The important part of this skill is that Giana is the caster and I assist in casting, meaning that Giana is the only one who shouldn’t get interrupted. Giana is tanky as fuck and near impossible to interrupt so that works. And I can deal with any attempts to interrupt her, so this is perfect. But because Giana is the caster this collaboration magic has to lean more into her affinities than mine, so water element it is.

  A feature will be added to where the main control can get handed over to me, something normal collaboration magic doesn’t have. So, after the skill gets cast, Giana is in charge of the bulk and effects while I will handle control over it. It fits our specialties.

  The only problem is that Giana has 0 firepower.

  Ooh I have an idea!

  It took longer than I thought, and it was more complex than intended, but it’s the first real collaboration magic I have with Giana. All we needed was to hope that we’re in tune enough to pull this off.

  It’s done. Here is the magic circle. I will use the [Illusionary Dagger] floating next to you so you can get your tails out and crunch the numbers.

  Giana briefly turned back to the woman who had captivated my heart and had her tails analyze it. “This is complicated… and put together so fast… how is it called?”

  Well, you probably can’t read it. Our last name is ‘Dragoncall’ so wouldn’t it make sense that we had magic in the shape of a dragon? It’s a no-winged dragon, though. It’s called [Soothing Dragon, Angry Dragon].

  “Like your Dragonvein avatar?” I nodded. “I like the name.”

  Giana finished and returned to her disguise, I did so too and the effect of my [Illusionary Daggers] wore off.

  “Ok, we will take you up on your offer! Forgive us for our arrogance, but we want to take on a council member as our magic needs a target. My sister and I will show you how hard we’ve worked!”

  Giana sure knows how to speak and handle people. Works as I’m not great with people. I got my catalyst ready and Nilah sent me mana.

  I had told Giana that Misha’s hair turn into the element of their highest affinity, so we will be doing that too with illusions.

  “Very bold. I will be your opponent.” It was the Misha that was here when I torched the city.

  Please don’t underestimate us because we are young!

  Mana waves erupted from us. Giana’s hair turned into water and mine into lightning. Lightning isn’t my highest affinity, but I’m a 9t and cheating is our thing. Fire also is getting nerfed in this new barrier, so it’s time for lightning magic!

  Giana started with [Soothing Dragon, Angry Dragon] and I stepped in front of her and cast [Lightning Umbrellas]

  “Going all out from the start, eh? And collaboration magic at this age. We will consider this a pass if you can finish it!” The council member said and sent a [Sand Tornado] at us.

  Oh, hell no! Not sand!

  I cast a [Lightning Cage] around her and used [Staff throw].

  “Ugh, so throwing the catalyst has also made it far outside Witchaven?!”

  The council member had to evade the [Staff Throw], probably expecting an [Explosion] but she was still in the cage.

  I held my left hand down, palm up and my other hand raised above my head, palm down, and purple lightning streamed between my palms.

  “And without a catalyst?!”

  Oh, it is with a catalyst!

  I gestured to the staff behind her that was discharging sparks.

  How about an improvised [Lightning Rod].

  The lightning left my palms and shot towards my catalyst, through the council member. The impact launched her into the [Lightning Cage] causing her to eat a stun.

  Ok, enough time to help you out!

  For the duration of the council member’s disorientation and cc’ed state, I helped Giana with the collaboration magic.

  A [Landslide] broke the [Lightning cage] and rushed at us. I grabbed Giana and teleported to the [Lightning Umbrella] floating above the ground and started another [Lightning Rod].

  It forced the council member to move again and I teleported to retrieve my staff.

  “Pesky teleporters!” A magic circle appeared and teleporting would be quite difficult now. No more [Staff Throw] shenanigans, it seems. That doesn’t matter.

  “Sister, take over this part!”

  I used another [Lightning Umbrella], grabbed it and floated next to Giana. I took over the collaboration magic, and she started casting various water barriers to block the attacks of the council member.

  “It has been a while since talented youngsters like you have appeared!” The Misha tried to play it cool, but she seemed frustrated that she couldn’t break Giana’s barriers.

  The other council members seemed to like our battle, especially the headmaster.

  “Ok sister, these barriers should last for a while, toast her good!” Giana took over the collaboration magic, which was over 65% complete.

  I used my mana control to form a staff made out of purple lightning. If I can’t throw my catalyst, then I’ll throw something else. I held it above my head, twirled it and sent another [Staff Throw] but it looked more as if I was holding an enormous purple thunderbolt and throwing it.

  “This is ridiculous! I haven’t seen mana control like this since…since Ayaru Mistflower!”

  I was glad to hear that name, at least they still remember her. My [Staff Throw] ‘missed.’ I just need to distract her enough for Giana to finish the collaboration magic.

  This council member moved around a lot. In times like this, I miss my [Frozen Ground] into slip and freezing their pants' combo. Can I do something similar to that with lightning?

  Giana was still floating by holding on to the [Lightning Umbrella].

  Let’s see, hmm [Electric Field], never used it.

  My staff got planted into the ground and the floor got electrified and zapped the council member.

  Eat this!

  I formed another staff made out of lightning and chucked it at the council member. She cheated, hopped on her catalyst and used [Levitate] and flew away from my attack. She got in range of my [Lightning Umbrella] which started shooting bolts of blue lightning at them.

  “Ugh, fighting you is so obnoxious!”

  She finally managed to break one of the three barriers that Giana had put up.

  I pulled my staff out of the ground and pointed to the council member, and alternated between [Arcane Bolts] and weak [Lightning Bolts].

  “Getting cocky now, eh? Those weak skills do nothing!” She didn’t dodge but blocked it with a barrier. The spots that blocked the lightning attacks discharged sparks.

  [Lightning Rod] time!

  I spread my hands again, purple lightning streamed between them and shot toward the electrified spots on her barrier. The sound of electrical buzzing and crackling filled the room.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Hmm not enough power behind it eh?

  The barrier didn’t break but it did give the council member a scare though.

  [Stone lances] managed to break the next barrier, and she was getting serious as I saw several dangerous looking mana circles. I could interrupt them easily as the casting took a while but… wouldn’t I be tipping off that I’m the Silver Menace?

  1 got interrupted as it was bad news. I pretended to fail to deal with the other skills.

  Hoo boi, maybe we bit off a bit more than we could chew.

  Mana coursed through my body to strengthen my next skill and I created a [Lightning Barrier]. It was extremely weak though…

  “I see, one sister specializes in offense while the other specializes in defense.” The council member pointed her catalyst at me and the attacks broke through Giana’s barrier and my pitiful barrier blocked all of it!

  Is what I wished, it stood no chance and got obliterated, and I got hit full on. The wind got knocked out of me and I got launched in the wall behind me.

  “Thank you for holding on sister!” Giana said and her voice sounded fierce.

  I got doused by water and got a massive heal.

  An enormous no winged dragon made out of water formed and was coiling around me, indicating that she finished the collaboration magic.

  And just in time, oof that hurt.

  The [Soothing Dragon] blocked every attack by coiling around us and kept healing me. It roared and cast [Soothing Rain], washing mana off our opponent.

  I controlled the movement while she controlled the effects. The [Soothing Dragon] did no damage, but it kept washing mana off the council member and blocking attacks. I made it do cool loops and smack her around.

  The water still had weight. It wouldn’t hurt much, but it would still be annoying.

  “Shall we swap?”

  Sure!

  I handed control over to Giana, while she handed the effects over to me. The water elemental [Soothing Dragon], changed to a lightning elemental [Angry Dragon], a red lightning [Angry Dragon].

  Giana’s control wasn’t as great as mine, but she still hit the target and it did damage, a lot of damage. It stunned the council member, which made it easier for Giana to hit up the follow-up attack.

  A mana wave went out and the council member’s hair turned into sand.

  Eww sand! Let’s toast her!

  “I think that’s enough!” The headmaster said with a powerful voice as she used an item to wipe out magic.

  Our hair went back to normal and the council member’s magic dropped. Our collaboration magic didn’t care.

  “Well, isn’t this interesting, why is your dragon still active? It’s made out of mana, right?” The headmaster asked out of curiosity.

  You can’t put an angry dragon to sleep! Get that sand user!

  I said as I pointed at the sand user.

  Giana canceled the collaboration magic and hit me with a headlock. “I apologize for my sister’s behavior! She was dropped on her head as a child!”

  Hey! You got dropped too!

  The ‘0 damage’ headlock turned into a ‘1 damage’ headlock.

  “An interesting duo, I’m satisfied. As you can see.” The headmaster gestured at the council. “We’re impressed.”

  But we didn’t finish off that sand user yet!

  “Minerva! We’re in front of the council!”

  Oh right! I apologize for my misconduct, please punish my sister in my stead!

  The ‘1 damage’ headlock turned into a ‘2 damage’ headlock. “Why can’t you just be quiet?!”

  “It seems that the strength and effectiveness of that collaboration magic is a testament to your closeness. We await the fruits of your labor. Thank you for your demonstration.”

  Some Misha in fancy dresses came and escorted us. They lead us to a residential block that seemed new. It was close to the new academy, and we got lead to a new looking house.

  “This will be your resident for now, we will prepare a lab for you two. Make yourself at home. We will come back after a week to show you your new lab.” The Misha made a polite suggestion and left.

  This place sure has changed. I’m not sure if that headmaster is doing a good job, but it looks so on surface level.

  “They will come back in a week… I thought we would have a quick, get in and get out. Will the rest be ok?”

  I’m only worrying about Rai Shin; our races would have gone extinct ages ago if we couldn’t adapt. We need to agree on a lock that both of us can open.

  “A lock?”

  I explained how Misha lock their doors and labs.

  “A skill, both of us can use but nobody else… that’s quite difficult, isn’t it?”

  Is it though? If we use foxfire, it will be easy for us to enter and impossible for others. It can even be something simple like a [Foxfire: Fireball] and nobody would be able to get in besides us.

  “But does that skill even exist? Wait… can you make it?!”

  I can now but that will come later. Let’s get inside first.

  The house was empty and spacious. It wasn’t as well-built as my other 2 houses, but that was because Barusu had personally built those two, it’s unfair to compare those to this Misha house.

  “It looks lovely!” Giana went to explore, and I started on creating [Foxfire: Fireball]. Witchaven…Mishaspire might be one of the shittiest cities I’ve been in but also the most important. It’s quite similar to Boshi town. Shitty but I would have been a nobody without them.

  [Foxfire: Fireball] was extremely simple and efficient. Its magic circle was quite small. Not that it would matter, as racial skills don’t have their magic circles appear. I created a dummy magic circle with normal mana runes that we would show to mask the use of racial skills.

  I looked up, and the house was already half furnished.

  So only in this situation do you move fast?

  “Do you like it?”

  It was quite cozy. She sure had a lot of furniture stored, probably because Noelle regularly makes huts and houses. It’s a good thing she takes care of the furnishing, as I don’t have furniture, only Rignef’s couch and the ball of fur that I once tried to turn into a couch. The rest had been burnt or destroyed in the elven village.

  I could give this to you.

  The failed couch got launched out of my dimensional pocket and almost knocked Giana over.

  “Ohh, how soft, is this from your fur? What is it?”

  A failed couch, it’s yours now.

  “It’s not as soft as your tails.” She placed it on a spot, and it seemed as if it was made for that spot. Is this some kind of ability?

  Right, you deal with the furnishing, I will work on the security of this house and booby trap it to trap nosy Misha.

  I got back to work and layered barriers that block unauthorized access, eavesdropping, magical traces. Anything that the Misha could do to spy on us or to inconvenience us would have to be prevented with the barriers and systems I would put in our house.

  “...va…Minerva… You have been at it for 5 hours, take a rest.”

  It seems time has flown by. Night had fallen and there was no trace of the house being empty earlier this day.

  Whoa, are you the goddess of furnishing?

  It was hard to describe but she had an eye for detail. No spot looked awkwardly empty or overcrowded. It also was relatively neutral and not leaning too much on the fact that 2 women are living here.

  Right, my vocabulary isn’t advanced enough for this, but all I can say is that it looks cozy.

  “Thank you, now go rest, or I will cast [Sleep] on you!”

  Just 4 more hours!

  “How do you keep saying this for either sleeping more or staying up more!” My eyes got heavy as my body started to relax. I suspected that Giana had used [Sleep] on me before she broke my focus…

  follow if the story is interesting enough.

  Ayaru Mistflower