55 Days Left

Link had been exploiting every possible resource he had to make sure he could reach as many Shrines as possible. Still, even with Purah having found a way to mark them all on his map, and even with his friends helping him activate the warp pads, he didn't think he could visit them all before he would need to take the fight to Ganon.

In total, there were 120 Shrines in Hyrule, not counting the Shrine of Resurrection. Of those 120, five had been used by Flayn. Of the remaining 115, he had already been to 67, meaning he had 48 left to visit. If it were possible for him to visit one a day, he could visit them all in time for the attack on Hyrule Castle. But that wasn't possible. The Shrines he had already visited had first been the ones along his path, then the others that were closest to ones he had already visited. There were still a few that he could reach within a day of setting out for them, but most of the ones he had yet to visit were in remote locales, places that were hard to access, or both. Even with the problem of travel time cut down to a fifth, Link was sure he would only be able to access half of the remaining Shrines in time.

The only way that might have been able to ensure he reached them all was by using Linkle's compass, but Linkle had admitted she had no idea how to control it. It did whatever it wanted under the best of circumstances, so that option was a non-starter.

The only thing to do was buckle down and hope he would be able to defeat Ganon with what he had.

51 Days Left

Recompense of the Fallen tore through the silver Moblin, the last and most powerful of the enemies present. With that, another monster encampment had been cleared out.

The Rising Sun Company could have spent their time in combat drills, to be sure. But at this point, they hardly helped anymore. While a few of the members had specialized skills that needed specific training from their mentors, Dimitri was not one of them. Therefore, his best method of getting stronger was to fight the strongest enemies he could.

So far, he could easily match a silver Moblin one-on-one. A silver Moblin with backup was more difficult, but not entirely out of the scope of his ability. While he could take a single gold Bokoblin, groups or gold Moblins were still out of his weight class, but fortunately, any golden monsters were extremely rare. A Hinox of any kind was difficult, but a red one was feasible. A blue one was less so, and there was no chance he could take down a black, Fire, or Electric Hinox. He could destroy a Guardian as long as it wasn't a flying one, but he was no archer or mage. Him killing a Talus just wasn't going to happen; his weapon was ill-suited for such a purpose. And even a red-maned Lynel was still much more than he could handle on his own.

For now.

49 Days Left

Ignatz had already visited the other three Fairy Fountains, but they had all been in places he could access relatively easily. This one was...well, technically it was in a place where many people had passed through in the days of Hyrule's prosperity, being an oasis on the Hyrule-Termina trade route. But that didn't change the fact that he had needed to brave the desert sands for three days to get there, fighting off monsters as he went.

Still, the very fact he had made it there was a testament to how strong he had grown.

"I thank you for your gift of rupees," the Great Fairy, Tera, said. "You know, you're the first person to bring rupees to me in...I'm honestly not sure how long it's been. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"It won't be long before the people of Hyrule march to war," Ignatz informed her. "The Gerudo have access to a stockpile of enhanced weapons and armor, but my company needs our equipment enhanced."

"Of course," Tera agreed. "And I'll lend you whatever other aid I can."

Ignatz watched as bomb flowers sprouted around the Fountain, and tiny fairies flew around them. Tera elaborated, "There will be no need for Gerudo City to keep a guard on the city. I will ensure monsters are unable to attack in the meantime."

"Your aid is much appreciated," Ignatz said. "I admit, we will be having Mija enhance our equipment; it didn't make sense for me to bring all of our weapons and armor here. But once Ganon is dealt with, it should not be long before trade between Hyrule and Termina resumes in earnest. Your oasis will see no shortage of people anymore."

"Thank you, boy," Tera said.

"Sadly, I don't have time to paint your portrait right now," Ignatz said. "But I will be back to do so at some point after the coming battle."

"I look forward to it," Tera said with a smile.

42 Days Left

Constance had barricaded herself in her room in the RSC Guild Hall in Tarrey Town, and hadn't come out for three days except to quietly bring herself meals. Honestly, at this point Ferdinand was beginning to get worried, and he suspected the Wolves were as well, but they refused to check up on her.

As a result, the task fell to him. He knocked on her door. "Constance, your friends are worried about you. I am sure whatever arcane theory you are currently working on is of the utmost import, but you can afford to eat with them."

"I would only ruin their enjoyment of their meal," Constance said weakly.

Ferdinand frowned. That didn't sound like Constance. "At risk of impropriety, I must insist that you let me in to see you."

"I'm sure there are better uses of your time," Constance said.

"What I consider the best use of my time is up to me, not you," Ferdinand said.

Constance sighed. "Fair." Ferdinand heard the 'click' of a lock being unlocked, and the door opened.

Ferdinand noticed that Constance was not wearing her cloak, which was folded neatly on her bed. The room was full of papers strewn about, many of which bore advanced magical notation that Ferdinand couldn't remotely understand.

"My apologies for the mess," Constance said. "My other half has a great many irons in the proverbial fire, and I have yet to finish sorting through her notes." She pointed at her stacks of papers and notebooks. "Those are the valid notes on battlefield bioalchemy as a weapon against blins, those are her notes on increasing the efficiency of our recently-developed Maelstrom spell, those are for our attempts at employing magic in conjunction with our Mini-Slate, those are for a few less-urgent projects," and then she turned to a barrel overflowing with papers, "and that is for gibberish."

"Gibberish?" Ferdinand asked.

"My twin's research tends to be a mix of creative genius and the equivalent of insane ramblings," Constance informed him. "My responsibility is to determine which is which. I suppose I shouldn't complain. At least it means that I can be of some help. And as you were saying about meals, it's best if I take them alone for now. Neither I nor my twin want me to try to socialize and inevitably spoil the good mood of everyone else, and were I to don her cloak, she likely would not have any interest in eating at all. As pathetic as I am, I suppose sometimes she does need me."

"I see," Ferdinand said. "Well then, perhaps you could benefit from having Linhardt or Annette aid you with your research? Or someone else with an aptitude for magic or Ancient Technology?"

Constance shook her head. "My other half and I have this well in hand."

Suddenly, she frowned and stood up as a thought occurred to her. She walked over to the bed, where her cloak was folded, and put it on. She started writing furiously in her notebook, several times putting her hood up and down to switch between her two personalities, each speaking in concepts that went over Ferdinand's head to carry a conversation he couldn't remotely comprehend.

When she finished, her hood was up. "I think...I think we solved it."

After a few seconds of stillness, she grabbed Ferdinand's wrist. "I think I just invented an entirely new type of spellcasting! Come, we must test it at once!"

She dragged him out of Tarrey Town and into a spot outside of town which was clear of people. She then removed her Mini-Slate from her bag and placed it in what looked like a specialized wristband meant to hold it. (Author's Note: Think something like a Shiekah Tech version of the Pip-Boy from Fallout, but on Constance's right arm instead of her left.)

"This should have only a 13.7% chance of backfiring and freezing me to death," she said casually. "Oh well, progress requires taking risks! Cryonis Blizzard: Ninth Circle!"

With that, she cast her Cryonis-augmented ice spell.

And a massive storm of spikes made of ice fell from the sky. A large boulder was reduced to gravel, the earth where the attack hit was churned by the impacts, and Ferdinand was left gawking at the destruction.

Constance fished a hand mirror out of her bag and grinned at her reflection. "We did it! We successfully combined Shiekah Technology and Fódlani reason magic! We have created an entirely new form of magic! We. Are. Legendary! Ahahahaha!"

She threw back her hood. "I suppose it is a not-insignificant achievement. All thanks to you, of course."

She donned her hood again. "Oh come now. I could hardly have done it without you. You know that. Now, this is cause to celebrate!"

"You go and celebrate. I would prefer to rest." Before she could put her hood back up, a thought occurred to her. "You still aren't allowed to cook. I may be deserving of much, but the distress your cooking enacts on us is far beyond that."

Donning her hood once more, she shrugged. "Oh, very well. Though when you next decide to cook, you could try to provide our food with some flavor. Seasonings exist for a reason." She grabbed Ferdinand's wrist once more and began dragging him back to Tarrey Town. "Come, Ferdinand! I must tell the others about my new creation posthaste!"

"She's like a hurricane..." Ferdinand thought.

There will be at least one, possibly two more parts to this training montage. After that, one more Hyrule chapter, one more Fódlan chapter, and then the Battle of Hyrule Field will begin.