"Mmm..."
A footstep can be heard outside Captain Lennon's office. He didn't pay any heed to any of these and still continued to scowl at the paperwork he is holding. He raised his eyebrow when he saw an article about the perpetual attack of the same organization they're shadowing.
According to the article on the paper, it is reported that copious thieves invaded a couple of houses from the other capital. All of them are wearing the same dark cloak with a symbol of 'X' on their arms and wrists.
"This is really bothersome..." Captain Lennon said while puffing his cigar. The footstep grew louder until it reached the door.
"Captain..." Someone thumped on the door.
"Come in..." Captain Lennon finally noticed this and ordered the man outside his office to go in. When the door opened, it was Uncle Martin with a different set of clothes. He wears the 2nd type of military uniform without the coat and a pair of gloves and new boots can be also seen. The upper body clothing he is wearing is made out of a soft fabric and it has a little bit of design.
"Oh... It's you, Martin." Captain Lennon greeted him. Uncle Martin walked in and made a salute.
"What's going on? Do you need anything from me?" Captain Lennon followed a question still while glaring on the paper he is holding.
"I have a context and some new information regarding the organization." Uncle Martin said with a sedate expression.
"Oh..." After he heard his purpose, he puffed another round from his cigar and then threw it on the bin. He placed down the paper he is holding on the table and started fixing his posture while seating.
"So, did that guy from the organization managed to say everything?" He asked.
"Yes, Sir. We even cast a 'truth' spell for him so he won't be able to lie. Well from the result of the interrogation, it looks like he is genuinely saying the truth. There were no flaws in his statement and he answered all of our questions." Uncle Martin reported.
"Hoo... that is new. I didn't think there are still guys like that out there. So, what kind of information did you guys have gathered?" He asked another question.
"First thing first, I want you to pay attention to the article you're reading as of now."
"Yeah, It's really irritating. I don't know why there are still crimes, we've already amplified our forces and guards throughout the capital." He answered.
"Well, actually, they didn't really steal anything from those houses."
"What did you say?" Captain Lennon exclaimed.
"Those thieves are not stealing anything. They are looking for something..." Uncle Martin gazed on the window while he answered.
"What do you mean?" Captain Lennon was still somewhat dumbfounded.
"According to from the guy we've captured, they're not really looking for trouble. They are searching for a thing that is pretty important for their mission, apparently."
"What 'thing' are you talking about? And you said their own mission?"
"Yes. The thing that they're looking for is 'Melsh's Demon Amulet'"
"What? They're looking for that deceased object? Why?"
"I don't know that right details so I'm just gonna tell you what he said. Apparently, the organization's main purpose was to obtain Melsh's amulet. 100 years ago, before Melsh's death from Peraflora, he hid his amulet to save his own people. They were cursing him for bringing in the demon into this world. That demon amulet they're talking about was the key to open the 'Tower of Hell'." Uncle Martin explained.
"That's too odd, why would they go to that dangerous place anyway? What's their mission there?" Captain Lennon asked again in a louder tone.
"The Fire Elemental Ring... Is there."
Captain Lennon's eyes grew larger.
"That's... Are you sure?"
"The guy didn't lie, Sir. And if the fire Elemental Ring is not there then they wouldn't bother searching for it. The only question we have now is, where is the Amulet. If we can take the advantage to know where it is then we can successfully intercept them to avoid stealing the ring." Uncle Martin said.
"I know, I'm thinking of a way to gain access to that amulet without warning them. What I'm worried at is that, if they knew that we have captured someone from their organization, there's a chance they'll automatically presume that their member told us all of the details they're planning to execute in the future. Well, that will only happen if they really do care about their people. I'm still skeptical about it though, I think most of them rely on them but at the end of the day, they're still nothing but a bunch of disposable slaves."
"That's rude, you know that those people have their own families and got their homes destroyed, right? But yeah I agree with you at some point. But you're not right about them not caring for their executives."
"What do you mean?"
"They're monitoring them. That guy said that whenever they do a pre deployment, they'll evaluate everything they've noticed and inform the higher ups about their condition. In which, if they're not in list, then they can pretty much pressume they fled or they got captured. Either way, I'm pretty confident that right now, they don't know much about this encounter."
"So we have no choice huh? Well, relay this to the other captains, tell them about the details and information you've squeezed in. I'll probably think about a way to intercept them." Captain Lennon ordered him.
"By the way, how's the program doing?" Uncle Martin asked.
"Seems fine to me, all of them have some progress. Don't worry about it, I've sent a couple of soldiers to monitor all of them for their safety. Right now, they're currently doing their tasks as an Astrochist." He answered.
"That sounds lame..."
"I know, but it's not my idea. You can ask the leaders about it. Oh, and before you go..."
"Hmm?" Captain Lennon stopped Uncle Martin from going as he grabbed something from his drawer.
"Here, take this."
It was a book entitled as, 'The Mercury'
"What is this? A book?" Uncle Martin asked.
"It's not just an ordinary book. Well, if you have time, why don't you read it? It's my present to you for helping me throughout the years. Althought it may not seem important or beneficial, there's more inside its content if you widen your mindset. So take it." Captain Lennon said with a smile.
"I see, thank you very much. I'll keep this."
"Yeah, see you again soon.
-
"And so we've managed to incinerate the dolls like it was piece of cake. I'm so happy that I've obtained that much power." Adara excitedly said while drinking water.
On the table near the large window, Aella, Adara, Nile, and Stell can be seen eating all together for some reason.
"Oh yeah? Well in my case, our grandmaster have told us something about the secret of each elements. With a little bit of practice, I literally did a good job on fortification and defensive mechanism. Although it's not that perfect yet, but I still did a good job on it. Brook was happy about it." Stell also shared his story.
"Hey, Aella what about you? What kind of experience did you managed to obtain?" Adara asked Aella. She smiled.
"Huh? Well I um, I think I did a good job as well on performing. My grandmaster is very kind to all of us. She didn't let us practice the spells one by one or individually, instead, she made us practice all of the basic spells in one go with everyone. But of course, we also took care of ourselves and managed to practice it. It's so fun learning with everyone, you know?" She told her experience with a happy tone.
"Yeah! I know right? All of us were happy as well that we were able to perform such an awesome magic. But I'm still not happy about the result though, I'm gonna work hard until I reached the grandmaster level as well." Stell excitedly said.
"Yo Nile! What about you? Tell us your experience as well. Nile?" Stell followed. He noticed that Nile was not listening to their conversation, instead, he was staring on his food for quite a while with a blank face.
"Nile!" Stell shouted. Nile returned back to reality when he heard the scream.
"Woah! What?"
"What's wrong? Are you okay? You've been gloomy for a while, did something happened on your class?" Stell asked with a curious face.
"Ah no, nothing really special. We did our best to perform the evaluation. I'm sorry if I'm a little bit down, I'm kinda stressed about it." Nile said with a fake smile. Everyone doesn't know wha happened to Nile. About the collapse, her mother, and everything else. No one knows about it aside from his fellow Astrochist and Faye and Luong.
"I see, so you're stressed as well huh? Well that's normal, but you should eat more in order for you to regain that positivity and energy." Aella scolded him.
"Hahaha, yeah, than. I'll definitely do that." He responded.
After that conversation, Nile stared outside. He gazed on the sky and she saw bird passing by. It was beautiful sight but inside his mind...
'fly... just keep on flying... escape from this world... and no one will harm you...'
Later that day, it was time to go back to their own dorms. Nile fixed his bag and placed some of the books he have received from Faye. His expression reverted back to the same old usual gloomy attitude without any energy. His eyes were dead as a fish and he seems to be looking down like always. The curiousness behind his mind were shadowed by the overwhelming emotion that he feels when he found out the truth about his Mother's death.
Luong noticed the abrupt changes on Nile's energy. He followed Nile while everyone is taking off ahead of themselves.
Nile gave a long sigh still while looking down. After a few moments, he reached the central hall and stopped for a moment. Luong appeared on his back and he got shocked.
"What's the matter? That's not very like you." He said. Nile stared at him with a blank expression.
"Nothing, it doesn't have anything to do with you." He nonchalantly responded. He didn't care about Luong so he decided to walk again but he stopped when Luong mentioned something.
"It's about your mother, right? Well, I heard everything yesterday. I'm surprised that you don't have any knowledge about it." He said.
"So? What is your point?" Nile asked.
"I'm talking about your ignorant self. After you have heard about it, I know that you're planning to leave the program tomorrow." Nile suddenly gasped. He turned his body to him.
"H-How did you know?" He asked.
"I've already said that I'm monitoring everyone here. Even everyone's actions are recorded throughout the entire whole building. I also knew that you sneaked in some time ago to get a book from the archives. I know everything." Luong smirked.
"Well if you already knew, what are you going to do? Are you going to punish me?" Nile asked with a ferocious tone.
"Oh my, I don't tolerate punishments for my kids. But I'm giving you an option." Luong answered. Nile went speechless and decided to lend an ear.
"The first option is, you will leave this program and go back to your hometown. But be aware of the consequences you're about to receive when you do this. You see, we already explained to you the reason of why we're doing this program. If you're going back home because you lost your motives then feel free to see the light of day getting sucked in by a dark mysterious void that may end the world sooner or later." He said.
"As for the second option, you will stay here, continue your study, be stronger, learn new spells and things, control your powers and train you body and after that, go save the world."
Nile took a while to respond. He gazed down as he clenched his fist.
"So, what will you choose? Save the world and take revenge for your mother? Or do nothing and stay home until King Yama kill all of the people?"
"I..." Nile struggled to answer the question. He's overthinking his decision again like what happened yesterday. Luong noticed this but he didn't really do anything about it, instead he just smiled and waited for him to respond.
"I understand. I will stay here and get stronger." Nile finally decided to answer him
"Good... Now then, let the training start."
"But before that, I have a question." Nile asked out of the blue.
"Hmm?" Luong stopped smiling when he heard him.
"This ring I have, I want to remove it." Nile stated.
"Mm? And why is that? Don't you want to have a powerful magic?" Luong asked.
"No it's not that I don't want a powerful aptitude. I know that King Yama wants to collect this ring and he's been doing it lately. But in my case, it's just hindering me from doing what I wanted to do."
"What do you mean?
"Well let's just say that whenever I use my power, my body always collapse and my Mana gets depleted quickly. Faye said that my power is sealed inside this ring and it amplifies them. But that's not what I want. I want to uncover my power that is sealed inside this ring and use it normally without any amplification or powerups. I want to be a normal mage without relying on this piece of equipment. I want to train and get stronger without this. So my question is, do you know how to remove this ring from me?" Nile asked with a serious expression.
"Well, to be honest with you. I don't know such spell that will help me dissect your power inside the ring. Linda cast some weird spell on you when she gave you that ring. But I do know a solution that might temporarily unzip your powers and you will be able to turn it off and on." Luong said.
"Then I'll take it. Whatever process it is." He answered.
"Alright come with me..."
Nile followed Luong until they reached a certain room with shelves scattered around the wall.
"Move!" Luong chanted an indirect spell and the shelf on the center suddenly move by itself. Behind that shelf there was a secret stairs leading underground.
"You're keeping something like this on a program?" Nile asked.
"Well, if you're talking about security then this is the perfect way of hiding our program. We have no choice but to work underground otherwise they'll notice it quickly." He answered.
They continued to walk down until they reached a secret underground room full of technological equipment and some illusion spells.
"Wow..." Nile was in awe when he saw the room.
"It's pretty messy but I hope you don't mind. Anyway, go stand in that circle over there, I will be preparing the process." Luong ordered Nile to step on the circle. Nile did this and he waited for awhile. After a few minutes, they were ready to perform it.
"Listen, these process is called, 'incarnation'. Your soul has the original source of power that is embedded on the ring. What I'm going to do, is to transfer your original power onto a secondary soul that I will inject on you, and you will be left with an ordinary soul without the ring's power. Does that make sense to you at some point?"
"No, not really."
"Good, I don't get it either. Well, anyway, that's for the most part. In order for you to use your power and original aptitude, we'll have to separate your soul and transfer it inside the ring. That way you can still live on with a secondary soul. Also by the way, if you want to use your primary soul, just say these words or chants: Incarnate."
"Okay! I understand."
"Good, now prepare for a little pain." Luong said while activating some magical machine. The lamppost that are located on the corner suddenly opened and Luong approached the center.
"Re: Incarnation! Activate!"
"AHHHH!" Nile screamed in pain. Numerous particles went up and a laser beam like wave appeared on the area. Nile's original soul can be seen slowly levitating and the Ring is gradually sucking in that soul. On the other hand, Luong's secondary soul he prepared was getting injected to Nile's body with some sort of a unique spell that no one has been able to do so.
After a few moments, the transfer was successful. Nile dropped on his knees and he is panting really hard.
"Are you okay?" Luong approached him.
"I'm okay, but I'm feeling numb."
"Don't worry, it will take a while to get used on that secondary soul. Also, take a look on your left finger."
Nile did what he said and he was amazed by the result.
"The ring is gone..." He whispered.
"Yeah. That's right. At this moment, you're now living inside the secondary soul I injected on you using a spell. But of course, this process is only temporary. But you'll experience living normally and you will also feel some changes on your body. Again, just say the word Incarnate and you will return back to your original soul where the ring's power will activate once again. You're now hiding a stronger magical essence inside you but people won't notice this. Great solution right?" Luong smiled as he asked.
"I just hope that you're doing the right thing..." Nile stared at him.
"Y-Yeah..." Luong twitched a bit.