Supreme Magus | Chapter 131 to 140 | Audiobook | Light Novel | Fantasy
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Transcript
00:00:00Their spies had brought news that a civil war was inevitable, it was the perfect moment
00:00:04to start planning their invasion.
00:00:07Speaking in their name, was Ashun Dagfur, feather of the Red Lion tribe, temporarily
00:00:11appointed as High Feather, first among equals and spokesman of the tribes.
00:00:15He was a tall man, around 1.84 meters, 6, high, with a lean and muscular body, an olive
00:00:22complexion, and a long but well-groomed beard.
00:00:25Like all the feathers, he wore heavy white pants and shirt to endure the coldness of
00:00:29the night, and a turban on his head, with a huge ruby on its center to represent his
00:00:33status in the tribe.
00:00:35The meeting was held in a ceremonial tent, golden in color, whose sides and floor were
00:00:39covered by carpets and tapestries, depicting the collective history of the desert.
00:00:44The roof of the tent was enchanted to be able to turn invisible at will, since the benefactor
00:00:48hated constricted spaces, and this way was still able to gaze at the moon and the stars.
00:00:54The space was perfectly lighted by 27 black iron braziers, one for each tribe.
00:00:59Their fires were fueled by the magic of their respective feather, used both to symbolize
00:01:03his strength and vote once a discussion had come to an end.
00:01:07As always, Ashun spoke with passion, describing all the green lands and water springs, waiting
00:01:12for tribes to seize them from the weak and stupid plainsmen.
00:01:16His black eyes searched for the other feathers' approval and support, but he found none.
00:01:20After he had begun his speech, all eyes were fixated on the lonely figure standing on the
00:01:25other side of the tent, watching its every movement.
00:01:28It was a fiery red bird, 3 meters, 9-10, high, with the body of an eagle and the tail's feathers
00:01:34resembling those of a peacock.
00:01:36The legendary phoenix Salark, also known as the Benefactor of the Desert, that centuries
00:01:40before had united all the tribes under its rule.
00:01:43It was whispered that from each of its feathers, a peerless weapon could be forged, and that
00:01:48its blood held the secret of immortality.
00:01:50To fit into the tent, it had shrunk remarkably and was now in its most vulnerable state.
00:01:56Despite that, no man or woman among the feathers felt any kind of emotion aside from respect
00:02:00and fear.
00:02:02Salark stood still, its eyes closed, knowing it would not be able to controls itself if
00:02:06it opened them.
00:02:07Once Ashun had finished, it asked a simple question.
00:02:10So, are you going to leave the desert?
00:02:13Salark's voice wasn't loud, but still sounded perfectly clear to all of those present.
00:02:18No, my liege.
00:02:19The red lion would never do that.
00:02:21He raised his hands and lowered his head in a sign of submission.
00:02:25I'm only proposing for us to take revenge against the plains and secure new resources.
00:02:30Revenge?
00:02:31It asked opening a single eye.
00:02:33To bring death to the living will not make their ancestors suffer.
00:02:36It sounds more like a petty excuse to leave because you are unsatisfied with what you
00:02:40have now.
00:02:41I will not leave and I'm not ungrateful.
00:02:44He said trying to appear strong and confident, but cold sweat ran down his spine.
00:02:49Then how do you propose to keep the conquered springs?
00:02:52What good is a fertile soil if not tilled?
00:02:54Well, of course some of our men will have to stay behind with their families.
00:02:58But only to establish a supply chain that will benefit all the tribes.
00:03:02I don't care for your sweet words, only for their meaning.
00:03:06Salark harshly replied.
00:03:07You want for your people to move away, to grow their children in a foreign land, afar
00:03:12from the desert and from me.
00:03:13I have no objection to your plan.
00:03:16The last phrase left everyone shocked, leniency had never been its strong suit.
00:03:20But at the same time, I will give it no support.
00:03:23Those who wish to take part in it are free to do it, as long they first return to me
00:03:27all my blessings.
00:03:29The second part, instead, was perfectly in line with its character, making all the feathers
00:03:33turn pale.
00:03:35Just to be clear, are you speaking as high-feather, as feather of the red lion tribe, or just
00:03:39for yourself?
00:03:40Salark's eyes opened, releasing a massive amount of killing intent that brought a shun
00:03:44to his knees, its talons tapping on the ground, had the rhythm of war drums.
00:03:49He does not speak for the golden eagle tribe.
00:03:52Said a middle-aged woman standing up from her chair, just a kneel on the ground, her
00:03:56forehead touching the floor while her brazier turned black, denying the high-feathers' words.
00:04:01He does not speak for the silver wolf tribe.
00:04:04One after the other, all the feathers knelt down, the black light from the braziers projecting
00:04:09an eerie atmosphere.
00:04:10He does not speak for the red lion tribe.
00:04:14Recognizing a shun's failure, the elders that accompanied him disowned their leader, hoping
00:04:18to spare their people from being banished forever.
00:04:21Through a collective effort, they managed to snatch the flame from a shun's control,
00:04:25turning it black and leaving him alone.
00:04:27The turn of the events had shocked him, but not to the point to not recognize what had
00:04:31happened.
00:04:32Beneath the tension and fear appearing on his peers' visage, he could see their lips
00:04:36curling into a barely contained smile.
00:04:38He knew to be unpopular due to his overbearing character, trying to benefit his tribe but
00:04:43everyone else's expenses.
00:04:45But that was because under his leadership, the red lion had grown to be one of the most
00:04:49populous and strongest desert tribes.
00:04:51A shun had used that in the past to put pressure on the neighboring tribes to gain more and
00:04:55give less, boosting his status and his community.
00:04:59When they had appointed him high-feather, he had thought they were finally ready to
00:05:02submit.
00:05:03Instead it had all been a ruse to take him out without a war, in perfect accord with
00:05:07the laws of the desert.
00:05:09Whatever the outcome of the council, they would have gained a profit, either by invading
00:05:12new lands or by eliminating a powerful rival.
00:05:15They had used his ego against him, turning a shun in an unwitting sacrificial pawn.
00:05:20He knew what was going to happen next, after being stripped of his title from the elders,
00:05:25the benefactor would take away all the artifacts and the book Salar could given him through
00:05:29the years.
00:05:30Lastly, it would strip him of her greater blessing, the gift for magic.
00:05:34A shun had been a talentless youth before meeting the benefactor.
00:05:37The phoenix had been fascinated by his passion and dedication to the tribe, sharing with
00:05:42him her secrets and wisdom, turning the boy into one of the mightiest magical warriors
00:05:46of the red lion.
00:05:47And now it would take everything back.
00:05:49A shun didn't know how Salar could boosted his mana capacity and magical strength, he
00:05:54had been made unconscious every time it treated him.
00:05:57But he had seen many times how it would revert the effects.
00:06:00A simple glance and the victim's body would twist and writhe, the veins would turn blue
00:06:04and bulge out, while the mana would literally be squeezed out through excruciating pain,
00:06:09until nothing was left.
00:06:10A shun had lived his 36 years as a warrior, a leader, a man among men.
00:06:15He couldn't bear the thought of losing so much and live the rest of his life in disgrace.
00:06:20Before the sentence was carried out, a shun used magic one last time, stopping his own
00:06:24heart.
00:06:25In death, his honor would be saved and his family would be treated as the grieving relatives
00:06:30of a dead feather, instead like those of a traitor.
00:06:33The benefactor looked at the corpse, nodding slightly at a shun's final decision.
00:06:38Salar could liked him as a boy and loved him as a man, but once he had become a leader
00:06:42they had grown apart.
00:06:43The more power he acquired, the more dissatisfied he became.
00:06:47First stealing from his own tribe, then twisting the arms of the neighboring ones to quench
00:06:51his thirst for glory.
00:06:53And now, he had even the gall to ask for Salar to consent to a senseless migratory war.
00:06:58If the phoenix had ever wanted to leave the desert, it would have already done it.
00:07:02If it wanted to bathe the world in fire and blood, Salar wouldn't need to spend centuries
00:07:07teaching the tribe's magic and how to prosper in the harsh environment it called home.
00:07:11I am Salarc, the desert sun.
00:07:14My path is the only path.
00:07:16My words are law.
00:07:17It roared spreading its wings, setting the whole tent and its occupants ablaze, yet burning
00:07:22none.
00:07:23I can be like the sunrise that harbingers a new era, or like the sunset that preludes
00:07:27a dark night.
00:07:29Summon me again out of petty greed, and all the tribes will need new leaders.
00:07:33After Professor Marth finished healing Lith's arm, the bandages were removed, revealing
00:07:37that it was back to normal, except for one small detail.
00:07:41Unlike the rest of his body that still retained his normal color, it was pale like it had
00:07:45never seen the light.
00:07:47Marth didn't miss the silent question in his eyes.
00:07:50Sorry, I don't know how Manohar manages to do that.
00:07:53In theory it's impossible for new skin to retain any kind of tan, but that doesn't stop
00:07:58him from doing it anyway.
00:07:59Then, whispered in Lith's ear.
00:08:01It's better if you go to Manohar later if the skin problem bothers you.
00:08:05I don't feel like bringing him back here would be a good idea.
00:08:09Lith nodded, both the headmaster and his father probably wouldn't be able to take in another
00:08:13one of his pep talks.
00:08:15Professor, you have yet to tell me what happened after I lost consciousness.
00:08:19Thanks to Solas, Lith already knew the answer, but he needed to pretend to be curious about
00:08:24it.
00:08:25Yes, indeed.
00:08:26But it's better if you hear it from the ones that actually saved your life.
00:08:29It took quite some effort to force your friends to leave your bedside and get some rest.
00:08:34His parents were moved, hearing their son had such dedicated friends, Lith not so much
00:08:39since it made crumble another chunk of his personal beliefs.
00:08:42It also raised a creepy question.
00:08:45Solas, since now I'm wearing an hospital nightgown, please, tell me Manohar didn't strip me in
00:08:50front of the others.
00:08:51No, he didn't.
00:08:53She giggled.
00:08:54But there would be nothing wrong with it, you are all doctors after all.
00:08:57True, but if the situation was reversed, do you think any girl would like being seen
00:09:02naked by three of her male friends?
00:09:04It depends on the friends, I guess.
00:09:06There was a hint of malice in her words.
00:09:08Okay, that's it.
00:09:10Lith decided to solve the matter once and for all.
00:09:13Solas, what's happening to you?
00:09:15Ever since we came to the academy, from time to time you try to fix me a girl or another,
00:09:20say something inappropriate, like right now.
00:09:23People aren't just slabs of meat, they have feelings too.
00:09:26That's rich, coming from you.
00:09:28For the first time since they had met, Lith could sense her anger.
00:09:31He didn't reply, waiting for Solas to vent out.
00:09:35Since when do you care for feelings?
00:09:37All you do is lying to manipulate everyone, fight like a madman, amass power, rinse and
00:09:41repeat.
00:09:42Have you ever thought about my feelings?
00:09:45About how scared I am every time you do something stupid, putting your life at risk like it's
00:09:49nothing.
00:09:50Or how envious I am of all of you, free to talk, laugh, walk in the sun, while I'm trapped
00:09:55all the day inside a ring of stone, living my life through you.
00:09:58And to be honest, is not much of a life.
00:10:01You have so many people that love you, so many chances to get close to others and become
00:10:05real friends, instead of just pretending.
00:10:08Yet you always reject them like trash, and that makes me furious.
00:10:12You know, maybe the Scorpica was right.
00:10:15Maybe I really am a cursed object, because this life sometimes really feels like a curse.
00:10:20Despite she had no tears to shed, to Lith it was like she was bawling her eyes out.
00:10:25It made him feel terribly guilty and helpless.
00:10:27Too often he had closed himself to her, either to study or practice, speaking only to ask
00:10:32her help.
00:10:33They had been together for so long, yet he still sometimes treated Solas like some kind
00:10:37of home appliance.
00:10:39Lith couldn't deny anything she had said.
00:10:41To him people were just tools, while feelings were a useless burden.
00:10:45I'm sorry Solas.
00:10:46I don't know what to say.
00:10:48All this time I never stopped considering how you felt, always taking your happiness
00:10:52for granted.
00:10:53It's not entirely your fault.
00:10:55She mind sniffed.
00:10:56I never shared my worries with you, because I was afraid you wouldn't care or understand.
00:11:01Thanks for proving me wrong.
00:11:03A warm aura spread from her consciousness, the equivalent of a hug.
00:11:07By my maker, it was all so much easier when we just met.
00:11:10With me being content just with surviving, learning new things every day.
00:11:14But now, knowledge is not enough anymore.
00:11:17I want to feel, I want to experience, and you are my only window to the world.
00:11:22I should be the one apologizing for being so pushy all this time.
00:11:26Well, maybe between necromancy and forge mastering, we can find a way to give you a proxy body.
00:11:31A corpse or a golem?
00:11:33Thanks, but no thanks.
00:11:35I already feel like a monster, sometimes, I don't need to also look like one.
00:11:39Besides, I think life isn't a problem to be fixed, more like something I need to decide
00:11:44if it's worth having.
00:11:46Lith didn't like at all how the conversation had turned out.
00:11:49His only true friend was suffering, and that wasn't something he could just passively accept.
00:11:54After changing into a new uniform, he let Professor Marth call for his friends that
00:11:58despite the short notice arrived incredibly fast.
00:12:02Normally, Lith would have found a way to avoid the inevitable group hug that ensued, but
00:12:06Solace's words were still ringing in his ears.
00:12:09Progress, not perfection.
00:12:11He repeated in his mind, like a mantra, resisting the revulsion that the physical contact with
00:12:16those four strangers arose at instinct level.
00:12:19They drowned him in questions about his health, repeating more than once how they had thought
00:12:23to have lost him.
00:12:24Alina was moved to the tears, seeing their affection for her child.
00:12:28Guys, allow me to introduce you to my parents, Raz and Alina.
00:12:32At those words, they finally released him.
00:12:34Raz shook their hands, while Alina embraced them tightly.
00:12:38If you ever come to pass in our village, you will always be welcome in our home.
00:12:42I'll never be able to thank you enough.
00:12:44After a few niceties, Lith prompted them to tell him what had happened after he crashed
00:12:48into the spatial crack.
00:12:50Despite already knowing everything, he remained impressed by their focus and dedication during
00:12:54such a critical moment, to the point of remembering the finest details.
00:12:58Obviously, with Linjo's present, they overlooked all the punching part.
00:13:03Then it was Lith's turn to express his gratitude.
00:13:06A simple thank you and a handshake was fine for Raz, who was a stranger to them.
00:13:10Not to mention he was quite intimidated.
00:13:13For all he knew they could all be prince and princesses.
00:13:16Lith had no choice but to put a big smile on his face and hug them one by one.
00:13:20While for the others he managed to perform a in-and-out kind of hug, when it was Kuala's
00:13:25turn, she locked him in place.
00:13:27Lith could feel her hands running over his back, while she sunk her head in his chest,
00:13:31sobbing a little.
00:13:33After a few seconds, the situation became really awkward.
00:13:36Everyone was looking away, until Raz saw the silent plea for help in his eyes and said.
00:13:41Son, what do you want to do?
00:13:43Do you want to come back home, change academy or stay here?
00:13:47We'll respect your decision, whatever it is.
00:13:49Only then Kuala finally let him go and hid behind Freya, blushing wildly after having
00:13:54realized what she had done.
00:13:56Lith pondered for a while.
00:13:58Despite all its flaws, the White Griffin Academy was still the safest place for him.
00:14:03Other academies would probably discriminate him for his origins and past, forcing him
00:14:07to constantly watch his back.
00:14:09But also, he still had to solve the mystery of the boxes in his pocket dimension, find
00:14:13a way to avert the Dryads' prophecy, and to save Solas from her misery.
00:14:18She could refuse his help all she wanted, Lith would never give up on her without a
00:14:22fight.
00:14:23I want to remain here, Dad.
00:14:24I think I need them as much as they need me.
00:14:27You'll not regret your choice, Lith.
00:14:30Professor Marth patted his back, with a proud look on his face.
00:14:33Once you graduate, you'll discover that A-ranked mages, like you and me, are treasured
00:14:38almost as rank S, if not more.
00:14:40He chuckled.
00:14:41What?
00:14:42Why?
00:14:43Lith didn't know if to consider it a good or bad news.
00:14:46Because as you have seen, geniuses like Manohar aren't just brilliant.
00:14:50They are also willful, fickle and unpredictable.
00:14:53We may not be as productive, but are much more level-headed and easy to handle.
00:14:57After the accident in the training hall, Professor Rutt had lost much of his nastiness.
00:15:02He now replied when someone ask him explanations, and whenever he saw Quyla or Lith, he would
00:15:07sigh deeply shaking his head.
00:15:09In the following weeks, Lith put his heart and soul in forge mastering, relentlessly
00:15:13pestering Professor Wanamir with questions.
00:15:16He was researching both the runes that kept the boxes locked and a construct that was
00:15:20able to feel like a human.
00:15:22The library helped him greatly on his first task.
00:15:25Even if the exact sequence of runes wasn't to be find anywhere, Lith was able to determine
00:15:29their power and purpose.
00:15:31He came to the conclusion that opening at least one of the boxes was feasible if he
00:15:35had Wanamir level of mastery and a proper research team.
00:15:39Since that was impossible, he decided to take a roundabout route.
00:15:43Instead of attacking the lock from the outside, like a normal forgemaster, he would destroy
00:15:47its pseudo-core like only an awakened one could.
00:15:50The lock and the box had a pseudo-core each, both held in place by the respective mana
00:15:54pathways their maker had surrounded them with, thanks to the rune patterns.
00:15:59The main difference between a pseudo-core and a real mana core was that the former had
00:16:03no way to replenish its energies without the mage that had imprinted it.
00:16:07Hence, if somehow Lith managed to damage the pathways, the energy stored in the pseudo-core
00:16:12was supposed to leak without triggering the explosion, and the lock spell would be undone.
00:16:17Before doing this kind of experiments, Lith would always use his hush spell and several
00:16:21barriers to prevent a resulting explosion to destroy his room or be noticed from the
00:16:26outside.
00:16:27After a month since the beginning of the second semester, Lith had already lost three boxes.
00:16:32All of them had exploded without leaving any trace behind, but he still considered
00:16:36it a success.
00:16:37Neither he or his belongings had suffered any damage, and with each box the explosion
00:16:41was getting weaker.
00:16:43It was only a matter of time before Lith could find the right way to puncture the runic pathways
00:16:48without the pseudo-core becoming instable.
00:16:50Now I get why the Vision wanted me to save Noc and get to meet Kala.
00:16:54And.
00:16:55The small bick and its mother.
00:16:57With only the box from Redeemus, I would have never managed to open it.
00:17:01I could either give it to the Marchioness or Linjos, leaving me empty-handed, or try
00:17:05and fail on my own.
00:17:06He sighed.
00:17:07Well, for being self-taught you are doing great.
00:17:11Marth and Wanamere always praise you for your talent and achievements.
00:17:14I think Wanamere already considers you the best student of the fourth year.
00:17:18Yeah.
00:17:19He sighed again.
00:17:21Someone is bound to get angry at me, again.
00:17:23Not to mention that I am falling behind in dimensional magic.
00:17:27Without the all-nighters, even Uriel is slowly catching up with me, and I have yet to learn
00:17:31the restoration spell that Quila already knows.
00:17:34I must work harder.
00:17:36Maybe it's because Quila has only one specialization, while Uriel just two, and they are hardworking
00:17:41too.
00:17:42You, instead, are such a slacker.
00:17:44Solace's voice was using sarcasm.
00:17:47Top of both your official specializations, learning other specializations on your own,
00:17:52and converting them into true magic.
00:17:54All this while working on that lock, researching a body for me and refining your monocore during
00:17:59your spare time.
00:18:00Which usually means when you are forced to use a bathroom or during theoretical lessons.
00:18:05You don't sleep from almost a month.
00:18:07Honestly, I'm amazed you achieved so much with only 24 hours a day.
00:18:12Progress, not perfection.
00:18:14Remember?
00:18:15You need to slow down.
00:18:17Can't do.
00:18:18The second trimester's exam is nearing, and no one knows what's going to be about.
00:18:22Don't make every second matter.
00:18:24Since the explosion of Quarn Hathorn's alchemic laboratory, the city of Candria had quickly
00:18:29plunged into mass hysteria.
00:18:31Just a few days after the event, strange diseases and murders had started to happen all around
00:18:36the city, and with the passing of time, things had only got worse.
00:18:40Healers from all the Marquisate and beyond had been called for help, but despite both
00:18:44the Crown and the Mage Association were sparing no expenses to get at the root of the problem,
00:18:49they were getting nowhere.
00:18:50An information blackout had been enacted to avoid the panic to spread outside the city
00:18:55borders.
00:18:56Those who knew about the phenomenon talked about a mysterious plague haunting the province
00:19:00of Candria and were worried about it spreading.
00:19:03The body count had already reached the hundreds, and with each passing day more and more cases
00:19:07arose, forcing the Crown to declare the status of quarantine two weeks after the start of
00:19:12the outbreak.
00:19:13Whoever tried to get in or out the city would be executed on the spot, the whole region
00:19:17had been enveloped by an array that prevented flying spells and warp steps to work.
00:19:22Sylpha, Queen of the Griffin Kingdom and Supreme Head of the Mage Association, was on the verge
00:19:27of a nervous breakdown.
00:19:28She hadn't slept properly since the Old Nobles' Rebellion had started, and now with the unsolved
00:19:33mystery of the plague, she felt she was losing her mind.
00:19:37The Queen hadn't missed how the current predicament had occurred right after Arjen went missing
00:19:41in action, the problem was determining how the two events were related.
00:19:45Knowing Arjen's prowess, she suspected it was all the work of an Awakened One.
00:19:49It was impossible for a member of the corpse to be killed by conventional means during
00:19:53a simple recognition mission.
00:19:55Also, the fact that the best minds of the kingdom were still clueless was proof enough
00:19:59it wasn't something fake magic could achieve.
00:20:02Her problem was that aside from the members of the corpse, the Crown had no Awakened Ones,
00:20:07and Lady Tyris refused to train more than seven at a time.
00:20:10The remaining six members were already engaged in life or death situations, otherwise she
00:20:15would have never recalled Arjen so soon.
00:20:18The rescue teams were still looking for him under the lab's debris, but so far nothing
00:20:22had come out.
00:20:23Out of desperation, she took out her communication amulet, trying to reach for Krishna Manohar,
00:20:28the God of Healing.
00:20:29He was the best healer of the kingdom, and her last hope.
00:20:33Aside from a magical plague, it could have been the effect of an ancient artifact.
00:20:37Such powerful weapon, if it even existed, once found had to remain a secret, and that
00:20:41was the reason why she had kept him as a last resort.
00:20:45That man was a loose cannon, discretion and reliability weren't his strong suits.
00:20:49The amulet gave no response, even after multiple attempts.
00:20:53Having no time for his antics, Sulpha called Linjos, instead, demanding for Manohar's whereabouts
00:20:58and the reason of his unavailability.
00:21:00I would never dare to disobey a direct order of yours, you majesty, but alas, your first
00:21:06request is beyond me.
00:21:07Even I do not know where he is.
00:21:09As for the second, I think you wouldn't believe me without hearing it from the horse's mouth.
00:21:14The headmaster took a piece of paper and placed it on the amulet's gem, allowing the queen
00:21:18to read its content.
00:21:20Dear Linjos the name was followed by a doodle depicting a horse bearing a striking resemblance
00:21:24to the headmaster, even wearing his clothes.
00:21:27I'm on the verge of an incredible magical breakthrough.
00:21:30In can't risk my research to be ruined by the constant pestering of mediocre minds,
00:21:35so I'll be gone for a while.
00:21:37K.M.
00:21:38How dares he to disappear again?
00:21:40It's already the third time this year.
00:21:42Sulpha punched her desk hard enough to break it in half.
00:21:45Send me your second best diagnostician.
00:21:47If he or she doesn't solve my problem, I'll have your head beside Manohar's in my trophy
00:21:52room.
00:21:53Although invigoration allowed Lith to avoid sleeping, it wasn't without side effects.
00:21:58Back when he was still at home, he had several opportunities to relax, like when hunting
00:22:02for food, teaching Tista fake magic, or simply spending quality time with his family.
00:22:07Now Lith was relentlessly working like a machine, piling up stress without any break outside
00:22:12his three daily meals.
00:22:14Over time, the accumulated mental fatigue made him more cranky, nervous and aggressive.
00:22:19It was something the professors would not notice.
00:22:22Lith treasured them, and it is best to hold his temper and treat them with the respect
00:22:26they deserved.
00:22:27The same applied to his friends.
00:22:29After his last heart-to-heart with Solas, he tried to spend more time them, to give
00:22:33her what she needed, more emotions and human interaction.
00:22:37It would soothe her depression and wear down his nerves, but he didn't care.
00:22:41Solas always does so much for me.
00:22:43Not only she is basically my moral compass, helping me on all the academical subjects.
00:22:48She also restricts my most violent urges, making me almost human.
00:22:52Heck, if it was possible, I would gladly trade place with her.
00:22:56She would make a much better person than me.
00:22:59Solas was moved by how strong were his feelings for her, and how many sacrifices he was willing
00:23:03to endure for her sake.
00:23:05At the same time, thought, she was very worried.
00:23:08The prolonged lack of sleep had only made more apparent that his mind and body were
00:23:12experiencing a major change.
00:23:14Since overcoming the bottleneck, Lith's body kept getting stronger every time the
00:23:18monocore was refined.
00:23:20As for his mind, the recent events had put a lot of stress on his already twisted psyche.
00:23:25Ironically, while near-death experiences were the norm since Lith had started to practice
00:23:30high-level magic, it was finding people that actually cared for him outside of his family
00:23:35that triggered an inner conflict.
00:23:37Changing lifelong values wasn't easy, it was like admitting to have always been wrong
00:23:41about almost everything.
00:23:43On the other hand, the same could be said about her.
00:23:46The quality and quantity of her nourishment had dramatically improved, and her monocore
00:23:49was on the verge of turning green.
00:23:52But what bothered Solas the most were her new feelings.
00:23:56Thanks to Lith's new enhanced senses she could hear all the mean comments people would make
00:23:59behind his back, all the petty grudges that every praise he received would arise.
00:24:04The more she knew humans, the more disgusted she became.
00:24:08After he had almost died protecting everyone from the spatial cracks, the kindest comment
00:24:12she had heard was.
00:24:13Even after losing an arm, we can't get him out of our hair for a whole day?
00:24:17That guy is worse than a cockroach.
00:24:20Solas was starting to think it was her being wrong all along.
00:24:23Lith was summoned by the headmaster less than an hour later Queen Sylpha had expressed her
00:24:27newfound interest for turning Linjo's head into a toilet brush holder, instead of mounting
00:24:32it on a wall.
00:24:33After consulting with Professor Marth, the second best healer of the White Griffin Academy,
00:24:38Linjo's was left with no choice.
00:24:40If it's a life or death situation.
00:24:42Cut the if.
00:24:43There are lives on the line, mine included.
00:24:46Linjo's interrupted Marth.
00:24:48Then I definitely send Lith from Lustria.
00:24:51Linjo's is the only one whose diagnostic skills are at Minoher's level.
00:24:54A student instead of a professor?
00:24:56How low have we stooped?
00:24:58What will become of the prestige of this academy?
00:25:01Linjo's moaned.
00:25:02Stooped?
00:25:03Marth knitted his eyebrows in disapproval.
00:25:05The new replacing the old is the way of life.
00:25:08Also, accepting someone that all the other academies rejected out of prejudice is not
00:25:12stooping.
00:25:13Especially if he succeeds.
00:25:15But what if he fails?
00:25:17Linjo's was about to cry.
00:25:19He'll become the laughingstock of the kingdom.
00:25:21Everyone will think we are so incompetent we have to rely on a child.
00:25:25Well, we can always send a couple of professors and hope for the best.
00:25:29At least you would fail with dignity.
00:25:32Linjo's groaned, his neck suddenly hurting.
00:25:34Failure wasn't an option.
00:25:36What about that other student?
00:25:38Qualla from Saria?
00:25:39At this point, sending one or two makes no difference.
00:25:42It actually does.
00:25:44Marth objected.
00:25:45Her talent for light magic is outstanding, I believe that if properly nurtured, she can
00:25:50become the next Manohar.
00:25:52Stop saying that name.
00:25:53Linjo's neck felt a new pang, feeling the executioner's axe nearing.
00:25:57I mean in a good way.
00:25:59There is nothing good about that man.
00:26:01Seeing the headmaster being unreasonable, Marth dropped the matter.
00:26:05As I was saying, she is a magnificent mage, yet she is too young to witness such horrors.
00:26:10Not to mention that her diagnostic skills are about my level.
00:26:14I'd rather go myself instead of putting her future at risk.
00:26:17As for our new star, he is quite special.
00:26:20Marth tapped on Lith's complete personal file.
00:26:23A folder almost as thick as a book, where the experts from the Mage Association had
00:26:27classified him as what on earth would be called high-functioning sociopath.
00:26:31At that point, Linjo's had stopped resisting and accepted his fate.
00:26:35When Lith entered, he was wearing his old set of frown and glare.
00:26:39I didn't do anything wrong and was about to have a magical breakthrough.
00:26:44When he had received the call, Lith was about to clear the second last exercise before attempting
00:26:48a real warp steps.
00:26:50After the sabotage, the fourth year lessons had been suspended for a few days until the
00:26:54internal investigation was concluded.
00:26:57He had used that time to further practice under Quyla's guidance and was close to placing
00:27:01aid opening a gate.
00:27:03While most students had been scarred by the event and needed psychological counseling,
00:27:07he had continued his studies like nothing had happened, managing to catch up with those
00:27:11more talented than him.
00:27:14Lith's choice of words only intensified Linjo's feeling of impending doom.
00:27:17The Headmaster gave him a file, containing all the relevant information about the events
00:27:22in Candria, explaining to him that his presence was required to shed light on the matter.
00:27:26I'm just a student.
00:27:28Lith replied giving back the folder.
00:27:30What does this have to do with me?
00:27:32What Headmaster Linjo's forget to tell you, boy, is that this isn't a request.
00:27:37This is an order from the Queen herself.
00:27:39The voice belonged to a man about 30 years old, 1.82 meters, 6, high, that walked out
00:27:45of a warp steps that opened right in the middle of the room.
00:27:48He had light brown crew cut hair and mustaches of the same color.
00:27:52He was wearing a deep blue uniform, bearing on the heart the royal crest, a triangular
00:27:57shield representing a prancing griffon with a crown on its head and holding two scepters
00:28:01in his front claws.
00:28:03One representing the magical power, the other the military one.
00:28:07Lith, allow me to introduce to you Captain Bilagros, from the Queen's Corps.
00:28:11Captain, this is Lith from Lustria Linjo's stood up, offering his hand to his esteemed
00:28:15guest.
00:28:16Were you spying on us, or did you just wait in order to make a dramatic entrance?
00:28:21Lith wasn't impressed, more like annoyed.
00:28:23His bad mood made him blurt out what normally he would have just thought.
00:28:27Kid, this is no laughing matter.
00:28:29People is dying this very moment.
00:28:31If you can do something about it, it's your duty too.
00:28:34People dies every day.
00:28:37Lith shrugged.
00:28:38Usually it happens to the poor, the orphans, the homeless.
00:28:41Yet no one gives a damn about it.
00:28:43But if it happens to a few rich guys in a fancy city, then suddenly it becomes a huge
00:28:47problem.
00:28:48Also, I have no duty, since I took no oath.
00:28:51So, let me rephrase.
00:28:53What's in it for me?
00:28:55He said rubbing his right thumb and index fingers together.
00:28:58Normally Captain Bilagros would have been tempted of teaching the arrogant kid a lesson,
00:29:02but he too had read the file.
00:29:04It was clearly stated that because of his upbringing, Lith had no real ties to the kingdom.
00:29:09That was the reason his family was so tightly protected.
00:29:12The orders were to not antagonize him, unless it was absolutely necessary.
00:29:17Captain Bilagros could only grin and bear Lith's attitude, and not only because of
00:29:21his orders.
00:29:22The more he looked at the youth, the more wrong everything felt.
00:29:25The cold and dead eyes, the detached attitude, were all things he had seen plenty of times,
00:29:30but never in kids.
00:29:32They were traits found either in battle-hardened veterans or in madmen with an agenda.
00:29:36Last but not least, back when he had stepped forward with an intimidating manner, his body
00:29:41had started screaming for danger.
00:29:43A member of the corps didn't manage to reach his age without developing a keen instinct,
00:29:48and in that moment his own was telling him to back off and avoid sudden movements.
00:29:52How much do you want?
00:29:53He asked.
00:29:55You say it like I'm extorting money.
00:29:57Before being a healer, I was a hunter.
00:29:59And the first thing I learned is that hunters don't do favors, we cut deals.
00:30:04Here is my offer.
00:30:05I do the job, and if I succeed, I get a safe house for my family.
00:30:09I don't care if it's because the civil war breaks out, we get invaded or there's a sudden
00:30:14drought.
00:30:15The second something goes wrong, I want them safe and out of the kingdom.
00:30:19Deal?
00:30:20Lith extended his hand, and Bilagros shook it without hesitation.
00:30:23For a moment, Bilagros had feared the kid would ask for a ridiculous sum of money or
00:30:27an artifact.
00:30:29Instead he had demanded something simple and reasonable, albeit expensive, leaving no space
00:30:33for bargain.
00:30:35Deal.
00:30:36And what if you fail?
00:30:37If that happens, we both would have just lost a few hours of our time.
00:30:41Lith shrugged.
00:30:42As long I can use invigoration, there's nothing I can't diagnose.
00:30:46Curing it, thought, is another matter entirely.
00:30:49If the plague is something beyond my comprehension, not even true magic can help me.
00:30:54It will take more than a few hours.
00:30:56Bilagros explained.
00:30:58Steps are blocked in all the region.
00:31:00First, I need to have an exit point set up for us in the vicinity.
00:31:04Then we'll reach the quarantine borders by flying.
00:31:07It will take a couple of hours to arrange everything.
00:31:10I thought we were moving right away.
00:31:12Lith frowned.
00:31:13In this case, I want our deal recorded in writing and signed up.
00:31:17Words may fly away, but writings remain.
00:31:20Not a problem.
00:31:21Use the time to settle your business or to arrange your baggage before leaving.
00:31:25Depending on how it goes, we may be stuck in Candria until tomorrow.
00:31:30And remember, you are not allowed to speak about the mission with anyone.
00:31:34Lith walked away, ignoring the last trivial order.
00:31:37He moved quickly toward his room, his aim to catch as much sleep as possible before
00:31:41departing.
00:31:42Being in his weakened state while inside the academy was one thing.
00:31:46It was full of professors bound to help him, and an hospital that could heal him as long
00:31:50he had a single breath of life.
00:31:52But on the outside, he didn't care if he was with the Queen's Corps or the Queen herself,
00:31:56he would always act as he were alone.
00:31:58I'm so happy you took this mission.
00:32:01Solus Mind smiled.
00:32:02So many people are suffering, we should help if we can.
00:32:06And that's where you are wrong.
00:32:08Lith objected.
00:32:09If you volunteer every time someone is in danger, you'll live your life for the sake
00:32:13of others.
00:32:14Give an inch, and they will take a mile.
00:32:16The demand of payment served multiple purposes.
00:32:19First, if I succeed the vision should be foiled, at least the part that I really care for.
00:32:24Second, it showed them I'm no puppet.
00:32:27Only soldiers obey without questions, and only idiots and saints work for free when
00:32:31they could get the right compensation.
00:32:33Solus pondered on those words.
00:32:36Once she would have dismissed them as Lith being cold and cynical, now she wasn't so
00:32:39sure anymore.
00:32:41After Lith left the headmaster's office, the Lagros started arranging the last details
00:32:45for the mission, while Lingos couldn't stop sighing.
00:32:48Is this the society we really want to create?
00:32:51A world where heroes are actually cold-blooded killers?
00:32:54At this point, I don't care what the queen will do with me.
00:32:57I find way more terrifying the idea that if he succeeds, such a person will become a role
00:33:02model.
00:33:03I hoped that nurture could beat nature, but it seems I was wrong once again.
00:33:07Captain Belagros laughed out loud at those words.
00:33:10Dear Headmaster, I don't know where you lived until now, but when I attended the Water Griffin,
00:33:15it was a nightmare.
00:33:16The pranks, the competition, the stress.
00:33:19So, what nurture are you talking about?
00:33:22Do you coddle the students here?
00:33:23Take them by the hand?
00:33:25Lingos shook his head, blushing a little from embarrassment.
00:33:28I've seen a lot of people like that.
00:33:30They usually end up in jail, join the military or become successful merchants.
00:33:35It depends on how much they are able to restrain themselves, usually picking jobs where they
00:33:39can legally ruin the lives of others or use violence.
00:33:43Think about the adventurers or speculators.
00:33:45Most of them are like him, yet everyone dreams of becoming rich with quests or being acclaimed
00:33:50as a self-made man.
00:33:51Have you ever stopped considering how much death is hidden behind their fortunes?
00:33:55If he does his job and doesn't go on a murder spree, then he is fine by me.
00:34:00Not even a minute after Lith was summoned in Lingos office with the Academy's public
00:34:04announcement system, a call was made from within the White Griffin to Archmage Lucert.
00:34:09Lucert, you idiot, the Queen has asked for our help.
00:34:12Who cares?
00:34:13Lucert didn't like being insulted, but decided to let it slide.
00:34:17Having a traitor in the Academy was worth enduring a foul mouth.
00:34:20I already made sure that Manohar got the ingredient he was looking for, so he is out of the picture.
00:34:26According to Hathorn, there's no one else that can understand the plague's nature.
00:34:30Despite the accident in the lab, everything is going smoothly.
00:34:34Smoothly?
00:34:35The voice sneered.
00:34:36Triggering a quarantine and alerting the whole world about your experiments is far from what
00:34:40would I call going smoothly.
00:34:42Also, Lingos has just summoned Lith from Lucia, so you'd better take action fast.
00:34:47Who cares about a kid?
00:34:49He can die in a fire, together with his filthy little village.
00:34:52The voice laughed out loud.
00:34:54If you keep underestimating the same kid that saved Distor's daughter from your prize poison,
00:34:59taking away the only silver lining in your utter fiasco of an assassination attempt,
00:35:03and later stopped the spatial breakdown with no casualties despite my sabotage, then you
00:35:08are a bigger fool than I thought.
00:35:10Lucert snarled, both failures still haunted his dreams.
00:35:13The first was supposed to take out Marchioness Distor's whole family, but because of Ains'
00:35:18presence, they had only managed to injure the daughter.
00:35:21The second had gone even worse.
00:35:23The death of the students would have caused an uproar, setting the foundations for the
00:35:27next step, leading to Lingos' execution, and forced the new nobles' faction to either
00:35:31drop all their claims or start a civil war.
00:35:34Both scenarios were perfect, since in Lucert's mind they would end up the same way.
00:35:39His faction would win, and the commoners would have to submit or die.
00:35:43Can't you just turn off the protective system and kill him?
00:35:46You really are stupid.
00:35:48After the sabotage, our rings have been stripped of several functions.
00:35:52Now only the headmaster himself can interact with the academy's control system.
00:35:56You really are useless.
00:35:58Lucert slammed his fist against a table, bleeding a little.
00:36:01Useless?
00:36:02The voice gasped in outrage.
00:36:04I arranged my lessons so they would be much easier for your sons.
00:36:08I made sure that the clackers would haunt the location where the most promising commoners
00:36:12would appear.
00:36:13I deactivated all the protections so that a class full of students could be decimated.
00:36:18If I am useless, then what about your precious offspring that keeps getting outclassed by
00:36:23commoners?
00:36:24I'm starting to think this is all a big mistake.
00:36:26Maybe we should just accept the change.
00:36:29Never.
00:36:30Incapable of bearing any more of that nonsense, Archmage Lucert hung up the call.
00:36:34A little longer than two hours later, Lith was woken up by a clerk, prompting him to
00:36:38go back to the headmaster's office.
00:36:41The sleep hadn't been much, but enough to take some of the edge off his mind and partially
00:36:45reset Invigoration's effectiveness.
00:36:47The lagros welcomed him, giving Lith a copy of their agreement and keeping the other for
00:36:52himself, before warping out the office.
00:36:54They materialized on a grassland, in the middle of nowhere.
00:36:58Lith looked around, instinctively searching for familiar landmarks, finding none.
00:37:02The only structure in sight was a circle, formed by rectangular wooden rods, from which
00:37:07they had emerged from.
00:37:09The rods were about 2 meters, 6.5 feet high and 3 centimeters, 1.8 inches, thick.
00:37:15Each of the four sides was engraved with bright red runes, pulsing with power, that went opaque
00:37:20as soon as the portal closed behind them.
00:37:23Waiting for them there was a group of three women and two men, all dressed like the lagros,
00:37:27and with various weapons dangling from their belts or backs.
00:37:31They immediately started to disassemble the circle, storing the rods in dimensional amulets.
00:37:35Is it your first time seeing a temporary waypoint?
00:37:39Lith nodded in response.
00:37:41Crossing hundreds of kilometers at once would be impossible without such a device.
00:37:45By knowing its frequency, I can use it to lock into these coordinates, while the others
00:37:49pump their own mana in it, allowing for us to get here with minimum mana consumption
00:37:53on my side.
00:37:55Solus, how strong are these guys?
00:37:57Each one of them has a blue mana core, so in theory they are stronger mages than you.
00:38:02Also, everything they have is heavily enchanted.
00:38:05Compared to their clothes, your uniform is like a firefly besides a torch.
00:38:09Invisible.
00:38:10They were all of different ages and builds, the youngest one seemed to be barely over
00:38:14twenty years old, while the oldest seemed to be nearing the fifties.
00:38:18Our destination is in that direction.
00:38:21Velagros pointed towards south-southeast.
00:38:24It shouldn't take much by flight.
00:38:26Half an hour, tops.
00:38:27At his command, everyone cast his personal flight spell, advancing with a wedge formation
00:38:32with Lith as its center.
00:38:34He used that opportunity to activate life vision, discovering that despite they had
00:38:38superior cores, their magical forces weren't much stronger than his own.
00:38:43On the contrary, Lith's physical prowess outclassed everyone else's, even without using fusion
00:38:48magic.
00:38:49After a few minutes, though, their spells disappeared abruptly, sending them into a
00:38:53free fall to the ground.
00:38:55Luckily, they were flying low, around five meters, sixteen, high, to avoid being visible
00:39:00from a distance, so they ended up tumbling on the ground instead of splattering.
00:39:05The core's protective vests absorbed much of the impact, but Lith wasn't wearing one,
00:39:09and his uniform's weak point was offering no protection against blunt impacts.
00:39:14He made the earth under him soft and elastic, bouncing and rolling to disperse the momentum.
00:39:19Ambush.
00:39:20Captain Velagros roared while he and his men assumed a defensive position.
00:39:25Lith and Solas activated life vision and mana sense respectively, discovering that they
00:39:29had stepped into a very complex array.
00:39:31This is clearly a high-level warden formation.
00:39:34Solas observed.
00:39:36Besides disrupting air magic, making flight impossible, somehow it also compresses space.
00:39:41I can't access to our dimensional pocket, and I bet that even blinking or using warp
00:39:45steps is impossible.
00:39:47Cursing his bad luck, Lith alerted Velagros of Solas's discovery while readying both fake
00:39:53and true spells.
00:39:55He would do everything to keep his secret, but dying for it was not an option.
00:39:58CRP.
00:39:59The kid is right.
00:40:01Velagros had just tried to warp them away, but to no avail.
00:40:05Fall back, we are sitting ducks here.
00:40:07Velagros had no idea how Lith had assessed the situation so fast, but that wasn't the
00:40:12time for questions.
00:40:13With no movement spells, escaping the encirclement would be difficult, and with their dimensional
00:40:18amulets sealed, their resources had been dramatically reduced.
00:40:22How deep are we into the array?
00:40:24He asked noticing how Lith's eyes were burning with mana.
00:40:27Very.
00:40:28They probably waited for us to be in the middle before activating it.
00:40:32Makes sense.
00:40:33Velagros nodded.
00:40:34I would have done the same.
00:40:36Any direction was good as another, they were still in the open, with no natural formation
00:40:40offering them cover or protection.
00:40:42Velagros picked one at random, making his team move fast but keeping the formation to
00:40:47not leave blind spots.
00:40:49To his surprise, despite being the shortest, Lith had no problem keeping the pace of their
00:40:54jog.
00:40:55Since this was a last-minute operation, the only possible explanation is that there is
00:40:59a spy in the royal palace.
00:41:01Otherwise it would be impossible to set up a trap like this on such a short notice.
00:41:06Velagros inwardly swore to find the traitor and give him a slow and painful death.
00:41:10Suddenly, several gates opened in the air, from each emerged a person wearing a guerrilla
00:41:15combat suit that unleashed a tier 5 spell on the core unit.
00:41:19The air filled with countless spheres of fire the size of a house, while the ground all
00:41:23around them exploded in razor sharp rock shrapnel.
00:41:26Lith realized that the queen's core unit was doomed.
00:41:29The aggressors could turn on and off the jamming field at will.
00:41:32Wiping them out with hit and run tactics was just a matter of time.
00:41:36He quickly activated all the barriers he had ready, only around himself, opening at the
00:41:41same time a deep hole in the ground right under his feet with earth magic.
00:41:45The assault continued for several seconds.
00:41:47The earth trembled like there was an earthquake, forcing Lith to keep digging away.
00:41:52The shockwaves from the surface only grew in intensity over time.
00:41:56Damn it, and to think that Uriel always nag about useless Awarden is.
00:42:00I can't believe a whole unit of the queen's core was done so easily.
00:42:04One after the other, the life forces of the six people assigned to escort him faded away.
00:42:09Lith was shocked and angry, there was nothing he could have done to save them, even by revealing
00:42:13his status of awakened one.
00:42:15The attack had been too quick and well-coordinated to open a hole big enough for everyone.
00:42:20And even if somehow he managed to, the enemies would have noticed, using tier 5 earth magic
00:42:25to squash them like bugs.
00:42:27It wasn't the first time that Lith had been forced to retreat, but it was the first time
00:42:31that such an act left him with a bitter aftertaste.
00:42:34He had never experienced such helplessness before, making him aware that he could only
00:42:38cower ad hide, like a rat.
00:42:40A few hundred meters to the east, the leader of the Talons was admiring the result of their
00:42:44work through a surveillance mirror.
00:42:46Once again, no survivors, no witnesses, no proofs.
00:42:50Faryon Nijel and his men were the best at their job, and they were proud of it.
00:42:54The Talons was a mercenary unit, whose members were once part of the elite troops from the
00:42:59armies of all the three great countries, but had been dishonorably discharged for violating
00:43:03the warrior code by either pillaging, raping and or murdering in the territories that they
00:43:08were supposed to protect.
00:43:10A few of them were actually wanted criminals, but the Talons knew how to take care of their
00:43:14own.
00:43:15Offering their services to the highest bidder, they lived a life of luxury, being the living
00:43:19proof that their countries had made a big mistake by discarding them like trash.
00:43:24Captain Seafoot, check for survivors.
00:43:26Nijel ordered to their warden.
00:43:28Come on, General.
00:43:30There's nothing left but a crater.
00:43:32It's a waste of my considerable skill.
00:43:34Despite not being part of the army anymore, each one had a military rank and a status
00:43:39in the unit, according to his or her talent.
00:43:42Do it anyway.
00:43:43We have a reputation to uphold.
00:43:45Yes sir.
00:43:46Seafoot was the third in command, yet sometimes he forgot how anal retentive the general was.
00:43:52Seafoot disabled his arrays, allowing him to open a warp steps right above the crater,
00:43:56and then cast the life detection array, a warden spell that in many aspects resembled
00:44:00Lith's life vision.
00:44:02From underground, Lith was still able to see the magic portal opening with life vision.
00:44:07What the heck are they doing now?
00:44:08In their place I would either wipe down any trace of the massacre or check for survivors,
00:44:13if not both.
00:44:14Good gods, General, you are right for once.
00:44:17We have a rat.
00:44:18Thanks to his heightened senses, Lith was able to hear the warden's snarky remark and
00:44:22react accordingly.
00:44:24In all his years as a soldier first and a mercenary later, Seafoot had never seen anyone
00:44:28moving so fast.
00:44:30Charged to the brim with air fusion, it took Lith but a second to get out of his hiding
00:44:34spot, cross the warp step, and rip Seafoot's head from the neck with his bare hands.
00:44:39Although his entry appeared overbearing and dramatic to the members of the Talons, Lith
00:44:43was actually quite desperate, and so was Solus.
00:44:46The moment the snarky man had revealed his presence, he knew that he had just went from
00:44:50the frying pan into a volcano.
00:44:53Whoever those guys were, they had mastered the discipline of spatial magic to the point
00:44:57of making it an art form.
00:44:58Lith could only run or fly, but against an opponent that cold bends space, blink or switch
00:45:03it was useless.
00:45:04His only option was to get in and kill them so fast they would not even understand what
00:45:09had hit them.
00:45:10It was time to test the limits of his new body.
00:45:13First thing first, we need to kill the Warden.
00:45:15Lith thought, not knowing it was his intended target's head that he was throwing to the
00:45:19nearest enemy, making both heads burst open for the violence of the impact.
00:45:24Our only hope is to find him before he casts another array, otherwise we are screwed.
00:45:28The only silver lining is that Warden's spells are slow as.
00:45:32You focus on the killing.
00:45:34Solus replied.
00:45:35I'll collect as much intel as I can about our opponents.
00:45:39If I see the slightest hint of Warden magic, I'll tell you.
00:45:42Sadly, the Talon's unit was comprised only by veterans, hence as soon Lith beheaded Seafoot,
00:45:48it took them barely a second to recover and regroup.
00:45:51The one Lith had killed with an unconventional headbutt was simply too close to dodge the
00:45:55projectile.
00:45:56Farian Nijel, the general, instantly issued coded orders that his men were ready to execute.
00:46:02The element of surprise was already lost, and Lith had yet to face nine more people.
00:46:07Black 2.
00:46:08Red 3.
00:46:09White 4.
00:46:10Despite the target was just a kid, Nijel employed an extremely aggressive tactic.
00:46:15His creed was that no matter the opponent, never underestimate, never relax, never talk
00:46:20until the kill was confirmed.
00:46:22The two most skilled melee expert would kill him, oh worst case scenario, keep him busy,
00:46:27while three mid-range specialists would cover for them and stall enough time for the four
00:46:31ranged spellcaster to put an end to the struggle.
00:46:34Cursing his bad luck for the umpteenth time since he was born back on Earth, Lith prepared
00:46:39to face his incoming enemies.
00:46:41First, he pushed his mana core to the limit, emitting a light cyan aura that enveloped
00:46:45the space around him with a mana so dense that the air started to crackle.
00:46:49Then, he infused his body with all the six elements while casting one of his new spells
00:46:54as fast as he could.
00:46:56The two Talons were a man and a woman, the first using a sword and shield combination,
00:47:01the second twin swords instead.
00:47:03Bloodlust and Madness twisted their features to the point that not even Uriel would have
00:47:07wasted time pondering if he was hot or not.
00:47:10Beware.
00:47:11All their equipment is on par with the core.
00:47:14Even their tattoos seem to be enchanted.
00:47:16Solas warned him.
00:47:18Just my luck.
00:47:19I need a damn weapon to block enchanted blades, but I still can't afford the academy's prices.
00:47:24A chunk of the tattoos disappeared, boosting their speed like a high-grade potion and allowing
00:47:29them to reach Lith before he could finish casting.
00:47:32They placed in opposite directions, forcing Lith to create a blind spot in his visual
00:47:36field.
00:47:37Much to their surprise, he didn't even try following the movements of them both with
00:47:41his eyes.
00:47:42Instead, he turned his back on the shield man, focusing only on the double-wielding
00:47:47woman.
00:47:48Nonetheless they didn't lose focus, executing a two-pronged attack where each strike was
00:47:52meant to corner the prey by making the attacks coming from the partner harder to evade.
00:47:57Yet Lith dodged them all flawlessly, even those coming from his back.
00:48:01The first exchange was more than enough for Nijel to understand what was happening, forcing
00:48:06him to violate his creed already.
00:48:08What are you doing, you idiots?
00:48:10That's Fulgard.
00:48:11Red, white fall back.
00:48:13To prevent their target from escaping, Nijel started weaving the anti-air magic array.
00:48:18For a split second the talons froze, thinking their general had gone mad.
00:48:23Fulgard was a common mage knight spell that created a spherical blue aura with a radius
00:48:27of 1.65 meters, 5.41 feet, all around the caster.
00:48:33Thanks to Fulgard, a mage knight had no blind spots.
00:48:36Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, allowing him to counter-attack and dodge with
00:48:40surgical precision without even looking.
00:48:43What Nijel said didn't make sense, though.
00:48:46The scion aura surrounding their target had a radius of over 20 meters, 66, something
00:48:51every one of them knew by experience was impossible.
00:48:54The spell range, even at tier 5, was supposed to cover only the length given by the arm
00:48:59plus weapon length.
00:49:00When their instinct and discipline kicked in, making them obey the order, it was already
00:49:04too late.
00:49:06Lith had previously ignored the earlier football coach gibberish, but now, violating his creed,
00:49:11Nijel had exposed himself.
00:49:13Warden at 3 o'clock.
00:49:15Solas shouted the moment she recognized the energy pattern.
00:49:18Lith exploited the opening, darting toward Nijel while extending his arms, with a motion
00:49:23that made no sense to his enemies.
00:49:25At that distance, any spell coming from a ring could be easily avoided.
00:49:29The red and white team moved backwards, without stopping their chance, trying to keep the
00:49:34distance from the prey, while the black team was in hot pursuit.
00:49:37Their problem was twofold, though.
00:49:40Lith was too fast for his chasers, and no one in the talons knew of spirit magic's existence.
00:49:45Just like a snake, tendrils of pure, invisible mana, traveled the space between predator
00:49:50and prey, coiling around Nijel's head.
00:49:53Spells rained on Lith from all directions.
00:49:55Some he managed to dodge, others he had to tank in order to not lose focus, letting the
00:49:59combined effects of earth fusion and his uniform to block most of the damage, while light fusion
00:50:04regenerated the wounds as soon as they were opened.
00:50:08With each step he took, Lith's magical force became strong enough to overcame Nijel's enchanted
00:50:13protections, horribly deforming his head before popping it like a balloon.
00:50:17Spirit magic's range had already reached 50 meters, 54.7 yards, back when he had saved
00:50:23Count Lark's family.
00:50:24Now it could hit as far as Lith could see, yet the farther he was from the target, the
00:50:28weaker the effects.
00:50:30Okay, the warden is down.
00:50:32Eight more to go.
00:50:33With a bit of luck, the shock from my use of spirit magic should stun them for a couple
00:50:38of seconds, giving me plenty of time to evening the field.
00:50:41Yet, luck was a fickle mistress.
00:50:43What Lith ignored, knowing nothing about military except what he learned from the movies, was
00:50:48that in such tight-knitted units, there were two only two kinds of generals.
00:50:52The ones whose death would destroy the morale, turning them into sitting ducks, like he had
00:50:56hoped, and the ones whose death would turn his soldiers into battle-frenzy demons unafraid
00:51:01of death.
00:51:02Ferry and Nijel belonged in the second category.
00:51:05Most of the members of the Talons were either psychopaths devoid of empathy or cold-blooded
00:51:09killers, they didn't care about anything but themselves.
00:51:13Killing Nijel was the equivalent to cutting their lifeline, they had no idea how to survive
00:51:17outside the battlefield without him.
00:51:19A few were even grateful to him for having rescued them before their execution.
00:51:24Each and every one of them took it personal.
00:51:26To make things worse, Brigadier Fita Berowit, second in command, quickly regained her cool,
00:51:31avoiding the situation to devolve into chaos.
00:51:34Black 4.
00:51:35Red 2.
00:51:36White 2.
00:51:37Berowit let the general's death go to waste.
00:51:40F King kill him.
00:51:41Brigadier General Berowit was an ex-member of the Queen's Corps.
00:51:45It was thanks to her knowledge about the Corps' protocol and equipment that the mission had
00:51:48gone so smoothly, up until Cifit's death.
00:51:52Unlike the others, she had already seen someone moving so fast.
00:51:55Once, Berowit had been a member of the Queen's Detail, witnessing her inhuman speed.
00:52:00During an ambush, she had killed three assailants before her bodyguards could even move.
00:52:05In her mind, now everything finally made sense, all her questions had found an answer.
00:52:10Why six members of the Corps had been sent to protect an insignificant commoner.
00:52:14Why the pay was obscenely good, even for the Talon's standards.
00:52:18The Afker is a member of the royal family.
00:52:21She shouted.
00:52:22We have to make this quick, before they send someone looking for him.
00:52:26Everyone in the Talon had heard Berowit's tale at least once.
00:52:29No one had ever believed her, thinking it was a self-delusion from when she was still
00:52:33a rookie.
00:52:34But now things had changed.
00:52:36Berowit couldn't believe that Nijel had hid from them such a valuable piece of information.
00:52:40She knew not even the general took her story seriously, but being so meticulous that act
00:52:45of carelessness seemed so out of character.
00:52:48I'm what Lith couldn't avoid to inwardly sneer at that rubbish.
00:52:51First, I'm the bastard son of Count Lark, and this time of the Queen?
00:52:55Two more enemies coming up close.
00:52:58Solas warned him.
00:52:59Lith could only sigh with relief.
00:53:01Just what the healer ordered.
00:53:03Then, he activated the spell he had previously casted, turning the world around him dark.
00:53:08Being a self-taught room mage with very little knowledge outside of tier 3 had always been
00:53:13a problem for Lith.
00:53:15He had to make up from scratch most of his spells, and not having much free time, if
00:53:19not none at all, his toolkit was quite limited.
00:53:22For such reason, most of his spells were derived from imitation.
00:53:26Floria's Full Guard, the Rise Slipstream effect or the Wither Dark Aura were all tricks
00:53:31that he had picked up along the way.
00:53:33His fight with the Plant Abomination had allowed him to further understand Darkness magic and
00:53:37how to overcome its obnoxious limitations.
00:53:41Darkness was an element capable of inflicting an enormous amount of damage over time, and
00:53:45to add insult to injury, it was extremely hard to defend from it.
00:53:49On the other hand, though, Darkness-based spells were so slow that outside niche situations
00:53:53they were nigh useless.
00:53:55Vampiric Touch required physical contact, hence it was a last resort.
00:53:59The Wither's Dark Aura had good range, but required a huge mana expenditure compared
00:54:04to the damage dealt.
00:54:06That was why Lith had thought long and hard about it, trying to figure out a way to use
00:54:10Darkness magic to cover for his weak points.
00:54:13No matter how much he planned in advance, he was still an amateur fighter, lacking any
00:54:17professional training.
00:54:19Despite being much slower than Lith, two members of the Talons were enough to force him to
00:54:23go all out just to not be turned into mincemeat in a few seconds.
00:54:27Thanks to their rich battle experience, they were able to anticipate his movements and
00:54:31adjust their attacks accordingly.
00:54:33Not to mention that even Speed could do only so much in front of such refined teamwork.
00:54:38The moment they closed in, they had used the range advantage granted by their blades to
00:54:42restrict Lith from escaping or counterattacking.
00:54:45To gain the upper hand, he needed to fight dirty and shamelessly like before, exploiting
00:54:49the fact that his opponents knew nothing about true magic.
00:54:53When the four melee experts approached, black tentacles emerged from Lith's body, trying
00:54:57to grab whoever came near.
00:54:59The Talons' first instinct was to cut them down, but the tentacles were made of pure
00:55:03energy, so they passed through the blades like a breeze, lashing at the enemy's bodies,
00:55:08sucking out their life force and giving it to their master.
00:55:12Deathcall was the answer Lith had devised to his problems.
00:55:15Anyone that came too close would have to endure the vampiric touch of the tentacles that were
00:55:19nothing more than a dense mass of dark magic guided by his will.
00:55:23The compact form meant that, unlike the dark aura, the draining effect was fast and efficient,
00:55:28while the mid-range of the spell made the slow speed irrelevant.
00:55:32Thanks to full guard, Lith was completely aware of his surroundings, therefore able
00:55:36to manipulate every single tentacle like it was one of his limbs.
00:55:40Combined together, the two spells offered a perfect defense.
00:55:44Come close, become food.
00:55:46Stay away, suffer true magic.
00:55:48Lith didn't need to attack anymore, he could simply focus on dodging while the tentacles
00:55:52did the rest.
00:55:54Barely a few seconds after the activation of Deathcall, the close-range Talons realized
00:55:58what was happening.
00:56:00They were out of breath, their movements getting sluggish, each strike sloppier than the last.
00:56:05Their opponent, instead, was suddenly fully healed, either dodging or deflecting their
00:56:09combined attacks with his bare hands, without even breaking a sweat.
00:56:13But the most shocking part was when the five of them, Lith included, noticed an unforeseen
00:56:18side effect of the spell.
00:56:20The four Talons seemed to be aging by the second, their hair getting thin and gray,
00:56:24while their faces were now full of wrinkles, the skin starting to sag.
00:56:28It was actually a mere cosmetic effect, caused by the sudden loss of moisture and life force.
00:56:34Nothing that a few drinks and some rest couldn't fix.
00:56:36No Talon feared death, but age?
00:56:39That was another matter entirely.
00:56:41For the first time in many years, the members of the Talons started to feel fear.
00:56:46From the moment Seafit had opened that Warpgate, their day had quickly turned into a nightmare.
00:56:51Since when kids could rip off heads?
00:56:53Since when spells could be cast with no magic words or hand signs?
00:56:57How could possibly exist someone capable of killing a soldier of the caliber of Nijel
00:57:01with just a wave of the hand?
00:57:03Last, but not least, what kind of monster could summon an unnamed horror?
00:57:07Black, fall back.
00:57:09Red, fire at will.
00:57:11White, hold your fire until red is done.
00:57:14Seafir had never made Beruit falter, and this time was no different.
00:57:17By alternating the waves of spells from the two teams, she planned of raining on the monster
00:57:22enough destruction to make the nightmare end.
00:57:25When the four of the black team tried to retreat, they discovered that the black tentacles had
00:57:29turned solid.
00:57:30Infused with spirit magic, they dragged back their victims, using them as meat shields
00:57:35against the incoming attacks.
00:57:37It was after the first shockwave arrived that Lith understood to have gravely underestimated
00:57:41tier 5 spells.
00:57:43The four bodies, even with all their magical protections, were barely enough to block the
00:57:47first one, a densely packed chain of lightnings that boiled the four talons from the inside,
00:57:52turning them into charred corpses.
00:57:54The second spell from the red unit ripped them to shreds, forcing Lith to dodge and
00:57:58wave countless wind blades, capable of cutting through rock and dirt like a hot knife pressed
00:58:03against butter.
00:58:05Those he didn't manage to avoid, penetrated deeply into his flesh, stopping only halfway
00:58:09through the bones.
00:58:10The wounds were too extensive to cut off the pain receptors, otherwise his whole body
00:58:15would go limp.
00:58:16Seeing that the monster was still alive, and four more talons had died, their fear turned
00:58:21into despair, but that didn't stop them.
00:58:23In battle there was no time for whining or grieving, only victory or defeat.
00:58:28Beruit and the last member of the white unit unleashed their spells too.
00:58:32Lith had no choice left, he could only fly away as fast as he could.
00:58:36He used all his remaining strength to raise a stone wall after the other, hoping that
00:58:40between the distance and the makeshift barriers he would manage to survive.
00:58:44Whatever it was, it hit with the strength of a volcano.
00:58:47The spot where Lith had been until a split second before had turned into a vortex of
00:58:52purple flames that exploded with great violence, turning the stone walls in pebbles, trampling
00:58:57them like they were just domino pieces.
00:59:00Lith stopped wasting his energies on magic fusion, keeping only the light one to keep
00:59:04regenerating his present and future wounds and earth fusion to try to save his life.
00:59:09Everything else he had was focused on his speed, trying to avoid being reduced to a
00:59:13pile of ashes by the purple flames.
00:59:16Despite all his efforts, the explosion kept getting closer and closer.
00:59:20Lith wasn't fast enough to outrun it, his only hope was to get far enough from the epicenter
00:59:24of the spell to take as little damage as possible.
00:59:28But it was all useless.
00:59:29Even from a distance, moving faster than a bullet, Lith could feel the scorching heat
00:59:33burning his feet despite the magical shoes and earth fusion.
00:59:37When the flames engulfed him, Lith stopped even flying, letting the shockwave carry him
00:59:41away.
00:59:42A cold shiver ran down his spine, the fear almost made his mind go blank, but he refused
00:59:47to surrender.
00:59:48In the last gamble he used all his remaining strength, even aided by solace, to insulate
00:59:53himself with a thick barrier made of air, quickly revolving around his body to deflect
00:59:58the flames and avoid direct contact while using water magic on himself in a way that
01:00:03in any other circumstances would have frozen him to death.
01:00:07Despite his water magic spell, the air inside the barrier quickly became so hot that he
01:00:11had to stop breathing to not burn his lungs and throat.
01:00:14His skin got covered in blisters, his open wounds immediately cauterized.
01:00:18The pain was strong enough to make Lith cry, and he was happy for it because despite keeping
01:00:23his eyelids closed like shutters, he still feared that without the tears his eyes could
01:00:27boil.
01:00:28The few seconds Lith spent in that blazing inferno felt like hours, constantly wishing
01:00:33for the pain to stop while his lungs were desperate for air.
01:00:37When it finally ended, he crashed on the ground, tumbling multiple times before coming to a
01:00:41halt.
01:00:42The first breath of fresh air he took was the best he had ever had.
01:00:46His normal vision was blurry, but life vision showed him clearly that there was still no
01:00:50trace of his enemies.
01:00:52Playing dead had no sense, they had discovered him once, they could do it twice.
01:00:57Lith immediately started healing himself, using invigoration at the same time.
01:01:01Thanks to the world energy, his wounds healed much faster than normal, the bones mended,
01:01:06and the burns disappeared without leaving any scar.
01:01:09Solus, any sign of those beastards?
01:01:12You traveled several hundred meters because of the explosion, but they are catching up
01:01:16fast.
01:01:17They'll blink here before you are finished healing.
01:01:19Damn blink.
01:01:21I can't get close while they can escape anytime.
01:01:24Also, from range they can dodge or block everything I throw at them.
01:01:28It's only a matter of time before they kill me for good.
01:01:31I'm almost out of tricks.
01:01:33Determined not to die, Lith stood up, waiting for the enemies while racking his brain for
01:01:37a solution.
01:01:38By the gods.
01:01:39He is still alive.
01:01:41Beruid and the three survivors were all that remained of the Talons.
01:01:45That's impossible.
01:01:46Lieutenant Kaylent couldn't believe his own eyes.
01:01:49That was a fking warm age spell.
01:01:51It's supposed to blow open castles and can't even kill a kid?
01:01:55That's no kid, lieutenant, that's a monster.
01:01:57I'll cast Raging Sun again.
01:01:59Do three prevent him to interrupt me or run away, at any cost?
01:02:03We owe it to our fallen comrades.
01:02:05The three Talons assumed a triangle formation, but didn't dare to approach.
01:02:09If four had failed, there was no reason for three to succeed.
01:02:13Damn.
01:02:14At this distance, I'm powerless.
01:02:16Think, Lith, think.
01:02:18How can we save ourselves?
01:02:20There must be something we can do.
01:02:22Something only us can do that will take them by surprise.
01:02:25A cruel smile appeared on his lips, there was still hope.
01:02:30He dashed toward the chanting woman with air fusion, using full guard again to not miss
01:02:33any movement.
01:02:34The three performed a blink, planning on using hit and run tactics to not fall prey of the
01:02:39tentacles.
01:02:40But thanks to the combination of life vision and his enhanced speed, Lith was able to see
01:02:44where the gates would open and react accordingly.
01:02:48He changed direction, aiming for the nearest gate, punching with his full force before
01:02:52the enemy appeared.
01:02:53The hit crushed the Talon's trachea, even severely damaging the spine in the process.
01:02:59Lith kept moving forward while the corpse still stood up, with a shocked expression
01:03:02on the face.
01:03:04The two remaining Talons reacted by instinct, thinking their teammate had simply missed,
01:03:08letting the target slip away.
01:03:10They blinked together, one in front of the target, the other at his back, only to discover
01:03:15he was ready for them.
01:03:16Lith grabbed them by the throat, his hands were strong like a vise, snapping their necks
01:03:20with a twist of his wrists.
01:03:23Thanks to the distance, Berowit was barely able to distinguish what had happened.
01:03:27Just like the Queen years ago, Lith's movements appeared only as a blur, but years of training
01:03:31told her to run away.
01:03:33Lith's smile grew whiter while his spirit magic was coiling around the last enemy.
01:03:38He twisted her hands behind her back to prevent her to cast spells or use magic rings, choking
01:03:43her at the same time.
01:03:45Even if Berowit had been able to talk, Lith wasn't willing to listen.
01:03:48He knew that if not for the fact of being an awakened one, he would have already died
01:03:52many times.
01:03:53He feared her and what she was able to do.
01:03:56Letting her live was too big of a risk, blocking her hands and mouth wouldn't stop her from
01:04:00using first magic, nor he had any idea what kind of artifact she could use against him
01:04:05if given the chance.
01:04:06By clenching his fist, Lith lifted Berowit in the air before crushing her head.
01:04:11After checking there was no enemy still alive, Lith gave out a victory laughter.
01:04:15I can't believe I'm still alive.
01:04:18It's the first time I had to gamble so much.
01:04:20These guys' strength and teamwork was insane.
01:04:23Who the heck were they?
01:04:24I don't know and I don't care.
01:04:27Solas was brimming with joy.
01:04:29The only important thing is that you are well and all in one piece.
01:04:32Well almost.
01:04:34What do you mean with almost?
01:04:35Your hair.
01:04:36Lith's hand ran over his head, discovering that he was almost bald.
01:04:40With invigoration, he assessed that his hair had almost been burned down to the root.
01:04:45How did I get them back the last time?
01:04:47Manohar.
01:04:48Solas said, like it explained it all.
01:04:51Looking at himself, Lith discovered that most of his uniform was gone.
01:04:55Between the cuts and the burns, he was as good as naked.
01:04:58After a quick change in farmer's clothes, he realized he had another problem.
01:05:02Solas, do you have any idea where we are?
01:05:05No.
01:05:06What about you?
01:05:07Well, I know that moss grows on the north side of the trees.
01:05:11Yeah, too bad this is a grassland.
01:05:13She sneered.
01:05:15And I was being sarcastic.
01:05:17Without a landmark, maps are useless.
01:05:19We could be anywhere between the Academy and Candria.
01:05:22Yeah, I think we should run for our life.
01:05:25Lith didn't knew what Solas had noticed, but didn't stop for asking.
01:05:29He moved as fast as he could, casting a flight spell to get the higher ground.
01:05:33The corpses of the Talons exploded, leaving nothing behind.
01:05:37My loot!
01:05:38Lith screamed.
01:05:39As soon as you killed that woman, I noticed something had changed in the mana surrounding
01:05:43their equipment.
01:05:44At first, I thought it was some kind of protection that was being depowered by the user's
01:05:50death, but then I noticed that instead of decreasing, the energy was actually overloading.
01:05:54They sure were a careful lot.
01:05:56Who cares about that?
01:05:57All this work for nothing.
01:05:59Did you just dare to call your life nothing?
01:06:02Solas sounded really angry.
01:06:03Yes, I mean, no.
01:06:05Damn, where the heck are we?
01:06:07Lith decided to change topic.
01:06:10After thinking a bit about their predicament, they decided the first thing to do was to
01:06:13get away from the fighting scene.
01:06:15Lith would have a hard time to justify how a team of six experts had died while a simple
01:06:20student had survived.
01:06:22The simplest explanation was to say he had no idea what had happened to the Core after
01:06:26they had helped him escape from unknown assailants.
01:06:29The self-destruction mechanism had undoubtedly hurt his pockets, but at least helped covering
01:06:33what had really happened.
01:06:35In a battle involving the Core, the fact that so many of the dead bodies had broken necks
01:06:39and exploded heads, instead of weapon marks, would have stuck out like a sore thumb.
01:06:44If you think about it, it's a blessing in disguise.
01:06:47Solas pointed out.
01:06:49If the equipment remained along with the bodies and you looted it, there was no possible way
01:06:53to justify how a naked unit could fight on par with the Core.
01:06:57Lith didn't reply, but only because he understood she was trying to cheer him up.
01:07:01It would have been quite easy for him to make the best-equipped members of the Talons disappear
01:07:05and stage a more balanced clash.
01:07:08After flying for a while in the direction he supposed was south-southeast, getting even
01:07:12more lost, Lith landed near a group of trees.
01:07:15There, he took out his uniform, hoping for its self-repair magic to make it less tattered.
01:07:21At that point, all he had to do was waiting for someone to notice he had disappeared.
01:07:25First, he ate a lot of food from his reserve to made up for the body mass lost after healing
01:07:30such extensive wounds, then Lith spent the following hours using Accumulation.
01:07:35While refining his Mana Core, Lith reflected on the battle, analyzing all he had discovered
01:07:40about Tier 5 magic, searching for a way to reproduce it, but most importantly how to
01:07:44defend from it.
01:07:46Tier 5 magic was much stronger than he had anticipated, making all the other spells he
01:07:50had learned so far look like parlor tricks.
01:07:53From what Lith had understood, Tier 5 was capable of borrowing a huge amount of world
01:07:57energy.
01:07:58No matter how strong a Mana Core was, just conjuring once those purple flames should
01:08:03have left the mage exhausted, yet the sorceress seemed perfectly fine.
01:08:07To be able to cast such spell twice in a short amount of time, meant that the burden
01:08:11on her body was limited.
01:08:13We have to learn a way to do the same.
01:08:15Otherwise the next time it happens, if our opponent is a little stronger or luckier,
01:08:19we'll be done for.
01:08:21After a couple hours, he had yet to find a solution, but his communication amulet finally
01:08:26activated.
01:08:27It wasn't like a phone, it didn't ring or buzz.
01:08:30When there was an incoming call, the user would experience a pull to his consciousness,
01:08:34like when you suddenly remember something important.
01:08:37It was a feeling strong enough to wake someone up from the deepest slumber.
01:08:41Lith didn't answer immediately, he wanted to give the impression of having been unconscious.
01:08:45Lith, thanks the gods you are all right.
01:08:48As predicted, it was Linjos.
01:08:50I've tried reaching Captain Belagros, but to no avail.
01:08:54What happened to you?
01:08:55Why you have yet to reach Candria?
01:08:57Headmaster?
01:08:58Lith replied squinting his eyes, acting confused, like he had just woken up.
01:09:03Good gods, Lith.
01:09:04What happened to your uniform?
01:09:06Before answering, he had changed back to make his story more believable.
01:09:10I Lith took a long pause, like he was trying to remember.
01:09:14Oh gods.
01:09:15The captain and his soldiers are in danger, they need help.
01:09:18You must hurry.
01:09:20He seemed to be panicking, stuttering at every word, his face going pale thanks to a little
01:09:24spell.
01:09:25Calm down, son.
01:09:27Take a deep breath.
01:09:29Lith did as instructed, and after a while, he was able to tell Linjos what had happened.
01:09:33In his version of the story, instead of using warp steps, the enemies had emerged from underground.
01:09:39The last thing Lith remembered was being hit by some purple flames before losing consciousness.
01:09:45Purple flames?
01:09:46Linjos was shocked.
01:09:47I know very few spells capable of generating such destructive force.
01:09:52That would explain a lot.
01:09:53The captain must have used something to save you, but the damage sustained was too much
01:09:57and you have blacked out.
01:09:59Then, he has brought you to safety before going back to the fight.
01:10:03Lith gasped, nodding at the headmaster's words.
01:10:06When playing the I don't know card, it was always better let the other party to fill
01:10:10the blanks.
01:10:11The less details he gave, the smaller the chances of contradicting himself.
01:10:15Are you alone right now?
01:10:17Lith looked left and right at his surroundings before answering.
01:10:21Yes.
01:10:22And I have no idea where I am.
01:10:24The only thing I know for sure is that this isn't the same place where we got attacked.
01:10:28What do I do now?
01:10:30You can't stay there, it's too dangerous.
01:10:32At this point, is safe to assume that Captain Belagros is either dead or incapacitated.
01:10:37If he is dead, it means that the attackers could still be looking for you.
01:10:41After pondering for a moment, Linjos spoke again.
01:10:45Follow the setting sun toward west, unless the captain warped you really far, you will
01:10:49find the river Delilon.
01:10:51Following the river, you are bound to find some settlement.
01:10:54Don't say you are going to Candria.
01:10:56Despite the information blackout, everyone in the region knows something is wrong with
01:11:00it.
01:11:01Don't raise suspicions.
01:11:02Ask for directions, but for the city of Pavia.
01:11:05It's outside the quarantine zone, but close to Candria and well connected with the main
01:11:10trading routes.
01:11:11Road signs will help you reach your real destination.
01:11:14Notify me as soon as you arrive.
01:11:17Lith nodded, then he hung up the call before taking flight.
01:11:20We already knew of the river from the maps.
01:11:22Linjos' plan is identical to our own, except we would have directly asked for Candria.
01:11:27Why did you ask for his help?
01:11:29Linjos' question made Lith sigh, she was still too naive.
01:11:33Because I'm supposed to be a 12-year-old, shocked by an ambush from which I barely survived.
01:11:38I need to appear vulnerable and confused, not like a cold-blooded machine.
01:11:43Lith followed Linjos' instructions, easily finding the Delilon river first, and a farm
01:11:47later.
01:11:48Thanks to a stroke of luck, while looking for Pavia, he arrived on the main road.
01:11:53After that, reaching the outskirts of Candria was just a matter of minutes.
01:11:57Thanks to life vision, Lith was able to see the otherwise invisible energy lines in the
01:12:01space in front of him, stretching beyond the barricades and roadblocks that were still
01:12:05far away.
01:12:07It's similar to the array used by those assassins to trap the Kors squad, but much more powerful
01:12:12and complicated Solas observed.
01:12:14I suspect that it can do much more than just block air and dimensional magic.
01:12:18I've never seen anything like this before, but based on what we read from the file and
01:12:22your memories from Earth, I'd say it's safe to assume that it can block communications
01:12:27too.
01:12:28It would make sense.
01:12:29Lith agreed, while his mind was spinning.
01:12:32If Solas was right, and he would have bet good money on it, he was about to throw himself
01:12:36into the wolf's maws.
01:12:37There were countless things that could go wrong once he was isolated from the outside
01:12:41world.
01:12:42His paranoia required at least a dozen of contingency plans for a situation like that,
01:12:47but he actually had only one.
01:12:49Lith informed Linjos of his arrival, making sure to leave a record of his position.
01:12:54Commoners weren't the only ones he had to watch out for, there were also the relatives
01:12:58and friends of all those he had crossed during his time in the White Griffin.
01:13:02Lith knew that for many of them, he was a stain on their pride and reputation.
01:13:06Normally, no one would dare to touch a prized student, but a quarantine zone was a place
01:13:11where laws and common sense held little value.
01:13:14Those who considered commoners like pebbles would inevitably be tempted to cause accidents.
01:13:19Being without a detail, further complicated the situation.
01:13:22There was no one that he knew or that he could trust, and being the sole survivor was
01:13:26bound to raise suspicions.
01:13:28It didn't matter if they were genuine or a matter of opportunity, someone could try to
01:13:31pin their deaths to him.
01:13:33I'll inform the supervisor and the queen of your arrival.
01:13:36Get close to the perimeter, but do not attempt to enter on your own.
01:13:40The soldiers have strict orders, the plague has put everyone's nerves on edge.
01:13:44Use your uniform as proof of identity.
01:13:47I'll call you later.
01:13:48Linjos is a good man, after all.
01:13:51Calling the queen means he has his fair share of doubts too, and is trying to avoid unnecessary
01:13:55troubles.
01:13:57Even from that distance, Lith could see how heavily guarded the zone was.
01:14:00There was a 10 meters, 33 feet, high wall that circled the area as far as the eye could
01:14:05see.
01:14:06Life vision showed him that many soldiers and a few mages were hidden behind it.
01:14:10Lith flew forward at full speed, pretending to not know what was going to happen.
01:14:15As soon as he entered the array, his spell disappeared, making him fall to the ground.
01:14:19Lith had tried to soften the landing, but even low-tier earth magic seemed to be blocked.
01:14:24The impact left him breathless, and before he could stand up, someone pushed him back
01:14:29to the ground, binding his hands while several blades grazed his neck, puncturing even his
01:14:34unnaturally hard skin.
01:14:36Small droplets of blood started to flow towards his head.
01:14:39Man, I hate being always right.