and looked around, finding it odd that Mark wasn't present. With a shrug, he loaded plates on the bar before testing them and adding more plates. A wry smile crossed his face as he counted the weight when he had found something suitably challenging.

A world record amount of weight for a warm-up... I guess the system has really got some perks.

Alex settled under the bar, and after two sets, he began to feel a little bored. So, he activated [Parallel Mind] and made his primary focus stay on his lifting form and breathing while the other portion of his mind drifted to practicing with the [Mirage] skill. After having recent thoughts of a potential jail break, he realized it had been some time since he worked on the movements of his illusion. He’d been focusing so much on his ritual circles that some of his other training had fallen to the wayside.

The illusory figure stumbled through basic walking motions a short distance away from him in the gym, and its movements still looked quite jerky and unnatural. He watched it move between one of his sets and couldn’t help but smile as he saw Valtherion floating along next to the illusion’s head. He seemed to be sniffing at it, and Alex watched closely in case the little glutton decided to try to begin siphoning the mana from the illusion. However, after a few minutes, he seemed to lose interest and went to inspect something else.

Why is something so simple, so damn difficult? I've been walking all my life. Why can't I make this illusion walk normally?

He lay down for another set and sweat began to bead on his forehead as he increased the weight and strained his muscles. Nearby, the phantom figure of his skill crashed into the squat rack, and as soon as physical contact was made, the illusion shattered and dissipated like ethereal smoke. Alex reformed it and tried again. While progress felt slow, he felt that there was nothing to do about it other than continue to practice.

He kept going through the rest of a push workout, and after his final rep, he settled onto the mats in a cross-legged position and closed his eyes to focus on mana cycling. For that particular exercise, he wanted all of his focus, attention, and mental stats focused on getting the mana within his core moving. He felt the familiar resistance as he tried to guide the energy into the swirling whirlpool; he still had the same issues as before. Controlling the mana into a tight area had gotten easier, while getting it up to as fast a speed as Eura had shown him was the difficult part.

Well, he did say it would take years to see results, not months.

As he continued to work at it, his focus was momentarily interrupted as Val came and settled into a tight coil in his lap. He folded his wings in tight, and before laying his head on Alex’s knee, he looked back up at him. When Alex gave the top of his head a few pats, Val seemed satisfied and rested his head while Alex continued to train.

Alex pressed on for about twenty minutes before he felt exhausted, like he'd been attempting to push his hands against a brick wall and expected to slide it across the ground.

He spent some time stretching out his muscles on the mat, and while he did, he began his practice with [Mirage] once again.

After his workout, Alex walked quietly back into the master bedroom. Olivia hadn't moved other than to roll over and spread out more now that his side of the bed was vacant. He walked past the bed and into the walk-in closet where he grabbed a pair of dark jeans and one of his heavy weighted black hoodies.

Steam filled the bathroom as he showered and washed away the morning's sweat. The hot water did a lot to ease the lingering tension in his shoulders, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Olivia. He wanted to help, but he wasn't sure how.

After he was dressed and walked down the stairs, he could smell the delicious scent from the kitchen before he had even made it out of the foyer.

"Just in time!" Gabby's voice carried her usual enthusiasm with a little more oomph. "I need a taste tester for my first skill-created magical creation."

"Magical creation?"

She gestured at a plate where perfectly scrambled eggs had a slight blue tone to them. "I’ve only been able to make meals to boost your stats occasionally over the last month, but yesterday, I finally earned the skill that will let me make it happen consistently. It’s called [Cook’s Creation]. Try these eggs. I got them from the auction house yesterday and had to do a bit of testing, but this monster meal should actually increase your stats for a time."

Alex used his Heavenly Eye to analyze the item and saw that the dish was recognized by the system and definitely had mana running through it.