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[SOLDIER First]

"Indeed. Now we are one step closer to the truth behind all of this."

[Powder Miner]

Fer let out a sigh at Vortai's prompting, and then nodded. Well, there truly was no dodging it now, was there? Fer pulled Xanti aside and...
:"...so. Uh... hey, Xanti. How has it been going for you these... eight years, now? Have you found success here with the church?"

[Solymr]

: Move your ass in that case.

The Abbess hurried Ethan and the rest along the corridors until reaching an open garden with a lone old-looking dummy.

: Alright then, show us what your new ring can do, preferably without blowing the entire House up.
Meanwhile Xanti was herded away by his brother.

: Well, it has been quite fine, as you can see. The church has been a great help towards developing my knowledge and my strength all these years... Forgive me for not asking how you've been in return, but there's a more pressing question in my mind. How is our family in the capital faring after these recent events?

[Haspen]

"But what if the ring IS for blowing things up? You are prepared for that, no?"

[Solymr]

The Abbess simply pointed at the old dummy in the middle of the garden and backed away.

[Haspen]

"Okay, then. Let me, uh, let me summon the powers of the ring..." Ethan formed a fist with his hand and pointed the ring at the dummy, shaking his hand a bit.

[Solymr]

For a few seconds, the ring didn't do anything. Until seemingly Ethan's magic neuron perfectly bounced off a corner of his skull and caused a beam of energy to forcefully spew forward, incinerating the dummy, along with part of the ground, the surface of a wall, and an eagle that happened to soar in the wrong spot.

: It's quite similar to the use the usurper gave his ring... Though the control leaves much to be desired.

: I'll be damned, that dummy stood for 25 years against high caliber magic, fortified by Zaku's seals, and a pirate with the magic skills of a potato destroys it three days away from retirement! Ah well, at least now I know how you got through his defenses. The Abbess went to fetch another identical looking dummy and placed it in the former dummy's spot, applying some spells of her own, before returning to Ethan.

: Gotta say though, if you don't want friendly fire or burning down your own ship, you need to think differently. Got a weapon in hand?

[Haspen]

The pirate simply pointed at the axes hanging at his belt.

"I got me axes, yarr. I'm not blowing these up, though!"

[Solymr]

: Grab your least favorite axe then, and try channeling the ring's power through it when swinging instead of directly at the target. I'll be able to repair it if it doesn't get completely atomized.

[Powder Miner]

:"...hmm."

The question was a little bit of a surprise, but the image that Fer had built in his head really was looking false.
:"Eh, well, on the whole, I'd call it... mixed."
:"Some splinter group of lunatics did come to the library seeking to burn the place down - me and the others were there, and held them off long enough for Peio and Ekaitz to evacuate, so I'm pretty sure they're safe. I can't say what happened to the library's structure in the end, though it was a hell of a fight," and that was a phrasing that Fer surely wouldn't have used in his meek teenage years, "and I'd like to hope we more or less turned them away."
:"Uh, but they were pretty prepared. They got all of the valuable books stored away safely - I actually helped them get that set up. So there's no horrific loss of knowledge resulting from it, either way."
:"Actually, Amberly did too - that's my nun friend, so really there's been a lot of progress made there on their views about the church, really."
:"Um, right - as a matter of fact, they actually told me to tell you that they are sorry, that they realize you aren't a fanatic, and that they would like to see you again someday."

[Solymr]

Xanti's face reflected his inner rollercoaster as Fer expositioned what happened with the Jassos, eventually settling in a concerned expression.

: That's... quite a lot to process. I'm deeply saddened to hear about the library, about it being burned again by that kind of people... and I was worried that it would entrench the rest of our family in their ideological positions, or even that they would blame me for it.

: But by what you tell me, you were able to fight them off until they've managed to safeguard the most valuable, and break through their stubborn resistance? Amberly was supposed to come here for training, wasn't she? I'm impressed, for all the scholarly prowess of the Jasso family, it was her that made our most important breakthrough.

[Powder Miner]

:"I think that there's really a lot that can be attributed to Amberly's strength of will, that's for sure. It was really impressive to watch her stand up for herself upon initially meeting the both of them. Definitely a lot better than I could."
:"...as for the library, mm. We'll pick up, and we'll move on. I guess that a lot of my role in it depends on how this whole journey with this whole crew ends up turning out. I really never could have imagined that I of all people would have ended up so deeply involved in so many insanely important -and, unfortunately, seismically violent- events."

[Haspen]

Ethan thought for a moment, pulled out the old, simple, iron axe, and did the magickry, trying to aim at dummy.

[Solymr]

: Has it been that bad, then? Hmm... perhaps it's time I left the House of Scholars, if only temporarily. What have you been up to until this?
Ethan wriggled the axe around trying to do the magicky thing, until he was able to properly hack at the target with enough of the ring's power activated to send a wave of energy that struck the dummy with significant force.

: Not too shabby. Make sure to get some practice now, but don't overdo it unless you want to blow yourself up in real combat.

Ethan gains ability Ring of Magic: activate to turn the currently equipped weapon into a Magic Weapon for 1 turn. 2 turn cooldown.

[Haspen]

"Looks like extra effort for the same outcome in battle. Could have its uses, though."