CH962 Thera’s Perspective

Thera’s first instinct was to decline. Even if she’d use her charm from time to time for the convenience of it, it still wasn’t a power she exactly liked having, the years of suffering under it having left enough of a mark to make the idea of doing anything with it feel distasteful, even if she knew that was a foolish, rash reaction. There was her goddess, offering to personally teach her something, she couldn’t just listen to a gut reaction. While the way she viewed gods overall had admittedly grown more complicated in the last few years, she trusted Anailia implicitly, with her goddess lightly chuckling as she listened to all of those thoughts go through her head.

“I understand your concerns, child, but it’s just a spell I want you to learn, nothing more. Whether you choose to use it or not is up to you, but learning it at the very least will do you no harm.”

“I’m sorry, I understand that. Of course I’ll learn it.”

“Wonderful,” she smiled, full of nothing but love and warmth. “I assure you, should you choose to employ it then it will serve you well. While a measure of skill is needed for it, hence why I can only teach to my awakened children, given your own power, I’m sure you’ll be able to display it in a way comparable to myself.”

“Alright, so what is it?”

“You remember when the demidemons were discovered, yes? Before they were found, I’d lured in a group of demons for your little lover to look at. It may have seemed as though I’d found them ahead of time and simply directed a charm out towards them, and while I will admit I was aware of their presence, what I actually did was a bit more complex. What I used then and what I’ll teach you now is a selective charm, able to narrow in on a species or, if you truly master both your magic and this spell, even a specific target to drive them to you, leaving the rest of the world unaffected. While not perfect, given the demons’ frankly annoying level of adaptability, what I’m looking to teach you is a way you can selectively draw in demons any time you go out.”

After the lesson, learned far easier than expected for how her intelligence had been so significantly raised, Thera reported on her quest before going back out into the untamed lands, wanting to test what she’d been taught.

Getting out as far as she could, she got the spirits with her to confirm there were no people in the area before she worked on assembling her spell and binding it to her soul, prepared for something to go wrong and getting it. As soon as her mana was charmed, she heard the woods come alive around her, everything starting to move her way and left her to switch to a simple fear spell before she could be overrun to drive them off.

Alright, I understand it, which just leaves practicing ‘till I get it right, she told herself, accepting that it would take some work. In which case, I guess I should confirm first before I waste too much time in this area.

“Have any of you detected any demons around?”

“A few,” a smoke spirit answered. “Would you like us to lead you to them?”