"Got to hand it to you kid. You actually pulled it off" Mane walked lazily towards the door before him. He pulled a bunch of keys from his pocket and inserted one of them into the keyhole. A clicking sound was heard when he twisted the key, indicating that he had pushed in the right one. He pushed the door open to reveal what lay within- the healing springs. There were at least eighteen of them. Even royalty would marvel at the lavishness of the one to whom this belonged.
"Not necessarily. If I didn't use my glow, I wouldn't have succeeded." Mane replied to the 6th's earlier comment. He bent down to assess one of the pools. The pool was as clear as the others in the room, and seemed to give off a green hue.
"They have been restocked." Mane stated. "I wonder, when did he get this done?" It was a question to no one in particular. As for who the mystery person was, only Mane knew.
"His talent in alchemy is very high. To think someone like this existed on such a small planet. Truly a miracle" the usually quiet 8th wasn't stingy with his praise.
"You miss your disciple, don't you?" the 6th snickered.
"He is a rare talent. He should be nurtured properly. Not on missions in dangerous areas." The 8th rebutted.
"If only you said this to his hearing." Mane giggled. The 8th was a stern teacher. He had never praised his student when the poor lad was around. It was only after his departure did the stubborn man heap compliments on the boy.
The 8th remained silent at Mane's words. It wasn't because he regretted his previous actions. He was just too lazy to argue with a child. Mane continued assessing the pools. It didn't take him long to conclude that they had all been refilled. The pools had been made for broken bones and internal injuries. The author of these works was highly skilled, since he had been able to make pools that treated not one type of injuries, but were generalised to the physical injuries bracket. There was even one pool that could relieve one of mental exhaustion, an extremely difficult thing to do. And here on Zandor, an impossible task. At least, to the best of Mane's extensive knowledge.
"I should call the others" Mane headed towards the door with eagerness he didn't possess before.
"What is the big deal anyway? You always complained that you had no one to test your bloodline glows on. Well, you finally got that, didn't you? I mean, you didn't get to use all of them. But even a small step forward is still a step taken" the 6th stated.
"I guess" Mane shrugged.
"Besides, it was your wits that allowed you to secure victory. Using the dragon god's cannon to generate rain was genius. The 2nd and the 3rd both admitted that it was a brilliant move." The 6th continued.
"Really?" Mane asked in anticipation. Through his link to his masters, he could feel their emotions. He felt approval and satisfaction from the 2nd and 3rd, informing him of their thoughts. Their approval brought a broad smile to his face.
"To wield chaos so brilliantly is impressive. Any top spiritualist would have been proud." The 3rd wasn't stingy with her praise. Why save something that was better off spent?
"But now I'm devoid of any inner energy for a week. And even worse, I cannot access chaos in my state. That will also last at least seven days." Mane grumbled. The drawbacks of using his glows were immense.
"It wouldn't always be like this. The stronger you get, the lesser the penalties. The price becomes less steep as you grow in strength, until you are required to pay a price no longer."
The words of the 2nd were like music to Mane's ears. "Really?" he asked in excitement.
"Yes. You should also use your glows more often. The more you use them, the more familiar you get. That also helps to lessen its drawbacks" the 1st added.
Mane nodded. He avoided using his glows because they were very costly 'items'. But if that was the way to train them, it was well worth a try. After all, though he didn't really have any threats on Zandor, that didn't mean he should be lazy. His true enemies were no weaklings.
"Any update on that glow?" the 3rd asked in concern. As for the glow she was referring to, only Mane and the masters knew.
"No. I still have no idea how it works. I don't understand anything about it." The blue eyed boy sounded very frustrated. When he broke into the 8th level of the profound realm, he felt that he had awakened a glow. But unlike the others that had manifested, this one remained hidden from him. It was almost as if the feeling he had was an illusion. Yet he knew it wasn't.
"Glows manifest in their totality. There aren't instances where glows are hidden from the senses." The 1st orated.
"So if a glow is being elusive…" he continued.
"Then that means it is related to stealth!" Mane finished his master's statement.
"Smart boy" the 1st said. It was a good thing that Mane reached that conclusion on his own. A person couldn't figure out your glow in your stead, you had to do it yourself. They could nudge you in the right direction, but they couldn't force the knowledge into your mind. For understanding the glow, was the first step in learning to control it. There were instances of people who had no control over their glows. These glows acted up whenever they wanted. Incidents like these were mostly because the wielder was force fed information on his/her glow.
"Now that you mention it, my glows always awaken as they are. For instance, Son of Lightning manifested with a huge storm. And Basileus, increased my awareness to chaos, allowing me to use magic. Whatever this glow is, the possibility is that it is related to evasiveness and speed." Mane was deep in thought, so much so that he didn't realise that he had walked past his destination.
"Kid, you missed your stop" the 6th 'kindly' reminded.
"Oh right. Thanks" Mane scratched his cheeks in embarrassment as he backtracked to the changing room.