After seeing the flushed faces of the soldiers after the process was complete, Priya was beginning to regret asking to go last. The anticipation had been building all afternoon, and the rest of the unit's officers were awake again to whisper hints of what to expect in her ear.
The aura around the camp now felt more like the first-year Academy dorms, with a mass of untrained young Witches whose auras were quickly growing and still somewhat unstable.
Given some time, they would become balanced. It was just the forced progression that was making them fluctuate as their bodies struggled to adapt.
Other than the group on watch, they were all working on activating their weapon spells smoothly, and many of the stronger ones had moved on to activating the enhancement circles on their physical armour as well.
Every bit that they could do themselves was a bit of extra mana for the five officers to use for the team's magical counterattacks.
"Can we get a bit of privacy? I do have an image to maintain as the commanding officer." Priya complained when it was finally her turn.
"I suppose. We just wanted to see your cute pleading face anyhow. But since you're the leader, we have expectations. When we lower the ward and come back in an hour from now, we want to see results in your mana flow." Ilyas insisted.
"Yes, Wolfe, show our dear leader how to gain power." Ella teased.
"But no marking her." Wolfe agreed before Cassie could say it again.
Priya fidgeted and wrung her hands as the others left, and a ward went up around the bunker, leaving her alone with Wolfe.
"You heard the nice ladies. If you don't object to any of this, remove your armour spell and come sit here, facing me." Wolfe spoke gently from his seat on the bed, not wanting to spook the already nervous Witch.
Priya hesitated for a moment, then removed the spell, revealing her battle-scarred figure to Wolfe, whose training-toned muscles were now clearly on display over a pair of Morgana Coven uniform pants with his own armour dismissed. More physical contact was better, after all.
"That's it, right here in my arms. We have a whole hour, so I'll take good care of you."
When the ward was removed, and the Witches came back in to see the progress, Priya was sleeping soundly on the side bunk, with a sleeping bag pulled right up to her chin, while Wolfe was just stepping out of the makeshift shower with a towel over his shoulder.
"Just in time. Her mana veins were more flexible than I thought, and the Lieutenant has made great progress today. She didn't last the whole hour, though. That might take practice."
The others inspected Priya as she slept, unable to sense the veins, but the way she was growing her aura was enough to stun the other officers.
She had gained more in an hour than she had in the last month, and she had already been the strongest among them before they met Wolfe's overpowered group.
"The bond means we share those gains five ways, but we get constant gains as he meditates as well," Reiko explained while Priya smiled in her sleep.
"Wolfe, can you go help the squad on duty? We need to have a meeting between Witches, and they need a caster on duty to activate the enchantments. They don't have the power to do all of the defensive spells yet if they're attacked." Ilyas asked, taking command while Priya was asleep.
"I'm on it. We will shout if anything happens."
He really was exhausted, but his mana felt amazing, and more importantly, he had gotten a new message from the Inheritance.
[Bloodline Skill Active: Clarity] allows mana capture and transfer as if the user were in a state of meditation at all times.
With this, he could go about his daily routine and still get maximum growth. His second Mana Focus was already full to bursting and spilling over to refill the complete focus, which he had spent entirely on enhancing Priya.
Her Talent was incredible, and for a while, he had thought he wouldn't reach her limits within the hour, but he had managed to leave her with a few hours worth of mana to cultivate into her aura in the end.
"So, they finally moved you to the line, did they?" The team leader asked as Wolfe joined the group patrolling the camp.
"They're having an important Witches-only meeting. No boys allowed." Wolfe chuckled.
"Likely about how to keep everyone's mouth shut. Increasing our ability on the first day was astounding enough, but this actually increased our potential, and that's a huge thing.
It's not supposed to be possible to do that. I've never even heard of it being possible to change your potential. It's as ridiculous as telling someone you changed your birthdate.
Most of us could be officers now if we requested the training, and that would tear apart the unit, not to mention the questions it would raise among the top brass.
Personally, I think it's best we stick together and keep quiet. What other unit could be this powerful? We already had five veteran officers. Now we've got nine, plus a Demon Lord and nearly two hundred rookie Witches."
When she put it that way, she had a very valid point. The goal of these patrols is to drive back the monster tide, and they could do it much more safely than anyone else.
Wolfe smiled at the team leader and looked back to the bunker, where he could sense a growing excitement and a hint of embarrassment mixed together.
"I think they'll start teaching you all basic attack spells soon. That way, you can start the charge with a volley and use the rest of your mana to keep your enhancement up.
The utility magic might have to wait, but think how great it would be to start the fight with two hundred [Lightning Bolt]or [Fireball] spells."
An archer came over and draped her arm around Wolfe while he talked.
"I hope that they do. We could be the greatest special forces team on the line. Hell, we're basically a main defence line by ourselves already. We just need one more team to make up the numbers."
"Come to think of it, what am I supposed to be doing here? I can't transfer you all mana from this far away without a link of some sort." Wolfe asked.
eαglesnᴏνel "The military issue armour plates are linked. Just touch one and try to activate the spells for the whole team to enhance everyone and grant them your strongest element's armour spell." The team leader explained.
"Oh, I should practice that in advance. I've never done it before." Wolfe agreed, then placed a hand on her chest plate and visualized the whole team as he poured mana into the inscriptions.
It took one-eighth of his mana, but he had every spell on the armour set up for the next four hours, the duration of the patrol.
"There we go, making up for my slacking. Did I get it right?" he asked.
"Flawless, even if the black armour is strange to look at. We usually only activate it for the duration of a battle to save mana, but if you've got mana to spare, feel free to keep everyone defended."
"I'll keep that in mind."
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