I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

Chapter 286 Fan Upgrade

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Somewhere out in the uninhabited parts of the Demon Lands, Elanor and Elaina were duelling. Elanor was pouring everything she had into the fight, but with her lack of experience, it wouldn't be long until she completely exhausted herself.

After all, she only recently had a massive jump in strength and had not yet put in the time to master her newfound powers. Unable to use them efficiently or, in some cases, even apply them properly, it ultimately resulted in her complete defeat, unable to leave a single scratch on Elaina.

<Elanor POV>

*Huff, huff* "I can't even... get... close." My entire body ached with pain, and I barely had any stamina left to take another step.

*Clap, Clap, Clap* "Well done! You've made a lot of progress compared to when you first started. Before, you were like a lost child, but now you know where you are going." Elaina slowly walked up to me with a pair of fans similar to mine.

"There is still a long way to go, especially when controlling your mana, but for now you need to rest." She extended a hand to me, which I gladly took as my legs were close to giving out.

A bright red flash then engulfed my vision, and my first thought was that the training wasn't really over. However, I suddenly appeared in my room, meaning that flash was Elaina teleporting me.

"Thank the holy tree for this bed." I collapsed on top of the bed and instantly sank in, on the verge of falling asleep.

"Don't sleep just yet, there are some things I want to talk to you about." Elaina's voice echoed into my head, and I really wanted to ignore it so I could sleep, but I reluctantly rolled over.

Elaina hovered over me with an amused look, clearly enjoying my pain and suffering.

"Urghhhhhh, what is it?" I just wanted to sleep, so I prayed for it to be over quickly.

"First, I received a message that Elysia will be leaving for her training soon, and second, your new fans have arrived, so make sure after you wake up to play around with them." I saw Elaina place down a set of fans, but I was too exhausted to even process what they looked like.

"I see, I'll have to pay a visit then." I began to doze off mid-sentence, and before I knew it, everything turned dark.

*

<Next morning>

"ELYSIA IS LEAVING!" I woke up, finally processing what was said to me last night.

'Wait, how long did I fall asleep for?' Opening up my system window, I looked at the top right corner and it was currently 9:24 am.

'I'm surprised Elaina hasn't come to drag me outside yet.' Usually, my routine would start with a 6 a.m. wake-up, and by 6:30 I would be duelling or doing some other kind of exercise for the entire day.

'Maybe I got the day to myself... Speaking of which, what are these fans?' I spotted the set of fans on my bedside table, and my first thought was that these must be my newly made weapons from Jade.

"Ohhhhh! It's so pretty!" Picking the fans up and opening them up revealed a very nature-like pattern. The outside of the fan was black with accents of bright green and the top was sharpened to serve as a blade, which was a new feature. It would solve my close-quarters problem, once I was able to effectively strike with the fans. On the inside of the fan a tree was painted, roots and all, and upon putting a tiny bit of mana into the fans, glowing leaves appeared on them.

It created a beautiful effect and made me wonder if it had any combat-significant effects other than looking cool.

'Didn't Elaina say to play around with them? I'll have to do that later, first I need to find my group members. The last thing I want is for them to think I'm some kind of bitch that doesn't even say goodbye.' Suddenly I became self-conscious, as I hadn't properly melded with the group and still felt like an outsider.

The strength difference between us made it difficult to feel like I really belonged.

'Maybe I should find Silver first, having him around makes it easier to talk to them... AHHH! What am I saying?' My face turned red thinking about Silver as the words of Elysia echoed in my head. She was constantly suggesting the kind of relationship that was building, but did she have to make it so obvious?

Even though Silver doesn't know it, he has become my anchor in this group. If he hadn't saved me that day in Elfheim, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to fight alongside them.

'Why did he have to become handsome all of a sudden? Now it's hard to not see him like that.' Taking advantage of my fans, I cooled myself off and tried to shake the thoughts.

*Knock, Knock* "Elanor? Are you alright? I heard some yelling." One of the demon maids spoke through my door with a concerned tone.

"I-I'm fine, don't worry!" I responded, now even more embarrassed knowing that one of the maids heard me.

"Alright, call out if you need anything." The maid's presence vanished, and thankfully I could no longer hear her, otherwise, I might have died of embarrassment.

'I need to clear my mind, maybe some training in the arena before finding Elysia is a good idea.' I stood up from my bed, trying to ignore all thoughts, and quickly walked to the bathroom to wash up. I realised that I went straight to bed without cleaning up all the dirt and blood that was on me.

*

<Battle arena>

"Alright, let's give these fans a spin." Whipping out my brand new fans, I locked onto the magical target dummy in front of me and flowed mana into my new fans. Swinging them, I unleashed roots from the ground, piercing right into the dummy and destroying it completely.

"Wow! That was a lot stronger than usual. Jane must have put those rune things on." I looked at my fans, amazed at the boost I got. I didn't know how it affected my magic, but I'm guessing it has to do with the glowing leaves.

"Now to try the blades... I haven't used them as a close-range weapon before, so I definitely needed to practice." The magical dummy regenerated itself back to normal, ready for another attack.

Walking up to the dummy, I did a test swing, trying out the blades and how well they could cut. However, as soon as I made contact, I ended up almost breaking my wrist. When my fan hit the dummy, it folded in on itself, causing it to bend my wrist.

"Argh! Damnit!" Pulling my hand back, it was clear I didn't have the right technique, and it backfired.

'I saw Elaina able to handle hers effortlessly, so she will most likely train me, hopefully.' Remembering our duels, I wanted to mimic the kind of movements she had. They were very graceful, and there was such beauty in each move she made that it was like a dance.

*Sigh* "Let's just practise some magic a bit longer for now." I didn't want to keep hurting myself, so I opted to get used to the new magical buff I received from my fans. I didn't want to end up over-exerting myself, but luckily now I didn't need to use as much mana to conjure up holy nature.

***

< A few hours later

"Phew, I think I've got the hang of it now, I should be able to last the full duel without feeling like dying now."

"Wait, didn't I need to see someone? OH RIGHT! I almost forgot Elysia would be leaving soon." I got so immersed in training that the day was already slipping away. I didn't know if I could even find Elysia, but I assumed the servants would know.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I rushed out of the arena, but right as I rushed out of the door, I crashed into someone.

"Ahh!" Falling over with this person, I ended up on top of someone who was surprisingly muscular.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to run into you." I quickly sat up, getting a good look at who it was, and then I froze.

"E-Elanor?"

'WHY IS SILVER HERE? AHH!' I quickly stood up and turned away as I felt my face instantly turn bright red. I couldn't believe that the one time I accidentally bumped into someone, it was Silver.

"O-oh, S-s-silver, hey, how come you are here?" I tried to act naturally, but my mind was such a mess that I couldn't help but stutter.

"I was given the day to myself since Mother Elysia will be leaving soon, but what were you doing? It seemed like you were in a hurry." Silver dusted himself off in a calm manner, which was a relief, but I didn't know he could, especially after all the teasing from Elysia.

"I-I was on my way to Elysia as well, I just finished a bit of training."

"Sweet, well, I know where their room is, did you want to go together?" Silver offered his hand without thinking too much about it, but to me, it made my heart flutter. I wanted to say something, but at the same time, why should I decline it? It wasn't like I minded it.

"Yes, please, lead the way." I hesitated for a moment to take his hand, but I eventually caved and took it.