"It should be clear that I'll have to examine your body a lot better than I would do for normal mages."
Of course he would, for obvious reasons. But I feel like he also wants to find out as much as possible, because of his profession, he is a seal master and this is probably the first and maybe even last time he'll ever have the chance to have the opportunity to create a seal for a someone like me.
"Do what you need, I only ask of you to not tell anyone about it, not even the old man. It's not good if too many people know about me, it could also be bad for the princess if I am targeted, because of information about this leaking out to the wrong people."
He was quite amused, but also quite terrified when he reminded himself that I was still only 14 years old.
"The old man, huh? Well I wouldn't call him that in front of someone else, but don't worry as long as you don't plan to harm the princess I won't leak any confidential information about my patients."
"Perfect, then you can begin."
"Ok then could you take off your shirt first?"
That sounds extremely wrong, but I guess it makes sense.
I took off my shirt and lied down. He looked at my body and I could tell at a glance that he was experienced in what he is known for. He immediately looked at the place where my magic center, my dantian was supposed to be located.
"I can see that you trained for over half a year, your muscles look firm and strong, but your magic center indeed isn't where it's supposed to be. Could you please open your right eye for me and try not to blink?"
I closed my left and opened my right eye for him to examine.
"Looks like it's going to be harder than I thought... Well first let's create a fake seal."
"A fake seal? A seal where my magic center would be supposed to be, but which is actually just to trick other people?"
I had kind of an idea what he was thinking, but I still asked him to make sure I was right.
"Almost exactly correct. It is indeed a "fake seal", but it still has the characteristics of a normal seal, but a lot weaker."
"You probably didn't know, but when a seal is created it basically turns invisible until you lift it where it turns visible. When it's created you should automatically know how to do it."
"When a far stronger mage doesn't restrict his power and let's everyone see it you can feel a pressure pressing you onto the ground. It's a natural reaction, but nobody knows the exact reason why that happens, there are only a few theories."
"The power that would normally suppresses you opponents can be restricted by activating your seal, it will basically absorb the pressure that you would inflict naturally and hide it away, when that happens you could say that the seal "fuses" with your body and turns invisible."
Everything sounds logical and although I can't fully trust him yet, I am at least don't really have any negative feelings to him and he's kind of interesting, plus he seems to really care about the princess, who I somehow seem to have strong feelings for.
Although I can't know if he and the old men are just power hungry people, who want to use the princess I have to say that if they are they really are the would be quite good actors.
Maybe I should ask the princess about her past and what she knows about these two men.
"And contrary the seal turns visible when my power is unrestricted, doesn't it?"
"Correct, seems like you understand quite fast, so let's get the easy part the "fake seal" done, okay?"
"Sure"
He took a quill and lightly dipped it into the black substance. The he seemed to infuse the quill and the through it the black substance with his own mana. He looked like he had done it thousands of times already.
"This could hurt a bit, but it isn't really that painful, just to warn you."
"Sure, go ahead."
He placed the quill on my flesh and for the first time the mana of a different person directly effected me, it was a weird feeling. It was pleasant at first, it felt a bit like jelly, it wasn't completely liquefied, but it also wasn't solid, it really was probably best described as how jelly felt.
It didn't feel too cold, but also not too warm, it was just pleasant... But then when he moved the quill I could feel the pain he was talking about.
Honestly it wasn't too bad, I thought it would be way more painful, but it just felt like scratching yourself with your fingernails, yeah that's probably the most precise way to describe it.
But from that I feared what was to come and although I couldn't know for sure I already readied myself for later.
"Finished. You can look at it if you want to."
I got up and looked at it. It seemed like it had become part of my skin and in the exact moment it finished I felt like I immediately just knew how to use the seal.
It seemed complicated, but from the time he took, which was nearly 4 minutes it seemed like something was missing.
"You seem to notice it. You couldn't know, but you can't really differentiate a fake seal from a real one, that's because the mana infused in the seal and a little bit of your pressure is taken and makes it look like a normal seal although it takes a lot longer and you have to be a lot more experienced to create it."
He put the quill down onto the desk next to him and looked at the seal.
"Now you can try to hide your pressure."
"I should instinctively know how to, right?"
"Yeah, it should be relatively easy, but your case is special, so it might not be as easy as normally."
I concentrated on my energy and tried to feel the seal. I could easily find it, because normally the mana center should be directly behind the seal inside of the body, but that doesn't apply to me, so it's quite easy to find.
And once I found it I just trusted my instincts and I could feel my power disappearing alongside the seal. Normally I would be pretty nervous know, but after concentrating a bit I could still feel my mana center in my eyes, which was still as strong as before, so it seems like it really worked.
Well you actually can't really say that my power disappeared, because only a minuscule amount disappeared and the rest was still there and could be felt.
"Good it seems like it worked. By the way, kid you are really lucky to have me to create your seal, after all normal sealers couldn't even create a "fake seal" in three hours."
"You really are good, but it's not already done, is it?"
I guess I should praise him a bit, after all it can't hurt to pretend to get more friendly with him, even if it doesn't work it doesn't really matter, I mean it can't hurt.
But now comes the part I'm actually a bit afraid of.
"No it's not done, but I have to tell you that it will probably hurt more than you could ever imagine. You probably felt less pain than normally with the fake seal, because your mana center isn't anywhere near there, but what makes this worse is that if I were to create a seal directly on your eye it wouldn't even have a layer of flesh in between, it would probably hurt like hell."
"I'm ok with pain, that's not the problem for me. As long as the pain doesn't affect me forever, I don't fear feeling a bit of pain, even though I may feel it at the moment I know that it's going to end. But can you say for sure that it will work and that it will not hurt my eye and because of that my mana center permanently?"
This boy, does he really not fear that pain, or is he just arrogant.
"I can't say for sure, but that should be clear. In this world there's probably no one, who can say for sure. You can choose not to have your seal, but the stronger you get the more you will notice the problems coming with not having a seal. You will hurt or even kill the people around you just by walking around."
"Everyone will be able to tell your strength and people won't just let you walk around like that, you could become the enemy of whole kingdoms, in my opinion you should do it, but I can't force you."
Ok, so it really is like I suspected. I shouldn't think too much it's as he said, it'll be very disadvantageous for me in the long run. And even more of a reason than that is that it'll be a bother, if no one would approach me anymore it wouldn't be fun.
And I am not someone, who likes to show off. Only in situations where somebody says the wrong thing about the things I hold dearly, only then I want to show my power, so I guess my decision should be clear.
"Let's do it, I'll lie down again."
"Sure."
Seiichi picked up the quill and dipped it into the black substance again. He began to sweat and that just made me more nervous.
"Please concentrate, seal master. I know that you are probably nervous, because messing up could lead to crippling my mana or even worse, but just do it like normally."
I don't really like him, but he should at least do his job right. Huh, Fu*k I hate situations like these, where my life depends on someone else, but I have to trust him.
*breathe*
He breathed in and out slowly until he was completely calm. It seems like he regained his composure.
"Can you give me something to bit on, I don't want to bit off my tongue."
"Oh sure."
He stood up and got a piece of leather out of a closet. Good, he didn't even get surprised by that in the slightest.
He gave it to me and I bit on it and got ready for the pain.
"I'm going to begin, okay?"
*nod*
I couldn't speak, but he understood and set the quill a bit over my eye. He took his left hand to keep my eye open and I was kind of surprised by his strength. I tried to relax and concentrate.
And then it began...
After infusing the quill with his mana Seiichi approached my eye with the quill, ready to use it...
And when the quill touched my eye the pain began.
Although my mana center makes my eyes stronger and they are generally not as vulnerable it felt like someone was using a knife to cut something into my eye...
It was the most painful thing I had ever felt, but I didn't want to loose my conscious, because I don't know what would happen, maybe my instincts would let my body react automatically and the quill would ram into my eye, maybe I would try to kill Seiichi, I couldn't say what would happen, so I just stayed awake and endured the pain.
I think it's safe to say that the pain I felt in that moment was more painful than probably any torture method that existed in my old world.
I had to keep my hands from instinctively moving and without even noticing that pain I rammed my fingers into the couch. It was nothing in comparison with what happened to my eye.
My vision began to get blurry and the pain I felt was something I wouldn't wish anyone I knew. It was so bad that I would've probably gone insane and maybe even would've tried to kill myself, just to end the pain, but I held myself back with everything I had.
The thought of death that came to my mind was immediately rejected, I had already thought about it too much in my previous life, but I just wanted to stay alive for the sole reason of leaving that useless world that held myself back, unable to get stronger, unable to do what I wanted to.
And now that I reached that goal I would just die? Yeah right, that is absolute bullshit, as if I would accept death anymore, the chance to die had already been there, but I chose not to.
And now I would just do the same. My whole self knew that and I almost certainly knew that I would be the one to choose when to and when not to die.
And while I still endured the pain it suddenly ended... the quill moved away from my eye and the pain, which I had almost thought would never end ended.
"Are you okay? No what a dumb question, sorry, of course you wouldn't b-"
"Yeah I'm fine."
"Huh?"
Seiichi was certain that I would've already been unconscious.
I sat up and Seiichi looked at my fingers and my eyes.
At first he was amazed by my skills and my abilities to influence people, to manipulate people...But now he feared me.
How can he look like nothing had happened. That's impossible I could almost feel the pain from the look in his eye, he even hurt his fingers, ramming them into the couch without any thought just from the pain alone.
What the fu*k is he. He shouldn't even be conscious, that level of pain is too high... and he's only 14.
His hands were shaking and he began to sweat.
"Are you ok, seal master?"
H-He can't possibly be ok... b-but he's looking at me with those eyes as if nothing had happened... But I can clearly see the seal, which had been carved into his eye.
I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror standing right next to the door.
Hmm, that actually looks pretty cool.
In my eye there was the kanji for conceal it had been carved into my eye and I felt like it actually looked quite good.
"Thanks, seal master."
But Seiichi didn't even hear that, he was so shocked, so in disbelief, he could still not comprehend what had happened.
Seiichi Sugiyama... He was the second person to really see his terrifying side...