It took me a few more days to observe the giants to my personal satisfaction. Their social dynamics were quite interesting, especially as each of the three different groups seemed to develop in entirely different directions. The group around Naya, the giant I had observed first, was firmly in her matriarchal control. She was their undisputed leader, with the other giants following her lead without question. Trying to figure out why was a little challenging, but I ultimately put it down to pure and simple Charisma on one hand and a small, but apparently growing, affinity for magic on the other hand. It gave her some undeniable advantages, which filtered down to the rest of her group, as it allowed her to do things that were usually impossible for them.

However, the more I observed their group, the more my focus was drawn to the magic she employed. It wasn't quite what I would expect, as it seemed to be none of the overall types I was familiar with. It wasn't Arcane Magic, at least not as I defined the category, and it didn't appear to be Divine Magic; it was far too raw and unrefined to have come from a deity. It also wasn't an innate ability from what I could see; it certainly was unlike Lia's ability to move at high speeds and cling to walls. It was something else, or maybe a connection of two or more of the above. For now, I simply observed her actions and abilities, taking copious notes, curious to see what this development would lead to.

Another aspect of their emerging society I considered strange was the intimate dynamics. During the few days I had observed them, I had witnessed both males having intimate relations with both of the lesser females, while Naya clearly kept control. Which wasn't to say she was abstinent or anything like that. She readily made intimate use of all four of her underlings, but the dynamics between her and either of the males were very different.

The threesome around Runt was the opposite of their dynamic. Between them, Runt was the leader, though his hold over the ladies was less absolute than the grip Naya had on her group. In their case, the reason for his leadership was a lot easier to pin down; it was due to his intelligence and ability. He was simply able to provide for his two ladies to a degree that matched the provisions gathered by the group around Naya, but that group had two, often three, people out to gather supplies. And they were gathering for five, driving home that Runt was quite capable, despite his comparatively diminutive size. Not that he was all that small, just small for a giant. He could easily match the majority of the local wildlife, with only the larger bears and pretty much every moose out there overshadowing him.

Finally, there was the pair, composed of Zenio and Kanya, the male and female, respectively. Those two had the closest to what modern Western society would have considered a healthy relationship. Their dynamic didn't seem to be stratified, with one holding power over the other, though there was a certain amount of codependency. Granted, their comfortable survival was dependent on working together, so the codependency wasn't unexpected and not what I would consider unhealthy. It would be interesting to see where that would lead after their child was born and while they were raising it.

The question of child-rearing was one I considered the ultimate test of the different societies. How would they bring up their children? Would there be a hierarchy between the children, possibly inherited from their mother? For this, I thought that the group around Naya had the best chances, simply because they had the most people and could have one person act as a primary caregiver without binding a large portion of their manpower, while the pair might struggle the most. I would have to wait and see, which was just fine for me. This sociological study wouldn't be a short one; it would likely take decades, if not centuries, to be complete.

While I was observing and studying the giants, Lia was happily training her new ability. The movement component alone was incredible, although it came with some serious drawbacks. One of her initial ideas was to move past the target and strike it while moving at her impossible speed. I was quite glad that Lia had me help and observe while she tried that. To provide some safety, we had decided that the target would be a dummy made out of conjured Ice, not terribly sturdy but also not completely fragile, while Lia was using a weapon of conjured Hard Ice to make her attack.

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The result was, quite frankly, explosive and painful for my dear daughter. The dummy she struck while moving at her speed was annihilated; there was no better word to describe it. Thanks to the conjured nature of the Ice, I was able to detect it with ease, allowing me to discern how much of the Ice had survived the impact of her attack. It turned out that more than half of the conjured Ice had been struck hard enough to be instantly vaporised, the Astral Power returning to the Astral River in the process. I could only guess at the mess Lia would make if she ever struck a living being with an attack like that, but I knew it would be quite gross.

Sadly, while magic could bend the laws of physics and even circumvent them on occasion, this was not one of these cases. Lia's attack was highly potent, creating a massive force and, in turn, creating an equal counterforce, working in the opposite direction. That counterforce was channelled right back into the weapon Lia wielded, causing it to shatter in countless pieces, and then further into Lia's hand and arm, mangling them both in the process.

If not for my presence, Lia might have been dead, simply because her hand was broken in a few dozen places, her arm was shattered, and the shards from her broken weapon and the broken dummy had ripped into her body, causing numerous severe wounds. The impact also ripped her out of that high-speed movement without the usual dissipation of momentum, causing her to tumble violently across the training room we used, until the unforgiving wall stopped her movement, breaking even more bones in the process. It was, quite frankly, a massive mess and anyone less durable than Lia would likely have died a few times in the process. Even Lia, with her fairly absurd physical attributes, was gravely wounded, needing a huge amount of magical healing to get her body back into working condition.

The damage also taught us that Lia had a high ability to heal herself, though it drained her reserves of Astral Power like nobody's business. The drain forced me to feed her large quantities of my blood, all of which had to be infused with my Astral Power. While I didn't keep perfect track, I was pretty sure that she ingested about as much Astral Power as she'd usually need in about two, maybe three, months, driving home just how severe her wounds had been.

"Guess that's movement only," Lia quietly summed up the result of her experiment, after she was well on the way to mend her broken body.

"Not necessarily so," I replied, the worry and anguish of the day slowly fading, "You don't want to hit anything while moving like that, sure. But there are other ways to attack somebody, ways that won't cause you to get tossed around like a ragdoll," I told her, noticing a frown on her face as she didn't immediately get what I meant.

"Think about it, you could simply take a rock, accelerate and let go of that rock while moving like that. It might work and launch the rock at the speed you are moving, until it hits something," I shrugged, "Or you could make a number of your wonderful alchemical grenades, speed past an enemy and drop the grenade, either while moving or after stopping for a moment. That way, the grenade would be right at their feet, though it would be even better if the grenade had a concussion trigger, making it explode on impact. That way, our enemies have almost no time to react, while you are already speeding away."

Lia blinked a few times, digesting my words until the look of disappointment her face had worn until then faded away, leaving a slightly disturbing grin.

"However," I broke her line of thought, "If you try anything like that without me there to supervise, I'll have to figure out a suitable punishment. You need to remember, you too are mortal. You almost died here; you would have died here if I hadn't been nearby. Please, dear, be careful with this ability. It's potent but, as we have learned, it can backfire just as potently," I implored my daughter, getting a nod of acceptance in return.

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