Skadi's parents stayed for a few days. They negotiated some deals with Helena's family, then they left again. They had other business to attend to. But we all got a round of hugs before they left. Cassie's mother still had not arrived. It was possible that she had been delayed. Or something could have happened on the road.

Cassie was nervous because she feared her mother's arrival but she simultaneously worried about her mother being late. There was not much we could do though, other than wait. She did busy herself with alchemy as a distraction. Interestingly, Hatsumi and Skadi joined her a lot. Meanwhile I still tried to train Nyx, with mixed success.

Also, I noticed something. I picked the small feline up, she was in her kitten form.

"I think Nyx has gained weight." I said, while holding her in front of my face. Nyx stared back, unimpressed.

"How does a skeleton gain weight?" Helena asked. We had just finished a training session.

"Denser bones?" I mused.

"She has eaten some undead during the hunt. And I have noticed that she sends Ivy and Yoru out to catch rats." Helena pointed out.

I looked into Nyx's eyes. "You would think a mighty undead could hunt her own food…"

Nyx materialised a purple tongue and licked her lips. Well, she did not really have lips. She licked her mouth?

"But that would cut into her nap time." Helena pointed out.

Nyx nodded.

"And she trains commanding other undead." Helena added.

"Don't encourage her laziness." I complained.

Helena walked next to me and took Nyx from my hands. "Hm. She is a bit heavier. Is her core growing as well?"

"Yes, but I can't say by how much. But she is getting better at magic as well." I admitted.

"Maybe she will develop an ability to armour her bones, or harden them." Helena mused.

"She does not have an earth affinity. You can't do that with water or death magic. She does have her ice armour though."

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"But her body could generally get harder, right? She could be improving her body with mana, like a magical beast?" Helena asked.

"True. Maybe the magic is changing her bones, just like a living magical beast changes their skin over time. I wonder if feeding her creatures with hardened bones would help." Before I even finished my sentence I heard purring. I shook my head and muttered: "Glutton…"

"We need a proper fight! It's a shame that Dad has not found any bandits, or vampiric nightshades, or other monsters…" Helena sighed.

"Koyuki, Helena, do you have some time?" I heard Skadi ask. I turned around and saw that she was back, together with Cassie and Hatsumi.

"Sure. We just finished training." I said.

"Can we talk in private?" Skadi asked.

"Sure, let's go to my room." Helena suggested.

Once we were all inside Helena asked: "What is this about?"

"We have been working on something!" Cassie announced.

"Does it explode?" I asked.

"No, it's about improving ourselves!" Cassie replied.

"Hatsumi has been really helpful. We have studied her magic, her blood, her circulation… Magical creatures are doing something similar to your mana circulation." Skadi explained.

"Well, we created her that way." I pointed out.

"Maybe, but she is a vampire." Skadi replied.

"I have been studying some healing, as you know." Hatsumi said. "Thanks to my blood magic and Skadi's blood magic we were able to learn quite a bit. We think we can improve your mana circulation. We want the blood to absorb the mana."

"We have all been circulating for months now, we do it in our sleep, it is completely natural." Skadi pointed out. "All we need to do now is encourage our blood to make use of the mana. The mana already follows the blood inside our bodies. But it is separate, we want the blood to absorb it."

"We don't have blood magic." I pointed out.

"But we have alchemy!" Cassie announced. "So, I managed to get a bit more of a nightshade seed and experimented with it. I think we can use that for a potion to help our blood absorb the mana."

"Will that potion permanently change us?" Helena asked.

"Well, not directly." Cassie replied. "It will temporarily help our blood. I would need a blood sample from everyone and then make a specific potion for everyone. We would drink it before bed for a while. I think it should change our blood in time to start absorbing the mana by itself."

"What are you basing this on?" I wondered.

"Hans does have a decent library. We did some research and experimented with a bit of blood. I have been making potions for Skadi to help with your blood armor and we have noticed some improvements over time." Cassie explained.

"Will it be dangerous?" I asked.

"It should not be dangerous, no." Cassie replied. "We really have a lot of experience thanks to creating Hatsumi. And then there is our work on Skadi's blood armour. I had help from Horas back at the academy. All this experience combined with a vampire and our knowledge of circulation has led to that."

"And since we are at Helena's home we don't have to worry about anyone watching us. It's perfect! We have been working on the idea for a while now. Today Cassie had a breakthrough with her potion." Skadi explained.

"I do trust you…" I said. It did sound good and a temporary potion to help the blood absorb mana did not sound too risky.

"Let's do it!" Helena said.

"Um, there is one problem though…" Cassie admitted.

"A problem?" I asked.

"We need more nightshade seeds." Cassie replied.

"I would suggest we join a search party in the nearby woods." Hatsumi proposed, while showing us a map. "I have heard rumors that people have disappeared there. Hans is planning to send someone tomorrow."

It was also on the route Cassie's mother would have taken. Skadi put her hand around Cassie. "I am sure your mother is fine. She is a mage after all."

Vampiric nightshades were stationary. That one attacked people on a road was unlikely. But hunting them would certainly distract Cassie. And it would make her feel like she was doing something. Also, we did need the seeds. It sounded like a good plan.

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