While the other two were struggling to figure out how to do their techniques. Tesilim's problem was that his attention was split into way too many things. Not only was he trying to figure out the whole enhancement thing, but he was also trying to learn spells and gain a better understanding of using his Presence as well as the working of rituals. Of course, there was also the fact that he was still trying to learn his own techniques and even improve his fighting style.

  Luckily, it wasn't too overwhelming, as he could compartmentalize the many things he was trying to learn. Often during the day, he would do much of his usual training. This involved using his old spells to better understand them, as well as his new spells, which he was managing to finally put together after being able to focus on them once he had achieved relative mastery over his illusions.

  Naturally, all his spellcasting happened at the appropriate times, since it wouldn't do for him to cause random destruction simply for testing purposes. This meant using the much calmer ones, like healing or cleansing, during their walks, or his combat ones when fighting monsters.

  Other parts of this training were completed throughout the day, including sparring with Lili and his other party members. This was done without his dice weapons and would translate into fighting actual monsters every now and then, so he could gain actual combat experience without the influence of his magical item. And though the process began terribly with Tesilim getting beaten up constantly, some of his knowledge did begin to translate from his use of his dice weapons. After all, he had actually fought with the weapons, which meant at least some of their imposed knowledge had stuck.

  Combat also allowed him to better understand what exactly he wanted his techniques to do. He already had in mind what he wanted to accomplish with them, but it was one thing to think of something and then actually have him pretend to use it in combat to see if it would be effective. Furthermore, all the repetitive training he was doing with combat spells also allowed him to begin transforming some of his existing spells into actual techniques. Of course, the progress on that was low, since he already had dozens of other things he was working on, but at least he was beginning the process.

  While the day was used for most of his physical training, it did not cover all of his magical training. Sure, he knew what kind of techniques he wanted to make and worked on turning his old and new spells into techniques, while also training to cast them better and faster. However, what he still had to work on was his Presence casting.

  Presence casting was a slow thing that required focus as he tried to manifest magic without anything but his will. It was effectively using a technique without using a technique. Meaning there were no words or anything for him to really go by, except for his mental power to make magic out of mana through sheer willpower. Tesilim compared the process to using telekinesis to grab a bucket and use it to make a sandcastle. The process used his imagination, mana, and concepts, and then he had to use his willpower to bring everything together to make magic happen.

  To this end, imagination was imagination; one had to imagine the “spell” or “castle”; then the sand was the mana, and, to some extent, the concepts. Finally, his willpower was the bucket, as well as the person who made it possible by applying the correct pressure and timing. Otherwise, the sand would fall apart, be too rigid, or be placed in the incorrect spot for the castle to be built properly.

  Even though the entire thing was somewhat tricky, Tesilim was making some progress. This was mainly because he was focusing on only one spell, which was his Magic Missile spell. That being said, he had been working on it for a long time now and was finally starting to be able to create one magic missile without everything falling apart.

  Outside of his Presence casting, he was doing normal Presence training with Lili and Alyx, as he became better at controlling and affecting things with it. However, out of everything, the thing that helped his Presence the most was having to do the camping rituals every night. Well, he wasn't doing them, but he was helping Alyx do them along with everyone else, which helped him work out his magical senses. Naturally, he forgot most of the things the gnome ranted about regarding other rituals, but at the very least, he was starting to learn how the basic alarm rituals were done.

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  Finally, one of the many things Tesilim asked during their training was about joint incantations and their inner realms. At the time, they had sat around a campfire as they prepared to end their training day, and he felt it was time to finally ask the things that had been on his mind for a while.

  “So, I have been wondering for a while, how exactly do joint incantations work?” Tesilim asked aloud, but everyone knew it was directed at Lili or Alyx.

  “That’s rather simple, actually. The entire thing revolves around your Presence and requires some training. However, essentially, two or more individuals can sync up their intents with willpower, and by casting the same spell, they can direct the magic to form into one larger spell,” Alyx explained.

  “Wait, so if you learn how to do it, you can just do it with anyone else who also knows?” Tesilim asked, surprised that it seemed so simple.

  “Yeah, pretty much, I will probably teach it to you at some point. I haven’t because it's mainly used by certain ritualists or casters,” Alyx added.

  “Oh, okay, so it isn’t that common?”

  “More or less, yeah. It is taught to most clerics or in academies, but otherwise, not many bother to learn it,” The gnome said this like it was common knowledge, which, as far as Tesilim was concerned, could be, at least based on everyone else’s reactions.

  “Alright, moving along to my next question, what's up with my Soul Realm? I discovered it a while back and have been wondering why I haven’t been told about it, especially to use it for training.”

  “Huh, was that when you were doing the contract thing?” Lili asked, clearly thinking back on that day, which was the day he died, at least momentarily.

  “Yes, it was how I managed to use Chaos Mana on the contract, which, by the way, doesn’t that mean I can probably enchant items with it?”

  Hearing his words, Alyx and Lili shared a look before his girl spoke, her tone dead serious, instantly telling Tesilim whatever she was about to say was no laughing matter.

  “Yes, but don’t bring that up again, at least for now. The implications of that are concerning.” Then she took a breath, appearing to relax. “Now, as far as your Soul Realm, well, one of the reasons why many don’t use it is that time passes differently in there, and it is possible to kill yourself via starvation or dehydration. Of course, that can be mitigated by having someone wake you up, but it also means you are essentially defenseless while in your realm.”

  “That doesn’t sound fun, but it doesn’t seem that problematic.”

  “True, which is why the second reason is the most notable,” She said, then looked to Alyx, who spoke after swallowing the last spoonful of his dinner.

  “Basically, Tesilim, in the Soul Realm, you will find that it is easier to cast because you don’t have the same limitations as in the actual world. Things like Ambient Mana, residual magic, and your mana channeling. Also, it's harder to concentrate when something is killing you, so training there doesn’t necessarily transfer over to real life.”

  “Sure, but isn’t training, training? Wouldn’t it be worth it anyway?”

  “Yes, and no. Training in the Soul Realm can be useful so you can defend yourself if something does invade. However, on the other hand, training in real life translates over to your realm fairly well, so why train in there and make no progress where it matters, when you can train out here, where it does?”

  “Wait, isn’t Jolly’s realm her Soul Realm? Can I make mine like that? And turn into the real world, and make it so it’s the same as training out here?”

  “No, you can’t make something like that at our rank. Usually, High B Rank is when you get some inkling of it, then at A Rank, you can start creating something partially. Finally, S Rank is the golden spot,” Lili answered definitively.

  “Well, that sucks. Is there no other way? Some crazy magic thing I can do?”

  “No. At least, as far as I know. Alyx?” Lili added, looking at the gnome.

  “Yes, there are other ways, but they are unique things, like the cheese elemental, and we know how that happened. However, I have met some others with proper realms at early ranks, but they are often the cause of experiments or due to curses and interesting mixing of bloodlines.”

  “Alright, I guess no easy training for me,” Tesilim answered, deflating slightly.