Ria knelt in front of Hikari's ritual circle inside her chambers.
Thud! Thud! The of Hikari's bare foot stepping into the ritual circle.
Badum! Badum! Ria's heart pounded with every step.
"Let's begin."
Hikari sat down in the middle of the ritual circle.
She was surrounded by a ring of glowing mana crystals slotted into the ritual circle.
An outer ring with swords and musket balls in their molds.
Beyond that, a metre tall concentric wall of depleted mana crystals.
Illenium. The material that traps mana.
Ria grabbed a flask of herbal mixture and gulped down the bitter contents.
The raw mana from the mixture quickly spread throughout her body.
Hikari did likewise with a flask ten times the size.
Ria walked to the center of the circle to Hikari.
The giantess smelled quite fresh as she skips her workout on enchantment days.
Ria placed both hands onto the rune carving and took deep breaths.
She began.
She channeled her mana, pushing it into the rune carving. As she poured her mana into it, the Illenium at the bottom of the rune glowed with a feeble red blow.
"Nice" Hikari whispered from above.
"Umm.. Really?" Ria blushed at the compliment.
Ria got up and made her way out of the ritual circle at jogging pace. She left the chambers.
Outside, Ria could feel a surge of mana from inside Hikari chambers. The intensity of the mana felt as though needles were piercing her skin.
"Ahaha! Don't worry, she's only using a fraction of her mana." Sir Parkel laughed.
A few moments later, the mana from within the chamber dissipated.
"Oh, looks like she's done. That was quick."
The Burly Knight walked up to the curtain entrance. "Can we come in now?"
"Yes" The reply came from inside.
"The maiden needs another minute lads. Unless of course you have spare underwear for a boner."
"What shameless brute you are, drill master." The maid scoffed.
"Haha! I take that as a compliment. It does make me feel young. It's not my fault that sorcerer silk costs an arm and a leg. Even then, I don't think we have solved the problem."
"She's probably done now so you can get your steel asses in there and out of my sight. "
"Alright! Alright! Not even the Madam RazenHeir would chew my head out like this."
Ria followed the knights into Hikari's chamber.
"Hello there Hikari! How are you doing!"
Hikari has finished assembling her usual white cotton shirt and pants.
"Good. Drillmaster"
"Haha! Good to hear! Now, let's take a look at your good work!"
The drillmaster rolled his belly over the Illenium wall into the ritual circle. He picked up his enchanted sword.
Three runes. White, Red and Purple. Hikari's own enchantment which hardens the blade and reduces the weight for the wielder. Ria's pure flames. The purple runes, signature of the RazenHeir house.
The drillmaster slotted a mana crystal into his gauntlet. The sword burned with Ria's brilliant red flame. "Ah! Excellent. I bet I can cleave those flesh abominations now!"
With a click, the mana flow into the sword was cut.
But the flames persists.
"Oh darn! I forgot, now I have to hold this for another fifteen minutes."
Hikari bent over, pinching his sword with her fingers and snuffing out the flame.
"Ahaha! I never get tired of seeing that! Sure wish I can do that too."
The drill master walked over to one of the musket ball containers and picked one up.
"Oof. Hot! Hot! Hot!"
He loaded it into his musket through the breach along with a gunpowder cartridge in the back.
A knight pushed a straw dummy into the chambers and leaned it against the wall just beside the entrance.
Bang! The drill master fired. The musket ball went right through the straw dummy and set it on fire.
"Oho! A normal ball wouldn't even pierce the dummy. Excellent work as always Hikari."
The knights keep their freshly enchanted swords into their scabbards, filling their pouches with their enchant ammunition.
"Well! Rest up now. Your lunches are on the way. There's still the cannon balls and armour plates that need enchanting. The rest of you. Chop! Chop! Back to the training grounds."
T he men left the room, leaving Ria and Hikari alone.
"Oh my. This was quite the shipment of enchanted weapons you just finished. Really high quality too. I think it normally takes more than a dozen enchantors a whole day to finish what you just did. "
Ba dum! Ba dum! Hikari could feel Ria's heart pounding.
"its nothing" Hikari's gaze turned to her briefly before looking straight again.
"It's definitely something alright. A heck of a lot of something actually. You are amazing, Hikari. I could barely do one sword myself."
Hikari took out her short sword and placed it infront of her lap.
"Come here."
Ria walked towards Hikari, kneeling in front of her sword. The sword was almost her height, the runes on the sword were the size of her head.
"Will you enchant my sword for me?"
"That would be an honor! I didn't think a basic training rune would be of any actual use. I'll give it my best shot then."
Ria squealed as she placed both hands on the rune.
Hikari placed her index finger in front of Ria's slender hands. Taking a deep breath, Ria channeled her mana.
The huge rune barely glowed at first.
Then, A torrent of mana from Hikari's finger caused the rune to glow brilliantly.
"Arrggh.." Ria groaned in pain as the intensity of Hikari's mana burned her hand.
After a few grueling seconds, the rune's power subsided. Ria's hand was red and numb.
"Are you alright?"
"It's alright. I'm happy to help. The maids will handle this."
Hikari stared at Ria, seeming contemplating over something.
Ba dum! Ba dum! Ria's heart pounded.
"I'll be at the front."
"Yes. I'm too weak to accompany you. But I'll be following your progress very closely. If you ever need more socks, I'll be sure to make the necessary arrangements"
Ria notices a slight upward curve in her lip movement.