Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"I really hate this...I get that we have to do it and all, but honestly, fighting Knights and Inquisitors is a lot easier than this," Sighed Ravella despondently, as she picked up a bird she'd killed with her whip.

"I have to agree, I always feel really bad whenever I kill an animal...especially when they're just minding their own business. But it wouldn't be fair to only have the others go hunt whenever we need to restock on food, so I force myself to suck it up and get through it. By the way, you didn't have to come with me, you know...today's your birthday, after all, no one would've complained if you'd asked for a day off," Replied Celia, as Ravella put the bird away in her Storage Ring.

"No, it's fine...Raven and I never celebrated any of our birthdays, we were way too broke for that. Birthdays were just like 'oh, cool, we're a year older now', nothing more. We've never had a party or anything like that, just the idea of that felt like a luxury that was way beyond our means."

"I see...last year, we totally missed Raven's birthday, since he never told us when it was, we only found out later. We felt bad that we didn't do anything to celebrate it, but he was indifferent to it and just shrugged it off. And now I get why. Hm...alright, after the Undead King is dealt with, let's hold a big, belated birthday party for you two," Suggested Celia with a smile.

"You really don't have to...but I suppose a party does sound like fun, I've never been a part of one before," Replied Ravella with a look of interest.

"It's kinda heartbreaking how casually you said that..."

A couple of days had passed since their training atop the Pearl Mountains, it was the 2nd of December, 1918, and having wrapped up their training, The Irregulars returned to the hideout this morning. And since their food supplies were about to run out, particularly their stock of meat, Celia and Ravella went out to hunt.

All the chores were shared among The Irregulars in turns, they kept rotating so that no one was stuck doing any particular chore indefinitely, including hunting and gathering food.

"I think that should be enough meat, right? Should we move on to gathering fruits and stuff?" Inquired Ravella, as she picked a couple of feathers off the tip of her whip.

"Yeah, sounds good. This much meat should be enough to last about a couple weeks...there's no point in hunting any more, we won't have enough room in the freezer, it'll just go to waste. Let's gather up a bunch of fruits, berries and nuts and then head back," Replied Celia as she stretched her arms up.

"Why don't we try growing those near the hideout? I mean, we grow a bunch of root vegetables like potatoes and carrots behind the hideout, so why not fruits too?" Ravella asked her, as they strolled through the forest.

"Well, trees takes ages to grow, and we'd have to spend a lot of time making sure they're growing properly. Root vegetables are fairly easy to grow, so yeah."

"Okay, but why not uproot an already grown tree that produces fruits and move it to a spot near the hideout? Aster's Magic should be easily capable of carrying a tree, and I'm sure Tacitus and my brother have enough brute strength to do that too," She pointed out.

"Huh...that's a good idea, I can't believe none of us have thought of that before. Let's run it by the others once we get back," Nodded Celia with a gleam in her eyes.

"Cool, that should make things easier going forward. By the way, if you don't mind me asking...what's going on between you and my brother?" Inquired Ravella curiously.

"H-huh? What are y-you talking out?" Stuttered Celia in response.

"Come on, I'm not blind, you know. I know you two aren't in a relationship or anything, but you do like him, right? As in, romantically?"

"I-I, uh...well, that is-...y-yeah, I do," She admitted quietly, as her face turned red.

"Woah, that was crazy cute. And I have no doubt that Raven likes her too, so their feelings for each other are definitely mutual...I probably shouldn't tell her that though, it isn't my place to say. Still, they both very clearly like each other, so they should just get together already," Ravella thought to herself in bemusement, before asking, "So, has anything happened between you two at all? There has to have been something."

"W-well...um, we did almost kiss once. That was...about two years ago, I think?" Muttered Celia in reply, averting her gaze.

"Huh? I'm sorry, did you just say TWO years ago? What? You mean there's been no progress since then!? How is that even possible!? I mean, I know my brother can get awkward around women he finds attractive, he always got all nervous and stuttery whenever he spoke to attractive women while we were living in Ruby Village, so I always figured he'd be pretty inept when it came to romance. But he's pretty comfortable around you, though I imagine he must have been at least a little awkward when you first met...are you seriously telling me nothing happened after you two almost kissed?" Responded Ravella incredulously.

"I-I mean, a lot has happened s-since then, we've been busy constantly, so w-we haven't really had that many opportunities to-...," Stuttered Celia defensively, before trailing off and taking a breath to compose herself before adding slyly, "Not to mention, a few days after that almost-kiss, a certain group of Inquisitors showed up and attacked us, which resulted in our old hideout being destroyed, so we had bigger things to worry about."

"Oh...r-right, I forgot about that. I'm sorry...," Muttered Ravella as her shoulders slumped, a guilty look on her face.

"Crap, I shouldn't have said that, I wasn't trying to make her feel bad," Celia thought to herself, frantically wracking her brain to try and think of a way to cheer her up, before responding as she thought of something, "U-uh, speaking of romance...you've obviously got a thing for Aster, though he seems to be the only one who hasn't noticed. I'm totally rooting for you, hope it works out."

"Wh-wha-...!? I-I, uh...I don't know what you're talking about!" Blurted out Ravella as her face turned red.

"She said she thought Raven would be inept at romance, but evidently, she's just as bad, if not even worse. Well...they are twins, after all, it must run in their blood," Celia thought to herself in bemusement.

Meanwhile, back at the hideout...

"Yeah, I'd say you've got about half your Magic Power under control now. Though it seems it's mainly your purple plasma-based attacks that are growing stronger at this point, your Spellcasting hasn't improved all that much lately. But that's mainly because you've practically fully mastered most of your Spells at this point, you do still have a bit of room for improvement with some of your Level 3 Spells, but overall, your skill with Spellcasting is right up there with the best in the nation," Remarked Aster, as he patted Raven's shoulder with a nod.

"I still need to keep working at it though...if what the Undead King said was true during my fight against him in the Quartz Ruins, I need to get at least eighty percent of my Magic Power under control to make sure that I don't go berserk, what Celia calls my 'Dark Raven' form.

Based on what he said, the more of my Magic Power I master, the harder it'll be to stay in control when that form gets unleashed. Back then, I only had about twenty percent of my Magic Power under control, less than half of my level of control now...if something happens to trigger than form now, I'm not sure I'll be able to keep it in check," Replied Raven with a grimace.

After he approached the ceiling as far as his Spellcasting was concerned, he switched to a different method of improving mastery over his Magic Power, a more outdated method that would be pointless for anyone else.

Since he had such an immense amount of Magic Power, unlike most others, he couldn't channel the entirety of his Mana through his body via his Combat Template when fighting, he kept most of that Magic Power idle in the center of his body.

And to increase his control over his overall Magic Power, he tapped into that idle mass of Mana and added it bit by bit to the Mana he channeled through the rest of his body, which slowly but steadily increased his control and gradually made his plasma-based attacks and other Homunculus abilities stronger.

Since improving Spellcasting is a faster way to improve control over Magic Power, this particular method was practically never used in the current era, but since Raven was close to maximizing how much he could increase that control through Spellcasting, he was now using that older method to keep improving.

"It truly is remarkable...even with only half your Magic Power under control, I'd say your Aura pressure is a good four to five times greater than that of an average First-Class Knight, and about two and a half times greater than your sister's. I still can't believe how much Magic Power she has too...at 99,000, it's the highest natural Magic Power reading in over a century, and just 1,000 below the highest ever recorded. I wonder what your Magic Power level was before the Homunculus Ritual?" Mused Aster curiously.

They'd measured Ravella's Magic Power shortly after she joined, and naturally, they were pretty astounded by the result.

"If I remember right, after our appraisal, we were told that my Magic Power was 40,000, and hers was 45,000. So, I'm guessing mine wasn't too much lower than hers," Surmised Raven with a shrug.

"It's believed that the uppermost limit for humans when it comes to Magic Power is 100,000, that's why Magic Items like Appraisal Specs and Magic Power Readers aren't built to be able measure Magic Power too much greater than that. So, Ravella's Magic Power is basically a small fraction below the ceiling of that upper limit. We have no way of determining the exact value of your Magic Power level, but I'm guessing it's overall around 500,000, and your current Aura pressure and mastery has the Magic Power you're in control of at around 250,000, more or less."

"The Undead King said that the more of my Magic Power I master, the stronger my Dark Raven form will become, on top of the fact that it'll be harder to control. Now that I've gotten a lot more battle experience, I can tell...the power I had access to the last time that form was unleashed, I was at least as powerful as a Knight Captain back then. But now that I've got much more of my Magic Power under control, I'll be much more powerful in that state if and when it gets triggered," Remarked Raven with a concerned grimace.

"Hm, interesting...I've never actually seen your Dark Raven form in action myself, but based on what I've heard about it from Celia and Tacitus, it sounded like you had the entirety of your Magic Power under control, and you were able to perfectly cast advanced Spells that you hadn't even learned yet. And of course, your physical abilities were greatly heightened too...tell me, at your current level, do you think you've surpassed the level of power you possessed the last time your Dark Raven form was triggered?"

"I'm not sure, but I'd say I'm at least close to that level, maybe on par with it. I don't think I've fully surpassed it yet though," Raven shook his head after taking a moment to mull it over.

"I see...I wonder, just how much additional hidden potential do you have in there? Even though you're now in control of half your Magic Power, I've got a gut feeling that it doesn't simply mean that you're half as powerful as your full potential. No, I think there's more to it than that...but I guess only time will tell."