He repeated the very sa process he usually did for casting spells.
He concentrated, drawing mana from his mana conduit, channeling it through his veins.
Then, he went towards the three steps of conjuring a matrix.
Imagination, which creates a matrix for the spell.
Instincts, which decide how the spell should react with reality.
And finally, Fueling and release, in which you feed the mana into the matrix, and it manifests into a physical form.
Of course, as he finished the second step, he imdiately let the spell go.
It took him around 5 seconds, which was a substantial amount for a single spell.
In an active combat, this would be fatal.
But this was exactly why he had to train it.
He can’t just rely on his pre-fired spell.
Sure, in the past month, his capacity for how many matrices he stored increased a lot.
But it was not unlimited.
And it didn’t hurt to have a backup.
As he always said, "There is no such thing as being overprepared for anything."
"Pevon," He called him out.
"Hmm?"
"Please wake up in 30 minutes," He requested, "And keep on rotating that deer over."
"And also, don’t let the fire get too hot."
"And-"
"I get it, I get it," Pevon cut him off, "Just do your thing."
"Thanks," He said, as he started conjuring matrices one after another.
Every 5-7 seconds, he did it again.
And the mana expenditure was very low.
Pretty decent idea if he said so.
...
For the next thirty minutes, he lost track of the ti as he was engrossed in his training.
The ladies arrived not long after he started training, and he was so engrossed in the training that he didn’t even notice them.
"What is he doing?" Carroll asked Pevon, since he didn’t even bother looking up to them.
"Training," Pevon replied, and the rest nodded.
Understandable.
And then, they all sat around the campfire, talking to each other.
And by each other, it was mostly Pevon and Janet talking to each other, and Zuri and Carroll gossiping about the rest.
They didn’t want to interrupt this duo.
"Raven!" A while later, Pevon shook him awake.
"Hue?"
"30 minutes are up." He inford him.
"Ah!"
As he tried getting up, he stumbled.
He was tired from all the training.
But he pushed through and joined the campfire.
Making a cut, he saw the at needed a little more cooking.
So, he just started training again, this ti with less concentration.
He was ntally tired, but he still had mana in his conduit.
So, he decided to utilize this ti.
...
With makeshift banana-leaf plates, everyone was having a feast.
A deer was more than enough to sustain them for quite a while.
But Carroll turned out to be a surprising glutton.
The biggest eater in the group before was Pevon, but it was understandable for him.
He was tall and was a warrior.
Carroll, however, had a much smaller fra comparatively.
He wondered where all that food went.
"Would we use fake aliases provided to us?" Raven asked, taking a bite of his at.
"I don’t know about ’we’, but you certainly would have to," Pevon answered, with his mouth full.
Mhm!
Everyone agreed, their voices muffled.
After all, he was a Marlowe, and he was present in the Holy States.
"I reckon we should already start calling him by his alias to not slip up later," It was Carroll who spoke up this ti.
"Yeah, who knows if we would just call him by his real na randomly?" Janet supported her decision.
And everyone nodded in agreent.
After all, there was no such thing as being overprepared.
They were provided fake aliases and Identity proofs to use by the Cathedral, but it was completely optional.
Heck, they said they could continue using their real nas as long as they don’t utter their last nas.
Anything as long as their identities weren’t revealed.
"So," Raven asked Zuri, "What alias am I supposed to use?"
Zuri thought for a bit, rembering what it was.
"I think it was Dante," She answered.
"..."
"That’s it?" He asked, surprised.
Where was the surna?
"Yeah," She nodded, "You are supposed to be an orphan who was adopted by a monastery."
"An orphan, huh?" Suddenly, his voice dimd down.
So unsavory mories poured into his mind.
Orphan, huh?
He rembered his life back on Earth.
The day his entire family went missing, he was looking for them like a madman.
Not just him, but several other people from the slums.
But no matter how many tis they pleaded with the cops to do sothing, they always refused.
People went missing for even asking about it.
Everyone but him.
"Raven?"
"Raven!"
Huh!?
He was suddenly jolted awake from his daze.
"Are you alright?" Pevon asked, concern laced his voice.
Raven looked up, only to find that everyone’s growing face was looking at him.
’Ah, fuck!’
This was why he always tried not to rember anything from the past.
Slap!
He slapped himself hard, making others flinch.
"Are you seriously alright?" Janet asked, as she leaned closer, just like Pevon.
Zuri and Carroll also looked concerned.
"It’s nothing, just so..." He sighed, forcing a smile over his face, "I just rembered a sad story about an orphan I once read."
"Oh, ok!" They nodded reluctantly.
They understood his unwillingness to share the rest of the story, so they didn’t pry further.
Even the usually airheaded Janet held back.
’Get your shit together, Raven,’ He bit his lips, taking another bite of the deer at, ’You still have a long way to go.’
He hasn’t even found one of the Lunar Divine Shards yet.
Much less revive the Goddess.
But it wasn’t like there wasn’t any progress at all.
He felt like he was hitting so sort of wall, which could be a curse or a boon, depending upon how one handled it.
Because during that period, you’d be stuck, without showing much progress in your powers.
Unless you gain and enlightennt.
And thankfully for Raven, he had a way out.
He just needed to keep pushing.
"Dante, it is, then."
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