^^ Lady Jade ^^

— Alice —

'After witnessing Zara hunt with me for hours on end, I understood her capabilities very well, I thought. Being bonded with her mentally and spiritually, we shared many of the same attributes. I also discovered that we shared the same Spirit Abilities; essentially, when I summoned my Bulette spirit, and used his abilities, her defense skyrocketed. When I summoned the Succubus or Incubus, her whistling (a skill she'd picked up,) gained the ability to charm monsters, and probably people. When I summoned the Amphiptere, however, her wings expanded from their baby tattered forms into a large width, nearly five times the length of her body, and she was capable of flight, and even carrying me by hugging her arms and legs around me and flying like that, which was amusing and fun.

Growing my own wings was apparently not a thing, because as a human my body didn't evolve according to the Spirits, I only used their powers and abilities; flight wasn't an ability for them, it was an anatomical feature. As such I would need a creature that flew without wings, or couldn't fly normally even with them... such as a Pegasus. Unfortunately, Pegasi live on the open plains, not the forests, so that wasn't currently possible, so I'd need to use that Dragon Sigil, in conjunction with something to make small platforms, or maybe just pulses of air?'

I paused in writing my notes, and grabbed a pair of boots, examining the soles. "Not thin enough for magic to pierce through... Hmm..." I created a small hole, in the bottom of the heel, and placed molten crystal into it, to create a direct connection. I made sure to use crystal that was already Vulcanized, meaning it was not able to be electrocuted, so there was no issue with reducing the boots' purpose, which was to remain grounded at all times.

"Ahh, but what if I get struck by lightning...? Alright, then how about this..." I began creating a one-way path through the crystal, which would expel any malignant electricity from my body in the way it always would, directly through the feet, but in a non-harmful way.

That finished, I carefully carved the dragon Sigil into the inside of the sole, so that the foot was against it, and then put them on, cautiously pushing mana into the Sigil. My body instantly lightened, and I moved my hand, surprised by the immediate swiftness. I thought I'd simply move faster, but it seemed that Amoj had lied to me; this spell did in fact make me lighter. "I knew he didn't have Helium inside him!!!" I snapped, irritated at the deception, and made some notes, of the process and the success.

"Alright... now for part two: stepping on the wind... how to manage..." I kicked my feet up onto my desk, gazing at the black leather boots with the raised heel, not quite a stiletto. It was small enough that it gave me some height and accentuated my calves, but didn't impede walking or running, even in the woods. "I could create temporary air platforms, but the requires mana... it would be inefficient... unless..." I grinned and designed a small circle that would convert air into mana, just small bits, and then use that mana to create a step in the air by locking its position. It wouldn't last very long unless I fed it directly, but it would take almost nothing to walk on it, except the activation mana.

I was carving it into my boots when someone cleared their throat. "You have a reason for breaking into my lab, I assume?" I sighed, not turning around.

"I was invited in... the clerk was quite polite."

"Great, the Sorcerer is back... she was likely scared by the fact that you're apparently the best Sorcerer on this continent, according to everyone I've asked. She wasn't supposed to let you walk right into my lab, which is private. I have a meeting room specifically for meetings. No one is allowed in here who isn't family to me, and therefore privy to any magical secrets I discover or create." I explained, and finished the carving carefully while he deliberated.

"I see... perhaps I unduly intimidated her... I apologize; a Sorceresses Lair is quite sacred... should I wait outside?" He apologized gently.

"No, I doubt much in this lab is surprising to you, and if it was, I imagine you're polite enough not to steal other people's work. I've asked around about you, as I said, and you are apparently the one who founded the Academy, in an attempt to train up knights and paladins and mages from all over the various kingdoms of this continent, so that they are not indoctrinated and raised with propaganda, and can decide their masters on their own. I respect that. So far, you've been nothing but polite to me, and so I will offer an apology for my rudeness in the forest, but not for my reasoning; you are a strange man who approached a woman alone in the woods. Power or no, Dragon or no, Reincarnation or no, that sets off a great many red flags, and I'd like to ask you never to do it again." I hummed and finished the carving in the second boot, placing them on my feet again.

When I turned around finally, he bowed his head. "I hadn't thought of it in those terms; you have my deepest apologies. I never considered the situation, and will endeavor to think forward in the future."

Next to him, someone I hadn't detected at all stood, and nodded calmly. "The way she says it, it does make sense. That sounds very untoward." A tall woman stood over him, nearly seven feet tall, I'd say, and built much the same way Buri now was. Broad shoulders, leading to thick arms and forearms, as well as equally jacked thighs and calves were all visible, as she wore a sort of sleeveless dragon-hide vest, and an armored war-kilt leading to thigh-high leather boots.

I raised an eyebrow slowly at her, and then looked at him. "I accept your apology, and would request to be introduced to this Amazonian Lass you've brought into my home without permission?"

He glanced at her, then me, and hummed. "Quite a few Faux Pas on my end, it would seem... this is the Lady Jade Gravstein, of the Far North."

I hummed softly, and spoke in Norse. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Tombstone. I am Lady Alice Taurus, Merchant Queen of this Forest, Founder of the Guild, Demon Queen and Heroic Dragoon. This is my partner, Zara Taurus, the Ancient Nature Dragon; though she is only a day old, she holds all the same knowledge as I do, through our Bond, but her vocal cords are not yet developed enough to say more than simple words, and not too many at once."

She grinned happily, and responded in kind. "Oh! Yes, pleasure to meet you, Lady of the Forest, and young Ancient One!"

Zara tilted her head at the woman, and approached her cautiously, sniffing her boots and the greatsword strapped to her back, before leaping up onto the woman's shoulders, and purring. "Is warm..." she sighed, wrapping around the woman's torso tightly.

I smiled and switched back to common. "She likes you... Now may I ask the reason for this visit as well as your original attempt to converse with me?" I asked, tapping the boots against the ground and activating them, hopping calmly on my own steps, up and up until I was near the ceiling. I used mana to keep it steady, and began to move the air platform under me, making a ramp of sorts that carried me around the room. "Well, it's still not truly flight, but it's still very cool..."

"Very... Victor, how did she do that? She didn't cast a Spell?" Lady Jade whispered to the smaller man, bending to speak in his ear.

"No, I imagine she enchanted her shoes. Excellent work, and very quick, but reliant more on her mana than anything else... it must be very draining, holding herself up with just interior energy. I doubt she can do it for long." He replied.

"Actually, it relies on magical Fission and ProtoCombustion of the oxygen under my feet To create a platform that's locked in place with magic, and requires almost nothing from me unless I try to alter the shape of the platform." I raised an eyebrow at him.

He blinked a few times, and hummed. "What is... Fission? And ProtoCombustion? I know what Combustion is, and the root-word Proto means 'Primitive' or 'Original', so Primative Combustion must mean it's deconstructing the air somehow and making it explode, then containing the explosions and turning them into mana somehow?"

"Very good for just figuring out the root word... You're correct. Of course, I expect you not to reveal it to anyone else, I've been trying to perfect it for a while now, and it is something of my Premier Work, or it will be when it's finished." I grinned.

He smiled. "Indeed, I'd never share Magical Secrets that weren't my own. Lady Jade will also remain silent on the matter. As for our original purpose, I was informed of your Classes, Demon Queen and Hero, and felt it was in both of our best interests if I invited you to my Academy before someone else tried to either recruit or kill you."

I lowered myself back to the ground, almost, and stood in the air just high enough to be eye level with him. "I see. And are there any other schools or academies of similar worth to choose from? With the same degree of faculty and resources available to students?"

"There's a bunch of Academies, really, but they are all connected to the various kingdoms, and they don't accept or train outsiders." Lady Jade answered, still staring at my feet.

"Hence the reason my friend and I started the Academy; impartiality. And boredom. We'd won all our battles, and gained all our riches, and didn't know what else to do besides take apprentices, which started the whole thing." Victor shrugged, and the raven on his staff croaked again.

"The Dean is getting Impatient. What are you doing, signing her up for school with a Legal Contract?!?"

Victor chuckled, and spoke in Latin, to my surprise. "I think it will come to that, yes. She's quite astute."

I grinned wickedly. "Awww shucks! And you read my mind, really, I was just thinking about a contract! A simple one, of course, that states that any of the magic I design or create is mine, and anything else that comes from my hands; my physical and intellectual property is to be properly respected and kept sacred. I am also not signing on to any militias and such, and would like to connect my Guild to your academy; like your academy, my Guild is impartial, and not beholden to any one legal entity, though there is a general legal code to our activities. Giving opportunities for hunting and clerical jobs within the Forest could be a proper first step for them. Also, I'd like to offer my services in creating a link between our two locations, one that doesn't require a master mage to activate? Lastly, for any training exercises, I can offer Wood Golems that are perfect anatomical replicas of various monsters, even dragons, though I haven't yet made a dragon golem that can fly... my newest discovery will make that possible, however." I nodded.

He hummed and took a few notes down, legal notes in shorthand that stated all the things I'd offered. "And what would you wish in return, besides your Intellectual and Physical Property as well as your personal agency to be guaranteed?"

"Access to the best materials and resources you are capable of providing, regardless of whatever restrictions are placed on them, such as first years being not allowed to be messing with them or such, and I'll pay for them of course, in gold if necessary... assistance and/or personal training in a few theoretical magical things I haven't quite figured out yet, such as teleportation and Spatial Magic... assurance no one will kill me for being a Vampire...-"

He stopped writing, and glanced at me. "What type of vampire?" He asked severely.

"-Vampire Queen, of course, a True Ancient, and not yet technically awakened until I have a physically Mature body so that I'm not stuck as a Lolibaba forever.-" I waved a hand casually.

He nodded and continued again. "Of course..."

I continued. "-And Access to any criminals from the surrounding area who are to be executed, so that I can drink their blood and/or do experiments on them, and I'll take full responsibilities for those experiments, and I'd like that part to be kept between yourself and the Dean, who would likely be the one who facilitated that... I've also derived a way to remove the curse of vampirism from someone, so if you want I can manage that as well..."

"The standard Legal Vampire Contract, we've had that before, but our last one died a few years ago, so that's no issue at all, right Victor?" Lady Jade asked, and he nodded in agreement.

"Alright, Good. I'd need prompt assistance in traveling back here every time we have days off, (though I don't know how often that will be,) as well as adequate Live Predators of varying challenge levels for my dragon to hunt and eat, because she's a growing dragon and needs her exercise... oh, my siblings are members of your academy, and have both recently gotten dragons as well, so they'll need food plus raw iron and coal in copious amounts, which I'll be happy to pay a bulk price for... and that's about it. And I'll listen to and decide upon any requests you'd like to make now, to add onto your side of the deal, I wouldn't want to make it too unbalanced in my favor; only a bit of profit for me, per se, as any good merchant hopes for." I hummed.

He chuckled softly, and read the bullet points. "Yes, Well, I'd like for you to create some Wands for the school, as well as enchanted weapons of various types and power levels, and you won't have to pay for the materials, or the iron and coal for the Magma Dragon. We'll assist in the sale of any of the surplus wands, and provide training from our resident Dwarf MageSmith, as well. And of course we wouldn't ask you for any personal works, only ones that are standard and non-secret." He asked.

"Wands, hm? I don't mind, I suppose, once I know how to make them, and I have my own Private Laboratory on campus. Anything else?" I asked, making my own notes and beginning a legally binding contract.

His eyes widened. "You'd... be okay with other requests?!?"

"Hmm? Sure, why not? You haven't asked for much, and I've asked for quite a lot; as I said, I'm interested in mutual exchange... though, it's about 7:7 requests here, so go ahead for an 8th." I explained, and left a full four pages blank for requests and rewards, as well as my standard 'breach of contract' clause. That simply verified that if the contract was breached, both a monetary reparations was necessary, as well as a physical relinquishing of any previously gifted products or permissions, such as keys or items of my creation or design, or any derivatives of such; following that was a clause that detailed escalating punishments for any harm or offense given to myself or my family.

It was a quick contract, not very detailed, (besides my well-rehearsed punishment clauses,) but I left an open clause for later clarification with permissions from the two mutually agreeable parties. The larger, longer, and more legally binding agreement would include independent clauses for each and every paired request and reward, so that they could be removed from the contract as they became no longer necessary, such as the terms for Coal and Iron for Lena's Dragon, which would possibly no longer be necessary once I could produce the same materials with alchemy.

Victor looked over my shoulder, and chuckled at the pages. "You'd make a decent Contract Mage..."

"I am a Contract Mage." I smirked at him, and continued. "Now do you need or want anything else? Don't be shy, ask away. I'm happy to speak my mind if I think you're overstepping your bounds; I've been a woman for almost sixty years now, after all." I raised an eyebrow at Lady Jade's snort, followed by a bray of laughter.

Victor surprised me by blushing, and rubbing his goatee to hide his smirk. "A-Ah... Yes, indeed. Well, to be honest, your ability to tame monsters could be incredibly useful, such as bringing monsters to our students to examine or battle?"

"Alright, that makes sense. Three rules; 1: I won't help you slaughter animals. You want to kill them, you do it the hard way. 2: If you'd like to examine an animal, I'd be happy to help, provided I am given instantaneous or very quick(less than four hours, maximum,) transportation to and from the site where the animal is and where it's being taken. 3: you will not ask me to harm sentient beasts, so long as they are not currently presenting a clear and present danger to themselves or others, through no fault of their own." I raised an eyebrow again, as he pondered his answer.

"Those seem like reasonable rules, yes. Alright." He nodded, making notes again.

"That's 7:8... Alright, in return for that, I'd like more than just the prisoners in the Academy. Maybe the cities nearby without their own Vampire would be willing to give their death row people to you, though for experiments, not as food for a Vampire. That part of our deal is still a secret." I nodded.

"Are you... particularly thirsty?" Lady Jade asked, confused.

"My Dragon is a Blood and Lightning Dragon. She also requires blood." I smiled as Zara purred around the frozen woman's shoulders. "Don't worry, she's very well-fed today."

Zara yawned sleepily, and then mischievously licked Lady Jade's cheek slowly, tasting her. "Mm... Tasty Human..."

I snorted loudly at the look of panic on the giant woman's face, and Victor chuckled as well. "Yes, more people can be managed... you'll need both live predator animals and humans?"

"She likes variety. As do I." I smiled back at his confused face, and then finished the document, and filled in the requests from both parties as succinctly as possible, clarifying the more vague details, then held it out to him. "Anything else, or would you like to read that and then sign it?