《A new life in a new world.》 Prologue Inside a white room stood a man lying down in blue pyjamas. He was 1.71 meters tall, pale white skin, green eyes and black hair. The man slowly opened his eyes and realized he did not know where he was. ¡° Good morning Alexandru, said a tall man with short, black hair, did u sleep well? ¡± ¡° I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m sleeping, cuz this sure looks like a dream to me. ¡± ¡°Your statement is neither false nor true, you are at the end of the tunnel people see when they die and this room is the light you humans think you see when you die. ¡± ¡° So I¡¯m not dead but I¡¯m about to die, right? ¡± ¡°You are already dead but I¡¯m here to talk to you about what comes next. ¡± ¡°Why do you look so sad, no sad is a light word for what I¡¯m trying to find is... ¡± ¡°Sorrow¡± ¡°Yes that¡¯s it, so why do you look like that? ¡± ¡°Tell me child, do you know what I am or who I am? ¡± ¡°A tall man with a strong build, wings, sandals, a spear and red armor, in other words an angel. ¡°Alexander, I am Alexander and this sorrow is the result of your life until now. ¡± ¡°Pitiful life, huh? I know I don¡¯t have a good life because I don¡¯t even try to live but what has this to do with your sorrow? ¡± ¡°I was your guardian angel all this time but you never paid any attention to anything else than your games and ignored my advice and so your body broke down and then... ¡± ¡°BULLSHIT, I spend most my time playing games and watching anime, but i still eat three meals everyday and I always sleep from 11 PM to 7 AM, so how did my body break down, my mother cooks my food so I know it¡¯s good for me, said the man while trying to get up and punch the angel watching him with a sorrowful look on his face. ¡± ¡°You always said you wanted to die since you don¡¯t want to go through life like the adult you are, why are you mad about, this is what YOU wanted. ¡± ¡°But not like this, actually I accept that I died, so now what you came to guide me to Hell because I think I am not going to Heaven. ¡± ¡°You are going to another world. ¡± ¡°Here is the part where I am supposed to start jumping of joy, but I want to know why, I don¡¯t believe in God and Christianity is opposed to reincarnation saying that souls go to Heaven or Hell so why are you telling me about reincarnation? ¡± ¡°Not many people have pure souls so their passage in Heaven is denied, and instead of destroying your soul, I am sending you away with a few gifts from me in hope that you are not going to waste your life like you did in this world. ¡± Well enough third-person for now, I was able to move my body so I got up. ¡°Good, now that you can move I am going to give you this paper. ¡± A A4 blank paper appeared in his arm and he gave it to me. The moment I touched it the paper was torn into 4 pieces and they flew back in Alexander¡¯s hand. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.¡°What the hell happened?¡± ¡°Watch your language!¡± said the angel while giving me a bitch slap. ¡°I admit I deserved that.¡± ¡°These 4 pieces of paper will represent the powers you will get when you transcend to the other world. This is the first one.¡± He handed me a piece of paper. I took the paper and what was writing on it was ¡°meh¡±. Well Heaven hates me. ¡°So what kind of bullshit is this?¡± He took the paper from my hand and told me : ¡°Magically Engineered Human, a subspecies of humans who have 3 important characteristics 1.Their eyes can scan anybody and anything to obtain information about them, 2.They have superior regeneration ability so powerful that the only way of killing them in a fight is destroying their brain. 3.Inside their body there is a substance called Exidium that augments the body making it stronger, faster and tougher and more durable than that of a human in it¡¯s peak condition and the substance keeps your body in constant state of physical evolution so you can get stronger. ¡± ¡°HALLELUJAH MA BROTHA¡± And I got bitch slapped again. ¡°Next please take a look at this piece of paper.¡± ¡°Dark, thanks a lot, what can I understand from the word ¡°dark¡± ?¡± ¡°Dark magic has the power to give u access to an infinite space called ¡°The Null¡± where you can store some objects, for example you can¡¯t store an apartment building in it. And you can feel what is inside it when you want to take something out. There are other applications for dark magic but you will have to find them.¡± ¡°Why is this piece of paper black?¡± ¡°Because dark magic is the only magic you will be able to use. Keep in mind, dark magic is not black magic!¡± ¡°Give me the third card, huh ¡°pain and wounds¡±, what is this?¡± ¡°Instead of healing wounds you transfer them to you and hope your body can heal them.¡± ¡°Exidium BABY!¡± ¡°It is fortunate that you have that power since it also removes curses! ¡± ¡°U WOT M8?¡± ¡°Here is the next piece of paper, this has something you lacked.¡± ¡°Polymath¡± ¡°The ability to learn and pick up skills at an amazing rate, and it also grants you ¡°total recall¡±, the power to remember everything you see, hear, smell, touch, as well as the exact place, and if you have a good perception of time you can also grasp the time that happened. ¡± ¡°Well then I wish you luck, and I hope the next time we meet I will be able to congratulate you.¡± ¡°We shall see.¡± And with that the room''s color starts to turn black my conscience fades away. The first day in this world Once I regained conscious I slowly opened my eyes and tried looking around but I realized I couldn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t move and I was stuck looking up. I saw trees so I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m in a forest, the trees were huge or maybe that¡¯s how I saw them. They looked like chestnut trees but their leafs were pointy like those of a pine tree and the trunks were black, it was an impressive sight, I¡¯m a little sad since there wasn¡¯t much sunlight in the forest since the trees blocked most of it. While I stared at the scenery above me I heard sounds in the distance, I knew those sounds, and it took me a few seconds to remember, horses, I thought, and something else that sounded like a wheel, a carriage, now I just had to get their attention but I don¡¯t know how, so I tried screaming for help. ¡°WHEEE¡± was the only sound that escaped my mouth and now both my ears and my mouth hurt, but I kept screaming or crying since it appears right now they meant the same thing. The carriage slowed down but I couldn¡¯t hear very well since my crying was disturbing me more than anything. After a few seconds, I guess, I felt a presence near me and I saw the world spinning with me for a few moments, then I saw her, I think, a person with what seemed like a gentle face, white but a little tanned skin, and a dark hair colour, for some reason my image was blurry and the lack of sunlight didn¡¯t help. I understood that she picked me up and I felt like a could move, so I moved my head a little to the right, something I deeply regret, and I saw some people or bodies lying on the ground, OH GOD, now I recognize the smell, that¡¯s fucking blood, what the hell happened, so let¡¯s organize things a little, 1. there are dead people on the ground, 2.the smell of blood is in the air, and 3.The woman picked me up from that pile of bodies, well this could have gone a lot better and by now it is safe to assume that all these people have been recently killed. I tried to look at the place the woman picked me up from to confirm something, long hair, shiny things in the ears and hair and most importantly breasts, that person could have been my mother. I looked back at the woman holding me and I think she was angry not sad, I wonder why? , and I realised the woman started walking towards the carriage. My assumptions were correct, that was a carriage and it seems the woman wasn¡¯t alone, a person was standing on the left side acting as the driver. The carriage was about 2 meters long and 1 meter wide. The woman put me inside the carriage and sat with the man. ¡°$%^&$¡ê¡±, Are they speaking? ¡°..*^&X*^&*¡±, I heard a male voice and a female voice but I couldn¡¯t understand what they were saying. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The carriage started moving and at the same tame I started praying I won¡¯t grow up as a slave, well if I live long enough. I was a baby whose parents are dead, I don¡¯t know the people who found and my MEH powers aren¡¯t working, so it is impossible for me to scan them and see what I have gotten myself into. Both my body and my mind were tired so I unconsciously fell asleep. Something woke me up, I realized the carriage wasn¡¯t moving anymore. ¡°$$¡ê$%%:@:##¡±, the woman said something and took me out of the carriage. When I got out I decided to look up and I saw a blue sun, OK that¡¯s new, oh well I hope there is a book for that. I quickly closed my eyes and then I opened them a little so I can adjust to the change in lighting. I winked a few times and my eyes finally adjusted to the light. I looked at the woman holding me, she had aqua blue eyes, red lips, a gentle smile, long eyelashes, black, long hair and judging by her face I think she was 30 years old. The man who was with her was tall, short, brown hair, green eyes and had the body of a bodybuilder, something like He-Man on steroids or worse. The carriage looked worn out, that being the only detail that catches your eye, since it looked simple enough. We arrived home, I guess, a house in the middle of a forest who looked exactly like the one I woke up in. The house had 2 floors, the exterior was made out of something that looks like black-ish wood so I think they used some of those black trees when they built it. The entrance was decorated, if you can call a few metal trinkets on a wooden door a decoration, one strange thing is that there was no fence, just a lock on the front door, something just didn¡¯t seem right or maybe it was just the fact that my body felt weak and my powers were not working. ¡°#¡ê$%^##¡ê%#.¡± The man told the woman something and went inside the house and she, with me in her arms, went inside with him. The interior was simple, there was a hallway, to the left and right there were entrances, maybe to other rooms, at the end of the hallway there were stairs and near the stairs was a metal door. I really wanted to know what that door was but my body was getting tired and I fell asleep again. The house and a sunset During my sleep I had a dream about my mother and my friends. They were at my funeral dressed in black, crying, even my father who left home came back to see my burial. I recognized the graveyard it was the same one my older brother was buried in. I didn¡¯t expect so many people to show up. My parents and my friends were crying and the only thing I could do was to watch them from above. I watched the black coffin descending into the earth and I realised that this does not affect me in any way, since I was 10 years old I stopped caring about the people around me but it amazes me how little I care about what happened. After the burial ended and everybody left I took a look at the tombstone and confirmed that it was mine. I felt my mind screaming, wanting to get away and then I woke up. I woke up in an unfamiliar room, I was in a bed, but it looked like a king size bed and I was placed on something that looked like a straw pillow. The room had a white walls, black ceiling, and there was a red rug on the wooden floor, well not the best style but I can¡¯t complain. Other than the bed there were 2 pieces of furniture that looked like desks, a bookshelf that reached the ceiling and something that looked like a metal closet, why would you even have a metal closet. My train of thought was broken by the sound of footsteps, sounded like someone was running. It was the woman who saved me, for some reason I couldn¡¯t bring myself to call her mother in my mind, maybe because of the dream I had. She opened the door and picked me up. She took a piece of cloth and wiped my eyes while looking worried at me, I must have cried in my sleep. That piece of cloth felt nice and smooth. After she finished wiping my face she hugged my tightly. After a few minutes she put me down on the bed and I was able to see the clothes she wore. She wore a long white dress with long sleeves, an apron and something that looked like a white kerchief. She opened the closet and took a white cloth and wrapped it around me. She picked me up and took me downstairs. While going down I smelled chicken and it turned out that she took me to kitchen. There were basic cooking tools made of metal, not that I can confirm since my eyes couldn¡¯t scan shit, I still don¡¯t understand why my powers don¡¯t work and is beginning to annoy me. She put me down on a chair and resumed cooking. So now I am young, weak and hungry, what can I say, great combo. ¡° ??????????????¡± She started humming something, I don¡¯t recognize the song, but it felt like a happy song so I kept listening to it until I started feeling sleepy. I took a little nap until something woke me up. The man looked at me with an angry face, picked me up and put me on another chair, it was a bar stool with a few modifications. So now I had a baby chair, which is nice. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. A few minutes later the smell of chicken filled the room and my caretakers sat down and ate chicken and mashed potatoes and I¡¯m sitting here watching them eat. After they finished eating, the woman stood up and grabbed a wooden bowl and a spoon and fed me a kind of milk, which tasted sweeter than the milk I know, but at least I had something to eat. After I ate the woman picked me up and went to the room I woke up in and put me on the bed. I started thinking that I didn¡¯t need to be changed even once in these 2 days I spent here, maybe it was because of my body, if my body processed everything I ate, I would understand the lack of having to get rid of the useless particles in my body, which in itself was a good thing since it meant less time wasted but that God said nothing about this. While I was thinking about what will happen to me if my powers never manifested I got sleepy and fell asleep. When I woke up it was already evening and I was hungry again, so let¡¯s do what every baby does when he is hungry. ¡°WHEEEEE¡±, I started crying and after a few seconds the woman came in the room and locked at me. She checked me and realized I was hungry. She bought me to the kitchen and warmed up some milk. She used a kind of fireplace to cook the food even though the rest of the kitchen looked a little more modern than that. After she fed me she took me outside. The blue sun started turning red while descending from the sky, then the woman extended her free arm and pointed at the sky. I looked in that direction and I saw the moon, an orange moon rising in the sky. I was stunned, it was an impressive sight. The woman suddenly hugged me tightly and she smiled for the first time since I saw her. Something I missed until now was a rocking chair a few steps away from the door. She sat on that chair with me until the sun was no longer in the sky then she yawned and went inside with me still in her arms. My first encounter with magic and snow For the past 6 months my life consisted in eating, shitting and sleeping, and on that note it seemed that my excretory system was a little different than that of an ordinary human since I never needed to be changed, which for me is a good thing, I wouldn¡¯t want to feel the need to take a bathroom break in the middle of a battle. During these 6 months my living conditions change, the man apparently bought a bed for me one week after they saved me. After that the woman put the bed in the kitchen since it was warmer than the rest of the house. After they moved me I started hearing noises coming from the bedroom every night, especially loud moaning sound, excuse me for taking your opportunity to have sex that week. When I was young I could sleep on the floor even when somebody was playing death metal near me so I didn¡¯t have any difficulty sleeping. After 3 months of staying of feeling weak my body got better and I can now stand on my own 2 feet which feels nice, now I only need to learn their language and I am going to be ready to live this life. ¡°¡ê$%$%*&!!¡± The woman shouted something then came to the kitchen and picked me up, what happened to get her so worked up? She took me downstairs in front of a window, this is the first time I¡¯ve seen my reflection, well my hair was golden just like in my past life, and I hope it doesn¡¯t turn black, my eyes were deep blue unlike my green eyes from my previous world and I was taller than most babies and more developed. Oh that¡¯s snow, so it started snowing, it is the first time I saw snow since I came to this world. After a few moments the woman dressed me in some warm clothes and took me outside. The snow was beautiful, I really hope it won¡¯t melt. I raised my arms hoping to catch some snowflakes and somehow I actually caught some. When I looked around I saw both my caretakers smiling, but why are they sad if they are smiling, it was the ¡°my life is falling apart but I¡¯m OK¡± smile, not that I cared that much. Five days after it started snowing everything was white outside and now I and my caretakers were always in the kitchen since this was the room was warm and I could watch the snow. Every time my caretaker cooked food she would sing some kind of lullaby, a pleasant song, she has a nice voice and the songs she sings are calming. My other caretaker is a knight or a guard because he doesn¡¯t seem the type of guy to have a brown cape with an owl on it. Staying in the kitchen I learnt that the fireplace worked by using a magic crystal which could create blue flames. I don¡¯t get it, if they have a fireplace powered by magic why don¡¯t they have a toilet in the house? Since it was snowing I tried spending my time looking around the house and at the books. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. After a few tries I reached the bookshelf and took the first book I could touch down. While sitting on the chair I opened the book and after trying to read a few words I gave up. A german fucked a russian and their kid combined the two languages, well I studied both german and russian for a while and if I can use polymath to study I might be able to perfectly learn it. While I was putting the book away the woman came in the room, patted my head and then simply left. I am sure anyone who looked at me could see the question mark above my head, not even I understood what just happened. It all went well until one day when I fucked up, I tried getting out of the bed and somehow I tripped on the sheets and I fell directly on my left shoulder. ¡°AAHHHHH¡±, I let out a magnificent girlish battle cry, the fact that I fell took me by surprise and I forgot to brace myself for the impact. Now I was scared and injured, great. After I caught my breath I saw my caretakers looking at my arm. The man examined my arm, he looks like he has at least some experience so I will let him be. ¡°%&%*&*.¡± He said something to the woman and then she picked me up, put me on a chair, put her palms on my shoulder and began chanting a spell. It was a nice light show but nothing more. My left arm was covered is so much white light that for a second I thought my pimp hand leveled up but the look on my caretaker¡¯s face told me that that was supposed to be a healing spell. After a few more tries she was exhausted and the man bought a piece of wood and a cloth and patched me up. My caretakers put me in my bed and then went upstairs. Now the only question was why her magic did not work on my arm. I know that I possess magical power and that they are limited to dark magic but that doesn¡¯t mean that other magic should be ineffective on me or maybe it¡¯s because of the exidium, it may have considered her magic as something harmful for my body. Now I must focus on being able to understand their language and on developing my physical strength and hope that my powers will show themselves sooner than later. With a sour taste in my mouth, a broken arm and an uncomfortable position to sleep I closed my eyes and prayed that my arm will heal soon. A promise and a book I am now 3 years old. My arm healed after 3 days and I now have confirmed that my body heals faster than normal. The mystery of the metal door was solved, behind the door was my caretaker¡¯s equipment and some gold coins. The woman bought me some books and she started teaching me their language. I am fortunate since ¡°total recall¡± gives me perfect memory and half of this language looks a lot like german, and I seem to remember the german I studied in school. My name in this world was Alexander Lowe. It seems that the man¡¯s last name was Lowe, if I remember correctly it lowe means lion. So I guess I¡¯m the son of a lion. ¡°Huh?¡± A forehead flick woke me up form my daydreaming. ¡°I know it¡¯s hard, but we must continue studying.¡± Oh yeah I was in the middle of studying the advanced part of this language. ¡°Don¡¯t forget, when you address someone older or more experienced than you, you must use the long version of the words even if they are harder to pronounce.¡± ¡°Where is Kraft?¡± ¡°Your father should be back soon, I¡¯m starting to think you care about him more than you care about me.¡± ¡°I just haven¡¯t seen him in a while.¡± ¡°I know what you mean, he went on that expedition and hasn¡¯t been back for two weeks.¡± ¡°Neah I think you just want to fuck him, after all you did it every night for the past 3 years.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t do it every day! Anyway where did you even learn words like this?¡± ¡°In the room where you keep your equipment, there is a wooden chest near the wooden human thing...¡± ¡°Mannequin, it¡¯s called a mannequin.¡± ¡°Mannequin.¡± ¡°Yes, that was the correct pronunciation. Now I we shall talk about forming phrases.¡± Her voice became harsher and I think that if I were to run I would most likely be the prey of the lion. ¡°Why are you speaking like that, is it something I said?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°That is a lie. I¡¯m sorry about what I said. I will show you where he keeps the book maybe that will be better.¡± ¡°When you are 5 years old I will tell you a story and then you will understand. Just for future reference, were we really loud?¡± ¡°Yes you were loud but I didn¡¯t have any difficulty sleeping.¡± ¡°Then how about you show me that book?¡± I am sorry Kraft but today you are taking one for the team, which is me. In case somebody was curious her name was Ellen, it sounds pretty normal but in this country this seems to be rare. I still don¡¯t know anything about this world apart from the language and naming patterns. Me and Ellen went downstairs into the armoury. Kraft had 2 sets of armour, one given by the country for when he has official business and the second one is custom-made and fucking bad-ass, something like the Madness Armour from Oblivion. He uses only two handed swords so the swords he has are huge. Ellen on the other hand used chain mail armour and black robes, as for weapons there are two daggers and a staff. Now that I think about it I still don¡¯t know what is or was her job. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°This room is as dark as usual.¡± ¡°Me and your father put our equipment in the same place every time we don¡¯t use it so we can grab it if there is an emergency plus there is enough light coming from the hallway.¡± ¡°Well, there was enough light in this room for me to read that book.¡± ¡°So, about that book, where is it?¡± I went in the back of the room, opened the chest and I took the book out of the chest, gracefully presenting her the book. ¡°This is the book I was talking about.¡± A smile appeared on her face and after a few moments she began laughing. ¡°HAHAHA, You know, *cough*, that book is actually mine, hahahah.¡± ¡°What is so funny about this?¡± After a few minutes of laughing she took a few deep breaths and began explaining. ¡°Before working as a guard for this village your father was an adventurer. I met him when I was 20 years old in Dykon city...¡± What the fuck is this? This is the first time I hear about this. I want answers dammit. ¡°WAIT!, This village?, Adventurers?, 20 years old?, Dykon city?, There are more things I don¡¯t know about than I thought. Can I get some explanations here, I don¡¯t understand anything.¡± ¡°It¡¯s understandable that you don¡¯t remember, you were asleep when we brought you here. When we are done with the advanced language lessons I will tell you all I know about these lands, but not now.¡± ¡°So when are you going to tell me about you and Kraft¡¯s...¡± ¡°Past? Is that the word you are looking for?¡± ¡°This is hard.¡± ¡°I started teaching you how to speak, read and write three months ago and the only words you don¡¯t know are the ones I never used when I was with you. This is something other people learn when they are 6 years old in school and yet here I am talking to you. By the time you reach the age of 5 I am confident that you will have a better vocabulary than any kid who took private lessons. Don¡¯t worry I¡¯m going to teach you a lot of things and if you try I¡¯m sure you will become a Great Scholar.¡± ¡°That was an interesting motivational speech but right now I¡¯m more interested about the story behind that book and your life before you met me.¡± ¡°Listen Alex, there is a time and a place for everything but not now. Rest assured, when the time comes you are going to listen to my stories whether you want to or not. Now how about we finish studying formal language for today and then eat some chicken soup.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I learnt from my past life that people like these know more than they let out and if they want to teach you it¡¯s always better to accept without a second thought. Training routine and a magic lesson After two years of intense studying I mastered the human language, biology and history. Human biology was the same, so I actually knew more but Ellen seemed to enjoy teaching me so I didn¡¯t bother correcting her. Both ¡°total recall¡± and ¡°polymath¡± helped me remember all she taught me, and since I didn¡¯t need to repeat anything it saved me a lot of time. Apparently the planet¡¯s name was Erede, basically the same name. It is divided between 5 continents. Reich, the first one belonged to the humans and is the second largest continent, Tier was the largest continent and it belonged to the beast people like cat people and such. Teufel is the continent where demon race ran into hiding after they lost the war with the other races, from what I was taught the demons were deformed creatures like orcs and trolls and half-breeds between demons and fairies. Fantasie is the continent were fairies live, it is also said that Fantasie is the most beautiful continent and the only one humans couldn¡¯t occupy. Atlas, the fifth continent is currently submerged and is populated by mermen and other cross-breeds between mermen and other races. From what I learned Reich is divided between two major powers Sonne and Vollmond. Sonne was a monarchy and the king believes in the power of knowledge while Vollmond is ruled by however has the biggest muscles and army, basically they are using fear and violence to keep the people united. I found out that my house was actually on the outskirts of a village called Hyne. Hyne is a village of ordinary craftsmen and I¡¯m using the term ordinary because there are magic craftsmen who create and enchant equipment and furniture. This village is the farthest from the capital of the Sonne, so it the business isn¡¯t going well. Kraft works as a guard and hunter while my mother works as a healer and a scholar. They were mostly paid in raw materials and food provisions since there were little trade routes. I for one am OK with this since I get to eat chicken breast every day. Almost all daily necessities were covered and we had many gold coins stashed away. In this world the currency was divided between gold coins and white gold coins. For example you could buy a bread with 1 gold coin, and the cheapest house was 500 gold coins. A white gold coin was worth 100 gold coins. The gold coin was the currency because gold ore was very easy to find in mines and it could be found almost as easy to find as silver and Sonne has a lot of mines. Vollmond has iron and lead in abundance, something that Sonne lacks. ¡°Alex it¡¯s time to train, GET A MOVE ON!¡± Oh shit, it¡¯s Spartan training time. Last year I started doing calisthenics training and when Kraft saw me he decided to help me train. ¡°So what are you making me carry today?¡± ¡°A five kilogram log in each hand, ten laps around the house, now get moving.¡± At first I could barely lift a log but now I can run ten laps around the house with 10 kilograms worth of luggage without passing out but it¡¯s exhausting and this is only the first step of endurance training. After ten laps I dropped the logs and began massaging my arms. My whole body hurts but I feel a difference every time I exercise, after all I haven¡¯t seen many 5 years old kids doing this kind of activity. Well now I know that my ¡°Magically Engineered Human¡± power is working. ¡°Are you done Ali?¡± Ellen started calling me Ali instead of Alex because I had a girlish face and physique, part of the reason I accepted Kraft¡¯s offer to train me. ¡°Yes, is it time to eat yet?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s time for your magic lessons. I will make some mintal root tea, go wait in the bedroom.¡± Mintal was a plant which grew near water sources and if you boil the roots in water the water will taste like mint but a lot stronger. ¡°OK Ellen, I will go wash my hands and get ready.¡± I washed my hands with the cold water from the water tank then I went inside the house. I arrived in the bedroom and I went straight for the bed. So comfy, how about a little nap until she comes with the tea. ¡°Wake up Ali!¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I yawned and opened my eyes slowly. ¡°You have been asleep for some time, do you need a massage?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what I said?¡± ¡°I heard what you said, I was thinking that it happened again.¡± ¡°Your pain is gone, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I feel completely fine, how much did I sleep?¡± ¡°I would call that passing out instead of sleeping. You have been sleeping for an hour.¡± ¡°So the time it takes to recover decreases every time. Enough about that, I want to drink something.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s the tea, it¡¯s cold but I know you like it cold anyway.¡± ¡°Thanks, I was thirsty.¡± ¡°I am going to start the lesson now. Magic was a given to us by the 12 elder dragon gods who created the universe. In all living being except demons magic is concentrated in two parts of your body: the brain and the heart. The only exceptions are the demons, their magic flows uncontrollably in their bodies. The main difference between demons and the rest of the races is that demons can¡¯t control their magic internally while the other races can control their magic flow.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°Next I am going to tell you about the types of magic someone can possess. There is Light, Dark, Wind, Water, Fire, Earth and Black magic. Black magic or blood magic is a little special, the black magic users specialise in rituals that require blood sacrifices and is mostly used to summon and control demons as well as taking another person¡¯s magic and lifespan. Black magic uses a person¡¯s life as a catalyst for casting a spell instead of using the magical energy found in their bodies and if something goes wrong the caster dies.¡± ¡°So why are you insisting on black magic so much?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s very dangerous and it can be used by anyone regardless of their control over magic. If you ever intend to come in contact with it I want you to be ready for the consequences.¡± ¡°So when are you going to tell me what the other types of magic?¡± ¡°We will talk about elements after I see yours.¡± ¡°When will that be?¡± ¡°Since you understand biology well enough and paid close attention to what I said, we will go to the general shop tomorrow and buy a magic crystal.¡± ¡°So you are going to buy me a crystal that shows what element I possess?¡± ¡°Yes, also it is not rare for a person to possess multiple elements.¡± ¡°I think I know what you are trying to say but I¡¯m sure I possess only one¡± *chuckles* ¡°You seem very sure about this. It is already night so let¡¯s finish this lecture here.¡± ¡°Very well then, good night to you Ellen.¡± ¡°Good night Ali.¡± *chuckles* She really enjoys using that nickname. This is going to be the first time I go to the village, I¡¯m a little hyped. A trip to the magic shop The day of the trip arrived and my caretakers were getting ready. Kraft came to my room to wake me up. ¡°Wake up, you are going to miss this morning¡¯s training so at least get ready!¡± ¡°Good morning to you too, where are we going?¡± ¡°Hey, don¡¯t tell me you forgot what your mother told you.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, we are going shopping.¡± ¡°You two are going shopping, I have to meet the village elder in regards to a demon wolf invasion.¡± ¡°When was that?¡± ¡°A pack of demon wolves attacked an adventurer who went looking for star flowers a week ago.¡± ¡°So why are they calling you now.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know but these problems must be resolved within five days since they were reported. This is the seventh day, meaning a week passed and they did nothing.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t someone go and kill them, how hard can it be?¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why there are never enough adventurers in Sonne.¡± ¡°Ellen never taught me about demonic creatures that exist in Sonne.¡± ¡°And you didn¡¯t even bother to ask.¡± ¡°I spent all day training with you and studying with Ellen when I¡¯m not training.¡± ¡°You mastered reading, speaking and writing in five moths and you still complain. Well, it proves that you are still a kid.¡± ¡°She forced me to learn, it¡¯s not like I asked her.¡± ¡°You took the book from the bookshelf not her.¡± ¡°I was almost two years old at that time and even if I did take it what¡¯s that got to do with her forcing me to study?¡± ¡°She said you had an interesting look on your face and decided to take a shot at teaching others since she had free time.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m an experiment?¡± ¡°A successful one to say the least, you could hold a conversation after three months and then you learned writing and formal speaking in two. It usually takes a year or two to learn how to speak, yet you learnt in five months.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that hard, there are some basic words and the longer ones are just combinations and it can be written phonetically.¡± ¡°This is like arguing with a bird about flying.¡± ¡°What is the meaning of that statement?¡± ¡°How about you change your clothes, your mother is waiting for you.¡± Change my clothes, good joke. Even a level 1 peasant has better looking clothes. At least they fit me. I changed my clothes and then I brushed my hair. If my face looked even a little more girlish than this people will think I¡¯m a girl for sure. After brushing my hair in the mirror I went outside. The carriage was waiting and it seemed that Ellen was already inside. I went inside the carriage where Ellen picked me up and put me in her lap. The scenery outside was somehow nostalgic, it reminded me of the first day I met my so called parents. Our house was located on top of a small hill, surrounded by trees. After a few minutes I saw the village in the distance, I expected nothing and I¡¯m still disappointed by what I see. Most houses looked like there were made of planks instead of the darkpines. Darkpine is the tree whose wood was used to build our house, or so Kraft said. We arrived at the village entrance where we parked the carriage. Ellen put me down and we both got out of the carriage. Well it seems there is still hope, I saw some buildings that looked like shops and they were made of stone. ¡°I will visit the blacksmith to get my sword and my armor repaired and then I will attend the meeting.¡± ¡°When did you get the armor and sword and where did you hide them?¡± ¡°The sword and the armor were next to me, I was expecting you to ask me about them since you went inside without looking at the front seats.¡± ¡°Why should I?¡± ¡°Dear, there are things you are taught by other and things that are taught by life and your father learned the hard way why you don¡¯t get inside a carriage or a cart without checking who the drivers is.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°For some reason I think this would make a great bed time story.¡± *chuckles* ¡°You have no idea.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve had your fun, now get going. Alex I hope you are prepared for a special training session.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be too harsh on him.¡± I watched Kraft¡¯s face when he said that and I swore I could feel a dark aura chocking me. I shall await the rise of the death flag. We took a stroll around the village centre. This village has a blacksmith, a tailor, a leatherworker, a jeweller a magic shop and a general store. The blacksmith¡¯s shop was made out of stone and the jeweller¡¯s shop was made out of concrete. The rest of the shops were made out of stone or rammed earth. I was impressed by the fact that this village had roads. It looked more like somebody paved the road with concrete but in my opinion no matter how it looks a road is a road. After we finished our stroll Ellen dragged me inside the magic shop. ¡°Good day to you.¡± The shopkeeper was a woman who looked 45 maybe 50 years old. She had short black hair, brown eyes and a tired face. Magic or not I don¡¯t think that people can live more than 60 or 70 years in these conditions. ¡°Hello Marie, do you have any magic detection crystals?¡± ¡°Yes, there are a few left. Miss Ellen can I ask you a question?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve known each other for some time, you don¡¯t need to be so polite with me.¡± Miss Ellen, what the hell man? Where I came from this level of formality could only be found in some high class restaurants. ¡°Could you tell me who is the young lady accompanying you today?¡± Triggered, she said I was a girl. I know I look a little girlish but do I resemble I girl that much. On another note Ellen was hiding her mouth with one hand and holding her stomach with the other. So apparently this is funny for her, I¡¯m going to get my revenge for this one way or another. ¡°This lady right here is my son Alex.¡± ¡°I apologize, but I haven¡¯t seen any boys with such a girlish face and a shoulder long hair.¡± I am not going to reproduce the sounds Ellen made when she finally burst into laughter. If it wasn¡¯t for these circumstances I would actually be happy for her since I rarely see her smile. I can forgive but I never forget! Ellen caught her breath, bent on her knees till her face was at the same height as mine and patted my head a few times. ¡°I am going to make you some sweets so don¡¯t be mad, OK?¡± I haven¡¯t seen her cook any sweets before so I¡¯m very reluctant. Why did you suddenly start acting like a mother, you could have saved me from Kraft¡¯s training but you didn¡¯t. Why have you betrayed me mother? ¡°Here Ellen, the crystal is 10 gold coins.¡± My mother took out a coin purse from God knows where and paid Marie. ¡°Thank you very much.¡± ¡°Thank you for the crystal Marie, good bye.¡± With that we went outside and walked towards where the carriage was parked. Judging by the sun¡¯s position it was past 12 o¡¯clock. This took a lot longer than I expected. ¡°Are you done shopping?¡± Kraft followed by a bunch of knights came to the carriage. ¡°Hey Kraft, who¡¯s that girl?¡± ¡°That¡¯s my wife Ellen.¡± ¡°The little girl.¡± said one of the knights while pointing at me. ¡°That¡¯s my son you know, he¡¯s a boy.¡± ¡°Even my daughter isn¡¯t that cute.¡± ¡°Thanks for attending the meeting, but we have to go home.¡± ¡°Good bye Ellen, Kraft.¡± Getting killed by demons is not a fitting death for people like you. You better sleep with your eyes open. Ellen took my hand and went inside the carriage. After we got home I began training with Kraft. As an apology for today he cancelled the ¡°special¡± training session and I went on with my endurance training. It seemed that both the sweets and finding my magic elements will have to wait until tomorrow. The powerful element and uncontrollable magic The next morning some disturbing sounds woke me up. I changed my clothes and I went to the kitchen to ask Ellen what is the source of these sounds. ¡°What¡¯s that noise?¡± ¡°Good morning to you too by the way. What you hear is your father getting used to his new greatsword. Apparently that helps. It¡¯s OK if you confuse those sounds to those of a demon, the first time I heard him training I was still half asleep and I almost hit him with a fire barrage.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you hit him, did he dodge?¡± ¡°You think too highly of your father, he can¡¯t dodge magic, you need body enchantment for that you know.¡± ¡°No I don¡¯t. You said you were going to teach me magic techniques after me buy a crystal.¡± ¡°Anyway, I stopped casting the spell before it fired all the shots. In case you wondered the fire barrage is a spell that keeps shooting fire balls for as long as you can keep it active.¡± ¡°Why not shoot a fireball instead?¡± ¡°I was half asleep, I didn¡¯t know what I was doing.¡± ¡°I am going to call your father, it¡¯s about time had breakfast.¡± Ellen called Kraft and we ate some soup with boiled eggs. After breakfast I went outside with Kraft to train. Today¡¯s training was weightlifting and so Kraft gave me one of his older swords, a steel greatsword which was almost as big as me. Make no mistake, Ellen said I was about 1.30 meters tall. I looked like a girl while Kraft looked like Hulk with normal skin colour, even the way he was dressed matched. I don¡¯t know why he called swinging a sword weightlifting. After a few swings I noticed that my arms are getting tired, which shouldn¡¯t happen since I am used to lifting heavier stuff. ¡°Feeling tired yet?¡± ¡°As a matter of fact I do.¡± ¡°You are swinging it wrong.¡± ¡°So show me how to swing a sword.¡± ¡°If I teach you know I think you will probably fail to keep up since your body is not developed enough yet. Next year I am going to teach you how to fight with swords and your mother will teach you how to fight with concealable weapons like knives. ¡° ¡°So, when am I going to play?¡± ¡°Did you see any kids yesterday?¡± ¡°Now that you mention it I haven¡¯t seen any kids in the village.¡± ¡°Most kids your age to schools in other towns or cities to learn how to speak, read and write. Smart kids can stay in school until they are fifteen years old, then they can study further in the imperial capital to become scholars. They say that there is a new scholar every three years or so.¡± ¡°So most kids are stupid?¡± ¡°Most kids dream of becoming adventurers or magicians. While magic is taught in school, not many kids have a vast amount of magic power and even less can achieve control over magic.¡± ¡°So smart kids become magicians?¡± ¡°Some of them, the rest become teaches.¡± ¡°How smart is Ellen, she is a sage right?¡± ¡°She is a wizard who holds great knowledge about the world. You have to finish a special school to be a sage and you must be over 50 years old to become one.¡± ¡°How old are you and Ellen?¡± ¡°I¡¯m 35 years old and she is 30.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°OK, thanks for telling me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s about time you go back inside.¡± So it was time to see if the God lied or not. I went inside and Ellen was waiting for me in the bedroom. She passed me the crystal she was holding in her hand. When I touched the crystal its colour changed from transparent to black. It formed a black aura around it and then it shattered. ¡°The actual fuck?¡± ¡°Well you are a rare one. You can only use Dark magic.¡± ¡°So what does it do?¡± ¡°Mind control, shadow manipulation and sneaking around at night.¡± ¡°So I can be invisible at night.¡± ¡°Magic can be used internally and externally. As a matter of fact most dark magic users can¡¯t use their magic internally. Dark magic¡¯s body and enchantment is the strongest and it¡¯s the hardest to control. Now let¡¯s go outside so I can teach you about body enchantment.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m finally going to practice magic.¡± ¡°Just hurry up. I can only show you what I can do but I don¡¯t have the element of dark magic so you are on your own.¡± ¡°What elements do you have?¡± ¡°Fire, light and wind. I have little control over them but the fact that I can use all of them is what counts.¡± I went to the garden where Kraft was training. Ellen who was standing in front of me used body enchantment magic and a red aura covered her body and clothes. ¡°Body enchantment is done by controlling the flow of magic by using the heart and the brain as a conduit. You must feel the flow of magic and direct it to your heart and brain.¡± I tried sitting straight and then closing my eyes. Ellen said that magic is concentrated in the brain and heart but I don¡¯t understand why I can¡¯t feel my magic concentrated there. It was like my magic was flowing like blood inside my body. I tried concentrating my magic on my heart and brain. I felt a dark presence around me, I felt a chocking sensation and I lost my conscious. ¡°What in the name of Sonne is that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a demon aura!¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you stop him?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry Kraft, I can¡¯t do anything.¡± ¡°So now we just wait for him to die?¡± ¡°He stopped, he must have consumed all his magic. Kraft take him upstairs.¡± ¡°What are you going to do now?¡± ¡°Try to teach him to control his magic. I already confirmed that his body hosts magic just like a demon¡¯s but he didn¡¯t go berserk, he lost conscious when he ran out of energy and his body suffered no transformations. I believe he can control his magic despite what happened.¡± ¡°But you saw that black aura.¡± ¡°The magic crystal shattered, his only element is darkness that¡¯s why his aura was black. Healing magic doesn¡¯t work on him but he is a fast healer and we both already knew that his body and mind were abnormal. He is going to be fine.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you say but I can see the blood coming from your arm and some stains on your nails.¡± ¡°Just get him upstairs!¡± The beginning of my evoluton When I woke up I was in my room. The last thing I remember is that I lost conscious when I tried to control my magic. It seems I was carried back here, but why? I can hear footsteps and by the sound of them it¡¯s Ellen. If there is somebody who can tell me what happened it would be her. When she came inside I looked at her then in my mind some pieces of information appeared in my head like name, age, abilities, skills, and a threat level. I already knew her name, age and race, what surprised me is that apparently she was a black magic user and her threat level was 5. So another one of my passive powers seems to be working. Apparently the threat level went from 0 to 10. Apparently I couldn¡¯t beat anything higher than level 1 because it seems that the threat level is based on my current power so maybe a threat level 5 might become 1. This might be the first time I used this power but why do I have a migraine? When Ellen came to my room and saw I was awake she hugged me tightly and started sobbing. I still have no idea what happened but if she is like this then something horrible must have happened. After she finished crying she let me go and regained her composure. ¡°What happened to me?¡± ¡°You tried to control your magic but it failed. You exhausted your magic too fast for it to kill you and you have been asleep for four days.¡± ¡°So what went wrong?¡± ¡°Your body is a conduit. When I told you how to use body enchantment I didn¡¯t know that your body is different.¡± ¡°What do you mean by different?¡± ¡°As I said your body is a conduit. Basically your magic flows through your body just like a demon¡¯s BUT you have control over your magic, now we just need to find a way for you to control it.¡± ¡°Before that can I ask you a question?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you have such a serious look on your face before. Go ahead.¡± ¡°I can barely feel my limbs and my head hurts. What happened to me?¡± ¡°I really don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t have that kind of knowledge, the only people who know about a demon¡¯s biology can be found in magic academies or in the imperial capital.¡± ¡°That aside, if black magic is so dangerous why do you use it?¡± It was then that I realized that I just DDoS-ed Ellen. She looked at me with a surprised expression and I think she forgot how to blink. ¡°Did I say something that strange?¡± How about changing your CPU, it seems this is too much to process. After a minute she sighed and her face looked exhausted. ¡°How is it possible for you to know that? The only person who knows I was a black mage is my teacher, not even Kraft knows.¡± ¡°I can see it. I looked at you when you entered the room and some information just appeared in my head.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Ellen put her hands on my head and looked me in the eyes or she looked at my eyes. She kept moving my head left and right. My migraine was getting worse and her shaking my head wasn¡¯t helping. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Keep quiet for a second.¡± ¡°I was looking at your iris.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Your flow of magic is so strong that it makes your eyes see things they couldn¡¯t. Your eye colour is darker than four days ago and your magic aura can barely be seen in your eyes. It¡¯s like you used body enchantment only on your eyes. Look at my eyes, I will show you.¡± I looked at Ellen¡¯s eyes and I saw her pupils, they were enveloped in some kind of red-ish light. ¡°So what is that?¡± ¡°A technique used by those who practice black magic. You can concentrate your magic on one part of your body and gain a special ability. I used fire magic on my eyes and I can now see fire magic, fire demons and I can see through fire. There are various abilities but humans can only use black magic on their eyes because using it for a long period of time leads to injuries and my teacher almost lost her sight, but I wasn¡¯t that fortunate.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. ¡°Did I just hear something disturbing right now?¡± ¡°Since you already know that I can use black magic I might as well tell you what happened. I used fire magic on my eyes for a whole day and my eyes burned. I was fortunate that my teacher found a bandit, we took her and sacrificed her life in exchange for my eyes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something I couldn¡¯t even imagine you doing. I understand killing a person but the whole sacrifice thing, I don¡¯t buy it.¡± ¡°Believe what you want. My teacher stopped teaching me black magic and I still believe she made the right choice. Now I¡¯m going to make you use some black magic techniques to help you control your magic.¡± ¡°How can black magic help me?¡± ¡°You know the major differences between a rabbit and a demon rabbit?¡± ¡°Not really?¡± ¡°The magic empowers their body passively. That¡¯s why a rabbit dies after one arrow while a demon rabbit can be hit several times and still live.¡± ¡°So I should just fuck the traditional methods and empower my body passively?¡± ¡°Why not both? You can empower your body and if you need a boost you can use body enchantment.¡± ¡°So I can do both?¡± ¡°When I looked in your eyes I saw that your magic flow was stable and you are still alive after what happened so I believe you can.¡± ¡°Can you teach me how to meditate?¡± ¡°For once we are on the same page, I was about to tell you about meditation. The only method of meditation I know is the one associated with black magic and is the most dangerous one because you can be swallowed by magic and lose your sanity.¡± ¡°The last part sounds a lot like a training day for Kraft since he always acts like he is insane when he trains, especially those sounds.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about your father¡¯s inability to use any magic other than body enchantment.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t know Kraft¡¯s threat level.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go outside, I will explain on the way.¡± By the time we got to the ¡°training ground¡± Ellen understood how the threat system works. Ellen instructed me to sit with my legs crossed, put my arms on my legs and bend my body forward. I felt like somebody who fell asleep sitting down. Next I should be able to feel the magic inside me and somehow try to empower my body. While I was waiting for a miracle I started hearing water drops. When I focused my senses to the origin of the sound I found myself in a dark place. The only thing I could see was a lake. There were water drops rising up from the lake. It was just like the world was upside down and the water was dripping upwards. It was quite an interesting sight, the water was clear and I could see it well but I couldn¡¯t see anything else. Since I was meditating I expect this water to my magic and I just have to learn how to control it. Since I was too tired for this I took a deep breath and I went for a swim. It was a huge mistake, the water somehow was getting absorbed by my body and endless amounts of pain surged in my body. I don¡¯t know what happened but it appears I passed out because I was floating in the water instead of absorbing it. There was one thing I was sure of, somehow I absorbed some magic in my body. After that I stopped meditating, and when I woke up I saw Ellen and Kraft looking at me. I understand that they are worried, but what¡¯s with those faces? ¡°Somehow it worked.¡± ¡°Alex look at your reflection.¡± Kraft took his greatsword and placed it in front of me. The veins on my face and neck were black and so were the ones on my arms. It was safe to say that my all my veins were black, but the ones in my eyes were returning to their original color. ¡°Well done Ali, you were able to absorb magic in your body without dying. Go and rest for today. We will be discussing what to do next tomorrow. Stories about the past I guess I should have expected this. There were some black veins left on my arms, I really expected all of them to revert during the night but I guess I¡¯m not that lucky. When I looked in the mirror I noticed I had the¡± when you have miss universe contest at 8 but you gotta fight Obi Wan at 10¡± look. Black veins or not I should go to the kitchen, apparently Kraft was supposed to cook something nutritious for me so I¡¯m expecting to get poisoned. When I arrived in the kitchen they were already at the table waiting for me. Both Kraft and Ellen were looking away from me, something that I expected since I still have those veins. The only thing I don¡¯t understand is why am I not freaked out. In my previous world I would have killed myself by know if I saw what I did yesterday and yet I don¡¯t feel scared or uneasy. It might be my body telling me that this is something natural or maybe I became mentally stronger than I was in my past life. On another note my powers tell me that the soup contained traces of different roots and vegetables which have healing properties and it tasted like a sweeter version of a vegetable soup. Something was different from yesterday, my head didn¡¯t hurt even though I used my powers but I can feel a pulse in throughout my entire body and it feels natural, I really need to know what that is. After I ate my breakfast I went outside to train. My body feels different: it feels lighter and stronger than before. Ellen told me that demons are often agile compared to how they look because of the magic inside them, it is possible that my body is changing the same way. I will keep observing the changes in my body and deal with them later. I searched for Ellen and I found her in the bedroom sitting on the bed. ¡°Ali, come here for a second.¡± I went in front of her then she told me to face the other way. When I did that she picked me up, put me on her lap and embraced me. I know from previous experience that she does this only when she is blaming herself for not helping me and I really don¡¯t understand why. She knows she can¡¯t do anything yet she is like this. Oh well, maybe I can convince her to let me go. ¡°Ali, do you remember the day I met you.¡± ¡°In the forest, five years ago, you and Kraft came and took me with you.¡± ¡°I will now tell you the whole story. You were the only survivor of an occupation force of a tribe of nomad warriors called the Kylls. The Kylls find a village, kill everyone in it then they live in it until it¡¯s time to find another one. Kraft and I came here to save the village and were supposed to kill everyone including women and children. The two of us plus some local knights ambushed them in the forest and killed all of them including you. The plan was for you to die with the rest of them as a warning for other tribes or parties.¡± ¡°Before you say anything else, why the sudden confession?¡± ¡°Because I always go out of my way to help you even if I know I can¡¯t and I wanted you to know why. After the party was eliminated we left but then I thought that taking you and raising you might be fun.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give birth to a child if you wanted to experiment the life of a mother? ¡°I couldn¡¯t, in my bloodline there is a disease that prevent women from getting pregnant. Some people said this was the work of a curse. Even black magic was powerless against whatever this is.¡± ¡°Why the sudden drama? It¡¯s not like I¡¯m dying, the veins will disappear and my body will grow stronger.¡± ¡°Did you know that Kraft was part of an ancient nomad tribe who is said to be able to fight demons barehanded? His body¡¯s condition never deteriorates even if he is ill.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.¡°That is impressive, but what does it matter?¡± Ellen extended her right arm and started moving her finger in the air like she was painting something. ¡°Do you want to hear a story?¡± ¡°About what?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the tale of the Dark Knight. Back when the world was still undivided and the number demons outnumbered the other races a demon king waged war against the world. Forged by the flames of war a human capable of controlling dark magic lead the humans to victory in many battles. It was recorded in the ancient scrolls that he wielded a sword bigger than a man and heavier than a mountain. Until one day when he accomplished his biggest feat before he died. One night the demons attacked his camp in a night raid. The Dark Knight fought battled the demons with his bare hands until the demon king arrived. The demon king was had a humanoid body, despite being 4 meters tall. His armor was made by the flesh and bones of his victims and he wielded a mace which is said to have the power to split the world. The survivors of that day said that the Dark Knight fought the demon in his sleepwear, only using his fist and the dark magic, his troops said that it looked like the night was giving him power. Every time the demon¡¯s mace hit him the world itself would shake. The Knight¡¯s entire body was covered in a black aura and with each hit he landed on the demon he grew stronger. He was capable of injuring the demon faster than he could heal. It is said that he was set aflame by the demon¡¯s black fire and extinguished a flame that was supposed to be impossible to put out. His strength was enough to bring the demon to his knees. The demon used every kind of magic on him but despite his wounds the knight survived each strike. It is said that after weakening the demon the knight ripped the demon¡¯s right arm and took the mace from him. Right before he died the demon casted a spell on the Knight. After the Knight killed the demon he was turned to stone. The last thing the survivors saw was the Knight shattered after the magic left his body and they understood that his body was destroyed during the fight and his willpower forced the magic to keep him alive. After his death numerous mages and fighters worked together to create the body enchantment technique and understand it¡¯s limits. They say that every piece of stone that was found from what remained of the Dark Knight¡¯s body was actually petrified magic energy, containing a vast amount of magical power. By using those pieces the most skilled blacksmiths forged the weapons that destroyed the demon army and stopped the first demon war.¡± ¡°How old is this tale and how much of it is true?¡± ¡°This tale is the only tale that remained from before the second global war and it is said that the descendants of the Dark Knight are the rulers of Vollmond but not even direct descendants have the power to control dark magic to that degree. That¡¯s why I want you to master the body enchantment technique and master the dark element.¡± ¡°Seems more like a dream than a goal.¡± ¡°The black veins are the evidence that your body is evolving towards permanent absorption of magic, now you must keep absorbing your magic. Kraft and I will teach you how to handle weapons and how to strengthen your body. Since a journey begins with a single step I suggest you keep training with Kraft for the rest of the year and when you turn 6 we will teach you how to use your mind and body in a real fight.¡± (Un)important discussions The Dark Knight, the inventor of body enchantment, why does she think I will that technique like him when I can¡¯t even use it normally. I must focus on absorbing magic and learning how to control it. Before getting out of the room I tried meditating. I was in the same dark place but I felt that there was more magic inside me than it was two days ago. I touched the surface of the lake and I stirred some water around while looking at the waves. I knew that I was standing on something but I couldn¡¯t see. I jumped in the water but nothing happened. I was just floating around. I tried focusing some magic on my right hand and then I saw the water enveloping my right hand. I was so scared that I actually fell completely in the lake. It felt like I was drowning and I couldn¡¯t move. The feeling disappeared after a while and I realized I didn¡¯t absorb any magic. After some thinking I decided to try absorbing as much magic as I can. This time then quantity of magic I absorbed was enough to empty the lake so I guess I absorbed all the magic I had. After I finished meditating I found myself gasping for air, it felt exactly like the time I tried using body enchantment then I checked to see if I had any black veins. Some of them appeared on my arms but the colour wasn¡¯t that intense which means my body is getting used to absorbing magic. When I went to the kitchen my parents had a serious look on their faces. ¡°Your mother and I have discussed something important. We are going to give you another haircut.¡± ¡°How is that important?¡± ¡°You look exactly like a girl and I thought that changing your hairstyle may do some good also a long hair will put you in a disadvantage in a fight. Pulling your hair or setting it aflame are common tactics in tournaments.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why you have short hair.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s the important discussion we were supposed to have?¡± ¡°No, Kraft will train you using a method learnt in his tribe. Like you Kraft was part of a nomad tribe who specialized in testing a human¡¯s physical limits.¡± ¡°Your mother said that healing magic didn¡¯t work on you but I think the spell I will cast on you will work and if they don¡¯t I have other methods.¡± ¡°What spells are you talking about?¡± ¡°Earth magic can be used to increase the mass of an object but it¡¯s casting time is long compared to other debuff spell so it¡¯s not used in battle.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be too hard for you, after all the number of black veins is the sign that your body is adapting.¡± ¡°By the way kid, do you even know the names of the seasons in our language?¡± ¡°The what?¡± ¡°The four seasons. The time of ice, the time of bloom, the time of fire and the time of fall.¡± ¡°Ellen told me the abbreviated forms. I know that there are 12 months in a cycle or year, depending on what term you use and I know that there are 30 or 31 days in a month.¡± ¡°Well enough with this, let¡¯s go outside and I will show you my training method.¡± I went outside and Kraft came after a few seconds. He gave me a bracelet and told me to put it on. When I put the bracelet on my arm I could feel my magic disappearing and I started feeling weak. My scan showed me that the bracelet was using a person¡¯s magic to make their body feel heavier. So it¡¯s like cheating your muscles to think you are heavier than you actually are. Excluding the fact that I had major trouble standing up all was well. ¡°Now you are going run with me to the village and back.¡± The fuck did you say? I can barely move and he wants me to go to the village and back. My complaining ended when I felt a slap on my back. If that¡¯s his way of encouraging he¡¯s wasting his time. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Despite what I said earlier here I am running and running out of breath while trying not to lose sight of Kraft who is making fun of me for being too slow. My house was farther from the village than I expected. Somehow I reached the village and I¡¯m on my way home. Kraft went ahead and my body adapted to the new weight faster than I thought. By the time I got home it was already evening and Ellen was waiting for me at the door. It¡¯s a good thing that she was waiting for me because my legs gave out and I fell flat on the ground. I really thought that my body got accustomed to this training until I found myself sitting on the shore of the lake. The scan showed that the bracelet was not made to stop the magic from flowing, only to disperse some of it and my body used the remaining magic to keep me from passing out while I was running. It actually felt nice in here. The water was calm and my pain from running disappeared. The water I mentioned could be used to fill a cup, so I¡¯m guessing that the magic in here was not enough to keep me going. I absorbed the little magic left and left my inner world. When I woke up I was already in bed. I expected as much, with both my stamina and magic gone I couldn¡¯t do very much and so I went to sleep. The next day my mother woke me up. She was going to give me a haircut. ¡°Looks like you didn¡¯t have any time to meditate today.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°I keep track on the black veins that appear on your body, if those veins disappeared now it will be too fast even for you.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m going to meditate now.¡± I closed my eyes and I found myself in my inner world. The volume of water increased more than before so I guess that using that bracelet was better than I thought. Just like yesterday I jumped in the lake and floated around while absorbing the magic. It seems that if I absorb it slowly it doesn¡¯t hurt. I absorbed almost all the magic I had and then I woke up. ¡°So what now?¡± ¡°To me it looked like you just blinked, but judging by your veins you already finished absorbing magic.¡± ¡°I thought I was absent for 10 minutes or even more.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not even going to try to act surprised anymore, what you used is called battle meditation. This technique is used when a magician is grave danger, by using magic to enter an instantaneous meditation state he or she could gain a little time to replenish their magic or come up with a new strategy. I was considered a gifted individual in the arts of meditation but I can¡¯t use it for more than three minutes. I¡¯m beginning to feel jealous you know.¡± ¡°I guess I am a special case after all.¡± ¡°I went to the imperial magic academy when I was 4 and I was the youngest person to finish it and Kraft became the most powerful warrior of his tribe when he was 10 so we are not that different from you.¡± ¡°I excel at learning.¡± ¡°From what I saw, you assimilate information faster than anybody I know and you are pretty much a demon with human skin, not even your internal organs work the way they are supposed to.¡± After I got legitimately burned by Ellen she took a dagger and gave me a haircut. I ended up with a buzz cut. The hair looked fine but the girlish look was still there. If my body adapts to this world it must mean that women are more appreciated or it¡¯s used to confuse my opponents, if I don¡¯t look like some kind of bodybuilder people would think I¡¯m weak. That is to be seen when my body decides to show the genetic masculine traits I¡¯m supposed to have. Practical application of "wound transfer" I wasn¡¯t happy about this training but it works better than expected. Ellen said that there is a limit to how much magic somebody can possess before they are devoured by it but it seems that I am once again an exception. Every time my magic increased I felt my inner world increasing too. I barely remember the past few days, running to the village and back took most of my time and to make things even worse Kraft was with me making sure I don¡¯t slow down. Today was supposed to be an ordinary day but it wasn¡¯t. A loud noise from the kitchen woke me up. I reached the kitchen before I realized I had gotten out of the bed. Ellen was on the floor. I noticed a cut on her palm, probably from one of the plates that were on the floor. ¡°What happened?¡± Kraft came running back inside when he saw me staying next to Ellen. ¡°I heard a noise and Ellen was on the floor.¡± ¡°Help me carry her to the bedroom.¡± ¡°What happened to her, she seemed fine. I thought she couldn¡¯t get sick or tired.¡± ¡°This village doesn¡¯t have a doctor or a healer to call and we are out of healing potions.¡± ¡°Maybe I can see what is wrong with her?¡± ¡°What can you possibly d? You can¡¯t even use healing magic.¡± I controlled the flow of magic and directed it to my eyes. The scan showed that she was suffering from physical fatigue and from a curse called Dark Omen. It was fortunate that I could scan the curse. Apparently the curse plagued every female born in the family making them infertile and draining their stamina every day until it¡¯s removed. It was weakened using both light and black magic. It was possible to transfer the curse to me but I couldn¡¯t cure it right away. There was also the fatigue and the cut on her hand. ¡°What am I doing here?¡± ¡°Morning, your curse became stronger than the magic used to weaken it.¡± ¡°What curse are you talking about Alex?¡± ¡°And so I¡¯m going to cure you. Wound Transfer!¡± For the first time in my second life my magic responded to my calls. The cut on Ellen¡¯s hand disappeared and appeared on my hand, my body started feeling heavy and I started feeling tired. When the curse transferred to me I was dragged into my inner world where a black mist was covering some of the water¡¯s surface. The mist looked like 2 hexagons inside a pentagram, since the bracelet Kraft gave me had no such symbol I believe is the work of black magic. The curse was trying to absorb my magic but it didn¡¯t work well. I could see the mist slowly disappearing, at this rate it might take a few days and I can¡¯t use my magic to eliminate it. ¡°How are you feeling Ellen?¡± ¡°Ali, show me the back of your head.¡± ¡°What for?¡± ¡°Now!¡± She took my head and looked at the back. I didn¡¯t know she possessed that kind of strength, I actually felt pain from when she grabbed me. ¡°You transferred my wound and the curse to you. I can¡¯t say I¡¯m not happy that you removed my curse but now that you transferred it you will get sick and will eventually be bedridden.¡± ¡°Not really no, as you can see I already healed the cut with magic and the curse might disappear in a few days, maybe a week.¡± ¡°The curse was cast upon my family generations ago and now you just come and say you did something not even my teacher could.¡± ¡°Who is this teacher of yours?¡± ¡°The master of the Dark Side, a group of people who used black magic as their main source of power.¡± ¡°It¡¯s actually funny that we are having a serious conversation about curses and forbidden magic and then there¡¯s Kraft.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Oh dear, I suppose it¡¯s time for some explanations.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to train, see ya later.¡± ¡°Hey kid don¡¯t you dare run away.¡± My priorities lay elsewhere at the moment. Thanks to ¡°total recall¡± I remembered how I ran to the kitchen and I know that I couldn¡¯t move that fast before. The training help but it wasn¡¯t that effective I couldn¡¯t even see where I was going. I must discover how I reach that speed so I can use it at will. I was running at full speed on the path to the village but it feels different. The bracelet is still on a table in my room and Ellen¡¯s curse doesn¡¯t affect my speed, only my total endurance. The God said that my only element is darkness and Ellen said that the magic that flows in my body can be controlled. What if the body enchantment failed before because I tried to get my magic to manifest on the outside and inside at the same time? I used ¡°total recall¡± again and that¡¯s when it hit me. The pulse I felt a while ago appeared again. While running I went inside my inner world. There were waves on the water surface. I subconsciously used body enchantment so I should be able to use it consciously as well. I left my winner world at I concentrated on the pulse I felt before and I tried letting all the magic I had flow into my body. I felt the darkness enveloping my body and then the pulse appeared. I was fortunate I could scan my body. The pulse was practically measuring how much time I can use body enchantment, the moment the pulse stops the enchantment is gone. The technique doesn¡¯t drain much magic but if I were to get hit a part of the damage received would be blocked and will drain my magic instead of hurting me. On the bright side no matter how much I hit a target or an enemy my magic won¡¯t decrease. So every time I use my magic the total amount I have increases and the more magic I passively strengthen my body with, the less magic my spells and techniques will require. In the evening I went home, ate dinner and went to bed. The curse was a pain in the ass for me since I wasn¡¯t able to absorb as much magic as usual. The following day Ellen woke me up. I haven¡¯t felt my body so weak for a long time, if I remember correctly the last time I felt so weak was the day I arrived here. ¡°How are you feeling Ali?¡± ¡°Like shit, even worse now that I think about it. At least somebody is having fun. I don¡¯t think I will be able to understand the happiness you feel now that the curse has been lifted but you could at least stop fucking like rabbits. How much time did you sleep yesterday?¡± ¡°It appears none of us did!¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m really delighted that you got your stamina back miss but I must ask you to refrain from engaging in sexual activities until any non-participant is asleep or make sure your noise levels remain within the acceptable limits.¡± ¡°It seems I am not favored after all.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± ¡°You never talked back to me until now so I thought I was special, mommy is going to be sad.¡± ¡°Please go and cry in a corner if you wish but first can you help me get up, I am having trouble moving.¡± ¡°I told you, the curse¡¯s power is stronger than you think. I hoped to help you with your training starting today but it will have to wait. The curse is gone but the effects will last a while so I¡¯m not going to get pregnant anytime soon, maybe next year.¡± ¡°How about we call it a day and you let me sleep.¡± ¡°When the curse activated on me the first time I fell into a coma for a month but I guess you will be fine.¡± ¡°Good night!¡± ¡°Good night, Ali.¡± I¡¯m not going into a coma but I might oversleep tomorrow. Quality Family Time Well, I woke up feeling like shit. The curse is still being destroyed by exidium but it¡¯s not weakening like it did with Ellen. As always Ellen and Kraft were already in the kitchen. ¡°How are you feeling Ali?¡± ¡°Worse than I thought, it reminds me of Kraft¡¯s training session.¡± ¡°You decided to take my curse so you better be prepared to feel its effects.¡± ¡°When I transferred the curse it wasn¡¯t that strong, it just became like this while I slept.¡± ¡°Let me tell you about that curse. You see, in the third demon war my family fought an army of demons lead by a Black Demon. Black Demons are said to be the most intelligent demons and they use curses and traps to destroy their enemies. A priestess was captured in a dungeon raid on his territory. She was captured by the demon and kept as a sex slave until a party of adventurers killed the Black Demon and saved her. That priestess was curse with a curse that will activate when she would give birth to a daughter and the curse will spread to every kid born in the family. She had a son and a daughter but the son¡¯s curse never activated. Every female born lives for approximately 40 years then the curse finally takes their lives.¡± ¡°I resemble a girl so much that even a curse thinks I¡¯m a female.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you get for trying to hold a serious conversation with this kid.¡± ¡°The curse isn¡¯t so bad. It drains my stamina and my magic constantly which means my stamina and magic are increasing faster than they did if I were doing nothing. ¡°You could wear the bracelet I gave you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s for later. I will wear it during training.¡± ¡°So you can destroy the curse but you don¡¯t want to.¡± ¡°Yes, anyway the first demon war was before the continents split, the second war caused the continents to split and the third war was the one that made the demons retreat to their own continent right?¡± ¡°The continents were separated after the war ended.¡± ¡°So I understood wrong.¡± ¡°Ali, when we decided to rescue you it was the beginning of the ninth month. Do you remember when were you born?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember but the scan tells me that I was born on the twenty-first day of the eighth month.¡± If I use the newest method of calculating age I was born on 21.08.100. It was the 100-th year since the third demon war ended and it was the time of the new people. Basically the people born before the second war were called ancient people, the people born between the second and third war were the old people and most humans are part of the new people since they were born after the third war. Know I realize that my body actually kept me alive despite the condition I was in. I was almost a month old when they found me. Maybe this year they will throw a party for me. Until now the only thing I got for my birthday was a ¡°Happy Birthday¡± and then the rest was the same. ¡°Why the sudden question?¡± ¡°You were very weak when we found you and we always thought that you were going to die on us so we never bothered to give you something for your birthday.¡± ¡°In my family we never celebrated birthdays.¡± ¡°Ellen, where did you find this guy anyway?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a long story and it¡¯s more accurate to say that I saved him and he stayed with me after that.¡± ¡°Your threat level is higher than Kraft¡¯s.¡± ¡°Saying a man is weaker than a woman is capital crime in my tribe.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t lose your ability to speak correctly because I stated the truth. Your threat level is 4 and Ellen¡¯s threat level is 6. If I had removed the curse sooner her level would be 7. I am weak right now so I don¡¯t know how powerful you two really are.¡± ¡°Ali, did you wake up at all yesterday?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how I managed to wake up today.¡± ¡°So you didn¡¯t. Yesterday I had a practice fight with your father and I hope he didn¡¯t start training you in hand to hand combat or anything else besides endurance and strength.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Ellen had a big grin on her face and Kraft looked like a he was humiliated in the worst possible way he never knew about. ¡°What did you do to the poor guy?¡± ¡°The only place he can last more than three seconds against me is the bed.¡± ¡°Really? After almost five years of living with you I believe that is a lie. The night four days ago sure was different.¡± ¡°The curse was draining my stamina that¡¯s why before we took breaks because of me.¡± ¡°And now it¡¯s the other way around.¡± ¡°As a matter of fact you are correct.¡± ¡°As much as I like psychologically torturing Kraft I think we should stop here. He looks like he wants to kill me.¡± ¡°You are safe with me, well you might want to start sleeping with one eye open.¡± ¡°Talking about mentally fucking somebody, aren¡¯t you going to start teaching me some dark magic spells.¡± ¡°Here is all I know about dark magic.¡± And with that Ellen took a sip of tea. ¡°So you don¡¯t know anything about spells used only by dark magicians.¡± ¡°Unfortunately I didn¡¯t study dark magic since I don¡¯t possess the dark element.¡± ¡°So what am I eating today?¡± ¡°There is some toast with cheese and there is some mintal tea left.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have that.¡± ¡°Anyway kid, this summer we are going to start combat training. Your mother will teach you how to dodge attacks like a coward and counterattack.¡± ¡°Then you can teach me how to find without dodging attacks.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to train you, but be careful not to pass out.¡± ¡°On your birthday we will be going to the village to get you something as a gift. Until then you are going to transfer Kraft¡¯s wounds to you so we can see how powerful your ability is.¡± ¡°Alex, your mother broke my left arm in three places yesterday and I want you to use your power on me.¡± I used ¡°wound transfer¡± on Kraft¡¯s arm and the sounds of bones braking could be heard coming from my left arm. So I receive the pain and the wound itself. My bones broke like something hit them so if I were to transfer the wound of somebody whose arm has been torn will my arm fell off or will it rip itself. ¡°Can I assume that the sound I just heard were your bones being broken?¡± ¡°Yes, my bones just broke themselves.¡± ¡°Kraft, check his arm.¡± Kraft studied my arm and checked some particular parts of my arm. That¡¯s where Ellen broke his bones. In these conditions my arm couldn¡¯t be moved and the pain was quite intense. I have experienced intense pain a number of times since I reincarnated but my body increased my pain endurance instead of eliminating the feeling of pain. ¡°The wounds on your arm match mine. My arm was healed instantly and my pain was gone. How are you kid?¡± ¡°It hurts like hell but my arm will heal in 2 days or less.¡± ¡°Ali, you said that you will train even if you are cursed so it¡¯s better to start now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going.¡± Well, it seems that the curse us more powerful than I thought but my wound transfer is working so that¡¯s nice. To celebrate I¡¯m going to change its name into ¡°dark transfer¡± because it sounds better. Birthday present Living with a curs isn¡¯t that bad. My body is developing faster that before. At least there are some visible muscles on my body, by the looks of it this body was built for agility and by absorbing magic I increase my overall toughness. Another unimportant piece of information: today is my birthday so I¡¯m supposed to go with Ellen to the general store and choose something as a gift. I don¡¯t think I will find anything worth buying but it¡¯s not like I have anything important to do. ¡°Come on kid, sit down and eat.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with you, Kraft? You look tired, well more tired than before.¡± ¡°Good morning Ali. You see the last night was quite intense.¡± "Don''t you think I am a little too young for this type of conversation." ¡°In Vollmond it¡¯s considered a humiliation for a 10 year old boy to be a virgin. And if we don¡¯t take your personality into consideration your mental age is about 20 years old. This is an estimation I made seeing you and I don¡¯t want my first son to be embarrassed by these kinds of conversations and then fail to find a girl for him.¡± ¡°That escalated quickly but more importantly what¡¯s wrong with my personality.¡± ¡°Well, you act before you think and only when there¡¯s something in for you. Also you are a rude kid and you should exercise your manners.¡± ¡°Neah, I just like this because I love you.¡± ¡°Then can you say that you removed my curse and healed my wounds out of love for me?¡± ¡°Well, not entirely. I tried using the power to heal you not knowing if it will work.¡± ¡°All things considered I am going to believe that you actually love us as your parents.¡± ¡°Except that you are the only one who loves Kraft.¡± ¡°How about you sit down and eat kid, today we are starting combat training and I¡¯m going to beat you up.¡± After breakfast the three of us went to the village. Kraft was going to meet some knights about the monsters in this region. Now I was walking towards the general store. There really aren¡¯t any kids here. I hope people don¡¯t think I¡¯m mentally challenged because I¡¯m staying here. I went inside the shop. There were a few magic crystals, some tableware and some books. Oh shit, that¡¯s a fucking pocket watch. Do they even have that kind of technology? Let¡¯s try scanning that. Scan results: Prototype portable watch built by dwarf grandmaster and master smith Gr¡¯ham. Materials used Inconel and white gold. Approximate age 2000 years old. Fully functional. Accessories include a hunter case and watch chain. Mass 2 kilograms. The next time I see a dwarf I¡¯m going to give him a few drinks. I always wanted a pocket watch mainly because I had a tendency of wanting to know exactly what time it was at any given moment. ¡°Ellen, can I have that?¡± The shopkeeper took the pocket watch from the shelf and gave it to Ellen. ¡°This is a time telling device made out of iron and quite old. It¡¯s quite old and might be broken. If you desire I will sell you this item for the price of 50 gold coins. ¡°Ali, are you sure you want it?¡± So it has come to this, I will have to use my feminine charms to convince Ellen. I looked at her with puppy eyes a pleading face and I tried imitation a girl¡¯s voice as well as I could. ¡°Please mommy, can you buy that device for me?¡± In the next instant Ellen made three different facial expressions. I bet a normal human wouldn¡¯t be capable of seeing her face change that fast, but I was different. She went from shocked to angry and then an ¡°I give up¡± expression. It seems my plan actually worked better than expected and by the way my voice sounded really cute. Ellen took a coin bag out of nowhere again and paid the man 50 gold coins. Can¡¯t people count faster? I heard each coin in that bag. In the end he counted the money and we left the shop. ¡°What exactly is that thing anyway? It doesn¡¯t look like much but you wouldn¡¯t have done that if it wasn¡¯t something special.¡± ¡°What do you know about Inconel?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the strongest metal on this planet which can be used only by a dwarven master smith. You can¡¯t be serious?¡± That was when she realized what she just purchased. ¡°Is that thing really made of Inconel?¡± ¡°And white gold. This is a portable prototype of a self-sustaining time-telling device. The device is silent and accurate. And that idiot just sold something like this for 50 gold coins. I suppose he just made the worst mistake he could. Really talk about bad decisions. ¡° Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°So your eyes could tell you that much about this device.¡± ¡°Fun fact, I used one third of my magic to scan that watch. I even know how to dismantle it and put it back together.¡± ¡°So the matter with your birthday present has been solved.¡± ¡°Yeah, this is something I really wanted. Now I know that we are on the 21-st day of the 8-th month year 2116 and it¡¯s exactly 12:34.¡± ¡°I heard that time perception is a useful tool for those who practice dark magic.¡± ¡°You said you knew nothing about dark magic.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t teach you but I know a few things that help a magic user. Fire magic users fight better when around fires, water magic users fight better near lakes and places with water and so on.¡± ¡°How does time perception help me?¡± ¡°The ancient scrolls tell a story about an assassin who could go inside shadows and move inside them. It is said the she could enter another world where she could see everything that was happening in the universe enabling her to find her target and kill her without leaving any trace of her presence.¡± ¡°Another story based on legends, hope you don¡¯t want me to do that too.¡± ¡°Though your expression inside the shop was cute, you are a boy so I don¡¯t expect you to do that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s discrimination!¡± ¡°Can you do any of that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just going to keep walking now and I¡¯m dropping this subject.¡± When we arrived at the carriage, Kraft told me to run back home instead of riding the carriage. I arrived home and I went to the kitchen where I saw Ellen and Kraft. Kraft was holding a greatsword in his hands. ¡°Ali, give me the device.¡± ¡°If you think I¡¯m giving you the watch you are crazy!¡± I wanted to test my storage powers after I got home so the watch was still in my hands. Ellen took the watch form my hands and gave it to Kraft and then she pinned me down. I could feel how powerful she was, as expected for a level 6, I can¡¯t even think of breaking free. Kraft put the watch on the table and he took a stance. He raised his sword and with a battle cry he swung the sword on my poor watch. When the dust settled I saw a cut in the ceiling. The floor and the table had been completely destroyed but the rest of the room was intact. Kraft put his sword down and went to search for the watch. I saw a surprised look on his face. He took the watch out from the rubble, the watch didn¡¯t have a scratch on it, it actually looked better. The scan showed that the watch suffered no damage from the attack. ¡°How about that bitch? That watch is stronger than you will ever be. Good job on destroying the kitchen! Now give me my watch back!¡± ¡°Fine, take your stupid watch back.¡± When he said that he threw the watch towards the floor and the floor broke when the watch landed. Ellen released me and I took the watch and absorbed it. When I absorbed the watch I was transported inside my inner mind. The watch was floating in the air. So the more magic I have, the more things I can store. ¡°What was this shit about Ellen? If you wanted to make fools of yourselves I would have given you the watch.¡± ¡°I thought you wouldn¡¯t risk it but I needed to know if what you said is true.¡± ¡°I have a feeling this wasn¡¯t about the watch but something bigger and you are not going to tell me even if I ask you.¡± ¡°Yes, I am sorry but this is something I had to know. The watch and you absorbing it were two of the things I had to make sure of.¡± ¡°I hope you will tell me what that was about when the time comes.¡± I could see Ellen sulking. I have a feeling I know what this is about. ¡°Let¡¯s forget this, Ellen you are supposed to teach me unarmed combat so let¡¯s start.¡± The only thing I could do was to give up for the moment but I have a feeling that the answer will come to me. Combat training ¡°Come on Ali, keep up.¡± ¡°Keep up my ass, how about slowing down a little!¡± ¡°Come on kid, you made fun of me for getting beaten up by a woman. How does it feel?¡± ¡°I am a kid you know, I have the right to bitch about getting beaten up by somebody whom I should run away from.¡± Gotta love mornings, after they tried to destroy my watch my parents decided to torture me by making me fight them. After Kraft destroyed the table we were forced to eat in the bedroom. It¡¯s a good thing that Ellen¡¯s curse was transferred to me because I get to see her smile a lot now. Every time I am with them I tend forget who I was before and seeing them happy makes me happy. Even in my past life I had few friends but I would gladly go to hell and back to help them. The floor and ceiling that Kraft broke were repaired after a week and a new table was delivered to us by the village¡¯s blacksmith. Kraft had to pay for all the things he broke, approximately 60 gold coins, that was enough for us to last a month. The only things my parents bought since I was born were a bed and clothes for me. I have a very hard time keeping up with Ellen even though she isn¡¯t fighting seriously. The fact that I was as tall as an eleven year old kid wasn¡¯t helping. I was an easy target to hit and she didn¡¯t pull many punches. Nine out of ten times she is able to hit me easily. The combat style she is using was called ¡°Hay¡¯tok¡± or something and it involved hitting an enemy¡¯s vitals and weak spots with speed and precision. This style involved a high amount of agility and concentration since it¡¯s used as an all-out style made to last as long as the practitioner has enough stamina left. ¡°Don¡¯t you get tired of hitting me?¡± ¡°This style is not made for people who hold back, the more momentum you build the easier it is to keep going and since I¡¯m holding back this actually tires me out faster than you think.¡± This style covered almost everything: the eyes, groin, shin, forehead, temples, neck, shoulder, throat, jaw, forearms, sternum, solar plexus, ribs, and feet. She had at least two different types of attack for every pressure point. Ellen believes that I could learn by watching her and then mimic her way of fighting, she also said that this fighting style can be modified with new attacks. This style was mainly used by assassins, guards and gladiators and it¡¯s not widely known since it doesn¡¯t help against demons that don¡¯t have a humanoid form. I would throw any fighting style away if I knew the ¡°North Star¡± fighting style, then I would be able to kill a person before they even know I was there. What I feared the most actually happened. Ellen tried to punch me in the temples, when I tried to dodge I lost my balance and she scored a direct hit on the left side of my head. I could feel my brain moving inside my head and a noise in my left ear and I fell on the ground. ¡°Ali, are you all right?¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°When I punched you, you tried to dodge, stepped on a rock that resulting in you losing your balance. It went better than I expected. It¡¯s a good thing you moved your head so I hit your ear instead of temples. If my punch connected it would have been fatal.¡± ¡°Does your punch have the ability to completely destroy a person¡¯s brain? ¡° ¡°No, but it is a fatal blow.¡± ¡°Not for me. My body can recover as long as my brain isn¡¯t destroyed.¡± ¡°What happens if your head gets cut?¡± ¡°My body will regenerate from my head, I think.¡± ¡°Well, tell me more once you get your head cut off.¡± ¡°When I get beheaded you will be the first to know. Speaking of getting killed you said something about some angel fish for dinner.¡± ¡°The village will get some angel fish from the capital as a reward for helping with the demons in this region. Angel fish are supposed to have a heavenly taste and you can call yourself lucky to have the possibility to see one of them in your life. These are the rumours but I don¡¯t believe in them.¡± ¡°So I can consider myself blessed now that I get to eat angel fish.¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°So you are taking the carriage?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to run there.¡± ¡°Since you are going to get dinner that means I have to train with Kraft. I don¡¯t expect anything from him.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°He fought demons since he was your age so he will show you how he fights one.¡± After she said that Ellen called Kraft and then started running towards the village. I think she has more stamina than Kraft and me combined. It seems Kraft is ready to start our training session. I don¡¯t know what I expected, he fights with no finesse but at least he deals damage. The best method to fight demons was to attack whenever you can, avoid getting hit and dealing as much external damage as possible. Kraft is faster than I thought and he packs a lot of power. While avoiding his punches I got blocked by the tree behind me. I had to slide between his legs to escape but the poor tree didn¡¯t have the same luck. His punch broke the tree in half, I guess he wanted to show me his brute strength. Basically when fighting demons it¡¯s important to hit them as hard as you can before getting killed. ¡°Come on kid, how about you let me hit you for once?¡± ¡°What for? I don¡¯t want to end up like that tree.¡± ¡°Sooner or later you are going to ask me to come at you seriously.¡± ¡°Ok, fine I¡¯m not going to dodge anymore.¡± Famous last words, every punch he lands sends me flying backwards. Funny thing is that I can beat him easily if I fight like Ellen, then again Ellen¡¯s fighting style require you to be calm and Kraft¡¯s fighting style is more like fighting like the Hulk. ¡°You are pretty good kid, I am getting tired of hitting you but you don¡¯t seem wounded.¡± ¡°The dark magic coursing through my veins can be used to heal me faster if I control it.¡± ¡°I think we should train you in concentration and multitasking when we are done with weapons training.¡± ¡°You should.¡± ¡°Anyway I¡¯m going to take you on an extermination mission in a few weeks you can feel the desperation I never feel when I fight.¡± ¡°So funny. Any tips about fighting?¡± ¡°For fighting somebody relaying on brute strength use what your mother taught you, I can see that you were able to mimic some of her moves, and pay attention to your opponent¡¯s fighting style, most of them have certain weaknesses. When fighting a mage you might want to get as close to him as possible as fast as you can, if he can¡¯t cast his spells on you it¡¯s your victory. Those magicians can¡¯t fight for shit, don¡¯t even think to compare your mother with the magicians in this empire, most of them can¡¯t even cast a spell while their body enchantment is up.¡± ¡°Wait a second. How many spells can Ellen cast at once?¡± ¡°Four spells while keeping her body enchantment up. That happened during an expedition. The short version is that she healed me, kept up a fire barrier, shot fireballs at the demons and used wind magic to stop some rocks from falling on us. After she did that she lost conscious and I had to carry her out of the dungeon. That was the first time I felt inferior, seeing her doing more than me with ease really gave me something to think.¡± ¡°That was an interesting story, speaking of which Ellen is back.¡± ¡°Well kid, let¡¯s go wash our hands.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The angel fish was a type of white fish, it really looked like someone took a carp and painted it white. The fish was cooked by cutting it into little pieces and then frying it in oil until the meat¡¯s color becomes brown. ¡°What is this? If this is supposed to taste good then I would rather not be blessed.¡± ¡°What are you talking about kid? This is the best meal I¡¯ve had in a long time.¡± ¡°Ali, are you all right?¡± Both Kraft and Ellen looked at me like I was ill. There was nothing wrong with me but I don¡¯t understand what¡¯s so divine about the taste of this fish. While it¡¯s better than everything I ate so far it isn¡¯t divine. I never liked fish that much to begin with and those people had such delighted looks on their faces. I almost thought something was wrong with me. After Ellen mad sure I didn¡¯t have a fever we continued our dinner in silence. Fucking angel fish, those people never had any fish fries, that¡¯s why they adore this shit so much. After sparring ¡°A little more to the left please.¡± ¡°Like this?¡± ¡°Yeah, ow that actually hurts.¡± It seems two weeks was the maximum amount of time I could stay away from an injury. While I was training with Kraft I got a little too cocky and provoked him, the result is an arm I can bend in more ways than I should. At the moment I¡¯m laying face down on the bed with Ellen on my left side giving me a massage. This is good but what happened when I got hurt was priceless. Ellen was drinking tea while Kraft was sparring with me when I said ¡°How about you at least try hitting me¡± then I saw his fist coming and I couldn¡¯t even comprehend what was happening. I¡¯m pretty sure I did a double axel when I got hit. I felt some bones in my arm broke. The moment I touched the ground Ellen put her cup on the ground and went to Kraft. The most terrifying thing was her smile. For a moment the pain in my arm disappeared and I felt my hair standing up. Ellen went in front of Kraft and sent him flying several meters backwards taking a few trees with him. I think he used body enchantment before he hit the first tree. I thought my body was already stronger than that of a human but even with my enchanted eyes that scene happened too fast for me to see clearly. If I had wind magic I probably could throw people around like that, instead I got magic I know nothing about. After she blew Kraft away, Ellen came to check up on me. I don¡¯t know if it were because of the shock or because of fear but when I saw her I instinctively looked down and curled into a ball. The next thing I remember was waking up in bed with a bandage on my left arm. That was a terrible experience but I got to see Kraft flying into trees so I guess it was worth it. Those were the events that brought us here. ¡°Can you stop, this actually hurts.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The pain I feel now is different than the pain I usually feel. When I¡¯m training I feel pain like I fell an arm or a leg, I know it¡¯s there but it doesn¡¯t affect me but know I can actually fell it.¡± ¡°I can see some black veins under the bandages and I can feel your arm healing itself.¡± ¡°So a broken arm takes that long to heal, just great. Better work on my hit and run techniques.¡± ¡°You avoided getting your arm blown off, it¡¯s only natural it takes some time to heal.¡± I thought the jump scares were over for today. ¡°I don¡¯t think I was that screwed when I was hit. The punch wasn¡¯t powerful enough.¡± ¡°The black veins appeared on your arm before you got hit. You subconsciously enchanted your arm.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know what happened it was too fast for me to see.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t tell you what I don¡¯t know but you should pay more attention to your surroundings, you can barely track an opponent the way you are now.¡± ¡°You know¡­, I don¡¯t even know anymore I need time to think.¡± Not even my ¡°total recall¡± helped me, there simply wasn¡¯t any spell or technique activated by me, my body must¡¯ve protected itself. It doesn¡¯t make sense. Ellen massaged my arm for a few minutes then bandaged me back. This is one of the few times I felt mentally exhausted. I am taking a nap and then I have to find Kraft. After I woke up I checked my arm. Yup still broken well then let¡¯s search for Kraft. ¡°Kraft, are you here?¡± Yelling is the efficient way to find him. ¡°I¡¯m in the kitchen.¡± I went inside to kitchen and I saw Kraft with bandages all over his body. ¡°Hahaha, that sure blew you away.¡± ¡°You know kid, how about you shut up.¡± That was the first time Kraft got angry at me. This time I was reminded that he is almost twice as big as me. Before I realized I had already taken a few steps back. ¡°I am sorry, OK. I went too far today.¡± ¡°Good, you better behave from now on.¡± It¡¯s during times like these that I forget he is someone who gets easily offended. Considering the fact that I never miss an opportunity to make fun of him I should be thankful I wasn¡¯t already beaten. I might stop making fun of him. Yeah right, not going to happen. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°You feel that bad about what happened why don¡¯t you heal me?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t heal, I just transfer your wounds to me.¡± ¡°You going to do it or what?¡± ¡°I will, jeez don¡¯t lose your patience.¡± I used dark transfer on Kraft. There weren¡¯t any serious wounds left and even those were almost healed but there was muscle fatigue, maybe from the impact force. ¡°Kraft, before you hit me did I use body enchantment magic or something.¡± ¡°I just woke up so I didn¡¯t tell Ellen but both your veins and your eyes turned black and instead of trying to avoid me you were ready to turn the tables on me with your mother¡¯s counter technique but then you returned to your senses and because you stopped I couldn¡¯t change my direction and ended up landing that punch.¡± I¡¯m not supposed to remember something I didn¡¯t do. The dark magic actually did what I wanted to but I was too scared. I wasn¡¯t the type to defend myself in a fight, if I couldn¡¯t dodge I might as well deal some damage myself. I¡¯m still too much of a coward. ¡°In a few days you are going with me on an extermination mission so you can see what fear feels like.¡± ¡°But isn¡¯t that too dangerous for me, even with you with me what if we get outnumbered?¡± ¡°Some soon to be knights will have their initiation then so there will be more people. If something happens we can run and let them die. Most of them aren¡¯t even prepared for sparring even less for an actual fight. I¡¯m using this event to get you to understand the world a little.¡± ¡°I know I¡¯m going to regret this but I will put my trust in you. What are you going to exterminate?¡± ¡°Some stray demon wolves were spotted in the hunting zone killing the animals we are supposed to hunt, and injuring the hunters.¡± ¡°I understand everything except the part about the hunting zone.¡± ¡°This village is far from the capital but the craftsmen here are highly skilled and their products attract merchants and adventurers. The people who come here use a part of this forest to hold a hunting game. This brings money to our village so we have to keep those weaklings safe.¡± ¡°No need to burst a vein, just tell me what to do and everything is going to be fine.¡± ¡°Then how are your wounds?¡± ¡°My arm will be fine is a few days and the wounds I transferred from you are just flesh wounds.¡± ¡°Then you will have no problem running with me.¡± ¡°No, I want to stay inside today.¡± I don¡¯t know how Kraft came with that proposal but I think his train of thought needs more coal. I have the right to be excused from this shit for a day. If Ellen was here she would shut him up. Speaking of which, where is Ellen? ¡°Hey Kraft, where¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°Ellen is out shopping. You are stuck with me whether you like it or not.¡± ¡°So what am I going to do now?¡± ¡°You spent more time with your mother than me.¡± ¡°Unlike you Ellen always keeps me entertained.¡± ¡°I can teach you how to play bongo.¡± ¡°Bongo?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a type of ceremonial drum I used to play it when I was travelling.¡± Now I just have to find a way to speak Rastafarian and I¡¯m going to be the best bard ever. Since I used to play harmonica, this time it might be fun to be a drummer. ¡°Are you sure you can teach me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to search for it. I¡¯m sure I left it in the armory.¡± The armory was the room behind the metal door. If I knew that this guy had drums there I would have taken them a long time ago. Well, I will become the Dark Drummer instead of the Dark Knight. Wolf hunt It¡¯s the morning of the day Kraft takes me to an elimination quest. ¡°I learnt how to fight in less time that it takes me to understand how to play these.¡± ¡°Give it time kid, the bongo is easy to play but hard to master.¡± This scene looked funny, Kraft playing the bongos, teaching me how to play them. Seeing a fully armoured man playing a drum that¡¯s thinner than his arm was something I never thought I will see with my own eyes. It¡¯s funny because he actually tries. As always Ellen was here to enjoy the show. She was drinking tea next to me trying not to laugh too hard. Recently she started wearing one-piece dresses and I think she is pregnant, this or she recently got fat which is impossible. She told me the curse will have some after effects on her and she couldn¡¯t get pregnant this year. When the time comes she is going to tell me, that¡¯s how things work here. Out of boredom I took my watch from my inner world and looked at the time. It¡¯s 8 o¡¯clock, my time perception returned to normal. I might as well take this with me, it may help after all this thing is almost indestructible. ¡°Yo Kraft, time to go.¡± ¡°Time to go, he says, I expect you to be the first who runs away.¡± ¡°Be careful Ali. Remember: if you can¡¯t fight then run.¡± ¡°Got it. Bye Ellen.¡± ¡°Good bye dear.¡± Good bye dear, the fuck man? The more I stay with him the more his image of being strong is destroyed. For this mission Kraft was dressed with his official armor, the one that makes him look like some kind of fanatic. I on the other hand was dressed with leather shoes, pants and jacked. My shirt and underwear were made of cotton-web. Ellen told me that in these woods live some spiders that create some webs that feel like a combination of silk and cotton, hence the name I gave it. They actually feel good and are very elastic. The leather was simple animal leather that remained from the hunting games. Kraft and I went to the village to meet with his friends so they can escort the trainees to the sausage fest. So the welcoming committee was already here. There were 3 knights that looked almost dangerous and with them were 4 people. Those were supposed to be the people Kraft had to protect, their bodies were to slim to even fit properly in that armor and they all had a dumb look on their faces. ¡°You know kid, I feel sorry for them. I think you will be the last to run. You can see how cowardly they are just by looking at their faces.¡± ¡°I was just thinking about that.¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Oh look knight A wants to join our conversation. ¡°Hello Gin, we were talking about the fresh meat we were going to feed the wolves with.¡± I swear I felt despair in the air when the trainees heard what Kraft said. Well I guess that is only natural, it is their first time killing something. Ow, I felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck. I hope it doesn¡¯t mean now what it meant in my previous life or we are going to have a big surprise. ¡°Hey kid!¡± Kraft apparently was calling for me for some time. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°We are going to use that cart over there and YOU are going to walk. After the training I gave you this should feel like a stroll to you.¡± What''s with that ¡°YOU¡±? Are you Soulja Boy or something? ¡°Can I convince you to let me ride with you?¡± ¡°No.¡± Kraft being the strongest was the driver, the rest of these bitches were staying inside the cart while I was walking behind them. It reminded me of a certain game intro except that they were tied then. Those trainees are making fun of me for walking but when we reach our destination I¡¯m gonna be the one who laughs. I really want to see what 4 threat level 0 can do against the demon wolves. We have arrived in the dark side of the forest. I could barely see any sunlight but my eyes are adapted to work in harsh environments. Kraft¡¯s friends have brought some old fashioned torches. ¡°Listen here young knights, I want this mission to go smoothly. We exterminate the wolves and we go back before sunset. No casualties.¡± Was that supposed to be a motivational speech or something? ¡°Yeah, on their side!¡± I could hear all that hate and it felt so good. I don¡¯t think we will all escape this and most times I have this kind of feeling I am right. ¡°You little kid should shut up. I came from a proud family of hunters and I will show you the difference in strength between us.¡± That trainee really needs to chill. The only difference in power is that I am already a master of close quarters combat and you can¡¯t even fight me with a sword. I want to see what your third-level fencing can do against a demon. ¡°Chill out boy. This little kid already matched my speed and stamina. If you were to fight him you wouldn¡¯t last five seconds.¡± Nice one Kraft, teach that bitch some manners. ¡°Big words Kraft. I don¡¯t believe my son would lose to a boy who has a manly haircut and still looks like a girl.¡± This is the same knight that mistook me for a girl some time ago. I guess they are both stupid. Like father like son. ¡°You ever fought against my wife?¡± ¡°I fought against Ellen before. Why do you ask?¡± ¡°Because my son mastered the same fighting style Ellen uses. If he were a bit taller he could beat all of you without breaking a sweat.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious Kraft, Ellen¡¯s style is too difficult to use. I remember when she took three of us down in less than a minute. I was a monk before I came here but I still couldn¡¯t come close to using it.¡± This one shall be called knight B. While Bambi and co. were discussing how a woman was able to overpower all the knights in the village I felt another sharp pain in the back of my neck. I realised we weren¡¯t alone. There were about 10 wolves circling around us. Their threat level was 1. ¡°How about you stop talking?¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Well done kid, when did you realize?¡± ¡°Just now.¡± ¡°So did I. How many and where?¡± ¡°Ten, coming from all sides.¡± While Kraft was asking me questions the knights prepared themselves for the attack. We were surrounded. Five demon wolves attacked us. The knights formed a circle to protect the trainees. One of the wolves leaped towards me. Then fear took over me and I couldn¡¯t move. The wolf¡¯s killing intent was too much for me to handle. I thought I was done for but then Kraft pushed me out of the wolf¡¯s way and killed the wolf with one swing. Seeing how he said nothing to me I realized that both Kraft and I knew this will happen. Kraft took care of 3 wolves and the rest of the knights took care of one. The last wolf howled and the rest of the wolves attacked. I was too scared to fight them but I was calm enough to avoid them. By closing my eyes I couldn¡¯t see them but I still knew exactly where they were. When a wolf attacked me I just ran around dodging its attacks until I could lead it to Kraft. There were only wolves 3 left and no causalities on our side. Kraft did a good job so far. I was starting to relax when I saw something I wish I didn¡¯t. Threat level 3, Alpha Demon Black Wolf. That wolf was two and a half meters tall. I saw the wolf running towards Kraft. ¡°Kraft, LOOK OUT!¡± I shouted as loud as I could but it was too late. Kraft got head butted by the wolf and his sword flew near where I was. The moment of truth. Behind me was a tree and a demon wolf was going to bite my head off. I closed my eyes and waited to die. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and found myself in my inner world. Somehow I was able to use battle meditation. Even if I was here I could see the real world, the wolf was getting closer to me. The knights were busy with the two normal wolves, Kraft was holding the black one back and the last one was about to feed on me. Somehow I could see him coming closer to me. After staring at it for some time I started to calm down. I know Kraft is strong enough to kill the remaining wolves but he needs a weapon. If I use body enchantment I should be able to throw the sword towards the black wolf but I still have to worry about the one that attacked me. The only thing I have is the watch. OH! I can use the watch to block the wolf¡¯s upper teeth and push it aside. I should be able to use body enchantment for five seconds before I faint. I used body enchantment and I returned to the real world. I summoned the watch in my right hand and blocked the wolf¡¯s teeth pushing it back. I took Kraft¡¯s sword and got up. I threw it at the black wolf that pinned Kraft down. The greatsword hit the wolf and knocked it over. The white wolf leaped at me ready to bite me. I prepared my watch but I felt my magic depleting and I fainted. When I woke up I saw the sky. I wasn¡¯t in the forest anymore. I was lying down on the ground. The sky was red so I guess it was already evening. I guess I survived somehow. ¡°Is anybody here?¡± Don¡¯t know why I asked, I just needed someone to answer. After a few moments I saw Ellen¡¯s face. Her face was a mess, it seems she cried. I smiled at her to reassure her. She embraced me. When I tried to hug her back I realized I couldn¡¯t feel my right arm. Ellen looked at me, made a sad face and released me from her embrace. I checked my right arm. Everything from the elbow down was gone. This mission has one injured, me. On the bright side, the scan I used on my arm tells me that my arm will grow back in a month. I just have to be left-handed for a month, better than being dead. All of a sudden Ellen¡¯s face changed from a sad one to an angry one. I looked behind me. Kraft and co. were there. Kraft had bandages all over his body but no missing limbs or other body parts. I was the most unfortunate. ¡°I guess my plan worked somehow.¡± ¡°The wolf chocked on your watch after he ripped part of your right hand and that gave me enough time to kill it and that black one. I am surprised you kept that body enchantment of yours active that long.¡± ¡°Judging by Ellen¡¯s face I think that most of the wounds you have are from her.¡± ¡°She wanted to rip my arm off. You were lucky kid, you could have died there.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so bad, we are safe and I lost only an arm.¡± ¡°HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?¡± This is the first time I see Ellen losing her composure. ¡°You went there with 8 knights who weren¡¯t able to kill some wolves. You saved all of them by giving Kraft his sword back and you almost died. And how can you even be so calm about losing an arm?¡± ¡°Even if you tell at me that now there¡¯s nothing I can do.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand how you were able to looked that wolf in the eye and still come up with something like that.¡± ¡°Yes I stared at that wolf for a long time before I decided to act.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I used battle meditation when the wolf attacked me. I could see it coming closer, slowly but surely and after a while I stopped waiting for death to come to me. And my arm will heal in a month.¡± Ellen¡¯s tension drained and I saw relief on her face. ¡°You really are a weird kid Ali.¡± ¡°Talking about arms, do you have my arm?¡± ¡°I do, but what do you intend to do with it?¡± Kraft asked me while holding something wrapped in a cloth, presumably my arm. ¡°I am going to attach it back, I don¡¯t want to wait a month for it to grow back.¡± When I said that the people behind Kraft looked disgusted but I didn¡¯t care. ¡°Kraft, help me wrap my arm with some cloth.¡± If the arm was connected to the body it would completely heal in a few days. Kraft wrapped my entire arm in a piece of cloth and I started feeling my arm again. With this over I think it was time to go back home and sleep so I can restore my magic. Mysterious presence and an old acquaintance It looks like my body doesn¡¯t even need sleep, well not exactly. I can sleep for one hour and it will be enough for me. I can go back to sleep even if I¡¯m not feeling tired. When I go to sleep I can enter a meditative state which really helps after a hard day. I discovered this state the night after the demon wolf ripped my hand. When I enter this state I¡¯m transported to my inner world. When I¡¯m meditating I feel my tension draining away and I calm down. It makes sense. When I was in danger, battle meditation allowed me to calm down. The winter finally came but there is no snow. The cold weather was good for me since Kraft wanted me to increase my cold resistance. He told me that most of the ice spells are dangerous because they reduce the temperature around their target and disturb their concentration. I like to be outside on a chilly night so I decided to interrupt my meditation and go outside. Even though I was dressed with thin clothes the cold didn¡¯t bother me, it actually felt good. I found myself staring into distance. There was nothing but trees. I looked up and saw the moon through some clouds. Maybe I will see some snow this winter. ¡°What are you doing outside at this hour?¡± That actually scared me. Ellen came outside and managed to sneak up behind me. I know she can be quiet when she wants but I didn¡¯t even hear the door open. I looked at her with a rather surprised face. She was wearing a black, one-piece dress almost see-through. That was an amazing sight. The dress complemented her black hair and her blue eyes very well and the shining moon made her look stunning. I understand why Kraft wanted her so much but I still don¡¯t understand why she married him. Kraft may actually be the one with a gift from God, the gift of luck. ¡°Is there something wrong or you just like what you see?¡± Ellen said that while coming closer to me. I turned around hoping I don¡¯t have to answer that. I don¡¯t feel like getting lectured about a woman¡¯s sex appeal at this time of the day. ¡°Are you embarrassed?¡± said Ellen while embracing me from behind. ¡°Not really. I just had a feeling you had something planned so I tried taking the easy way out.¡± *Chuckles* ¡°You are not wrong. You seemed out of it starring at the trees and I thought I would liven up the mood a bit.¡± ¡°If you want to talk then you can explain why Kraft had my arm with him when he took me out of the forest.¡± ¡°That is a tradition. When a comrade is hurt or killed in action his body has to be returned intact or as close to that as you can. Your father took your arm with him to respect that tradition.¡± ¡°That is a really strange thing to do. I wouldn¡¯t even think of doing that.¡± ¡°Sincerely I don¡¯t really care about things I am not interested in. I never asked him about that tradition or any other. I just let him continue as long as he doesn¡¯t inconvenience me.¡± ¡°Wow, I never thought you can be selfish. I imagined you a little selfless person.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been almost six years and you never addressed me as mother or Kraft as father. I know we killed your parents but you act like you hold a grudge against us even though you said you don¡¯t.¡± ¡°I just don¡¯t feel right calling you that. I know that parents aren¡¯t only those who have given birth to you but also those who raised you.¡± ¡°I understand. In any case you¡¯ve made up your mind so I will stop trying to change your mind.¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding and sorry.¡± ¡°By the way, you thought Kraft¡¯s tradition is strange, how about looking there.¡± Said Ellen while pointing at the gap between two trees. I looked between the trees and I saw a figure. It was humanoid but it didn¡¯t look solid. It was like a fog of someone or something made of black smoke. I couldn¡¯t analyse the figure. It just stood there, watching me with no eyes. I was not afraid but my body kept telling me to stay away. ¡°This is not the first time I saw that figure. The first time I saw it was we saved you and the second time it followed Kraft all the way from the woods to the village when you got attacked by the demon wolf. This time is closer to you. Every time I see it, it gets closer to you. I think he appears when you are fatally wounded.¡± ¡°But I¡¯m okay, there¡¯s nothing wrong with me.¡± ¡°You forgot that you are still carrying the curse. You don¡¯t feel it but your body is under heavy stain.¡± ¡°Let me check.¡± I told Ellen while analyzing my body and my magic. The curse was stronger than I could endure. My body was being repaired with magic but I would be in danger if I run out of magic. I absorbed almost all my magic before going to sleep but I didn¡¯t notice the curse. ¡°I have seen the marking before, it¡¯s about the time the curse kills its target. You might as well remove it.¡± said Ellen with a calm face. ¡°This curse it¡¯s becoming a burden, might as well get rid of it.¡± Even if my body was supposed to reject the curse on its own the curse was still present. It used the magic absorbed to keep working, it explains why it activated on Ellen after such a long time. I used my remaining magic to remove the curse. That little bitch really overstayed its welcome. It took me a few moments to catch my breath and the fact that Ellen¡¯s arm were around my chest didn¡¯t help. After a few breaths I regained my composure. I looked at where the figure was supposed to be. The figure disappeared. So something that appeared to be made of smoke disappeared in a big some cloud, that¡¯s some pretty deep imagination. ¡°I was about to tell you that we will be going to the village tomorrow but I guess you already have something to think about. Good night Ali.¡± Said Ellen before patting me on the head. Good night my ass, so I have a personal Reaper coming after me when I cheat death, a very nice way to keep a person awake for life. I might as well call this place Elm Street and go with the flow. Somehow I was able to sleep. The next morning the three of us prepared to go the village center. Some important merchants were arriving today and Kraft had to be there. Since Kraft is working we get a discount so Ellen insisted on going. ¡°Kid we have to get you new clothes.¡± ¡°Those are a little short but I don¡¯t need new ones yet.¡± ¡°It was just a thought. You are already as tall as most teenagers.¡± ¡°How tall am I anyway?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t move¡± after Kraft said that he held his sword next to me. ¡°Your height is the same as this sword so I guess you are one and a half meters tall.¡± ¡°Dear, Ali, let¡¯s go.¡± We took the carriage and went to the village center. When we reached the village I was surprised by the number of people present. So these merchants really are famous after all. We were almost there when I saw somebody calling out to Ellen. There were 2 people, a girl and a man. The scan told me that the man was a 40 years old merchant and the girl was his daughter. The man was really fat, looking like a pear, he had black eyes and brown hair. The girl¡¯s age was 13, she had long, brawn hair and a developed body. Both of them wore expensive clothes. The clothes were made from materials I haven¡¯t even heard of. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Good morning miss Ellen.¡± ¡°Good morning baron Kyo.¡± What¡¯s with that name? The names here sounded either German or English. ¡°How are you doing Amy?¡± The girl didn¡¯t answer Ellen¡¯s question, she just went ¡°hmmph¡± at her. Looks like a disrespectful little bitch joined the fun. It¡¯s not like she said anything rude, somebody should teach her some manners. ¡°I am sorry for my daughter¡¯s behavior. She had to come with me and she is not in a good mood.¡± This guy is all right for now, at least he apologized. ¡°Ellen, who is this girl?¡± I asked her. ¡°She is the daughter of the merchant Kyo. I was her teacher eight years ago. I was assigned to teach her our language and some basic knowledge.¡± From her explanation I understood that this girl is stupid. Ellen said that she was assigned to teach her but she didn¡¯t say that she actually taught her very much. ¡°So she must know at least as much as me.¡± Let¡¯s see if she takes the bait. ¡°How about you wipe that smile off your face kid. This woman is not capable of teaching anything whether if its language or magic. All those people who think they are so smart can go and get eaten by demons.¡± I could see the merchant sweating like crazy while looking at his daughter. ¡°This excuse of a teacher couldn¡¯t teach anybody, I don¡¯t know how my father knows her but I knew hiring her was a mistake.¡± After she finished talking I felt Kraft¡¯s hand on my shoulder. When I turned to face him he told me. ¡°Kid, don¡¯t think about doing anything. If we have to stop you there will be nobody left to stop us.¡± ¡°Heard that kid, you better know your place.¡± By nature I was a patient person but patience eventually runs out. I pushed Kraft¡¯s hand aside and I went in front of that girl. ¡°How about you learn some manners you little bitch. Firstly Ellen is a better teacher than you deserve, you are just too stupid to learn anything. Secondly the money you are talking about came from your father, you couldn¡¯t even work for one gold coin. Thirdly you suck at magic because your affinities are very low and on top of that you are cursed. The curse makes magic manipulation impossible, but you can continue blaming others for your failure, maybe that¡¯s how you got cursed in the first place. Lastly the smile I had on my face was called a smirk. I said what I had to but I¡¯m sure you weren¡¯t able to comprehend half of what I said.¡± The look on the girl¡¯s face was priceless, that was the look of utter defeat. I wanted to see how much of a bitch she is but she was lucky Kraft stopped me else I would have killed her where she stood. I looked at Ellen. For some reason she looked worried.¡± ¡°Ali, is she really cursed?¡± ¡°Are you for real? She insulted you like that and you are worried about her fucking curse.¡± ¡°You took care of her for me. I was just thinking that I didn¡¯t notice she was cursed.¡± ¡°She is cursed. The curse is not that strong but it cannot be removed if you don¡¯t know it¡¯s exact name. Now people are going to ask two questions. I can remove it? Yes. I want to? No. So girl, have fun practicing magic.¡± ¡°Boy, you said you can remove my daughter¡¯s curse. If you do I will pay you.¡± I was about to turn him down but then Ellen interrupted. ¡°I am sorry, Ali won¡¯t remove her curse and even if he wanted I wouldn¡¯t let him.¡± Seeing Ellen say that with a smile on her face was both amusing and scary. I say scary because I know what that smile meant. ¡°I was happy we got to meet again but we have to go. Good day to you all.¡± With that Ellen started walking towards the village center and I went after her. There wasn¡¯t much to see. The only new things were some ingredients for food and alchemy. The quality was the only thing that changed. In the end Ellen bought some parts for the carriage, some meat, some cooking tools and two iron daggers. The daggers looked more like combat knives. I started sword training with Kraft so I may have to learn how to fight with daggers too. When we got home I asked Ellen about that girl. ¡°When I was in the imperial capital I thought I could make some money by teaching people. I was hired by a small school and one day that merchant saw me and asked me to tutor his girl. I still regret the decision.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you left? I don¡¯t think that girl was more polite then than now.¡± ¡°I thought of that as a challenge for me. I felt I needed to at least teach her how to speak to prove myself. If not for my stubbornness I would have left that job behind me from day one.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to say. You made a bad decision. It¡¯s not like you knew how she was.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t. If I knew I wouldn¡¯t have accepted the offer.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m trying to say, you made a mistake.¡± ¡°I still have to thank you for what you did. You actually managed to shut her up, something I should have done a long time ago. I¡¯m also glad that Kraft stopped you. After she insulted me you began to emit enough killing intent to scare animals.¡± ¡°I was angry but not like that, that sounds more like rage.¡± ¡°Believe what you want but remember the merchant wasn¡¯t sweating because his daughter was misbehaving, he was afraid. Most likely he thought he angered one of us and sincerely that much killing intent was enough to surprise both me and Kraft, after all he did try to stop you.¡± ¡°I will think about this. Now do you have anything you want to talk about?¡± ¡°As you noticed I am pregnant so I will not train you as much as before. I will teach you how to fight using daggers and knives then Kraft will take my place and teach you how to kill demons with swords. Lastly I want to give me your watch.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°There is something I want to try and it involves using that watch.¡± ¡°I will give it to you then. In exchange I want you and Kraft to train me in something I am lacking.¡± ¡°You are a coward so we have to come at you seriously. We already knew that and we are going to help you with that a little.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be counting on you then. I am going to sleep. Here.¡± I took the watch from my inner world and I gave it to Ellen. I don¡¯t know what she was going to do to my watch and frankly I don¡¯t care, after all that watch was made to last and I trust Ellen. Encounter with a beastwoman slave It seems miracles do exist. When I was sparring with Kraft I got knocked down and I saw snow. ¡°Come on kid, stop praying to the Gods to help you and¡­¡± ¡°Can you stop talking? I was looking at the snow. It¡¯s the first time I see it.¡± ¡°Fine I will take a break, have fun looking at frozen water.¡± I am actually surprised he knows what snow is. I could use this to make fun of him a little bit but then again he agreed to take a break. ¡°Ali, did I tell you about the twelfth dragon?¡± Where does Ellen even appear from? Even now I couldn¡¯t feel her or hear her footsteps. My body and my instincts were supposed to be on par with Kraft when we went to kill the wolves. By that logic Ellen is better at stealth than a demon wolf. ¡°Could you stop appearing out of nowhere, it really freaks me out?¡± ¡°No way kid, she really enjoys sneaking around like that no matter where she is. She likes to see people¡¯s faces when she does that. I gave up a long time ago and you should too.¡± ¡°If you say so. What was that about dragons?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the twelfth dragon and a fir tree. It is said that the twelfth was a weak and frail dragon, not even capable of enduring cold weather. The dragon was protected by his family for a few years but a horde of demons killed his family and left the young dragon for dead. The dragon ran away from where his home was and reached a forest. He tried to climb a tree to hide from the demons. Every tree fell under his weight. On the verge of giving up the dragon decided to climb one last tree, that tree was a fir tree. The legend says that the fir tree was able to withstand the dragon¡¯s weight and its branches hid the dragon when demons came after him. At the end the fir tree was the only tree standing from what used to be a forest. The first and second dragons came to inspect the battlefield where they thought the dragon was located. When they searched for the young dragon they saw the tree. They took the dragon back, blessed the tree and called it a symbol of hope and survival and ...¡± ¡°The story is nice and all but what are you bringing this up now? What does this have to do with anything? ¡° ¡°There was a blizzard when the twelfth dragon was saved. The dragon was white and snow covered almost everything. The tree caught the first dragon¡¯s attention and they rescued the young one.¡± ¡°So are we supposed to cut a fir tree, take it home and decorate it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what those in Vollmond do.¡± Said Kraft with a disgusted look on his face. ¡°You see Ali, in Sonne there aren¡¯t many fir trees left, instead we can plant one here. The magic shop must have some seeds left. How about it?¡± ¡°What are people in Sonne doing during this time of the year?¡± ¡°They believe in superstitions so they worship the tress instead.¡± ¡°Kraft, you said that people worship them. How is your tribe celebrating?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t. The twelfth month is the same as any other for us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s sad. I shouldn¡¯t have asked.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it is. You and your mother can go ahead and plant your tree.¡± ¡°Nope. The three of us will go, buy that seed and plant it together.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go shopping.¡± Ellen smiled when she said it. I¡¯m glad she likes my idea. After changing our clothes we went to the village. I should have told Ellen to stay home but I¡¯m sure she would have refused. There was a carriage on the spot we usually park ours. ¡°Ali, we have guests.¡± ¡°Wait what?¡± ¡°That carriage is not from this village. Maybe a merchant came here.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. Let¡¯s buy the seed and go back.¡± While walking I saw a person carrying three wooden crates and a few daggers on top of them. The person was barefooted and judging by the arms and legs the person was a female. Behind her was a fat man wearing white clothes. This is not the North Pole you know. The woman was about to pass by me but she stumbled. She fell down next to me. The daggers and a crate fell on me. The crate was quite heavy and the impact made me fall on my bottom. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± The woman got up and started apologising but I wasn¡¯t listening, I was too busy looking at her ears. She had the ears of a lynx and a tail. So cat ears and a tail, since no other distinctive features were visible I think she is one quarter animal. A member of the beast people was right here before my eyes. My first impulse was to touch her ears and tail but¡­ ¡°You lowly slave, watch where you are going.¡± The fat man apparently started running towards us. The Running Eskimo: The arrival. ¡°You slave, I¡¯m going to kill you when I get back. All those crates had expensive pottery in them, I will show¡­ Ack!¡± Kraft caught the man by the neck and lifted him. I think the poor guy is choking but he didn¡¯t care about me so I don¡¯t care if he is killed. ¡°Ali, are you all right?¡± asked Ellen looking concerned. I got up and checked to see if I have any injuries. The daggers cut my clothes a little but that¡¯s the only thing that happened to me. ¡°No worries.¡± Still, I really want to pay that guy back. ¡°Ellen, I know this is not the time to ask but is slavery common in Sonne?¡± ¡°Sonne was supposed to be ruled by a wise king but even he is human. After the war Vallmond used slaves for labour and our king decided to allow slavery. This is accepted by a minority of people but it¡¯s prohibited to help slaves or to harm the slavers. A crime is a crime if there is somebody to testify it.¡± ¡°So right now nobody would mind if we did something to this guy.¡± ¡°Yes. Do you have anything in mind?¡± Let¡¯s see what I can find out about this woman. Her name is Mau, she is 20, cursed by a weak enslavement spell and has bone fractures in her left arm and right leg. That¡¯s why she lost her balance. ¡°I have decided. I am going to release this woman from slavery!¡± ¡°Release¡­me?¡± asked the trembling slave. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­touch¡­my property!¡± the man was getting angry. ¡°I am very interested in seeing you do it Ali.¡± With a big grin on my face I touched the slave mark that was on the woman¡¯s neck and transferred it to me. The owner¡¯s face went pale, Ellen and Kraft were smiling and the woman¡¯s face was expressionless. The mark appeared on my neck and I used magic to remove it completely. For a binding spell it was weak, I barely felt any magic draining. Now for the wounds, some bone fractures, some bruises and physical fatigue. I used dark transfer again on her wounds. I thought I could absorb both the spell and the injuries at the same time but I can¡¯t, not yet. Her injuries were worse than I thought. Since I can feel the pain from when she got them I realized all of them were the work of somebody else presumably her ex owner. After I transferred all her wounds I exhaled deeply and looked at the catwoman. ¡°Your injuries are gone and you are no longer a slave. Congratulations.¡± ¡°You brat¡­ I¡­ will kill¡­¡± as the man started to threaten me Kraft threw him in the direction we came from. I think he flew a few meters before he landed. ¡°I will never forget this, I will kill you and that woman there!¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°So scary, you almost make me overlook the fact that you are running away! I hope I don¡¯t see you again!¡± The carriages were parked that way so I suppose the one who took our spot was his. At least he can take his carriage and get the fuck out of this city. ¡°Ali, I assume your plan was to release the woman. Did you think about the consequences?¡± ¡°What is this word you used? I don¡¯t know what you are trying to say.¡± ¡°Kid, let me tell you something. What you did to that man was worse than death. The mark on his hand showed that he had only one slave and his whole business might have been destroyed.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°Most of this village¡¯s craftsmen are talented individuals and most of the people who come here to buy their merchandise plan to sell it at a bigger price.¡± ¡°That was a good explanation, I thought Ellen was the only one who could give explanations.¡± ¡°Excuse me. What am I supposed to do now?¡± I had forgotten about the catwoman. ¡°Ellen?¡± ¡°In the end I have to be the one to clean your mess. If I were in your place I would have told Kraft to finish him off when he had the chance.¡± Ellen helped the woman get up and offered her the coat she was wearing. ¡°Thank you for your help. Before I was caught and made into a slave I was a nurse. I will be thankful if I could stay in the village.¡± ¡°Miss, are you a midwife?¡± asked Ellen with a bit of curiosity. ¡°I have received midwifery training.¡± ¡°It is good to know, regardless this village in need of doctors¡­¡± ¡°And the fact that you can use light magic, there aren¡¯t any healers in this village except for Ellen.¡± ¡°I am impressed you figured out that I can use healing magic.¡± ¡°This is one of my son¡¯s unique magic powers, I believe you already noticed the other one.¡± ¡°Yes. He removed my curse and healed my wounds.¡± ¡°Ellen, we came here to buy fir seeds. Can we hurry?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be impatient Ali, we still have to talk to the village elder about the woman.¡± ¡°Excuse me for not introducing myself. My name is Mau.¡± ¡°Then Miss Mau, please follow us.¡± The four of us went to the village elder. Contrary to my expectations the village elder was a tall, muscular old man. He looked quite good for a 60 years old man. We told him what happened without mentioning a few details. Actually the story we told the elder was different. A bandit dressed like a merchant and his slave attacked our home by coming from the forest. Kraft killed the man and Ellen burnt his body so his remains won¡¯t attract the demons. The slave surrendered and we decided to give her a chance to live. The elder believed our lies and allowed the woman to stay at an inn in exchange for working as a healer. The humans and the beast people weren¡¯t on bad terms so everything was solved faster than I expected. ¡°Thank you very much for helping me! I will never forget your kindness.¡± We left Mau with the village elder and left the elder¡¯s house. We didn¡¯t say anything to hear since it¡¯s better for her to believe that what we did was an act of kindness. We stopped at the magic shop and bought a fir seed. Ellen gave me the seed and went in the storage room to talk with the shopkeeper. When I asked her, she told me it¡¯s a secret. We arrived home and went to the courtyard. ¡°Where should we place this seed?¡± asked Ellen while looking around for a good spot. ¡°How about placing it in place of the trees Kraft destroyed when you blew him away with wind magic.¡± ¡°That is not a good spot, the other roots are still there and this tree needs some rich soil to grow.¡± ¡°There is a place at the end of the courtyard which has rich soil.¡± ¡°Here, take the seed, dig a small hole and put the seed in it.¡± I went with Ellen and Kraft and planted the seed. After planting it we went inside. Ellen used the fire stone to raise the temperature of the room a little and started boiling water for some tea. ¡°I still think it¡¯s strange that we bought just one seed.¡± ¡°The seed is an alchemy ingredient and during this time of the year is not strange for people to buy only one or two seeds. I didn¡¯t expect to get to plant a fir tree so soon.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve seen snow since I came to this village.¡± ¡°We all got to see something interesting today.¡± ¡°That we did. That was an impressive display of cruelty. You might have ruined a man¡¯s life because of some accident but you did save a slave so I guess it¡¯s all right in the end. You are like your mother.¡± ¡°I will be remembered as a kid who rescued a slave from an abusive owner. At that moment I wanted to do something to hurt that man. If he had taken better care of his slave none of this would have happened.¡± ¡°You really are like your mother, at least learn to finish what you started.¡± ¡°Thank you for saving me there both of you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it Ali, that¡¯s the least we can do.¡± ¡°On a whole different topic, when are you supposed to give birth?¡± ¡°On the sixth month of the next year.¡± ¡°So, two months before I turn seven.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I already feel sorry for the kid. Is it a boy or a girl?¡± ¡°There is no way for me to know for sure. We will know when I will give birth.¡± The interesting thing is that my scan doesn¡¯t detect the baby yet. I will just have to wait until my brother or sister is born. ¡°For now remember to tend to the fir tree we planted and one day tell your younger sibling the story behind the tree.¡± ¡°One day I saw snow and I decided to celebrate by releasing a slave and buying a seed.¡± ¡°When the time comes I will include my own comments as well.¡± ¡°I will make sure to tell them many stories.¡± ¡°There is still some time left until midnight, how about we spar one more time and call it a day?¡± ¡°OK Ellen.¡± I drank my tea, took my daggers and waited for Ellen to follow me outside. I trained with Ellen for a few hours until midnight then we went back inside. I don¡¯t think what I did was especially cruel but it was nice nonetheless. I have to keep in mind that a slavery spell falls under the curse category. My first kill Today I was taking a break from training. Even with this body I can barely keep up with all they try to teach me. If they don¡¯t learn to slow down I think my future sibling won¡¯t have any time to play. Right now I was with Ellen in the kitchen. Since I have nothing to do I usually watch Ellen cook, making tea or doing chores. My intention is to learn by watching her work, it works during training so it might work. ¡°What did you do with my watch?¡± ¡°I am experimenting with it. I left it at the magic shop for now, you will get it back when I¡¯m done with it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I expected a normal answer or anything, at least make sure it still works.¡± ¡°That¡¯s something a parent says to her child not the other way around.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any toys to break and that watch is almost indestructible. That watch was the manifestation of luck for me.¡± ¡°Nobody would think that stopping a demon¡¯s bite with a time telling device would be a good idea.¡± ¡°I had to delay my death until I could give Kraft his sword back.¡± ¡°I suppose it worked, but what you did was suicidal. I¡¯m surprised you trusted Kraft to that extent.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it trust, I just knew what he was capable of. I was more like a gamble and speaking of Kraft, where is he?¡± ¡°He is training some knights. People started looking up to him since he killed the black demon wolf.¡± ¡°So people want to know how to swing a greatsword around hoping they hit something.¡± ¡°That and some endurance training. For example the bracelet you are wearing is a part of advanced physical training.¡± ¡°Cool, I hope those knights are not like the apprentices that were with me in the forest.¡± ¡°They suspected that the apprentices will be dead weight. When Kraft insisted to bring you with him they said the same thing about you.¡± ¡°The only thing I did was to run around dodging wolves. It¡¯s because of me that Kraft got attacked by the black wolf in the first place.¡± ¡°You did more than those apprentices combined.¡± ¡°A demon wolf isn¡¯t a powerful monster. The white ones are what two or three times more powerful than a normal wolf?¡± ¡°To fight a demon you must enchant your body and in some situations your weapon.¡± ¡°I still haven¡¯t found a way to control my magic. I will just have to find a way to use body enchantment.¡± ¡°I just remembered, a villager found a goblin settlement a few kilometers away from the village.¡± ¡°So?¡± ¡°Tomorrow Kraft is going to eliminate them and you are going to help him.¡± ¡°And you decided that without asking me?¡± ¡°Compared to the wolves you fought goblins are nothing. They become a threat when encountered in large numbers.¡± ¡°So I can just stab them with the daggers and kill them.¡± ¡°Kraft wants you to kill them without any weapons.¡± ¡°Wait, he wants me to punch them to death?¡± ¡°Yes, think of it as a test of strength. Goblins are weaker than an average kid and more stupid than one, just remember what we taught you and it will be fine.¡± ¡°That remains to be seen.¡± ¡°For now let¡¯s eat, thinking on an empty stomach doesn¡¯t do you any good.¡± The lunch was delicious. Most of the meat I eat is chicken but I never seem to get tired of it. I figured that my body decomposes everything I eat without any waste but I thought my personal tastes will be carried over. I have to check this sometime in the future. Should I really fight bare handed? Judging by my scan I should have been able to kill the white demon wolves but I was too afraid to try. Kraft¡¯s fighting style is good for fighting demons but I prefer using Ellen¡¯s since I can dodge almost every attack. The solution might be to¡­ ¡°Ali!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You should stop daydreaming.¡± ¡°Was there something you wanted to say?¡± ¡°I said I can try showing you how to use my fighting style to fight demons.¡± ¡°Can you?¡± I asked while poking the meat with the fork. ¡°Because of my pregnancy I can¡¯t move as much as I want but showing you how to punch a demon. Finish your meal and go in the courtyard.¡± The courtyard was just a place next to our house where the soil was not rich enough for any trees to grow. The only good spot was now taken by the fir tree seed I planted a week ago. Ellen went to an end of the courtyard and stood in front of a tree. She assumed her stance and punched a hole into the poor tree. I saw a red glow coming from Ellen¡¯s hand and it looked like the wood was burnt where it was hit. She enchanted her hand and gained enough strength to punch a hole into a tree. ¡°Body enchantment can be used both offensively and defensively just like I used it to hit the tree.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t make me punch a tree, I¡¯ll break my bones for sure.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve sparred with Kraft and came back uninjured, you will be fine.¡± ¡°This is going to suck.¡± I stood in front of a tree next to the one Ellen punched and assumed a forward stance. Unlike Ellen I didn¡¯t have enough power to inflict the kind of damage she did but I was close to that. ¡°You can do almost as much damage as me, remember to hit those goblins as hard as the tree and it will be enough.¡± ¡°It still hurts, not as much as Kraft¡¯s punches but it hurts.¡± ¡°Those trees are almost as strong as stone, that¡¯s why most people use it to build their houses and furniture.¡± ¡°Nothing¡¯s broken but there are some minor bruises and cuts.¡± ¡°That much is normal, you punched a Darkpine tree and judging by the lack of injuries on your hand I believe you could break stone if you weren¡¯t so scared.¡± ¡°Was it that obvious?¡± ¡°It was. Kraft also said that you will be on your own when you get there.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I just learned to punch trees and I was supposed to take a break so I¡¯m just going to sleep for the rest of the day.¡± Usually I strengthen my body with magic daily before going to sleep. Today I want to strengthen it at least two times. That and I have to think of a way to kill goblins without giving a fuck about ethics. The morning arrived and Kraft woke me up. He used the best method possible: he came to my room and started shaking the bed while looking directly at me. When I woke up and saw his face I was so startled my body entered combat mode. After scaring me he just left the room. After I calmed down I was too confused to say anything so I remained silent until we reached the goblin settlement. Strangely enough the goblins had placed tents in the area, I thought they would stay in a cave or something like that. There were a lot of trees I can which means they can easily lose sight of me. I could feel around 20 of them. ¡°Listen here kid I want you to kill at least 5 goblins or else you can kiss your adventure days good bye.¡± Said Kraft before destroying one of the goblin tents. After the tent was destroyed 10 goblins appeared from behind the trees. Are they attacking in two waves or are they simply too stupid to wait for instructions? Kraft went ahead and attacked one of them. I¡¯m surprised they have iron maces and shields, I was expecting some wooden clubs or something like that. Three goblins were closing in on me. The first one attacked me. I dodged the mace by jumping backwards. The second and the third goblins attacked when he saw the first one missing. Their attacks were slow and it looked like they use the maces only because they are made of iron. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to attack them, I was scared, I didn¡¯t know what to do. My small internal struggle made me overlook the fact that behind me was a tree. When I dodged a goblin I hit the tree. The impact broke my stance and my vision blurred for a moment. ¡°Kekeke¡­ Kekeke¡­¡± I could hear the goblins laughing, thinking they had a chance to kill me. They weren¡¯t completely wrong. Two of them attacked me, one coming towards me from the left side, and the other from the right. The one coming from my left side swung his mace. I blocked the mace with my forearm. The mace ripped through my clothes but it didn¡¯t injure me. The pain I felt was too intense for a mace. My arm wasn¡¯t even cut but it felt strange. The other goblin was preparing to strike. My mind went blank and before I knew it I punched the goblin, destroying the left side of his cranium. I saw the other goblins backing off. My hand was stuck inside the goblin¡¯s head. I got my hand out of the corpse¡¯s head. I looked at it and at my hand and I didn¡¯t feel disgusted or scared. When I was little I remember being bullied for a while. When one of the bullies picked a fight with me I won because he was afraid, afraid that I was laughing while I was getting punched. Every time I fought I laughed. Hitting or getting hit, didn¡¯t matter to me I was laughing and I always ended up winning a fight because I didn¡¯t care about the pain, I just kept fighting. Right now I feel like I did back then. ¡°HAHAHAHA!¡± I burst into laughter. I just killed a living creature but instead of being dominated by grief I felt superior. The scene was amusing. Seeing his comrade dead, one of the two remaining goblins tried to attack me. I dodged his mace, grabbed the goblin by the head and threw him into a tree. Ellen was right, those Darkpines were really durable, only the goblin¡¯s head was destroyed. The last one tried to run away but he was not fast enough to run away from me. His luck ran out when he ran into one of his tents. How should I put an end to this poor creature¡¯s life? The tent fell under the goblin¡¯s weight along with him. I was walking towards him when I noticed that he dropped his mace. I picked up the mace and went next to the goblin. He was shaking more than a Chihuahua, hard to think this is the first one who laughed when I lost my balance. I did what any merciful person would do in this situation, I broke the goblin¡¯s head with the mace giving him a quick death, more than he deserved. I killed those goblins too easy. Ellen told me that demons become stronger with each kill which means these guys didn¡¯t get to kill many people before coming here. I haven¡¯t had so much fun for some time. With a grin on my face I looked around to see if there were any goblins left to kill. All I could find were corpses, Kraft finished the rest of them while I was busy. I guess I should help Kraft with the tents. After destroying the tents Kraft and I went home. None of us said anything on the way. When we arrived Kraft told me to go to my room and began speaking with Ellen. So now I¡¯m grounded and I ¡®m going to get lectured for doing what they wanted. I laid on the bed waiting for Ellen. Just when I was getting sleepy the door opened. Ellen came inside and sat next to me. ¡°Your father told me what happened. Do you know what you did wrong?¡± ¡°I burst into a maniacal laughter and killed the goblins.¡± In my opinion I did nothing wrong but a sarcastic answer might help. ¡°You think you did nothing wrong. Your answer was just half wrong. You still don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°I did nothing wrong, I was told to kill them and that¡¯s what I did.¡± ¡°Yes, you did what you were asked. I am talking about the way you fought. I don¡¯t care if your personality changes in a battle but I don¡¯t want you to forget how to fight. If your enemies weren¡¯t goblins you could have been in danger. Next time you fight remember your training, real predators don¡¯t play with their prey and neither should you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I did it on purpose, my mind went blank for a second there.¡± ¡°I never believed in discipline during battle that¡¯s why my fighting style can be used in any situation. Hay¡¯tok is good because it¡¯s made for defence and it¡¯s easy to combine it with other forms of martial arts. My advice, use Kraft¡¯s style for offense and mine for defence when fighting monsters.¡± So I should go for quality over quantity. ¡°That¡¯s all you wanted to tell me?¡± ¡°You failed to kill five goblins but that¡¯s understandable. Kraft told me that after you killed the first one the rest of them froze and he took the opportunity to kill them.¡± ¡°I find it hard to believe, he said he will leave at least five for me.¡± ¡°I think he was scared, he killed the rest of them so you could come to your senses.¡± ¡°How could I scare him? I am kid and I still am far weaker than him.¡± ¡°In terms of strength and endurance you are weaker but you are much faster than him and you mastered a martial art made to win against any human. If he can defeat you in one punch you just have to avoid getting hit. It¡¯s that easy.¡± ¡°I will be fine as long as I don¡¯t lose my cool.¡± ¡°I told Kraft to take you on extermination missions and from now on we will come at you with killing intent. What happened to you was simply bloodlust. Your body is closer to a demon than to a human and some instincts and impulses will try to take over¡­¡± ¡°I just have to make sure I¡¯m in control.¡± ¡°You could let me finish what I had to say, but it¡¯s not like you understand what I¡¯m trying to tell you.¡± Ellen got up and was preparing to leave the room but she stopped at the entrance. ¡°You should go and take a bath, you smell like blood.¡± Come to think of it I had some blood stains on my jacket and pants. I expected the goblins to have red blood but their blood was black. I suppose I should go to the bathroom and hope the magic crystal still produces water. A new family member There¡¯s a saying: Third time¡¯s a charm, which happened to be true for me as well. Kraft took me with him to two goblin elimination missions. The second one was to kill some goblins hiding inside a cave. It was another of those initiation missions where young knight were supposed to stop being little bitches. You are fully armored against a one meter tall, green creature with a wooden club as a weapon, those creatures are so weak they die when you kick them. There were four of us versus 30 goblins. Kraft had to protect the noobs so he let me attack first. The mission went almost the same as the first time, I started laughing like a psycho and killed goblins by smashing their heads with my fists. I killed ten of them and Kraft killed 15 and the two knights killed the rest of them. At first the knights were afraid of the goblins and then they saw me fighting and got scared of me. It¡¯s a good thing Kraft makes me walk because if I had gone back in the same carriage as the knights they would have developed PTSD. The third encounter opened my eyes. It happened during the second day of the forth month. I was shopping with Kraft when I felt danger coming from the outskirts. I told Kraft that something was wrong and we went to see what was the problem. 12 goblins were marching towards the village led by two black hobgoblins. I scanned them, they were sub species of hobgoblins five times stronger than them and three times faster, threat level 1. We weren¡¯t lucky at all, we were the only ones capable to fight. I think we really angered the goblins in the vicinity. Behind us was the village center, on our left, right and front were goblins and hobgoblins. One villager was attacked before we could get here. He ran away leaving behind a cart transporting wooden logs. Neither I nor Kraft had any weapons with us so Kraft decided to use a log as a weapon, me on the other hand didn¡¯t feel the need to get one. I attacked the hobgoblin only to find myself at a disadvantage. The guy knew how to fight and my current way of fighting wasn¡¯t working. Every time I grabbed him I ended up getting knocked down. I didn¡¯t even manage to hit him and I was getting tired. The fact that I couldn¡¯t fight as well as I did in training was beginning to bug me. While I was thinking why I couldn¡¯t beat the hobgoblin, he was busy punching me like there was no tomorrow. The hobgoblin hit me in the stomach then kicked me in the face. I took a few steps back, holding my stomach. For unknown reasons my battle meditation wasn¡¯t working and Kraft was busy with the other hobgoblin and his minions. Now I doubled as a punching bag. I was angry, not because I was in pain, it was because he was weak. I got knocked down. It was the second time I was on the verge of passing out. I backed away from the goblin and tried to calm down. A few deep breaths helped me regain my composure. I closed my eyes for a few moments and when I opened them I noticed I calmed down enough to look at the hobgoblin without having the desire to toy with him. Once I came to my senses I saw how weak he really is. I avoided all his punches without breaking a sweat, and decided to beat him using boxing. Even without any magic my punches dealt a great amount of damage to him. My strikes were more accurate than I expected and because of that I was able to hit his head in the same place until I broke his skull. Hooks are harder to hit than I remembered. The hobgoblin was killed. When I looked at Kraft I noticed that the log in his hands is broken in half and the missing half was on top of a corpse. The other goblins were killed and the ground was full of holes. Judging by the lack of bodies and the gore around Kraft I bet he squished the goblins. My body was so fucked up I couldn¡¯t even heal it. I will have to endure the pain until I can heal myself with magic. We went to the village elder to explain what happened. When we reached the elder¡¯s house we saw some knights talking to the elder. From what they told us the knights thought we could handle ourselves and evacuated the people in the vicinity. Kraft got angry and punched the leader of the knights so hard his helmet deformed. Nobody said anything because they knew he deserved it and because they were afraid of Kraft. When we got home I had to tell Ellen what happened. That happened a month ago. Now it¡¯s the tenth day of May or the month of the fifth dragon. For the past ten days Ellen stopped going to the village instead Mau comes to check-up on Ellen for free. Now I am in charge of cleaning and cooking as long as it doesn¡¯t involve magic stones or crystals. I suck at controlling the magic that leaves my body so Ellen is scared that I might flood the house or burn it down. I always talk to Mau when she comes here but she won¡¯t tell me anything about the beast people instead she talks to me about medicine. It¡¯s a good thing I remembered everything from my past life, knowing how to perform first aid is a big deal on this world. After the check-up Mau has lunch with us. Even as a catwoman she rarely ate any fish. Eating with everybody is fun. Next month Ellen was supposed to give birth. After we finished eating Mau had something to talk about with us. ¡°Alex, you have a strange body odor.¡± ¡°Meaning?¡± ¡°Beast people¡¯s senses are stronger than a human¡¯s especially smell. Some predators can use the body odor of its prey to track it down. You have a sweet smelling body odor, the kind that attracts females.¡± ¡°So I¡¯m a chick magnet?¡± ¡°Yes but it also work for combat situations, your smell makes you seem weak so you can be underestimated and above all else your smell can barely be felt. The first effect of your body odor works on both males and females.¡± ¡°So I attract both males and females, oh god why?¡± ¡°It makes others more responsive towards you not sexually interested in you.¡± ¡°You heard what she said kid, go and manipulate people.¡± Said Kraft while grinning. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to explain since humans have a weaker sense of smell. Its potency will increase when you grow up, that¡¯s when its real effects will be seen.¡± ¡°This was a strange conversation, I didn¡¯t know anything my body odor except the fact that I rarely sweat.¡± ¡°It¡¯s something to keep in mind, you might be able to make others fall for you or agree with you regardless of what they think.¡± ¡°Good to know but I¡¯m going to stick to being almost impossible to detect by smell.¡± ¡°Then I will take my leave. I shall see you all tomorrow.¡± ¡°Bye Mau, see you tomorrow.¡± Mau never stays for long periods of time because of her jobs as a medic and healer. Now that Mau left it¡¯s up to me to take care of Ellen. ¡°Before thinking about body odor you should do something about your body enchantment.¡± I forgot Ellen likes to appear out of nowhere but doing that while pregnant takes real skill. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t move around too much, it¡¯s bad for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, if something happens you can you can use your powers on me.¡± ¡°Kraft, you should say something¡­¡± ¡°Leave her be kid, you should know your mother isn¡¯t so frail, she will be fine.¡± ¡°I guess, but don¡¯t blame me if anything bad happens.¡± ¡°Ali, I thought about something but I need to know something first.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You can direct magic to your eyes to use your powers?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Do you get tired when using your powers?¡± ¡°No, it drains some of my magic with each scan but it depends on what I scan.¡± ¡°When you enchant your whole body you waste too much magic so I want you to enchant parts of your body. Start with your hands, arms, legs and so on until you can control your magic.¡± ¡°I tried but it didn¡¯t work out.¡± ¡°Maybe you are doing something wrong. Give it a try, enchant your right arm.¡± ¡°Fine but I tell you¡­¡± ¡°Just do it already kid!¡± Easier said than done, if I could do it I would have done it a long time ago. It won¡¯t hurt to give it a try. I entered in my inner world. I was standing at the edge of the lake. When using enchantment you coat yourself in magic. I put my right hand on the surface and I tried coating my hand in magic. It went really well, the veins on my hand turned black and my hand felt heavy. I returned to the real world and looked at my hand. The veins were slightly blacker than normal but I could feel the dark magic empowering my hand. After a few moments I felt dizzy and I fell on the floor. When I opened my eyes I was on the bed in my room. Ellen was with me in the room sitting on a chair looking at me. My magic was depleted and it started regenerating. ¡°That went well, didn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I saw what I needed to and I think I¡¯ve found a solution. First I¡¯ve got a question, did you feel something strange?¡± ¡°I went into my meditative state and when I coated my hand in magic it felt heavy.¡± ¡°We are up to a good start. Your body rejected the magic the first time but now it¡¯s adapting and accepting it. Now you have to repeat what you did until using enchantment feels natural.¡± ¡°That¡¯s going to take too long. I can¡¯t even keep up it for a second, during the battle with the wolves I was lucky.¡± ¡°You got lucky, that means doing it it¡¯s not impossible. Kraft trained for five years despite having next to no control over his magic and still managed to use body enchantment. I believe you will be able to use it on your hands before you turn seven.¡± ¡°Three months to learn how to control the magic I gather on my hands. I might be able to do it.¡± ¡°I am going back to bed, when you feel better you can start cleaning.¡± My daily routine consisted of running to the village and back, helping Ellen with chores, training with Kraft and strengthening my body and now I have to find a way to fully control my magic. At least I don¡¯t have time to get bored. In the beginning I thought that having those powers would make me the overpowered peasant but the god decided to make me a late bloomer. My life here is pretty convenient and I really like having a father who isn¡¯t a total bitch. The past will remain in the past, now my first priority is to look after Ellen. The tenth day of the sixth month was the day Ellen gave birth. Ellen noticed something was wrong with her so she told me to go and fetch Mau. I was impressed by the fact that I outran Mau¡¯s horse when we returned home but thanks to that I had time to get some rags, towels and some of my old clothes. My growth rate was abnormal so I didn¡¯t get to wear the same clothes for long periods of time. Mau arrived right on time. She told me and Kraft to wait outside while she takes care of Ellen. She told me before that only the patient and the doctors should stay in the room. I was leaning on a wall waiting for Mau to finish while Kraft had his ear on the door. At least he is worried, but he might want to chill. ¡°Can you stop that?¡± ¡°Shut up kid, what happens if anything goes wrong? This not a game, it¡¯s a life we are talking about here.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going well, I can hear Mau talking. Ellen¡¯s too loud and I can understand what they say but Mau¡¯s voice doesn¡¯t have any hint of panic or sadness so just wait patiently.¡± For a second I thought I heard somebody crying, maybe it¡¯s over? ¡°If you could hear what¡¯s happening why didn¡¯t you¡­..¡± The door opened and hit Kraft¡¯s head. The sound echoed throughout the room. Mau called us inside. The baby was a girl. She had blue eyes and black hair. She wasn¡¯t as chubby as expected and she isn¡¯t crying, she might be sleeping. The most surprised was Kraft. He was on his knees next to Ellen looking at the baby, he looked like he was ready to try. I guess I could try smiling. ¡°Caught you off guard?¡± said Ellen smiling at me. ¡°I guess, I don¡¯t know how to react. I¡¯m very happy for you since you were able to give birth after all the things you¡¯ve been through.¡± ¡°I guess I can¡¯t ask you to feel the same way we do. Until you are able to feel the joy of being a parent I will have to be thankful that you are here with us. After what you did for us there aren¡¯t many things we could ask of you.¡± ¡°Heh, that¡¯s how it is. As for what I did, I did because I wanted to, it¡¯s only natural to help your family.¡± ¡°Your family¡­ How about giving her a name?¡± I couldn¡¯t even begin thinking about a name. She is a girl, maybe something to go with our family name? Lowe sounds like the german term for lion. The latin for lion was leo and for lioness was lio¡­OH! Leaena. I guess I could go with Lea, Lea Lowe. ¡°How about Lea?¡± ¡°Lea, I don¡¯t know what to say, maybe something else?¡± I expected that much, I don¡¯t have the ability to think of a name for her. ¡°Still no idea?¡± ¡°Not really ones I have are Lea or Maia.¡± ¡°A lioness, now I understand. I think we will name her Lea. Now we will have to think of a title for her.¡± ¡°A title, I¡¯m lost.¡± ¡°I will tell you about it later. For now come here, you are the reason she was born and I want you take care of your sister.¡± ¡°I¡¯m really glad, I thought we will never have a child together.¡± Kraft decided to be a girl and started crying. Needless to say everybody in the room expect for Kraft started laughing, this day will not be forgotten. Now I have a sibling but I get the feeling I won¡¯t get to spend much time with her. For now I might as well go with the flow. Fights and fruits One of the reasons why I don¡¯t like babies is their crying, crying that Ellen and Kraft had to endure the past month. Thanks to my meditation I can sleep in almost any situation so constant crying didn¡¯t bother me. Ellen seemed to be the most affected by the lack of sleep and now I have to help her every day. Mau still visits us to take care of Lea when she can. Ellen wanted to pay her for taking care of us but she always brings the slavery incident up. When I asked her why she does this for free she told me that beastpeople have a custom that was similar to a life-debt. If a beastperson is saved from a situation where his or her life is endangered they would have to pledge their loyalty to the one who saved them. The saviour can decline or call off the pledge at any given time. Since we asked nothing in return for saving her and even helped her find a place to work and stay she decided to help us. It¡¯s better than having somebody follow me because I went too far with putting a guy in its place. The sixth moth of the year was supposed to be a good month for fruits so Ellen told me to go and buy some strawberries and apples. Apparently those fruits turn blue when they are ripe. I¡¯ve heard of blue strawberries but blue apples are something I have to see. Mau is still talking with Ellen and Kraft about the baby¡¯s diet which gives me time to finish sweeping the floor. Kraft isn¡¯t capable of doing any kind of housework but his presence lightens the mood. Kraft is spending more time with the baby than Ellen and he¡¯s overprotective with the baby. I just I will be home when Lea decides to take her boyfriend to meet her father. This past month that tough guy image he had was completely destroyed. For some this would be the part where jealousy kicked in but in my case nothing really changed, Ellen keeps taking care of me and Kraft is as absent as before. Every time I looked at Kraft and Lea I imagine a ripped version of Ellen. ¡°I will be taking my leave. See you tomorrow.¡± It seems Mau was leaving, I might as well go with her. ¡°Ellen I will be leaving too.¡± ¡°Ali come here and take the coins.¡± I wanted to steal the fruits by storing them in my inner world but it¡¯s a little too early to start stealing. I got 10 gold coins from Ellen and two bags. I stored the bags and the coins in my inner world and ran after Mau. I was walking at the same pace as Mau¡¯s horse thinking about why Ellen gave me the money without telling me how many apples and strawberries to buy. ¡°Do you want to ride with me?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m used to walking like this and for some reason I feel safer when I can feel the ground beneath my feet.¡± ¡°Then do you want to race?¡± ¡°Me against the horse?¡± ¡°It¡¯s better than walking like this.¡± ¡°First to the stables wins?¡± ¡°OK.¡± And that¡¯s how my walk turned into a race. I was surprised at how much stamina the horse had, it was able to keep up with me and eventually it ended in a draw. As Mau said the race was better than walking, after all not many people can keep up with a horse. Maybe I hadn¡¯t started laughing I might have won but I was close to winning it¡¯s almost frustrating. ¡°I¡¯m really surprised, only a few subspecies are able to keep up with a horse.¡± Just to clarify, subspecies meant certain species of fairies, elves and beastpeople. ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to Kraft¡¯s training.¡± ¡°How many years did you train to become like that?¡± ¡°Four years of harsh training.¡± ¡°How old are you now?¡± ¡°Almost seven.¡± Huh? For some reason I couldn¡¯t hear her footsteps anymore. I turned around to see what¡¯s wrong and I saw her looking at me. She looked surprised or rather astonished, even her ears and tail were staying straight up. Is it because I told her how old I am? She¡¯s been taking care of us for a month and she didn¡¯t know that. Guess Ellen forgot to tell her that. ¡°So could you stop being so surprised?¡± ¡°But¡­you are¡­¡­¡± ¡°A lot taller, yeah I know. I grow faster than normal people and my body is a little different than a human''s.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard of demons that grow rapidly when they are young but this is the first time I saw it.¡± ¡°How old did you think I was?¡± ¡°You are as tall as me, I expected you to be at least 15.¡± ¡°I apologise, I thought you knew since you were with us the past month.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, I just need a few minutes to let this sink in.¡± ¡°Then I will wait for you to put yourself together.¡± She was pretty shocked and it took a few minutes for her to calm down. ¡°Are you all right now?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m just going to believe what I see. Will come with me to the shopping district?¡± ¡°I guess you are still shocked after all and yes, I will accompany you.¡± The shopping district was full of fruits and vegetables. Most of them looked exactly like the ones in my past world. The apples were cheaper than expected, 2 for 1 gold coin and the strawberries were 5 for 1 gold coin. Ten apples and 25 strawberries should be enough for now. ¡°The fruits were cheaper than expected¡± said Mau while looking at my bags. ¡°How cheap are we talking about?¡± ¡°They were sold at half price. Some merchants usually do this when they have too much merchandise or want more clients.¡± ¡°So people get tricked into thinking that the normal price is actually this low.¡± ¡°Nobody knows when this happens but what you said was correct, people are fooled into thinking that those products prices are halved and the merchant gets more money.¡± ¡°Let me guess, you know because you¡¯ve been that guy¡¯s slave.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Great she¡¯s sulking, sometimes is better if I just think before speaking. My body is more advanced than before but my personality is still the same. ¡°Look I¡¯m sorry for reminding you about that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all right, I know you didn¡¯t mean anything by that, the difference between now and then is so big that sometimes I don¡¯t want to remember how it was before.¡± You don¡¯t have to tell me. Most people can forget, but not me, I¡¯m not capable of forgetting anything whether I like it or not. Enough of this depressive crap, I have to focus on what I have to do next. For now I have to get back home. I placed the bags in my inner world. I was approaching the inn but for some reason I felt some tension in the air. The inn¡¯s door opened and two people came out. They were adventurers, in their thirties. One of them possessed wind magic and the other earth magic. The scan didn¡¯t reveal anything else and a more advanced one was a waste of time. ¡°You monster, I thought you left for good this time.¡± Said the first one. ¡°Are you talking about the catwoman behind me?¡± I said while moving in front of Mau. These guys meant trouble and their lack of armor is going to make it easy for me to beat them. ¡°That¡¯s none of your business! Why don¡¯t you get out of here while you can?¡± said the second one. I felt a hand on my shoulder, apparently Mau wanted to stop me. It¡¯s funny how she thinks that those guys can stand a chance against me. If they behave I will let them leave without beating them. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Alex, please don¡¯t get yourself involved in this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. These gentlemen just need a little wake-up call.¡± The first one went on front of me and grabbed my hair. ¡°She called you Alex. Well Alex, unless you want to get hurt you should get moving or else I¡­.. GAHHH!¡± Without any armor on my stomach punch was enough to make him shake. I hit him in the temples making him fall flat on the ground. ¡°I gave you a chance but you refused to take it.¡± ¡°HAHAHA, you¡¯ve got guts but this is the end for you.¡± The second guy took out a knife and charged towards me. Since Mau was still hiding behind me I was worried that he might go after her instead so avoiding the knife was out of the question. Ellen taught how to deal with armed enemies. When he got close enough to me I caught the man by the wrist breaking it with one hand, making him drop the knife then I punched him in the liver incapacitating him. And that¡¯s how I beat two people without moving from where I was standing. ¡°See, no trouble.¡± ¡°I wanted to avoid a fight but this one couldn¡¯t be avoided. I will go to the inn, Alex please go home.¡± ¡°Next time I see them I¡¯m going to break every bone in their body.¡± After I said that I left the village. On my home I saw one of the village¡¯s knights on a horse passing by me in a hurry. This path leads to my home. There are two possibilities. The first one would be that he saw me and he told Kraft and the second is that he had nothing to do with what happened and this was a coincidence. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± When I arrived home I took the bags out of my inner world and placed them on the table. I heard footsteps. I turned around and saw Ellen and Kraft staying in front of the door. If they are going to lecture me I¡¯m going to start throwing apples at them. ¡°Ali, sit down.¡± Ellen¡¯s tone was normal so I might have a chance to talk this out. The three of us sat down at the table. "Are we gonna pray or something?" The silence was starting to annoy me. ¡°Kid, I¡¯m not going to start lecturing you, I just want to hear what you have to say.¡± ¡°Two people, adventurers I think, came out of the inn and started insulting Miss Mau. I tried to calm them but then one of them took me by the hair and threatened me. I knocked out the first one, then the second one took out a knife and tried to hurt me¡­.¡± ¡°So you took him out too. I understand, considering what Miss Mau has done for us you did what was right but I still have a question. They attacked you first, right?¡± ¡°Yes, they did. Self-defense, that¡¯s all it was.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. I wouldn¡¯t have punished you either way, in your place I would have killed both of them. Kraft will talk with the knights and explain who started this incident.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I have anything to say in this?¡± protested Kraft. ¡°No dear, you don¡¯t. It is a guard or a knight¡¯s responsibility to stop these incidents from happening.¡± ¡°Ellen, I thought beastpeople and humans got along, was I wrong?¡± ¡°Beastpeople were demons once that¡¯s why some people think they are superior to them. In Sonne they are considered normal citizens but if something happens to them people tend to turn a blind eye.¡± ¡°Yeah, and in Vollmond anybody that¡¯s not human is considered livestock or less.¡± added Kraft. ¡°So what happened today wasn¡¯t unusual?¡± ¡°Unfortunately no, beastpeople tend to be discriminated regardless of our laws.¡± ¡°I¡¯m starting to worry about Miss Mau¡¯s safety.¡± ¡°It¡¯s OK kid, the village elder is more open-minded than most people and Mau already has a reputation as a good person in the village. The ones that tried that were probably staying at the inn. I will talk to the one who saw the fight and then I¡¯m going to have a chat with those adventurers.¡± ¡°Anything is fine as long as they don¡¯t end up dead.¡± ¡°No promises, they still tried to attack you¡­.. The baby is crying, can someone go and see what¡¯s wrong with Lea?¡± ¡°I will, let¡¯s go Ali.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± ¡°In the meantime I¡¯m going to pay a visit to the village elder and the men who attacked you.¡± Kraft left the house while Ellen and I went upstairs to see what was wrong with Lea. When I opened the bedroom¡¯s door I noticed a strange smell in the air. She needed to be changed. It¡¯s a good thing that her bed was in Ellen¡¯s room and not mine, because this smell alone could keep me awake at night. I closed the door and opened the windows while Ellen changed my sister¡¯s clothes. I don¡¯t know why Ellen didn¡¯t have a diaper for her and I don¡¯t care enough to ask. ¡°Ali, go outside and wash these clothes.¡± And now I care. Why are you making me do that, is this my punishment? ¡°Are you fucking kidding me? I¡¯m not going to wash that even if you pay me.¡± ¡°Just take them and go. Just go and wash them, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m making you do something I wouldn¡¯t do myself.¡± ¡°Fine, give them to me.¡± Give them to me, why did I have to go with Ellen to the bedroom. I should have gone with Kraft, at least I wouldn¡¯t have go through all this shit, literally. After this terrible experience I found out that washing clothes is apparently a skill for me and that I can hold my breath for five minutes without any difficulties. Now I have to tell Ellen that we need to buy some soap. In the evening Kraft came back from the village. ¡°Come on Kraft, we are having apple pie for dessert.¡± ¡°Give me a second.¡± Before eating Kraft told us what happened to the men who attacked me. Most of their injuries weren¡¯t bad but without a healer they will have to leave the village despite their injuries. He also said that the men were originally from Vollmond and they had no respect for anybody including the other people in the village and this incident was put an end to their stay in this village. Kraft wanted to go after them and teach them a lesson but gave up. ¡°Glad that¡¯s over. How about we eat that pie and call it a day, just remembering them makes me want go and murder them.¡± The day ended with a few slices of apple pie. The pie was sweeter than expected and it had a rich taste. Before leaving the house I must ask Ellen to teach me how to cook like her. After washing the dishes and throwing out the trash I went to check-up on Lea. She was sleeping and by looking at the sky I could tell that it¡¯s really late. Ellen and Kraft were already asleep. After some more body enchantment training I will go to sleep as well. Gifts and future plans The twentieth of the eighth month, that¡¯s today¡¯s date. Tomorrow is my birthday, that means I will get some gifts. The seventh month passed without any other incidents because now people are afraid of doing something that may piss me or Kraft off. It¡¯s not like anybody was desperate enough to break the law, the village was actually one of the few that were populated and connected to the Capital even though it was far from it. A few days ago I finally discovered a way to control my body enchantment magic for long periods of time but I couldn¡¯t use it on my whole body at once. For example if my hands were enchanted I would have to deactivate it and then use it on my legs. Now I was sparring with Ellen hoping I can get accustomed to the magic and then learn how to use it at full power on my whole body. Sustaining it was easy but using it on different body parts tires me out but wait there¡¯s more, the veins on the affected body part get slightly black and my pupils turn black. The intensity of my body enchantment can be adjusted but it drains more magic that way. The minimal intensity doubles my power defense and speed so for now I don¡¯t need to direct more magic than the minimal. Ellen came up with a name for my technique, she called it Magic Empowering since it¡¯s completely different from the usual technique. When someone uses enchantment the magic coats the surface of the user¡¯s skin and clothes and produces a glow but in my case the magic empowered my body from the inside, the only noticeable changes being the veins and the pupils changing colors. The first time I tried it I thought it was OP but it¡¯s not. If I want to hit somebody I have to empower my hand leaving the rest of my body vulnerable and if I want to dodge I lose my attack power. I can empower either my arms or my legs but not both of them at the same time. Ellen told me to learn how to empower different parts of my body as fast as I can and then focus on extending my control. Besides this I also use magic to permanently strengthen my body every night but I gain little power, better than nothing I suppose, at least it works. Even if my power and speed is doubled I¡¯m still no match for Ellen. The pregnancy affected her more than I realized. Now that she has given birth her powers fully returned and her threat level rose to 7. When I tried to empower my whole body with all my magic at once her level went down to 4 but I could barely see that before I ran out of magic and passed out. ¡°I don¡¯t know how you can move around in this heat.¡± Protested Kraft. It was hot outside, it was summer after all and this region is hot that it rarely snows. Ellen¡¯s body was coated in fire magic so the hot weather wasn¡¯t affecting her and my body was strong enough to resist the heat even if I was sweating. ¡°I try to concentrate on avoiding getting hit, I don¡¯t have time to pay attention to the heat.¡± I hope Ellen retired from being an adventurer or I¡¯m really going to have to ask that god about who¡¯s the one who got reincarnated. My abilities could be detected by my scan but Ellen was simply too strong. I imagine I go and meet the demon lord only to see Ellen sitting on its throne or even better, I fight the demon lord, he beats me and I yell: ¡°I¡¯m telling mother¡± and then run home. ¡°Dear, if you have free time, please go and look after Lea.¡± ¡°It looks like I¡¯m not needed here.¡± Kraft went inside finally leaving me and Ellen alone. I was supposed to spar with her but I can barely dodge her attacks, jokes aside if I didn¡¯t have the polymath ability I wouldn¡¯t even be here right now. It¡¯s because of polymath that I can use Empowering and I can learn Hay¡¯tok. After some time the mental exhaustion became too strong for me and Ellen decided to stop. ¡°Ali, go wash yourself.¡± ¡°Let me get a change of clothes.¡± ¡°Just pour water on you and stay outside until the clothes dry.¡± ¡°Wow that is something I didn¡¯t expect.¡± ¡°I did that once. I was in school and after a water magic fight our clothes were soaked. Our punishment was to stay outside until our clothes dried, good thing it was summer.¡± In the whole Sonne there was a human scarecrow, his name was Alexander Lowe, the kid bathing in sunlight. I don¡¯t know about that water fight but staying like this is boring. I was lucky it was almost midday and it was hot. My clothes dried faster than I expected. When I went inside I saw Mau talking with Ellen. For some reason the baby was crying louder than usual. ¡°Is something wrong with Lea?¡± ¡°She has a fever. It is not unusual for babies but it usually happens when it¡¯s cold. Healing magic doesn¡¯t very well on infants and your mother doesn¡¯t want to risk using it.¡± The one who answered my question was Mau. ¡°Ali, can you use your power on your sister?¡± From what I remember dark transfer worked against wounds and curses but I will give it a try. I put my hand on Lea¡¯s head. She caught a cold, that¡¯s why she has a fever. It¡¯s a good thing Ellen stopped our sparring session otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have enough magic to transfer her cold to me. Curses, wounds and fatigue can be transferred without draining any magic but transferring a disease apparently took a lot of magic. I took Lea¡¯s cold. After the transfer was complete I fell on one knee, I had to use almost all my available magic to transfer that cold so it makes sense I would feel weak. ¡°Are you alright Ali?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a little tired and now I have a cold.¡± ¡°She stopped crying. What did you do to her?¡± I guess Ellen didn¡¯t tell Mau about this ability either. Not that she should but this time it couldn¡¯t be helped. ¡°That was one of Ali¡¯s spells.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of a spell that allows you to take a person¡¯s diseases onto yourself.¡± ¡°Miss Mau, please keep this secret.¡± I had to tell her just to make sure she won¡¯t tell anyone else. ¡°Ali, you are almost out of magic, go to your room and rest, its better if you rest. Tomorrow is your birthday, it will be disappointing to be sick tomorrow.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± The cold can be cured with magic but it should be gone by tomorrow either way. If I don¡¯t use magic to cure myself will my body develop a little resistance to common colds? My birthday arrived, not that I¡¯m expecting much. It couldn¡¯t be said that Ellen and Kraft were rich, Kraft was the one who had a job as a guard and since Ellen was pregnant she stopped working as a healer. If I get to spend the day as usual is good enough for me. Nothing unusual happened in the morning, Kraft was taking care of Lea and Ellen was sparring with me. Kraft didn¡¯t really care about birthdays, for him it was a reminder that he was getting older. During times like these, Kraft is that kid in the corner that nobody cares about. When lunchtime arrived Ellen took me with her to the kitchen. The table was full of food and something that looked like a fruit cake. I wish I had a mirror, because I don¡¯t even know what kind of face I should make right now and even if I did I was too shocked to do anything. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Surprised?¡± asked Kraft with a big grin on his face. ¡°Huh? Actually I am. I don¡¯t understand when and how were you able to do all this. The kitchen is clean and the food is still hot.¡± ¡°Most of the food was prepared last night and I baked the cake.¡± ¡°I really want to know where did you put all this but it doesn¡¯t matter. Can we even finish all this food?¡± ¡°Once you start eating I guarantee you won¡¯t be able to stop until you finish all this.¡± For once in his life Kraft was right. There was fried chicken, pork, fish and stirred vegetables. The vegetables were prepared by Ellen but I think that Kraft cooked the meat. The meat had a stronger taste than before and I felt I had to eat it all. I ate so much food we had to keep the cake for later. After I ate it was time for gifts. The first gift was from Ellen, she gave me my watch back. ¡°I was beginning to worry about it.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you open it?¡± I opened the hunter case and I saw something engraved on it: ¡°¨¹berlebende¡°. ¡°I can feel magic coming from it, what is it?¡± ¡°I enchanted your watch with magic to increase its magic resistance. The watch isn¡¯t very resistant to magic attacks so I engraved it with my magic. It should be almost indestructible now.¡± ¡°What about what¡¯s engraved?¡± ¡°That means survivor. I decided that it would be a fitting title for you. You survived the fight as an infant and you survived after getting your arm bit off. You escaped death by using the watch as a shield and considering what it¡¯s made of I thought that you might do it again in the future. If you are fast enough you can block spells with it.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lot of magic coming from it and I can see it can block almost all magic, how much did it cost?¡± ¡°The enchantment was made by me. I used the words engraved as a catalyst. The process usually takes a day but I worked a few months on the watch to make it better.¡± ¡°I see, thank you for the gift.¡± After Ellen finished explaining how she enchanted the watch Kraft came back to the kitchen. He came back but I didn¡¯t see him leaving. He had a jacket and a pair of pants with him. ¡°Here kid, my gift for you are those clothes.¡± ¡°Those are made out of demon wolf hide.¡± ¡°The clothes were made using the black wolf¡¯s hide. Because of you I killed the wolf by slicing open his stomach so most of what we could use of it remained intact. Those clothes are almost as durable as iron, they may save you from an arrow or two.¡± ¡°Durability aside the clothes look great. The black color isn¡¯t washed-up and they give off a nice vibe.¡± ¡°At first I wanted to get you an iron armor but with that ¡°pretty boy¡± look of yours I thought I might make use of the dead wolf¡¯s pelt. With the way you look you should think about becoming a merchant.¡± ¡°I know I¡¯m supposed to tell Kraft to shut up but this time he¡¯s right. You weren¡¯t born to be feared. Even miss Mau said something similar plus the fact that your presence makes people feel safe. Just abuse these traits and you are going to find many people who would be your friends or even something more.¡± ¡°Go change your clothes.¡± I went to my room and changed my clothes. The pants and jacket were lighter than I thought. They were a little longer but with my growth rate they will soon be a perfect fit. ¡°How do I look?¡± ¡°Like a man who scouts girls for brothels.¡± ¡°That¡¯s supposed to be a compliment?¡± ¡°Yes it is. It means you are somebody who can attract girls very easy, in your case many girls might come to you.¡± ¡°But we need to fix your hair a little. I¡¯m thinking something like a fade cut but a little spiky.¡± Ellen has good tastes so I won¡¯t argue with her but until I see how it looks on me I¡¯m not voicing any opinions. ¡°Can you try cutting my hair, just to see how it looks?¡± ¡°With pleasure.¡± We spent the time until evening by eating cake and talking about what I should do from now on. Kraft and Ellen decided to send me to a school to make it easier for me to become a scholar if I wanted. The education system in Sonne was simple. Kids between five and eight years are taught the language. After that they have to spend another eight years to complete their education and those who want to become scholars have to take an exam to enter the academy. Not many kids begin the actual education at the age of eight. The most common age is ten. Ellen said that I may be able to start from the third or fourth year since she taught me many things, some of them being taught in the first, second and third years. Ellen finished school in five years and immediately tried to become a scholar but couldn¡¯t because she was too young. ¡°What am I supposed to do?¡± ¡°Stay in school for two or three years then ask the headmistress to let you take the graduation exams.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to be that easy.¡± ¡°The headmistress of the school I¡¯m sending you to was my teacher and I already told her about you. Everything they teach in school is taken from book, just memorise the important books in the school¡¯s library and you will have no problem passing. I¡¯m just telling you what I did, it took me five years to graduate because I hated reading at that time. You can figure out the rest when you get there.¡± ¡°When am I supposed to leave?¡± ¡°School begins next month so you will leave in nine days. Some apprentice knights from the village will go there and you will go with them.¡± ¡°Can you tell me more about the school?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a private school in the woods near Cylon city. It¡¯s far from the capital but I guarantee it¡¯s one of the best schools in Sonne.¡± ¡°You said that the headmistress was your teacher, was she the one who taught you black magic?¡± ¡°Yes, she may know how to solve your problem with dark magic. Those who practice black magic can¡¯t be called good people. One of her acquaintances may be a dark mage.¡± ¡°What I don¡¯t understand is how are people supposed to know that you graduated the school?¡± ¡°When you graduate you are given a tattoo.¡± Ellen showed me the tattoo she had on her arm, an owl with a quill in its mouth. I think that¡¯s a magic tattoo, I don¡¯t think that there are people who can make tattoo that realistic.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a magic tattoo you get when you finish school, it¡¯s made using magic ink so it can¡¯t be falsified.¡± ¡°It looks nice and it¡¯s easier to have that instead of documents.¡± ¡°That was the reason the one who built the school came up with the idea. There are ways to falsify papers but nobody found a way to falsify magic ink. That said, we have nine days to buy some new clothes and take care of your hair.¡± So I have nine days left until I leave the house. School entrance ¡°Are you sure you can store these things?¡± ¡°Yes I¡¯m sure. Just give them to me, they will just float around my inner world.¡± ¡°OK.¡± Today was the big day. Ellen is helping me pack my bags. I¡¯m putting the things I need in my inner world and some of my clothes in a bag I will carry so people won¡¯t ask me where my luggage is. I packed some clothes, the pocket watch, the leather clothes I got from Kraft, a dagger and a combat knife that doubles as a brass knuckle. The knights will share a bit of food with me on the way to school. The only thing I have to worry about is money. If I pass the entrance test lodging and food will be free. I will have to share a room with someone but every problem can be solved if I beat my roommate enough. ¡°If you don¡¯t leave now you are going to miss the carriage.¡± ¡°Thanks for reminding me Kraft.¡± I was supposed to catch the carriage. When I was about to leave the house I felt something coming towards me. When I looked to see what I caught my scan identified the object as a grey flint stone. ¡°It¡¯s important to have a source of light with you, since you can¡¯t cast neither flame nor light magic you can use that to start a fire.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really need light but I will keep it with me.¡± ¡°Ali, come and visit us when you have time.¡± ¡°Huh, I will. Good bye mother, father.¡± ¡°Good bye kid.¡± ¡°Have a safe trip.¡± Ellen remained with Kraft and Lea inside. I left the house, calling them mother and father really caught them off-guard. They were surprised but I had to see their faces before I leave. Ellen smiled and Kraft looked sad. It¡¯s not like I will be gone for good, I will come to visit my little sister. I ran to the village, I was a little behind the schedule but if I continue running I can make it in time. I reached the village gate. For some reason Mau was standing near the carriage with a little basket in her hands. ¡°Here Alex, I made you something to eat.¡± ¡°Thanks, you didn¡¯t have to bother. Oh well can¡¯t say no to free food I guess.¡± ¡°There are a few baked potatoes, I hope you like them.¡± Mau gave me the basket. It had three whole potatoes inside and they were still hot. ¡°I know everything you make tastes good. I will think about you while eating them.¡± ¡°When you make that face I may believe it.¡± What about my face? I was smiling, a pretty normal reaction compared to Mau¡¯s face which was getting red. ¡°Farewell Alex, I hope you get accepted. If you ever need help I will be here, please count on me.¡± ¡°You already did more for us than you think but when the time comes I will accept your offer.¡± The knights stayed silent while I and Mau were talking. I got inside the carriage and we started our journey to school. I have to memorize the path we take from here until we reach the school so I can return without having to rely on anybody. The whole journey took a whole day. Most of the time we went on ground but there were some stone roads and halfway we passed a city. I have to go there when I get the chance. That was boring, the sausage fest inside the carriage didn¡¯t help. I might not be the one to speak about hygiene but even I wash myself before leaving the house, good thing I had the baked potatoes to cover some of the smell. Since I was talking about potatoes I must say that they tasted really good. I got out of the carriage and the first thing I saw were two big building that looked like manors. The buildings looked like they were made of stone. They were painted in red and every building had two pyramid roofs with flags on them. The flag looked the same as Ellen¡¯s tattoo or is Ellen¡¯s tattoo the same as the flag. ¡°Welcome to Eule Academy. My name is Liliana Grimm, I am the headmistress of the academy and it¡¯s my pleasure to welcome you to our humble school.¡± The headmistress was a 64 years old woman with short, dark red hair, red eyes and a tall figure. She had a few wrinkles on her face but without my scan ability telling me her age she could have passed as a woman in her late fifties. I liked the greeting she gave us but I have a feeling there was a lot of sarcasm in what she said. A man came out of one of the buildings. He was an old man wearing mage clothes. I didn¡¯t care enough to scan him. ¡°This man is called Gregorian, he is the boy¡¯s dormitory leader. He will show you where your rooms are.¡± The man said nothing, turned around and starting walking towards the building on the left side. That¡¯s the boy¡¯s dorm. The knights started going after the man and I wanted to follow them. When I got near Liliana she put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Boy, you will follow me to my office.¡± Behind the two buildings there was another one that looked like a school building. The dorms had two floors and this one had three. I went inside the school. The headmistress¡¯s office was on the third floor. Every door was closed so I didn¡¯t get to see what the other rooms looked like. Her office had two desks, a big couch and some bookcases. The walls were grey and behind the desks was a big window. ¡°Is there you wanted to talk to me about?¡± ¡°You are Ellen¡¯s son, Alexander Lowe?¡± ¡°Yes. My name is Alexander Lowe, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± ¡°You get bonus points for trying to be polite but those things don¡¯t impress me. We will talk like equal individuals from now on.¡± ¡°Works with me.¡± ¡°I dragged you here so I can talk to you without any interputions.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s what you wanted then who¡¯s the person on the other side of the door.¡± ¡°Maria, please enter.¡± The person who came inside was a blonde haired woman. She was 20 years old. She wore violet robes and glasses. She was as tall as me and had a developed chest. ¡°Maria is my apprentice. If there is something you require you can tell her and we will try to obtain it.¡± ¡°When you said apprentice you were talking about black magic?¡± Both Liliana and Maria looked shocked for a moment. Maria was shooting glances and Liliana. Liliana started laughing for a few seconds. ¡°H...How do you know about mistress Liliana¡¯s ability to use black magic?¡± ¡°Your mother told you about her training in black magic but how did you figure out I trained her?¡± ¡°There were only two people whom she called ¡°teacher¡±: you and her black magic teacher. It was just a guess but I was right wasn¡¯t I? My mother was your apprentice.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you guessed that I was her teacher. She was the first apprentice to complete the training without dying and became a black witch. As you said, Maria is my apprentice for the moment. You found out I use black magic, what will you do?¡± ¡°Nothing, nobody would believe me if I told them and I have no reason to after all Ellen said you could help me.¡± A smirk appeared on Liliana¡¯s face. ¡°Good answer, you keep my secret in exchange for dark magic training.¡± ¡°Is Maria the one who will help me train?¡± Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Interesting, what Ellen said was right, your eyes really do see more than what they should. As you said, Maria will teach you dark magic but first you will have to pass the entrance test.¡± ¡°From what I heard the test is tomorrow. What exactly is this test?¡± ¡°It¡¯s divided in two parts. First I will measure your magic and magic control using a special crystal ball and then you will have to punch a wall. After you¡­¡± ¡°Wait, wait. Why do I have to punch a wall?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a wall made of enhanced stone which is almost indestructible. There is a special spell that measures the amount of damage someone deals to the wall that we use to determine your power.¡± ¡°If the wall is almost indestructible isn¡¯t it pointless to hit?¡± ¡°The wall isn¡¯t durable, it repairs itself if it isn¡¯t broken. If someone puts a crack on it, the wall will repair itself. The founder of the school punched a hole in the wall and it didn¡¯t fix itself. Back to our topic, at the end of the test you will receive a grade from D to S. If you get C or D you are out. Any questions?¡± ¡°Where am I going to spend the night?¡± ¡°Maria will guide you to your room.¡± Liliana gave Maria a key. ¡°Follow me.¡± I followed Maria to the boy¡¯s dorm. The canteen was in the lobby. On the first and second floors were our rooms. My room was on the last one on the second floor. ¡°You can use this room for the night and if you pass the test this will remain your room.¡± The room had two beds, two desks, two wardrobes and two bathrooms. The room locked more like a studio apartment than a dorm room. The left side will be mine and the right will be taken by my roommate. ¡°The headmistress made me your trainer but don¡¯t me to go easy on you.¡± ¡°I understand. I¡¯m looking forward to working with you.¡± ¡°I have to help with the preparations for tomorrow. Good bye.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± Well, she was in a hurry. My top priority will be to pass the tests. Now then let¡¯s go to the rooftop. I jumped out of the window then I made my way up to the top of the towers. Thanks to all the cracks in the walls I was able climb quite easily. I could see everything from here. People were preparing the front yard for tomorrow. If I enchant my eyes with magic I can see in the distance with no difficulty. The evening sky was more beautiful than anything. With no pollution in the air I could see everything clearly. When I was young I liked spacing out like this when I had nothing to do, just looking at the sky. The moon was already up and the stars were sparkling beautifully. I don¡¯t remember the last time I saw so many stars. I¡¯m going to enjoy the breeze for a while then go to sleep. The morning came bringing with it a huge crowd. There were far too many people here. I knew this wasn¡¯t a boarding school but there were still too many people. The tests took place in the courtyard. Liliana and Maria were helping the other teachers. The first test was the crystal ball. Liliana gave the crystal ball. The ball became black and started glowing. It was a faded glow. I can guess what that meant but I hope for the best. She looked somehow disappointed. The second test was the wall punching. The ones before me didn¡¯t manage to break it, just some cracks that immediately repaired themselves. Judging by my scan and what I saw I might be able to break it if I use all my magic in one punch. Now it was my turn. They allowed the students a few practice hits before the test. Since I have magic for only one attack I decided to skip the practice hits. I empowered my right hand with all my magic and I hit the wall. The part I hit got destroyed but my fist didn¡¯t pass through the wall. Now this wall has two holes in it. Maria wrote something in a notebook, my grade I think. The people around me were surprised but Maria and Liliana nodded and then called the next person. Despite using almost all my magic I could still walk without feeling dizzy, all those times passing out due to magic exhaustion made my body a little tougher. With nothing to do I spent the day on the rooftop looking at the other students taking the tests. The entrance tests ended in the evening and more than half of those who took the tests failed. I didn¡¯t get my result but I think I passed, I did break a part of the wall after all. When everybody left I saw Maria waving at me from the courtyard. I jumped down to see what he wanted. ¡°The headmistress wants to talk to you. Follow me.¡± ¡°I know the way to her office, I can go by myself.¡± ¡°Just do what you are told.¡± I followed Maria to the headmistress office. Maria knocked three times on the door then opened it. ¡°Finally, you are not easy to find. Where were you hiding?¡± ¡°He was on the boy¡¯s dormitory rooftop.¡± ¡°Your mother liked high places too. She was always on the dorm¡¯s rooftop looking at the other students.¡± ¡°Was my mother the quiet type?¡± ¡°Yes she was. She used to beat anybody she didn¡¯t like. I can imagine you doing the same.¡± ¡°So the big question: Did I pass?¡± ¡°Your magic control isn¡¯t very good but you destroyed the wall so your grade is B.¡± ¡°The first test was the one that counted the most.¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a good thing you broke the wall, that is the only thing that allowed you to pass.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t I have passed with a C?¡± ¡°Good observation. Before the second test you were a D rank but you had enough magic and control to gather it in your hand and break the wall. That was enough to allow me to change your grade. The Magic Empower your mother told me about is an advanced magic technique harder to use than the normal enchantment which meant you had more control over your magic than the crystal showed.¡± ¡°That was a long explanation. All that matters is that I passed the test. Anything else to do?¡± ¡°You have to choose a uniform. This school is divided in two. The students who practice magic usually get blue uniforms and those who rely on physical strength get the red ones. Which one do you want?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I be black?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just say that!¡± That comeback from Maria was something I didn¡¯t expect. I was one step away from laughing like an idiot. ¡°I don¡¯t know why you said black but that¡¯s the uniform of those who don¡¯t want to choose a side. Other students may bully you but it doesn¡¯t matter. As long as you don¡¯t kill or leave a student in critical condition violence is not punished.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really approve of this but those are the rules.¡± Said Maria with a sour look on her face. ¡°The teachers usually try to stop the fights, if the students don¡¯t listen to the teachers they are punished so not many people get into fights out in the open.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the punishment for disobedience?¡± ¡°That is decided by the teacher so it depends on a person¡¯s luck.¡± ¡°Then prepare a black uniform for me.¡± ¡°Come tomorrow morning to get it. Now go to your room, it¡¯s already late.¡± Bonding It¡¯s the first day of the ninth month, that means school has begun. I got up, changed my clothes and went outside to start my daily routine. A little running to wake me up. Now I have run laps around the school. After exercising I went to Liliana¡¯s office. ¡°Good morning headmistress.¡± Good morning for me, she looked like she drank enough to get everybody and their mothers drunk. ¡°I was supposed to give you your uniform today. It¡¯s over there hanged by the window.¡± My uniform was on a hanger placed on the window¡¯s handle. A white shirt with an owl on it, a black jacket, black pants and black shoes, pretty nice for a uniform. The uniform was made out of regular cloth and leather with no enchantments on them, I guess nobody would bother enchanting regular clothing. ¡°You can admire your target dummy costume when you get to your room, hurry up and leave, I want to sleep a little longer.¡± ¡°Fine but you might want to sleep on the couch, it¡¯s better than sleeping on the fucking desk.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯m used to it.¡± ¡°Good bye.¡± No use talking to her now, she still has to greet the students at noon so I won¡¯t bother her. At least the uniform was on a hanger, it¡¯s a lot easier to carry it this way. When I got to the second floor I saw a boy and a woman standing in front of the door. The woman had a maid outfit so I guess the boy¡¯s parents are rich. I might as well go and greet my future roommate. ¡°Hello, my name is Alexander Lowe. We are going to be roommates starting today so can you tell me your name.¡± ¡°I am Jaden Dan, that¡¯s all you need to know.¡± The maid opened the door, took the boy¡¯s luggage and went inside. The boy followed her. ¡°I know I look like peasant A to you but you could at least talk to me.¡± ¡°You really are a peasant, you can¡¯t even make your own bed.¡± I wanted to make it after I got my uniform but this guy had to point that out. ¡°I was going to make it now, you don¡¯t have to be a bitch about it, it¡¯s not like you make yours yourself.¡± The boy said nothing and waited for the maid to unpack his bag. The boy was age was 11, he was about 1.30 meters tall, he had black hair, green eyes, a fit body type and an expression full of confidence. The maid was about as tall as me, had long auburn colored hair a slender body and an expressionless face. The maid¡¯s age was 25. ¡°So what year are you simpleton?¡± ¡°Third year.¡± ¡°The same as me then. I am impressed that you skipped the first two years.¡± ¡°How did you guess?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t skip so I¡¯ve been here for two years, and you are the first student I¡¯ve seen to take the black uniform.¡± ¡°I chose to remain neutral, since your jacket and pants are blue I guess you are one of those who rely on magic.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s good you took the black uniform, I wouldn¡¯t want people like you wearing the same uniform as me.¡± Urge to kill raises. Anyone would have chocked this bitch to death but I had a reason for holding back, the maid¡¯s threat level. My scan isn¡¯t powerful enough to give me additional information but a threat level 3 is not something to take lightly. I have to make sure I have a good reason for getting into a fight. ¡°Young Master, it¡¯s almost noon. The ceremony is starting.¡± ¡°Thank you for telling me Mir.¡± The maid¡¯s name was Mir meaning she didn¡¯t have a family name. The maid is my first target for now. ¡°I will see you there Jaden.¡± I jumped out of the window and made my way to the yard. There were at least 100 students for every grade. Liliana was standing in front of the school¡¯s doors. ¡°Good day to all of you. I am Liliana Grimm the headmistress of Eule academy. During your stay here I will be your best friend and your worst nightmare. Next to me is Maria, my apprentice and the head of the staff. Eule academy¡¯s purpose is to train your bodies and minds and change you from idiots into Sonne¡¯s elites. Our purpose isn¡¯t to make you study, it¡¯s to make you learn out of your free will. Maria and I will be your teachers as well as your caretakers so don¡¯t hesitate to count on us. Nobody likes to listen to me bragging so I am going to end my speech here and show you what we hope to achieve by educating you. The classes will begin tomorrow morning. You are dismissed!¡± The speech was good enough to make people shout and clap. Compared to her state in the morning she sobered up pretty fast. The rest of the day was free so I might try a little bonding with my roommate. When we arrived inside Mir handed Jaden a cup of tea. For some reason she was able to prepare tea despite being with him the whole time. ¡°The headmistress¡¯s speech was moving. It was very motivating and inspirational. What do you think Lowe? ¡°Lilana¡¯s speech was all right I guess. It wasn¡¯t that moving for me but I think she tried her best, not that I care.¡± ¡°Have you no respect for the headmistress! I should drag you to her and have you punished!¡± ¡°Please try and watch me laugh at you when you fail.¡± ¡°You should learn your place. You don¡¯t know who you are talking to.¡± ¡°No shit Sherlock, you didn¡¯t tell me.¡± ¡°The Dan family is a family of merchants. My father, Axel Dan, is a famous merchant who works with Sonne¡¯s nobleman.¡± ¡°Good for you, you can continue your family tradition when you grow up.¡± This guy was getting on my nerves. ¡°Of course, I will become a greater merchant than my father ever was.¡± The maid followed Jaden around everywhere he went. I couldn¡¯t even eat in peace. Jaden¡¯s maid was one of the reason I couldn¡¯t eat in peace, the other was people¡¯s eyes. When they weren¡¯t staring at Mir¡¯s breasts they were looking at me, more specifically my uniform. After I ate I went in the courtyard. For some reason most of the students were here. Everybody was looking at me. The boys saw me as a target and the girls saw me as a different type of target. Most of the boys here couldn¡¯t even compare to me. I was one of the few fabulous boys, more like the only one but that doesn¡¯t matter. Most girls blush when I look them in the eye and then close their eyes in embarrassment. It was funny teasing them like that. I tried to memorize everybody I saw. Most students were first and second years and their threat level was 0. Either all of them are weak or the strong ones aren¡¯t here. Now that I know most of the students I have nothing to do here. The girls are too dazed to talk to me and the boys would probably want to beat me and Jaden already left. I went back to my room and I saw Jaden reading a book. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°The story of the first war, that¡¯s what we are going to study this month.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I memorized that when I was six.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Jaden spent the rest of the day asking me details about the war. I learned everything I know from Ellen and considering that most of the books in Ellen¡¯s house were novel I think that Ellen¡¯s memory is as good as mine and that¡¯s some scary shit. It was almost midnight, I think he should stop with the questions. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°You are pretty good for a peasant. I bet you came here to seduce girls.¡± His insults aren¡¯t that impressive but he still pisses me off, I think it¡¯s about time I put him in his place. ¡°You certainly have the looks but even if¡­.GAH!¡± I took him by the throat, lifted him a little and looked him in the eyes. ¡°One of the basics of education is respect. A bitch like you deserves none but I thought that I would give you a chance. If you want me to act like peasant A, I¡¯m going to act like one and show you how little social status counts. You start talking to me normally and I¡¯m not going to show you a fate worse than death.¡± I threw him on the bed. He looked at me like he saw a demon and that¡¯s the result I wanted. Kraft made sure to teach me the art of intimidation in cause I run into someone I¡¯m not allowed to kill. Sooner or later everybody gets a wake-up call and this was his. Now it will be a good time to leave him alone and give him some time to think. I went to the rooftop and looked at the stars. ¡°What you did wasn¡¯t nice of you.¡± What the fuck is the maid doing here? The first time I scanned her she only had wind magic not teleportation. Actually let¡¯s scan her again. So she used to be an assassin, well shit. ¡°I can feel demon wolves sneaking up on me, how the hell did you get here?¡± ¡°Like you, I jumped out of the window and climbed here.¡± I turned around facing her. ¡°So what happens now? Are you here to assassinate me for scaring your master?¡± ¡°As you can see I am unarmed and my reason for coming here is to talk to you. You were too fast for me when you grabbed the Young Master so it is impossible for me to win without body enchantment.¡± ¡°So, you can use it, I will wait.¡± ¡°Even If I did use it I couldn¡¯t beat you here. You only use the door when you enter the room and the fact that you climbed here without magic is proof enough that you know something akin to the Art of Movement. I¡¯m never making the mistake of fighting when I am at a disadvantage again.¡± ¡°Is that the mistake that ended you career as an assassin?¡± ¡°It was. That¡¯s all I¡¯m going to say.¡± ¡°Subject 2. You wanted to talk about Jaden, what is it?¡± ¡°I wanted to ask what your reason for doing that was and what did you hope to obtain.¡± ¡°A reason huh? I guess he pissed me off and I wanted to give him a lesson about what happens when you leave your manners at home. As for what I obtained, personal satisfaction. I put him in his place and I thought that I may open his eyes a little.¡± ¡°I am relieved. It looks like you have no real intention of harming the Young Master.¡± ¡°So you could tell.¡± ¡°As an assassin you learn some things and one of them is deception, that doesn¡¯t mean I approve of what you did.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I gave him a trauma.¡± ¡°He is going to be fine. He wasn¡¯t like this in the past but a certain incident forced him to behave this way.¡± ¡°You are not calling him Young Master anymore.¡± ¡°I call him that when I talk about him as his servant. Now I¡¯m just an adult talking about a kid but I guess you know how that feels, after all you are only seven.¡± ¡°So much for privacy, despite how I look I am seven but don¡¯t think I¡¯m that immature.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here in the first place. I just wanted to say that despite his behaviour he is a good person.¡± ¡°If he talks to me as an equal I¡¯m not going to hurt him. I didn¡¯t come here to make enemies.¡± ¡°A wise choice. I am going to tell you something, the boy is very trusting, earn his trust and good things will happen to you.¡± ¡°I guess the beastpeople aren¡¯t the only ones with a life-debt.¡± For some reason she looked surprised when I said that. After a few moments she grinned. ¡°It looks like a lost the psychological battle too. I guess you already have a pretty good idea about what happened to me.¡± ¡°You gave me enough clues, and I have a feeling that you wanted me to notice.¡± ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about.¡± I think she enjoys playing dumb. So an ex assassin playing maid, the boy¡¯s parents really need to stop what they are doing. ¡°Are you coming inside?¡± ¡°We should get to know each other more first.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t funny. I get the joke but it wasn¡¯t funny.¡± ¡°I know, I just wanted to say it. Well then let¡¯s go back.¡± So I ended up coming through the window. Mir looked like she was used to it but she used wind magic to glide a little, envy intensifies. I closed the window and locket it. It looks like Jaden was too tired to wait for us and fell asleep. ¡°After what I did to him I didn¡¯t expect him to fall asleep so easy.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t the first time he was threatened. You surprised him but he will be fine after he wakes up.¡± ¡°If he starts acting like a bitch again don¡¯t expect me hold back again.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry. Next time you won¡¯t be able to get through me.¡± Well, she was very confident in her skills but I don¡¯t think that will be enough to stop me, after all I am trained to defeat those stronger than me. Mir looked like the type of person than keeps secrets, not the type that lies and that means something. During our conversation I said things that would surprise most people but she didn¡¯t even flinch, I have to stay on her good side. If what she said about Jaden is true it might be a good idea to befriend him. Tomorrow we are supposed to meet our teachers and begin or classes and I am supposed to starting training with Maria. I look forward to beating the punks who challenge me for wearing the black uniform. Second day of school When I woke up I saw Jaden looking at me like he saw a ghost. ¡°Good morning to you.¡± ¡°Forget that, what happened to you?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Your veins are black and your eyes too.¡± ¡°And I thought something bad happened. That¡¯s just a side effect of using magic. It happens sometimes, and the color is given by the fact that I can use only dark magic.¡± ¡°I see¡­Does the headmistress know about this?¡± ¡°This happens when I used body enchantment two days ago when I broke the wall but it wasn¡¯t that obvious back then. I didn¡¯t tell the headmistress about this, so unless my mother told her she shouldn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Your mother knew the headmistress?¡± ¡°My mother was her apprentice and she apparently told the headmistress everything about me including my measurements.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s one meaning of having friends in high places.¡± ¡°Somebody is coming. Let¡¯s see if I can scare her.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I got up and went in front of the door. I felt a presence, judging by the sound of the footsteps in was Maria. When she arrived in front of the door I opened it. ¡°Good morning!¡± I thought I would be able to scare her but she kept that expressionless face. Why didn¡¯t you get scared? ¡°Here, this is your schedule for this semester, if something changes I will give you a new one.¡± I took the piece of paper that was supposed to be our schedule. ¡°You and Jaden will be in the same class so there is no need to give you two pieces of paper. I will see you later.¡± ¡°Bye Maria.¡± Maria left and I closed the door. I looked at the schedule. We had six classes every day. Math, History, Alchemy, Magic Theory, Physical education and Magic Practice, those were the classes we had every week. From 8 o¡¯clock to 12 o¡¯clock, one hour lunch break and then from 1 o¡¯clock to 3 o¡¯clock. One class lasts for 50 minutes and we get a ten minute break. ¡°Here Jaden, you can have it.¡± ¡°You memorized it?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s not that hard, it¡¯s the same every day. We have no classes in the weekends, is that when we do our homework?¡± ¡°Homework and studying.¡± ¡°Well it¡¯s 7:30, we should get dressed and have breakfast.¡± ¡°Did a watch just appear in your hand?¡± ¡°Yes it did. Come on, get dressed.¡± Well, they were surprised. In my previous world I checked the time before doing anything and I had the habit of checking the time at random intervals. I still believe that having a good perception of time is important. I suppose it was time to get changed. It seems Jaden had his share of troubles. There were a lot of scars on his body, mostly cuts. His face was the only part on his body that wasn¡¯t scarred. His attitude towards me changed, he understood that it¡¯s better not to piss me off. It was really awkward to change with Mir present in the room. She was so alert I could feel her presence even after I went to the bathroom, she should just chill. Jaden and I went to the canteen and Mir locked the door. The window was open so I could go inside without using the key if I wanted. We had to take a tray with food and find a place to stay. Today¡¯s menu was boiled eggs with a salad. It seems almost all tables were full. ¡°What now?¡± ¡°I will with some of my classmates, good luck finding a table.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t I just go with you?¡± ¡°Since you decided to wear that uniform you became everyone¡¯s target, staying with us may make us targets too. I don¡¯t have many friends here and I want to keep the ones I have.¡± Foolish thinking detected. I have a feeling that you already are a target and I know that Mir won¡¯t be able to protect him if he is challenged by another student because of some stupid rules. ¡°I¡¯m telling you now so I can say I told you later, people you consider friends might not think the same.¡± There was a table free on the other side of the room. I left Jaden and ate there. It looks like I really gave him something to think about. I sat down and ate my food. Well, it¡¯s almost time to go. I brought the tray back and went to the school building. The third year¡¯s classroom was on the second floor. My class was 203. The 2 was the floor¡¯s number and the 3 was the year, pretty easy to remember. The first thing I noticed when I entered the classroom was that there was no blackboard. The room looked more like an auditorium than a classroom. Some of the students who were here had pieces of paper or wood tablets with them. So what am I supposed to do? I have nothing to write on so I guess I will have to memorize what the teacher says and begin the search for books. The only empty seats were on the front row. I sat in the middle of the row, right in front of the teacher¡¯s desk. The teacher was an old man with black hair who looked like he was going to fall asleep any moment. The teacher told us about the basics of math. This was the first year we study math and the class was boring. Total recall worked on my memories before I got reincarnated so I already knew everything he had to say. It¡¯s hard to understand how teaching math without a blackboard or a counting frame. There was a variation of meditation I developed that allowed me to change my perception of time so the time passes faster than normal and I go in a meditative state while being semi-alert. If I want to stay here I will have to abuse this or I will die of boredom. The History teacher was a bald scholar. The class was about the beginning of the first demon war. I knew most of the things from Ellen, the only new things were the dates of some of the events. The class came to an end and we had to move to another room for our alchemy class. I heard that the alchemy class is mostly about potions and their effects. The alchemy room had the same layout as the math room but there were plants and flasks all over the place. This time the teacher was a woman, an old lady with medium, white hair and a pleasant voice. Since this was the first class she told us about the people who created potions and why we should know how to make them. She talked about the Dark Knight, it is said that he was the one who discovered a potion called Primal Potion, a mix of plants that was able to enhance a human¡¯s survival instinct, augmenting their senses and body for a few minutes. The potion was good because it didn¡¯t have a downside so it could be consumed repeatedly. We returned to our classroom for our magic theory class. This time our teacher was Maria. She told me that she was going to be my teacher at school but I thought that she was referring to dark magic training. In class Maria talked about the difference in magic flows between humans and other races. Like demons have a different magic flow and can cast different spells other races have different affinities and abilities. Elves could influence plants, trees and animals, beastpeople can use advanced physical techniques, and dwarves can create magic weapons faster than any other race. That¡¯s what she told us during class. At the end of the class Maria came to me. ¡°We will begin training at midnight in the courtyard.¡± ¡°If you say so.¡± ¡°Good day.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± Ellen told me that dark magic is mainly about sneaking but why did she call me at midnight, is she gonna teach me how to be invisible in the dark? ¡°Hey Alex, want to go to the courtyard?¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Sure.¡± Jaden invited me to the courtyard, maybe we eat our lunch outside instead of going to the canteen. I followed him to the courtyard. So is this the beginning of a mosh pit or maybe somebody angered Moses. The courtyard was divided in two, the students wearing blue uniforms on the left side and the ones wearing red uniforms on the right. ¡°Wearing the black uniform makes you the target of both sides.¡± ¡°Yeah, you made sure to tell me every chance you get.¡± ¡°I hoped that you might change your mind. It¡¯s bad for¡­ Look! There are two students fighting.¡± There were two students of opposite faction getting ready to fight. Student A was a blue one and student B was a red one. Student A started casting a spell while student B was getting ready to attack him. Ellen trained me to kill a magic user before he or she starts casting spells so from my point of view against a single enemy you just have to get close to him before he hits you with a spell and defeat him. That said it seems I was wrong, student A jumped away a few meters and managed to launch a fireball at student B before he could get close enough to hit him. The red ones tend to hate using magic other than body enchantment so I guess that¡¯s normal compared to the blue ones that rely on magic more than physical strength. ¡°What was that about?¡± ¡°The blue student was a sixth year student and the red one was a fourth year, that¡¯s how big the difference in power is.¡± ¡°He got knocked out by a fire ball, it¡¯s like he didn¡¯t even bother to dodge it.¡± ¡°You say it like you would¡¯ve done better.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. If he were against me he would have been down before he had the time to jump back.¡± ¡°I brought you here to show you something like this so you understand what¡¯s like being in this school.¡± A fire ball as big as a basketball at that speed was easily avoidable, it¡¯s hard for me to think that his reaction time is that bad. If a sixth year is that strong then I have little to worry about. ¡°So, when food?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what the canteen is for.¡± ¡°It¡¯s 12:45, we are almost out of time.¡± ¡°Shit, let¡¯s eat.¡± This bitch, he could have at least told me we were going to waste time looking at idiots fighting. Well now I know why nobody eats during lunch break, it¡¯s the same food the serve in the morning. For me eating is almost optional but the food I eat gets converted into nutrients so it¡¯s good to eat when I can. The question is: why do I have to eat leftovers when Jaden is eating steak? ¡°Yo, how come?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You are eating steak and I¡¯m eating this. Why?¡± ¡°Because Mir made it for me.¡± Now that I think about it she was in the canteen when we arrived. So his parents bribed Liliana to let his maid cook. That¡¯s what happens when you are poor and your roommate is rich. Lunch break ended and we had to go to the courtyard to meet our PE teacher. The teacher was a long haired, muscular man. The rest of the students looked impressed, if they think this guy is cool then they would faint if they saw Kraft. This guy¡¯s muscle mass is half of Kraft¡¯s. The PE class was about building endurance and stamina. Using magic generates mental and physical fatigue. The more difficult the spell is, the heavier the strain is on the user¡¯s body. Those exercises included but were not limited to running and meditating. The teacher tested our physical state by making us run around the courtyard until we fall. There weren¡¯t many in our class who ran more than twenty minutes. Jaden and I were the only ones to actually last till the end of the class. He used body enchantment to keep up with me but it was quite a feat. After PE we had magic practice. The class was held in the courtyard for safety purposes. The teacher was the head of the boy¡¯s dorm. He is supposed to watch us practicing magic and tell us what to do. Watching 30 students practicing magic is really difficult, I feel pity for him. The teacher told me to find something to do, Liliana must have told him I don¡¯t have any experience with dark magic. I watched the students attacking the teacher with magic. Every magic element had a defensive spell. The teacher used light magic to create a shield that absorbed spells. When Ellen enchanted my watch she used light magic because it¡¯s resistance to other elements is the highest. So my teacher used a light shield so I will use a dark shield or just use my watch as a shield since the teacher can¡¯t move while using it. The last class came to an end. Now I should go to sleep and relax before meeting Maria tonight. Jaden and I returned to our room. ¡°Any opinions about your first day of school?¡± ¡°Boring, the alchemy class was the only interesting one.¡± ¡°I have to read what I wrote in class to understand.¡± ¡°R.I.P. I memorized everything, if you have something you don¡¯t know tell me.¡± ¡°I will. What did our teacher want with you?¡± ¡°Maria Hyn is her name.¡± ¡°Wait, how do you know, nobody knows her family name.¡± ¡°It¡¯s magic. I can see certain things. For example you can use both wind and fire magic but you didn¡¯t use fire magic during practice.¡± ¡°But¡­How¡­¡± Well he was so surprised he needed to buffer a little. Given the fact that I seem to know something only Liliana knows and his magic elements it¡¯s normal to be speechless. ¡°Say something! It¡¯s not like you to stay silent.¡± ¡°What do you expect me to say?¡± ¡°YELL!¡± ¡°WHY?¡± ¡°WHY NOT!¡± And so began the story about two students yelling in the dorm We just yelled at each other instead of speaking normally. The best part was when the teacher came and yelled at us for yelling saying that we disturb the peace. For some reason I started laughing and immediately so did Jaden. The teacher was yelling, we were laughing and this continued for some time. ¡°We¡­are so dead.¡± Said Jaden while breathing heavily. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Ha, ha. If something happens Liliana will help me. Ow, my stomach hurts.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t handle a good laugh?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t handle the teacher. He actually thought that yelling will be a good way to shut us up. It really hurts, you know.¡± ¡°I really screwed up, second day and I already got lectured.¡± ¡°Ah, much better. It¡¯s fine, he won¡¯t expel us. I told you, if something happens blame it on me, it will be worth it. An old man yelling like a little girl at two kids thinking he will make them shut up.¡± ¡°It was fun.¡± ¡°It¡¯s already 10, you should go to sleep.¡± ¡°You still didn¡¯t answer me.¡± ¡°Training. She will help me develop my dark magic skills.¡± ¡°Ah, OK.¡± Jaden changed in his pajamas and went to sleep and I went to the rooftop. I don''t know why Maria called me at midnight but it''s not my place to ask. The beginning of dark magic training In my previous life I disliked high places but now I really like looking at the stars from the rooftop. I usually looked at the stars when I was sad and needed to think but I don¡¯t think that¡¯s the case, maybe I found a way to relax. ¡°Do you like this place?¡± Why do people enjoy sneaking so much? Oh well, it was just a matter of time until she came here. When Mir is with us she barely says anything, for example that¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve heard her speak today so I guess she talks to me now when most people are sleeping. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You looked like you were looking at something beyond the sky.¡± I know there¡¯s something I have to say but I don¡¯t know what. Beyond the sky, there are just planets and stars and I don¡¯t think I¡¯m the deep, silent character. Maybe it¡¯s just solitude, some time for me to think. ¡°You don¡¯t know, do you?¡± ¡°Maybe I want to be alone?¡± ¡°Loneliness it¡¯s the cause. I¡¯ve seen people like you before, you can¡¯t see what¡¯s around you.¡± ¡°What am I supposed to see?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not something I can tell you, even if I did you wouldn¡¯t believe me. When you see it you will know.¡± ¡°So you came here to tell me I¡¯m lonely and I fail to see something I should?¡± ¡°Changing the subject when you don¡¯t like it, you are still a kid. I just said it when I saw your face when you turned face me. I actually wanted to talk about what happened before with the teacher.¡± Even a blind person could¡¯ve seen the smile on her face when she said I was a kid. Of course I would change the subject, I had a bad feeling about where that was going. ¡°You are talking about the yelling?¡± ¡°Yes, one year ago some students tried the same thing that you did and he tied them to the towers and left them there until morning.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not nice! You wouldn¡¯t have said that if you were tied to one of the towers. What I wanted to ask was why he didn¡¯t do anything to you.¡± It was a joke. Seeing her lose her composure was worth it. I think there¡¯s a reason he did nothing, that being the headmistress. ¡°My mother was one of headmistress¡¯s apprentices and she told the headmistress to help me and I wanted to see how far I can go before I cross the line.¡± ¡°So you bet your well being on an assumption?¡± ¡°Yes. If he wanted to punish us I would insist on being punished in Jaden¡¯s place too and it¡¯s not like you or Jaden gave a fuck about me.¡± ¡°If Jaden is too trusting you are the opposite, you don¡¯t want to try trusting another person.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been two days, do you really expect me to believe that you or Jaden care about me? Sorry but I don¡¯t believe you.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if we¡¯ve known each other for two days or two years, both Jaden and I care about you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand why and even if you told me I would probably change nothing.¡± ¡°OK, let¡¯s try something else. You know about slavery?¡± ¡°Yes. What about it?¡± ¡°The biggest difference between the two is the magic tattoo a slave has. They said that being a maid is better than being a slave but that¡¯s a lie, be it maid or slave people look at you like you aren¡¯t human or alive. In a sea of people who treat maids worse than slaves there are some people who treat you like a human, wouldn¡¯t you befriend them if you had the chance?¡± ¡°How can you be so sure I¡¯m one of those people?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not but you proved you are not like other people and you talk to me normally even though I¡¯m a maid, this much is enough for me.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see things the way you see them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to understand now but in time things may change.¡± ¡°I really want to know the reason you said that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not fun to tell you everything at once. I will tell you little by little why your current way of thinking is wrong.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the type of person who listens to others but you can try.¡± ¡°The day you open your eyes will be the day many things will change. I¡¯ve said enough for today and you have to go, Maria is coming to the courtyard.¡± All my senses should be better than those of a human and yet Mir repeatedly shows me the difference between us. I can¡¯t feel her presence but I know it¡¯s about time to meet her. ¡°Any advice or something before I go?¡± ¡°Pay attention to what Maria says.¡± I left without saying anything after that. The things about slaves and maids were something new to me. He said that I was one of the people who treated her like a human being so that means Jaden is another one of them. I will stop with the jokes for a while. ¡°Now that you are here we can talk about what you did earlier.¡± ¡°I really want to hear what happened after he left.¡± ¡°The headmistress told the teachers to leave you alone. As expected most of them complained but in the end she is the headmistress so they¡­.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. Tell me what happened with the dorm teacher.¡± ¡°Fine. The teacher comes storming into the headmistress¡¯s office complaining about two students yelling and making fun of him. He didn¡¯t tell her your names but both the headmistress and I figured that he was talking about you so she told him off this time but next time you might not be so lucky.¡± ¡°What¡¯s he going to do, expel me?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the easy way out, we don¡¯t expel people for misbehaving, we usually punish them until they learn their lesson, after all we gain nothing if we expel them and just between us and the headmistress: I hate that he punishes the students even for small mistakes and telling him off felt good.¡± ¡°So Liliana let me off the hook because she had the chance to piss off someone who pissed her off.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Glad to be of service. Now can we get on with what we came here to do?¡± ¡°I am going to explain some things about dark magic then¡­¡± ¡°Fuck that. Forget the theory, I¡¯m ready to practice.¡± ¡°Ready is the last thing you are, you are unable to use normal magic techniques and you think you are ready, maybe in your dreams.¡± What is she talking about? The only normal technique I know is body enchantment, the rest depend on your elements. ¡°So I¡¯m stupid, can you tell me why I¡¯m not ready?¡± ¡°As you know dark magic is used by humans mostly for sneaking. The foundation of these techniques was the Shadow Step. Unlike other types of magic spells dark magic spells don¡¯t have an incantation and can only be used by somebody with exceptional magic control, something you lack.¡± ¡°I have control over magic, that¡¯s how I was able to pass the tests.¡± ¡°Watch me and then you may understand what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Maria started walking in circles. What was I supposed to see? Her posture is normal and so is her walking style, the only strange thing is the dark purple glow coming from her feet. Her shoes are coated in magic and every time she takes a step the ground glows a little too. ¡°Do you understand now?¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m supposed to see?¡± ¡°I will show you again. Pay attention and listen.¡± She is telling me to listen. Listen to what, it¡¯s not like she is telling me something. She is just walking around, so much for a sneaking technique¡­¡­I¡¯m an idiot, I had to listen to the sound of her footsteps. Conclusion: There is no sound, the dark magic on her feet and on the ground damps the sound. ¡°Your footsteps make no sound, that¡¯s so cool. When do I learn that?¡± ¡°When you empower your body you keep the magic inside your body and just change the way it flows, to do this you have to focus your magic on your feet and shoes then release a small amount of it on the ground with each step you make.¡± ¡°That sounds awfully hard to control, isn¡¯t there an easier way to do this?¡± ¡°This is one of the advanced techniques so it¡¯s not supposed to be easy but it is the starting point for the other ones so learning it first will make the other easier.¡± ¡°I¡¯m really losing the little motivation I had.¡± ¡°I was like that too when I started practicing dark magic.¡± It¡¯s hard to believe that the diligent Maria would say something like that. She looked like a person who has the discipline to move a mountain. ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you about my past.¡± ¡°And you are soooo sure I would say that.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I used to do when I was learning. Don¡¯t look down on adults, most of them go along with you for their entertainment.¡± So bullshit aside, I still have to find a way to last longer than a few seconds. In my inner world body empowerment has the same effects as enchantment and it is activated the same way. Since Maria is still here I might as well talk to her for some advice. ¡°Can you explain to me how you use the technique?¡± ¡°Do you have trouble releasing your magic?¡± ¡°I can release it, it¡¯s just that I can only use it for a few seconds before I run out of magic.¡± ¡°This question may sound a little strange but it¡¯s important I get an honest answer, what do you see when you meditate?¡± Usually when I meditate I go to my inner world so the thing I see is supposed to be my magic. ¡°There is a dark place with a glowing lake. It¡¯s hard to explain, even though the lake is clear I cannot see the bottom. Does that help?¡± ¡°The darkness you see is a result of your dark magic and the lake is supposed to be your magic. Your magic is continuously flowing and yet you see it as something that doesn¡¯t move.¡± Now she is confused. At least she is better at thinking than me. Well, it¡¯s not like I came up with the idea of empowerment, which was Ellen¡¯s idea in the first place. ¡°When you use empowerment how do you control your magic?¡± ¡°The water in the lake comes to me.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you go for a swim?¡± ¡°Last time I tried that I lost consciousness after five seconds.¡± ¡°The headmistress told me that body enchantment and empowerment used to be only one technique. If you can learn how to control your magic you might get another boost in your power.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t we getting side tracked here?¡± The lesson was cool and all but it¡¯s been almost an hour since we started and we¡¯ve done nothing. I could find better ways to waste my time if Maria doesn¡¯t help me or I could forget about other spell and just use empowerment. ¡°I got it!¡± Holy shit! That actually scared me. She smiles like a child who¡¯s got a new toy and looks at me like she found Mekka. ¡°What happened, you thought about something?¡± ¡°You said you call your magic to you so how about doing the opposite thing like putting your feet on the surface of the lake and see what happens.¡± ¡°Since we are sitting here doing nothing it may be worth a try.¡± Hello darkness my old friend. Here I am in front of the lake thinking how long I will last before collapsing. I really hope I won¡¯t be swallowed like the last time I tried to do something like this. I stayed in front of the lake and put one foot in the lake. Nothing happened. I tried putting both feet and waited to get swallowed but yet again nothing happened. I took a few steps towards the center of the lake. Suddenly I felt the water moving beneath my feet dragging me down, towards the bottom of the lake. I started to feel dizzy which made me lose my balance. Why does this happen when I try to control my magic. I was on my way to the bottom but the drowning sensation was not present which means I might have a chance to escape. I swam until I reached the surface then my dizziness got stronger making me lose consciousness. When I woke up I realised I was still in my inner world but there was no water left. Usually I wake up in the real world, so what changed? I got up and looked around. It seems the water carried me to the shore after I fainted, which never happened before. ¡°Wake up¡­Wake up¡­¡± Somebody is calling me, somebody from the other side. ¡°Snap out of it!¡± I opened my eyes and saw Maria looking in my eyes, she looked worried but why? Her hands were on my shoulders and now that I am back I realise that she is using quite some strength, it hurts a little. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°You are fine¡­I¡¯m glad. Look at your body.¡± I did as she said and looked at my body, as expected the black veins appeared again and seeing her looking at my eyes I bet my eye color changed to black. ¡°It¡¯s all right, this always happens when I use magic.¡± ¡°How do you feel?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. More importantly, I couldn¡¯t use body enchantment and it seems I wasted my magic.¡± ¡°Do you know what time it is?¡± ¡°It¡¯s four in the morning. Why?¡± ¡°A short while after you started meditating you actually managed to hold a full body enchantment until I woke you up. Something happened to you there and I suggest you keep doing it until you gain a little more control.¡± So she stayed here watching me for almost four hours on a weekday, I can¡¯t even imagine how tired she is. ¡°Maria, I¡¯m sorry for keeping you here for so long, let¡¯s stop this.¡± ¡°What is this, a break-up?¡± She smiled while saying that. ¡°Jokes aside, please get some sleep tonight.¡± ¡°Very well, class is over. Good job.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going back to my room. See you in class.¡± Good job my ass, I did something I never could for two years and I wasn¡¯t even aware of it. It was already late so I don¡¯t think there would be any doors left open for me so I decided to see if my room¡¯s window is still open. It seems I was in luck, the window was left open so I could sneak in. The fatigue I feel is due to magic exhaustion but my magic pool was barely drained. For now I have to know why I remained in my inner world and how I managed to use body enchantment for almost four hours. A step forward This is the second time I had a dream since I reincarnated. I dreamt about a big waterfall that worked in reverse, pulling water towards it. The waterfall was in the middle of a dark place and I could only see the water and the ground it touched. Was this supposed to have any meaning or ? Yesterday Jaden woke me up but today I woke up by myself mainly because the room was empty. Magic exhaustion is a part of my daily life so I shouldn¡¯t oversleep just because I passed out. I should at least see what time it is before making assumptions. It is 7:50, and there it is, I overslept. Thank god I was too lazy to change my clothes and I decided to sleep in my uniform. I got up and I tried to open the door, as I thought it was locked so I jumped out of the window and started running towards the school building. Jaden and I are usually the first to arrive so there¡¯s no point in looking for him. I entered the classroom right after the teacher so I was safe. I plan on skipping almost all my classes during my time here but I don¡¯t want to begin today. I¡¯m surprised that the teacher actually let me enter after him, he really might be a good person. The math class was as boring as I thought, simple addition and subtraction, things that most of the people here have trouble understanding. It¡¯s difficult for me to understand how it¡¯s possible for the kids to learn math without a blackboard, I guess it¡¯s up to the individual to learn. At the end of the class Jaden came to talk to me. ¡°What happened to you last night?¡± ¡°I used too much magic during my training and I was too tired to wake up and I ended up skipping breakfast too.¡± ¡°Mir tried to wake you up for an entire hour before giving up. I don¡¯t know what happened but Mir got tired of hitting you and you acted like we weren¡¯t even there. Oh well, since you didn¡¯t have any time to eat I will share some of my food with you.¡± ¡°Thanks man, I owe you one.¡± Was I really asleep or comatosed? I thought that my day would get better, but it didn¡¯t. During History class I started feeling nauseous. It got better during Alchemy class where the teacher gave us a sample of a healing potion so we know the difference between the fake one and the real one. Funny enough the healing potion tasted like coffee and the people seem to like the taste, I on the other hand can¡¯t stand the taste of coffee. Now it¡¯s lunch break and I am eating some of Jaden¡¯s lunch and it¡¯s horrible. I thought Ellen¡¯s chicken¡¯s steak was somebody everybody could cook but this is like burnt meat. The leftovers from breakfast were better than this. ¡°How can you even eat this?¡± ¡°What¡¯s your problem?¡± It looks like Jaden didn¡¯t understand my question. ¡°You pay for this, right?¡± ¡°Yeah and it¡¯s good, I don¡¯t know what you want.¡± ¡°How is this good, did you even eat chicken steak at home?¡± ¡°Yes, we have a chef who cooks food for us and his food it¡¯s as good as this.¡± ¡°Either you people don¡¯t know how to cook or my mother is a better cook than most people.¡± ¡°It¡¯s my meal you are eating so stop complaining.¡± ¡°Fine, can a man just have an opinion?¡± After that Jaden didn¡¯t talk to me for the rest of the lunch break. It¡¯s not like I was wrong, I was just being an asshole and I had a good reason too. I thought I was fine then at the end of PE class my head started to hurt and my vision was blurred. Due to my special condition I am excused from Magic Practice classes but I wanted to spend the time learning about magic but something is wrong with me and I fear it might be connected to what happened last night. In case of diseases, injuries or curses my body will tell me what¡¯s wrong due to dark transfer and exidium but nothing was wrong with my body, even the things I see blurred are normal when I use total recall. What the fuck? So now I have an illness that¡¯s not an illness and its effects are unknown, just what I needed. ¡°Where are you going?¡± After class Jaden saw me heading to the dorm. ¡°I feel like shit so I¡¯m going to lie down for a while and maybe sleep a little.¡± By the time I got to my room I was already having trouble staying awake. I got on my bed and immediately fell asleep. I woke up in my inner world, still feeling sick. Somehow I feel that something is different than before. For some reason I feel nervous like something is about to happen and I am unable to move my body. After a few moments I felt a magic surge going through me, turning my veins black and giving me the feeling that I was burning. Can¡¯t say I wasn¡¯t accustomed to pain but this was different; it was like the pain was induced by the brain. Gradually I was getting better, the pain was gone but I was still experiencing some after effects like dizziness and shaking. After the after effects were gone and my body returned to normal I saw what was wrong; the magic flow was out of control. An underwater tornado was disturbing the magic flow in my inner world fucking it up in the real world too. My inner world was in the middle of an unnatural natural phenomenon and I couldn¡¯t escape. A smart guy would probably try to stop the phenomenon without getting too close to its center; I tried to get close to see what was causing this. The closer I was to the center the harder it was for me to move, something was pushing me away. Somehow I was able to get close to the center before being blown away but I was unable to determine the cause of the tornado. The most frustrating part was that the bigger the tornado got the harder it was for me to stay awake; Magic 101 when your magic runs out of control, you die. Ellen told me to be careful when using magic or something like this might happen. I had one idea left, to stop the tornado by controlling the whole magic pool at the same time. I walked towards the middle of the lake and when I felt the force pushing me away I stopped and dove underwater. Swimming inside a tornado might have not been a good idea; I was spinning around trying to get to its eye and stop it. Once I reached the eye the pain stopped and I could think clearly again. I gathered as much magic as I could near me and then I released it creating a shock wave that dispersed the tornado and pushed me away. I woke up in my room and I saw Jaden sleeping. If the watch still works; it seems it was past 23 o¡¯clock. After a few moments the door opened and Mir came inside holding a towel in her hand. ¡°Are you still feeling sick?¡± ¡°A little.¡± ¡°I would like to talk to you, come with me.¡± Mir opened the window and jumped, presumably going to the rooftop. I followed her. ¡°Why did you bring me here, do you want to tell me something Jaden shouldn¡¯t hear?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about what happened to you today; that was magic poisoning.¡± ¡°That would explain a lot of things, but doesn¡¯t magic poisoning appear when you overdose on magic potions or using magic on an empty magic pool?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know what happened but I recognize a case of magic poisoning when I see one.¡± ¡°Okay, I get it. Let me put myself together first.¡± If Mir knows I was sick then Maria knew as well and when I meet her I¡¯m going to have a talk with her. ¡°I forgot to ask, did you take care of me while I was asleep?¡± ¡°Why do you think I did?¡± ¡°You were carrying a towel and Jaden seemed fine so I thought you took care of me; was I wrong?¡± ¡°No. When you were asleep you started sweating so I took care of you.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I smiled while I was thanking her; after all she did take care of me. ¡°Can I ask you another question?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°That bracelet of yours, what is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s something my father gave me; it¡¯s supposed to help me train.¡± ¡°The writing on it look like the ones on magic seals, you should take it off.¡± ¡°Wait a second.¡± The first time I scanned it there was no mention of a seal. Just to be safe, I¡¯m going to scan it again. Oh, the bracelet is also a seal to keep my magic from going out of control; and since this was made using light magic I bet Ellen did this in an attempt to protect me from incidents like the one a few minutes ago. ¡°The bracelet was supposed to prevent incidents like this so I think it backfired on me.¡± ¡°When you get magic poisoned you die in about an hour if you don¡¯t get treated the moment you feel sick. This time you were lucky.¡± ¡°I guess; I don¡¯t know what to do.¡± ¡°Right now you need to get going; Lady Maria is the only person here who can tell you more.¡± ¡°I guess. Mir, thank you for nursing me.¡± My body was almost recovered, I was feeling a little weak but this is the only remaining after effect left and I actually got to experience a real near death experience. For some reason I think that Maria knew something was supposed to happen and didn¡¯t tell me. Even though it wasn¡¯t midnight Maria was waiting for me. ¡°Hello Alex, you seem to be doing fine.¡± She looked rather surprised to see me. ¡°What with that face, you look like you¡¯ve seen a ghost?¡± ¡°You looked like you weren¡¯t feeling well and I thought that you would skip today¡¯s lesson.¡± ¡°You knew this would happen?¡± ¡°Well I-¡° Somehow I knew she was going to lie and I lost my temper. I lunged at her and I was one step away from chocking her. ¡°YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN?¡± ¡°Shut up and listen!¡± Maria used body enchantment and brushed me aside with no difficulty. ¡°It wasn¡¯t supposed to happen today. Magic poisoning spreads fast so it should have affected you yesterday.¡± ¡°My body is a little different; still you should have told me.¡± ¡°Magic poisoning is common for dark magic practitioners. I experienced it three times before I got used to dark magic and I was one of the lucky ones.¡± ¡°Fine, let¡¯s say I believe you; now what?¡± ¡°Now we continue from where we left off.¡± ¡°So what am I supposed to do?¡± ¡°Try to gather your magic on your feet and shoes.¡± So I have to go back to my inner world again. The god told me that I should be able to master dark magic but nothing works the way it¡¯s supposed to and I even ended up in a near-death state. I tried the same method again; this time the magic was obeying my commands and I was able to gather some magic around my feet without starting another chain reaction. The first step is done, now I had to switch from normal meditation to battle meditation so I can see what happens on the other side and finally see how much time I can use it. I was able to exit my inner world and still keep my magic in check. There are some differences between the two techniques; now I feel a slight difference in power but my overall power is going to increase if I manage to master the technique. ¡°Is it supposed to take this much magic to maintain?¡± For some reason my magic was draining faster than in my empowerment state even though I wasn¡¯t doing anything. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I expected.¡± ¡°Why are you being a bitch again?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just starting to think you punching a hole in that wall was just luck.¡± ¡°Why you do this?¡± ¡°When standing still Shadow Step doesn¡¯t drain your magic. Right now you are unable to even activate it properly.¡± ¡°I just went through a near-death experience, cut me some slack.¡± ¡°Most people go through it four or five times before activating the technique; but when they do it becomes something natural.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because my mother said I am special.¡± ¡°I could think of a better word but as a teacher I can¡¯t say it.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because I just found out that word would suit me too. You used Shadow Step as a side effect of external empowerment, that¡¯s why your magic is being drained.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry; I don¡¯t understand anything besides human language.¡± Maria started to massage her temples; I might have exaggerated a little. ¡°What I¡¯m trying to say is that you are using two techniques at the same time and that drains your magic.¡± ¡°So I activated Shadow Step?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good. Now that I know I can activate it I will just have to find a way to use it so it won¡¯t drain my magic.¡± ¡°You keep saying that but how much does it really drain?¡± I started walking in circles around Maria. I know she was expecting an explanation; but this was is easier understand how Shadow Step affects me. I tried imitating Maria¡¯s walking style but it wasn¡¯t perfect, it looks like I have to practice a little more. After 100 steps I lost my balance and Maria caught me before I hit the ground. I guess that¡¯s my limit for now. ¡°100 steps, good enough for a beginner?¡± ¡°You still have enough strength to smile like an idiot so I would say it¡¯s enough for now.¡± When I regained my balance Maria gave me a health potion. ¡°Where did you hide this? No offense; but those clothes look really tight.¡± ¡°The same place your entire luggage went to, a storage zone created using dark magic. Unlike you I can only store one small item like a potion or a dagger.¡± ¡°Are you talking about The Null?¡± ¡°Yes; in your case you can call it your inner world since the two intersect.¡± ¡°Is it that obvious?¡± ¡°Those who use it can see the difference between it and storage items.¡± ¡°I know that magic poisoning can be easily treated with a health potion; if so why didn¡¯t you give me one yesterday?¡± ¡°Remember your Alchemy class?¡± ¡°Yeah, the teacher gave us a sample from a health potion so we know the difference between¡­OOOH; you gave the teacher the potions and told her to hold a special class.¡± ¡°Something along those lines; in any case go and get some rest, I have a feeling you will need it.¡± Boys talk ¡°No!¡± ¡°But-¡° ¡°No! No student of mine will pass this class without at least using a magic barrier.¡± Friday¡¯s practical magic class began with an argument between me and the teacher, which wanted to see me block his magical attacks. Despite knowing about my condition the magic teacher still wants me to create a barrier to block his magic attacks. The highest grade of magic manipulation I can use right now is Shadow Step which is flawed and incomplete; and this guy wants me to cast a lesser ward despite failing the last two times. That¡¯s one of the reasons; the other is the incantation, something I¡¯m not going to say out loud. A lesser ward is just a form of magic manipulation in which your magic gathers in front of you to block or reflect magic depending on the user¡¯s power. Lesser ward is one of the basic spells that can be casted by anyone who possess magical power. The problem is that my magic loves me so much it won¡¯t leave my body. ¡°It¡¯s going to be fine even if you fail, just try using it once.¡± So he calmed down; good. I have nothing against the spell but the incantation was strange and I am a follower of Ellen¡¯s teaching: killing a mage before he is able to cast spells. ¡°Come on boy!¡± ¡°Fine!¡± I straightened my posture, extended my right arm and began chanting. ¡°Guard me from the forces of evil, Protective ward!¡± ¡­¡­Nothing happened, as expected. The spell is that the magic activated but it couldn¡¯t leave my body, so I can¡¯t actually say something happened. ¡°I told you this would happen.¡± ¡°Nothing happened; I guess I should¡¯ve listened to you.¡± When I looked at my arm I saw something interesting; my palm was coated in magic, different than body enchantment, something more stable. ¡°Teacher, can you throw a fireball at me?¡± Why is he looking at me like I¡¯m insane, it¡¯s not like I told him to kill me. I want to try deflecting his spell and if that doesn¡¯t work Liliana will have to give me another uniform. ¡°Why in God¡¯s name do you intend to do?¡± ¡°Just hit me already.¡± ¡°Very well; Burn the enemies with the scorch of Hell, Fireball.¡± The teacher formed a ball of fire as big as basketball and sent it flying towards me. The trick is to hit that with the sad excuse of a lesser ward that formed around my right hand. I want to see if my body is responsible for my inability to use magic normally or not. The fireball came at me, it was slower than I thought but fast enough for the other students to think I can¡¯t see it. Most beginners aren¡¯t capable of seeing the spells so they activate their wards as soon as the battle starts. The ball was weak so I shouldn¡¯t have trouble deflecting it. When the fireball got close enough I hit it with my palm sending it in the sky where it exploded. Deflecting the fireball took about one quarter of my magic but that¡¯s not the strange thing; after I hit the ball the flames turned black. ¡°How¡¯s that for protection magic?¡± Big words for someone who was breathing heavily but he is the one who wanted to see me use a lesser ward. ¡°I see, so that was a lesser ward; very well, you pass for now.¡± ¡°Yo, what do you mean ¡°for now¡±?¡± ¡°There are going to be other tests in the future, look forward to them.¡± He ended today¡¯s class with that. Truth is I was not mentally prepared for deflecting magic so the shock from magic loss hit me harder than I expected. I entered the dorm room and sat on my bed. Since I deflected the fireball my arm started shaking a little. It seems that when my arm blocked the fireball and changed its trajectory it also took some damage. ¡°That was really cool you know.¡± ¡°The young master is right; deflecting magical attacks is something only demons have been capable of doing.¡± Obvious accusation aside this is the second time I heard Mir talk while she is with Jaden. ¡°Besides this do you need my help for anything; I want to rest a little?¡± ¡°I need some help to keep up with our History classes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the one to talk but you should pay attention to the teacher instead of staring at the red haired girl next to you.¡± Someone bring the fries; the tomato sauce is almost ready. ¡°H¡­How did you know about her?¡± ¡°Chill man, I¡¯m not that oblivious; you are looking at her whenever you get the chance.¡± ¡°D¡­Do¡­Don¡¯t you need to pay attention, why are you watching me?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m special and now you and I are going to have a talk about that girl.¡± ¡°What¡¯s there to talk about, she doesn¡¯t even talk to me. I¡¯m not popular like you, you know.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not what you would call popular.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been talking to most of the girls in our class while most of us have to watch; do you know how we must feel?¡± Oh boy, typical boy problems. If he knew how it feels to love a girl who cheats on you every chance she gets he would shut up. ¡°I am fabulous, that¡¯s a fact but I don¡¯t see how¡¯s that bad for you, Saya didn¡¯t speak to me once.¡± ¡°Saya?¡± ¡°You are special type of snowflake aren¡¯t you? That¡¯s her name you idiot. I know pretty much everyone¡¯s name and appearance so come to me if you need to know someone¡¯s name.¡± ¡°Saya huh; it¡¯s a really good name, what¡¯s her family name?¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you try talking to her for a change?¡± ¡°What should I say?¡± ¡°First introduce yourself then make some small talk and then slowly start asking her more personal things like the classes she likes, food, music, books, stuff like that.¡± ¡°Fine, I will do it tomorrow.¡± Tomorrow, the peak of human productivity, needless to say I¡¯m going to beat him if he doesn¡¯t speak to her. ¡°Now I think it¡¯s time to talk about what we studied this week.¡± I spent all afternoon teaching him about the battle between the beastmen and humans. Apparently he is one of the people who remembers the things he hears so he usually reads out loud when studying. ¡°The last battle is called Bloody Beach, you remember it, right?¡± ¡°I remember that one; the humans and the beastmen fought one another over a tactical location and then they joined forces to fight the demons who wanted the location.¡± ¡°Why where the humans fighting the beastmen?¡± ¡°Because they thought that the beastmen and demons are the same race.¡± ¡°You forgot to mention that the location¡¯s name was Azure Village but that¡¯s about it.¡± That was the end of the lesson. It is about 22 o¡¯clock so I might as well take a nap. After the afternoon nap I usually go to the rooftop where I talk to Mir. This became my daily routine. ¡°That was quite a feat.¡± And there she is, right on time; she usually arrives five minutes after me. ¡°The result isn¡¯t worth the cost. It took a quarter of my magic to deflect that spell; dodging and killing is faster and more efficient.¡± ¡°I am not talking about efficiency here, I am talking about making a reputation for yourself; people tend to follow interesting people.¡± ¡°As always you talk to me about something that has nothing to do with the reason you came here; the talk I had with Jaden.¡± ¡°I was genuinely impressed by what you did but you are right, I came to talk to you about Jaden and the little girl.¡± ¡°Figured as much; It¡¯s going to be fine, I told him to talk to her and that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to do and I have a feeling that the girl is not a bad kid.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°She didn¡¯t seem like a bad kid to me but that¡¯s not what I¡¯m worried about?¡± ¡°Then what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Some girls like more aggressive guys.¡± ¡°You, me, bedroom, sex, now; that kind of aggressive?¡± ¡°You were actually really close to a good example.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with these girls, don¡¯t they like a smooth talker?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I was worried, if I knew for sure then there would be no problem.¡± ¡°Because Jaden¡¯s not the aggressive type, is that why?¡± ¡°Correct, he has no experience with girls and is too afraid to screw up.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, if he screws up I will use my charm and charisma to smoothen things a bit.¡± ¡°Before making promises like that make sure you can keep up with it all; it¡¯s already midnight, Lady Maria is waiting.¡± ¡°You sure, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s still¡­ Oh shit, I have to go.¡± That¡¯s what I get for not checking what time it was after I woke up, now I¡¯m going to be late. ¡°You are late.¡± Well she looked angry; I guess I would be too if I were in her place. ¡°I overslept, I had a rough day.¡± ¡°I heard about your little experiment today, quite the feat.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Would you like to talk about it some more or get on with your training?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s forget about that for the time being.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s begin.¡± There are two things wrong with my Shadow Step: magic cost and partial sound dampening and Maria has no idea on how to help me. A human¡¯s body gets used to magic if he practices so I don¡¯t really care about the first problem but the fact that Shadow Step doesn¡¯t fully works is the most pressing problem and there¡¯s the fact that Maria won¡¯t teach me anything until I master this. ¡°No good?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with your form.¡± She looks like she is deep in thought. I have been doing this all week and I didn¡¯t even get past square one, even I am pissed; so much for the two abilities that should help me learn. ¡°Can I go back, there¡¯s nothing more to do here?¡± ¡°If you ask me that again I¡¯m trapping you here in a magic barrier.¡± ¡°Fine, I will just keep walking.¡± ¡°Talking about walking, when do you release your magic?¡± ¡°Are you talking about Shadow Step? I release it continuously.¡± ¡°During your Magic Practice class you somehow managed to create a ward on your hand.¡± ¡°Yeah, what about it?¡± ¡°I thought about something; activating Shadow Step when your tiptoes touch the ground. External magic spell put a strain on your body so you could time it right and minimize its use.¡± How am I supposed to do that? Maybe I can create a ripple in my magic flow when I step I might be able to get the same result. When I took a step the magic I released created a small explosion on the surface on the ground. Should I be worried that the explosion made no sound? ¡°So this happened.¡± ¡°Of all the things I saw you do this is ridiculous.¡± ¡°There was no sound so I¡¯m into something here.¡± ¡°Use less force next time and you might finally master Shadow Step.¡± Finally, it¡¯s done; I was able to use Shadow Step correctly. I using it by altering the flow of my magic a little when I step so a little magic will escape my body; it¡¯s a little difficult to control but it works. ¡°I think that¡¯s enough for now, go get some sleep then come to the headmistress office.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it weekend, why do I have to go?¡± ¡°The headmistress didn¡¯t tell me and I am in no position to ask.¡± ¡°Fine. I will see you in a few hours.¡± I have to replenish my magic and prepare myself for whatever talks I will have with Jaden. I entered the room from the window and got in bed. When I woke up Jaden was dressed in a yellow suit of some kind, must be the formal clothing of rich people. ¡°What¡¯s the occasion?¡± ¡°Oh hey, good morning; I¡¯m going to meet Saya so I dressed properly.¡± ¡°I have to go to the headmistress office and you go pick up girls; talk about life.¡± ¡°Unlike you I actually have to try and talk to a girl to see if she is interested in me.¡± ¡°Nice change of personality, yesterday you were scared and now you are full of confidence.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a little nervous but I¡¯m going to try my best.¡± ¡°Just remember, even if you get rejected, all that matters is that you tried. She isn¡¯t the only girl in the world, even if she rejects you; you can try again with another girl. Don¡¯t lose faith, go to her and have some confidence.¡± I left the room with Jaden. Somehow Jaden arranged a meeting with Saya in the courtyard; as for me it¡¯s time to meet Liliana again. When I got close to her office I smelled something sweet, cookies maybe? I opened the door and saw Liliana and Ellen eating cookies with milk; since there are three glasses of milk I bet one¡¯s for me. ¡°Welcome Alex, take a seat and let¡¯s talk.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to seat some of these first.¡± I ate some cookies. They were good. ¡°The cookies are a gift from a student whose parents work as chefs, they are widely known.¡± *munch* ¡°Good for them.¡± *munch* ¡°I called you here to ask you how you are holding up.¡± ¡°The schedule is fine and the atmosphere is relaxed; the only thing I don¡¯t understand is the reason why there isn¡¯t a writing slate or something for the teacher to write on, it¡¯s difficult for students to keep up especially during math class.¡± Liliana started to chuckle a little; she looked at me but at the same time not at me, like she was remembering something. ¡°When she was a student your mother said the exact same things. She never mentioned a writing slate but she also complained about the difficulty of classes, you do resemble her a lot.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s when she read all the books in the library and graduated?¡± ¡°Yes, she got fed up with our teaching methods and decided to graduate as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°Since you share her point of view; how about helping me change this school?¡± ¡°For starters you could bring some slates and pieces of chalk here.¡± ¡°I think I may be able to obtain them in two or three months.¡± ¡°What do you think we should do after that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know; I¡¯m the type of person that takes things one at a time.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯d better be prepared to show us how we can use slate and chalk to write.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to be fine. On another note, can I have the rest of these cookies?¡± ¡°I have a sickness that forbids me from eating too many sweet things; if I eat too much I get nauseous.¡± When I scanned her she was fine. It may be an allergy or something that¡¯s not dangerous for her but I¡¯m curious to see if I can find and remove the illness. Bad news ¡°Liliana please give me your hand, I might be able to get rid of that sickness you have.¡± ¡°HO, let¡¯s see what you can do.¡± If something is wrong with her I will find out when I make skin contact. After using almost all my magic I found the source of her condition, it¡¯s an illness similar to diabetes, most probably caused by too much sugar intake. Well, let¡¯s see how having diabetes feels like. I was able to transfer Liliana¡¯s illness to me. After I let go of her hand she took a few deep breaths. ¡°How do you feel?¡± ¡°I¡¯m starting to feel better. The magic spell you used is similar to the one I used to restore your mother¡¯s vision.¡± ¡°Except that I don¡¯t need a dead body and a ritual to use it.¡± ¡°But you aren¡¯t curing people; you transfer their illnesses to you and by looking at you my illness reverted to its normal state.¡± ¡°I feel like I¡¯m going to pass out any moment, it must have been hard for you to live like this.¡± ¡°Not anymore it seems. Since Maria insists on standing behind me you can lay on the couch.¡± ¡°If you insist.¡± I guess she isn¡¯t the headmistress for nothing, the couch felt better than the bed in my dorm room and those are supposed to be expensive. I will take about one hour for my body to recover so I might as well sleep. I felt something poking my cheek; does Liliana like these types of jokes? When I opened my eyes I saw Maria poking me. She was smiling; she looked like she was enjoying it. ¡°Is there a reason you are doing this or you do this for fun?¡± ¡°Fun can be considered a good reason.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m glad I can entertain you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m joking. I believe you slept more than you intended to, it¡¯s almost evening and I tried to wake you up but you didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°So, where¡¯s Liliana?¡± ¡°She is out; she wants to try out your idea so she went to negotiate.¡± ¡°I will be on my way then.¡± I was on my way to the exit when Maria stopped me. She looked embarrassed by something. ¡°Do you need something from me?¡± ¡°Do you not like me?¡± That was the only question I didn¡¯t expect. If I¡¯m right she isn¡¯t talking about love but the fact that I usually don¡¯t talk to her more than necessary; I thought she didn¡¯t like me. ¡°I know I¡¯m beautiful but am I not a little young for you?¡± After I said that she pouted. She actually looked cute for once. ¡°Jokes aside, I thought you were the one who couldn¡¯t stand me.¡± ¡°I spend most of my time reading books and practicing magic that¡¯s why I¡¯m not good at talking with other people.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s just a misunderstanding. Then how about giving me a tour of the library, since I want to know more about the world I will need to know what I can find in there.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± She looks relaxed now, I¡¯m glad. Now that I convinced her to show me around the library I will get the authorization to go there freely. I don¡¯t understand why you need an authorization to enter the school¡¯s library. Considering how little rules and regulations are here, something terrible must¡¯ve happened. ¡°Maria, I will be going now.¡± ¡°See you tonight then.¡± So I guess I won¡¯t be spending my weekend in peace, oh well sleep is for the weak anyway. Despite being evening there were a lot of students outside. Usually people go inside when night comes because monsters tend to be more aggressive than usual. I thought that at least the students would be a little paranoid and stay inside. Since neither Jaden nor Saya are here I believe that I¡¯m going to have to deal with Jaden acting like he is god after talking with her. I was right, the moment I entered the room I saw Jaden with a smug look on his face. I wonder if I can make fun of him. ¡°How did it go?¡± ¡°Better than I hoped. Her green eyes and the way she was looking at me made me lose my composure and stumbled on my words. She took the initiative, introduced herself and talked about herself.¡± ¡°Why did you lose your composure?¡± ¡°When she looks at you with those eyes of hers it¡¯s like she looks into my soul, it made feel me nervous.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I struck a pose and told him with a sarcastic voice. ¡°It¡¯s Mr. Steal Your Girl!¡± He looked confused and sad at the same time. It¡¯s like when you don¡¯t understand what happened to you but you are supposed to feel sad. ¡°It¡¯s a joke man, relax a little.¡± ¡°I would have believed anyone but you. You are the most approachable students from the third grade, keep that in mind when you make jokes like that.¡± ¡°One last question: did you kiss?¡± ¡°That wasn¡¯t even a date, how could you ask me that?¡± ¡°A real man shouldn¡¯t stop midway.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard that before.¡± ¡°Yeah, they are from a book, very inspirational.¡± ¡°You¡­ That¡¯s Karma Sutra. I didn¡¯t expect you to take me seriously but really now.¡± ¡°I only read the first chapter of the second volume; the midway quote is the only one I used.¡± The book I found inside Kraft¡¯s storage room was Karma Sutra. From what Ellen spoiled me the books tell the story of a man who had the sole dream of fucking as many women as possible. The ¡°Karma¡± from its title has to do with the books ending, where the protagonist gets stabbed by one of the girls he slept with and died. I actually should read the trilogy. ¡°Anyway, did you schedule a date or something?¡± ¡°I will talk to her tomorrow. Do you have any plans?¡± ¡°Not really, for now I¡¯m trying to get access to the library.¡± I spent the rest of the day helping Jaden study. Now that it¡¯s bedtime Jaden goes to sleep and I go to the rooftop. I haven¡¯t seen Mir today and I¡¯m getting a little paranoid. When somebody who was an assassin suddenly disappears it might turn into something ugly. It¡¯s 11 P.M. and I am sitting here waiting for Mir to appear. There¡¯s something wrong about this, I hear footsteps, footsteps that shouldn¡¯t be heard. ¡°Are you still sitting here?¡± When you remember a person¡¯s way of talking you can detect slight changes; in this case she sounded both sad and worried. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you all day, where were you?¡± ¡°I had something to do, something that may backfire.¡± ¡°Care to share?¡± ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡± ¡°If somebody is after you Jaden may be in danger. If you care for him as much as you say you do then tell me, I might be more useful than you think.¡± ¡°There are people after me but they are too strong for you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to fight them alone, if something happens I¡¯m bringing Liliana and Maria with me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to endanger other people¡¯s lives because I was sloppy.¡± There are moments when you look people in the eye when you talk to them and moments when you don¡¯t. For some reason I had the feeling that if I turn around things will go south. ¡°It¡¯s almost time for me to go.¡± Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Wait. Turn around.¡± When I turned around I saw that she wasn¡¯t wearing her usual outfit, she was wearing a ninja outfit, mostly made of cloth. The only visible part of her body was her head. She looked worried which means there is a chance for a fight in the near future. ¡°Nice clothes, you look lovely in them.¡± ¡°I know I don¡¯t look well, I just need some time to think.¡± ¡°Suit yourself, in the meantime I have to go train.¡± So somebody tracked her down and now I have to pay attention to the one who makes the first move. It¡¯s past midnight and Maria is not here. She usually arrives on time, did Mir talk with Liliana? ¡°Oh, you are here.¡± I might be wrong but she looks more relaxed than before. Instead of wearing a skirt she was wearing pants, she looked like she was going hunting. ¡°What kept you so long; did Jaden¡¯s maid talk to you about something?¡± ¡°So you made her talk, so much for confidentiality.¡± ¡°I knew some things so I didn¡¯t have to work that much to convince her.¡± ¡°I bet you offered to help her, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I want to see how strong those people are.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s see how good you are.¡± Maria took out a dagger and took her stance. The stance was similar to Ellen¡¯s and if she knows half the moves Ellen does then I¡¯m going to lose fast. I took out my dagger and prepared for her to attack. Maria came at me aiming for my throat; I parried it and tried to counter attack. I too aimed for the throat but Maria blocked my attack and used the force of the impact to put some distance between us. She is faster than I thought and she¡¯s not pulling her punches. She was attacking me from all sides while constantly moving so I was forced to back away after each strike. I closed the distance between us and repeatedly attacked her. Every attack was aimed at one of her vital points yet she was able to block my attacks and push me back. Her body enchantment was stronger than my empowerment and I had trouble keeping up with her speed. I had to stop after each attack to make sure she won¡¯t hit me. We¡¯ve been sparring for some time and I wasn¡¯t even able to scratch her clothes, Maria on the other side was able to scratch both my arms and my neck and I wasn¡¯t fast enough to react. ¡°I think it¡¯s time to end this.¡± I jumped back and kept my guard up. This was the last attack so it should at least be a good one. I expected her to run towards me but she didn¡¯t. In a second Maria closed the distance so fast that I was only able to see some afterimages before realizing that she was already behind me holding the dagger on my throat. ¡°This is the end.¡± Maria put her dagger down. ¡°What was that, I lost track of you for a second and I was sure you would come front.¡± ¡°The last move I used is called Shadow Dash; you use the magic on the ground to accelerate yourself.¡± ¡°But you appeared behind me; that¡¯s not possible unless there is something you aren¡¯t telling me.¡± ¡°The technique isn¡¯t perfect, that¡¯s why people can use it as they see fit; I use it to speed up my running, perform a feint and then I jump behind my enemy.¡± ¡°Liliana is teaching you black magic; where did you learn dark magic?¡± ¡°Jaden¡¯s maid isn¡¯t the only person who used to be an assassin but that¡¯s a personal story I don¡¯t intend to share.¡± ¡°OK then, how was my test?¡± ¡°For somebody with little fighting experience you did well, now you may want to treat the cuts.¡± ¡°What cuts?¡± The cuts were shallow so it took a few moments for them to heal now that my body realized that I wasn¡¯t in any immediate danger. Maria looked surprised because she didn¡¯t notice when my cuts healed. ¡°Surprised? I¡¯m not so eager to die in a fight so I won¡¯t pick a fight with somebody I can¡¯t beat.¡± ¡°Very well, don¡¯t forget to call us when something happens.¡± ¡°Us?¡± ¡°The headmistress will participate, after all this is her school.¡± ¡°If something happens I will come and get you.¡± ¡°How about another round?¡± ¡°I¡¯m in.¡± The second round was more of a demonstration; Maria dashed around me waiting for the perfect moment to strike. My body empowerment was at full power and I still couldn¡¯t keep up with her. She uses the afterimages to distract me while she prepares to strike. I could predict where she would strike but I was not fast enough to act. I jumped around so much that I started getting tired. Maria¡¯s aura was visible, thing that rarely happens when you fight with spells. While I was thinking about her aura she took that opportunity to attack me and almost cut my right hand¡¯s fingers off. ¡°You really want to see how fast can I heal?¡± ¡°I wanted to see if you can keep up with me.¡± ¡°When I figure out who¡¯s the afterimage and who¡¯s the real you I will be fine.¡± ¡°Good, because then I can go faster.¡± Oh great, that was the only thing I didn¡¯t want to hear. I¡¯m already burning too much of my magic as it is. I was already out of breath and Maria shows signs of fatigue, I think it¡¯s about time to end this. I purposely lowered my guard, giving her an opportunity to attack then I used all my magic on one last counter attack. It was the same thing I did when I fought the black wolf; the only difference was that when my veins turned black I felt an adrenaline surge through my body. Maria took the bait and attacked me; for a split second I was able to see her and countered her attack sending her dagger flying. The last attack pushed Maria back but the technique was too stressful on my body, making me lose my balance, falling on my knees and dropping my dagger. ¡°So¡­How was¡­that?¡± ¡°It was unexpected; I thought you were too tired for an attack like that, still it was a good strategy.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I was on my knees, breathing heavily but I didn¡¯t pass out so that means I¡¯m slowly getting used to this. This time I was lucky she took the bait otherwise I would have collapsed without doing anything. ¡°Need any help?¡± ¡°Just give¡­me a few minutes to rest.¡± ¡°Alex, next week you are getting a library permit.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯m going to go back to my room, I am too tired talk.¡± ¡°Good night.¡± I left Maria in the courtyard and headed to my dorm room. Sometime next week I¡¯m getting a library permit soon I will be able to study this world. If there is no Demon King to defeat I¡¯m thinking of becoming a merchant or an information broker. When I reached the dorm I saw the window closed, that¡¯s strange¡­Wait; what if something happened? I ran to the dorm room expecting trouble but the only thing I saw was Mir opening the window. When she saw me she closed the window. ¡°Welcome back.¡± She watched me as I fell flat on the bed. I was expecting something bad to happen so I ran like an idiot. ¡°Is there something wrong; did I surprise you?¡± ¡°Assassins, nights and tired people don¡¯t go very well together.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not going to happen now, I expect it to happen in a few months when they gather enough information.¡± ¡°So can I rest easy tonight?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I was too tired to care anyway so that will have to do tonight. Bully the Bully Monday after classes Maria took me to the library. The library was located on the first floor but we had to enter from the first floor. The reading space was on the ground floor and the books were on the first floor. First I have to learn the important languages of this world. There were two languages for humans, two for elves, one for beastmen and one for demons, and then there are the dialects. ¡°There are so many people here, you know.¡± ¡°Not many people can come here and above anything else it¡¯s Monday, nobody does anything productive on Mondays.¡± ¡°If I want to learn a foreign language where should I look for a book to help me?¡± ¡°It¡¯s easier to show you.¡± The books were organized alphabetically so if you want to read something you¡¯d better know the name. You¡¯d think that organizing books both alphabetically and by genre would be a good idea, well, not for them. The human language was found in a book called ¡°Human words¡±. ¡°But why this title?¡± ¡°The book is addressed to everybody, including those who don¡¯t know how to read well.¡± ¡°I really want to see how a dictionary looks like.¡± ¡°[Human words] is so thick because it explains the meaning of most words.¡± I wouldn¡¯t call a 400 page book thick but I guess that¡¯s the difference in our standards. ¡°Next would be an elvish language book.¡± ¡°That would be [Fantasia, Language of elves], we went past it.¡± We went back a little. Almost all the books in the library were on bookshelves but there were a few exceptions, books placed on pedestals. Apparently one of the books was the one I was looking for. Now that¡¯s a thick book, the book had a green cover and was as thick as a dictionary. ¡°Well, that¡¯s something.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think too highly of it, the writing is big and there are mostly pictures, honestly I think that the pictures get in the way.¡± ¡°Now I need beastmen and demon language books.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that¡¯s not possible. While the beastmen aren¡¯t hostile to us it doesn¡¯t mean we are on good terms with each other. Humans aren¡¯t interested in speaking the same language as demons or their kind, that¡¯s the generic explanation.¡± ¡°And the real explanation?¡± ¡°Humans want to feel superior to other races and so they don''t care about them.¡± ¡°I thought this wouldn¡¯t happen in Sonne.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a common occurrence; humans look down on other species.¡± ¡°Talk about hypocrisy, isn¡¯t Sonne supposed to be all about knowledge?¡± ¡°We only share our knowledge with elves; that is the policy.¡± ¡°I thought that this place would be an exception.¡± ¡°The young people still hold a grudge against other races because that¡¯s what they are taught at home.¡± ¡°Is this the reason why the school has dormitories?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± So my hometown accepted Mau because it was mainly made of old people who knew how the world works. I don¡¯t really want to play by those rules but I don¡¯t really have a choice now. ¡°Why are you so interested in all this?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t Liliana tell you, when I was younger a merchant with a slave came to our village to buy some weapons and pottery. The slave was injured, tripped and most of the things she was carrying fell on me. The merchant ignored me, thinking that his things were less important than me so I proved him wrong; I freed his slave and now she is staying in the village.¡± Maria was surprised, for a few seconds she looked at me without saying anything, maybe because I told the story like it wasn¡¯t a big deal. ¡°That¡¯s insane¡­ No, it¡¯s impossible. How can you even remove a slave mark, that¡¯s advanced black magic?¡± ¡°You know I can heal a person by transferring their illness to me, it¡¯s almost the same principle for curses.¡± ¡°I know you removed your mother¡¯s curse but removing a slave mark is not the same thing. Look, a slave mark is like a magical death sentence, those things can only be removed by the ones who cast them or by a light magic master.¡± ¡°It was a weak curse.¡± Maria sulked. I don¡¯t understand what she wanted to tell me. I know that only light magic is effective against curses but I¡¯m not removing them using the usual method. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how strong the curse is, removing it takes a lot of magic and a physical strain on the host¡¯s body.¡± ¡°I just took her curse; my body removed it on its own.¡± ¡°Demons are immune to most curses¡­but¡­for you to do that is incredible.¡± ¡°Do you have any more questions?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then can we continue?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The school¡¯s textbooks were found at the end of the room, separated from the rest. I had Maria tell me which books were for every year to save some time. I also found out that the seventh and eight years were necessary for those who want go to the Imperial Academy to become scholars, from what I heard there is an easier way to enter the Academy, a letter of recommendation. After being showed the location of the books I took a first year textbook, I was curious about the method of teaching. Apparently kids are taught how to write in the first school year, I remember Ellen teaching me reading, writing and speaking at the same time. When I started reading I found out that if I read slowly I can remember what I read faster and I really had no reason to read fast since time was the only thing I had in abundance. I stayed in the library reading and didn¡¯t notice that it was already midnight, which means I have to hurry. ¡°You are late.¡± ¡°I was reading. I already learnt Shadow Step, what do you want me to do? ¡° ¡°It¡¯s time to teach you Shadow Dash. What¡¯s with that face?¡± ¡°Last time I tried to release more than the bare minimum amount of magic the ground exploded.¡± ¡°All you have to do is to exercise your magic control.¡± And so I spent the rest of the month practicing my control over magic but this time my luck was on a break so there were no good results. On the other hand I deepened my friendship with Maria and Liliana and strengthened my position as the smartest guy in my year. The first Friday of November after we finished classes I went to the library to read the first volume of Karma Sutra. It was almost 10 P.M when I returned to my dorm room. I expected to find Jaden smiling like an idiot ready to brag about how his date went. When I entered the room I saw Jaden beaten up. He had bruises on his face and hands, his uniform was in tatters and he had a black eye. Mir was treating him with light magic but those things take time. ¡°What the hell happened to you, did you tell her something she didn¡¯t like?¡± Jaden looked at me almost ready to cry. Mir looked like she wanted to say something but she had to concentrate on healing Jaden. ¡°Really now; what happened?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a boy, he is an eighth grader, who is a fighting genius saw me with Saya and beat me because he loves her.¡± ¡°Is it mutual?¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t like him but he keeps going after her.¡± ¡°How old is he?¡± ¡°Eighteen.¡± I was about to make a joke about pedophilia but I remembered that the concept doesn¡¯t exist in this world. ¡°Let me see you wounds?¡± My power can tell me the extent of his injuries. Apparently his left shoulder was dislocated but besides that the damage was external, it was most likely a demonstration. Now I have an excuse to beat somebody. ¡°Stay still, I¡¯m going to show you a new type of magic.¡± I used dark transfer to heal his wounds. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°What is happening, my wounds are healing?¡± It¡¯s good that the he wasn¡¯t badly injured because I was able to heal the injuries before they got to show on my body. ¡°Done, now I am going to have a little talk with that guy and you are going to show me where he is.¡± ¡°I will. Damn, they really dealt with it quietly; I mean you didn¡¯t hear anything before coming here, did you?¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired, can we resume this tomorrow?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, good night.¡± After Jaden fell asleep Mir and I went to the rooftop. ¡°Do the forbid a third-party from interfering?¡± ¡°Yes, and even if I go and teach that kid a lesson Jaden will take the blame for it.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m going to beat that guy in your place.¡± ¡°I know you are his friend but that can¡¯t be the only reason¡­ I understand, if you beat him you will be acknowledged as the better fighter.¡± ¡°Yup, it¡¯s that simple. I¡¯m actually very lucky; I get to fight the boss directly.¡± ¡°I will be watching you, make sure you win.¡± During training Maria avoided my questions related to this incident, if she can¡¯t talk about it, it must be something serious. OK, Saturday morning, Jaden was mustering courage to get out and I was preparing to meet the guy. The meeting place was the courtyard; this place was starting to look like an underground fighting club. On the left side we have the red team; on the right side we have the blue team, in the middle of the field we have Ren a.k.a. The Big Red, the guy whose only mass is muscular mass; Really now this guy had half as many muscles as Kraft, that in itself was amazing. ¡°So you are that little guy¡¯s friend. Did you come here to get beaten up too?¡± ¡°Wow man, careful there, if you speak that much you might pull a muscle in your brain.¡± ¡°YOU BITCH!¡± This guy¡¯s fuse was so short you couldn¡¯t even make a firecracker with it. He is called a genius fighter because he mimics boxing. His stance was the same as the one boxers use. ¡°OK little outsider, let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve got.¡± I intend to let him hit me a few times then find an opportunity to hit him. He closed the distance between us and began throwing jabs. He kept hitting me but I wasn¡¯t reacting, I was just staying still. Jaden and Saya looked so scared it was almost funny. ¡°Come on, are you just going to let me punch you, not that I care.¡± So he thinks he¡¯s smart, then let¡¯s make thing interesting. I started dodging his punches by using his own footwork. Compared to other he was fast but not fast enough for me. When he noticed what I was doing he lost his balance for a second allowing we to do a one-two combo. He came at me with the intent to kill. He changed his aim, attacking my body instead of my head. ¡°Nope.¡± He tried to hit my liver; I blocked his punch and delivered a jab. ¡°Stop moving kid.¡± ¡°How about you stop side stepping first?¡± It was I noticed when I started practicing with Kraft; most people tend to stay still making them easy targets. Now he went from punches to kicks. He tries to hit me with no success. I don¡¯t know what annoys him more the fact that I dodge him or the fact that when I¡¯m not dodging I counter him and him with a few jabs. ¡°You¡­I¡¯m bringing you down.¡± He charged at me and tried to punch me¡­or not. It was apparently a feint. He tackled me, picked me up and threw me a few meters away. I landed on my back. I took more damage from the fall than I took from him. ¡°Alex, are you all right?¡± Jaden and Saya came running to check up on me. ¡°I didn¡¯t notice earlier but the sky¡¯s quite clear today; it''s beautiful, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Are you all right man?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m pissed and tired of playing.¡± I got up and walked towards Ren. He took his stance and watched me carefully. ¡°Come on genius; let¡¯s see your best move.¡± ¡°You gave up huh, very well.¡± And now this idiot was trying the move again. When he tried to tackle me I slipped and tripped him. ¡°Is this all you can do?¡± He got up, took his stance and used body empowerment on his fist. This guy wants to give me a fire magic enhanced uppercut; I guess I have to use body empowerment too. ¡°HOW ABOUT THIS; BURNING CUT!¡± He tried to make me drop my guard by kicking me. I jumped back then delivered a knee kick to the face. The man fell on his knees, I grabbed his hair and started knee kicking him more. Skin contact made it possible for me to know how much damage I dealt to him. Apparently I broke his nose and a few teeth fell off and there¡¯s also a little bleeding problem originating from his face. ¡°Feeling inferior yet?¡± ¡°Let¡­me¡­go.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± I kept hitting him. I realized that everyone is staring at Ren while he¡¯s getting beaten up without trying to help. Jaden came running when he thought I was in hurt but I¡¯ve been hitting this guy for a while and nobody tried to help. ¡°STOP THIS AT ONCE!¡± From the crowd of statues came the dorm leader. I thought teachers were away on Saturday mornings. ¡°He started it and I¡¯m finishing it.¡± ¡°You went too far. Beating one of the special students, I¡¯ve never seen anyone this foolish. Release him at once!¡± ¡°Fine.¡± I threw Ren at the teacher. He landed at his feet, his face covered in blood. Body empowerment really is one amazing technique. ¡°You can keep him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m taking Ren to the infirmary, don¡¯t you dare moving from there.¡± I bet I¡¯m going to get punished for what I did. Now that I bullied the bully everyone knows it¡¯s better to stay on my good side. After the teacher took Ren away the crowd dispersed, the only remaining people were me, Jaden and Saya. ¡°Something wrong?¡± I asked Jaden who looked at me worried. ¡°I never expected a teacher to show up so early in the morning and he even saw you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. What did you think about the fight?¡± ¡°I understand your desire to toy with him; if I were as strong as you I would have done the same but you could have finished the fight sooner. Oh and thank you.¡± ¡°You are still here; I thought you would run with your tail between your legs.¡± The teacher came back. ¡°I beat up your number one student, what will you do?¡± ¡°You are going to spend the night in the Dark Room.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that; are you taking me to your secret cellar?¡± ¡°Lucky guess; I will take you to a dark room without windows with a metal door.¡± ¡°Please don''t, I''m going to have a nostalgia attack; my parents¡¯ storage room was exactly like that and I loved staying there.¡± The teacher took me to the school building. On the ground floor there was a metal door that led to the basement which apparently doubled as a prison. Unfortunately my room was the first door on the left side so I couldn¡¯t get a good look at the rest of the basement. ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± Said the teacher after closing the big, metal door. Black Blood The teacher thought this is a good punishment but he didn¡¯t know that I could just meditate until tomorrow. What¡¯s the point in trying to scare somebody who doesn¡¯t give a fuck where you lock him up? Since I have free time and no space to move it may be a good idea to think about the reason why my magic doesn¡¯t work. I went to my inner world, I¡¯m not claustrophobic but I don¡¯t want to spend the rest of the day looking at a door; at least here I have a little light. I spent some time thinking and I have no idea what to do. Oh well, I guess it¡¯s about time I meditate to pass the time. ¡°Are you awake?¡± I woke up when I heard somebody on the other side of the door or was I mistaken. Oh, I recognize the voice, it¡¯s Maria. The fact that she¡¯s back early means she somehow heard what happened. ¡°Weren¡¯t you supposed to be with Liliana somewhere?¡± ¡°No. Is that really the first thing you are supposed to say?¡± ¡°I beat one of the strongest students in front of almost every student here; spending the night here isn¡¯t so bad.¡± ¡°I was thinking that you would want to escape. Staying there is one of the harsher punishments; people are afraid of the dark.¡± ¡°Can you let me out?¡± ¡°Unfortunately he took both the key and the spare so I can¡¯t open the door and you beat a special student so helping you would be bad for the school¡¯s image.¡± ¡°Either way it¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine; how can you say something like that? You are looked in a cage with no food and water for the rest of the night and you say it¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°Believe me, I know it sounds stupid but I¡¯m telling you I¡¯m fine because I really am fine.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± ¡°More importantly, did you find anything useful?¡± Maria went to the capital on a quest; she thought that asking a demon expert for info might help me. ¡°Do you know why we use our blood during black magic rituals?¡± ¡°Because the magic flows through blood and it¡¯s stored in it?¡± ¡°No, human blood doesn¡¯t store magic; the only reason is that it has good conductivity. If that was true then a simple bleeding would kill a mage.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see how that is relevant but please go on.¡± ¡°There are demons who can store magic in their bodies to evolve, something that you do.¡± ¡°True, I can absorb my magic and make my body stronger.¡± ¡°The same type of demons can combine their magic with their blood; their blood is usually used in making magic ink.¡± ¡°You think I¡¯m the same.¡± ¡°No, I think that you can activate the black blood as long as the blood stays in your body.¡± ¡°You know, when I was little I fought a demon wolf. When he bit my arm off I didn¡¯t bleed as much as I thought and the blood¡¯s color was normal even though I had my body enchantment active.¡± ¡°Your arm got bitten off¡­Is that true?¡± Now that I told her that I had my arm bitten she wanted to know the whole story so I had no choice but to tell her, at least I¡¯m not alone here anymore. ¡°And after that I attached my arm back and in a few days my wounds were healed.¡± ¡°I¡¯m more interested in your body rejecting light magic but now I understand why you aren¡¯t afraid to get hurt during a fight and why you didn¡¯t try to escape.¡± ¡°What now?¡± ¡°After you get out we try Shadow Dash again. I will try to arrange a better meal for you tomorrow.¡± ¡°Good night then.¡± ¡°Is it that late?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about 23 o¡¯clock. Since I can¡¯t get out I thought you may want to get some sleep.¡± ¡°Good night then.¡± The next morning the teacher came to open the door. After I got out I tried to leave but he stopped me. ¡°How was it?¡± Asked the teacher with an evil smile on his face. ¡°Nothing special, it was just a room; what was I supposed to be scared of?¡± I left the basement with a bigger smile on my face. I really want to see what he can come up with next. When I went outside I saw Jaden and Saya waiting for me. ¡°I¡¯m starving, let¡¯s get something to eat.¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± Saya asked me. ¡°I¡¯ve been locked there for a whole day, I¡¯m hungry.¡± ¡°Stop that; you got into a fight with that guy and now you got locked up; how can you smile after what happened? ¡° Is there something wrong with me because I don¡¯t feel anything after what happened or is there something wrong with her because she is more affected by this than me? It was funny seeing her like this but Jaden¡¯s face is priceless. He is so surprised he¡¯s speechless. ¡°I¡¯ve been in worse situations.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just seven years old; what happened to you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a cage; get your arm bitten off by a demon wolf then tell me why I should be scared by a cage.¡± Most people would look surprised but apparently this girl is not like most people. She looked apologetic. ¡°I¡­I didn¡¯t know. I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I know that you did this out of concern, it¡¯s nothing to apologise for.¡± It¡¯s better to tell her now so she won¡¯t misunderstand. ¡°Jaden, stop starring at Saya and let¡¯s have breakfast.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ Oh, yes.¡± At the canteen I got a large serving of chicken meat, I¡¯m surprised that Maria talked to the staff. My body can survive without food longer but this chicken breast is too good to pass. After eating the three of us went to the courtyard. I being locked I felt the need move around. The courtyard was almost deserted. ¡°Jaden, what happened, where¡¯s everybody?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been in the library almost every day for the past month so I guess you don¡¯t know but on Sunday all the students to what you do all week.¡± ¡°They have sex? Nice.¡± ¡°They study! Seriously stop joking around.¡± ¡°Relax man, I beat one of the most powerful students for you, I have the right to make a few bad jokes.¡± Then again that guy was a threat level 1, so he wasn¡¯t as strong as I thought. ¡°Jokes aside, I¡¯m going for a run so how about you two enjoy this beautiful morning.¡± I thought about Maria said and if it¡¯s true then I was lucky I used Shadow Step; what we did was setting fire to wood expecting it to melt. While running I looked at Jaden and Saya; they seem to be doing just fine. I don¡¯t know the standards here but shouldn¡¯t they be over the friends phase and go to the lovers phase. Good to see they are enjoying themselves acting like I¡¯m not with them. I wanted to be one to destroy their little world but Ren was faster than me. The Big Red tries again, this time I¡¯m stopping him before he tries anything. ¡°YO big star; what are you doing?¡± ¡°You¡­ Stay out of this; this is between me and him.¡± ¡°Unfortunately I stand between you and him. He¡¯s too weak to protect himself so I¡¯m doing my duty as his friend and if that involves beating you again then it¡¯s even better.¡± ¡°This time it¡¯s going to be different.¡± ¡°This time I¡¯m not holding back.¡± He tried to jump away to get ready but my body empowerment allowed me to catch his right hand. ¡°This is how the fun starts.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! It takes a while to heal bones even with the help of light magic so I decided to begin by dislocating his wrist. ¡°AAAAH! LET GO OF ME!¡± It¡¯s so easy to dislocate a person¡¯s wrist with only one hand. Next is the elbow. Ellen only taught me the complete dislocations so I will go with that. ¡°Stop struggling, you are making this harder than it should be.¡± He was so hyper it was difficult for me to do this with one hand. It¡¯s a good thing he isn¡¯t accustomed to pain or he would realize how easy is for him to escape. With a sound of cracking bones I dislocated his elbow. ¡°Now the finishing touch.¡± I went behind him so I could get a better grip and dislocated his shoulder rendering his arm completely useless. After that I pushed him forward. ¡°Any more stupid comments?¡± I asked with a smirk on my face. I dislocated his wrist, elbow and shoulder in about ten seconds. Wow, Ellen would be disappointed in me for being that slow. ¡°I will come back.¡± He started to walk away. ¡°Go tell everybody you got beaten by a seven year old kid.¡± He stopped and turned around. ¡°You are seven?¡± Now it was my turn to be surprised. ¡°You didn¡¯t know? HAHAHAHA, you heard that Jaden, this bitch didn¡¯t even know that a seven year old kicked his ass twice.¡± ¡°How could I be mistaken; your body is too well developed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what she said! Nomadic tribes, one specialized in fighting, that¡¯s me baby!¡± ¡°I see. I will stop pursuing your friend and that girl.¡± That sudden change in attitude is too much for me; did I break something in his head too? ¡°You sure you are all right? I thought you would say something more arrogant.¡± ¡°Be proud. After I graduate I will train and challenge you again.¡± ¡°I¡¯m ready to beat you anytime.¡± Ren left without saying anything else. I was fast enough and no teacher got involved and above all else I got him to stop bothering Jaden. ¡°That was easy.¡± ¡°Easy, that¡¯s what you call easy?¡± ¡°Relax Saya, he didn¡¯t come at me seriously and neither did I.¡± ¡°You are right.¡± ¡°Alex, thank you for helping me again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine Jaden, that¡¯s what friends are for.¡± In the evening Saya went back to her dorm. Jaden and I went back to eat dinner. I always thought there was something strange about Ren, it was because I¡¯ve never seen him in the dorm. Is he one of the people who go home in the evening? After we finished eating we went back to our room where I helped Jaden study. ¡°The night sky is really beautiful. Don¡¯t you think so Mir?¡± 11 P.M., the time when I¡¯m on the rooftop looking at the sky. ¡°I heard what happened. I tried stealing a key but Maria found me and told me that you didn¡¯t want to get out.¡± ¡°It was fine. When I meditate I enter a semi-conscious state similar to sleeping, making time go faster so basically I slept the whole time I was there; good idea if you ask me.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s fine. I forgot to say something; thank you.¡± ¡°Why is everybody thanking me, I did that because I wanted.¡± ¡°You are not fooling me, if you wanted to beat that guy without a reason you would have asked the headmistress or Lady Maria.¡± ¡°You said Jaden has no friends so I¡¯m trying to be his friend and now it just happened to do something that was also good for me.¡± ¡°I expected you to sound a little arrogant.¡± ¡°Why? I don¡¯t like those types of people and honestly speaking I¡¯m more the pessimistic type.¡± ¡°I will be keeping the key, just in case something like this happens again. Now I believe it¡¯s time for you to go.¡± ¡°Yeah, it is. Well then, see you in the morning.¡± So she actually wanted to get me out and managed to get a key; I guess I should have expected that. As always Maria is waiting for me. ¡°Are you ready?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope it works this time.¡± Now I have to do something I tried to avoid, deliberately making myself look like a monster. I remembered the feeling when my veins turn black and tried to reproduce it. I tried combining my magic with my blood instead of infusing it. The result was something like the black blood. Unlike before now I was able to feel the magic in my body instead of going to my inner world. My body felt heavier than before. This technique in itself is useless because I have to use it in combination with other techniques. Now it¡¯s time to test Maria¡¯s theory. Maria¡¯s Shadow Dash is a combination of jumps; I will try to make one that requires only the minimal amount of steps needed to go from point A, me and point B, in this case Maria. I tried gathering magic on my feet. After a few moments I started to feel like I wasn¡¯t standing directly on the ground, it felt like I was levitating. I leaped at Maria. The moment I left the ground my vision became foggy and I was unable to stop myself from bumping into Maria, knocking both of us down. Now I was lying on top of her trying to understand what happened. ¡°Are you all right?¡± ¡°I should be the one asking that.¡± ¡°I used body enchantment so I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to get off you.¡± I got off Maria and helped her up. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°My vision became foggy and everything went black; I barely knew where I was going.¡± ¡°It¡¯s because you did something you shouldn¡¯t; the leaping part was something only masters can do. You did it without any training so your body couldn¡¯t keep up with you. I saw you slowing down when you got close to me which means you can use and master the Shadow Dash.¡± ¡°To be honest when I lost control over my body I was a little scared; I think I should try something else.¡± Maria patted me on the head a few times. ¡°It¡¯s all right, I¡¯m right here; if something happens I will help you.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Now how about we try it again?¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Maria jumped back a few meters. I gathered my magic beneath my feet and leaped at her. In the instant I covered half of the distance between us my vision became foggy. I was about to hit Maria then I saw her jumping to avoid me. After that I went forward a few more meters before regaining control over my body and stopping. ¡°I expected this to happen, nobody gets better overnight.¡± ¡°Maybe not; but this time I was conscious and I was able to stop¡­ before hitting a tree.¡± ¡°Yes, you did well. Unfortunately I think we should end things here; your body can¡¯t take much more.¡± She was right. I was shaking all over and my magic was so low my blood was returning to normal. ¡°Alex, did you notice anything else when you used Shadow Dash?¡± ¡°Is there something I missed?¡± ¡°The foggy vision you had might not be because of your body. You released too much magic in the air which may have affected your vision.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Your magic became too dense and enveloped itself around you, your body got enveloped in a black smoke.¡± Holiday incident ¡°So, what now?¡± ¡°What I just told you would freak most people out, yet you don¡¯t seem to care.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember seeing something like that around me and believe me when I say that it¡¯s better that I didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t want to talk about it then it might be worse than I realized.¡± ¡°Last time I saw a human figure made out of black, magical smoke meant I was at the death¡¯s door.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t understand what you are saying.¡± ¡°Ellen told me that a human figure appeared out of nowhere every time I was badly injured. I saw it once and I my body stiffened up, that¡¯s all I know.¡± ¡°The only thing you can do is to learn to control your new technique. You will have to continue using it until you figure out what¡¯s wrong; in the meantime we will restart the training from square one. Go and rest for today.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± She wants me to rest but that might be out of the question. If what Maria saw is what Ellen saw then I¡¯m either getting better at this or I¡¯m dying. I¡¯d better try to get some sleep before my body breaks down. I spent almost month and a half training with Maria. The training was working but not the way it should. Despite training like crazy all night the only thing that improved was my magic consummation and my vision during Shadow Dash. The smoke around me made it almost impossible for a normal mage to see who was coming at them before it was too late. Now we were on the twelfth dragon¡¯s month, their equivalent of December, around Christmas Eve. Since there is no concept of Christmas in this world we usually wouldn¡¯t be on a break, however the 24-th and 25-th were free days for both the students and the teachers. During these two days the headmistress has a lot to do such as taxes, plans for the upcoming year and take care of all the things that happened this year. Since those days were at the end of the week Liliana gave everyone a one week vacation. There weren¡¯t many people willing to stay on campus despite the heavy snowing outside. The snow was at least ten centimeters high which made any outdoor activity impossible to practice. Jaden, Ren and Saya went home and I didn¡¯t care about the rest of the students. Maria was responsible for both dorms. It would take too long for me to hitch a ride home so I decided to stay behind helping Liliana. My new body was able to handle calculations and manual labor very well. The costs for the school were higher than I thought. There were a lot of taxes that didn¡¯t make any sense and the ones that made sense were too high; that might be the reason there aren¡¯t many schools around. ¡°I understand why you need to pay a tax for running a school but why do you have to pay one for the building itself; this is a private property right?¡± ¡°Yes it is but those are the king¡¯s orders.¡± ¡°At least there¡¯s no tax for the land¡­ Nope, I still think a yearly tax is too much.¡± ¡°Why would you pay money for a property you built on your land?¡± ¡°I almost lost this school once; I don¡¯t mind paying the taxes if that keeps the idiots away.¡± ¡°It¡¯s your decision; if you are fine with this then I¡¯m going to insist.¡± ¡°How are the papers coming along?¡± ¡°Almost done. When is Maria coming back?¡± ¡°I sent her to do a damage report, it will take a while.¡± ¡°Damage report for what?¡± ¡°You spent most of the time in the library so you don¡¯t know but there are a few classes who blew up this year and there¡¯s also the magic cell in the basement.¡± ¡°Magic cell, what¡¯s that?¡± ¡°A prison cell designed to hold demons. Since the school is built in the middle of a forest containing a demon doesn¡¯t inconvenience many people and also reduces the risk of casualties.¡± ¡°By killing the students, how is that better?¡± ¡°The teachers here aren¡¯t pushovers and even if they fail Maria and I can handle it.¡± ¡°So are we getting a pet demon?¡± ¡°That¡¯s supposed to be a secret but yes, we are.¡± ¡°Nice, what kind?¡± ¡°I do not know; we will see when it gets here.¡± So we are getting a pet demon. This may sound like my usual pessimism but I have a bad felling about this. The basement wasn¡¯t big enough to hold anything but a humanoid demon or smaller; this might be one of those size doesn¡¯t matter situations. Using a small table for all these papers sure is tiring; Liliana uses the desk even though she only signs some papers. I¡¯m the one doing the work, I demand better working conditions. ¡°How is it going?¡± Maria arrived holding a tray in her hand. There were three cups of tea and some sweets on it. ¡°Welcome back; did you bring it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Maria took something out of her pocket. It was a fire magic crystal which was bluer than the usual ones. If my scan is right this type of crystal generates heat not fire. ¡°Talk about commodity, that¡¯s artificial; why would you do that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to stay cold, if you want you can leave.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. I will stay here; I don¡¯t want to be outside in this weather.¡± ¡°Do you need any help?¡± ¡°I¡¯m almost done. You can check the ones on the right to see if I made any mistakes.¡± Maria sat down next to me and started checking my work. I¡¯m pretty confident in my math skills but I don¡¯t know much about economy and accounting. I stayed with Liliana and Maria until evening to finish all the work. It took them more time to check the paper than it took me to finish them. After work was snack time, it¡¯s a good think that the crystal kept the cups warm. ¡°You look tired Maria; are you all right?¡± asked Liliana. ¡°I¡¯m just sleepy. I think I will rest a little.¡± Maria leaned on my and closed her eyes. I know that I am approachable but is it really necessary to act as her pillow, not that I mind. ¡°She has grown quite fond of you.¡± ¡°This is the most obvious sign she has given me.¡± ¡°Both Maria and Jaden¡¯s maid were female assassins; they went through a lot of pain and developed a fear of men. Jaden helped his maid get rid of hers but Maria remained in that state until you came.¡± ¡°So you decided to trust something Ellen said and risked her Maria¡¯s sanity in hopes that she would get better.¡± ¡°It was a risky gamble; it seems my luck hasn¡¯t run out yet.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just hormones and the fact that I know I will make any friends being a bitch. Someone I respect once said: ¡°If you''re nice to me, I''ll be nice to you. Simple as that!¡±. This is one of the things I think about when I interact with other people.¡± ¡°Then I should repay you for what you did; how about teaching you a spell?¡± ¡°I can only use dark magic and I don¡¯t think black magic would work anyways.¡± ¡°You could at least give it a try. I¡¯m going to teach you a vision spell.¡± Liliana told me about the spell she wanted to teach me; it was a ritual called Oculus. The ritual enables a person to have a bird¡¯s eye view of his surrounding as long as he supplies magic to the mark. While we were talking Maria woke up. ¡°How long was I asleep?¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Almost two hours. Anyway, Liliana wants to teach me Oculus.¡± ¡°Are you sure headmistress?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Liliana took me and Maria too the basement. There was another level below the basement; a big chamber. The chamber had a few books about black magic and medicinal plants. ¡°Is this some kind of secret room?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a training room.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s why everything here has magic protection enchantments on it.¡± ¡°Now pay attention.¡± Liliana drew a circle on the ground, an octagon inside it, a star inside the octagon and inside the star a symbol of an eye. So the drawing was the first part of the ritual. ¡°Step inside the circle and let your magic flow in it.¡± ¡°How am I supposed to do that?¡± ¡°Do what you did with the Shadow Dash, if I¡¯m right it will work.¡± Maria suggested I try to let my magic flow from my feet. When I let the magic flow I suddenly felt like I flaying. In a moment I realized I was looking at the whole campus, damn it¡¯s heavily snowing. I tried zooming in on my location but it didn¡¯t go as planned. Instead of focusing on one point the Oculus descending without narrowing my field of view; that combined with my scan power apparently working created an information input so high and so fast that my brain couldn¡¯t handle. ¡°AAAAAAAH¡± I screamed. My head was hurting like hell. My brain must¡¯ve shut down for a few moments since I don¡¯t remember leaving the circle or getting on my knees. I also don¡¯t remember Maria holding me like I was about to die. ¡°Alex, answer me!¡± ¡°I¡¯m all right¡­ I think.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been calling you for a few minutes but you didn¡¯t answer; you were just staying here with your hands on your head.¡± ¡°I tried to look a little closer but my focus wasn¡¯t working and my eyes were exposed to too much information and I think my brain stopped functioning.¡± She breathed in relief. ¡°For a moment I thought you were dead.¡± ¡°If you want to make sure I¡¯m dying look for a humanoid figure made of black smoke in the area.¡± ¡°We should stop for today. You are in no condition to continue.¡± ¡°No, I want to know why that happened.¡± ¡°Fine, I will watch over you but the headmistress will not draw the mark again.¡± ¡°I can handle that.¡± I activated my black blood, took a dagger form the Null and cut my hand. With my dripping blood I remade the mark exactly how it was before and tried again. When Oculus activated the bird eye¡¯s view I had before became much clearer and it looked like time was moving much slower. I could see every snowflake. I hope I don¡¯t screw up this time. I focused my vision on a single point until my field of view narrowed enough for me to descend. I descended until I arrived in the training room. I couldn¡¯t see much because of the bird eye¡¯s effect¡­or not? Somehow I was able to see things normally. Damn man, I look like a monster; good thing that my face didn¡¯t change. From the looks of it the circle is going to disappear so I will end this here. ¡°I look really weird.¡± ¡°It looks a lot better than before; at least they are not bulged anymore.¡± ¡°How was the spell Alex; did you succeed this time?¡± ¡°For some reason time moves slower when I use Oculus.¡± ¡°So you already managed to control it; as expected.¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t last as long as before but it certainly was easier to control.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s call it a day.¡± ¡°Can I sleep here; I don¡¯t want to go to my dorm; it¡¯s already a snowstorm outside; there are some rooms here can¡¯t I use one of them.¡± ¡°Most of the rooms are reserved to the teachers.¡± ¡°Oh well then I suppose I have to go back.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t want to leave you can stay in my room.¡± Maria offered to let me stay with her. ¡°I would like that.¡± ¡°Alex, Maria; I will be going on ahead.¡± ¡°Good night headmistress.¡± ¡°Good night Maria.¡± After Liliana left Maria and I cleaned up the room. On the third floor was a staircase that I though it led to a storage room but apparently the building had a fourth floor where some of the teachers sleep. I didn¡¯t bother to circle around the school building, since there are rooms there have to be windows too. I should start paying attention to details. Maria¡¯s room was on the left side of the hall. Her room had a double bed, two wardrobes, a big desk, a shelf next to the bed and a wall mirror; considering that there aren¡¯t many decorations available the room is well decorated. Like the other rooms this one also had a bathroom. Maria went to the bathroom to change her clothes and I decided to browse the books on her bookshelf. There were some books about medicine and potion ingredients, which will be useful if I decide to make potions in the future. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to change?¡± Maria changed into a red, one piece pajama. ¡°I¡¯m fine sleeping in my uniform.¡± ¡°Very well. Which side of the bed do you want?¡± ¡°Right side is closest to the wall so I¡¯m taking it.¡± Liliana said Maria is no good with men so I¡¯m leaving her closer to the exit. I was facing her but she literally turned her back on me, isn¡¯t that called being open for a surprise attack. I don¡¯t want to destroy my friendship with her so I¡¯m going to refrain from doing anything and just go to sleep. Since this body doesn¡¯t need much sleep I have a habit of waking up a few times during the night. Each time I woke up I saw Maria trembling. I woke up early in the morning by Maria who was trembling and sleep talking. I don¡¯t understand what she is mumbling but I can¡¯t leave her like this; I have to wake her up. ¡°Hey Maria, wake up.¡± She wasn¡¯t facing me so I can¡¯t see her face. I put my hand on her left arm and tried waking her up. If I keep trying she will wake up sooner or later. ¡°Hey, wake up-¡± And I think I fucked up. A half-asleep Maria pulled a dagger presumably out of the Null and tried to attack me. I was once again dragged in my inner world. This is the same as the situation with the black wolf, I¡¯m in a pinch and I¡¯m normally to slow to act. I usually sleep with one hand under my pillow so my right hand is immobilised and that dagger is close to my neck. I have to find a way to block her attack then disarm her. I¡¯m not good with weapons when I¡¯m using my right hand. The fact that she does this on reflex is troubling; if I don¡¯t do this right I might get injured. I am going to do the same thing I did last time, blocking her with the pocket watch. I returned to the real world, blocked Maria¡¯s attack with the watch; when the dagger bounced off I hit Maria¡¯s hand with the back of mine. She wasn¡¯t completely awake so the shock made her drop the knife and woke her up. Opening up ¡°I¡­I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± After Maria came to her senses she apologized. ¡°It¡¯s all right; is that what you want to hear? Well it¡¯s not all right, I was scared and my left arm is still shaking.¡± We were still on the bed. Maria was on her knees and I was lying on the bed. After I blocked her attack I was unable to move, maybe the stunt I pulled was more than my body could handle. ¡°I¡­don¡¯t know what to say. When I realized I fell asleep next to you I thought that maybe I will get over my fear of men.¡± ¡°And that almost got my killed. Good thing I¡¯m on the bed or else I would regret the fact that I can¡¯t move a lot more.¡± Maria seemed to be in deep thought. She really screwed up but I want her to keep trying, I don¡¯t want her to have this fear of men for the rest of her life. ¡°Alex, I think we should forg-¡° ¡°NO!¡± I got up, put my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. ¡°I will not forget about this. By the end of this week you will be cured of that phobia of yours.¡± Maria brushed me off and turned to leave. ¡°You aren¡¯t the first who tried but you are the last. It¡¯s over.¡± She left after rejecting my offer. So much for helping a person, now this is personal and I¡¯m going to make it work¡­somehow. I have almost six days to prove her I can help her but how can I do it? I just realized that she left the room without changing her clothes. Since she left me alone in her room it means I can look through her stuff and she can¡¯t complain later. While looking through her wardrobe I noticed that there are no bras in this world but the shirts are designed to support the breasts, the underwear was the same for both sexes and she didn¡¯t have any sexy clothes, just the plain ones she always wears. Better grab a change of clothes and look for Maria. If I remember correctly there was a classroom on the second floor Maria wanted to check today. I plan on staying glued to her today, see how that¡¯s going to work out.¡± Damn, it¡¯s freezing; coming from somebody who used to wear a T-shirt in winter it means a lot, I¡¯d better find Maria and give her the clothes. It sure didn¡¯t take me long to find her, she was in the classroom looking through the window. Seeing a teacher in pajamas looking through the window at the snow is quite an interesting set-up. She wanted me to forget about what happened and yet she is the one distracted but what happened; it¡¯s actually funny. ¡°Are you sure this is a good time to be spacing out?¡± ¡°Alex?¡± Maria was surprised, this is the second time I¡¯ve seen her surprised; this is affecting her more than I thought. ¡°Why are you so surprised, I just came here to give you a change of clothes?¡± ¡°What are you¡­? Oh, thanks.¡± I gave her the clothes I prepared. After she received them she looked at me like she wanted something. ¡°Is there something you want?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to change now, go wait outside.¡± ¡°Nope, I will stay right there on top of that desk.¡± I sat on the top of a desk from the front row. I want to see how much I can piss her off until she gives up. ¡°Suit yourself; I¡¯m not going to play your games.¡± That¡¯s what she said but I still get to watch her undress. I have to admit she was beautiful. When she was putting on her underwear I noticed something, if I¡¯m right that¡¯s a scar. Was it made by a knife? I got off the desk to get a closer look. The scar seemed old. When I tried to touch it Maria turned around; she was angry. ¡°Don¡¯t touch that!¡± I could see that she was shaking a little. I really want to know the story behind that scar of hers. A scar that size must have a story behind it. ¡°Are you going to follow me around today?¡± ¡°Yep, this week you are stuck with me.¡± ¡°Humph, try to keep up.¡± ¡°For someone who couldn¡¯t detect me you really are confident, challenge accepted.¡± Maria prepared some meat for us to eat for breakfast. I stayed next to her the whole time making sure to neglect the personal space that should be between us. After breakfast I stayed with Maria while she was working. ¡°Don¡¯t you have anything better to do?¡± ¡°Not really no; I like watching you work.¡± ¡°If you have time for games you can use it for studying!¡± She was getting annoyed, not that I should care. ¡°We are on a break; the purpose of a break is to rest.¡± ¡°Humph.¡± She really doesn¡¯t give up; at least I found something interesting to do. After lunch Maria went to Liliana¡¯s office to talk about some other papers we didn¡¯t get to finish yesterday. Liliana noticed my suspicious behavior and she wanted to know the reason behind all this. The easiest way for me to escape is to tell Liliana what happened and hope that she will approve of my plan. So I told her what happened last night and the idea I had. ¡°I¡¯m not really sure about this. I tried helping her before but it didn¡¯t work out, she almost left.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m trying; Maria came to me first which means that she thought there is hope. Just let me try.¡± ¡°You are the only man she has gotten close to, I don¡¯t want her to return to the way she was before.¡± I was getting pissed. ¡°Let me do this! I only need a week, that¡¯s all I¡¯m asking. If after this week things go wrong I will master the whole curriculum and leave as soon as I can; I will graduate and you won¡¯t need to break your promise with Ellen!¡± ¡°But it¡¯s still¡­Fine; I will leave Maria to you.¡± ¡°Thank you, really thank you for understanding.¡± ¡°Humph; why do I get the feeling that my response didn¡¯t matter in the least?¡± I didn¡¯t answer Liliana¡¯s question, instead I smiled then left the room. Now I just have to find Maria¡­¡­Oh well, the weather is too harsh to go outside so she¡¯s got to be in the building; it¡¯s Oculus time. I drew the mark using my black blood and activated Oculus. Apparently she was in the basement; makes sense, it¡¯s the only place she wasn¡¯t supposed to go to. I understand all that running away thing but I don¡¯t understand why she is so distracted or maybe my plan is actually working. The spell is going to disappear soon so it¡¯s time to move. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± ¡°I¡¯m checking the cells again.¡± ¡°If I give you a few minutes can you come up with a better lie, something I can actually believe?¡± ¡°This is your fault!¡± She got angry and left. I followed her for the rest of the day while ignoring anything she had to say. The night came and I waited for Maria in her room, I hope she realizes this isn¡¯t going to end today. When she came into the room she looked surprised she saw me. ¡°You should have expected this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m too tired for this, at least let me sleep.¡± She changed her clothes and went on bed. She was facing the wall to avoid looking at me so I took the chance to hug her from behind. ¡°Hey, let me go!¡± ¡°Hah, make me.¡± When I hugged her my dark transfer ability informed me that she was fatigued both mentally and physically so she doesn¡¯t have the strength to get away from me. Throughout the night she stared shaking multiple times. I have to be careful; if she starts shaking too much then something bad happened but if she isn¡¯t shaking then something even worse might happen, that¡¯s way I spent my night in a semi-meditative state. The next morning I let her go and started the whole thing all over again. This time Maria didn¡¯t even talk to me, she tried to avoid me. It¡¯s a good thing that she is distracted; it makes her sloppy and easy to find. ¡°Can you leave me alone?¡± This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°No.¡± ¡°How can you even keep up with me?¡± ¡°You are getting sloppy; it makes you easier to track down.¡± ¡°I will stop being sloppy then.¡± She disappeared from the classroom¡­ Wait, she used Shadow Dash to get away from me; it¡¯s on now. Today was a big game of cat and mouse, only stopping to eat and to rest. After she saw what we were doing Liliana stopped giving a fuck about this and ignored us. Maria tries her best to escape but she knows that I will find her with Oculus so she is always ready to run if I corner her and unfortunately she is still too fast for me. ¡°Aren¡¯t you getting tired of it?¡± ¡°I promised to help you and all but honestly I¡¯m having fun right now, for the past three days I saw another side of you, your human side.¡± She laughed; when she laughs like that it means she¡¯s got a plan. ¡°Try keeping up with me then.¡± I spent the next few days running after her; it was very tiring. That scar on her back kept bugging me; I¡¯m going to ask her what really happened. Friday morning when Maria was about to leave the room I grasped her hand. ¡°Tell me about that scar!¡± ¡°I have nothing to talk about, let me go.¡± ¡°No!¡± ¡°Let me go, that hurts.¡± It should, that¡¯s why I increased my strength. ¡°Tell me.¡± ¡°Even if I tell you, there¡¯s nothing you can do about it, the scars that remain after a sacrificial ritual can¡¯t be healed with magic.¡± ¡°Sacrificial ritual, you are talking about dark magic.¡± ¡°My last assassination target was Liliana. When I failed the leader of the organization decided to use me as a sacrifice to summon a demon to take my place. I felt like my body was going to split in half. Liliana came with the intent to destroy the organization for good. After seeing what they were doing to me she decided to stop the ritual and help me. She was kind enough to heal me and made me her pupil. Was any of this any help?¡± ¡°The scar has nothing to do with you fear of men. Well it¡¯s completely irrelevant but I can try removing that.¡± ¡°I thought I told you that magic is useless.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯m stupid so just let me be. Undress now!¡± When I said it in a firm tone Maria did what I said without saying anything, it looked like a slave obeying a command from her master. When I touch the scar I realized that it wasn¡¯t just the aftermath of the ceremony, it was also a mark. My scan results say that another ceremony can be performed on her, without the use of another mark or rune. If someone catches her, they can summon a demon on the spot. I used dark transfer on her. I got rid of her scar, now I just have to spend two days with a sacrifice mark on my body; how hard could that be? ¡°Done!¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± She looked in the mirror. She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off the spot the scar was trying to convince herself that she isn¡¯t seeing an illusion. When she saw my reflection in the mirror she regained her composure. ¡°This doesn¡¯t count; be careful, you are running out of time.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I said that the scar¡¯s irrelevant.¡± I spent the day running after her again. In the beginning I was having fun and now she is having fun seeing me try. In the evening Maria had to go to Liliana to talk about the pet demon we will be getting. ¡°Maria, you can go ahead, there¡¯s something I want to discuss with Alex.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°But you can¡¯t¡­¡± Maria literally disappeared, now she¡¯s getting another head start. ¡°What do you want from me?¡± ¡°I understand that you have Maria¡¯s sacrifice mark on your back.¡± Wait, what? ¡°How did you¡­¡± Liliana pointed at her eyes. I don¡¯t¡­ Oh wait, Ellen told me about the time when she lost her vision and Liliana performed a dark magic ritual on her to help her. ¡°Is it because of that ritual¡­ the one you also did for Ellen?¡± ¡°Yes, because of it I could monitor what happens with Maria; Now I¡¯m more worried about you.¡± ¡°If I use all my magic and let my body focus on the mark I can get rid of it by tomorrow.¡± ¡°From what Ellen told me you can¡¯t get rid of a curse that easily.¡± ¡°My magic pool increased at least two times since that day, and this isn¡¯t a curse so it¡¯s fine.¡± ¡°Because the mark was just an after effect?¡± ¡°Yeah, either way nothing bad is going to happen.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s you believe then we can move on to our next issue; how¡¯s Maria?¡± ¡°She¡¯s enjoying herself and I¡¯ve almost run out of things to do, I¡¯m thinking of giving up.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Unfortunately yes, that¡¯s what I think.¡± ¡°I think you still have a chance, keep trying today and you can give up tomorrow.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see the point but fine.¡± ¡°Then you can go. Oh, I think Maria might be in her room, search there first.¡± ¡°Okay, I will.¡± As Liliana said, I found Maria in her room in her pajamas. The pocket watch in The Null showed that it was about ten o¡¯clock, it¡¯s not bedtime yet. ¡°Are you going to sleep?¡± ¡°It was an exhausting week.¡± ¡°Then I will sleep with you.¡± I went to sleep next to Maria. Since I will be out due to magic exhaustion she will get a good night¡¯s sleep. When I woke up I noticed I was pinned down by Maria, apparently I became a body pillow for her. Her sleeping face is really cute¡­and she¡¯s not shaking anymore which means I won. When Maria woke up she saw me with a stupid smile on my face. ¡°Good¡­ morning.¡± I was trying so hard not to laugh I couldn¡¯t even talk properly. ¡°Good morning; what¡¯s with that face?¡± I took a few deep breaths. ¡°I won.¡± I said with a smug look on my face. ¡°What are you talking¡­? Huh?¡± It took her a while to realize that she looked like a sloth in a tree. ¡°So it wasn¡¯t a dream?¡± ¡°A dream; what are you talking about?¡± ¡°I woke up around midnight and when I saw you here I just acted without thinking.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good thing right?¡± ¡°For you it is.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I underestimated you and the moment I let my guard down you won.¡± ¡°This means you are okay with me now.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± said Maria with a big smile on her face. Giving up and trying again ¡°Was there no reward for the winner or do you have something planned?¡± ¡°Wait what?¡± ¡°The bet you made with me.¡± ¡°Not really; to be honest I didn¡¯t even think it will work out that well.¡± ¡°Too bad; on another note, do you have any free time today?¡± ¡°Is there something I can help with?¡± ¡°As you can see and hear the snowstorm ended.¡± ¡°Looks like the storm in your heart isn¡¯t the only one that ended.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want you to misunderstand me but you are not the romantic type.¡± Now my feelings are hurt, I just wanted to be nice. ¡°Then what type of person I am?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t answer that. At first I thought that everything you did had a hidden meaning behind it, the closest explanation is that you are loyal to your true friends.¡± That¡¯s actually right. As expected she can read people easily. ¡°Regarding the other matter, you asked me if I have free time.¡± ¡°I want you to help me clean the courtyard a bit.¡± ¡°But the snow, it could take us all day.¡± ¡°We gather the snow in one place then we burn it using a fire crystal.¡± ¡°Extreme but efficient, OK when do we start?¡± ¡°First change into some clothes you don¡¯t mind getting wet and something to keep you warm.¡± The only clothes like that would be the ones Kraft gave me. I suppose it was about time to wear them anyway. I was about to do to the bathroom and change when Maria stopped me. ¡°You made me undress in front of you, now it¡¯s your turn.¡± I don¡¯t know what she¡¯s thinking about but I don¡¯t think she wants to check my body out. After I undressed I let Maria check out my body, she didn¡¯t believe the things I¡¯ve been through left no marks. ¡°It¡¯s hard to believe that you don¡¯t have any scars on your body, especially on your back.¡± ¡°The one you had healed last night; what can I say, my body really is different.¡± I took out the clothes I was supposed to wear and Maria stopped me again. ¡°That¡¯s leather?¡± ¡°Black demon wolf, why?¡± ¡°Thought so, I don¡¯t recommend wearing that, it gets damaged easily if it¡¯s not dried shortly after it gets wet. Do you have anything else?¡± ¡°Well no. It wasn¡¯t that cold before.¡± ¡°This is the first snowstorm you¡¯ve seen.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m surprised it snows that much, it¡¯s a good thing that the wind doesn¡¯t let the snow settle.¡± I changed back in my uniform and followed Maria to a storage room where we took two snow shovels. The weather was harsher than I thought; there was so much snow that we could barely open the door. I know it was going to be bad but I never expected something like this, there¡¯s no way the two of us could finish this today. ¡°It looks bad. How about we melt some of the snow here so we at least have a starting point?¡± ¡°I agree.¡± Maria took out a fire crystal. This one is different than the ones Ellen used for cooking; this one had two sides, one side had a lighter shade of red and the other had a darker one. Judging by how Maria holds the crystal the side with the lighter shade is the one where fire is supposed to come out from. ¡°Are you ready?¡± ¡°Show me!¡± That was amazing, like what the actual fuck; that crystal was a flamethrower! The snow had a height of approximately 20 centimeters and that crystal melted that snow like it was nothing. In a few seconds Maria created a zone where we could start. ¡°If there are crystals like that why does an element matter, can¡¯t everybody use these instead of spells?¡± ¡°You are easily impressed aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Anyone would be impressed by that?¡± ¡°There are armors made to resist magic attacks. A magic crystal can never be more powerful than the spell of an experienced mage. A crystal requires constant supply of magic to work and their power is lacking. Listen Alex, a good mage doesn¡¯t attack using a sustained spell, these spells leave openings.¡± ¡°So you are saying that an accurate and powerful spell is better than a sustained one?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What if you are outnumbered?¡± ¡°A moving target is less likely to get hit than a stationary target also if you use a crystal the enemies will know the attribute of your spell and counter it.¡± ¡°But a real spell requires casting time, a crystal doesn¡¯t.¡± ¡°If you put too much magic in a crystal it explodes.¡± So a crystal overheats and explodes. Hmm¡­.I can¡¯t think of anything else to say. I thought I might be able to make use of them in a battle but now I¡¯m having second thoughts. Maria and I started gathering the snow and burning it. The snow shovels weren¡¯t big enough to be called snow shovels; I could barely work with these. After a few hours of work we finished gathering the snow, forming a few piles. Maria burned a few of them using the fire crystal. I want to do that too. ¡°Maria, can I try?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She tossed me the crystal. ¡°You know what to do right?¡± ¡°Yep!¡± Oh man, this is going to be so cool. I¡¯m going to do this the way I use Oculus. I activated Black Blood and gathered magic on my left hand, where the crystal was. There was one snow pile left, perfect for my test. Slowly the crystal was lighting up¡­something¡¯s not right, only one side should light up. ¡°ALEX, THROW IT AWAY!¡± What the fuck? Maria started yelling all of a sudden, is she talking about the crystal? I heard a high-pinched sound coming from the crystal and I saw it cracking. Shit, it¡¯s going to blow. I tried to throw the crystal but it was too late. When the crystal exploded I was caught in the blast. Before losing my consciousness I saw my left hand exploding, everything happened so fast I didn¡¯t even feel pain. When I woke up I was in the infirmary, I know because this is the only room with three light crystals on the ceiling. On my right Maria was sitting on a chair looking at me. When she realized I woke up she started crying. ¡°Alex¡­thank god you woke up.¡± ¡°Maria¡­¡± My whole body was stiff and even moving a muscle hurts like hell. ¡°What¡­happened?¡± ¡°The fire crystal overloaded and exploded. You managed throw it at the last second but you were still caught in the blast.¡± As I expected, I wasn¡¯t fast enough. ¡°How¡­bad is it?¡± ¡°Your left hand was destroyed in the blast and you have some burns on your face and body.¡± So it¡¯s worse than I thought. FUCK! This wasn¡¯t supposed to happen, my powers are supposed to work in my favor not against me. Maria took a handkerchief and wiped my face. I¡­am¡­crying? I feel like I¡¯ve hit rock bottom but not like this. ¡°Alex, I¡¯m¡­sorry.¡± ¡°Sorry for what, there was nothing you could¡¯ve done.¡± ¡°I was your teacher, I knew how unstable your powers were yet I never thought something like this might happen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not your fault; it¡¯s my fault for not paying attention.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± She was trying to come up with something but even she knows that I¡¯m right. Just how big is the difference between powerless the people and powerful ones? ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do anymore.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I got up and look at the bandages all over my body. My condition wasn¡¯t so bad; most of the damage would disappear after a week or so. I just don¡¯t understand anymore; the minimum amount of magic I can use is too much for most items; what¡¯s the point of power when I can¡¯t control it? ¡°I know that living with a hand will be difficult but I will be here for you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not talking about that?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°My hand will grow back in a week or so and my burns will disappear in a few days; I¡¯m talking about my control over magic.¡± ¡°A¡­week; are you sure?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Look at you acting all excited; after all the things Liliana told her I¡¯m surprised that she is still surprised by that. As expected, my wounds healed after a week and my hand grew back. After the incident my motivation was completely lost and I went into a depressive state. For a few weeks I stayed inside Maria¡¯s room spacing out. I was like that one guy in the family that had a mental problem and Maria was the one who volunteered to take care of me. She came to check up on me every time she got the chance. She tried to keep her composure around me aside from when she was sleep; she was always using me as a body pillow when she slept. I know that she is worried about me and wants to help, on the other hand I need to think and I¡¯m not the type to care about people especially now that I¡¯ve hit a wall. I always tried to keep myself busy with something so I won¡¯t have the time to think about how many times I tried to make things work out and I failed; my plan with Maria worked and the crystal incident caught me off guard. ¡°Alex, I will be leaving now.¡± ¡°Huh¡­. Oh; bye.¡± I thought that if I fake confidence it will naturally come to me, I was a fool to believe that, people don¡¯t change that easily and I know I can¡¯t change¡­¡­Did that crystal really explode instantly or was I too slow? Argh, I can¡¯t even be depressed with this on my mind. In the evening when Maria came to her room I was getting ready to leave. ¡°Alex, what are you doing?¡± ¡°Come with me, we are going to the storage room!¡± ¡°Very well.¡± She tried to look calm but I could see some minor changes on her face, she was happy. I guess that my sudden change is something compared to how I was for the past month. It¡¯s a good think that I never gave up strengthening my body with magic or else I would¡¯ve been in severe pain. I haven¡¯t visited the storage room in a while so I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s still here. It really is dark in here; it¡¯s a good thing that my body doesn¡¯t get weaker over time or else my night vision wouldn¡¯t work as well as before¡­.. There it is. ¡°I followed you here; at least tell me what you want to do. What¡¯s with that box?¡± ¡°Remember when I was chasing your ass a month ago?¡± ¡°How could I forget that; that week changed my life?¡± I presented her a box full of magic crystals. ¡°This box is full of low-grade light crystals; there¡¯s something that¡¯s been bugging me and I will use these crystals to confirm it, those were going to be disposed of anyway.¡± ¡°What are you going to¡­¡­You are going to make them explode, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan.¡± ¡°Fine, I will act as your supervisor if something happens.¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding.¡± At this hour nobody¡¯s in the courtyard which means there¡¯s nobody who could get hurt. I put the crystal box on the ground, took a crystal and activated Black Blood. The magic is getting absorbed by the crystal; just a few more moments¡­IT¡¯S CRACKING! When the crystal began cracking I threw it upwards and after two seconds it exploded¡­FLASH OUT! ¡°That¡¯s not the kind of light a crystal like that would produce.¡± ¡°If a crystal works with magic then overloading it might create something more powerful. I was tight about the when and the why.¡± ¡°What are you saying?¡± ¡°When I used Oculus I noticed that my magic goes for quality over quantity and the mark didn¡¯t disappear as fast as the one Liliana made so I wanted to see if there is a possibility that the magic absorbed keeps its quality even after I stop the supply and I was right.¡± ¡°And the crystal exploded even after you let go because of the residual magic, I see.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I wanted to confirm; now we just have to make this work in my favor.¡± Like turning the crystal into grenades, which would be fucking nice. ¡°That said; can I have those?¡± ¡°Are you certain that those were going to be thrown away?¡± ¡°Yes, I remember when you wrote it in the registry.¡± ¡°Then we could go to Maria¡¯s office and check the registry.¡± ¡°Fine, let¡¯s do it.¡± ¡°I thought I will have to convince you to come with me.¡± ¡°The result would be the same either way so I want to get on with this while I still motivation left.¡± Maria and I went to Liliana¡¯s office. As always she was working hard, and we came here just to bother her. ¡°Hello Liliana.¡± ¡°Oh, finally decided to stop the self-pity?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t self-pity.¡± ¡°I know, that¡¯s what that happens when you try to be somebody you are not.¡± ¡°What do you know about me?¡± ¡°More than enough; you may not believe me but I am a great judge of character.¡± ¡°We just came here for last month¡¯s registry.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°There are some light crystals I want to take and Maria wants to be sure it¡¯s okay for me to take them.¡± ¡°Show me one.¡± I took a crystal out of the box and showed it to Liliana. After a careful examination she nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t bother looking for the registry, these were supposed to be thrown away. Somebody was supposed to throw these away; you can have it if you wish.¡± ¡°Really? Thank you!¡± I put the box in The Null. ¡°Maria, can we start training again?¡± When I asked the question Maria¡¯s face lit up and Liliana showed a smirk. ¡°Of course, whenever you wish.¡± ¡°Then we will meet at the usual place at midnight.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± ¡°See you two later!¡± There¡¯s still some time left until midnight so I might as well go back to my dorm room, it has been some time since I was there and I have some explaining to do. When I got back to my room I saw Jaden looking at like he saw me first time in years. Maria told Jaden I was injured but she didn¡¯t mention the fact that I acted like a mentally challenged person. ¡°What¡¯s with that face?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been gone for a month and nobody would tell me anything about you.¡± ¡°OK, sit down and let me explain.¡± I lied to Jaden, telling him that the injuries took longer than expected and Maria had to take care of me. ¡°Do you understand now?¡± ¡°Yes, I get it.¡± ¡°Good because I have to go now.¡± Explaining things to Jaden took longer than I thought but I managed to get there in time. As always Maria was waiting for me. ¡°That¡¯s a familiar scene.¡± ¡°Yes, it is.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s the plan; I want to make some of these crystals explode and improve my magic manipulation.¡± I took out a crystal and I tried to infuse it with magic from all sides at once. When my magic got inside the crystal, the crystal started cracking. I threw it in the air and after two seconds it exploded. Something strange happened, the explosion made no sound and there were no shards left. It seems I accidentally created a silent flash grenade. Maybe I will stick to this a while longer. A vampire arrives It didn¡¯t take long for me to catch up with the rest of my classmates; I was forced to take a test though. After each break the students have to take tests to see if they studied during break. For me those tests were piece of cake; I finished a one hour test in 20 minutes because the writing tools here suck. You are supposed to finish the test in less than an hour but there aren¡¯t many people who can do it. I¡¯ve known some stupid people and even they would be able to finish this poor excuse for a test in one hour. Honestly, the teachers waste too much time; what they teach us in one hour the teachers in my previous life could teach us in 30 minutes or even less. March arrived without any problems. Maria still helps me train and she even helped me complete my silent flash grenades. While I was staying in Maria¡¯s room a strange rumor started spreading and somehow all the students think I ¡®m the most powerful student here. I don¡¯t really like to stand out and I hate the people looking at me like I will kill them if they get near me; thank god that Jaden and Saya aren¡¯t afraid of me. The rumor spread when the students saw the aftermath of the crystal explosion and because of that some students tried to fight me and it didn¡¯t end well for them. Now this is a good day; it¡¯s Friday which means a letter for Liliana should arrive today; that letter contains information about the demon we are getting and she promised she will tell me too. Well shit¡­ So much for expectation, school is over and nobody came to tell me about the letter or the demon. ¡°Alex!¡± I was about to exit the school building when I heard Maria calling me. When Maria called my name all the students in the hall turned to face her; usually when Maria calls a student in means trouble. ¡°Is it here?¡± ¡°Yes, it arrived a few minutes ago; the headmistress has it.¡± A few minutes ago I was in the classroom trying to teach Jaden math so I must have missed the courier. ¡°What are you waiting for, let¡¯s go!¡± ¡°Wha¡­?¡± I took Maria¡¯s arm and dragged her to Liliana¡¯s office; I wonder what the other students thought when they saw that. At least now I gave them a good reason to start a rumor. I hurried to Liliana¡¯s office. When I arrived I opened the door in a hurry. Liliana was reading a letter, maybe it was the THAT letter. ¡°Is that it?¡± ¡°Most people would apologize for barging in first but whatever. Take a seat.¡± I sat on the couch and took some of the sweets Liliana had on the table, I guess she was expecting me. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of unusual secrecy, they are telling us to wait until tomorrow until someone will come to tell me the details. It¡¯s a load of bullshit.¡± Well, I don¡¯t know what I expected; no normal person would give away so much information, at least now we have a date. ¡°And I really hoped I would get some information about this demon.¡± ¡°Tomorrow is a free day; you can stick around if you want.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if it will be okay for me to be there tomorrow.¡± ¡°Even if you are told to leave, that doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t sneak in again.¡± ¡°I guess I would do that if I¡¯m kicked out. Then it¡¯s settled, Maria I will be sleeping with you tonight.¡± ¡°Do what you want.¡± After giving me the cold shoulder she left the room. Why is she so mad at me? ¡°Is she mad at you?¡± ¡°We were holding arms on the way here. Well, I was holding her arm but she didn¡¯t resist and I wasn¡¯t forcing her.¡± ¡°Just because she is not resisting it doesn¡¯t make it right.¡± ¡°It was just a prank, it¡¯s not like I was raping her.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that you can use that term when talking about Maria; I think that she would accept it.¡± ¡°So sex¡¯s fine but holding hands or arms isn¡¯t; solid logic.¡± ¡°A maiden¡¯s heart is complicated and Maria¡¯s is much worse; give her time.¡± ¡°Oh well¡­ I guess I can apologize.¡± That night I apologized to Maria for what I did and I told her that I really wanted to hold arms with her. She forgave me surprisingly quick. Saturday morning I had to explain to Jaden the reason I took Maria¡¯s arm and dragged her off; I left the part about a demon aside though. After a few hours a single knight entered the school grounds. The knight was wearing heavy armor from head to toe; I couldn¡¯t even see his face because of that helmet. My automatic scan was blocked¡­guess I will be doing this the hard way then. I gathered all my magic in my eyes and scanned the armor again: Paladin Armor, steel plated silver armor, magically enchanted offering high resistance to all forms of magic. He also had a spear made from the same alloy, which has the ability to increase the user¡¯s attack speed, really interesting. That explains why it takes so much magic to get a read on that guy; now that he¡¯s here it¡¯s sneaking time. The knight was greeted by Liliana at the school building¡¯s entrance and went to her office. I have a feeling that the knight may have noticed me while I was scanning him in the courtyard. The stairs are behind me and one of the windows is open so I have two ways to bail if I get discovered. I leaned on a wall next to the door; my hearing is one a different level compared to most people so if I concentrate a little I will be able to hear them talking. ¡°As we discussed, the rare demon will arrive in six days, have the cage prepared by then.¡± ¡°I understand your conditions but we do not possess magic ink of such quality, it will be impossible for us to complete the inscriptions.¡± What is Liliana talking about? Inscriptions are used for enchantments; does the prison room need to be enchanted against that demon? I don¡¯t understand what that knight is talking about; looks like Liliana kept some things from me after all. ¡°Is there no way to delay their arrival?¡± ¡°No, the paladins are already on their way.¡± ¡°Maria, can we arrange a shipment of magic ink to be delivered?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry headmistress, we don¡¯t have enough time.¡± ¡°Miss Liliana, the paladins will not be responsible for the damages the demons will cause if you can¡¯t contain it.¡± ¡°Contain¡­Headmistress; we may be able to use a substitute.¡± Maria, please don¡¯t say you are thinking about my blood. Please! ¡°Alex was able to use his blood to activate Oculus; there is a chance that his blood will be powerful enough.¡± Maria, is this why you forgave me last night, is this payback?¡± ¡°Alex, I know you are listening; could you come inside?¡± Well shit. Next time something important happens I¡¯m staying in her office; she doesn¡¯t give a fuck about my attempts to sneak so I¡¯m not going to give a fuck about her attempts keep important things private. I entered the room whit a pissed off face. When the paladin saw me he took his spear and pointed it at me. This guy thinks he scares me but both Maria and Liliana know what I¡¯m capable of. Since the guy wasn¡¯t taking me seriously I took the chance and disarmed him in a second. Liliana waved her hand in my direction; she probably wants to show me something. I walked past the paladin and came in front of Liliana¡¯s desk. She gave me a vial. The scan revealed that the ink in this vial is two times more powerful than the magic ink Liliana used when she taught me Oculus. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°You certainly don¡¯t have something as powerful as this here.¡± ¡°I need to compare this with your blood. If your blood is stronger than that ink it will sink to the bottom of the vial.¡± I activated Black Blood, cut my fingertip with a dagger and let the blood drop into the vial. A single drop is enough, now we have to wait. Compared to magic ink my Black Blood had a red tint. It looks like my Black Blood sunk to the bottom of the vial with great difficulties. ¡°This will do the trick, thanks Alex.¡± ¡°If you excuse me I will return to the capital.¡± The paladin took his spear and left in a hurry. ¡°I wonder what face he made when you disarmed him.¡± ¡°Bewildered maybe?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure he didn¡¯t expect to find a person who could disarm a paladin.¡± ¡°Are paladins such a big deal?¡± ¡°The paladins are soldiers trained by the Church to kill demons and magicians. The most annoying part is that they only take orders from the Church, not even the king can order them around.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine as long as they don¡¯t start killing people randomly.¡± ¡°Alex, we have to finish the inscriptions before the demon arrives.¡± ¡°OK, I will help you; it¡¯s not like I have a choice.¡± The next day I went to help Maria and Liliana. The cell we were supposed to reinforce was in the basement. Apparently the inscriptions will be used to reinforce the cell to make it resistant to magic. Near Liliana was a bowl, a pretty big one, I hope I don¡¯t need to fill that with my blood. ¡°Alex, I need you to fill this bowl with blood so we can begin.¡± ¡°Maria, hold this.¡± I gave Maria the bracelet I keep on my right hand. After she caught it she put it on and she fell down. ¡°What happened, my body feels heavy? Is this a training bracelet?¡± ¡°Yes, it was something Kraft gave to me.¡± After Maria got up she took off the bracelet and put it in one of her pocket. Oh well, objective complete. I cut my wrist in order to fill the bowl. Some people have trouble healing their wounds while I had trouble keeping it open. Maria and Liliana didn¡¯t let me see the inscriptions, even vampires show some gratitude. I stayed with Liliana and Maria until they finished. Apparently it will take at least another day to finish. Liliana told me that the residual magic in my blood speeds up the process. The faster the process the less blood they need to use. I¡¯ve been spending six days helping only to find out that the demon will arrive on the seventh day. Now I am somewhere I¡¯ve not been for a long time, the dorm¡¯s rooftop. Maria wanted to sleep alone so I will have to sleep in my room again. ¡°It¡¯s been a while since you came here.¡± It¡¯s been a while since I last talked to Mir; good to see that she still comes here. ¡°True, it¡¯s been a while. I have something to ask you, do you know anything about the paladins or the demon that is supposed to arrive?¡± ¡°The paladins are just soldiers brainwashed by the Church, in one word they are marionettes. There¡¯s nothing I can tell you about the demon; more importantly are you okay?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You look a little pale.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just anemia, I will live.¡± ¡°I think you should go to bed.¡± ¡°OK mom.¡± Oh well, it¡¯s not like I had anything better to do; I guess that using half a litre of blood everyday for the past five days really worn me out. Tomorrow is supposed to be the big day, sleeping a little more than usual might be a good idea. Saturday arrived. In the morning I helped Maria carry some stuff to the storage room. On my way back to Liliana¡¯s office I saw four paladins and someone in the middle them. When the paladins passed by us I saw a girl with white, short hair, entrancing red eyes and pale white skin. She was wearing rags. Her hands, legs and neck were chained. The girl looked like she was about twelve years old. Let¡¯s see if I can scan her: Name: Unknown, Race: True Vampire, Age: Unknown, Threat Level: Unknown........WHAT THE FUCK? There should be no such thing but it is. In front of me there is a demon that is far superior to me. A little vampire girl that can eradicate me is chained right in front of me. The scan only compares our peak strengths; even if she is weakened the scan would calculate her true power. The girl made eye contact with me and then leaped at me, biting my neck. When we made eye contact I left like she was trying to look into my soul, it was a strange feeling. The force of the attack knocked me down. I was still a little anemic so she can¡¯t suck my blood that easily; the interesting thing is that she also sucks my magic away. ¡°ALEX!¡± Activating Black Blood now will only help her and my base strength is not enough to push her away. I think I have another thing to worry about, something was wrong with my body. ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there, get her off him!¡± The paladins tried to pull her away from me, a difficult task considering that she is holding me tightly. Since Black Blood is out of the question I have to go old school by using external body enchantment. I activated body enchantment and pushed her away. My body was acting weird, I started shaking and my vision blurred for a second. ¡°Alex, are you all right?¡± ¡°Yeah I¡¯m¡­¡± Am I seeing double? I was seeing the little vampire and at the same time the adult version of her? I can clearly see her and at the same time I can see her mature version, it¡¯s like I¡¯m seeing two scenarios at the same time. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± ¡°I am looking at the vampire.¡± I pointed at the adult version of the girl. When the girl saw me pointing at her; her facial expression changed and she stopped resting. I don¡¯t know why but I think she was scared of me. ¡°You are mine now.¡± Those were the last words the vampire said before she was taken to her cell. Those words echoed in my head, there was something about what she said that made me shiver. ¡°Hey, did you hear what I said?¡± Apparently Maria was talking with me, strange; I didn¡¯t notice.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°You have to lie down; if she tried to make you one of her minions I have no power to stop her.¡± ¡°Wait a second.¡± It¡¯s been a while since I scanned my body. OK so¡­¡­ Well shit, I have vampire AIDS. That bitch injected a bit of her blood into me and now it¡¯s just a matter of time until I transform in a vampire or worse. ¡°Well shit, I think I screwed up.¡± Transformation After the vampire was taken away Maria took me to the infirmary. She told me to lie down. ¡°Are you sure you are infected?¡± ¡°Yeah, she infected me.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°There are things I can see and things I can¡¯t but I can¡¯t see something and that turns out to be something else.¡± ¡°Then what happened this morning, what did you see?¡± ¡°The vampire but more mature, it was like two persons were there. Now that I think about it, it might be because she bit me.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The vampire¡¯s blood is like a virus right?¡± ¡°Yes, it infects your organs through your bloodstream.¡± ¡°My body has a normal mode, a regenerative mode and a combat mode.¡± ¡°By the way, this regenerative mode is that what happened to you after that explosion?¡± ¡°Ummm¡­Yeah, that¡¯s when my body switched from normal to regenerative, my body shuts down and I enter in a sleep-like mode.¡± ¡°OK.¡± ¡°Basically when the vampire bit me my body went in combat mode and I was able to see her true form.¡± Every time Maria looked at my neck she looked dejected. The teeth mark is gone and I¡¯m not in pain; what¡¯s wrong? ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Everything is. I have no way of creating a potion to stop your transformation and I don¡¯t know how long it will be until you transform.¡± ¡°I become a vampire, so what?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the happy ending. Once you are bitten you will carve more of your master¡¯s blood, if the master decides to suck all your blood you will turn into a husk.¡± That¡¯s a little different from what I believed. I thought that if she infused me with blood I will certainly transform in a vampire. My scan showed the vampire¡¯s blood in my body as a disease so there might be a chance for my body to develop a cure or immunity. I wanted to Maria this but now I¡¯m not sure about anything anymore. ¡°So what am I supposed to do?¡± ¡°You wait.¡± Well my question was stupid. She already said that there is nothing she can do to help me. Now I just have to play the waiting game. Well I could go to that vampire but I don¡¯t think that she can help me. ¡°I¡¯m going back to my dorm. It¡¯s already evening.¡± ¡°No, until this problem is solved you are staying with me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have a problem with it but why?¡± ¡°In case you go feral I will be the one to stop you.¡± Isn¡¯t it a little drastic? I know I¡¯m infected but I¡¯m not a normal human. Thinking about it if I were a normal human I would have died quite a few times. Desperate or not she had a point; there aren¡¯t many people who could stop me and I really like spending time with her even though most of it is just awkward silence. In Maria¡¯s room are some books about healing potions and curatives and yet there¡¯s no information about a remedy for this. The fact that I can feel the foreign blood makes me feel uneasy and then there¡¯s my left arm. Ever since that girl bit me my left arm is shaking, it looks like I have Parkinson¡¯s. I don¡¯t know how but the vampire¡¯s blood is responsible for my arm too. ¡°I told you, there¡¯s nothing there you can use.¡± ¡°It beats standing around doing nothing. You practically locked me up in here.¡± ¡°Las time you stayed here you didn¡¯t complain.¡± ¡°Because last time I needed to be away from all that shit, now I don¡¯t.¡± ¡°I told you I can¡¯t have you running around freely.¡± Why does she have to bring that up? I feel bad enough thinking that I wasn¡¯t fast enough to dodge her and I even got infected. I feel really tired all of a sudden. ¡°I¡¯m going to lie down for a while, wake me up if something important happens.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen you tired before. Is it because of the bite?¡± That¡¯s the last thing I want an answer to; if I feel tired because of that infection it means that it¡¯s working. ¡°Could be.¡± Well I guess there is no harm on getting to bed early. This might be the start of a regenerative process. A human¡¯s body heals when you sleep, I just hope I won¡¯t transform in my sleep. I couldn¡¯t convince Maria that staying awake is a bad idea, she really believes that I will wake up a vampire; who transforms is one day? I thought I was going to sleep soundly but instead it appears I have sleep paralysis. I can¡¯t see anything, my body hurts and it feels like I¡¯m on fire. It hurts, it really hurts. I can¡¯t move, even breathing hurts. HELP! ¡°¡­Alex¡­¡± I hear somebody calling me. The pain distracting me, but I know that voice, it¡¯s a familiar voice. My head is killing me, I can¡¯t think properly. *splash* When I woke up I heard the sound of water splashing. It seems I really have a fever. When I woke up I saw Maria holding a water crystal in her hand. Thank god she woke me up; I wouldn¡¯t have lasted much longer. ¡°You are awake, that¡¯s a relief.¡± ¡°I know you wanted to wake me up but did you really have to splash me with water.¡± ¡°You were sleep talking and tossing around; this was the only thing that worked. More importantly, go look in the mirror.¡± I got up and went in front of the mirror. I looked pale, almost as pale as that vampire. My hair¡¯s color changed, instead of blonde it became close to white and that¡¯s not all, my hair grew so long it almost reached my hips. That vampire¡¯s hair was white; I have to assume that my body is changing. One interesting thing is that my eye color changed too. My eyes were still blue but the color is more intense than before. ¡°Alex, open your mouth.¡± ¡°What for, want to see if I have fangs now?¡± ¡°Yes. Usually the hair is the last one to change.¡± Maria checked my teeth. Fortunately for me there were no fangs. If there are no fangs it means there is still hope, I¡¯m sure of it now. First things first I have to get rid of all this extra hair. After this I¡¯m going to have a little chat with the vampire. ¡°Maria, can you cut my hair, make it like it was before?¡± ¡°I can shorten it but I¡¯m not really experienced at this.¡± ¡°Make it as short as you can.¡± After almost one hour and numerous pieces of advice Maria cut my hair. It looked kind of like a buzz cut; good enough for now. ¡°Let¡¯s pay that vampire a little visit.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t allow that.¡± Oh boy, I forgot that she becomes overprotective like that; in these situations I wish Ellen was here. There¡¯s only one thing left to do. I put my hands on Maria¡¯s shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. ¡°Listen, I¡¯m not going to transform and attack you. I want you to trust me.¡± I can see that Maria was skeptical about what I said. I won¡¯t be able to solve this unless I pay that vampire a visit. ¡°Fine but I¡¯m coming along with you.¡± Well, at least that was a success. I wanted to take her along with me anyway. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°But if something happens to you I¡¯m going to show that vampire why humans are more feared than demons.¡± If I learned one thing from Kraft is how to recognize blood lust, Maria was serious about this. I just hope this won¡¯t cause an incident; I¡¯m already getting more special treatment than anyone else, causing a scene would affect more than the school¡¯s reputation. I changed into my peasant clothes and left the room with Maria. It seems that my night vision is better than before, now I can clearly see my surroundings without using magic. There were no guards on the way and it looks like the paladins left. Is it normal to let a dangerous prisoner unguarded? Well, here we are. The vampire was here and so was her mature version. When she saw me her face lit up. Just look at that victorious look on her face, she actually thinks I¡¯m here to get her out. It¡¯s hard for me to look at her, I see two of them and I don¡¯t know which version of her is her real form. Based on my memories her current one should be the young one. I don¡¯t understand why they treat her so poorly; in her mature version the rags she wears don¡¯t leave much to the imagination. If a human was kept like this he would kill the ones who put him here first chance he got. ¡°Welcome young one; what brings you here?¡± ¡°I just wanted to know why you chose me. There were other people there, why me?¡± ¡°There is no right answer to your question but if I were to give you a proper answer¡­I saw that you were different, special and the circumstances didn¡¯t leave me any choice.¡± The stories say that the vampires age much slower than humans but now it¡¯s clear, I can see her true form. You have to reach a certain age to be able to keep your composure in these situations; also she isn¡¯t trying to take advantage of her looks or change her manner of speech so she dislikes her current form; that¡¯s what I believe. ¡°I trust that you came to set me free.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m not. It seems I¡¯m not under your control after all.¡± ¡°Ha ha ha. I know; the appropriate time to activate the blood inside you and place you under my spell is now.¡± Her eyes started shining. When the light hit me my head started spinning, I lost my vision and I lost my balance. A took a few steps back before falling on my knees. The burning sensation is back. Maria stopped me from falling down but in reality that¡¯s about all she can do. ¡°What did you do to him?¡± ¡°His suffering will end soon. Fear not, he will not be conscious when he wakes up; consider it an act of mercy.¡± ¡°I will kill you before you get the chance to escape. The headmistress and I inscribed the cell with an explosion spell; I will kill you even if I have to die too.¡± I heard them talking but I couldn¡¯t focus on what they were saying. The pain is too strong¡­I can¡¯t¡­resist. SOMEBODY STOP IT. After a few moments my Black Blood activated. I started regaining control over my body and the pain was starting to subdue. Thank god it stopped. ¡°This is something I haven¡¯t encountered before, a human who submitted fast enough for the demon blood to take over. Raise my servant.¡± Oh, I¡¯m getting up right now; slowly to create a dramatic scene. ¡°Alex?¡± Ow, I could feel the sadness form here; after she finds out I was joking I think I will spend the rest of my days in the dark room. ¡°Now release me from this prison.¡± ¡°Ha ha, and if I don¡¯t; what will you do?¡± ¡°Wha¡­?¡± I didn¡¯t know someone as pale as that could go even go even paler. Keep staring at me and watch your hopes get shattered. The vampire was speechless or maybe she doesn¡¯t know where to start. She kept staring at me, mouth half open. That¡¯s the reaction I expected, seeing your hopes get destroyed. When Maria heard me rejecting the vampire¡¯s order she quickly regained her composure. ¡°It looks like I was a fool worrying about you.¡± ¡°You may have been, but that¡¯s why I love you.¡± Really, no reaction? If anything she looked disappointed. I thought I would catch her off guard, well not today. ¡°Why? How; I saw the demon blood flowing inside you!¡± ¡°That¡¯s something Alex could do long before he got bitten by you, this is your loss.¡± ¡°I suppose I should congratulate you young one, you escaped my grasp without transforming.¡± Well she is wrong. While I still look human her vampire blood altered my abilities a little. My scan showed an improvement in my healing abilities and my magic manipulation as well as a slight increase in strength and speed. Since one of my powers is called Magically Engineered Human it means that I will stay human no matter what happens to me. ¡°Not entirely, I just kept some things for myself and eliminated the rest.¡± ¡°Regardless, today is my loss.¡± Does she actually think she is going to get away after what she did? ¡°You still have to pay me back for trying to control me.¡± ¡°What could you possibly want from someone such as myself?¡± ¡°Simple: knowledge. I want you to tell me about the demon continent and I want you to teach me your language too.¡± ¡°Very well; for the time being will you tell me your name?¡± ¡°My name is Alexander Lowe, a pleasure to meet you.¡± ¡°Pardon the late introduction; I am called Astrid Dracul. I look forward to working with you.¡± She was calm. That¡¯s not the face of someone who hit rock bottom; she is planning something. I will have to keep an eye on her. ¡°It seems I will have to wait longer than I anticipated.¡± This was the last thing I heard before she went out of my range; she really is underestimating me. When we entered Maria¡¯s room Maria went straight for the bed, despite how she looked there she must have been nervous. She looks all right now, that¡¯s good. She will be all right if she sleeps a little. ¡°Come here for a second.¡± ¡°What is it? Hey!¡± I got close to the bed to hear what Maria had to say. She caught me and pulled me down on the bed. What the hell? Maybe this is going somewhere after all. ¡°What was that for?¡± She didn¡¯t answer; she just put her head on my chest and nestled up against me. ¡°Your blue eyes really are beautiful.¡± Thant¡¯s nice of her; I don¡¯t know why she would she focus on my eye color¡­Wait, my Black Blood is active so my eyes are supposed to be black not blue. My eye color staying the same must be another side effect of the vampire¡¯s blood. Well, I never liked the black eyes. I might as well deactivate Black Blood before going to sleep. ¡°You are warm.¡± Well yeah, my body temperature is a bit high to compensate for the temperature in the room, after all the clothes I was in are thin and the room isn¡¯t actually that warm. Well I don¡¯t know how to answer that. I started to gently stroke her head. She really is cute when she¡¯s like this; I couldn¡¯t help it and cracked a smile. ¡°Good night Maria.¡± ¡°Good night.¡± I have a feeling that this night will be a good night. Vampire teacher *yawn* That was the best sleep I¡¯ve gotten in a while. I wonder if Maria is still sleeping. Contrary to my belief Maria wasn¡¯t next to me in bed, she was changing into her working clothes. Isn¡¯t in too early for that? ¡°Isn¡¯t it a little early for work?¡± ¡°No, you just overslept.¡± What¡¯s with that smile on your face? I never oversleep. ¡°I think it¡¯s still a little early; look it¡¯s¡­almost 9 in the morning?¡± That can¡¯t be right, it¡¯s almost 9 in the morning and this date, it¡¯s Monday which means I spent one whole day sleeping¡­That can¡¯t be right. ¡°Please tell me this is a joke.¡± ¡°What is?¡± ¡°Look at this.¡± I showed Maria the watch. ¡°It says it is Monday, it means I slept a whole day.¡± ¡°You did, you looked so cute when you were asleep.¡± Since she jokes around with me I take it that nothing happened. Maybe my body was just too tired after what happened. ¡°Thanks.¡± I got up and went on front of the mirror. The sun isn¡¯t burning my skin, I still have a reflection and there are no fangs; I look a little toned than before but that doesn¡¯t mean anything. WOW, it¡¯s really true, even with my Black Blood activated my eyes stay blue; it¡¯s almost like my iris¡¯s color was alive. The color was more captivating than usual, maybe it¡¯s because of the vampire¡¯s charm. ¡°I look at you and I just can¡¯t accept the fact that you are human.¡± This is a horrible thing to say so early in the morning; then again she is right. I¡¯m thankful for my ability to scan myself. If I didn¡¯t have it I wouldn¡¯t be certain that I was a human. I hugged Maria, trying to reassure her. ¡°Maria, listen well: I was, am and will always be a human regardless of what happens to my body. These transformations will not change what I am.¡± ¡°Can I really believe you?¡± ¡°You can. Believe it or not it is impossible for me to be anything else, that¡¯s how I was born.¡± ¡°Very well, I trust you.¡± *peck* After I let go of her she gave me a peck on the forehead and ruffled what was left of my hair a bit. I was just standing with a confused look on my face. I was doing the most clich¨¦ thing a boy ever could. ¡°Come on, if you don¡¯t hurry you are going to be late for class.¡± Oh yeah, I have classes today¡­¡­Wait wait wait, I know that smile; she was playing with me. I was standing here looking like an idiot and she just made fun of me. What¡¯s the male version of that saying [toying with a maiden¡¯s heart]? I remember, it¡¯s called being a pussy. ¡°Come back here Maria.¡± ¡°I¡¯m late for class, see you later.¡± ¡°OK.¡± Maria hurriedly left the room. Wait, that¡¯s not the time to agree with her. She¡¯s not getting away this time. ¡°Wait!¡± When I opened the door it was too late, she was already gone; Shadow Dash really is a nice spell. I will figure out what to do with Maria later, for now I have to change and go to class. My classmates got used to me skipping class but Jaden insisted that I explain why I was late. As usual he and Saya were glued to each other. That matter is to be discussed during lunch break. After eating lunch with Jaden we went to the courtyard where Saya was waiting for us. ¡°A lot of things happened but the short story is that I spent my weekend with Maria and I was too tired to come to class.¡± Saya who is usually serious was now red like a tomato; especially because I was keeping that rape face. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Well Jaden is skeptical bitch. I just have to make him believe me. ¡°It¡¯s true man! You should have seen her last night, nestling up against me like a cat. Sometimes her being on top of me really makes it difficult to sleep.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember on top of you or maybe you are talking about two nights ago when I pulled you on the bed and slept on your chest.¡± ¡°WHA!¡± ¡°TEACHER!¡± Maria appeared out of nowhere. Their faces when they saw Maria were priceless. They looked like they saw the impossible happen. Saya was bright red and Jaden was staring at Maria with his moth half open. ¡°Alex, you forgot your clothes in my room.¡± Maria was holding my peasant clothes. I didn¡¯t forget them; rather I thought I will spend another night with her. ¡°I thought I can stay another night; are you kicking me out?¡± ¡°I thought I told you, you can only stay during the weekends.¡± She gave me the clothes and left. The moment she turned to leave I started laughing. I laughed so hard I shed tears and even with her back turned I know that Maria is smiling right now. ¡°Ha¡­Ha¡­Now you believe me?¡± ¡°I¡­Yes.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Jaden, after you do it with Saya all the embarrassment will fade away.¡± ¡°Whatever¡­Let¡¯s go back, class is about to start.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to be embarrassed.¡± Oh well, it looks like he is too embarrassed to talk about that. Now that the classes are over I have some free time. I wonder if there¡¯s somebody guarding Astrid. On my way to Astrid I bumped into Maria. ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°To the basement.¡± ¡°Are you going to see that vampire?¡± Is it just me or does she sound a little jealous? I have to remember this; if it happens again then I will need to have another talk with Maria, I can¡¯t have her getting the wrong idea or maybe it is me who misunderstood things. ¡°She tried to use me and now it¡¯s my turn to use her; that said I just want to learn the demon language and get some information about Teufel.¡± After parting ways with Maria I went on my way to the basement. I couldn¡¯t sense anyone in the basement so I guess it isn¡¯t guarded. Astrid was awake and most importantly unchained. ¡°They removed your chains but they didn¡¯t bring you better clothes?¡± ¡°Good day young man; unfortunately the humans do not have second thoughts about letting a woman like me dressed in such an indecent manner.¡± ¡°I think this is about superiority; the humans have a superiority complex, that¡¯s how we are.¡± ¡°I understand; they find pleasure in seeing me in this state.¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°What about you Alexander?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t particularly care. Also I¡¯m no position to help you so please don¡¯t ask for my help.¡± ¡°I realize that. The reason you are here is to learn our language.¡± ¡°Yes. I want to learn your language so I can communicate better with demons.¡± ¡°Learning the demon language will not be an easy task; fortunately our language was created in such a way that even the less intelligent demons would be able to comprehend each other.¡± So the demon language was created in a way that even idiots would understand. I hope I won¡¯t need anything to write on. ¡°I will talk about the letters in the alphabet then I will say some simple words.¡± ¡°You can begin whenever you want.¡± ¡°There are twenty six letters in our alphabet. Fortunately our language is a phonetic one which makes it easy to learn how to write just by knowing how to speak.¡± If what she says is true then their language will be easier to learn especially because the spoken language is almost the same as the written one. ¡°I see, that good indeed.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s begin with the letters.¡± Since there was nothing to write on I will have to listen to what she says. ¡°The demon language¡¯s alphabet consists of 26 letters, each having an uppercase and a lowercase form, and several punctuation marks. The letters are A, B, C-¡° In other words it¡¯s almost like the Latin alphabet. ¡°The letters go from A to Z, right?¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Impressive, you are right. This might be a coincidence but you seem to know about our alphabet. Do you also know how to write?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°I will demonstrate how to write them down, follow my finger motions.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± Astrid showed me how to write the letters by moving her index finger in the air. She is using her right arm which means that she is probably right handed. Most of the letters were written the same as those in English; the only difference is that the letters were made by piecing vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines together. ¡°Is there something you want me to show you again?¡± ¡°No, I got it.¡± ¡°I expected no less from someone like you. In my life I¡¯ve rarely encountered a human who used polite speech. For someone like you who learnt this over complicated language of humans learning our language will be much easier.¡± ¡°Thanks for the praise.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not praise; I am merely stating the truth. Regardless, it looks like this is the end for today.¡± ¡°Wait, what? Am I really that boring? I actually wanted to her more. ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Somebody is coming.¡± My eyes aren¡¯t as good as her so I don¡¯t see anybody coming, then again neither could she, which means she heard somebody coming here. Okay concentrate¡­I hear footsteps, female footsteps. Judging by the almost lack of noise they make it should be either Maria or Liliana. ¡°Maria told me that you would be here.¡± Yep, it was Liliana all right. There are only three people who are that paranoid or cautious and one of them is working for Jaden. ¡°Good evening miss.¡± ¡°Liliana, it¡¯s unusual for you to come out yourself; is there something going on?¡± ¡°It might have something to do with the fact that you are here.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like I have anything better to do.¡± ¡°Act like a boy your age.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to ask this of you Alexander; how old are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m almost eight years old.¡± ¡°It is strange indeed. You look like a human adult.¡± Well, what can I say? ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°I am 530 years old. I am one of the Lost Kind.¡± Well, I don¡¯t know how much a vampire is supposed to live but I think that she is quite old. ¡°What¡¯s that about the Lost Kind?¡± ¡°She¡¯s a survivor of the last demon war.¡± ¡°How many years ago was the last demon war?¡± ¡°The most recent documents state that the last demon war ended 500 years ago.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Okay, second question: Why is she here?¡± ¡°The paladins did not tell me the reason.¡± ¡°There was somebody I had to save. I planned to return home after I finished but your kind caught me and brought me here.¡± ¡°Well I guess it¡¯s understandable. People learned to fear demons.¡± ¡°What about you Alexander, do you fear me?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say that I do.¡± ¡°HO, why is that?¡± ¡°Because I know that you can¡¯t kill me.¡± ¡°I am currently locked in a cage, killing you is impossible.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not an ordinary human, there¡¯s only one way to kill me and that¡¯s a secret.¡± ¡°Alex, it¡¯s time to go. Some paladins will stand guard, if they catch you alone they will lock you up too.¡± ¡°Then I will see you later.¡± ¡°Good night.¡± Liliana and I left the basement. On my way out we encountered two paladins. They tried to question us but Liliana brushed them off, this time they were on her territory. ¡°Alex, what time is it?¡± ¡°According to my watch it¡¯s 11:30. Wow, time really goes by when you do something.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the upper limit. I will allow you to visit the vampire but you have to make sure you leave by then.¡± ¡°OK, if that¡¯s the only condition then it¡¯s fine with me.¡± ¡°Well then, good night Alex.¡± ¡°Good night.¡± The next day I went to visit Astrid again. ¡°Good day to you.¡± ¡°Hello.¡± ¡°Before I continue I want to ask you something; can you still see my true form?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I see. Then let¡¯s continue. I will tell you some words and their meaning: Rehtom.¡± Rehtom, what am I supposed to understand from that unless¡­If I am right then that word actually means [mother] just said backwards. ¡°So what does it mean?¡± ¡°Mother.¡± ¡°I expected that much.¡± ¡°I take it that you figured something out from what I just said.¡± ¡°I think that I may know some words.¡± ¡°Then it will take less time than expected.¡± Contrary to my opinions not every word in demon language was a word in English written and spoken backwards, just the majority. Astrid told me the common words and their meaning. There are words for certain events or action, for example there is a term, fairy dust, which means: a place devastated by elves and fairies. ¡°So tell me a little about demons.¡± ¡°The demon species are the most diversified species on the planet. Despite being stronger than other races the demon species possesses less intelligence than the other races.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that you could say the same about you.¡± ¡°I am a vampire; our ancestors were humans who were transformed into half-beings. As a race we are unwelcome in Reich and Teufel alike.¡± ¡°I want to know; how does a demon increase its power.¡± ¡°Demons, beastmen, fairies and the fishkin increase their power by killing. I myself am intrigued by this phenomenon because it appears that humans are unable to increase their power this way.¡± In this situation I¡¯m supposed to say something to defend my kind but she is right. ¡°What about humans?¡± ¡°Humans possess a certain skill, adaptability. Humans can adapt to any situations faster than any other species.¡± ¡°I see. I want to know, is there a ranking system for demons?¡± ¡°There aren¡¯t ranks but we do use titles. The highest title is the Demon Lord. The most powerful demon alive is the Demon Lord; a demon can become a Demon Lord if it succeeds killing the current one. Other than that there are Low Level, Normal, Advanced and Superior Demons.¡± Okay. So the Demon Lord is the strongest demon there is but what¡¯s the difference between the titles? What¡¯s her title then? ¡°Astrid, what¡¯s your title?¡± ¡°My title? I am a Superior Demon.¡± Well I could have guessed as much, as expected from a demon I couldn''t scan. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between titles?¡± ¡°Demons are born with one of those titles. A demon has to evolve in order change its title. After certain requirements are met a demon will evolve.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s say that a demon wolf wants to evolve into a black demon wolf; what title does he get?¡± ¡°A demon wolf is a Low Level Demon. Once a demon wolf evolves and becomes a pack leader he receives the title of Normal Demon.¡± ¡°Are there other titles?¡± ¡°Yes. Certain individuals from a race possess unique titles. Among vampires I am called a Temptress.¡± So is she something like a slut or she just takes advantage of her beauty to get what she wants? Regardless it¡¯s about time to move, I wouldn¡¯t want to get caught by the paladins. Paying a visit A few months have passed since I met Astrid. I am now in the middle of June. These past months I learnt how to hold a conversation with a demon, both formal and informal. It was hard as first; because the words are reversed it contradicts everything I learnt in my past life and getting it right was the hardest part. She was looking at me with such pity in her eyes that even I felt sorry for her. Once I got that straight everything else was a piece of cake. Maria told me that school ends on the last day of July and starts on the first day of October. I never asked when school ends because this doesn¡¯t really seem like a school. I will have two months to start my plan to improve the school with blackboards. The daily visits I pay to Astrid left a bitter taste in Maria¡¯s mouth which motivated her to try harder, which meant harsher training for me. To be fair, I¡¯m not complaining, if I¡¯m not reminded how weak I am compared to others I may make a mistake that could get someone killed. At the moment I¡¯m training with Maria. She wants me to use weapon enchantment technique. The last time I fought her I saw her using body enchantment on both her body and dagger, something I can¡¯t do. Every time I use Black Blood and try to enchant my weapon the magic refuses to listen to me. Maria however keeps telling me to try again. ¡°Again!¡± Maria told me to try enchanting a dagger. I¡¯ve been at this for two hours and I¡¯ve no progress. I tried coating the dagger in magic, FAIL! I tried enchanting the dagger itself, FAIL! ¡°This is pointless. I¡¯ve been at this for two hours and NOTHING happened. Since I discovered Black Blood my magic manipulation got better but situation remains the same as before. Shadow Step and Dash are useful but impractical and that can be said for this too.¡± Now she looks disappointed. Look at me like that; I don¡¯t have any idea left. I was at my wit¡¯s end and Maria isn¡¯t helping me. ¡°Are you planning to give up?¡± ¡°What can I do, can you tell me? I¡¯m out of ideas and trying the same thing again and again isn¡¯t working.¡± ¡°Do you want to end this?¡± ¡°Actually yes, I want to end this.¡± ¡°Very well, then this will be all.¡± I really want to put an end to this pointless training¡­Shit; she was talking about today¡¯s training and not our relationship, right? What should I do now? WHAT¡¯S THAT? I felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck which means there¡¯s someone here I can¡¯t see¡­BEHIND ME! When I turned around I thought I saw someone on the boy¡¯s dorm rooftop. I used total recall to make sure that there was somebody up there. Apparently it was; Mir was there. Usually I can¡¯t detect her which means that she either got sloppy or she is distracted. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I saw Jaden¡¯s maid for a second on the dorm¡¯s rooftop. It¡¯s strange because I usually can¡¯t sense her even if she is standing behind me, during the night that is.¡± ¡°Do you take it as a bad omen?¡± ¡°Not really; it just seemed strange, that¡¯s all.¡± Now that I came to an understanding with Maria I will go back to my room. Maybe I will figure something out later. ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going back to the dorm. We are finished there, right?¡± ¡°I thought you were going to sleep with me again.¡± ¡°I thought that you wouldn¡¯t let me.¡± ¡°As a teacher I am disappointed in you but as a person nothing has changed. When you figure something you will come to me and I will be waiting.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go inside.¡± This was one of the two major things that happened this month. The second one was an invitation from Jaden. He is visiting his parents and he wanted me to come with him. As the good friend I am I told Jaden that I will tell him my answer later. My sister is one year old this month but I don¡¯t feel like going home. On the last day of school I decided to talk to Jaden about this visit. We were in the dorm room. ¡°So, when do we leave?¡± ¡°Monday morning; I want to get home before it gets dark.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Monsters come out at night.¡± Unless there is a magic barrier around the house I can¡¯t scan then it means that this is a pretty peaceful location. ¡°How long are we staying?¡± ¡°About one week.¡± ¡°So where is your house?¡± ¡°Cylon City. Didn¡¯t I tell you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you invite Saya?¡± OOOH, embarrassment overdose. When I mentioned her name he reddened and broke eye contact with me. He was trying to say something but he couldn¡¯t. ¡°Does she have something else planned?¡± ¡°Y¡­Yeah.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I will keep you company.¡± Well that was a sudden mood shift. He changed from embarrassed to relieved and then to happy. As his only true friend it¡¯s my duty to leech off him. ¡°Anyway we leave at 8 in the morning.¡± ¡°Understood; if that¡¯s all I will take my leave.¡± ¡°It¡¯s almost midnight; where are you going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going back to Maria¡¯s room.¡± The night before the trip arrived. I was lying in bed with Maria. ¡°Tomorrow I¡¯m going with Jaden to visit his home. I think I will be staying a week.¡± ¡°Saya refused to come?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what he told me. What do you think about it?¡± ¡°A change of scenery might do you some good. I support your decision. But why did you ask me?¡± ¡°I just wanted to talk to you, there¡®s no logical reason behind this.¡± ¡°Good night then.¡± ¡°Yeah, good night.¡± The next morning I woke up at 7 and double checked everything. ¡°For someone with perfect memory aren¡¯t you a little too excited.¡± It seems that I actually made enough noise to wake Maria up. ¡°Sorry. I was just checking. I¡¯m a pessimist at heart; I always expect everything to go wrong.¡± Well everything is fine. I guess I should relax, too bad I can¡¯t. That memory of Mir on the rooftop makes me feel like something is going to go down. I guess I will have to wait and see. ¡°Right on time, as expected of you Alex¡­Where¡¯s your luggage?¡± Jaden was already waiting for me with Mir. There were two bags with clothes, I guess it¡¯s one per person. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I stored it all.¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°Dark magic thing, you wouldn¡¯t understand. So are we going to walk? ¡° ¡°A carriage is supposed to arrive.¡± ¡°Nice, I always wanted to visit the city.¡± ¡°We are not going that far. My house is in the outskirts.¡± ¡°Well shit.¡± ¡°It¡¯s here!¡± Is it strange that I expected something a little more better looking. That carriage looked like somebody took a cart the first cart they found and put a roof on it, not that I was planning on riding that in the first place. The driver was an old man with white hair. He was wearing formal clothes most likely for the sake of appearance¡¯s sake. ¡°So are you getting in?¡± ¡°No, I will walk.¡± ¡°Are you crazy; that is not a walking distance!¡± ¡°We will see about that.¡± ¡°Fine, suit yourself.¡± I can handle some walking and I actually want to see my current limit. Jaden went inside the carriage. Mir put the luggage inside and went to sit with the driver and that¡¯s when we left. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.Depending on the carriage¡¯s speed we will reach the city in a few hours. When I first came here the knight¡¯s carriage driver was going Need for Speed style. After an hour passed Mir decided to speak. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to get inside?¡± We were going a little faster than expected so instead of walking I was jogging. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I can still keep up. If something happens I can always take off my bracelet.¡± ¡°You always have it on, even when you are sleeping.¡± ¡°With it on my body is under constant pressure so it¡¯s like I¡¯m training also my body actually gets stronger if I keep it on so it¡¯s good for me.¡± ¡°I see. Well, be sure to tell me if you change your mind.¡± Why would I get inside and miss this beautiful scenery. On my left trees, on my right more trees and in front of me a road and more tress. I want to map this area and this is the quickest method since I can¡¯t fly or teleport. Tick tock, tick tock; time passes but the end is still not in sight. The mediation technique Ellen taught is one the most useful things I know, without it I would be too bored to live through all this. ¡°I think we are close to Cylon City.¡± ¡°Yes, however we will not enter the city. It¡¯s better to see for yourself.¡± For some reason the driver doesn¡¯t speak; it looks like he has something to say but he doesn¡¯t say anything, oh well I will leave it be. So I can finally see the city. So if I take a right there I will be on the road that leads to my home village. Instead of going in the village we went left which led us to a wheat field. After almost twenty minutes we reached the house *ahem* mansion. A building made out of stone and concrete. I was built in a federal style. The mansion was plain looking but still better than any peasant¡¯s house. It looks like it has two floors plus the ground floor and an excessive number of windows. Our welcoming committee was composed of five maids and four butlers, a man and a woman. He was a chubby, almost two meters tall, forty-one years old man. He had short, black hair and brown eyes. John Dan, so he¡¯s Jaden¡¯s father. Unlike Jaden his father looks very alert; he seems like the kind of man who notices every detail. As for his mother I could describe it with one word: beautiful. Amelia Dan, forty years old. She was thin, as tall as her husband, thin had a gentle face and long golden hair. Unlike her husband her aura makes her feel like mature and approachable. But most importantly she has a big chest. It¡¯s strange that both of them were wind magic users only. One element means you are either very strong or very weak. Both of them were wearing formal clothes. The father was wearing an outfit resembling a black tuxedo and the mother was wearing an orange dress. And here I was in my black demon wolf clothes, I should have chosen something else to wear. ¡°Welcome to our estate; my name is John Dan, it¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± Pointless body motions, fake smile and violation of personal space, he is trying to see if I back down or not. I looked him in the eye and delivered a firm handshake. ¡°My name is Alexander Lowe, thank you for having me.¡± ¡°Very good young man, I think we will get along just fine.¡± ¡°This beauty over here is my wife Amelia.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you.¡± ¡°My name is Alexander Lowe; the pleasure is mine.¡± Jaden was standing there becoming part of the scenery looking confused. ¡°Please come inside, Mir will take your luggage.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I trust that you¡¯ve heard of The Null.¡± ¡°Yes, but I did not know that you can store anything more than a weapon.¡± ¡°I¡¯m able to store a lot more than the average person.¡± ¡°That seems convenient to say the least.¡± ¡°Yes it is.¡± When I entered the mansion the bling hit me in the face. Every piece of furniture was made using the most expensive materials and almost everything was gold plated. First there was a big hallway. On the left and right were doors meaning that there were rooms there. At the other end of the hallway was a staircase leading to the first floor. It¡¯s a strange architecture but it¡¯s not really anything to complain about. ¡°It¡¯s very¡­luxurious.¡± ¡°All I want is to have the best for my family.¡± I think that he took it the wrong way. ¡°I was just thinking how big the difference between this house and mine is.¡± ¡°Where do you live?¡± ¡°I live with my parents in Hyne village; we were doing fine.¡± ¡°The village is known for the craftsmen living there. You said you live there¡­could you be the son of Kraft and Ellen?¡± ¡°Yes, I am!¡± I was happy that he knows me. Then again; how does he know me? ¡°We heard about a kid that released a catwoman from slavery and persuaded the village elder to let her live in the village.¡± Amelia answered my question with a smile on her face. ¡°Wait, you did what?¡± Jaden, as always is surprised by my actions. If I were to meet someone like me nothing would impress me anymore. ¡°Her owner deserved much worse but I thought that losing both the products he bought and his slave would be enough for him.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t heard all the details but the people said that you defended her on several occasions.¡± ¡°I tend to treat people the way they treat me and the catwoman treated me well plus she is a person dear to me.¡± ¡°In a way that way of thinking is going to get you into trouble.¡± ¡°You came a long way; how about having something to eat first.¡± The room on the left was the dining room; a big room with a long table in the middle. The room was fairly furnished.There were two light crystals and three heat crystals. I had a bowl chicken soup and some steak. Compared to Ellen¡¯s cooking this food barely has any taste. ¡°Is something wrong Alex?¡± ¡°I guess he does not like the food. He said that the food they serve at school isn¡¯t good, I think that¡¯s the reason why.¡± ¡°Dear, where are your manners?¡± ¡°It¡¯s true though.¡± ¡°Your mother must be an experienced cook. It is said that those who cook during their adventures become great cooks, I think that it may be the case.¡± ¡°You may be right.¡± During the evening we stayed in the dining room talking about various things. At first they asked me questions about my life, my parents and my grades in school. Apparently Mir was giving them a status report each month; I guess that¡¯s also a way of showing parental love. ¡°Alexander; how old are you?¡± ¡°I will be eight this August.¡± Why do they look so surprised? I thought Mir told them my age. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that you were rather developed for your age, it looks like the rumors are true.¡± ¡°It is recommended that you go to sleep early after travelling; I purpose we stop here for today and go to sleep. Mir, please show Alexander to his room.¡± ¡°Certainly.¡± My room was on the first floor, on the left side of the hallway. The room had a table, a bed and a wardrobe. It looked like a normal guest room. I will sleep a little and then take a walk outside. It may be my pessimism but I¡¯m sure that nothing bad will happen¡­or so I thought. Nocturnal Raid ¡°KYAAAAAAA!¡± A screaming woke me up in the middle of the night; I think it came from the ground floor. I jumped out of the bed and rushed outside. It¡¯s a good thing I was too lazy to change my clothes or else I would be forced to fight in my pajamas without any real protection. I started hearing footsteps, somebody was coming here; three people were coming. Since my room is on the left side of the mansion they will probably come here and I don¡¯t have any time to hide. ¡°Alex!¡± I heard Jaden calling me. The voice was coming from the stairs so Jaden was one of the people coming upstairs. Look, the whole family is here; did I miss the pajama party? Seeing them scared like that was strange. Unlike them I was calm or simply I didn¡¯t care that much about what¡¯s happening. ¡°What was that scream?¡± ¡°One of our maids was attacked. Fortunately she was put to sleep and her life is not in danger.¡± Jaden¡¯s father answered. ¡°Then what are we waiting for, let¡¯s go outside!¡± The first thing we need to do is to get out in the open. In this closed space we are sitting ducks and I don¡¯t have any room to move. Why did the three of them come here, just one would have been enough. Now that they are all exposed to danger they became targets and I can¡¯t protect them and fight at the same time. ¡°Alexander, BEHIND YOU!¡± Jaden¡¯s mother screamed while pointing at something behind me. I felt something approaching me and tried to dodge. The lack of space made me crash into the wall and something pierced the back of my neck. ¡°AAAAAARGH!¡± FUCK, I felt a pain surge so powerful that I blacked out for a moment there. Since I was facing the stairs I tried swinging my right arm wide as possible trying to him however was behind me. *THUD* Let the bodies hit the floor, and the wall in the process. I took out what appears to be a dagger from the back of my neck. I can feel the blood coming out of my wound; I need to scan myself to see what the damage is. It can¡¯t be¡­it¡¯s not working, my scan isn¡¯t working. Shit this isn¡¯t the time to panic¡­That¡¯s what I would like to say but I can¡¯t; my whole body¡¯s stiff, my heart feels like it¡¯s going to stop and my throat was sore. At least I can use Black Blood to¡­¡­I can¡¯t activate it, that dagger must have been a silver dagger, only those have that kind of effect. I can move a little; let¡¯s see the face of the bitch who did this to me. I turned around to see the one responsible for this. I can¡¯t be true; the one who attacked me was Mir. One of the few people I decided to trust just attacked me. If I think of it from another angle it actually makes sense; a steel dagger would¡¯ve dealt more damage to me but demons and half breeds are weak to silver. ¡°Alex, what are you doing; come here now!¡± ¡°SHUT UP JADEN!¡± For fuck¡¯s sake! I can¡¯t think straight and now I have to deal with Mir stabbing me too and Jaden¡¯s shot calling isn¡¯t helping me. Wait¡­Somebody else is here. On the other side of the hallway a man in black clothes appeared. He had a mask on his face but judging by the clothes he¡¯s here for the same reason as Mir. He looks like an average man, if only I had my scan ability I would have known how dangerous he is for sure. Why is he putting his right hand behind his back? Even if he takes out a dagger I think I can take him¡­or not. Shit! He threw a knife at Jaden. Even without Black Blood I can catch that knife in time. ¡°Shield us, Air Wall!¡± Amelia used wind magic to create a protective sphere around them. It would be impossible to see by the naked eye but I can see the outline a little. I can reach that dagger before it reaches the shield. I dashed and caught the knife with my right hand or so I believed until I heard the knife hitting the Air Wall. I think that my depth perception is gone. ¡°Eliminate him, Wind Blade!¡± John sent out a wind wave. That wave is going to hit me if I don¡¯t move. I jumped a little to the left and watched the so called Blade cut the assassin in two. This guy must be at least an advanced practitioner; the cut was so clean that the blood started flowing out of his body only after the upper body fell down. ¡°Alexander, let¡¯s go!¡± Amelia took my hand and started running towards the exit. On the ground floor the butlers and the maids were on the floor. There was no blood which means that none of them have been killed. When we got outside my instincts told me that we are in deep shit. My condition is getting worse, even standing up hurts. ¡°Where is Mir? We were almost killed and she disappeared.¡± I was already holding my head trying to ease the pain; I don¡¯t want to deal with Jaden again. ¡°Mir was on the first floor, she was the one who attacked me.¡± ¡°You are wrong; she wouldn¡¯t do something like that, she is not working for them anymore. You must have-¡° I wanted to grab his neck but my lack of depth perception made me hit his neck. I feel bad that I stopped when I felt his skin but at least I got him to shut up. ¡°I know what I saw. She was the one who did this to me. Look at it!¡± I turned around and showed Jaden the wound. Everyone was surprised by that wound and fact that I wasn¡¯t dead yet. ¡°But something like that is impossible.¡± Said John while examining my wound. ¡°It¡¯s not impossible for me. I¡¯m not immortal, just difficult to kill. Now that we got this out of the way; how about you show your face? You; the one standing in front of the gate.¡± ¡°HO, I didn¡¯t think that you would be able to detect me.¡± Exactly as I said, a man appeared in front of the gate blocking our escape. It was a man in a black outfit, like a ninja without the mask. He wasn¡¯t muscular, just toned. He couldn¡¯t be called ugly but that expression on his face, he looks like the kind of guy that would find his greatest pleasure in torturing people. ¡°I¡¯ve been paid to kill you. When that maid failed to kill you I thought that she was weak but after seeing you up close I understand why she failed.¡± ¡°You are not getting away with this.¡± ¡°Shut your mouth. Take this!¡± He just threw two knifes at them. The throwing knives appeared out of nowhere which means that he took them out of The Null; as expected an assassin is a dark magic user. Amelia can¡¯t erect another barrier in time and dodging is out of the question. I went in front of them and opened my arms wide. As I expected I got one knife for each arm. This jacket is better than expected; I only got some flesh wounds. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± What is he¡­Ha ha ha! The knives were poisoned. My head was hurting even worse and my body felt sluggish. ¡°Really, poison?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a sedative; lethal poison work so much slower than this. Don¡¯t worry I will kill you right now.¡± ¡°What makes you think you will get the chance?¡± John tried to stand up for me but it was too late. Somehow Mir, who should¡¯ve been knocked out was behind Jaden, threatening him with a dagger. ¡°Since you are going to kill me tell me one thing; How did you make Mir do this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m impressed! It¡¯s a curse, more powerful than a slave a mark and more importantly it¡¯s undetectable. She is conscious of her actions but can¡¯t stop, how hilarious is that?¡± Okay, this bitch is going down even if I have to bite him to death. ¡°You can call me Puppeteer. I¡¯m a member of the underground who just got ownership of that whore over there with the condition of killing that family. I will tell you something good: if you kill me her curse will disappear.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get to it.¡± I pulled the throwing knives out of my arms; at least I can use them as weapons. The man pulled out a dagger from The Null. I¡¯ve got to keep my calm, focus on defense and let the injury Mir gave me heal. He looks like the type who doesn¡¯t go all out from the begging so I will use this to my advantage. ¡°Well somebody is eager to die, try to kill me if you can.¡± My head hurts, my arms were shaking and I could barely see anything but it¡¯s better than becoming his plaything. I just have to wait until my first injury is healed. He dashed at me aiming his first strike at my neck. The moment I blocked it he went for my left side with a second dagger. I blocked it with the knife in my left hand; during that time the dagger in his left hand disappeared. He grabbed my right arm with his left and stabbed me in the abdomen however I was fast enough to hit a pressure point on his right arm with the knife. That should be enough to slow him down; I hope that the poison got on him too. He took a few steps back and attacked again. I blocked his dagger with the knives. When I blocked his attack he spun around and aimed his attack at my face. I avoided the attack by jumping to the side and then I stabbed his right arm. It looks like I¡¯m getting a little better; this might be the chance to finish him. When he realized that I managed to hurt him again he entered a blood rage attacking me without stopping. He tried to attack my head, I jumped backwards. After that he tried to attack my neck; I got down, closed the distance between us and stabbed both the left and right side of his upper body. Once he entered rage mode his attacks were sloppy enough to let me use Hay¡¯tok against him. After a few minutes I recovered enough to start moving around when dodging his attacks like I was supposed to do. It¡¯s funny; he is so mad that he doesn¡¯t even try to attack my weak spots; he just wants to hit me and for the better or worse he is actually doing great; one out three attacks actually hit me; most of them only damaged my jacket but I got hit nevertheless. ¡°Why do you look so surprised, did you think that I will just stand still and let you kill me?¡± ¡°Yeah, I think it¡¯s time we finish this. Attack him!¡± Suddenly I got stabbed in the back. I looked too see how was the attacker¡­.Mir; of course, she was the only one who could have done that. I was able to avoid a serious injury but the act itself slowed me down. Look at those eyes, there was so much grief in her eyes, she must have been screaming internally long before the battle started. After Mir backed away I saw the Puppeteer¡¯s body covered in dark magic and the dagger¡¯s blade color changed, it became black. Damn, I want my powers back. ¡°Say goodbye kid!¡± He disappeared and reappeared behind me. He hit me with his dagger, ripping through my clothes like they were nothing. The cut was big, it cut in a straight line; fortunately it didn¡¯t feel like it was a deep cut. ¡°AARGH!¡± My front side was cut by Mir. Most of the assassin¡¯s use dark magic because it¡¯s mainly used for surprise attacks but Mir can use wind magic for this purpose. I¡¯ve never seen her use a technique like that, it looks like a Shadow Dash used with wind magic. Both Mir and the Puppeteer started attacking me at the same time. The pattern is simple: they dash, cut me and then swap places. I had a hard time dealing with the Puppeteer alone; now that Mir is helping him I have no chance to attack. They got me pinned down and I¡¯m too busy trying to block their attacks to focus on restoring my magic powers. After numerous attempts Mir finally managed to attack at the same time as the Puppeteer throwing me off balance. The Puppeteer took advance of the opportunity and tried to finish me. The dagger was getting closer and closer to my neck; it looks like I will be defeated again. Oh well, if he doesn¡¯t find the way to kill me I will wait until I heal. ¡°I hope you enjoyed the show!¡± The dagger was closer to me¡­YO WAIT! If I can see that the dagger is getting closer it means that my depth perception is back which means that I still have a way to turn this around. I can¡¯t block the dagger but I can catch the blade but that¡¯s not going to be enough to stop him. I can try throwing one of the knives at him before stopping his dagger; maybe I can hit him in the eye. I threw the knife in my right hand at the Puppeteer and caught his dagger before he had the chance to finish me but not all went according to plan, he caught the knife I threw at him and stabbed me in the chest with it. I managed to move a little so he missed the heart but I don¡¯t understand how he was able to do that with an arm that he wasn¡¯t supposed to be able to use. ¡°This is the power of magic, my arm shouldn¡¯t be usable and yet I just stabbed you. What are you going to do?¡± ¡°Exactly what you did to me!¡± The fool didn¡¯t realize that I grabbed his arm with my left hand. I had to drop the other knife I had but the dagger he has will be my weapon. I disarmed him and stabbed him in the chest. He tried to dodge but my normal strength was enough to stop him from running away. In his struggle to run away the Puppeteer freed himself but the resulting force made his wound worse because it¡¯s always a good idea to move around when you the dagger you got stabbed with is still in you. ¡°YOU¡­I WILL KILL YOU!¡± ¡°No you won¡¯t. Wind Blast!¡± A projectile came from behind me; a wind projectile that hit the Puppeteer throwing him into the fence. *cough* *couch* my body can¡¯t handle much more of this. I think it¡¯s time to kill this guy and get this over with before I pass out from lack of blood. The Outcome Now the Puppeteer is down Mir stopped moving. It looks like without vocal commands the curse is useless. WOW, John¡¯s timing was magnificent; all that¡¯s left is to finish the job. I really want to see what trick will get him out of this mess. ¡°I think it¡¯s over.¡± ¡°No it¡¯s not. He is still breathing, a mistake I will fix in a second.¡± ¡°Leave him; blood loss will kill him anyway.¡± ¡°I still want to make sure that he dies. Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t take long.¡± John wanted me to stop; maybe he doesn¡¯t want to see a kid killing another human being. I just realized something, my powers are coming back. My eyes are able to identify the Puppeteer¡¯s threat level which means that my internal injuries are healed. I just want to check it: Threat Level 3. The idiot just had to go easy on me. Well, it looks like I escaped instant death. Then again the difference between levels is big; Mir was a Threat Level 3 since I¡¯ve known her and her level didn¡¯t go down. ¡°You¡­*cough* *cough*¡­are going down. Kill¡­him.¡± That bitch still has enough energy to talk? With that hole in his chest it¡¯s actually amazing that he can still speak; what¡¯s not amazing is that now I¡¯m going to fight with Mir again. Okay, let¡¯s do it¡­or not? I was getting ready, prepared to get stabbed and cut again but she¡¯s not moving or she can¡¯t move. While I was thinking about possible scenarios to explain Mir¡¯s behaviour I saw her falling down. The Puppeteer¡¯s curse must have taken control of her body. There was something coming from her head, it looked like blood; if I¡¯m right Mir fought me while being unconscious, it would explain why she was so weak. ¡°That¡¯s¡­not¡­possible.¡± HOO; look who¡¯s scared. Nice tone you have there, now that you don¡¯t have any puppets left it looks like you learnt how it feels to be afraid. ¡°You better pray to God and ask him to come and help and maybe you may get away.¡± The dagger was going towards his head. I was planning to stab him in the head to make sure there will be no way for him to live. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t consider myself God but I can definitely help this man.¡± A man wearing the same clothes as the Puppeteer was standing in front of the gate. He was definitely a man but I couldn¡¯t see his face because of the mask he was wearing. I don¡¯t know if I could call it a mask, there was something covering his face but there were no eye, mouth or nose sockets, just something that he wore on his face. He was big and muscular. Let¡¯s see what I can find about him. Hmm¡­Daniel, no last name; Threat Level 10; Race: Human; Master Assassin; Light and Dark magic user. Shit! Please don¡¯t! I¡¯m not even going to try angering him; I will just hope that he is here to kill the Puppeteer. ¡°Are you here to kill us?¡± ¡°Unfortunately I came here to take that man away. The power over that woman is something he wasn¡¯t supposed to take from us so I will punish my subordinate as any leader would do.¡± In an instant the Puppeteer got swallowed by the darkness and appeared in Daniel¡¯s arms. He put the body over his shoulder. ¡°If you want to kill him, can¡¯t you at least do it here?¡± I wasn¡¯t going to let him escape. If I can delay him enough I may be able to use Black Blood for a second and throw the two shivs I have stored in the Null. ¡°It is not going to be that pleasant. A swift death is something this man deserves. I will take what¡¯s mine and then I will punish him.¡± ¡°How did he get control over Mir¡¯s curse in the first place?¡± ¡°I gave this man a mission and he requested help from somebody who is not, let¡¯s say, very fond of me. I disposed of that man; it was a pity, good members are hard to find.¡± ¡°If you ask me that guy wasn¡¯t very good.¡± ¡°The curse requires a certain psychological training to fully control; he went here unprepared, that¡¯s entirely his fault.¡± ¡°You sure are telling me lots of interesting things; do you think it¡¯s wise?¡± ¡°If I were to tell you that our hideout is a spacious place would you be able to identify the right one.¡± ¡°If I live long enough. I understand what you want to say but I still want that guy dead.¡± It¡¯ time to try. I took out the shivs from the Null, activated Black Blood and prepared to throw them at the Puppeteer¡¯s head. ¡°Do you think you are faster than me?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Why don¡¯t you tell me, DANIEL?¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± The tone in his voice changed. In the split second I had I threw the shivs at the body. He is going to jump if he wants to avoid them. Contrary to my expectations he didn¡¯t jump, instead he took a dagger and blocked the shivs sending them in the mansion¡¯s wall but I didn¡¯t stand and watch either. I still had a dagger in my hand. When I saw him holding the dagger I threw mine at the body. He wasn¡¯t able to stop the dagger in time. The dagger hit the Puppeteer¡¯s head, burying itself in there. This is such a pleasant sensation I¡¯m feeling. I can feel both happiness and relief at the same time, so much happiness that I couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!¡± ¡°I see, I thought that you just got lucky but I guess I was wrong. You did well indeed.¡± ¡°Thanks¡­¡± All my strength was gone and I was unable to stand. I guess this is the end of this fight. Without any strength left I fell on the ground and blacked out. ¡°There is nothing I can do anymore.¡± ¡°Are you going to kill my family now?¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s not why I came here and even that doesn¡¯t matter anymore. I will leave you alone.¡± ¡°Why? Isn¡¯t there a price on our heads?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen many people in my life and it¡¯s rare for me to be surprised like this. I fear that if I kill you this boy will undoubtedly find and take revenge.¡± ¡°Are you that afraid of him?¡± ¡°Your maid was one splendid assassin and the man that boy just killed was a talented man. After seeing that fight and seeing how he found out my name I¡¯m inclined to say that I don¡¯t want to see his full power.¡± ¡°What power are you talking about?¡± ¡°His wounds are starting to heal, and he avoided death a few times during this battle and most important of all, he mastered the lethal assassination art: Hay¡¯tok. I hope that he will get better soon. Now you will have to excuse me but I will have to take my leave.¡± The last thing I remember was passing out and now I woke up in the guest room with my upper body covered in bandages. I was wearing blue pajamas, pretty low quality too. It looks like it¡¯s evening; what day is it anyway? Judging by the date in the watch I¡¯d say that I slept for almost two days, basically it is Wednesday evening. Let¡¯s see if there¡¯s somebody in this house. Still in my pajamas I got up and went to the ground floor. There were voices coming from there, it looks like John¡¯s talking to somebody. ¡°If Alexander weren¡¯t with us we would have been dead. If it wasn¡¯t for Jaden you would have been fired; He believes the story but I don¡¯t know what to say.¡± Ah, I believe it¡¯s time for me to appear and save the day. If I were Jaden I would be pretty fucked up right now; if Mir were to leave Jaden would most likely go insane. When I entered the room I saw everybody there maybe expect Jaden. The maids and butlers seem to be all right, that good. ¡°Jaden, I told you to¡­Oh, it¡¯s you. You shouldn¡¯t be up right now.¡± John thought that I was Jaden. Is this a conversation Jaden isn¡¯t supposed to hear? It does concern him but whatever. ¡°Alexander, you were severely wounded; you should stay in bed until you are better.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Amelia tried to persuade me to go back but there is no need for me to go. ¡°I am fine. These two days were enough for me to heal.¡± ¡°There is no need to rush, stay in bed until you get better.¡± ¡°Alex, can I ask you something?¡± Surprisingly enough Mir actually talked. It¡¯s really interesting how everybody in the room looked at her like she just told a Christian that God doesn¡¯t exist. I on the other hand was calm, I don¡¯t really resent her and she is my precious friend. ¡°Sure, ask away.¡± ¡°I tried to kill you and yet you saved me, why?¡± ¡°To be honest your attack just slowed me down but it was not nearly enough to kill me. I know that you had no choice.¡± ¡°But I still attacked you. To atone for that I ask you to end my life.¡± Mir took out a dagger and presented it to me. Yo Yo Yo Yo, talk about radical decisions. Why does she think that I would accept killing her after rescuing her. ¡°Are you retarded?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Why are you so surprised? What gave you the stupid idea that I would even think about killing you after rescuing you? Whether it¡¯s a tradition or personal guilt it¡¯s not my problem, but don¡¯t try those things with me. After all the times we talked I really thought that you understood at least that.¡± And now they are giving me the same look. Sure, look at me like I¡¯m a hypocrite, I don¡¯t care. At least Mir looked relieved, that¡¯s good. ¡°I see. Then is there a way to earn your trust?¡± ¡°No, there isn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I guess that¡¯s to be expected.¡± ¡°I think you misunderstood something. It¡¯s not because of what you did; it¡¯s just my usual paranoia. If you are sorry then give me your hand.¡± ¡°Fine, but why?¡± ¡°So I can use my powers on you.¡± Mir extended her right arm. I took her hand and tried to scan her again. There was indeed something like a curse on her but it¡¯s gone now. If we don¡¯t count the head injury then she is perfectly fine, now she won¡¯t be able to use being controlled as an excuse anymore. What I don¡¯t understand is why her Threat Level increased to 4. Oh well, for now I¡¯m glad that nothing happened to her and there are no side-effects from the curse. ¡°Well, you are fine. Just don¡¯t forget that you aren¡¯t forgiven yet.¡± ¡°I know; I don¡¯t expect it to be easy.¡± ¡°Ahem. We still have to discuss the other matter, whether we still keep you here or not.¡± John really is furious. Then again she did participate in the attack. I have to convince him to give Mir another chance. ¡°I don¡¯t think firing Mir is a good idea. If Jaden wakes up tomorrow and he doesn¡¯t find her here I¡¯m sure that he will go crazy.¡± ¡°I have to ask you to stay out of this; this doesn¡¯t concern you Alexander.¡± ¡°YO, I think I just heard something unpleasant. When I was fighting the Puppeteer you just stood there. I saved your lives so I think that I can.¡± ¡°You are not wrong¡­One last chance, for our son.¡± ¡°Thank you very much.¡± ¡°See, it wasn¡¯t that hard.¡± That was easy. I think I¡¯ve done my good deed of the day. I turned around and prepared to leave the room when I remembered that I didn¡¯t get to ask how we got rid of Daniel. ¡°What happened to Daniel?¡± ¡°Somehow you were the reason he left; he said that he didn¡¯t want to kill any of us.¡± Mir answered my question¡­Wasn¡¯t she supposed to be unconscious or something? ¡°Weren¡¯t you supposed to be unconscious?¡± ¡°I woke up shortly after the Master came but I was too afraid to get up.¡± ¡°You should be. That guy was too strong to beat.¡± ¡°Alexander, if you are done I suggest that you rest for a while.¡± ¡°You want me out of here, I get it. I¡¯m leaving now.¡± Well; my job here is done. I might as well get some sleep, my magic isn¡¯t fully charged and there¡¯s nothing else to do here. I said that I would go to sleep but for some reason I can¡¯t. I was just lying in bed with my eyes closed. I think I took a nap but that¡¯s about it. I guess I will take a walk. When I opened my eyes I saw Mir sitting on the bed. He was staring at me for no reason. I guess I just found out why I couldn¡¯t sleep. ¡°Why are you here in the middle of the night?¡± ¡°I still had some questions.¡± ¡°This was one of the rare occasions that I really wanted to sleep. Oh well, ask away.¡± ¡°You called the Master [Daniel]; is that his real name?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t see his reaction; I thought you were watching.¡± ¡°I did not have the courage to move a muscle.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s his true name. Since your information gathering skill didn¡¯t help you I will tell you; magic allows me to see the name, race, magic elements and threat level of an enemy. Threat Level is usually a number varying from 1 to 10. It compares my target¡¯s power to mine and tells me the difference. It also work for other things but I¡¯m not about to tell you that.¡± ¡°If what you said is true then you also used magic on me when you asked me for my hand.¡± ¡°Yup. See it¡¯s not that hard.¡± ¡°I will take my leave now.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, please do. We have been through enough his for now.¡± I gave up on sleeping normally and just meditated the night away. This body is fine after four hours of sleep. Well, I guess I¡¯m banned from dreamland. The next morning I changed in my uniform, the only cool clothes I had left. Let¡¯s see if John kept his promise or not. Well it looks like everybody is here for breakfast. Despite what happened he really didn¡¯t fire Mir, Nice. ¡°Ah, you finally woke up Alex. I know this not the time to ask but why are you wearing the uniform?¡± WOW. That¡¯s the treatment I get after saving you. Well technically the Master spared their lives but whatever. ¡°Since my previous clothes were horribly cut I had no other choice. That and I kind of got used to wearing the uniform.¡± ¡°One last thing: Thank you!¡± Ha ha. He is making such a face; I get that he is thankful but he is looking at me like I¡¯m some god. He is the type of person that is happy with the ending and I¡¯m the type of person that thinks of what could have happened if the Master killed them. ¡°You better be thankful. That aside, let¡¯s eat breakfast; the week is not over.¡± Returning to school Why do people feel that they should be so formal when talking to a kid? I dislike people who use formal speech when talking to someone younger than them. In this world I am almost eight and seeing someone older than me using formal language while speaking to me makes me feel strange. At least there were two people who spoke to me normally: Jaden who is a kid and Mir who agreed to speak to me normally. I haven¡¯t noticed before but Mir doesn¡¯t care what the other employees think of her. I¡¯m really bored. I barely have anything to do. When I¡¯m not tutoring Jaden or having my late-night talks with Mir I get really bored. The great merchant John doesn¡¯t want to share any stories with me and Amelia kept changing the subject, Jaden doesn¡¯t even know how his parents meet and that¡¯s some scary shit. ¡°Alexander, I understand that you¡¯ve been tutoring Jaden for some time.¡± And he brings this up now. I don¡¯t know what priorities are and neither does he. ¡°Yes. School is easy for me so I don¡¯t need to study in private and so Jaden asked me to help him. Since I have a lot of free time I usually spend two or three hours tutoring him.¡± ¡°He certainly improved since he started his third year of school; as expected, being thought by someone who skipped two years.¡± So he knows some things I don¡¯t remember telling him and I don¡¯t think that Jaden did either. That means that Mir must have told them but she¡¯s with Jaden all the time¡­ ¡°Mir, how much information did you give John?¡± ¡°I give a weekly report.¡± I, for one would kill myself before working as a butler, maybe my way of thinking is flawed but I can¡¯t picture myself doing it. ¡°I really don¡¯t understand how anyone could stand working as a maid or butler.¡± ¡°It¡¯s an honourable job. Once I hit rock bottom I realized that living as a maid is better than being a female assassin or prostitute.¡± ¡°If you say it like that it¡¯s actually a valid point. Hmm¡­OH! I forgot to thank you for the warning!¡± ¡°Warning?¡± It seems that Mir herself hasn¡¯t realized. ¡°Remember the last training session I had before leaving?¡± ¡°Yes, I do.¡± ¡°During that time I felt your presence, you were on the rooftop.¡± ¡°I was, but how was that a warning?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t hide your presence. You see, I have the ultimate psychological combo; I¡¯m both pessimistic and paranoid; when I felt your presence I remembered what you said a few months ago and I thought that something will go down though I didn¡¯t expect something like this.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t realize I was that careless.¡± ¡°Excuse me for interrupting but I also have a question for Alexander.¡± Oh yeah, Amelia was here too. She usually is the quiet type so she is usually eclipsed by John. ¡°I¡¯m sorry Ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Alexander, I heard that helped Jaden get a girlfriend.¡± ¡°Yeah and I also beat the strongest student in school because he wasn¡¯t leaving them alone. He was a great guy, too bad he graduated; I¡¯m going to miss him.¡± ¡°From what Mir said I understand that you are popular, do you have a girlfriend?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I don¡¯t really get love and I haven¡¯t been in love yet. Maybe I¡¯m one of the guys that go lust over love.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how all men start, don¡¯t worry about it.¡± There weren¡¯t many things to talk about, just details they couldn¡¯t get from Mir. For such a big house there were little books. I thought that I would at least get the chance to read something. The books over here were just novels and books about precious gems and luxury in general. I wanted to read something interesting, something I won¡¯t be able to discover only by using my scan power. ¡°There is another matter left to discuss. We need to get you a new jacket.¡± Amelia left the room for a few minutes and came back with a black coat. It was a wool coat. It was made using black sheep wool and demon spider threads. It was weaker than the one Kraft gave but it looked better and it has gold buttons. It wasn¡¯t good but it sure looked good. Oh well, it¡¯s not my policy to say no to free things. It¡¯s not a jacket but it will do. ¡°This is a black wool coat. It¡¯s more of a clothing item than a defensive one but its durability and defense can be compared to that of a demon hide armor.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nice. I¡¯m grateful.¡± ¡°Well consider it a parting gift until we fix your jacket.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± ¡°We will fix your jacket. Black demon wolf hide isn¡¯t rare; we will find somebody skilled enough to fix it.¡± I could have told her to send it to my village but I doubt that they keep that kind of hide around. Well, at least my jacket is getting fixed. Saturday morning it was time to go back to school. However there was a change in plans, Jaden¡¯s parents decided to come with us, they said they had something to talk about with Liliana. Before we departed I had to choose between explaining why I want to travel on foot or to get in the carriage, so I got inside and waited for it to depart. This time we had two carriages both equally slow and ugly; for someone who had only luxurious furniture in his souse John really didn¡¯t care about transportation. We arrived back at the academy around lunchtime. Finally! I can¡¯t wait to tell Maria about what happened and maybe she knows the technique the Puppeteer used. There courtyard was deserted¡­Oh! Lucky, I saw Maria exiting the school building. She was wearing her casual clothes which means she wasn¡¯t busy. ¡°Heeey Maria!¡± I called her and waved my hand. When she saw me she came to greet me. ¡°Welcome back Alex, Jaden. Welcome Miss and Mister Dan.¡± ¡°We wish to talk with the headmistress, is she here?¡± ¡°Yes she is. I will take you to her.¡± On our way to Liliana I decided to tell Maria the short version of what happened last week. ¡°During the first night we were attacked by some assassins. They were powerful, especially the one that called himself the Puppeteer.¡± ¡°If he was that strong it means that you fought without that bracelet on your arm.¡± That is a good point. Between fighting Mir and the Puppeteer and trying to heal the wound on the back of my neck I forgot to take that of. ¡°Why are you making that face, did you seriously fight with that still on you?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­I forgot to take it off. At that time I wasn¡¯t thinking properly. Even if I fought without it the result would have been the same. I was on the verge of death a few times.¡± ¡°Why am I not surprised? I guess it¡¯s been some time since our last near-death experience.¡± said Maria with a smile on her face. Everyone was dumbfounded. Maria asked me to tell her all my near-death experiences in hope that she could make a better training program for me. After I told her how my parents did things and what I¡¯ve been through she isn¡¯t surprised by anything I say now. Well, it''s good to be back. ¡°Speaking of near-death experiences; how is Astrid?¡± ¡°The vampire is still in prison. You seem unusually interested in her well being.¡± ¡°She keeps telling me how she is going to escape; I just want to be there when that happens.¡± ¡°There are men keeping watch, I don¡¯t think she will be escaping anytime soon.¡± When we reached Liliana¡¯s office Maria told me and Jaden to stay behind with her, apparently they were discussing something that we aren¡¯t supposed to know. I really want to know. They told me about the vampire; why not tell me about this? Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°So, what¡¯s going on in there?¡± ¡°They are talking about a student. I have only heard bits and pieces. The headmistress said that nothing has been decided so she doesn¡¯t really care.¡± ¡°So she will tell us more if the matter is decided?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I believe. By the way, what¡¯s with that coat?¡± ¡°The jacket I had is in tatters so Jaden¡¯s parents gave this to me as a replacement. How do I look?¡± ¡°You look great, though I would have chosen a different color, grey maybe.¡± In my previous life people used to tell me that I looked better in grey rather than black when it came to formal clothing. I¡¯m going to tell her now while I¡¯m still interested. ¡°Maria, I want to start our training again.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± said Maria with a pleased voice. Basically I just admitted defeat. I want to ask Maria about that technique but that doesn¡¯t mean I will be able to do it. All I know is that the blade itself became black and its power increased. If I learn it I will get a huge boost. After almost one hour Jaden¡¯s parents finished talking with Liliana. I said talk but it sounded more like an argument between Liliana and John. They were so loud that I wasn¡¯t able to completely understand what they were saying. I heard that they were talking about a new student that transferred here or will transfer here. I spent the rest of the day helping Maria with her work. She puts up with me every day; helping her from time to time is the least I can do. Jaden¡¯s parents left in the evening. I guess now it is time to go back to my daily routine. At midnight I changed back in my uniform and headed to the courtyard where Maria was waiting. ¡°Did you find an answer?¡± ¡°No, I didn¡¯t. The man I fought, the Puppeteer used a technique where he empowered his dagger¡¯s blade with dark magic his blade changed its color.¡± When I said that I fought the Puppeteer Maria froze. She looked scared, was the title worth that much. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°You¡­killed the Puppeteer?¡± ¡°Yeah, the Master tried to save him but I didn¡¯t let him. I haven¡¯t felt that kind of pleasure in a long time.¡± ¡°This is not a laughing matter! If he decides to come after you I won¡¯t be able to help you.¡± ¡°It is true. Maria was a skilled assassin but not even she possesses the power necessary to stop me.¡± WHAT? I can¡¯t believe it, the Master appeared a few meters away from us. His voice didn¡¯t sound like he holds a grudge against me. Even if I were to fight with him I¡¯m bound to lose and so is Maria. Speaking of Maria, she was terrified. She was caught between her instincts, telling her to run, and her duty to protect me. She decided to take out her dagger and get ready to fight. I don¡¯t believe that he came here to kill us and if he did then I¡¯m not going to struggle. ¡°Maria, put that away, he is too powerful for the two of us.¡± ¡°But¡­He is¡­.¡± ¡°I am not here to cause you any trouble. I am merely here to see how the boy is doing. His powers are interesting, after all he did find out my identity.¡± ¡°Alex¡­¡± AAAAAAAAAH! My head hurts. I fell on my knees and put my hands on my head. The pain was strong but there was something else I was feeling, I was hearing the Master¡¯s voice in my head saying something about being afraid of my potential. There was another voice, John¡¯s voice. Am I remembering what happened after I blacked out? ¡°Alex! Alex!¡± Oh, it looks like Maria abandoned the idea of defending herself and rushed to my side. ¡°Hey Daniel, after I killed the Puppeteer did you talk to John¡¯s father?¡± ¡°Yes, I did. I don¡¯t believe you know what we discussed.¡± ¡°I do. When I saw you it all came back to me. I guess I will ask the stupid question again: Are you here to kill me?¡± ¡°No. I wanted to recruit you but since you are already studying under Maria there is no need for me to ask you. Before I depart I will give you a tip: If you want to use Blade Empowerment it will be easier to start by using both your hands when using the spell.¡± ¡°You are giving me precious information here; why?¡± ¡°Once you are stronger I will challenge you again, until then I will be watching you. Goodbye for know.¡± The Master disappeared the same way he appeared, by going inside shadows. Next to me Maria was hugging me tightly; she was still afraid. ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s over.¡± I told Maria after getting up and hugging her back. A few moments after the Master left Mir came here in her assassin clothing. She must have felt his presence and rushed here. Somehow I think that this might have gone south really fast if Mir arrived faster. ¡°Are you all right?¡± ¡°Yeah, I am. I think that Daniel is the kind of guy who loves challenges. He is not going to interfere but I¡¯m almost sure that I will have to face him.¡± ¡°It looks like Lady Maria still hasn¡¯t recovered.¡± ¡°Is it a common thing for people to freeze when they see him?¡± ¡°Yes. His aura has that kind of effect. Honestly speaking I¡¯m impressed that you didn¡¯t freeze.¡± After all I¡¯ve been through that guy¡¯s aura was nothing new to me. Thinking about it I usually calm down when I face really dangerous opponents. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong, I was afraid at first. When I face a powerful opponent or I¡¯m in a near-death situation I forcefully calm down, it¡¯s like an instinct.¡± ¡°If what you say is true then it could explain a lot of things.¡± ¡°Thank you Alex, I¡¯m all right now.¡± So Maria finally stopped shaking. After I let her go she regained her composure and looked around probably looking for the Master. ¡°Alex, what are going to do now?¡± ¡°You mean me being watched?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°If he sends somebody that nobody here can beat I will just go to the basement and free Astrid. If I free her I can ask her to help me in exchange for helping her.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t consider that a possibility.¡± Wait, where did Mir run of to? She was here a second ago. Oh well, it¡¯s not like there was anything more to do here. ¡°Alex, can we stop here?¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t recovered yet?¡± ¡°Unfortunately no, I will be fine after I get some sleep.¡± ¡°I¡¯m staying with you then.¡± ¡°For once I think I may need somebody to stay with me.¡± And here she goes again. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s with that guy¡¯s aura but I can tell that it is doing its job. I¡¯ve seen Chihuahua trembling less than Maria did that night. I¡¯m really fortunate that I only need three hours of sleep. I never thought I would see her that afraid of someone, seeing her like that made my skin crawl. Blade Empowerment Training Now I understand what my parents went through went I was little. Maria kept turning in her sleep and if that wasn¡¯t bad enough she was also trembling. I thought that hugging her would do some good but I also had to take care of her. When I woke up I saw Maria tidying up the room. It¡¯s summer break, can¡¯t she stop working for at least a day. On the other hand it¡¯s better to keep herself busy rather than remembering what she has been through. ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Morning.¡± ¡°It looks like I made quite a mess last night.¡± On the bed there were supposed to be blankets, sheets and pillows, things that now reside on the floor. The state of the bed reflects the state she was in last night. If Daniel wanted to talk to me he could have done that when I was alone. ¡°I will get up and help you with the bed.¡± ¡°OK.¡± For some reason Maria developed a habit of patting my head every time I offer to help her. Somehow the way difference between the way I act and the way I look was amusing for her. I am a kid in man¡¯s body and she finds that amusing. After making the bed Maria and I had breakfast. Apparently during breaks Maria eats in the girl¡¯s dorm; she says that the food is better here and she is right. The food here has some taste in comparison to the one served in the boy¡¯s dorm. The reason behind this is that boys should be taught to eat anything edible regardless of taste. Most men become adventurers or worse so they can¡¯t be picky eaters. Now what I need is a way to eat here even during school days, worst case scenario I will put on a skirt, nobody will notice I¡¯m a guy. ¡°There are more people today than yesterday, is it common for kids not to go back home?¡± ¡°What about you; why didn¡¯t you go home?¡± ¡°Well I am adopted.¡± ¡°And how¡¯s that relevant?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really want to go back and Lea is too young to even care if I¡¯m there or not.¡± ¡°You are going to stay here?¡± ¡°I have to read the books I saw in the library, learn demon and elven language and try to create that blackboard I told you about.¡± ¡°We have the materials here. In my opinion the biggest challenge will be to get the teachers to use them.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just take one step at a time, all right?¡± ¡°Where do you want to begin?¡± ¡°I am to actually start that training first.¡± ¡°Until midnight you can help me with some jobs.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± Maria asked me to help with some small job or rather requests. Most of them consisted of manual labor and maintenance. I have nothing to complain about, any effort I make makes my body stronger and seeing how I almost got killed twice this week I really need that training. Something strange happened when I helped Maria carry some accessories. In that pile of magic items was a ring that my scan said it increases the user¡¯s stamina when worn. I tried wearing one just to see its effects. After you put the ring on your finger you put some magic in it to activate its effect, that¡¯s how these work. In my case the enchantment in the ring literally broke. These things usually have a rune that represents the enchantment. When I tried adding magic to the ring the rune disappeared or it was erased. ¡°So this just happened.¡± ¡°If we count the incident with the fire crystals¡­Maybe you destroyed the enchantment because it was too weak. These kinds of rings are for beginners and require little magic to use. This is bad, if you can¡¯t use something like this then you¡¯d better not use anything that¡¯s enchanted.¡± ¡°I still have the bracelet Ellen and Kraft gave me.¡± ¡°When I wore that I was unable to stand, that¡¯s a powerful enchantment, one strong enough to allow you to use it. And one other thing, unlike the usual enchantments your bracelet takes the amount of magic needed itself without you being conscious of it.¡± ¡°That explains why it stopped me from getting magic poisoned. Well, I think I will keep the ring.¡± ¡°These were just some extras, nobody will mind if a thing or two disappear.¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding.¡± ¡°With pleasure, now back to work.¡± I couldn¡¯t get what Maria said out of my head, enchanted items are a must for an adventurer. Well shit, this one of the scenarios were I¡¯m supposed to compensate by strengthening my body which is bullshit. I just need to hunt some powerful items to help me. After helping Maria I went back to my room to help Jaden with homework then I went to visit Astrid. I want to ask her about the Master. If she felt his presence yesterday I might understand his powers a little. Poor creature, I wonder how she can cope with being locked in there. ¡°Yo, it¡¯s been a while.¡± ¡°Good evening Alexander.¡± ¡°Sorry for asking this out of the bat: Did you feel an unknown presence around midnight?¡± ¡°Indeed, I felt a foreign presence in the premises. It belonged to a human, a powerful individual.¡± ¡°He is a master assassin, he is known as the Master.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard stories about him, how did you manage to anger such a man?¡± ¡°I killed one of his subordinates.¡± Astrid¡¯s face lit up, her curiosity could be seen in her eyes. She was watching me closely. Seeing both versions of her staring at me was really disturbing, I¡¯m fine with her child version but her mature one was something else. Seeing that I had no way out of this I told her the story from the beginning, how I was stabbed by Mir, how I fought the Puppeteer and how I killed him despite Master¡¯s intervention. ¡°That¡¯s why I want you to tell me if you feel his presence again.¡± ¡°I will.¡± ¡°Thank you. Well, it looks like it¡¯s time for me to go.¡± ¡°Farewell for now.¡± It is almost eleven, I should read a little to pass the time, elven language is harder than I thought. Once midnight arrived I went back to the courtyard where Maria was waiting for me. It looks like she was ready. ¡°I will show you how to use Blade Empowerment, pay attention.¡± Maria extended her arms with her dagger in her right hand. After extending her arms she put her left hand on the dagger¡¯s blade. She used body enchantment then slowly touched the blade and moved her hand in a straight line; it looked like she was dusting off the blade. The part of the blade touched by her hand became black and magic gathered inside it. ¡°When you empower weapon you gather magic in both your hands. First you grip the handle with your dominant hand; after gripping it tightly you use your other hand to inject magic into the blade. Usually you start from the guard then slowly work your way to the point of the blade.¡± I understand most of it¡­OK, what the hell are the [guard] and the [point]? I know how to use a dagger or a knife but that doesn¡¯t mean that I know what it¡¯s made of. Well the [point] is self-explanatory. How about I scan that dagger and find out what the [guard] is. A guard is used to protect my hand form opponents if I parry somebody. Now that I know where the beginning and the end are, let¡¯s actually get to the good part. ¡°You should try holding in from both sides at once.¡± Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. So on one side I will use my thumb and on the other side I will use the rest of my fingers. I activated Black Blood, gathered my magic in my hands and started the process: First I released magic from my right hand and then I started dusting off the blade, slowly, carefully. Holy Shit Man! This drains less magic than I thought and it¡¯s actually working. After some time I finally finished injecting magic in the dagger¡¯s blade. It looked cool; now let¡¯s see how long I can keep this running. ¡°Nicely done! Now let¡¯s test it for real!¡± After she said that Maria charged at me. When I spar with Maria the only way to win is to parry her attacks and wait for a chance to strike. I remember last time I tried to avoid her attacks; she appeared behind me, grabbed me by the collar and threw me backwards a few meters, great day. Trying to keep up with her sure is difficult, she is able to stop mid strike and then change the trajectory of her attacks which is annoying. So between trying not to get stabbed and controlling both Blade Empowerment and Black Blood I was doing better than expected. After a few dozen strikes I noticed something strange: when our daggers clash there seems to be magic being released from Maria¡¯s blade, she can¡¯t keep this up for long. Control or not her strikes are as fast as ever, I can barely parry them. ¡°Let¡¯s stop it here.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± We both deactivated the techniques and then something funny happened, the blade of my dagger broke, basically it turned into little pieces of metal. I was dumbfounded; I couldn¡¯t understand what I just saw. The dagger¡¯s blade just turned into iron sand and on top of it my right hand started shaking. Oh well, there goes one iron dagger. Then again, Ellen told me that the dagger was for training only, now the only thing I have left is the combat knife Kraft gave me. ¡°That was strange. What the hell happened?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s the same thing that happened to the ring, only that instead of an inscription you injected magic in a blade. At least now you know how long you can last using an iron dagger.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a little disappointing.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be. You managed to keep Blade Empowerment active a lot longer than I expected. If it wasn¡¯t for me you wouldn¡¯t have stopped the sparring. Well, good job!¡± I¡¯ve never seen Maria so pleased; is that what a teacher feels when she sees her student doing something right for once? Now if I remember correctly the combat knife was a silver one, maybe it will last longer. ¡°Maybe something made of silver?¡± After a few seconds of thinking she responds. ¡°Theoretically is should work but that¡¯s not the problem here.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Your control over magic is. I have an idea: try using Shadow Step continuously from now on. If I¡¯m right it will improve your control over magic.¡± She has a point though. Shadow Step works by releasing a burst of magic when you step. My magic is going to get depleted faster but I can handle it. ¡°Incidentally, how much magic did our fight consume?¡± Well, it¡¯s time to go to my Inner World. It¡¯s been some time since I looked at the lake. By the looks of it I guess I spent one fifth of my magic and it¡¯s already starting to regenerate. That¡¯s actually very good especially considering what happened to me. If I¡¯m here I might as well check the time¡­It¡¯s two in the morning? Damn, I know that my fights with Maria are mostly staring contests but it doesn¡¯t feel like we fought for almost two hours. Then again I wasn¡¯t in any danger and neither of us was going all out so I guess I shouldn¡¯t be surprised. Oh well, Time to give her an answer. ¡°I used about one fifth of my magic.¡± ¡°I see. You were able to use Blade Empowerment on your first try, good work!¡± I am so happy I can¡¯t help but smile. It¡¯s been a while since something went the way it should. ¡°By the looks of it you can use it more than me. Now we only need to test your power.¡± ¡°How are you going to do that?¡± ¡°The Wall.¡± ¡°The Wall?¡± ¡°Yes, the Wall.¡± The Wall in highly resistant to all forms of damage so if I cut it I will see how powerful the spell is. During the entrance tests I made a hole in that Wall, I think that cutting it will not be difficult or that¡¯s I would like to say but the Wall can repair itself up to a point. ¡°You want me to strike that until what?¡± ¡°If your output is high enough the Wall will not be able to repair fast enough. If you can put two cuts on it before it repairs itself you can consider yourself stronger than me.¡± ¡°Not faster?¡± ¡°It¡¯s more about power than speed. Try slashing it a few times and you will see.¡± The next day I decided to go and practice my knife fighting on the Wall. Now I understand why Maria told me that putting a cut on the Wall is a test of power, because I can¡¯t cut it. When I try hitting it my knife bounces off. I spent half a day hitting this fucking Wall but nothing happens, I can¡¯t even leave a mark. ¡°How are you doing?¡± Oh look Maria is here. I¡¯m already pissed; I don¡¯t need her here right now. ¡°What is it?¡± I¡¯m really not in the mood for this¡­.She is holding something in her hand, a dagger. ¡°I brought you a silver dagger. That knife looked like it was a gift so I thought that you might hold back when you use it.¡± I put the knife in the Null and took the dagger Maria gave me. Was I really holding back? I might have unconsciously held back because I was afraid I will break it. Well, it''s a good thing that I learnt to keep my mount shut or else I would have insulted her for no reason. ¡°Thank you. Will there be a problem if I break it?¡± ¡°No, it won¡¯t. You¡¯ve helped both me and the headmistress a lot, she won¡¯t mind if you break a few things.¡± ¡°Well then, I¡¯d better get back to work.¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± Now let¡¯s start all over again. Slowly inject magic into the dagger and start slashing. It feels different, I can¡¯t say exactly how but it feels different. I tried slashing it a little¡­Well; at least it doesn¡¯t bounce off. This isn¡¯t working, I have to use more magic. OH! After a few strikes I did it! I DID IT! I actually cut the wall. The cut was small and it disappeared shortly after I made it but it was there. ¡°Well done.¡± ¡°Huh? I thought you left.¡± For some reason Maria was still here looking at me with great interest. I thought she had work to do. Usually I can''t feel her presence so when she''s not talking and I can''t see her my first thought is that she left. ¡°Why are you still here?¡± ¡°I had a feeling that you will come through if there is nothing to hold you back. It looks like I was right.¡± ¡°Yeah, I did it. Now it¡¯s time for the real trial.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to leave you alone now. Remember, this isn¡¯t a race, stop when you are tired and rest.¡± New spell: Vision It¡¯s been three days since I started my trial. Three days without any sleep, I only stopped to eat and drink. During this time I discovered something interesting, when I inject magic into the dagger¡¯s blade it actually muffles the impact sounds. Then again, the quantity of magic I have to inject is nothing to joke about. At the start of the second day I took off my bracelet, however it didn¡¯t help as much as I thought. It looks like I only got a small boost in speed but that¡¯s about it. At peak strength I can use Blade Empowerment for half an hour. I am constantly improving and I¡¯m close to achieving my goal. During this time Maria only came to tell me to stop. And when she¡¯s not here Jaden is. Oh, speaking of Jaden here he comes again. I don¡¯t understand why he is so worried about me, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m doing something dangerous. I passed out two times but that was at the beginning when I forgot to keep track of my magic. If he insists of coming here he could at least bring me something to eat. ¡°Alex, it¡¯s been three days already, you need to stop.¡± Once in my life I want to be alone when I do something and only then everyone comes to bother me. I don¡¯t know if Jaden understands that a few days without sleep are nothing to worry about or maybe he doesn¡¯t want to. It¡¯s rare for me to do something like this. I¡¯m the type of man that intends to finish what I started that¡¯s why I only do things I¡¯m confident I can do. ¡°I¡¯m going to stop when I¡¯m done. Look, I¡¯m almost there and I don¡¯t need you distracting me. Please just leave me alone.¡± ¡°But-¡° ¡°Just one more day, ok?¡± ¡°Fine, if that¡¯s what you want.¡± Jaden pouted and left. I know that he was worried about me but I told him repeatedly that I¡¯m fine. Well, it looks like he finally understood that I don¡¯t need his help. For the past days I¡¯ve been hitting the Wall and I still can¡¯t do it. During the entrance ceremony I punched a hole in this shit using almost all my magic. Right now my magic pool is almost two times bigger and yet I¡¯m still unable to put two scratches on this Wall. Is the Wall weak to blunt attacks or I¡¯m incapable of bringing out the same power I did back then. OK, let¡¯s think for a second. During the entrance ceremony I used body enchantment and punched a hole in the Wall. Maria kept telling me that I lack power not speed. At first I thought that she was wrong. I tried focusing on speed but it was futile. Somehow I need to use more power. Now I realised something! When I punched the Wall my eyes showed me how much power I need to use to break it and I used the exact amount, and there is the problem, somehow I need to find out exactly how much magic I have stored in the dagger¡¯s blade. I sat down and looked at the sky. A blue sun is really strange, especially when there are no clouds. ¡°Are you taking a break?¡± It looks like people just can¡¯t get enough of me. Shortly after Jaden left Maria came. Like Jaden she was here trying to tell me to stop. Some days Maria is so busy that I spend all day helping her and some days. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve literally hit the wall too many times; I can¡¯t seem to make it work and I still have no idea why.¡± Maria looked at me then at the sky. It looked like she was thinking about something. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Maria sat down next to me, still looking at the sky. After a few seconds she leaned on me and put her head on my shoulder. ¡°Now you won¡¯t be able to move.¡± ¡°Wait what?¡± Please tell me that she¡¯s joking. Is this one of the situations where I¡¯m supposed to stay just because she¡¯s leaning on me? It¡¯s a good thing that I look older than I am or else this would look really strange. It looked strange enough as it is but if I had a body that matches my age it would be downright bizarre. OK, let¡¯s see where this is going. ¡°You know, maybe I shouldn¡¯t have said anything.¡± said Maria. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°I gave you an impossible task. When I saw you performing so well I thought that giving you such a task will help you but as a teacher I shouldn¡¯t have given a task I can¡¯t complete.¡± I can see where she¡¯s coming from¡­I can¡¯t think of anything to say to reassure her. She may be right when she said that she can¡¯t complete it however I¡¯m positive that I can, just a little more time. ¡°It¡¯s not impossible, not for me. I¡¯m close, I feel it¡­I need to control my magic better but that¡¯s easier said than done. ¡° After I said what I had to say an awkward silence remained present for a while. Maria kept avoiding my gaze; it looked like she didn¡¯t want to look me in the eyes. ¡°This may sound stupid, but you could try meditating.¡± Meditating¡­Too bad I¡¯ve already tried it and it¡¯s not working. ¡°I¡¯m not sure that meditating will do me any good.¡± ¡°When you meditate you usually pay attention to yourself. When I was an assassin I learnt that meditating with a weapon equipped helps you understand it better, and that¡¯s the reason I was one of the best information gatherer.¡± ¡°Basically you had no luck with the meditation?¡± ¡°It¡¯s better to say that my combat abilities were subpar, instead I excelled at information gathering and tracking. I saw other assassins meditating for hours before a mission just to get an edge and it always worked. You know, I am patient person unless we are talking about mediation, I can¡¯t find the patience or discipline to do it.¡± I don¡¯t understand what this has to do with me. If there is a type of meditation that can help me I will try it. There are things that help and things that don¡¯t but it¡¯s not like I have anything better to do. Even if it turns out that the meditation is useless at least I know I tried. ¡°But then again, you spent three days here hitting a wall, maybe you will pull it off.¡± She suddenly changed her tone; from a serious one to a sarcastic one. Well, I¡¯m curious myself; if this actually works then I will be excused from hitting a wall. ¡°Since you don¡¯t look like you have any intention of moving I will try that meditation.¡± Without waiting for her answer I started using the most basic meditation technique I learnt from Maria. Instead of sleeping I use an advanced form I developed that put me in a semi-conscious state, it mimicked sleeping to a degree and I could use it anytime. Now I have to relax, take a few short breathes then a few deep ones. Concentrate on both me and the dagger. Welcome to the abyss I guess. This place is as dark as I remember. Let¡¯s see¡­Strangely enough my dagger was still in my hand and it looked pretty normal, normal and a little transparent. Both Black Blood and Blade Empowerment are still active in the real world so why isn¡¯t the dagger¡¯s blade black? With the exception of my dagger everything seemed fine, or not. In the lake I noticed that it was swirling. It wasn¡¯t swirling fast; it was rather slow and gentle. What is the reason behind that swirl? I walked on the water surface until I reached the source of the swirl. I didn¡¯t have any difficulty walking, good, it means I¡¯m improving. The swirl is small and it doesn¡¯t affect the rest of the lake. It doesn¡¯t seem to affect my magic, what can it be?¡± I went and took a closer look. To my surprises and disbelief the source of the swirl was actually the dagger I was holding in my hand. The dagger was standing vertically in the middle of the lake. Somehow the dagger created a zone where my magic couldn¡¯t go and that resulted in the swirl. I¡¯m trying to figure out why there are two daggers. The one in my hand is a little transparent while the other one looks like the real thing however the real thing is it the real world¡­ So what would happen if I were to pick the dagger in the up? I got close to the centre of the swirl and extended my arm trying to take the dagger. Fortunately the dagger was relatively close to the surface making it easier for me to pick up. The moment I touched the dagger it disappeared and the dagger in my hand lost its transparency. Two daggers fused together for no reason. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I gave Blade Empowerment another try. This time the magic just coated the blade instead of going inside it. I guess that trying it with one had is still too difficult to me. Second try; I used both hands carefully guiding the magic into the blade. Aaaaaand done! Finally the blade¡¯s color changed¡­That¡¯s strange, instead of looking full of magic, the dagger¡¯s blade became metallic black. This color makes it look like a weapon instead of that dark color. That color was so intense you could barely see the blade at night, at least now I can see my own dagger. Now that the job¡¯s done here I have to return to the real world and test it out. Upon exiting my meditative state I noticed that it was already evening. I guess I really spent some time there. ¡°Are you done?¡± Maria, still leaning on me, asked me with a curious face. She was more curious about the dagger. The blade kept its metallic color and I can feel the magic inside it. This time for sure¡­I will do it! ¡°Maria, get off me please.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± After Maria moved I got up, took a stance and slashed the Wall two times. Both hits left a mark. In a moment the scratches disappeared but a single moment was enough for me to acknowledge that I succeeded. Things really are going smoothly, maybe too smoothly. I wanted to boast to Maria before my pessimism gets the best of me. When I turned around I saw her staring at the wall, more exactly she was studying the spots where scratches were. ¡°See, It was¡­¡­easy?¡± In the middle of my sentence the dagger¡¯s blade broke into little pieces. This is the second time I broke a dagger. I wish that the blade would have broken sooner; at least I wouldn¡¯t have sounded like a retard. After three days of almost non-stop usage plus this new form of empowerment the dagger literally reached its breaking point. I guess that my magic is too much to handle. Oh well, I think that I will use my fists more than any other weapon. Maria chuckled. She looked at the dagger then at me and said with a smile: ¡°Good job! It looks like the meditation helped.¡± ¡°So, do you have another one?¡± I asked Maria while showing her the dagger. ¡°Yeah, I will bring it later. Since we are here do you want to learn a new spell?¡± I was surprised by her offer. I don¡¯t mind learning something new. [Polymath] seems to work so I might as well take advantage of it. ¡°Since luck seems to be on my side I will take the bait.¡± ¡°Remember one year ago when I gave you the schedule?¡± ¡°Yes, I tried to scare you but it didn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°When I distributed the schedules I used a spell I call [Sonar].¡± ¡°So basically you knew I was there.¡± ¡°Exactly. By creating magic waves I can detect other people and monsters. It¡¯s an advanced spell, one used only by the skilled assassins.¡± ¡°That sounds nice. With that active nothing could ambush you. Think about the possibilities.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that simple. The spell isn¡¯t really safe; a mage can feel the magic coming towards him, it won¡¯t give you away but he will know that you are here. It¡¯s useful; just don¡¯t use it against another dark magic user.¡± ¡°Okay, I got it. So tell me how to use it.¡± ¡°A part of it you learnt when I taught you Shadow Step.¡± ¡°And the other part?¡± Magic gathered at Maria¡¯s feet and then something that I could only call a wave formed and was projected in a five meter diameter. When the wave reached me my body started to stiffen a little, like that sensation I have before sneezing. So that¡¯s what she meant when she said that other dark magic users will recognize the spell. That was cool. Every magician can create a fireball but I¡¯m sure that not many of them can do this. If magic can pass through another person¡¯s body then I can use this spell to make people nauseous or even worse. ¡°That felt¡­strange.¡± ¡°A dark mage will recognize the effect so you need to be careful with it.¡± ¡°So how does one feel the waves, how do I interpret that information?¡± ¡°When a person is in your range you will be able to see their silhouettes. It¡¯s one of the things that can¡¯t be explained by words. I know how it sounds but there isn¡¯t any other way, you have to experience this for yourself.¡± After reactivating Black Blood I tried gathering magic on my foot then releasing it. I tried to copy Maria but it didn¡¯t go as planned. The magic I released just dispersed without doing anything. ¡°It looks like it didn¡¯t work.¡± No shit Sherlock. Everything went well up to a point and then the magic simply dispersed. It wasn¡¯t exactly my fault, something just went wrong. ¡°Do you have something you can use as a magic catalyst?¡± How am I supposed to have a magic catalyst¡­A magic catalyst is something that empowers a magic attack or a spell. A catalyst can be anything as long as it¡¯s enchanted. Hmmm¡­¡­¡­What if I use the watch? With the enchantments done by Ellen I think it¡¯s worth a shot. ¡°What are you going to do with that?¡± When I took out the watch Maria asked me with curious eyes. I didn¡¯t tell her anything about the enchantment Ellen made or the true origin of the clock. ¡°You said I could use a catalyst and there it is.¡± ¡°Give it a try.¡± I opened the case, looked at the face and concentrated my magic in the middle of it. Instead of transmitting a wave why don¡¯t I try creating a pulse? After enough magic gathered I sent it out. I kept sending out pulses. I don¡¯t know what happened but suddenly the world around me became black and white. It feels trippy. In this entire black and white filter I saw Maria¡¯s magic channels. A series of channels and a core right in the middle of the body, so that¡¯s how it should look like, nice. I can see a human¡¯s magic channels in a reddish colour. Maria put a hand on my shoulder and started shaking me. I closed the watch¡¯s case and stopped the magic pulses. After a few moments the world returned to normal. ¡°Alex, are you all right?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was just a little surprised by what I saw.¡± Maria''s name for this spell was [Sonar] but I''m going to give it a new one: [Vision]. Making a blackboard ¡°How was it?¡± ¡°It was strange. The world was black and white; the only things that were coloured were people¡¯s magic channels that were red. I could see them clearly. The level of detail was abnormally high; I could almost see you normally.¡± It¡¯s a pity that I can¡¯t move while I use Vision. In a want to activate it I have to stand still, any kind of movement will interrupt the spell. ¡°I see. I didn¡¯t expect you to use a watch as a catalyst.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a pity though. I have to stand still to use it.¡± ¡°It feels different than the technique I use.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I send out multiple magic pulses instead of a wave. It¡¯s a little costly but I know it works and speaking of working, what was different?¡± ¡°The feeling was different. I kept hearing a noise; it sounded like it was coming from inside me. It was¡­unsettling.¡± So her internal ear was somehow affected. There was the vestibule system and cochlea so it means that her hearing and balance are affected somehow. If Maria¡¯s ears mistook the magic pulses for sound waves. Let¡¯s see if I¡¯m right! ¡°Did you have trouble hearing or maintaining your balance while I was using [Vision]?¡± ¡°Vision?¡± ¡°The spell lets me see a person¡¯s magic channels instead of just telling me his location, and quite clearly I might add. Since I changed its effects a little I decided to call it [Vision].¡± ¡°You could say that you invented a new magic spell but I think you created it because you are special. Now for your question; I lost my balance for a moment, however I believe that your spell will fool other dark magic users. There are magicians that mastered an element and there are magicians that mastered magic.¡± So what am I supposed to understand from that? Oh well, I¡¯d better ask her what she meant. ¡°So, what was I supposed to understand?¡± *chuckles* ¡°Just because there is someone capable of answering your question it doesn¡¯t mean that you should be hasty; think about things a little more.¡± That is a valid point however I¡¯m not that patient, if somebody can answer my question I will not think about it, I mean why would I? ¡°You are here to answer, that¡¯s your job as a teacher.¡± ¡°It looks like you still joke around. Regarding what I said before; an individual who introduces himself as a master of magic is usually a close-minded one, he will reject anything out of the ordinary.¡± Oh, I get it. So basically a person with an ego bigger than him will not try to analyze my spells or try to counter them; that¡¯s cool. ¡°So I can just use magic as I see fit.¡± ¡°Yes, but before talking about using it in battle you first need control it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m already in control, there¡¯s nothing I can do about it.¡± ¡°I told you before and I¡¯m going to tell you again; if you want to get better keep Black Blood and Shadow Step active at all times.¡± ¡°Fine, I will do it; it¡¯s not like I have anything better to do.¡± ¡°Good boy. Now that I¡¯m done here I have other things I have to take care of.¡± ¡°Got it, then I will make my way to the library and study until midnight.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that I will not train with you, I¡¯m tired so I will go to sleep early, and you should do the same.¡± To be honest she really looks tired; I¡¯ve already bothered her more than I should, I think that she deserves some rest. Well, maybe I will actually go to the library and continue studying. ¡°Well then, if you need anything be sure to tell me, OK?¡± ¡°Yes, I will. Good night Alex.¡± ¡°Yeah, see you later.¡± So, after three days of staying outside I will go back to my room, I wonder what face Jaden will make when he sees me coming back. When I entered the room I saw Jaden in his bed fast asleep. It was about 8, not that late and certainly too early to go to sleep. I just wanted to visit Jaden but now that I¡¯m here I don¡¯t feel like going to the library anymore, maybe I will go to sleep. Out of boredom I started fiddling with my watch. I still can¡¯t believe that it actually worked. Using a watch as a catalyst for a spell¡­Not many people would believe that. Now that I think about it [Vision] only works within my field of view so I can¡¯t get a 360 degree vision, I will have to find a way to compensate for this. But how far can it really go? I guess it¡¯s time for a little experiment. I got out of the bed and went up on the rooftop. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve been here. I opened the watch¡¯s case and after gathering enough magic I used Vision. This feels really weird; I don¡¯t think I will get used to this black and white world. Looking down I was able to look through the walls and ceiling. It looks like the reddish color of the magic channels is more intense for the ones who practice magic more than physical techniques. When I looked at my hand I noticed that my magic channels were black. That¡¯s strange, is it because of my Black Blood? Let¡¯s see if I can see Astrid from over here. This amount of magic isn¡¯t enough to reach the school building, maybe if I use more magic. I increased the magic output and tried to increase the range. Just before reaching the school building the pulses stopped. In the next moment I heard a tingling noise in my ears then lost my balance. If I fall from here I will have to endure a few bumps until I finally hit the ground¡­or not? When I was about to fall somebody caught me by the collar and pulled me back. Since I didn¡¯t feel anybody near me it means that Mir is finally here. ¡°Are you all right?¡± asked Mir with a concerned look on her face. ¡°Yeah, just some feedback from a spell, I will be fine.¡± When you don¡¯t use a spell as it should this happens. Apparently Vision is somehow linked to my eyes instead of being used in a circular area like Maria¡¯s. When I tried increasing its size it backfired on me. I don¡¯t have the magic necessary to try it today. ¡°Thanks for saving me; I really don¡¯t want to experience falling from here.¡± ¡°I see, be more careful from now on.¡± Not asking anything else, that¡¯s just like her. Oh well, I have a feeling that she already knows enough without having to ask me. ¡°Looking forward to the new school year?¡± asked Mir with a smile. ¡°This school year was interesting but I don¡¯t really have any expectations for the next one.¡± ¡°Believe what you want. You said that you wanted to improve the school a little this summer, are you still going to do it?¡± ¡­What? I stiffened up for a moment there. That topic was something I discussed with Liliana and Maria¡­He he, just how much does she really know? ¡°I will get to it tomorrow.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯d better get some rest.¡± ¡°I feel a little sleepy now, let¡¯s go back.¡± Confusion aside I should really try making a blackboard, at least as a way to pass the time. The next morning I talked to Liliana and Maria about making that blackboard. I have the slate, wood and chalk, now I only need to put them together. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. In my previous world I once worked with my grandfather in a workshop when I made a doghouse, if I use some common sense this just might work. The piece of slate is about one meter in height, one meter in width and about five centimeters thick. Fortunately the slate was already smoothed, now I just need to make a wooden frame. There was some pine wood lying around, perfect for me to use. Now I just have to smooth, cut, and them put all of it together. For this experiment I need an open space to work so I will use the courtyard. ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± I told Liliana about the steps I will take and what I require. The only things I don¡¯t have are glue and nails. The finished project will be a blackboard in a pine wood frame. I want to put the slate inside the frame. ¡°Do you have any strong adhesive?¡± ¡°I do, I will bring it to you.¡± The glue Liliana brought back was a magic adhesive in a glass flask. If I remember correctly this type of glue is made from the rubber of an Elder Tree, a tree that grows by absorbing magic. Well, it is said that the glue is potent so I can manage with a flask. On a whim I decided that it might be fun to use a Blade Empowered knife to cut the wood instead of the proper tools. Surprisingly enough the cuts were cleaner than I expected. After I took the measurements I took four pieces of wood and started cutting them. The most important thing to keep in mind is to measure thoroughly so that I won¡¯t make any mistakes. After two days of hard work I finished cutting and polishing the pieces of wood, this resulted in 4 pieces of hollow wood where I will fit the slate. ¡°That¡¯s some fine woodwork you have here.¡± Oh, it looks like Liliana brought all teachers along with her for the visit. Two days ago when I started all this all of them told me that I¡¯m wasting my time. I guess it¡¯s pretty hard for them to find me still working. Well, I just need to put these pieces of wood on the slate and frame will be done. ¡°I guess. I¡¯m pretty sure it will look like shit but it will work, that I guarantee. So, what¡¯s with all of you here?¡± ¡°We were called to the capital; we will be back in a few days. Since you are busy I¡¯m certain that you won¡¯t miss us very much.¡± ¡°Ah¡­OK.¡± I don¡¯t remember Liliana saying anything about this. If the mail delivery is as slow as I believe then she might have gotten it sometime when I wasn¡¯t around. Since Maria is with her it means that there isn¡¯t going to be any teacher on the premises for a few days¡­Meh, it doesn¡¯t really matter. ¡°Have a nice trip.¡± ¡°Well, keep an eye on the place for me.¡± Out of all the people here Liliana was the only one to speak, I expected Maria to say something but it¡¯s not likely to happen. I saw them off then went back to the blackboard. I still have some work to do. This is where the hard work starts. I have to be careful when I apply the adhesive and nail the rest of the frame. It looks like it took quite a while to finish, it¡¯s almost midnight. As expected, it looked like shit, a green piece of slate on a pine wood frame. Now I just have to wait until morning for the glue to do its job. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s done.¡± Oh look, Mir is here. I like how everybody has the habit of appearing behind me, I¡¯m getting tired of having to turn around all the time. Can¡¯t somebody appear in front of me for once? ¡°Now I just need to wait for a while.¡± ¡°I see.¡± After a few moments Mir turned to leave but she abruptly stopped. She looked like she remembered something. ¡°Do you know the reason all the teachers left the school?¡± So she is asking me if I want to know the reason why they left. I am interested; after all it¡¯s something I haven¡¯t heard about. ¡°I will bite, what¡¯s that about?¡± ¡°The school is renowned for being as good as the Imperial Academy but it¡¯s relatively remote location makes the school better for other things beside teaching, like the vampire they keep trapped.¡± ¡°Yeah, I got it, but what does it have to do with their trip?¡± ¡°I heard that, and this is something you will definitely like, there will be a new student coming here. It is said that the student is not human. Personally I think we will see a beastperson but I¡¯m not too sure about it.¡± Hmm¡­Very interesting. I know that another special student will arrive but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s worth all this fuss. Wait and see I guess. ¡°We will see.¡± To stay or not to stay, that¡¯s the question. Neah, fuck it. It¡¯s not like there is anyone dumb enough to steal a blackboard. The next morning the glue finally went into place and the blackboard was ready. After checking to see if the nails on the back are in still in place I took the blackboard and put it in the storage room. Since I can¡¯t boast to Liliana about my creation I think it¡¯s best to continue studying. It seems that my woodworking skills were more advanced than I thought. Now I confirmed that I can do precision working with ease, maybe I will give crafting a shot too. After four days the teachers returned and showed them the final product. The blackboard was in an empty classroom, after all so many people wouldn¡¯t fit in a storage room. Apparently Liliana met the headmaster of the Imperial Academy and he told her about a project similar to mine. Out there is a rich kid who can¡¯t do simple addition so his parents decided to make him a writing slate and apparently nobody managed to make one. So yeah, I did something more impressive than I thought. ¡°There is a problem; it will take a while until we can use it in school.¡± ¡°How long?¡± ¡°About four years at best.¡± What the actual fuck? It only needs a nail in a wall so why? ¡°But why?¡± ¡°In a few years we will renovate all the classrooms. I intend to make use of it then and the staff is not prepared to use it either.¡± That¡¯s stupid¡­No, I¡¯m the stupid one. I always think like the previous world¡¯s humans instead of thinking like the current ones. I don¡¯t really have any means of teaching them any more than they already know. ¡°It looks like you will have to put your plans on hold. You built something that even the people in the capital couldn¡¯t, you should be proud of yourself.¡± Maria tries to cheer me up. A noble act but really uncalled for. What really I wanted to do was to test my skills. Everything was executed as I imagined which is more than I expected when I started. This blackboard is the proof that I am capable of crafting even if it''s low level. ¡°It¡¯s all right, I completed my objective.¡± With a smile on her face Maria left the classroom. That face she was making¡­Am I that easy to read or did she already realize what my true objectives were? The New Student I thought that keeping both Black Blood and Shadow Step would be easy since I have considerable more magic than the average magician, oh boy was I wrong. I¡¯ve used both of them every day until the end of the summer break and the side effects were severe: intense pain, partial paralysis and a lot of mental fatigue. It looks like maintaining the spells 24/7 didn¡¯t do much good. Oh well, at least my magic pool increased. I need to stress test my powers in order to get better, that meaning real combat. I¡¯ve learnt a lot of things during this summer break and I was also reminded that this is a school. On 21 of August it was my birthday, meaning that I lived in this world for eight years. So yeah, the only thing I got for my birthday was congratulations. I didn¡¯t expect a party but I did expect something from my parents but it didn¡¯t happen, talk about disappointment. Oh well; time passed and so did the summer break. Now I was a fourth year student and once again the only student wearing the black uniform. When the testing took place I saw kids that could only be described as wealthy being rejected due to their lack of talent for magic. In a book about magic I found an interesting piece of information: magical power is heavily dependent on a person¡¯s intelligence. The blue uniform wearing students seem a little smarter than the red ones so I guess it is at least partially true. ¡°Hey you, stay right there!¡± New year, new problems. As the only student wearing the black uniform I was considered one of the bosses. Since the second day of school students in lower grades than mine tried to fight me; some people just don¡¯t understand that me being the strongest student here wasn¡¯t due to luck and so they try to fight me. I have nothing against beating a few people but this is a Friday for God¡¯s sake. So yeah, now I have to teach that guy a lesson and go to class; who even fights so early in the morning? ¡°Oh boy, another one comes to get beaten up.¡± Not much to say about this boy. A 10 year old boy in¡­second year I think. He was wearing the red uniform and is holding a dagger in his right hand. He looked really angry but between that unusually long black hair and the difference in our height I couldn¡¯t really take him seriously. I remember back when I trained with Kraft, this is going in the same direction, the younger one will lose. The dagger he is holding is a copper dagger, so basically a trashy dagger. I don¡¯t know if you can call it a training weapon. The students around me got scared when they saw the weapon but I was calm, a Threat Level 0 can¡¯t hurt me. ¡°Now get ready!¡± The boy charged at me. I could just get out of the way but I feel a little lazy today so I will not dodge. The boy swung his dagger aiming for my neck. He was lacking in both speed and technique, a cut should be quick and clean. I used my right hand to catch the dagger¡¯s blade, activated Black Blood and crushed the blade in my hand. Surprisingly enough my palm was cut by the dagger. Even if it¡¯s just a flesh wound it¡¯s still something, oh well it will heal in a few seconds. That kid was an idiot; if he had brought an iron dagger instead I wouldn¡¯t have humiliated him like that. My body still hurts a little bit because of the overuse of magic but I can deal with it. ¡°Is that enough or do you want to continue?¡± ¡°No¡­I¡­¡± He was shocked. You don¡¯t usually use a weapon you have zero confidence in. Thanks to my aura he didn¡¯t feel threatened by my question; he just left with his head hanging. There wasn¡¯t really anything to be embarrassed about; this was the first time I broke an opponent¡¯s weapon. After the morning exercise I finally got to class. The schedule hasn¡¯t changed much from last year. The biggest difference is that our Alchemy professor will teach us a little biology. The quantity of information we are given is low. As I said before: the teachers waste our time and the students aren¡¯t paying attention. The first class was the Math class. The teacher was trying to make the students understand the difference between the parentheses and square brackets. I can¡¯t understand why is it so hard to understand that you do the semi circle things before doing the square things. I understand that these things can be hard to understand by some people but fuck man, this has been going on for five days. I am usually a patient man but there are things even I can¡¯t stand so since day three I always do in my semi-meditative state and fast forward the time, basically I look like I sleep in class. Today was no exception. I was just minding my own business screaming internally when hearing the stupid questions some students asked. One student asked if the square brackets transformed the addition in a subtraction; that was the moment I slammed my head on the desk, the sound it made was quite impressive. The teacher suddenly stopped talking in the middle of an explanation. Damn, the silence feels so good. After a few moments I felt a hand on my shoulder and then that person began shaking me. My eyes were closed and I really want them to remain that way. ¡°I¡¯m not asleep.¡± I said without opening my eyes. ¡°Good, I have something to talk to you about.¡± HUH! That voice, it was Maria; what¡¯s she doing in my classroom? I quickly got up and looked at her. For some reason the students were scared stiff and the teacher wasn¡¯t saying anything. I knew that people are scared of Maria for reasons that are still unknown to me but I didn¡¯t expect it to be like this. ¡°The headmistress wishes to see you. Go to her on lunch break.¡± I have a class with her before lunch break, she could have told me then so why didn¡¯t she wait until then? ¡°Couldn¡¯t you wait until after Magic Theory class?¡± ¡°I will not be teaching today, the headmistress sent me on some errands.¡± If that¡¯s what she says I will not pry any further, it¡¯s not like she is going to disappear. ¡°Very well, I will go.¡± I gave a serious nod along with my answer. She looks serious and when she¡¯s like this my playing around just annoys her plus we are still in class. Being serious from time to time is the least I can do. After Maria left class continued like nothing happened. The lunch break came; I¡¯m surprised that nobody had the balls to ask me. Since Maria was absent there was no Magic Theory class today, so sad. As instructed I¡¯m heading to Liliana¡¯s office. I hope the reason I¡¯m called isn¡¯t the fight from today. ¡°And here I am.¡± I said when I opened the door. There were three people in the office. One of them was Maria and the other two were a man and a teenage girl, the man and the girl weren¡¯t human, they were elves. Elves are the only race with ears so long and pointy. When they heard me they turned to face me. The girl was one head and neck smaller than me meaning she was about 1.60 meters tall. She had emerald green hair, waist long. Her eyes had the same emerald green color but their anatomy seemed a little different. Her sclera was either fused with her iris or it matched the color of her iris tough I find it difficult to believe. Her face could only be described as cute or innocent. Her skin was white, almost like a porcelain doll. Contrary to her face she had the body of a model: a big chest, D cup, slim legs, slim arms, flat tummy and a small waist, a body that spelled beauty. The clothes she was wearing showed so much skin that there was little left to the imagination. She had a T-shirt that only covered the upper part of her abdomen and a mini skirt that put its empathy on the word mini. The man, however, was taller than me. He had short, brown hair matching his eye color. He was wearing some kind of robe, a blouse and a pair of pants. For a man he was quite beautiful but that serious and paranoid face of his ruined his beauty. On his back he had a bow and a quiver filled with arrows and a dagger hanging on his waist. There was something about their clothes that troubled me; they looked like they were made out of leaves. Let¡¯s see, one scan aaaand¡­¡­The clothes were actual leaves, Elder Tree leaves. Holy mother of clothes, the leaves were held together by magic forming clothes, that¡¯s amazing. I can genuinely say that I¡¯m impressed. Now let¡¯s see who you really are miss elf: Name: Elesya, Race: High Elf, Age: 100 years, Threat Level: 1, Usable Magic: Nature Magic. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°So you are finally here Alexander.¡± ¡°Yup! So, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Miss Elesya will be joining us as a fourth year student. She is a relative of the ruler of Fee Forest.¡± Umm¡­If I remember correctly Fee was a word in my previous world? Oh yeah, its meaning was [Fairy] so basically a fairy in a Fairy forest. ¡°As I said Elesya is the daughter of a noble elf. She wishes to learn more about humans so I agreed to allow her to study here as a special student.¡± ¡°I see. So why did you call me here?¡± ¡°At the moment you are our strongest student and I want you to show her around, that¡¯s your first job. Your second job is to try to protect her from the close-minded students.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°Um¡­I am Elesya, nice to meet you.¡± Even her voice is sweet and full of innocence. When she spoke to me I felt like she was soothing my soul, elves truly are something else. ¡°I am Alexander Lowe, the pleasure is mine.¡± I extended my right arm for a handshake. When our hands touched I heard some static noise in my head and I got a headache. The pain was so intense that I knelled and put a hand on my head. The pain disappeared after a second but I was still a little dizzy. ¡°Are you all right?¡± I tried getting up. When I looked up at Sya my vision was blocked by static, literally some grey points in my field of view, it feels like I¡¯m watching something on an old TV. After shaking my head a few times my vision returned to normal but what I saw scared me so bad that I instantly jumped back. ¡°What the fuck are you?¡± After hearing me Sya hid behind the man¡¯s back. When she hid her clothes changed, covering everything but her head. The man looked like he was ready to kill me anytime. The reason she hid must be my reaction to seeing her true form. Her cheeks, right arm, left hand, and left feet were covered in scales, green lizard scales. Somehow she hid her true form. This is the second time it happened. This is just like the time I met Astrid, I am seeing both forms. That¡¯s not important right now, I have to apologize for my reaction to the elf who was hiding behind the other one. I quickly regained my composure and faced her. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for that, it all happened so fast and I was caught off guard.¡± ¡°Alex, what exactly happened?¡± asked Liliana . ¡°Remember the vampire; it¡¯s almost the same thing: I can see her true form. I was dizzy and when I saw the scales on her I was surprised. I didn¡¯t expect a High Elf to have scales.¡± ¡°High¡­Elf?¡± Sya slowly left her hiding space and went in front of me. Now she¡¯s not scared but curious, so curious that her ears perked up a little; what a cute reaction. ¡°Did I say something strange?¡± ¡°Elesya¡¯s mother was raped by a lizardman and got pregnant, as you can guess that kid was Elesya. Because of the demon blood in her, her appearance changed and she is treated as a half-breed and not a High Elf.¡± answered Liliana. ¡°So what¡¯s wrong with calling her a High Elf; that¡¯s what she is.¡± ¡°You brat don¡¯t understand a thing do you?¡± The elf male finally said something, his voice full of anger. ¡°Once a demon, always a demon! Her demon side will take over, that¡¯s how it is.¡± I detect a hint of sadness in his voice, he doesn¡¯t seem to be her father but he may be a friend of acquaintance. ¡°Alex, did you use the power of your eyes to get a read on her race?¡± Liliana asked an interesting question. ¡°Yeah, of course I did.¡± ¡°Then maybe¡­it is only a¡­partial transformation?¡± ¡°Slow down Liliana!¡± ¡°Ah sorry, I was lost in thought. Can you check again; this is important!¡± ¡°OK. Sya, don¡¯t move.¡± I put my hand on Sya¡¯s cheek. Both my scan and dark transfer detected no anomalies in her, whatever happened before it stopped for good. ¡°Nothing is wrong with her, whatever happened in the past remained in the past. She is a High Elf and you know full well that my eyes are always right.¡± Sya and Liliana¡¯s expressions softened while the man looked at me like I was some kind of monster. It¡¯s understandable, not many people can say what I said with full confidence. ¡°[My eyes are always right], what is that supposed to mean?¡± asked Sya. ¡°Alex is a little like you, his body is different than the one of a human but he is a human.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°His magic channels lack a center; usually only demons lack a center¡­Oh and he was also exposed to the vampire¡¯s bite, you can notice by looking at his hair color.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Yo, let me finish. Listen here Sya, when enough magic is gathered in my eyes I can obtain information about the things I see. Get it, you 100 year old girl?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Well, she froze. I guess that telling her age was enough to make her rethink her opinion of me. ¡°Is it true, I will not transform in a demon?¡± asked Sya with big, teary eyes. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been saying all this time! Why is it so hard to understand?¡± When she heard my answer she visibly relaxed and her clothes returned to normal. Where did the extra leaves come from anyway? Well at least now she looks more energetic. ¡°Human, I don¡¯t trust you but I will entrust you with keeping Elesya safe.¡± looks like the man finally gave up and accepted the offer. ¡°Alexander, once again, please take care of me.¡± said a now fully energetic Sya. ¡°Well, I will try my best. If you have any questions just ask and will try to answer them.¡± The Elf and the Demon Eyes ¡°Now that we got this out of the way what should we do?¡± Things somehow worked out and now I¡¯m a guide and a bodyguard for Sya. A while ago I heard the bell ringing so the Physical Education class already started. I can go back but what about Sya, I can¡¯t just leave her alone. I can assume that she is not officially a student here and I don¡¯t know how the other students will react if I bring her with me¡­Then again with those clothes, or rather lack of, I¡¯m pretty sure what their expression will be. The next thing I have to take care of is the double vision I¡¯m having; seeing both of her forms is making me uncomfortable mainly because they tend to overlap and that¡¯s when the static happens. ¡°Alexander, are you all right?¡± asked Sya. ¡°Not really, your illusion magic makes me feel dizzy.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand; what do you mean?¡± Well shit; how can I explain it in a way she will understand? Is there even a way; looking at her gives me a dizziness I haven¡¯t felt even once while I was talking to Astrid? Maybe if I ask Astrid¡­ ¡°N¡­Never mind, f¡­forget I said anything!¡± said Sya shaking her arms left and right. She looks rather nervous. I was just thinking about my weakness, why did she get so worked up or rather is that how a 100 year old elf should? ¡°Chill, I was just thinking what to do now, no need to get so worked up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t follow you.¡± ¡°Elesya, we are in the middle of class now, being seen by the teachers and the other students may result in gossip even I might not be able to stop.¡± What Liliana explained was about right, how did she figure out? Usually I don¡¯t really care how the other students see me but now there is another variable in the equation. ¡°Is it true Alex?¡± asked Sya looking at me with big, curious eyes. ¡°More or less; though I¡¯m rather curious: How did you know?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve anticipated this; I¡¯m not this school¡¯s headmistress just for show. It will be inconvenient but both you Elesya will have to wait until the classes are over.¡± So we have to wait about one hour and a half, I¡¯m fine with that. I wish I had taken some books with me especially the one about the elven language; that language is so hard to learn, it¡¯s like a European or American was trying to learn and fully understand the Asian languages, good luck with that! Speaking of which, I will ask Sya to help me with it. ¡°So we just have to wait here for almost two hours?¡± ¡°Yes, unless you think of a place to hide.¡± A place to hide, hmm¡­Oh! There is one place nobody goes to, the basement and while I¡¯m there I will ask Astrid if she knows a way to remove my double vision. ¡°How about we go to the basement, nobody goes there.¡± ¡°The basement?¡± asked Sya. ¡°Yeah, we have a vampire locked in there and going near her is forbidden.¡± ¡°If it is forbidden then why can you go there?¡± ¡°Alex was bitten by the vampire and did transform or not succumb to her charms so he may be the only one immune to her powers.¡± Liliana answered Sya¡¯s question. I wouldn¡¯t say that I haven¡¯t transformed since my body changed a little and I certainly succumbed to her charms but I was lucky because Maria stayed by my side until the effects passed and while my body is accustomed to her charms it doesn¡¯t make me immune, I¡¯m still too weak. ¡°WHAT, he was bitten by a vampire?¡± When I heard the elf man shouted I backed away. That scared the hell out of me; doesn¡¯t he know it¡¯s not polite to shout like that? Really now, I don¡¯t want to develop a heart attack resistance so early. ¡°I see, so this is the reason why he does not possess a Magic Centre.¡± said the man after studying me. ¡°He was born without a Magic Centre; the vampire didn¡¯t alter his Magic Channels.¡± ¡°How is it possible, I¡¯ve never heard of a human born without a Magic Centre?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t figured out how and this was one of the reasons I picked Alex to be Elesya¡¯s guide.¡± ¡°Even if he was born without a Magic Centre it doesn¡¯t explain why there aren¡¯t any side effects from the infection with the vampire virus.¡± ¡°Actually there are, my hair is one of them; my hair used to be blonde but now it¡¯s white, the rest are just some minor improvements to my strength and healing power.¡± ¡°I see. It¡¯s fortunate that Lady Elesya found another Partial such as herself.¡± What does [Partial] mean? Partial is something incomplete or part of a whole. Sya is a High Elf but she has demon parts so a person that did not completely transform into a demon can be called a Partial. My case is a little different; my body took the upsides from the virus and got rid of the downsides. One thing I know for sure is that I didn¡¯t receive the longevity of a vampire and I¡¯m actually glad I didn¡¯t, living for a long time doesn¡¯t sound very appealing to me. ¡°Well, I have something to ask Astrid so let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± said Sya. ¡°Take these before leaving.¡± The man handed her the bow and the quiver. Both the bow and the arrows were made out of Elder Wood; is it really that good? I don¡¯t think that bringing a bow would be necessary but that¡¯s none of my business. We slowly made our way to the basement making sure not to be seen by the students who were in the courtyard. We have Physical Education so the chances of us getting caught were next to zero. ¡°It¡¯s dark in here.¡± That was the first thing Sya said when we went inside the basement. My eyes have already adapted to darkness so I can see. ¡°It seems that you are not alone today.¡± From inside the magical cage a pair of red eyes can be seen. I thought that Astrid would be asleep; it¡¯s the middle of the day after all. ¡°So it seems. Anyway, shouldn¡¯t you be asleep?¡± ¡°Unfortunately I was awakened by your deceiving aura. For a moment I believed that some prey has entered the basement but it turned out to be you. Is there something you need from me?¡± ¡°You know about me seeing the true forms of other people, I need help with that.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­I see; it¡¯s about that elf girl. Indeed the illusion magic casted on her is strong but not impossible to bypass. Tell me, how much magic did you use before temporary bypassing it?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t. I saw her true form after I shook her hand. It¡¯s just like the time you bit me, I saw your true form after making physical contact with you.¡± ¡°You are a dark magic practitioner; did you learn a detection technique?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s about one that lets you detect enemies then yes, I learnt one.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Use it.¡± ¡°OK.¡± I took out my watch form The Null and activated Vision. Ah, darkness, my old friend. And after the darkness comes the black and white vision. Holy Shit! It actually works. So that¡¯s how they really look like. Seeing them in red is a lot better than seeing double. ¡°Alexander, is this the EXACT spell you were taught?¡± asked a surprised Astrid. I don¡¯t know what got her so worked up but she sure doesn¡¯t look fine. That look on her face is beginning to worry me, what exactly did I do? ¡°No, this is my version, why?¡± ¡°You are an imbecile! What you are using is a spell called [Whisper], a spell used by humanoid demons to locate and destroy enemies.¡± said Astrid with a scolding tone. ¡°My body is different, why is it so strange?¡± ¡°Somehow your true power is either being suppressed or sealed. No matter how powerful your scan ability is it cannot compensate¡­ The Whisper can only be used by those possessing the Devil¡¯s Eyes. Possessing them is an honour and only high level demons such as myself are able to manifest them. Alexander, give me your hand!¡± I had my doubts about the spell but now it¡¯s confirmed, it isn¡¯t a human one. I am pretty sure that both Astrid and I have the same theory, that this is the result of her infecting me. ¡°Hey Alex, isn¡¯t it dangerous?¡± asked Sya. ¡°It¡¯s fine, right now her curiosity is bigger than her thirst for blood.¡± ¡°All right, if that¡¯s what you think.¡± ¡°And here she is; another victim of your aura. It must be pleasant, having such a power over people.¡± declared Astrid with a sarcastic voice. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°This is one thing I will not tell you.¡± ¡°Oh well, here.¡± I extended my right arm. For a protected cage there was nothing to stop my arm from going inside it. Astrid grasped my hand, examined it and then she bit it. Yeah, she was sucking my blood. Despite having all the spells activated I didn¡¯t feel Astrid sucking my magic away, she just took a little bit of my blood. ¡°So what was this supposed to be?¡± ¡°A vampire such as myself can obtain certain information about a person by sucking their blood and I found out the reason behind your double vision. Your body intergrated various aspects of my essence into it including the power of the Devil Eyes. What you need to do is to focus on her true form.¡± I spent the rest of the day trying to shift my focus between the girls¡¯ true form and current form. Since my eyes are copies of the Devil Eyes their abilities are not fully developed yet. The only thing I cared about was what Astrid told me about my powers being sealed, the rest didn¡¯t matter. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s because of the restriction placed on me before I reincarnated. Oh well, no point in staying here worried over nothing. In the evening Elesya was finally introduced as a student at the academy. Liliana announced that she will be under my protection from now on which obviously made me the most hated man in the school. The ones with the most questions were obviously Jaden and Saya. On the bright side Sya accepted to help me with my elven language study. The next Monday morning I had to get up early to meet with Sya to show her around. Well, I hope that the other girls in the dormitory will help her as well. Jaden and Saya took advantage of the opportunity and came to me with a mountain of questions. I don¡¯t know what I expected. The only way out is to answer. ¡°So is it true, did the headmistress really assign you as her guide?¡± ¡°Yeah Jaden, it is true. Dude chill, that assignment is a joke so that nobody asks question, which by the way isn¡¯t working.¡± ¡°What if you are hurt or worse?¡± ¡°I will be fine, I¡¯m just a guide; nobody will attack me or Sya.¡± And I¡¯m pretty sure that I will not get attacked since I have a guardian angel who wishes to kill me personally and he is the leader of an Assassin Guild. Since the assassination attempt Mir is being more careful now, if something is going to happen she will know for sure. ¡°I don¡¯t know if we will be able to help but please tell us if we can help.¡± said Saya. As always Jaden is getting worried and asking questions while Saya is trying to offer her assistance. Maybe being so different makes them good for each other. After parting ways with them I had to meet Sya before going to class. ¡°Good morning Alex!¡± Here she comes, the energetic Sya. I don¡¯t understand why she is so hyper but it¡¯s fun to have her around so I don¡¯t try to calm her down. Ah! Her uniform arrived. She was one of the blue students now, though blue isn¡¯t really her color, something green would have been nice. ¡°Yo, so that¡¯s your uniform. It looks good on you. By the way, why didn¡¯t you take the black one like me?¡± ¡°The headmistress told me wearing the blue one would be better.¡± Well, looking at it from another angle if she wore the black uniform she would have no support since she would be a walking target; at least now she is in the same team as the magicians. During my past life I learnt how to be part of a crowd and how to hide in one but for Sya it will be difficult, I should be ashamed that I overlooked something like this. ¡°Let¡¯s go to class!¡± Sya hugged my arm which was swallowed up by her breasts. It fells surprisingly good but that¡¯s about it. In my previous life I grew up around girls, combine that with me staying with Maria it got me used to this kind of things but I wonder about Sya; isn¡¯t she embarrassed? ¡°Don¡¯t be in such a hurry; there is still time until class starts you know. So, are you okay?¡± ¡°Yes, the other girls are nice to me.¡± ¡°Getting along with others is important, though I shouldn¡¯t be the one telling you that.¡± I spent the following week showing Sya around and bringing her up to speed with how the things work around here. Sya told me that elves, especially young ones, get lost easily when they are in an area without trees or plants; supposedly they rely on plants and trees to mark and memorize their location so a human settlement is a pretty hard challenge for them. Needless to say she was fascinated by the things she saw. My life certainly changed after Sya transferred here, every day I felt like I was walking side by side with my opposite self. She was an energetic and curious girl, around running around campus making friends while I was a lone wolf, the mysterious guy the girls are attracted to. I tried explaining to Sya why I¡¯m like this but she didn¡¯t share my opinion. Calling me [Hey Alex] once every few minutes reminded me of a certain fairy. ¡°This is¡­completely wrong to say the least, is this how humans view our language? I¡¯m surprised that you even understood it in the first place.¡± I took Sya to the library to show her the book on elven language. Apparently the book is so inaccurate that not even she was able to understand most of what was written in it and she was supposed to be on the smarter side. ¡°At least the way the letters and words are written is correct¡­I will teach you personally, this book is worthless.¡± Well, the way she got so angry at a book shows that elves are really proud people. She should be angry at the one who wrote the book but whatever, I don¡¯t want to be the one to tell her that. A Plan to Escape It¡¯s been a few months since Sya joined as a fourth year student. During this time I learnt that elven language is even harder to learn than I expected. In a month Sya caught up with the other students and was recognized as one of the smartest students. OK, a smart person like her learnt her mother tongue in ten years. When I heard that I just froze in place for a few seconds; I couldn¡¯t process that information. To learn the elven language you have to use specific words for every sentence and there are particular words for almost any situation. What I knew wasn¡¯t enough to even call myself a beginner. Sya tries hard to teach me the way she was taught and surprisingly enough she is quite good at it ¡°So how good are you at archery anyway?¡± I often see Sya in the courtyard a t night, she is practicing her archery. I wasn¡¯t really interested in archery in my previous world but here archery is pretty important. I¡¯ve watched her practice for almost a month from the dormitory¡¯s roof. The bow was almost as big as her and it seemed to require a lot of strength to use. I remember reading that it the past archers were strong since bows were hard to use. There is one thing that I didn¡¯t understand; the arrows she shot didn¡¯t get damaged even after numerous uses. My curiosity was hitting its upper limit so I decided to go and ask her about the arrows. ¡°KYA!¡± Sya literally jumped a meter backwards when she saw me. She is so hyper during the day; I don¡¯t understand where all that energy is coming from. Now I don¡¯t know if I should be mad or disappointed¡­I¡¯m anything but scary and that¡¯s not something I said but something that others tell me. ¡°A¡­Alex, what are you doing here, shouldn¡¯t you be sleeping?¡± Ha ha. She actually thinks that I care about that curfew, that¡¯s for other people. ¡°No, I don¡¯t really need that much sleep; two hours are more than enough for me. How about you, shouldn¡¯t you be sleeping?¡± ¡°I¡­I have to practice! I¡¯m not a very good with the bow and the other elves make fun of me.¡± Well, she was just shooting arrows at a tree. The tree was on the other side of the courtyard. It was hit multiple times by her arrows and it looked like it wasn¡¯t going to last long. ¡°Well, don¡¯t let me stop you, I just want to watch.¡± Seeing her in action might be good reference material for later. Being a right-handed person she held the bow with her left hand and the arrow with her right hand. She was standing straight and rotated her chin until it was almost over the left shoulder. After that she lowered her chest downward supposedly towards her stomach and then pushed her shoulders downward. She took a few deep breaths. The arrow she was holding was enveloped by a white, almost transparent layer of magic. After she finished enveloping the arrow in magic she fired it. The arrow started spinning in the air, leaving a circular trail after her. [Drilling in progress], that¡¯s how fast it was spinning. The arrow hit a different tree this time and the poor tree was blasted in half. Out of curiosity I went and checked the area. Well, the tree didn¡¯t stand a chance, it broke in two and quite violently; judging from how that arrow looked the tree shouldn¡¯t have been damaged like this. The arrow on the other hand showed no signs of damage; it actually looks like it wasn¡¯t used even once; that¡¯s cool. ¡°That was so cool!¡± I said with an excited voice. I¡¯ve got to hand it to her, that was indeed cool, not only the magic but also her skill. There were a few hundred meters between her and the tree, that alone says something about her skill. ¡°So, how did you do that?¡± ¡°Hm? Are you asking about the arrow?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m really curious.¡± The arrow is an Elder Wood one but the only difference from a simple one is its magic conductivity. I don¡¯t know how hard it is for Sya to envelop that arrow with magic but I¡¯m pretty sure that if I tried the arrow would explode almost instantly. ¡°For elves that is a basic archery technique for elves.¡± Oh, look who¡¯s here. I was supposed to train with Maria tonight but it¡¯s not midnight yet, why is she here? ¡°T¡­Teacher?¡± When Sya noticed Maria she hid behind me. I know that we are outside past curfew but as special students that shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Even if I tell her that I don¡¯t think it will do much good. ¡°You know about that?¡± ¡°Of course; you may think that it¡¯s a technique only elves can use but it¡¯s not. For weapons such as swords, axes, hammers and so on you can use Body Enchantment but for throwing weapons and arrows you must provide them with enough magic to last even after they are launched.¡± So, I can compare this to a laptop or any device that uses a battery. So the arrows are made with Elder Wood so magic can be stored more easily. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°You can compare it to an advanced method of filling a magic crystal.¡± When I heard the words [magic crystal] I remembered my first attempts to use them and I burst out laughing. ¡°Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!...Haaa¡­Sorry, I just remembered my past experiences with magic crystals. Even if I learn how to empower an arrow it will most likely explode in a few seconds.¡± ¡°True.¡± Maria smiled. ¡°So, how long are you going to stay behind me Sya?¡± ¡°But, I¡¯m going to get in trouble.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all right, while being outside after curfew is forbidden, there weren¡¯t any assassination attempts for the fast five years and since we are keeping the vampire girl here our security is now better so there should be no problem plus Alex has been watching you for some time.¡± ¡°W¡­Wait, how did you know?¡± I said with an embarrassed voice. How did she know I was watching her? I know that I can¡¯t detect her presence but really now; how? ¡°Oh my, it looks I was right. I know that you spend most of the nights on top of the boys¡¯ dorm so I assumed that you also kept an eye on the surroundings.¡± ¡°Oh, I guess that I played myself here. Well, I¡¯m interested in her archery, nothing wrong about that, right?¡± ¡°If you are that interested why don¡¯t you ask Elesya to teach you?¡± Maria looked at Sya who was still too scared to come out of hiding. Am I the only one here with enough common sense to see that she¡¯s not a bad person or I was so careless that I didn¡¯t see it and just kept going?...Whatever the reason, she needs to stop this. ¡°Come on Sya, she¡¯s not going to scold you.¡± ¡°Is that right?¡± ¡°Of course Elesya, but I will punish you. As punishment you will have to teach Alex archery.¡± ¡°Eh? Ah¡­I understand.¡± said Sya after a few seconds. Somehow this fake punishment actually calmed her down. I have to make a note of that and try it myself in the future. The week was going well until Friday evening when a paladin told me, Liliana and Maria to go to the basement where Astrid was. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. When I arrived I saw three other paladins there. It¡¯s a good thing that I had to tutor Sya and Jaden or else I would have been caught. I was amazed, not by the paladins but by Astrid, she regained her true form. I learnt how to get rid of my double visions and focus on a single form but I could tell that she wasn¡¯t sealed anymore; I fear that the day she leaves will come soon. ¡°The vampire said that she had something to tell you.¡± said one of the paladins. ¡°Now that I can look at you without needing to use magic I can say that you are beautiful.¡± Whatever the reason is I¡¯m positive that she didn¡¯t call us to fight. All things aside, she really looks sexier like this. ¡°I apologise for calling you here but there was something I want to announce: Soon I will escape from this containment cell.¡± Just like that she declared that she has a plan to escape and we can¡¯t stop her. Ha ha, this is getting really interesting; I want to see how she accomplishes that. ¡°Alexander, the runes that are keeping me in this cage are written using your blood?¡± Well, she found out. In a way I¡¯m surprised that she didn¡¯t find out about this sooner, she drank my blood after all. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s my blood.¡± ¡°I see; I have to congratulate you. If it weren¡¯t for these runes I would have escaped months ago. Well, no matter, it will not be long before I depart.¡± ¡°You three, come with me; the rest of you keep watch.¡± One of the paladins ordered us to come with him and the rest of them to guard Astrid. Strange, I thought that the one in charge would look different but they all look the same. ¡°Is it true?¡± asked the paladin. ¡°Yes, Alexander¡¯s blood has the same properties as that of a demon¡¯s. We had a shortage of ink so we had to use something else as replacement.¡± explained Liliana ¡°Using a student¡¯s blood for something like¡­NO, I don¡¯t understand how a human¡¯s blood can be so similar to that of a demon.¡± Well, it looks like the possibility of me being a half-breed or something like that didn¡¯t cross his mind or maybe he knows that I¡¯m a human, I don¡¯t know what to think. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we focus on the current situation?¡± ¡°Do you have anything to say Alex?¡± Do I? If I wanted to escape from prison I wouldn¡¯t tell the guards about it even as a joke. Astrid is not the type of person to bluff or lie so there¡¯s a high possibility that her powers recovered to the point of allowing her to escape. ¡°I don¡¯t think she is lying; she is going to escape and we can¡¯t do anything to stop her.¡± ¡°Boy, underestimating the might of the paladins is not something-¡° ¡°He is right.¡± Liliana cut him off. ¡°What are you saying?¡± the paladin glared at Liliana ¡°Little by little her powers are returning and when they do she will escape regardless of how many soldiers you bring and I will not allow you to use this school as a battleground, not even if the king and The Church order me to.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be hasty witch; you seem to forget who you are dealing with here.¡± ¡°So do you, a black mage is the only one who can defeat a paladin.¡± ¡°Hmph! Very well, I will go to the headquarters and report this, maybe they will send some reinforcements.¡± ¡°Then you better get moving!¡± I¡¯ve never seen her so angry, it looks like Liliana is taking her role as the headmistress seriously, I¡¯m impressed. The paladin was eager to fight her before hearing the black mage part, after that he realized that fighting her wouldn¡¯t be such a good idea. Well, if there will be a fight I will certainly fight by her side. ¡°Tomorrow I¡¯m going to talk to her; I can at least ask her to leave without harming the students.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°It will be fine headmistress; the vampire seems to listen to what Alex says, there is a slight chance that she will listen to him again.¡± said Maria. The paladin gave up and went to the basement and the rest of us went to our rooms. The next day I paid Astrid another visit, alone. I want to know how she plans to escape and if she plans to kill someone else besides the paladins. ¡°You are awake, good. You said you wanted to escape, can you really do it?¡± ¡°You came here to reassure yourself that I¡¯m not lying; I will tell you again: Soon I will escape from here.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I will destroy this cell and the ones who guard it. Is this why you came here, to ask me to spare the ones who live here?¡± ¡°Well¡­Yeah, I wanted to ask you just that. I am aware that the staff here will try to stop you but at least spare the teachers and the students.¡± ¡°Destroying this cell will be difficult so I will refrain from fighting any pointless fights.¡± ¡°I see; that¡¯s good. Well then, shall we continue from where we left off?¡± ¡°That was not the kind of answer I would expect from someone else but you. Very well, we shall resume.¡± said Astrid with a smile. Since she announced that she will leave soon I will lose my chance to learn the demon language. I still have a feeling that something¡¯s wrong here. For someone who declared that will blow up a cell and probably kill some guys in the process she is awfully calm about it. There are no extra guards, no barriers or anything that could stop her, it¡¯s too convenient for her. After finishing the demon language lesson I went around the school searching for Maria and Lilina. Surprisingly the two of them were in the storage room. Most likely they got what they wanted because they were getting ready to leave. Liliana was relieved when I told her that Astrid will refrain from attacking the students. I also asked her about the reason why Astrid isn¡¯t heavily guarded but she can¡¯t answer me if there¡¯s no answer. Basically The Church doesn¡¯t give a shit about the people here and we just have to deal with it. ¡°I have nothing against going with the flow but can we really just stay and watch?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve noticed that she grows stronger everyday; even if we find a way to trap her it will be temporary IF we can manage to catch her again. This is a disaster waiting to happen, just as I expected.¡± explained a frowning Liliana. Astrid wasn¡¯t getting stronger, her powers were returning to her ¡°I see¡­Guess there¡¯s nothing we can do.¡± Liliana doesn¡¯t want the students to hear about this; the teachers, her and I should be the only ones who should know and I understand why she would do that but I can¡¯t obey that, there is one more person who should know, Mir. Before going to sleep I told Mir what happened and what I think about the situation. I thought that she might give me some sort of advice but she didn¡¯t had anything to say¡­I just told her that a demon just declared that will break free and escape and there¡¯s nothing we can do to stop her, that would fuck anyone up. I have to thank Astrid, because of her I have to play the middle man. The Escape I¡¯m starting to think that Astrid just wanted to scare the paladins. It¡¯s been a month since she declared that she will escape and nothing happened. It¡¯s the beginning of what I called March in my previous world and nothing is going on; I don¡¯t like it when it¡¯s quiet. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± asked Astrid. Since Astrid declared that she will escape I actually tried to work harder and learn the demon language. The good thing is that I was almost done with it. Things got surprisingly easy since I learnt how similar the demon language and English are. Once I learnt how to actually speak it things went smoothly. I learnt it well enough to use it in everyday conversations but I wanted to be at Astrid¡¯s level in case I get the chance to talk to a demon who doesn¡¯t want to kill me on our first meeting. ¡°I was thinking that I still don¡¯t know how you got caught in the first place.¡± ¡°I see, I thought that you would bother me with trivial matters. Tell me, do you believe in angels?¡± Yeah, I could probably say a pick-up line here but she looks a little too serious, I don¡¯t want to die right now so I will respond truthfully. ¡°I don¡¯t, that¡¯s what I would like to say but I actually do.¡± ¡°Good, then listen well: The vampires aren¡¯t like most demon and won¡¯t attack people on sight. The first vampire was once a human that got its powers by using black magic. After numerous sacrifices he obtained immortality and tremendous powers but he got a thirst of blood as well. In the beginning he drank blood but in time he learnt that he could create more like him by giving them his blood. Many generations of vampires were born that way, every one of them possessing different levels of strength. It is said that a vampire possessing half of the creator¡¯s power is enough to shift the balance between the races. To defeat such a foe the humans established contact with angels and the angels helped the humans in their quest to defeat the original vampire for good. Many angels perished in battle on that day. Is everything clear?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m having trouble believing all this but somehow I can understand it.¡± So now humans can use angels and shit. I¡¯ve read some history books but angels weren¡¯t mentioned in any books, history or fantasy. She used the term [angel] from the demon language, maybe that¡¯s why I don¡¯t remember reading about them. ¡°It looks like you have an idea but you are not sure. Hmm¡­In your language they are called [Valkyries].¡± But¡­Valkyries are men in this world. There are a few exceptions where a woman becomes a Valkyrie¡­ I thought that the term was different in this world. Oh well; there goes my hope of being wrong. ¡°I know about Walkyries.¡± ¡°Were you disappointed?¡± ¡°By what?¡± ¡°That now you know that not all angels are beautiful women.¡± said Astrid with a laugh. ¡°A little, but enough with this, continue your story.¡± ¡°Haaaa¡­Very well. After that battle some humans acquired the right to summon angels. There aren¡¯t many humans who can summon angels but those who can are called when a demon attacks the kingdom. At full power I possess half the power the original vampire had but I do not engage in pointless fights.¡± Astrid¡¯s face became teary and her voice was full of regret. ¡°There are vampires who are powerless. Demons pray on demons to get stronger and so many young demons die an early death. On the outskirts of the demon realm I am housing a few of the powerless vampires. A few years ago a hunting party arrived in the demon realm. Those humans brought an angel summoner with them and attacked a demon tribe. One of the young vampires under my protection was staying there. I was supposed to pick her up, needless to say I failed.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°The humans killed every demon they saw. When I got there everything was burning: houses, demons, and tress. The only survivor was the vampire I was supposed to protect. Unfortunately she died right after I got her out of that fiery hell. The other demons where killed but not her, I could tell that she was tortured and raped. She was humiliated beyond limit only because she resembled a human, at least as a demon she would have died without feeling so much pain.¡± Astrid tried to catch her breath but her sobbing stopped her from doing so. The right thing to do would be to stop her from continuing the story but I can¡¯t and I¡¯m sure that if I did that she would hate me from it. ¡°Their last mistake was leaving without burying her body. I followed the humans until I arrived in the human realm and took my revenge on them. Twenty humans and ten angels died that day. As a vampire daylight and holy weapons are my weaknesses but I wasn¡¯t going to die before I avenged the girl¡¯s death. I fought for a whole day in broad daylight against thirty humans and ten angels. I killed the twenty humans who were there that day but the cowards called from reinforcements. Ten angles and ten paladins came to stop me. I was weakened and I was losing so I used my powers using my soul as a catalyst. After I killed the angels I thought I was going to meet the same fate but I was taken as a prisoner instead.¡± Seeing her cry in her adult form sends shivers down my spine. I¡¯ve never thought that I will see the day she cried. ¡°Was¡­it wrong?¡± Astrid caught me by my throat and pulled me to her. I was staying right in front of the cell and I know that there was magic that restricted her movement. She isn¡¯t holding back, she actually tries to choke me! ¡°I didn¡¯t do anything wrong¡­they did and yet¡­¡± said Astrid looking into my eyes. I could only look down. What can I say¡­She isn¡¯t in the wrong; in my previous world¡­it would actually be the same, she wouldn¡¯t have gotten her revenge any other way. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to say anything because there is no right answer for the question. *cough* *cough* It looks like even with Black Blood activated Astrid¡¯s grip is too strong for me. ¡°Ah¡­I¡¯m sorry.¡± When she realized that she was hurting me she regained her composure she let me go. It¡¯s been some time since I felt pain like this. Rage, grief and maybe desperation; these three feelings can make a person do things they thought they were incapable of doing and most of them regret it. Her story must have triggered her memories and her urge to kill and I being right in front of her was the perfect target. ¡°It¡¯s all right, I will be fine.¡± that¡¯s what I said but I could still feel her fingers on my throat. She was strong before but definitely not like this. If it weren¡¯t for my Black Blood and my magic empowered body I would have died the moment she caught me. Well, Astrid returned to normal and now she was worried about me. I can still feel the pain and my breathing shows no signs of returning to normal ¡°I apologize, I let my feelings get the better of me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t blame you. After what you¡¯ve been through I expected something like this to happen.¡± Who wouldn¡¯t? I was a human, the same species as the ones who tortured that girl and in that state she snapped for a few seconds and she attacked me. Even if I remained without oxygen I wouldn¡¯t have died but strangely enough the thought of running away never crossed my mind. ¡°I killed the ones responsible for the girl¡¯s death and I was prepared to die but my arrival here saved me and for that I have to thank you; if you weren¡¯t there I would have died but your blood allowed me to heal.¡± said Astrid with a smile on her face. Somehow the memory cheered her up. Well, she sucked almost all my magic that day. Compared to most students here my magic reserves are bigger than theirs. ¡°So, I guess it¡¯s about time, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°My outburst earlier gave it away, didn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah, I may not be good with details but my memory is perfect and I know that you shouldn¡¯t be able to get near the bars. You broke that enchantment so this could only mean one thing: you will escape soon.¡± ¡°Yes, I shall leave soon.¡± It looks like it¡¯s time for me to go. The paladins thought that she was lying; they are in for a big surprise. ¡°I have to go but I will be there to see you off.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. After leaving the basement I went to Liliana and Maria and told them that she will escape tonight. For some reason neither of them were surprised by the news. ¡°So I don¡¯t forget, take this.¡± This can be considered strange. For some reason Liliana gave me a red sundress. What am I supposed to do with this? ¡°Why did you give this to me?¡± ¡°If you hadn¡¯t realized yet you will.¡± This doesn¡¯t make any sense. Oh well; I will just go with the flow for now. I took the sundress and put it in The Null. If I¡¯m right Astrid will make her move in a few hours and I have to be ready when that happens. I think that I should recover the magic I lost from keeping Black Blood active before going to keep watch. It was eleven o¡¯clock when I went to bed and slept. *BOOM* A sudden explosion woke me up. Okay, it¡¯s already two in the morning¡¯ it looks like my recovery took a little longer than I expected. Anyway, I have to get going. After a few seconds Jaden woke up and Mir came inside; nice synchronization. ¡°You two stay here; don¡¯t leave the room under any circumstances.¡± After telling Jaden and Mir to stay put I jumped out of the window and ran towards the school building. I know I heard an explosion but there was no smoke, fire or anything else. When I arrived at the school building I saw a hole where Astrid¡¯s cage was. That part of the basement wasn¡¯t directly below the school building so Liliana doesn¡¯t have to worry about the damage but it is a really big hole. Liliana, Maria and some other teachers were already at the scene but there was nothing they could do. The only things that caught my eye were the remains of the two paladin guards that were supposed to stop Astrid if she tried to escape. They have been blown to bits. ¡°Is anyone hurt?¡± I asked. ¡°No, the only ones that died were the guards.¡± answered Liliana. ¡°So where is she?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know yet, nobody saw her after the explosion.¡± OK, let¡¯s assess the situation: Astrid escaped and was not seen since the explosion occurred, only the paladins guarding were hurt and the school wasn¡¯t damaged. Now I only need to find Astrid. Hmm¡­Oh! What if I use Oculus? ¡°Maybe I can find her using Oculus.¡± ¡°It¡¯s worth a try; do it!¡± Using my Black Blood as ink I drew the rune and activated Oculus. It only took me about ten seconds to activate it; I¡¯m definitely getting better at drawing the rune. OK¡­She doesn¡¯t seem to be in the premises. There is the road, the only way out; the rest of it is just a huge forest. I don¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. Wait, I got it! There was a clearing in the forest, it was in the west¡­Well shit, I can¡¯t see that area in detail, my control isn¡¯t that good, however something was different, some trees are missing and there is something on the ground. This is my only lead so I¡¯m going there. ¡°I got something, I don¡¯t know what it is but something¡¯s there.¡± ¡°Where is it?¡± ¡°The clearing in the forest, the one in the west.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe it.¡± ¡°I agree. Even if he used black magic, he couldn¡¯t see that far ahead.¡± The teachers started arguing with me. I know that they have to capture Astrid and I¡¯m trying to help and yet that¡¯s how they treat me. Fuck it! I will go alone. ¡°ENOUGH! Alex, go ahead, I will catch up with you.¡± Somehow Maria was able to stop the other teachers and she actually believes in what I saw¡­Now that I got her hopes up I should at least go and investigate. ¡°Got it.¡± I dashed towards where the clearing was. In my previous world I wasn¡¯t that good with directions but once I had a map everything was a piece of cake and thanks to my powers I have a bird¡¯s eye map. After a few minutes of running I reached the clearing. As I thought, Astrid was in the middle of it taking a break and she was naked. I guess that the blast also ripped her rags. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to see you here so early.¡± said Astrid with a smile. ¡°I may not look like it but I can use a little black magic, enough to find you at least.¡± ¡°Are you here to try and stop me then?¡± ¡°I am not going to go all suicidal on you; I¡¯m too weak for that.¡± ¡°Ha ha, a wise decision.¡± Weakened or not she wasn¡¯t an enemy I could face. ¡°Well, you sure did a number on the school there.¡± ¡°I kept my promise, no student or teacher was hurt or killed and I minimized the damage I did to the building.¡± ¡°I know and I want to thank you for that.¡± ¡°Is there anything else you wish to ask?¡± ¡°How are you going to go back?¡± ¡°I will fly. High level demons have the ability to grow wings and fly.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Well, she¡¯s made up her mind and I can¡¯t feel Maria or the other teachers nearby. For some reason I don¡¯t like the idea of her being naked and......So that¡¯s what that dress was for! Liliana said that once the situation presents itself I will know what to do with it. Only the lower half of the back area could be covered by the dress which makes it perfect for someone like her. ¡°If you want to leave at least accept this gift.¡± I took the dress from The Null and gave it to Astrid. ¡°A dress; very well, I will accept it.¡± She put on the dress. Well, she looked sexy in that dress, almost too much to handle. ¡°I suppose I have to give you something too.¡± Astrid embraced and kissed me. The kiss was long and passionate but there was more than that, it felt like a vampire kiss. I was inexperienced in when it comes to kisses so I just tried to mimic her moves. ¡°I hope to see you again.¡± After parting lips my body started feeling numb and I fell on the ground. I was paralyzed by her kiss. I was lying on my back powerless. Astrid grew wings and flew away. I couldn¡¯t see them clearly because of the state I was in but they looked like bat wings, dark red bat wings on her back. It''s a pity that I can''t move, I really wanted to look at the wings before she left but that is impossible now. "...See...you...again." And with that I watched her disappear in the night sky Her Story It¡¯s been an hour since Astrid left and I¡¯m still lying here unable to move. Usually when I¡¯m hurt or a foreign substance is in my body it responds to my scan but according to the scan nothing is wrong with me¡­or maybe the technique Astrid used is too powerful to be detected by me. ¡°Oh, here you are.¡± At long last Maria arrived. I was really worried that I would have to spend the night here which would not have been a problem if I could move but Astrid just had to do that to me. ¡°Hey, what took you so long?¡± Oh, I can speak normally now, that¡¯s nice, at least I know that I¡¯m recovering. ¡°Was she here?¡± ¡°Yes, she left an hour ago but she did manage paralyze me before she left and now I can¡¯t move.¡± ¡°I see. As you probably have guessed I was the only one who actually listened to you. The other teachers suggested that we search the school building first. After spending half an hour searching the school they decided to stop. It¡¯s not like we got that much in return for keeping her here so there was no reason to go out of our way to search for her.¡± In other words nobody cares is whether she escapes or not as long as no student or teacher is hurt. Their decision wasn¡¯t wrong and I¡¯m actually glad that no one showed up. I don¡¯t know why but I think that if anyone but me would have found Astrid they would have died. ¡°Since you can¡¯t move I will carry you.¡± Maria gave me a piggy-back ride. This situation feels wrong, not because she is carrying me but because I have the body of an adult which makes this look wrong. I know that one way or another I kind of deserved this but really now, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with me. ¡°You know, every time you get too close to her you end up like this.¡± Judging by the way she was laughing that was supposed to be a joke. Well, the only two times when there were no bars between me and Astrid I end up paralyzed or worse. At least Maria is laughing. The rest of the way was quite quiet except the occasional snicker from Maria. Usually the man gives the girl a piggy-back ride not the other way around. I was wondering why there was no sound coming from the school building; everybody either went to sleep or left. The hole was covered with a cloth as a temporary solution. Maria took me to her room to rest. Despite telling her that I was fine she checked me for injuries. As I expected I was fine. Usually I know when I¡¯m wounded, in my battle mode I am somehow aware of all the wounds I have but despite that I couldn¡¯t find anything wrong with me. Oh well, what¡¯s done is done, for now I must focus on getting better. As soon as she finished her check up I went to sleep. My body heals more easily when I¡¯m asleep so I will just go to sleep and hope that after I woke up I will get better. When I woke up my body returned to normal¡­more or less. My body was still a little numb and every time I tried to move it felt like someone was sticking needles in me, it wasn¡¯t painful, just strange. Now that I can confirmed that I can move I want to see how long I was out. Judging by the date shown on the watch today is a Sunday which means I slept a full day again. Whatever Astrid did to me was very potent. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s about time you got up.¡± Maria came into my room with plate. In the plate was some bread, meat and a glass of water. What I found strange is that she was wearing her casual clothes instead of her working clothes; she wears the casual clothes only during school breaks. I will have to ask her later but now there¡¯s something else I¡¯m concerned about. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Maria put the plate on the desk and sat next to me on the bed. ¡°The headmistress decided to give everyone a break, a one week break. All the other teachers left and so did the students¡­Well; the elf didn¡¯t since there was nobody capable of escorting her.¡± I see; Sya is still in the premises; I guess that taking her back to Fantasie will take longer than a week. Well, now that we don¡¯t have any classes I can focus on my archery and elven language lessons. ¡°That was the right choice.¡± After a few minutes of stretching I was able to move without any problems. I ate the food that Maria brought and went outside. I found Sya in the courtyard looking at where the hole was. Since the other students were away she decided to wear the clothes made of leaves. This time the leaves formed a T-shirt and a pair of pants. Well, it¡¯s better than the clothes she mimicked when she arrived. ¡°Alex, are you all right, did you get hurt; is she really gone?¡± Every time I see her I think that she is a little too lively for an elf. Despite being 100 years old she behaves like a kid. ¡°I¡¯m fine, I didn¡¯t get hurt, just paralyzed and yes, she is gone.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I don¡¯t understand why she looks so sad; she only met her once, that¡¯s not enough time to form a bond. ¡°What¡¯s with that face, why are you so sad?¡± ¡°You liked each other and yet she had to go, it¡¯s sad, being away from the one you love.¡± Oh, that was her problem; she thought that we were in love with each other. From an outsider¡¯s point of view it may look like this but that¡¯s not the truth. Maria loves me like a sister loves her little brother and Astrid liked spending time with me because I was more open minded than most people and because she found somebody could tease without any restraint. ¡°You are wrong. We are friends, just friends. I know that it doesn¡¯t sound right but that¡¯s the truth: I don¡¯t love her and she doesn¡¯t love me.¡± Sya expression became even grimmer than before. I know full well what she wants to say but even she knows that she¡¯s not right. ¡°It¡¯s all right.¡± I told her with a pat on the head. Sya wanted to know what happened to Astrid after the explosion so I told her about Astrid¡¯s true form, the wings and that she paralyzed me. I was sure to keep the fact that we kissed a secret; I don¡¯t want her getting the wrong idea again. The rest of the day passed without any incidents, just the usual language and archery classes. The next day I decided to ask Sya about Fantasie It was evening, the perfect time for some stories. Since there was no one present the courtyard seemed like a good spot. Sya is an elf so asking her about her continent seems like I good idea. ¡°I¡¯m sorry but I don¡¯t know much about Fantasie, I¡¯ve never been there.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Her response was unexpected. If she hasn¡¯t been to her own continent where did she live for all these years? ¡°Where did you live before coming here?¡± ¡°On this continent in a place called [Film Woods]. You remember what happened to my mother right? Well, as a result despite being royalty she was exiled and forced to leave her home. 200 years ago a group of elves created a community on this continent; one of these elves was my father. My father decided to take my mother to the Film Woods hoping that I will be accepted there.¡± I asked Liliana about Sya, her mother was raped while she was pregnant. When we first met Liliana told me that her mother got pregnant after she was raped. After hearing that it was hard for me to believe that her transformation had anything to do with the demon. Neither Liliana nor Maria had any idea about how such a thing could be possible but considering that demons are fundamentally different from the other races I shouldn¡¯t be shocked by something like that, maybe it was because of the magic the demon possessed. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. She looked angry but at the same time there was also a look of determination on her face. If I were to guess I would say that she wishes to be accepted. ¡°As you can guess, I was viewed as a monster and treated like one. In that village lived a noble who somehow knew about me. It was because of him and his son that I couldn¡¯t live peacefully. That kid was an heir like me and while we should have been treated the same I was labelled a monster and treated worse than a demon.¡± ¡°Is this the reason you came to this school, to prove yourself?¡± ¡°That¡¯s part of the reason. If I can graduate and establish a peaceful relationship with the humans I will be able to prove that I¡¯m better than that kid.¡± Well, she resents that elf for what he did to her, that much is clear. Hmm¡­Sya is capable of graduating if she continues attending these remaining four years but the other part is a little¡­Hmmm, isn¡¯t there a way to help her? ¡°OH, I got it!¡± ¡°Wha,What?¡± I guess that I scared her when I raised my voice. In my previous life I had a habit of speaking in a low voice so when I raised my voice earlier I scared her. ¡°You know Jaden, right?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s only natural to remember your friends¡­especially if you have only a few.¡± ¡°Yeah, his father is one of the best merchants in Sonne, I can ask Jaden to help you.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know that. If his father is that well-known there is a chance for me to form some kind of trade agreement with him.¡± ¡°Well, you said that you lived with your parents, I want to know more about it.¡± ¡°The village, if I can call it that, is near the border between the continents and is supervised by humans. Most of the people who live there are hunters, keeping the monsters away from other human villages.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s that. Tell me about your life there.¡± ¡°I lived there with my mother and my father. My father struggled to make my life in the village easier. He did everything he could to stop the transformation or eliminate it. His last attempt to cure me was a holy elixir. In theory a holy elixir can purify the body of the one who drank it. I drank it when I was ten years old but the transformations didn¡¯t stop. The elixir was genuine and yet it didn¡¯t work. When my father saw that the elixir didn¡¯t work he gave up on curing me and raised me as I was. Despite my appearance he raised me like a normal royal elf.¡± A holy elixir is a purification potion that is supposedly made using the blood of angels capable of purifying anything¡­or so the book said. Even in this world there are books that are complete bullshit and cannot be trusted. Personally I doubt that her transformation is a transformation, I think it was more like a mutation, and I¡¯m not talking about the fun ones. ¡°How about your mother?¡± ¡°My mother was shocked by my appearance, until the last moment she believed that I will look like a normal high elf, you can image her reaction when she saw that I was transforming. She tried, I won¡¯t deny that, but she couldn¡¯t see me as her daughter, she saw me just like another child that needed somebody to take care of her.¡± Usually it¡¯s the other way around, the mother keeps the child but the father hates her or maybe I¡¯m thinking about the wrong genre. Since elves are so prideful I didn¡¯t expect the mother to be the one who abandons her child. Well, at least she had a father who actually took care of her, that¡¯s what it counts.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a little afraid by the answer but I will ask anyway: how did the others treat you?¡± ¡°Despite being part of the royalty the townspeople treated me like I was a monster. For almost forty years I wasn¡¯t allowed to leave the house, I was stuck in my room with nothing but some books and a potted flower. With nothing to do I used the flower to train my Nature Magic and thanks to that I¡¯m able to control the leaf transformations, at least my magic is better than that guy¡¯s.¡± ¡°So you using leaves as clothes is an advanced type of magic?¡± ¡°Yes! Only a few elves are skilled enough to do something like this. It takes a huge amount of control to maintain it; if I want I can control the trees here and crush the buildings.¡± ¡°Well, Nature Magic aside, your archery is also very good.¡± ¡°My archery is lacking. You saw how much one empowered arrow tires me; a normal elf has no problem firing ten of them. Experienced monster hunters can fire almost 100 without getting tired.¡± ¡°So, that boy, how good is it?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± That was a rhetorical question and by that tone of voice she used I would say that he is quite talented and it seems that elves don¡¯t actually care about magic as long as your archery skills are good. I¡¯ve seen good students struggling with easy spells like fireballs. I guess that having powerful magic doesn¡¯t really help if you die before you can use it. ¡°Your magic is better than his; you just need to work on your archery.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that easy, archery is hard; not everybody is like you, improving your skills so fast.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a part of who I am. If you really want to get stronger I will help you.¡± The main difference between us is experience. She may have lived for 100 years but if she has not been exposed to any danger she doesn¡¯t know how to fight and that hinders her skills. If I get the opportunity to go hunting for monsters I will take her with me as a marksman¡­but seeing how this place was never attacked by monsters the chance of us going hunting is slim. ¡°How do you intend to help me?¡± ¡°Well, how many monsters have you killed?¡± She looked at me and after some time of thinking she answered. ¡°None, this is the first time I left my village.¡± ¡°How about that boy?¡± ¡°He took part in many hunting expeditions. From what I heard he killed almost twenty goblins by himself.¡± That¡¯s really pitiful! I¡¯m surprised by how weak that elf is. I killed almost fifty goblins since I came to this world. Kraft told me a story about how he killed a goblin den when he was eight years old. He says that he killed at least one hundred goblins that day. ¡°Why are you smiling?¡± I didn¡¯t notice that I was grinning. The thought that Sya gives so much credit to such a weakling is funny. Just thinking that her rival is a guy who despite being talented has such a low kill count is quite amusing. I bet that he is the kind of kid that makes fun of her for having scales every time he can. ¡°I was just thinking that you may be giving too much credit to a weak guy.¡± Weak or not it doesn¡¯t matter. Sya¡¯s first priority is to get stronger than him and then outsmart him. Well, I guess that helping her might be fun after all. Going Hunting I said that I will help Sya train but truthfully I have no idea how to help her. Since dark magic is used mostly for silent running I was taught how to be an impatient ninja. Nature Magic is something only elves are capable of using so I can¡¯t help her there. The other thing I could help her with is archery, and this is where my train of thought stopped. She is complaining about exhaustion. Using magic for long periods of time or using too much magic at once leads to mental exhaustion and sometimes even to physical exhaustion. While the two of them are connected they are not the same. I saw many students here with the same problem; they don¡¯t know whether their exhaustion is physical or mental and if they can¡¯t figure it out they won¡¯t be able to get better. Ellen told me that meditation is the key to a strong mind and I¡¯ve read in a book that the great mages of Sonne would meditate before an important meeting or battle allowing them to go with a clear mind. I don¡¯t think that Sya meditates so that¡¯s another thing I have to teach her. Now that I figured some things out I just need to see which type of fatigue affects her the most and I¡¯ve got a plan for that. Well, I will get to work first thing in the morning, for now I will let my body absorb some magic and sleep. The next morning I and Sya were staying on the opposite sides of the courtyard. The plan was for her to hit me with some empowered arrows. I will just block them with my watch or if I¡¯m fast enough maybe I will try catching them. The goal was to see how many arrows she can fire before running out of juice. ¡°Are you ready?¡± ¡°Are you sure about this?¡± Sya was overly cautious for nothing. The watch has been through war, literally, and it¡¯s still unscratched, a few arrows can¡¯t do anything to it. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure. Just remember to go easy.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± I tightened my grip on the watch, extended my arm and took a defensive stance. I don¡¯t want to underestimate her magic and end up losing my arm¡­or worse. Sya starting powering up the arrow; the magic was forming faster than before but it was still slow; talk about casing time. After ten seconds Sya finally fired the arrow at me. The arrow was slower than the ones she usually fires and I can dodge it but I have to take it head-on. When the arrow hit the watch the blast knocked me back, the watch flew a few meters in the air and my arm received damage. I wasn¡¯t able to see exactly what happened but the moment the arrow hit the watch the magic from the arrow must have erupted blasting me away. The watch isn¡¯t made of vibranium or anything but the enchantments made it possible for it to do such things. So, what I learnt from this experience is that if I were a normal student I would have died from the blast or become right-handed for life. If it wasn¡¯t for my enhanced body and Black Blood I would have died¡­and they actually think she is inferior, damn idiots. ¡°Are you all right?¡± Sya, shocked by what she saw came running. ¡°No, my arm hurts like hell.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you get for trying to take a blow like that head-on.¡± When I turned around I saw Maria in some unusual clothes. A pair of black leather boots, brown leather pants, a white shirt, a brown leather jacket and brown leather gauntlets. The leather seemed good enough to block some hits but I really question its durability. She looked different wearing these clothes, especially because it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen her wearing only leather armor. Her arsenal consisted in a simple wooden bow, some wooden arrows and a¡­short sword? I don¡¯t have that much experience with hunting but a short sword is usually used for small prey like rabbits and other small animals, at least it was a steel sword so she stood a chance if stronger opponents attacked. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting such power.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not only about power, that wasn¡¯t nature magic she used against you, it was pure magical power.¡± Oh shit, I can¡¯t believe that she could use something like that. If I take this into consideration then it¡¯s not strange that I actually felt that. It was something Maria taught us in class. Magic has different colors for each element: Red for fire, blue for water¡­and so on. When a magician is experimented enough he or she can empower weapons or projectiles with pure magic, increasing their effectiveness. I haven¡¯t seen a pure magic attack before so I assumed that that¡¯s how Nature Magic looked like and defended myself accordingly. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that she was using pure magic.¡± There is only one way to block such a projectile: you don¡¯t! If a person manages to stop the projectile the burst of magic will surely finish the job. If there is a clash between magic attacks the stronger element usually wins but that¡¯s not always the case. The deciding factors in a magic battle are quantity and quality. A powerful fire attack can destroy a water barrier and here¡¯s the nice thing: Pure magic doesn¡¯t have any weakness. A pure magic attack is something that you keep as a trump card, last resort or even worse because it takes some time to charge and if you miss it¡¯s all over; that¡¯s why you try to evade an attack like that. I never understood how a burst of magic can hurt a person but now it¡¯s pretty clear. The sudden burst of magic fucks with your own magic flow and makes it go out of control. The technique is a nightmare and Sya is capable of using it more than once without getting tired¡­and I¡¯m not even able to empower a weapon without causing it to explode. ¡°Leaving the pure magic aside, do you want to come hunting with me?¡± ¡°Hunting, what for?¡± ¡°Wild monsters attack the school. It didn¡¯t happen for the past year because the vampire was somehow scarring the monsters.¡± ¡°Count me in. How about you Sya, care to put those skills of yours to the test?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± There we go; an enthusiastic answer. Now that Maria found a hunting ground it¡¯s time Sya sees how a battle for life and death really is fought. ¡°Here, you can use this.¡± Maria threw me the bow and the quiver. I wasn¡¯t planning on using it now to fight but I don¡¯t want to waste time arguing with Maria. ¡°So, where are we going?¡± ¡°Some monsters have appeared in the place I found you.¡± The clearing¡­Well, it¡¯s an open space so we can ambush the monsters easily. ¡°So, what should I expect?¡± ¡°Mostly demon wolves, black demon wolves.¡± When Maria mentioned the black demon wolves I froze for a second. Hearing that name might have triggered something like a PTSD attack or something. The first and last time I saw a black demon wolf I was almost killed and despite the things I¡¯ve been through I still feel uneasy. ¡°Oh sorry, I forgot what happened the last time you met a black wolf, I¡¯m sorry.¡± Maria remembered the story I told her a while ago and apologized. It looks like she saw that I felt uneasy but it¡¯s not her fault. If I am to survive in this world I can¡¯t get scared by those weaker than me. ¡°It¡¯s all right. Well then, let¡¯s see how this will turn out.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.¡°Come on Sya, we going hunting.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. Um, before we leave can you tell me what the head teacher apologized for?¡± ¡°Oh that, I got my arm bitten off by a demon wolf, that¡¯s all?¡± ¡°W¡­What?¡± Sya froze in place. She was staring at my arms in shock. I guess that it¡¯s something not many people live through. ¡°Come on.¡± ¡°Y¡­Yes.¡± After Sya stopped daydreaming the three of us went to the clearing in the forest. We didn¡¯t encounter any wolves on the way but I saw things like rabbits, birds and other small animals. I noticed that the wildlife wasn¡¯t that visible before but I didn¡¯t look into it. Well, seeing normal animals it¡¯s nice in its own way especially if I think about that red furred rabbit I saw when we entered the forest. The clearing was empty, there weren¡¯t any monsters here¡­or maybe I was wrong? I picked up a presence in the area in front of us. Whatever they are they are staying too close to each other so I don¡¯t know how many of them are there. ¡°There really are demon wolves, nice.¡± ¡°Indeed there are.¡± ¡°Huh? What?¡± As expected Sya can¡¯t even feel the wolves. It¡¯s not very hard to feel a demon or a monster. Well, I can¡¯t expecet so much from Sya who is a beginner. ¡°Alex, Sya, we will go back and wait for them go come out in the open.¡± ¡°OK.¡± ¡°Y¡­Yes.¡± We retreated back into the woods. I was looking forward to climbing a tree and shooting from there but I guess that I¡¯m not that lucky. There aren¡¯t any branches strong enough for me to use and even if they were the forest is too dense. ¡°There they are, get them.¡± whispered Maria There were twelve arrows in the quiver and at least ten wolves. Now that I look at them I see that I was overestimating them, they were gray wolves. A gray wolf is not even half as strong as a black one so it should be fine. There were ten of them. I took an arrow and aimed at a gray wolf that seemed to be their leader. The arrow I fired hit the wolf¡¯s neck. It looks like my aim was a little off. Well, the other wolves got distracted and one of them failed to notice the arrow that Sya fired. The three of us split up presumably to distract and confuse the wolves. Maria went ahead to agro the wolves giving me and Sya some time to pick our targets. I was on the right side, Sya was on the left and Maria was in the middle fighting the wolves. I found it curious that the wolves don¡¯t try to surround Maria, instead the just go one at a time. Even though she was using a short sword she had no difficulty dodging the wolves. She barely moves when he dodges an attack, I don¡¯t know if she¡¯s avoiding them or just dancing around them. Five out of the eight remaining wolves were killed by Maria. When a wolf jumps at her she takes a step back then she cuts its head or its stomach. Usually a short sword isn¡¯t strong enough to kill so many wolves but Maria doesn¡¯t care, she fights without doubt and still manages to hold her ground against multiple enemies. When I fight multiple enemies I tend to kill them fast to avoid getting surrounded and having my movements sealed so I developed a habit of jumping back when I dodge an attack instead of moving to the side or blocking it. Maria on the other hand jumped in the middle of them and has no trouble holding her own¡­no; it¡¯s more like she is playing with them; I don¡¯t think she even considers that she is in danger. The three remaining wolves are being more cautious and are waiting for Maria to attack and this is the moment the waiting game began. Since nobody is moving I might as well try firing an empowered arrow at one of the wolves, I want to see if I can hit it. I changed my location to get a better view of the wolves and to make sure that if something goes wrong I won¡¯t hit Maria. I aimed at the closest wolf and began empowering my arrow with magic. A black mist started forming around the arrow. Little by little the magic is gathering, just a few more seconds before it¡¯s complete. This is the most crucial part, if the magic is not stable I may not be able to control it. ¡°¡­no¡­STAY AWAY!¡± Suddenly I heard Sya screaming. When I looked at her I saw a black wolf leaping at her, in that moment Battle Meditation kicked in and the time stopped. I don¡¯t have much time to think about it so I will just have to assume that somehow one black wolf was able to go past me and Maria unnoticed and now it¡¯s attacking Sya. How the fuck did this happen? This is bad. That wolf is too close to Sya, she will get bitten regardless of what I do. The only thing I can do is to hit the wolf with the empowered arrow and hope that I¡¯m not too late. After I launched the arrow I hurried back to her side. I fired the arrow at the bloodthirsty wolf¡­ As I thought, it was too late to stop it from attacking; it managed to bite Sya¡¯s lower abdomen. ¡°AAAAAH!¡± In response to the pain Sya cried. The wolf wasn¡¯t going to let go but it was too late for it, the arrow will hit it any second now. I¡­I can¡¯t believe what I said¡­My¡­My arrow exploded right before hitting the wolf. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? ONCE; THIS ONE TIME I NEEDED SOMETHING TO GO RIGHT AND THAT¡¯S WHAT I GET? I was running as fast as I can. If¡­If I can reach her in time I may be able to use Dark Transfer on Sya and save her life. Using Shadow Dash I reached her in a matter of seconds. Apparently the wolf got confused by the explosion and let go of Sya. She was losing blood fast and it looks like she was bitten so hard she fainted. ¡°You son of a bitch¡­DIE!¡± Instinctively I started punching a 2 meter long wolf with my bare fists. I could have used the weapons I had in my inner world but I couldn¡¯t stop, I just had to punch it and so I did. I punched it again and again. I¡¯ve been hitting it for some time but it still refuses to go down, this one is a lot tougher than the average black wolf. ¡°Alex, STOP!¡± It seems that while I was busy killing the wolf Maria finished off the rest of them and came here. She looked quite shocked, why is that? I see, it may be the fact that I was punching a corpse; it looks like the wolf died already. ¡°Stop it; we don¡¯t have time for this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m almost done.¡± ¡°I DON¡¯T HAVE ANY HEALING POTIONS ON ME!¡± The last sentence woke me up. When I looked behind me I realised that Sya was bandaged but even with the bandages on she was still bleeding and neither of us have any healing potions on us. It¡¯s strange, the last time I was consumed by rage something was different but now everything felt so natural, I was actually at peace¡­ This is not the time to worry about me. I put my hand on Sya to check the gravity of her injuries. Somehow the wolf was able to break three of her ribs and pierce her left lung. Both the external and internal injuries were grave but she was still alive. The only thing I can do is heal her and hope that she will wake up. The Proposition I¡¯ve never tried using Dark Transfer to heal so injuries that grave before. I¡¯ve used my power before but the injuries I absorbed weren¡¯t life-threatening for me or for the one who had them and on top of that I don¡¯t know if I have a limit or I can just use it until I die. Will I be able to use Dark Transfer on Sya? Even if I was scared to find the answer to my question I began healing Sya. Slowly her bones and internal wounds were beginning to heal. A kind of black mist could be seen coming from Sya¡¯s body, possibly because of Dark Transfer. While her body was healing my body began to deteriorate: the left lung, the ribs and then the external damage. It looks like the grave wounds are healing first. A wound received as a result of Dark Transfer is as grave as it was on the other person even if my body is stronger and it hurts like hell. My pain tolerance was relatively high in my previous life and in this life it¡¯s even higher but it¡¯s a little too much for me. ¡°How is it?¡± Maria looked at me and asked me how was Sya¡¯s condition. ¡°She¡¯s fine. It will all be over in a few seconds.¡± ¡°I was talking about you, you are shaking.¡± I am¡­shaking? I looked at my arms and abdomen and I noticed that I was indeed shaking¡­I don¡¯t know when it started or even why. I know it¡¯s not the pain, it¡¯s something else. No matter what it is can wait until I¡¯m done, healing Sya takes priority. It took me almost five minutes to heal her, a process that should have taken a minute at most ended in five¡­Is there something wrong with me? ¡°NOOO!¡± Sya screamed after waking up. ¡°It¡¯s all right, you are safe.¡± I told her. Without saying anything Sya began checking for any sign of injury. It took her a while to realize that the injured one wasn¡¯t her but me. When she realized her face became pale, she was shocked. ¡°Alex, what happened? Why are you injured? Why am I all right?¡± ¡°It¡¯s magic. I told you that I¡¯m special, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Yeah, but¡­How-¡° ¡°Elesya, Alex is injured, how about going back for now?¡± ¡°¡­ah, yes, sorry.¡± Maria stopped Sya from asking any more questions. She didn¡¯t look as concerned as Sya but I get the feeling that from the three of us she is the most shaken up and not only because of Sya but because of my current condition. She tried looking us in the eye but I could see her peeking at my lower abdomen. I was losing blood because of the wounds and Maria is scared that I may die. Well, truthfully I wasn¡¯t feeling that good. My head god heavier and I had trouble maintaining my balance even when sitting down. I really want to lie down but we are in a forest were monsters are present so I can¡¯t afford to let my guard down. ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡± The three of us went back to the school. Sya seemed to have recovered completely and seems like she calmed down a little. She is still a little shocked about what happened and so am I. When we arrived Maria told me to follow her to the infirmary so she can treat my wounds. Besides healing potions the school had some ointments that could help. The ointments weren¡¯t as strong as healing potions. The ointments are usually used for small wounds. No one in his right mind would use a health potion for some small wounds when there¡¯s the risk of a grave injury. The ointment itself was stored in a glass jar. It was a yellow, gooey substance. I don¡¯t know why but the way the ointment was moving seemed wrong, it was creepy. On the other hand the smell was pleasant; it smelled like aloe and mint. I¡¯m not sure how this ointment was made but at least it smells nice. ¡°OW!¡± When Maria applied the ointment on my wounds I felt like I was stabbed. Usually these kinds of things sting at best but not this one. The area where the ointment was applied started heating up and I suddenly started itching. It felt a lot different than a nettle, it was worse, a lot worse and I want to scratch myself so bad. ¡°Ow, ow, it really stings.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t do that.¡± Before having a chance to try and scratch myself Maria immobilized me; she put my hands behind my back holding them with her right hand. ¡°I know that it hurts and it makes you want to scratch it but you have to endure it.¡± ¡°I know.¡± I know that I¡¯m supposed to stay put but holy fuck it stings. Usually my tolerance is pretty high so it¡¯s likely that until the wounds I took from Sya heal that part of my body will be weaker than normal so an injury I transferred is more dangerous than one received directly, pretty shitty drawback now that I think about it. ¡°Aside from the obvious, how are you holding up?¡± Maria asked me. [How am I holding up?], that¡¯s a pretty good question, one that I can¡¯t really answer since I have no idea how to feel about that. ¡°If I think about it I was the one at fault for letting that wolf ambush us.¡± ¡°I can only speculate but I think that Elesya was attacked by a pack leader. A pack leader is a monster which, in theory, is stronger than its followers combined.¡± I don¡¯t care if it was a pack leader or not, I should have detected it. No matter how I look at it it¡¯s my fault for not keeping a close eye on my surroundings and on Sya. I was distracted by my own stupid ideas and that might have been the cause I didn¡¯t notice that wolf. ¡°Whatever it was it was my responsibility. I brought her around with me and I let her down, it¡¯s my fault she got injured. I was distracted and she paid the price.¡± ¡°It looks like despite your appearance you are still a kid inside. Listen now, when the three of us entered the forest we were aware of what was inside and even if we weren¡¯t there is no need to blame only yourself for what happened. The three of us are equally responsible for what happened to Elesya. You said you were careless but if it were to point fingers the whole thing was ultimately my fault, I was supposed to take care of you.¡± I see¡­That¡¯s certainly another way to look at it. ¡°In an adventurer party the members have to take care of each other in order to survive. Every member is responsible for what happens to their party. No matter what happens you shouldn¡¯t blame yourself, it¡¯s not entirely your fault, we are all at fault. Truthfully if you weren¡¯t there she would have died on the spot.¡± While I am aware that if I weren¡¯t there Sya would have died I still feel responsible for what happened. When I decided to take Sya along with us I knew that something similar might happen and I let it happen. ¡°I understand that but still¡­¡± ¡°So what now, are you going to get depressed again?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°The last time you screwed up you got depressed and spent a lot in time feeling sorry for yourself. As a student you could pass all the tests without trying hard so staying locked up in a room wouldn¡¯t really matter but that¡¯s not how life works. If anything happens I¡¯m here for you BUT if you plan on sinking in fake guilt I will not help you.¡± As expected, she was angry at me and there¡¯s nothing I can say, I¡¯m not stupid or ignorant enough to deny the truth¡­I know too well that she is right but I still feel guilty. I am a human so I can¡¯t be that rational and I¡¯m not the type of man that is capable of saying something like [I will not let her get hurt again] because I know that it will be a lie, just like today. ¡°Today has been a bad day for us. I will let you get some rest and we will continue this tomorrow.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that it will change anything but if that¡¯s what you want then fine. Now stop moving while I bandage you.¡± After bandaging me Maria left the infirmary. She was a little mad at me and I can¡¯t say that she was wrong. Well, if that¡¯s how she sees things there¡¯s nothing I can do about it. For now I should rest and see what happens tomorrow. I think that there¡¯s something wrong with me. Yesterday I had a moral dilemma and yet I¡¯ve slept so peacefully, sometimes I forget how easily I get over some things. Since I was supposed to wait for Maria I spent some time just looking at the ceiling thinking about random stuff like video games and songs I listened to; I miss playing video games and listening to rap while lying down on the bed, those were some pretty good times. After almost one hour of admiring the ceiling I hear the sound of footsteps. Since I can¡¯t hear Maria¡¯s footsteps I guess that someone else needs me for something. OK, it looks like I was half right, Maria did come and so did Sya¡­and she looked like she was about to cry. ¡°Are you all right?¡± ¡°I should be the one asking you that!¡± ¡°Calm down, you don¡¯t need to be so angry.¡± Even she doesn¡¯t know what she fells. She looks angry and teary at the same time; she looked so strange even I can¡¯t understand what she really wants. ¡°I can¡¯t keep calm; you almost died to save me, that¡¯s beyond insane!¡± Who the hell told her that I was about to die? ¡°Hear me out on this one; I wasn¡¯t in any real danger. My body can recover as long as I¡¯m not receiving damage in a particular place.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you, and even if that were true why go to such lengths to save me?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t go to any lengths to save you; I have been through far worse situations. Actually why are you being so negative all of a sudden?¡± Usually Sya is the definition of optimism, it¡¯s quite strange. ¡°I was taught that in times of war the weak ones are getting left behind; I went out with you yesterday with this in mind. I thought that I will be able to pull my own weight but I was unable to do that, I¡¯m really weak.¡± ¡°Yes, you are.¡± Usually most of the people would disagree with her but the thought of agreeing with her just didn¡¯t seem right. I tend to be honest with the people I like. There are times when I tell them some white lies but usually I am honest so people know what to expect when they talk to me, that¡¯s why I can¡¯t lie to her. ¡°So you both came to an agreement.¡± Maria butted in. ¡°I guess. We were distracted and you were too busy to take care of us, how does that sound?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the truth. Have you decided what you want to do?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Sya has no idea what Maria and I are talking about. ¡°Well, I tried thinking about it, I really did and I came to a conclusion¡­If the way I did things was wrong then tell me what I should do.¡± ¡°All right, but I have one condition.¡± ¡°Right now I¡¯m not in a position to decline regardless of what you say but I want to know what that condition is.¡± ¡°Three years, stay in school three more years. You can pick up things faster than anyone I¡¯ve seen but it feels like you don¡¯t understand your limits completely. I¡¯m just guessing here but I feel like you can¡¯t keep up with yourself. Animals often die by overexerting themselves, that¡¯s the appropriate way to put it. If you agree to listen to me you will probably think that things will go slow but I assure you that in the end it will be all right. So, what do you think?¡± I did say that I will do what she says so I don¡¯t really get why she asks me this. Well, truthfully speaking her idea isn¡¯t bad and knowing Maria I bet that she had this in mind for some time. As I see it there¡¯s no need to think that hard about it. I have no goal here, I am young and even if I were to graduate now there would be a lot of holes that I may not be able to fill and above all I¡¯m still the only guardian Sya has and I have a feeling that leaving now after what happened would scar her¡­Oh what the hell, all my life I¡¯ve trusted my instincts so I might as well do it again. ¡°OK, I¡¯m in; just be ready to help me if I screw up.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Maria answered with a smile on her face. ¡°I know that the order is screwed up but what am I going to learn in these three years?¡± ¡°You will continue your training with me and starting your sixth year you will be taught how to fight with a real weapon, a right given to special students, as well as some particularities for every subject you¡¯ve studied so far¡­and as a gift from the headmistress I will also teach you some things about assassins, the underworld and thievery.¡± Nice, I get to learn about the assassins. Well, I was in from the beginning but when I heard that I will get some info on them I got a little excited and it seems like I subconsciously let out a smile. ¡°If there¡¯s something I can do to help you don¡¯t hesitate to tell me and I will be there for you.¡± ¡°Very well Maria, I promise that from now on I will be bothering you a lot more.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing else I could ask of you.¡± I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m right or not but Maria¡¯s vibe changed, it feels somewhat warm¡­Ha ha, maybe now I¡¯m starting to see her real self, her kinder self. Now that I have a goal my main problem is solved and I just need something to do to pass the time; maybe I will try writing a book about the demon language, it might turn out to be fun. Now I just need to explain some things to Sya. ¡°So Sya, did you understand anything from what you heard?¡± ¡°I did¡­part of it. I understood that you will not be leaving just yet which is enough for now. Then, until we graduate let¡¯s do our best!¡± Said Sya cheerfully. Oh, what the hell¡­might as well go with the flow. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s give it our all!¡± Graduation Now that I think about it I feel like Maria planned this from the start. When I told the Headmistress that I will stay for a while she wasn¡¯t surprised, as a matter of fact she didn¡¯t have any particular reaction, she just agreed with me and went back to her business. I tried asking Maria, even if it was stupid to ask her, but I didn¡¯t get an answer, just a smile. Well, in the end I stayed at Eule Academy as a special student all the way and I graduated like normal. Maria wanted me stay until seventh grade and after that I could leave or stay and I decided to stay. I didn¡¯t really plan on staying here up until eighth grade but in the end I¡¯m glad I did. Firstly and most importantly as a special student I was allowed to take a special training course. To put it simply the special students could choose a type of weapon and then have someone help them train them. During my time in the village I learnt that you can¡¯t just infuse your weapon with magic and expect it do things, this was a world where size did matter so as a man I chose the Zweih?nder. The sword was 1.5 meters long, with a grip about 30 centimeters and a double-edged blade about 1.2 meters long and weighted almost 3.5 kilograms. The instructor I had was a man more muscular than Kraft, didn¡¯t think that it was possible but I guess that¡¯s life, and he was as mean as he was strong. Basically the guy liked being a bitch with anyone who wasn¡¯t his boss. When I chose the Zweih?nder he told me that: [a pretty boy like you should stick to spells]. Apparently if you weren¡¯t buff like hell you weren¡¯t allowed to pick up a sword. Ultimately the problem was solved after the Headmistress had a little talk with him. To sate his thirst for superiority the trainer showed me something that actually managed to impress me. The first thing he did was to cut two trees with one horizontal swing. The trees were about 30 centimeters in diameter and he cut two of them down like it was nothing, no magic involved. He knows wind magic so I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if he used it on the sword but I could tell that he didn¡¯t use it. I am aware that my strength is superhuman when compared to most humans but compared to that guy I was weak. I mean I would have understood if he had used a special move or something similar but he didn¡¯t¡­that was impressive. One other thing I was intrigued about is the way he taught me how to use a sword. When Kraft taught me he said that he didn¡¯t show me the right way to do it and it looks like it was half-true, that particular training was made for experienced swordsmen that wielded the sword in such a way that it will take an extra toll on the swordsman¡¯s body. I guess that he couldn¡¯t think of any other way, showed me that and seeing that I can handle it he decided to stick with it. I asked the trainer to teach me properly from the beginning so I can have a solid foundation if I ever decide to mix two or more fighting styles into one. Ellen¡¯s Hay¡¯tok wasn¡¯t only hand to hand; she could incorporate a staff, dagger or knife in it. At the end of the day Hay¡¯tok is just the beginning of a skill tree that¡¯s why I want to use it along with my storage ability to switch between weapons combat and unarmed. As a special student I was allowed to take extra classes. Most of them were etiquette classes and quite difficult I¡¯ve heard, luckily Ellen taught me etiquette when I was younger plus what I knew from my previous life. The classes that interested me where Alchemy and Rune Magic. I chose Alchemy to get some more insight on potion making and medicine. My ability provides me with information on the things I see but that¡¯s about it. If I were to look at a Heartflower my ability will tell me that the petals and leaves are used to make healing potions and then it will stop so I have to deal with the actual process myself. Rune Magic is basically written magic, magic that isn¡¯t limited by the elements. Oculus is a type of Rune Magic and strangely enough the tattoo we get when we graduate can also be called Rune Magic. So basically any magic made using magic ink is Rune Magic. After class it was Maria¡¯s turn. When Jaden¡¯s family was attacked I killed one important member of the assassins. The leader went to retrieve him so I believe that he was someone important plus he had a codename and I don¡¯t think that every rookie has one. It is possible that the organization¡¯s name is [The Hand] and if it¡¯s true I¡¯m going to be hunted by the organization for killing one of their own and I might also be hunted by others just so that they will have something to boast about. So yeah, [The Hand] is the strongest assassin organization in Sonne, stronger than the one the king has which is both strange and dangerous. Sonne is the wise empire so there¡¯s no need for so many assassinations. In Vollmond however the king¡¯s assassins are so discreet that only a handful of people on the continent know about them. Maria told me that she met one of them by coincidence. She ignored him and went on to complete her mission; that evening [The Hand] was almost annihilated. In the end The Master killed the attacker and the rest is about her punishment and how the Headmistress saved her. The last subject was thievery. In case I needed some quick cash Maria taught me a little about stealing and fencing. Like in our world stealing is about timing, reflexes and distraction only that the security here is bad and it¡¯s harder to prove that something belonged to you in the first place. If I ever want to try it I will just put things in The Null. Then again, it¡¯s better than in Vollmond where you get mugged on the street for one gold coin, spooky shit. And that brings me to the last night in the school dorm. The graduation ceremony ended but some students stayed. Both Jaden and Sya stayed. Sya will leave tomorrow at noon, Jaden will leave in the morning and I will leave when I will feel like it. Now I was on the rooftop, looking at the scenery, waiting for Mir to come. ¡°This is the last time we will meet like this.¡± Here she is. Humph, even with all the training I¡¯ve done I¡¯m still no match for her. Just how good do my instincts need to be before I will be able to sense her sneaking around? ¡°Yeah, it is.¡± ¡°Before anything else I want to thank you for what you¡¯ve done for Jaden. You¡¯ve really been in some terrible situations, you know that?¡± I definitely heard a chuckle coming from her. ¡°Yup, I¡¯ve been through some shit but I did what I wanted so I can¡¯t really blame others for this. I did what I thought was right knowing the risks so it¡¯s all right. I¡¯m sure that I will laugh about this in the future.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s what you think I won¡¯t argue. Well, see you in the morning.¡± Mir patted my head and left. The next day I was standing in front of the school gate with Mir and Jaden. A carriage is supposed to come and pick him up but it seems it¡¯s running late. ¡°I don¡¯t know when and where we will meet again so I will say it now: You are weird. You were the only one in school not afraid of Maria, you visited that vampire every day and you even risked your life for me¡­To think that you are the same guy that threatened me on the first day of school; at that time I really thought I was done for and yet here I am.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t deny that I¡¯m weird. That time I just wanted you to stop looking down on me, I¡¯m not going to start anything without a good reason and as I said before, I take good care of my friends.¡± ¡°Well, friend, today we will go on different paths BUT when we meet again I will introduce myself as a wealthy merchant not a simple child.¡± said Jaden with pride puffing up his chest. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°I would love to see that. Unfortunately I don¡¯t have such ambitions so I¡¯m sure that next time we meet I will be the same weird kid you knew.¡± ¡°Then become an adventurer, I will be glad to hire you as a bodyguard.¡± said Jaden with a big smile on his face. That was quite the joke or maybe it was his way of hiding his sadness from me. Whatever the reason was I will never know. Shortly the carriage arrived. ¡°I guess this is goodbye¡­¡± ¡°For now.¡± ¡°Yeah, for know.¡± I watched Jaden¡¯s carriage disappearing into the woods. The world is a big place, this one bigger than I think but I¡¯m sure I will see him again¡­.and yet I¡¯m still a little sad, I guess that after spending that much time with him it was impossible to cast him aside. To forget a little of the sadness I tried spending some time with Sya; soon she will go back to her parents where she will be bullied again and I want to spend some time with her until she leaves. I met with Sya in the school building¡­It took me a second to see that she was acting strange. Usually she would be happy to see me but not today, today she tried her best to avoid me. I don¡¯t remember doing something to make her sad or anger her so I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong. At noon the same elf that brought her here came to take her back. Even if for some reason she avoided me I still went to see her off, something that surprised her. In the end Sya said nothing to me before leaving the school. I don¡¯t know if I did something to her or leaving was too painful for her. I tried talking to her and I even saw her off but if that¡¯s how she wants to act there¡¯s nothing left for me to do but to accept it, if we ever meet again I want to be because she wants to not because she has a duty. Well, I didn¡¯t tell her that I will miss her and she didn¡¯t tell me that she will miss me¡­I guess that makes us even. With nothing to do I decided to go to the Headmistress, she said that my parents gave her something for me. I turned around and started walking towards the school building; it¡¯s not like staying in front of the gate is going to help. After I took a few steps I started hearing some noise, it sounded like someone was coming in my direction. Before I could turn around and see who it was I found myself hugged from behind. The one who hugged me was Sya. ¡°¡­thank¡­you.¡± When I heard Sya¡¯s whispers a smile appeared on my face. I wanted to turn around and hug her back, tell her that I did what I wanted and there was no need for her to thank me but I knew that doing it will only make her sadder. Sya hugged me for some time and when she finally let go of me I turned around and looked at her. She didn¡¯t cry, she wasn¡¯t sad, she was smiling, she was genuinely happy. Without exchanging any words I patted her head. After that Sya left, this time for real. Now I¡¯m the only one left here and I think it¡¯s time to go. Before leaving I had to go to the Headmistress so I can get the tattoo, the symbol of graduation. The Headmistress feared that the standard magic ink will be too weak to hold so she decided to use my blood to make some special ink again. In the office Maria and The Headmistress were waiting for me. I decided to have my tattoo drawn on my upper right arm. After putting a few drops of my Black Blood in a bowl The Headmistress mixed it in with some magic ink, took a quill and tattooed me. The process took a few minutes and it was painless¡­and with this I¡¯ve officially graduated. The gift my parents left me was a coin pouch with 50 gold coins, the basic currency .With this much money I can¡¯t even survive a week. ¡°And I suppose that¡¯s all?¡± ¡°Yes, you finally listened to me.¡± said Maria. ¡°Well then-¡° I just realized I couldn¡¯t say goodbye, for some reason even the thought of it made me feel like I couldn¡¯t breathe and my throat dried. ¡°Is there something¡­I see, you are crying.¡± If what she says is true then it¡¯s the second time I started crying. I wanted to check, I wanted to tough my cheeks to see if there were any tears but I couldn¡¯t, my arms refused to me. ¡°It¡¯s all right.¡± said Maria before hugging me. ¡°Alex, I¡¯m thankful for what you did, you made me believe in humans again and at the same time a little part of you opened up to me and now the grief is settling in. Please don¡¯t cry; our meeting then and your departure now, there¡¯s nothing to cry about. You should be happy, think about the people you helped and bonded with and with your life here. I know that it is sad that you are leaving but I will be here so don¡¯t cry because you will leave, be happy and look forward to our next meeting.¡± *Hic¡­hic* ¡±Just¡­give me¡­a¡­*hic*¡­second.¡± For a few minutes I wept in Maria¡¯s arms. Despite how I act I tend to keep my emotions to myself and sometimes those emotions just burst and this is the result. ¡°Have you calmed down?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m all right now.¡± Now that I¡¯ve calmed down I need to leave before I get the urge to cry again. As hard as leaving sounds it¡¯s better than staying here without a purpose and if I ever want to come back I know that the door will always be open. ¡°I know it¡¯s a stupid question to ask but you will not accompany me to the front gate, will you?¡± ¡°No, if I leave this room I will most likely end up going with you.¡± ¡°If you say so. Well then, Goodbye.¡± ¡°See you again.¡± ¡°Safe travels Alexander.¡± After saying goodbye I left the school building. After passing the school gates I turned around and looked at the school one last time before leaving. Eule Academy was my home for almost five years, the beginning and the end of an important chapter of my life and now it''s time to begin the next one, the life of an adventurer. Han Village I pretty much left the school without actually knowing where to go. Going to the capital is out of the question and I don¡¯t really feel like going back to my parents. I remember a student talking about Han Village. Special students who graduated from Eule Academy and went there instead of the capital, it is said that it¡¯s a good starting place for those who don¡¯t want to become scribes or scholars, it¡¯s like the starting area for those who graduated, that is if you can get there without dying. So, Han Village is somewhere between Cylon City and the academy. When I went with Jaden to his house we took a right somewhere. I think that going left will lead me to Han Village. For now I should get to the crossroad. I heard that after dusk monsters as well as wild animals appear on the roads and if somebody somehow avoids them or survives there is a high chance of meeting bandits or even worse, demons. Oh well, if something happens I will just kill them and move on and speaking of moving, I should get moving before dusk. At a walking pace I should get to the crossroad in two hours. I could run but that would make me stand out even more, it¡¯s not like being the only man on the road makes me inconspicuous. After thirty minutes I reached the end of the forest and went onto the main road, now I need to follow it until I reach the crossroad. The landscape wasn¡¯t impressive at all, after I exited the forest I stepped into grassland. Near the road were some bushes and the occasional tree. I haven¡¯t noticed before but this road doesn¡¯t look used at all. I¡¯ve seen people come and go and usually there is a difference but not in this case. I was getting close to the crossroad when I saw an old man lying in the middle of the road. Even with my enhanced vision I couldn¡¯t detect any other people besides him and there isn¡¯t any smell of blood in the air, I hope that he¡¯s just tired or something. He was a black haired man, built, wearing mostly hide clothes. It is summer so the temperature is Florida high so going clothed like that is guaranteed to make one sweat, maybe he is just thirsty. My curiosity got the better of me and I ran to see if the old man was still alive. ¡°Hello, are you still alive?¡± I tried calling him out instead of getting too close. I don¡¯t feel any danger and I can¡¯t detect anyone else but I have to make sure I¡¯m not getting involved in something bigger than just a dying man. ¡°Is... someone... there?¡± the man asked. So he isn¡¯t dead after all, thank God. I went and checked the man¡¯s condition using my powers. The initial scan showed that he was a 50 years old man, his threat level was zero so no problems here and it looks like he collapsed due to fatigue and, what a surprise, thirst. His condition looks stable but his body is pretty fucked from the heat. ¡°It¡¯s OK, I¡¯m a traveler; I¡¯m not going to hurt you.¡± ¡°Can you...give me...water?¡± ¡°Yes, here you are.¡± I helped the old man lift his upper body and I gave him the canteen I had in The Null. While he was drinking I used Dark Transfer to remove some of the fatigue. It really bothers me that my resistances don¡¯t count when I¡¯m using it, kind of stupid really. ¡°Thank you.¡± The old man finished drinking all the water in my canteen in a second. ¡°Tell me child, where are you travelling to?¡± ¡°Han Village.¡± ¡°I see. Are you willing to listen to an old man¡¯s request?¡± I don¡¯t really find it strange that he is asking me for help, he was lying on the ground after all. If he asks me to come with him to the village I¡¯m seriously going to laugh. ¡°I cannot promise anything but I cat at least hear your request.¡± ¡°I too am heading to Han Village; I want you to be my travelling companion until we reach the village.¡± Ha ha ha, I called it; he really needs my help getting to the village. As much as I try to abstain from laughing the temptation is strong. ¡°Are you perhaps amused by my request?¡± the confused man asked me. ¡°Indeed I am. Somehow I knew that you will ask me to accompany you.¡± ¡°Well of course, there was nothing else I could have requested. Well, no matter, laughing at the old ones is one of the advantages of youth.¡± I quickly stopped smiling, took a deep breath and returned to my serious self. ¡°Well then, shall we get going?¡± ¡°Yes, let us proceed.¡± It seems that the lack of education made these people make the best decisions. From where we are going straight forward will take us to Han Village, no detours, no curved paths and seemingly no monsters, the way is easy to remember. I thought that the old man was weak when I first saw him but the amount of fatigue he accumulated in his body is quite amazing, even I would have problems walking if I were this tired. After an hour of walking the old man wanted to take a break, he didn¡¯t want to overexert himself and become a bother to me. While I understand his reason of taking a break I don¡¯t think that taking one was such a good idea, the night is approaching and once the night comes so do the monsters. I wouldn¡¯t really mind if I were alone but I¡¯m not good at protecting others. ¡°You seem lost in thought, is there something wrong?¡± asked the man. ¡°I was looking at the sky, it¡¯s getting rather dark.¡± ¡°True, I suppose it would be best to end this break and continue moving.¡± I helped the old man up and kept moving. After another half an hour I could see something in the distance, it looked like a wooden wall. When we got closer I confirmed it, the structure was a wooden wall, five meters tall, mostly made by tying logs together with iron chains. The gate itself was an iron gate, as tall as the logs; I don¡¯t understand why somebody would put an iron gate there but whatever. The walls that covered the village were the same as the front wall, well, assuming that the structure is a defensive wall around the village. In front of the gate I could see two guards, a man and a woman fully dressed in iron armor. I picked up the pack a little, mostly because of my curiosity. ¡°YOU THERE, DON¡¯T COME ANY CLOSER!¡± shouted the man. ¡­my ears are ringing. I know that we look suspicious but seriously now, we don¡¯t even carry weapons with us¡­unlike the two guards armed with longswords. ¡°State your business.¡± said the man while pointing a sword at me. Ever since I was little I was taught to disarm people looking to fight me. I¡¯m pretty sure it would take me about four seconds to disarm the man and kill him and the woman, especially because the only light they have is the moonlight, but out of respect for the old man I won¡¯t. ¡°Calm yourself, this child helped me.¡± ¡°Elder, is that you?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Indeed I am; I apologize for my late arrival, my battle against the sun ended with my defeat.¡± ¡°So you had a sunstroke¡­Whatever, just get in.¡± To my surprise the gates quickly opened when the guards pushed them and the entrance to the village opened. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.¡°Excuse me for asking but can you tell me your name?¡± the female guard asked. ¡°Alexander Lowe is my name.¡± ¡°My name is Ange. Thank you for taking care of the elder Alexander, he usually tends to disappear.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t look like a lion to me. What are you anyway?¡± asked the male guard. ¡°He is a magician, of course.¡± the elder answered. OK, that was impressive. Sure I don¡¯t look like a knight but I don¡¯t look like a magician either. ¡°Will it be impolite for me to ask how you reached that conclusion?¡± ¡°When you helped me get up I felt my fatigue leaving my body. One would think that the water in the canteen would have been the cause but it was obvious that the water inside was normal so I deduced that the reason my condition improved is magic. I did not see any light so I must ask, are you one of the black magicians?¡± ¡°The analysis was quite impressive but it¡¯s not completely right. I know a little black magic but not to that extent. The magic I used is Dark Magic, that¡¯s all I can tell you.¡± ¡°I do not intend to ask any further questions; that would be rude of me.¡± ¡°Thanks for understanding Elder Khan.¡± Since he wanted to know about my magic I showed him another trick, I just spoke his name despite the fact that he never introduced himself¡­and he is quite calm about it. ¡°I see; I¡¯m afraid that I will have to ask one more question, what is your purpose for coming here?¡± ¡°Truthfully, I just want to become an adventurer and make some money.¡± ¡°I sense no lies in your words. Well then child, as thanks for helping me, I will let you spend the night at my place.¡± I expected to walk through the whole village before reaching the elder¡¯s house but in reality the house was close to the gates. The houses in the village are made out of wood, the same type my house is made of though the shade is a little darker. The exterior looks rather simple so I guess that the elder doesn¡¯t really care about looks and the house itself seems kind of small. ¡°Please come in.¡± The inside of the house is as simple as the outside. From the entrance there is a hallway. On the left I can see two simple rooms, bedrooms I think; on the right a study room of sorts filled with books, a desk and a chair. The house was using light crystals as a light source, one for each room to be exact. Well, I can see in the dark so I don¡¯t need to light mine up¡­and risk an explosion. ¡°Please you the farthest room on the right.¡± ¡°Ah, OK.¡± ¡°If you will excuse me I will go and change.¡± I went to the second bedroom and the elder remained in the first one. I don¡¯t really want to watch an old man undress so let¡¯s just close the door and hop on the bed. When I told him his name he didn¡¯t panic or anything, I want to know why. Normally a person would be scared or change his facial expression but no, he acted so natural, it bugs me. ¡°Old man, can I ask you something?¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t flinch when I spoke your name, I thought that it would scare you or something, why were you so calm?¡± ¡°Ah, of course¡­I cannot say that I lived a long life but in this short life I¡¯ve learnt a few things so it¡¯s only natural that I would know about your [Demon Eyes]. I believe that your eyes became like that as a result of curse or of an attempt to transform in a vampire but that is not the case with you, isn¡¯t it?¡± Hey hey, what is that supposed to mean, how does he know about it? There aren¡¯t many humans that know about the [Demon Eyes] and even fewer people know how someone can get them. ¡°A failed attempt to transform in a vampire would be the more likely especially because the one your headmistress kept escaped.¡± At first I was afraid, I was petrified. I don¡¯t know how but he knows I was a student of Eule Academy and he also knows about Astrid, that¡¯s not something he should know. ¡°How do you know about that?¡± leaving my manners in my room I barged in his, it¡¯s a good thing that he had time to change. ¡°The headmistress told me this. A long time ago we used to be good friends. This village is close to the academy so when something important happens the headmistress tells me in hope noting happens to this village; that is the reason why I know about the vampire and about you, the child in an adult body. I have heard some things about you and I suspected that you are the one she talked about when you helped me; the moment you said my name I realized I was correct. If what she said is true then you will not bring trouble to our village.¡± ¡°I see, somehow I am relieved.¡± ¡°I should also mention that a human possessing the [Demon Eyes] isn¡¯t uncommon, especially if you are a vampire slayer.¡± ¡°So, is that why you said I was bitten by a vampire?¡± ¡°Yes, you are correct. Now, is there anything else you want to ask?¡± ¡°There is something but it can wait until tomorrow.¡± ¡°Good night.¡± ¡°Good night.¡± So he knows about me, Astrid and the fact that I am a child despite how I look. I tend to overlook the fact that the headmistress is a famous person¡­but still¡­AAAAH, fuck it; he knows who I am and he trusts me to some extent, that¡¯s enough for now. Time to sleep. As usual I spent most of my night in a meditative state instead of sleeping, which is the same as sleeping minus the dreaming part. Now that I¡¯m in Han Village I have to find the Adventurers¡¯ Guild and an inn. I got up and left the room. It looks like the elder was already up, he was about to leave the house. It is almost 8 in the morning, where does he need to be at this hour? ¡°Morning.¡± ¡°Oh; good morning.¡± ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°I have to explain the situation to those two kids.¡± ¡°Are you talking about the guards?¡± ¡°Yes. We have a rule of not letting strangers in the village after dusk unless they are in danger, despite this rule I let you in so I will need to apologize.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you would apologize but I¡¯m not going to tell you to stop since I think it wouldn¡¯t make a difference.¡± ¡°Indeed, it wouldn¡¯t. I suppose now it is the time for me to tell you where the Adventurer Guild is. Follow the path, then go right and go straight ahead until you reach the village center, one you reach it look for a stone building. I believe that the building is easily recognizable for it is the only stone building in the village.¡± ¡°Thank you for your hospitality and for letting me inside the village. That said I guess I will also get going.¡± Hans Guild After I go on the main road I am supposed to go to the village centre and look for the Guild¡¯s building. After walking for a few minutes I arrived at my destination. The village centre was a space about one hundred meter in diameter, it feels like I am standing in the middle of a circle. The Guild¡¯s building stood out like a sore thumb, mainly because it was the only stone building I¡¯ve seen in the town. Besides being made of stone the building was the biggest I¡¯ve seen in this village, I think that the whole village could go in there and if that wasn¡¯t enough, above the iron door was a sign saying [Han¡¯s Guild]. The building has two floors. On the ground floor the adventurer¡¯s building was divided in two: a tavern and the guild¡¯s counter. The tavern was on the left side of the building and the office was on the right. From what I can see there are some tables and chairs on the second floor, bigger that the tavern has. These might be for adventurer parties to meet and discuss or something like that. The first thing I noticed after I went is wasn¡¯t the size of the building or the amount of people inside, what I noticed first was the smell of blood. The highest grade of armor I¡¯ve seen here was made of steel and it was worn by a man bandaging his left arm, the rest were mostly leather or iron. Most of the men here were a Threat Level 1 and strangely enough those were the ones with the worst wounds. In the corner of the building I saw a man sitting on a chair holding a destroyed helmet in his hands crying. Near the exit a woman dressed as a mage was looking at the ring on her hand trying to hold back her tears. I know that my expectations were based on games and novels but that¡¯s a little too much¡­the look on some people¡¯s eyes makes skeletons seem full of life, those people like they stopped living and now they just exist. Two workers could be seen at the counter, a young woman with short, black hair, wearing formal clothes and an older woman with long, brown hair casually dressed and both of them were busy. The young woman was talking to a muscular man, a warrior most likely, who was holding a paper in his hands; the older woman was talking with a mage¡­Guess there¡¯s nothing I can do but wait. From the looks of it the tavern only sells drinks. The bartender was an old man with white hair and long beard, muscular and dressed in black clothes. I can see some bottles of wine, ale and something that looks like beer. Since there aren¡¯t many sober people in that particular area I will go kill some time, maybe drink something. ¡°ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?¡± Just when I was about to get a drink I hear one of the adventurers at the counter yelling at the poor short-haired lady. Judging by the paper on the counter I think that he tried taking a quest he shouldn¡¯t be allowed to take. ¡°I COMPLETED IT!¡± ¡°Sir, I understand but the quest expired yesterday.¡± said the scared receptionist. ¡°I¡¯VE FOUGHT AND KILLED A DEMONIC BEAR FOR THIS, I DESERVE THE REWARD!¡± When an animal takes in a large amount of magic it becomes a demonic animal or demon animal, both of them are used. Astrid told me that the animals that live in dangerous areas where people kill other living beings often get transformed into demonic beings as a side effect of their inability to control magic. Humans hunt animals by exhausting their prey and then killing them. This tactic works against most wild animals but it¡¯s ineffective against demonic ones. The man said that he killed a demonic bear. A bear that has undergone mutation is at least five times more powerful than a normal one and will most likely just keep getting hit until the humans get tired and then kill them. The man¡¯s iron armor is pretty roughened up. Several pieces of it are missing and the metal has been bent most likely due to the force of the bear¡¯s blows and he himself looked as bad as his armor. Aside from the obvious signs of fatigue he also had a few visible wounds on his head and hands. I pity the poor woman, she is trying her best to keep herself from passing out. ¡°Sir, I understand but¡ª¡± ¡°GIVE ME THE FUCKING REWARD!¡± That guy just grabbed the woman by the throat. ¡°¡­sir¡­please...¡± ¡°WHERE¡¯S MY MONEY, BITCH?¡± The people in his vicinity backed away, they were too scared to stop him. The only one who had a bit of courage was the other receptionist who tried to reason with him. ¡°Please calm down, we will figure something out.¡± ¡°THEN YOU BETTER DO IT BEFORE SHE DIES!¡± I knew that it was a bad idea to try to reason with that guy but this is ridiculous; the poor woman¡¯s face is losing color. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough.¡± If that guy is stupid enough to think that killing the woman is going to prove anything then he is wrong and I will be the one to show him that. I went and grabbed the arm with which he held the woman. He was a Threat Level 1 so I¡¯m not in any real danger, he is! ¡°YOU¡­KID, LET GO OF ME OR YOUR PRETTY FACE WILL GET A LOT UGLIER.¡± ¡°Oh really?¡± ¡°HMPH¡­LET GO!¡± He tries to free his arm but no matter how much he struggles there is no way for him to break free. I tightened my grip on his hand until he let the woman go. There were visible marks on the woman¡¯s neck as a result of what just happened. Even after all that she was still conscious and knew what was going on, this might not have been her first time after all. Hmph, I guess it¡¯s time to end this before he goes in a blind rage. ¡°WHY ARE YOU SMILING BITCH?¡± With his right arm pinned he resorted to punching me with his left. The punch hit the left side of my face without dealing significant damage. I could have dodged it but I refrained from doing it, just to show my superiority. He had his chance and failed; now it¡¯s my turn. I pulled him towards me and kicked his ankle which made him lose his balance. The moment he lost his balance I grabbed his arm with body hands and threw him on the ground. In my past life seeing someone suffer made me feel a little better but I have to admit that the sound of his bones cracking made me feel very good; I really took pleasure in that. ¡°¡­B¡­bastard¡­that hurt...ah.¡± said the man. Well, it¡¯s good that there were no chairs or tables here otherwise I might have broken one or two. Now I just need to register as an adventurer and wait for this guy to kill me for humiliating him. I meant, he got beaten by somebody who looks weaker than him, that¡¯s got to hurt. ¡°Are you all right?¡± I asked the young woman. She is really commendable, after being chocked she regained her composure and is trying to mask her fear by acting like nothing happened. ¡°Yes. Thank you for stopping him and sorry for the trouble I¡¯ve caused. The receptionist bows. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault, this man lost his calm and I just stepped in because I didn¡¯t want the situation to escalate any more than it did.¡± I spoke calmly to reassure the woman that I have no intent to blame her for anything and show her that I¡¯m not going to attack her. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Returning to the matter at hand, do you have any business with us?¡± asked the woman. ¡°I would like to register as an adventurer.¡± ¡°Very well, please wait while I bring the documents.¡± I don¡¯t know why but she sounded happy or more like excited to help me, strangely excited. ¡°You must be very confident in your abilities if you ignore me.¡± So the defeated one rises again. I was pretty sure that the impact fucked him up and that he would stay down, it seems that I was wrong. Well then, time for round 2. ¡°I¡¯m pressed you got up. So what now, want to go again?¡± ¡°Not today. I¡¯m too tired and injured to beat you.¡± said the man before leaving. ¡°Excuse me for taking so long.¡± apologized the young receptionist. ¡°There is no need to apologize, I did not wait long.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a relief. First a fee of ten gold coins is required.¡± ¡°Here you go.¡± I took out a coin pouch from the Null and gave it to her. ¡°Now please fill these two papers please.¡± I liked that she didn¡¯t ask about the dark magic I just used and just ignored it. Now what do we have here¡­terms and conditions. On the first paper some conditions were written. There were the usual things such as [The Guild is not responsible for the death of the adventurers] and routine stuff like that and there were strange ones like [When an adventurer is declared missing a search party is assembled and sent to bring back the body]. So basically The Guild chooses some adventurers to look for a body and they have no right to refuse. So, The Guild is not responsible for any adventurer that dies while he is doing a quest but if he dies or goes missing The Guild will send somebody to look after him, I hope that I won¡¯t have to do something like this. The first paper only needed a signature. On the second paper it was necessary to write my name, race and age and optional to write the education, languages known and home address. People might believe that I went to Eule Academy but I don¡¯t think that they will believe that I¡¯m twelve years old and I¡¯m fluent in both demonic and elven language. ¡°I¡¯m done.¡± After I finished filling in the papers I gave them to the woman. ¡°A lion, it¡¯s a nice. Well Alexander, your licence will be ready tomorrow morning, I will explain more about it when you receive it. Before I forget, I am Iona, pleased to meet you.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± Well, a late introduction is better than nothing. In order to save my magic I stopped wasting it on finding out people¡¯s names, if it weren¡¯t for that I could have surprised her a little, saying her name, like I did with the elder. ¡°So I have to come back in the morning, got it. Just one more question, can you tell me where the inn is?¡± ¡°Of course, when you exit go right then follow the road, the inn is a few minutes¡¯ walk from here. The visitors seem to like the inn very much.¡± Iona answered. ¡°Got it; thank you very much.¡± ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± ¡°Yeah, see you tomorrow.¡± I said good bye and headed for the exit. There were quite a few people in the building and I noticed that some of them were staring at me, some were trying to avoid my gaze and some were too scared to come near me. What I did to that guy had such an impact that a bunch of guys who saw me walking towards the exit dispersed when I got near them. I didn¡¯t let it show on my face but on the inside I was smiling. Now that I¡¯m outside I¡¯m supposed to go right and then¡­oh, doesn¡¯t matter, I found the way. There was only one road I could follow and I only saw some houses on the way. After five minutes of walking I found the inn, [Paradise Inn], located on the left side of the road, close to the wall. I don¡¯t know about that paradise part but for a building two floors tall it looked quite sturdy from the outside. Aside from the inn I could hear some animal noises coming from behind the inn, it looks like there is a farm behind the inn; at least the food is fresh. There were people coming and going so the inn is open so I decided to go inside. The inn¡¯s layout was pretty generic: in front of me was the reception, behind it was a room. On the far left side of the hallway the stairs were placed and on the right side some tables were placed, I guess that¡¯s where the meals are served. ¡°Oh, welcome.¡± While I was looking around I was approached by a woman a little taller than me, she has blond hair, green eyes and looks extremely sexy even though she wears plain clothes. She looked young yet she had quite a mature air. So she works here¡­I guess that whoever named the inn had this woman in mind, most men would be entranced by her smile alone. ¡°Hello, I would like to rent a room, are there any rooms available?.¡± ¡°It seems that you are in luck, we have a few left, please come to the counter.¡± I followed the woman to the counter where she pulled out a notebook. ¡°The room is equipped with a bed, a table, two chairs, a closet and a bathroom. The price is ten gold coins per night, is that all right?¡± ¡°Okay, then I would like to rent a room for two nights.¡± ¡°Then will you please tell me your name?¡± ¡°My name is Alexander Lowe.¡± I told her my name and handed over the money. The woman smiled and wrote my name in the notebook¡­and once again the fact that I made something appear out of thin air is ignored. ¡°Alexander, I see. My name is Rose, please to meet you.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± We closed the deal with a handshake. The moment we shook hands my vision blurred for a second before returning to normal. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± Rose asked me. ¡°Ah yes, I guess I¡¯m just tired.¡± I¡¯m sure that there is another explanation for this, one I don¡¯t know yet, I better get settled and rest a little. ¡°You look pale; allow me to take you to your room.¡± I followed Rose to the second floor. My room was the second on the right. Rose opened the door and entered the room followed by me. The room was about 1 meter long and 2 meters wide. The furniture was made using light brown pine wood. The table was placed in the opposite end of the room, the bed was placed against the wall on the left side and on the right side I saw the closet and a door, most probably leading to the bathroom. ¡°Here is the key, please rest for a while.¡± Rose handed me the key and left the room. There is nothing left to do for today and if my blurred vision had something to do with the magic in me it might become a problem later so resting might be a good idea. And with that I locked the door and went to sleep. Visiting a grave So I woke up feeling worse than before. Every time I wake up from an afternoon nap I end up with a headache, that¡¯s why I prefer meditating instead of napping. Well, headaches aside, I should really get moving until dusk, there are some shops I haven¡¯t checked and I still haven¡¯t mapped this place yet. When I finally managed to get out of bed I noticed that the room was darker than before, not much light was coming into the room. It was a little past noon when I went to sleep but I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve slept that much or did I? Out of concern for my mental and physical condition I checked the watch to see how much I¡¯ve slept and apparently it was seven in the morning. I don¡¯t know how or why but it looks like I wasted a whole day sleeping, one day that I could have used better. Oh well, on the other hand now I can go and get the adventurer card so that¡¯s something. I left room and after locking up I went downstairs only to find myself in another place. Yesterday when I came in the inn was almost deserted, except for some grumpy men here and there, and now I come downstairs and I see the inn full of happy people. I recognized some of the men from yesterday, they were injured, tired and frustrated, and now they are so lively, and not just a few of them, everybody here was so pumped. Is there a festival going on or maybe yesterday a funeral took place and everybody was sad to hear about someone¡¯s death. Well, needless to say, I and my tired face were standing out in here. ¡°Good morning, are you feeling better?¡± Rose greeted me. ¡°Not really, I still feel a little tired.¡± I answered. ¡°Is that so? From what I see you look a little better.¡± ¡°My personal condition aside, I am more interested about what¡¯s happening here, the atmosphere changed too much since yesterday, is there a festival in town?¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure there is none. The closest one is [The Harvest Festival] but that¡¯s next month.¡± ¡°So, if there¡¯s nothing going on then what¡¯s with all this happiness around here, it¡¯s a little strange.¡± ¡°It is, isn¡¯t it? This inn isn¡¯t called [Paradise Inn] for no reason. Every customer gets better after a good night¡¯s sleep. It takes a while to get used to it but I believe that everybody deserves a good rest.¡± Rose happily stated. ¡°Well, I guess¡­I just feel out of place, I¡¯m the only one not feeling well.¡± ¡°If you are feeling unwell you should visit the Village Elder, he is a good doctor.¡± ¡°I will think about it, but first I have to go to the guild.¡± ¡°If you¡¯d like I could prepare breakfast, it is included in the price and it won¡¯t take long.¡± ¡°That sounds nice but I don¡¯t feel like eating, maybe I will stop by for lunch.¡± ¡°I see; that¡¯s too bad. Well then, have a safe trip.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I peeked around before leaving, everybody was preoccupied with something; they were way too focused for this kind of atmosphere, nobody cared that I was monopolizing the owner; this atmosphere is really out of place, something must¡¯ve happened¡­or maybe it¡¯s just me, if something was indeed wrong then it would explain why I¡¯m feeling unwell. I guess that it¡¯s no use thinking too hard about it, for now I should get my card and do some quests. When I entered the guild building I noticed that the atmosphere was unchanged. As a normal human I am not exactly happy to see people angry and sad so early in the morning but seeing grown men smile like little kids was equally disturbing for me. ¡°Good morning.¡± When I reached the counter Iona came and greeted me. She was holding a piece of brown wood, about as big as a credit card. A quick scan revealed the material the card was made of, Elder Wood, the wood of a tree with high magic conductibility. On one side it had my name on it and on the other the letter [E] was written on it, God bless magic ink. ¡°Hello, I¡¯m back.¡± I greeted Iona. ¡°I present to you the adventurer card, the wooden pride of an adventurer.¡± When Iona handed me the card I pretended to look impressed and curious; acting indifferent towards it would be rude towards however made this and I this is my first step towards being an adventurer, might as well act like I¡¯m excited about it. I found it interesting that despite being so thin this card is quite heavy. ¡°I was really surprised at first.¡± ¡°About what?¡± ¡°I thought that you tried to make fun of us when you wrote your age. When I was making your card I was thinking how to deal with you, if it wasn¡¯t for the Elder you would have to suffer my rage.¡± explained an angry Iona. ¡°Did the Elder tell you about me?¡± ¡°Yes, he explained it to the best of his abilities but I am still a little confused; I haven¡¯t seen somebody so young looking so old before, that¡¯s not a body a child should have.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s true, I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t notice before, when I handed you the paper.¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid that my head was in the clouds that time.¡± When she said that she averted my gaze, I guess that the reason she was spacing out was me. I came at the right time and settled things, saving her life in the process; I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if she likes me now. ¡°Well, a lot of things happened yesterday, it¡¯s understandable.¡± ¡°Well, yesterday aside, there are things I need to explain now so pay attention.¡± ¡°All right.¡± ¡°An adventurer¡¯s rank starts from E and goes all the way up to S. An adventurer advances in rank by completing quests. To advance in rank you need to complete at least ten quests from your current rank. Once these ten are done you have to complete a quest above your rank. Every law has exceptions and so does this one, once certain conditions are met you can advance faster, but I¡¯m not allowed to tell anybody what those conditions are. So, was there something you didn¡¯t understand?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, please continue.¡± ¡°Your rank is shown on the adventurer card. The card is empowered by magic so it cannot be destroyed easily and the ink used when writing is a secret mix only certain people know. We employ these measures to avoid having people mess with the cards or create copies.¡± ¡°I see; that¡¯s actually smart. Well, I do have a question.¡± ¡°When an adventurer advances in rank we erase the old one and write the new one on the card.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I was going to ask, is it safe to say that this question is asked a lot?¡± ¡°Yes, it is...one of many.¡± Iona responded displeased. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°People tend to ask about certain things during my explanations, things that they would understand if they would listen from start to finish.¡± I guess that customer support is the same everywhere. ¡°So, what are S rank quests like?¡± ¡°An adventurer that reached S rank is an expert in eliminating powerful demons like a True Vampire for example.¡± So an S rank is expected to kill someone like Astrid, a demon whose power I wasn¡¯t able to measure. It¡¯s safe to say that you have to be high level to reach S rank. The guy from yesterday wasn¡¯t that powerful so I guess that the gap is between A and S ranks. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Now the next part is going to be about quests, right?¡± ¡°Yes. There are three types of quests: quests taken from the message board which can be found on the second floor, quests given directly by the guild, which are mandatory, and urgent quests. Urgent quests are usually given by people on the spot, obviously in case of an emergency. Usually upon completing a quest the adventurer receives a reward but please keep in mind that there are quests with no rewards.¡± ¡°Could you give me some example for the last two types of quests?¡± ¡°The guild can and will force an adventurer to take part in searching for a fallen adventurer, this being an example for the second type...for the third type the best example would be a scenario where somebody comes running into the guild hall asking for help because his child was kidnapped.¡± ¡°The last example was a little dark but it got the message across. So, is that it?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Well then, I guess I should go and take a quest.¡± I tried to keep my mouth shut and hear the whole explanation and ask questions after it¡¯s over but now that I reached the end I don¡¯t really have anything to ask, her explanations were simple and easy to understand. Just as I was about to head to the second floor Iona called out to me and told me to wait. ¡°Ah, I just remembered, the Elder wanted to see you, he requested your help. The Elder is an important person so this is qualifies as a mandatory quest.¡± ¡°Ok then, where is he now?¡± ¡°He should be waiting by the gate at the village¡¯s entrance.¡± ¡°Got it. Then I¡¯m heading off.¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± Iona replied. ¡°Thanks.¡± As instructed I left the guild hall and made my way to the village entrance. In front of the gate the Elder was waiting holding a bouquet of flowers, eight red roses. I don¡¯t know what the tradition is in this world but in mine having an even number of flowers in a bouquet meant that the receiver is dead, I¡¯m guessing that he wants to give them as an offering or something. ¡°Hello Alexander.¡± ¡°Hello. That¡¯s a beautiful bouquet.¡± ¡°Indeed it is, our florist grew these beautiful roses.¡± ¡°Excuse me for asking this but will we be visiting a grave?¡± ¡°Yes, my wife¡¯s grave, she loved red roses. When she was still alive I used to bring one for her every month. It has been one year since she died but I had to leave the village for eight months and I couldn¡¯t bring her the flowers.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case then it¡¯s better to get going.¡± ¡°Then please follow me.¡± We left the village, walked around the wall until we reached the back and from there we walked straight forward following a road. I call it a road but it¡¯s more like a patch of ground without any grass, it looks like we are heading towards a hill. From what I can see my assistance is unnecessary, there are no trees only small bushes so the chance of getting attacked is low and the only animals I¡¯ve seen were rabbits. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to ask why I told you to help me?¡± the Elder asks me out of the blue. ¡°I thought that it would be rude, especially after hearing about your wife.¡± ¡°Twenty years ago the number of demonic beings started increasing and it¡¯s increasing even now. At that time I was an average adventurer and a man of medicine so I experienced it firsthand. Ten years ago I became the Elder after the old one died protecting the village from demonic beasts and since then I tried to keep the village safe. One year ago my wife went to the cemetery to clean the gravestones when she was attacked by an undead, the previous village elder.¡± said the Elder in a sad voice. That¡¯s beyond horrible; not only for the Elder and his wife but also for the memory of the previous elder. I know that the magic of demonic beasts and demons can possess corpses ¡­Right now pity is the only thing I can offer him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that.¡± I fear that if I don¡¯t change the subject he will stay dejected for the rest of the trip, maybe I should ask him something more serious, about the monsters. He says that there should be demons and other demonic animals around here and yet I haven¡¯t seen even one. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen any monsters around, are there adventurers or knights patrolling?¡± ¡°The lack of demonic animals is indeed strange. For unknown reasons the village is safe. Weak monsters hate light and fire, that is the reason why they are not seen during the day.¡± ¡°I know that monsters like dark places but the fact that I haven¡¯t seen one bugs me.¡± ¡°An adventurer was attacked by monsters in a nearby forest yesterday which confirms their presence in the area; it¡¯s likely that they are afraid of something or are preparing for something else entirely.¡± ¡°I doubt that demonic animals have that kind of intelligence.¡± ¡°Do you know how demonic animals are born?¡± ¡°Yes; animals that come in contact with leftover magic or demonic magic are often corrupted by it and transformed into demonic creatures, unfortunately the same thing applies to humans. A person who practiced magic all its life has a higher chance of becoming a demonic being than a regular human; once that happens they will hunt in order to absorb magic and become stronger. We continued walking until we reached the top of the hill where the cemetery was located. The cemetery was surrounded by an iron fence with a gate where the entrance was located. I can¡¯t say exactly how big it is but there are at least one hundred gravestones and some wooden crosses and at the end of the cemetery I could see a¡­silhouette. So there was the silhouette of a female human in a black frilly dress, or the remains of one. While getting closer to the cemetery I could see that she was facing the other way, some of her black, long hair was missing and some bones were visible, in other words it looks like I found an undead or a strange demon. My vision is better than a normal human is so I can¡¯t be sure if I am seeing an undead or not. The strange thing is that the closer I got to the cemetery the more nauseous I become, I feel like there is something that¡¯s trying to keep me away from this place, the mana here doesn¡¯t like me; I should be ready to fight in case something goes wrong. The Elder was dressed in leather clothing, not going to get much protection from that and to top it all the only thing he had besides the bouquet was a pouch, not very useful. ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± the Elder asked me, his eyes full of concern. I guess he saw that something was wrong with me. ¡°I am not sure yet but we might have to fight with an undead.¡± ¡°An undead, so soon?¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°It is too soon for one to appear in the area, if you really plan on fighting it be careful.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I have no idea what is happening here but somebody will have to answer some questions after this is over.