Chapter 421: Lessons and Threads

Vee wasn't lying when she said she wasn't exactly the best teacher. She often failed to explain things properly, and if I wasn't observing her actions directly or didn't notice the key aspect, it would need to be repeated. The other issue was that Vee was rather impatient, leading her to rush over things or wonder why I hadn't understood after only a single demonstration.

On the plus side, I was exceptionally good at observing in this scenario thanks to [Soul Sight] and [Mana Dominion], and if I happened to miss something, my [Sub-Cores] on duty often caught it for me. This was enough to mostly keep the impatient spider in check, and if it wasn't, then a bit of culinary bribery was enough to bring her under control.

The trip to our next location was longer than I realized, and while we did camp out on occasion for the fun of it, we also took full advantage of our teleportation to head home. Vee described it as a scenic road trip and field trip combined, and once she explained it to me, I agreed with the premise. I was just glad to see her warming up to the idea of adventuring after she became such a homebody.

Speaking of warming up, that became quite an issue as we headed further north, as the temperature was rapidly plummeting. I was perfectly fine, thanks to [Cryo Slime]; I could no longer freeze, and even then, I had [Blaze Slime] to stay warm. Vee did not have this luxury, so we needed some solutions.

If she stuck around me, I could keep her warm with slime. In fact, with [Slime Puppetry], she didn't even need to stay that close to me, although she seemed somewhat reluctant to "wear slime" and asked for a better solution. I had Sylbera forge a ring and then had Sylvester infuse it with a relatively simple survival enchantment for warmth. While it kept Vee from freezing, she kept going on and on about wanting warmer clothes.

"You're a spider, do you even need clothes?"

"I'm going to be evolving soon. Do you expect my humanoid form to be naked?"

"I mean, you'd still be a monster… So it probably doesn't matter."

"Oh, trust me, if you saw the spider queen, you'd understand why clothes are very important. I'd better start getting used to them sooner rather than later."

I sighed. "Well, what do you have in mind? The size-altering enchantment can only go so far, and you tend to shrink and grow a lot."

"What if we work together? Your enchantments and my thread."

"I don't know if I have the skill levels necessary to work with [Rift Thread]... Yuzz couldn't, and she's got way more profession levels under her belt."

"Yeah, but she's spread out, while you're hyper-focused. Besides, we're bonded, so maybe you'll have some kind of permission from me?"

"I don't think that's how [Bonded Companion] works… But whatever, it's worth trying, I guess."

Vee bobbed up and down excitedly. "Heck, maybe you can use this as some [Mana Shaping] training. Brute forcing the enchantments into my threads."

"If you knew even the first thing about enchanting, you'd know why you never brute force anything… This requires a delicate touch, precision, and flawless execution."

"Maybe for ordinary materials, but this is [Rift Thread] we are talking about. Trust me, I've got a good feeling about this."

And thus, my magic lessons were somehow diverted into a crafting session. I really couldn't see this working out the way Vee thought it would, but I would at least humor her, if not for the opportunity to drop an "I told you so" on her at the end.

As Vee weaved clothes for herself, I had her make the necessary adjustments to leave a suitable, enchanting spot across it. What Vee was making looked like a weird robe, which she called a "poncho," since there wasn't much she could wear as a spider. This was for her top half, and she said she hoped it could be repurposed after she evolved. She was also making something that looked like fingerless gloves, and judging by the eight fingers, it was obviously for her legs.

Vee's weaving and tailoring had obviously improved since I last saw her work, and she admitted she'd gotten some tips and tricks from Yuzz. While the crafty goblin couldn't work with [Rift Threads] directly, nothing was stopping her from demonstrating with more ordinary materials.

Then it was my turn, and I needed to weave the enchantments into the garment. Since this was still entirely made from Vee's thread, she could still manipulate it, so I had her hold it in place for me and try her best to "open it up" for my work. Against my earlier dismissal, it actually seemed to be working, and judging by Vee's reaction, even she hadn't expected this.

"So this is enchanting? It seems simpler than I imagined…"

I frowned. "You've seen me and Sylvester enchant other things before, you know it's not this easy."

"Right…"

"Look. With metals, you have to engrave them in, and if the metal itself isn't Mana-compatible, you have to fill the gaps with one that is. If it's not evenly applied, many things can go wrong."

"And with enchanting cloth, you have to weave Mana-compatible threads into it."

"That's correct."

"And since my thread is both compatible and manipulatable, I can help."

"Yes…" I admitted.

"Sounds simple to me."

I sighed. "It's not normally this simple. I never formally did any outfit enchanting that wasn't involving slime, but a big issue you have to worry about is the thread breaking if there's too much Mana."

"Which isn't a problem with [Rift Thread]. Stuff is basically impossible to break unless you have dimensional claws or [Spatial Severing]."

"The other issue is the material needs to be receptive to foreign Mana… Finding the right balance between durability and receptivity can be an issue. I honestly didn't expect your threads to be so welcoming to my Mana."

"Duh, it's because we're companions," Vee snorted. "I'm expressing my intent for my threads to work with you. Like how you tell your cores to work with me."

"My cores can actually think… Your thread can't."

"True, but that's the power of [Mana Shaping]! I believe it will work, so it does. Just as I believed I could expand the dimensional space my organs occupied. Just like how I do almost all my magic at the moment."

I wanted to refute her words, but it was hard when the result, right in front of us, proved otherwise. I was the one enchanting, so Vee's [Mana Shaping] should've had no influence over the matter, unless it was somehow allowing her to open up the [Rift Thread] to me. Regardless, I kept working, feeding my Mana into the thread while mentally guiding it along with Vee.

For the guiding part, that was where our [Companion Bond] actually showed a very tangible benefit. We could already feel and talk to each other through intent, but if we pushed it to the extreme, then it was almost like I was holding her hands as she weaved for me. Like this, I stitched the required enchantments into her attire one by one.

"Excuse the pun, but this has really been a bonding experience," Vee snickered.

"Hilarious," I groaned, rolling my eyes.

The result was actually fantastic, so much so that it felt a little wasted on clothes to keep warm. I was admittedly tempted to see how far I could push the enchantments of this otherworldly material. Still, the fear of something going tragically wrong, like when I engraved Kappa with a storage enchantment, made me hold back.

Vee's outfit was self-cleaning, size-altering, weatherproof, and insulating. I had considered putting in self-repair or defensive enchantments, but Vee said they were unnecessary and instead opted for the cleaning functionality. She vaguely understood the maximum number of enchantments a piece of equipment could hold, and preferred it to be always clean rather than self-repairing.

"I just can't imagine it ever being damaged. If it does, we can make a new one, since this was pretty simple, all things considered."

I grumbled but held my tongue.

"The same goes for defense; it's already top-notch. I'd rather focus on areas my [Rift Thread] can't cover."

"Like cleaning…"

"Exactly! How the heck do you properly clean something across dimensions? Sounds like a pain, right?"

I wanted to point out that I couldn't even imagine it getting dirty in the first place, but perhaps Vee had experienced otherwise. After all, she had certainly used her threads to kill monsters before, so maybe it was possible to get dirty and nearly impossible to clean.

Whatever, as long as she is happy.

I had thought this might be an opportunity to get Vee interested in enchanting and thus magic, but after her outfit was completed, she basically dropped the subject like a ton of rocks. When pressed, she admitted she liked the idea behind enchanting, but not the work involved.

"If it were just sewing or stitching it in, I'd be all for it, but I don't like all the thinking and planning you had to do. Sure, it seemed simple from my end with you guiding me, but I can only imagine the calculations going on in the background. Of course, if you want to do this again, then I'm game."

"I'm sure Sylvester would take you up on that offer."

"Too bad for him that I'm a one-slime girl then," Vee giggled. "The companion bond only works with you. Even Sylbera, my trusty personal assistant, isn't bonded like we are."

"Interesting… I wonder if that means they could get their own companions?"

"What, do you want one of them to adopt Leon? I don't think that will fix him."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her joke. I didn't plan for me or any of my personas to bond with him, but it was interesting that it could be a possibility. The main reason would be that he might want to explore civilized society, and without the accompanying Emblem, he would be seen as a wild monster.

Although with Keldenar understanding the situation, maybe that could change? If the Kingdom of Keld opened its doors to "civilized" monsters, it might be a good way to attract other [Experiments]. Although that could also be a bad thing…

There was still the dragon that destroyed Juniper's dungeon, although I hadn't heard anything about it since then. Even Keldenar's information network hadn't heard anything about any recent dragon attacks. This meant either the attack against the elves was planned, since it knew they were isolationists, or there were simply no witnesses left behind.

Well, with [Slime Puppetry], I don't think I need to fear any dragon, and even if the worst happens, I have [Core Collective] as my backup life.

By the time we reached the snowy tundra of the north, I had pretty much extracted as much information as I was going to get from Vee. Unfortunately, I now understood why she had kept saying "it's based on feeling rather than logic" as it perfectly described how [Mana Shaping] worked.

I had certainly forced things to work in the past, but this method really took it to a whole new level. I was mostly successful in reproducing its effects through [Mana Dominion], though I still preferred a properly thought-out solution. Still, if I ever wanted to just throw out an impromptu spell with a slight modification, then it would definitely come in handy.

However, there was one notable and unexpected drawback that came with this: my [Sub-Cores] couldn't use it. My ever-diligent workers had become stumped when I ordered them to use [Mana Shaping] to produce a spell, and instead started going through the motions to weave it.

Is it too illogical for them? Or is it because they lack will?

I shared the knowledge and techniques with my personas and asked for their feedback, and the results were very mixed. Unlike ordinary [Sub-Cores], they could actually use it, though it was a struggle for them to pull it off.

Sylvester and Sylthaeryn got the best results, and it made me wonder if it was because they were the ones closest to me, the original. I briefly considered creating a persona that was an exact duplicate of me and seeing how it fared, but ultimately decided against it.

While I enjoyed the benefits from this overpowered ability, thanks to my being able to circumvent its drawbacks, this seemed like a slippery slope just waiting to happen. I even asked Vee about it, and she agreed it sounded stupidly risky to make a copy of myself, so that idea was shelved.

Regardless, while not everyone could benefit from being able to force spells into existence, the technique for reinforcing spells to empower them further was at least universal. Yes, even my ordinary [Sub-Cores] were able to use this, although none of us could demonstrate it to the same level of proficiency as Vee.

I wonder if there are other Mana techniques I should be on the lookout for? I'd love to add everything and anything to my [Mana Dominion]. Of course, I should try to see if I can combine Shaping with Weaving right now. While I might not be able to will weaves into existence, I should be able to reinforce them at the very least…

Overall, I was happy with the results so far, and Vee was just glad it was over. Now that we'd reached our frozen destination, we just needed to locate the labyrinth and then spend our time conquering it. Not to mention, Vee was on the cusp of her next evolution, and even I was excited to see what it was and whether it would be everything she hoped for.