My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth 19 Chapter 19 - Testing The Limits Of The Charm

I spent the night chatting and laughing with Terri, Sophia, and Lesedi until everyone retired to their own rooms shortly after dawn. Before I went to bed, I channeled my mana through my body to burned off the alcohol and prevent the future hangover. It was three in the afternoon when I finally woke up which didn't leave enough for training with One, but since I was already going to miss the next few days of training anyways, one more day wouldn't change much.

Alice was in the kitchen when I made my way there, no doubt waiting to see everyone when they woke up and made their eventual way down to the kitchen. She was sipping on tea as I walked in and she gave me a gentle smile. I returned it, but guilt must have soured my expression when I thought about last night since she gave lighthearted chuckle.

"The damage repaired almost instantly, Becca," Alice said as she ran her hand over where I had slammed my fist down last night.

"Yeah, I'm not that worried the damage to the table," I replied with a sigh.

Alice patted my normal seat next to her which I followed by sitting down. She wrapped my arm around hers, holding it with her free hand, and said, "There was no other damage, Rebecca."

I released a relieved sigh as I closed my eyes and rested my head on her shoulder. "I don't understand why my control is slipping so much these days," I sighed.

Alice chuckled, "You know exactly why you are having problems. Dragons are supposed self-a.s.sured and confident and you've been anything, but that since a certain someone joined the house. I really didn't spend any time with the Dragon Clan since their members are so isolated, but I did with the Fairy Tribe... Honestly, if it wasn't for the Elder Council of the Fairy Tribe, I imagine both of your peoples would have been a lot closer."

"Please, not today."

She kissed the top of my head and said, "Fine, just remember you will trapped with her for the next week and be sharing a room with her unless you expect her to share a room with Gustavo."

"I know, Terri, Sophia, and Lesedi made a point of bring up that fact last night," I said picking up my head as the golem walked over with a plate of peanut b.u.t.ter sandwiches since I didn't like jelly. "Thank you, Alice," I chuckled as I picked up a sandwich.

While I ate, Ella showed up and poured herself a bug cup of coffee. I had actually been the second to last to get up, only beating the late-sleeper of the house. The golem brought her a few small breakfast fruit pastries which she took with a grateful smile. After she had a couple of bites, she slide me a gold badge made up of three triangles that created a nine-point star. Tiny, black runes ran along the metal bands that gave off a red light in the right light.

"I've got an extra in my ring if you need it before we leave, but once we are out there..." Ella said.

"No worries, I understand. At least we have the zeppelin this time," I said.

"True," she agreed.

I pulled a gold chain out of my storage ring and looped the charm through it before I put it on. The charm gave off a crimson light as it sapped a small amount of mana and an itchy sensation spread throughout my body from where the metal touched my skin. I 'willed' my scales to appear on my hands and, although the charm warmed up, it remained intact.

"First step is successful, but I think I will try the next out in the yard," I said with a light chuckle.

"Good idea," Alice said.

I finished the last bites of my sandwich and headed out to the training field. Gustavo was doing some light training with the sword and shield golem while Terri was doing some target practice in the archery range. I made my way for the open sparring ring and called over my normal, unarmed golem. Since I wanted to learn the limits of the charm, I didn't summon my Chaos Lightning at first, choosing to instead spar heavily against the golem at rank five.

It was a little too strong for me without the support of my magic, but the constant fighting between One and the rank six golem, my body had toughened up quite a bit. After thirty minutes of sparring and a number of purpling bruises, since the charm hadn't changed once, I summoned my Chaos Lightning. Now, the charm did react, heating up to the point my shirt charred. I deactivated my magic and the charm went back to a warm state, but there was a thin, hairline crack running across one of the points. I reactivated my magic and watched closely as another crack appeared on a different corner. I tossed a bolt of lightning at the golem and saw another crack form.

"Golem, damage test," I ordered.

The golem changed to a neutral stance as the stone turned black in color. I channeled my Chaos Lightning through my body and saw another crack form, but the effect remained without breaking anymore, even after throwing a flurry of punches. After ten minutes of letting the lightning rang through my body though, another crack appeared. I let out a breath as I suppressed my bloodline back to my 'human' form and I looked over the charm without taking it off since it would break the moment I did.

Since it was only cracked, I wanted to check with Ella if it was repairable or if I could possibly switch them out, although the latter was unlikely. I headed back into the house in search of Ella, who was tucked in her study as usual. There were bookshelves built into the walls like Alice's, but only one contain book while the rest of the shelves were filled with different bottles of a dark crimson liquid, stacks of thin, yellow sheets of paper, or jars of small metal bars like what she used to make my charm.

"I see you didn't destroy it," Ella said with a smile as I walked in.

"Not entirely anyways, but there are cracks. I wanted to see if there was anything you could do," I explained as I held out the charm.

"Hmmm..." she hummed as she stood up, grabbing a mithril tool from her desk.

Ella had to lean in close as she prodded the charm with the needle-like point of her tool while wild red hair tickled my nose. I lifted my head, trying to avoid it, but I could still smell the flowers she crushed up to make combine with the ink she used for her talismans and charms that always clung to her body. I felt a shock and a tingle spread out from the charm, so I looked down as Ella backed away.

"I can repair, but only a few times," she said as she sat back on her stool, end rounded end of the tool pressing up against her chin.

"I've got it figured out on the limitations for using my powers, so why don't we see how much you can repair it?" I suggested.

"I was thinking the same thing," she agreed and stood back up.

"Do you think if we weaken the first one enough, I could switch them out?"

"No, that is just apart of the nature of charms. They are single-use items that must be used alone, only my talismans can be used together," she replied as we walked out of her study.

"d.a.m.n, can't blame me for hoping."

"If they would be, I would stock them despite the drain on resources after the Naga incident," she said, shuttering at the memory of the snake-men since she had a great fear of just regular snakes.

"Yeah, that one could have ended better," I agreed, since I nearly lost an arm when the chieftain tried to rip me in half since his spear couldn't pierce my scales.

We reached the training field and found Gustavo and Terri still in their respective locations, although Gustavo stopped when he noticed Ella. He walked over, storing his sword and shield away, and gave her a hug since she didn't come to the field often.

"What are you two up to?" Gustavo asked.

"Testing the limits of the charm," I replied.

"Nice, how's it going? I saw you training with the golem."

"Pretty good, my limited scales are fine and it looks like I can use a little magic if it's necessary. I'm going to need some airborne targets, you game?"

"What am I throwing?"

I scanned threw the items in my storage ring and finally decided on a stack of old plates that I could easily replace. Gustavo laughed as he took the stack of plates while I retrieved my new throwing knives. By channeling my Chaos Lightning, I would cause a predicable crack in the charm, so I decided I wanted to try channeling it into one since there was a difference between the mana I normally channeled with an electrical affinity and my Chaos Lightning.

"Give me one practice throw so I can try this without making an a.s.s of myself," I said to Gustavo as we walked over to the Riktonii course.

"Whatever excuses you need, sis," he teased.

"Jerk," I laughed as I shoved him lightly.

I pulled out one of the knives as I summoned my scales, causing the black scales to sprout out, through my skin. I channeled my Chaos lightning into the knife, causing a crimson glow to cover it that crackled with thin bolts of lightning that would randomly appear. Gustavo gave an impressed whistle which made me chuckle before I threw the dagger.

It was a straight throw at the nearest pillar with the other four main posts all in line, and thank goodness it was. The knife gave a crack of thunder as it flew out of my hand and it pierce through the first four pillars before becoming lodged in the fifth. Once it stopped, there was another boom of thunder and the middle of the last post exploded, severing it in half.

Needless to say, the three of us were speechless while the entire household charged over to the training field to find the source of the explosion. Terri, being in archery range, was the first to arrive as she looked over the fallen column in shock. Within a minute, everyone had gathered on the field and were asking questions.

"I'm sorry, Alice, I had no idea it would be that strong!" I said the moment she arrived.

"What exactly happened?" Alice asked as she walked over to the fallen pillar.

"I was testing the charm with my Chaos Lightning, so I tried channeling it into one of the knives Lesedi made me and... well, this happened," I explained.

To my relief, she laughed and waved a hand. The fallen top of the pillar rose into the air and hovered in place as the column repaired itself at a visible rate. "Did your knife survive?"

My eyes widen at the thought and I ran my fingers over an empty sleeve. "d.a.m.n, I'm sorry, Lesedi," I said.

"Give me your set when we get back and I'll craft you a replacement," she said with a sigh.

"d.a.m.n... How many times have we tried to break one of these things? And she blew it up with a single attack," Gustavo said as he placed a hand on the rapidly repairing column.

"Well, the knife is designed to multiple the power of her attack by five, so its not a fair comparison," Sophia said.

"Although the columns will repair themselves, I think it would be best if you don't use that method of testing again," Alice said as the pillar returned to normal.

"No worries, once was enough! I'm not using that again unless its a must," I said quickly.

"Good, now finish up with your tests. I'm going to make a big dinner for everyone before I send you off," Alice said with a smile.