A few days later after the death angel incident, both Minerva and Michael were the only survivors left of the village and as such remaining in a desolate place all by themselves was, by all means, not a reasonable choice, which meant only one option for them.
Inside one of the barracks, both Minerva and Michael were having a meal on one of the many tables inside the mess hall given to them by Oliver who was sitting across from them with a warm cup of some beverage.
"To move in the city you say?" Minerva asked in between each spoon full of beef stew she brought to her mouth. "But where?"
"Over the south district, we have a few spare houses there you and your friend can use, all we ask of you is to come once a week to the tower to run a few exams."
"Exams?" Michael sounded skeptical, he finished his bowl of beef stew and was sitting beside his friend. "What kind of exams do you want her to do?"
"Oh no, not me. There is a certain scientist really interested in the works of magic but as you know spellcasters aren't common in these parts. Of course we'll pay you for your troubles."
"Seems like a reasonable deal, considering neither of us could find jobs around the city. I thought hunting would've been more useful since we have so many forests around the capital."
Oliver laughed at the prospect of hunting in such a large city.
"That is the reason why we have cattle. The capital can't run on only hunting for food." He finished his hot drink and left the reinforced glass container on the table. "Well, I'll be going now. Think about what I said, it's not a bad deal for you."
He left the barrack and the two of them alone.
"It sounds too good to be true." Michael put his elbow against the table and held his hand against his temple. "If it was that easy for them, why did they not help us from the beginning? People lost their lives dammit!"
Minerva remained quiet as he slammed his fist against the table. It was frustrating but it was the bleak reality of the frozen kingdom, people died left and right either due to the debilitating cold temperatures or because there was no food for them and as the prices rose from the lack of trade, the less fortunate paid the price with their empty bellies.
"We… aren't the only ones suffering, Michael."
"I know… I know… I just- I just wish it could've been another way, someway they didn't have to suffer like this."
She sighed.
"I, too, still can't get over Jake's death."
Vivid memories flashed in her mind which prompted her to feel chills going down her spine as even the smell of nonexistent blood started to assault her senses as she grasped her own head with both hands. Michael's eyes widened as he saw his friend in pain, he reached for her and held her shoulders.
"Hey! Are you alright?"
"Yeah…" She took a deep breath. "I just… remembered what happened that day. Sorry, I didn't want to worry you."
He shook his head before standing beside her.
"Now's not the time to apologize. Let's go home, you should rest."
She nodded before taking his hand to stand up. They made their way out of the barrack and into the main street, the tower was just north from the road they took towards the southern district.
"I heard tonight will be even colder."
Two wives were talking to each other in front of a food store.
"Better take some firewood home."
Minerva and Michael exchanged looks before pulling out their sacks of coin, each only had a couple of coppers. The young man sighed.
"I guess we'll sleep through the hunger tonight…"
They walked for a few minutes until they reached an old looking three story mansion, there were a few other residents inside already making sure the fireplace was up and running, however as soon as they set foot inside many looks of repugnance came in their direction. As a 'public' place for the homeless, outsiders were badly viewed within that group. They made their way up the stairs to the third floor. The last room of the hallway which had the ceiling almost falling was their room, it didn't have much other than two mattresses and a dirty bookcase with a few reading materials though neither of them had the courage to pull out any of the dusty books.
The rotten creaky wooden floor felt like it would give out at any moment should they decide to stand together in the middle of the room. Minerva made her way around the bedroom near the walls just to be safe. After they settled down on each mattress, Minerva kept staring at the ceiling wondering about the future.
"I think… I'll go help that 'scientist' with whatever exams he wants to do tomorrow."
"Minerva, reconsider it please. You're not even sure what this test of theirs entails."
"What other choice do we have? If I don't do this, how are we supposed to keep living in the capital? Today we at least had a meal thanks to Oliver, but what about tomorrow? If this keeps up we might as well go back to the village at this rate."
"I'll look for work again tomorrow, just please whatever you do, don't go there. I've got a bad feeling about all this."
"..."
Minerva knew deep down someone like him wouldn't be able to find any jobs in an industrious city such as that, even back when she lived in Arcadia it was difficult to find any jobs and there weren't many factories back then. In silence they slept through the cold night with the help of thick rags they found for blankets.
Early in the next morning, the young woman woke up with rays of sunlight coming from the boarded window as she sat up. Her eyes glanced to the side and noticed Michael was still sleeping.
'I should go there now.'
She stood up and patted her clothing before silently making her way out of the room and downstairs, there were still people sleeping in the main hall around the crackling fireplace. The comfortable heat made her want to sit down and warm herself before heading out but she didn't have time to do so, if her friend woke up it would be difficult for her to go to the tower.
Upon quickly exiting the mansion she began to jog towards the main street and in just a few minutes she was near the inn named Maple, to her right, a central road led straight towards the tower looming in the distance as the morning sun made the streets dark from the shadows cast by the tall buildings. Still, Minerva had steeled her resolve and kept walking straight towards the spire.
The streets were still quiet, something that only happened in the morning or days of extreme cold, that day was the former. With only a few soldiers patrolling, none really bothered to check the unusual silver haired young woman walking in the middle of the street early in the morning.
'Here we are…' She thought as her eyes darted upwards as the looming spire stood above her. 'I hope it won't take long-'
She knocked on the wooden double doors and stepped back, not knowing where it would open so she'd rather not have it hit her face. She waited a few minutes but since nothing had happened nor she heard anyone from inside the tower her hand found its way to the wooden door again with three knocks.
"Hello? Is anyone in? I came here because of the exams-"
The right door suddenly opened away from her revealing a somewhat short elder looking blonde elf, he wore goggles that amplified his eyes to a harrowing degree.
"Yes, yes, come in, you're the magic caster sergeant Oliver told me about then eh?"
His heterochromatic eyes were unusual but the choice of eyewear was too off putting for her to even take notice of the man's different eye color.
"Y-yes, I've met him a few times. He told me yesterday to come here to help with some sort of examination."
"Ah… yes, well come in, we have much to discuss."
He stepped to the side and motioned with his right open arm towards the interior of the tower.
"Excuse me."
She said as she went in. He closed the door and led the way up the stone staircase, the interior was poorly lit, with only a few weak orbs of light generously spaced apart she could only barely tell where each step was by straining her eyes, meanwhile the elder elf didn't seem to have much trouble finding where his feet had to go in order to not stumble.
"So tell me young Miss, where are you from? From your features I could scarcely say you're Londrian, much less Arcadian."
"The far east, I lost my parents at a young age and was adopted by a kind woman."
"I see…" They reached about halfway of the tower and there was a room behind a thick wooden door, once inside he motioned for her to enter and closed the door behind her. "So young Miss, what's your name?"
"Minerva, Minerva Eduhainaust."
"Minerva huh? Take a seat, I have to prepare a few things before we start. My name is Jakob Arc, I'm the head scientist of the main lab here in Londria, feel free to ask if you have any questions before we begin."
She looked around the room, it was somewhat organized, shelves filled the left side of the room with a myriad of glass bottles and other recipients of the same material, on the right a strange looking device that seemed like a single bed frame attached to an angled metal frame. She sat on a nearby wooden chair that was against the lengthy stone table.
"What exactly does this examination entail?"
"Ah, nothing really serious, I just want to witness the manaflow of an adept magic caster. I heard from sergeant Oliver that you were such a caster."
"Adept? I only know how to use lightning magic."
"I'd say it's more how you use it rather than how many dear Minerva." He placed a syringe on top of the table on the opposite side Minerva had taken her seat. "Take me as an example, despite being someone who spends most of his time inside this tower, I still know how to use wind magic to a deadly extent."
"A magic caster too eh? But wait, couldn't you just observe mana flow from yourself?"
"If only I could, the internal flow of mana gets messy once you try to observe it as you are casting a spell. It's much like trying to guess when you're going to sneeze next, it's just impossible to logically make anything out of it rather than: 'I'm casting x type of spell with z intent."
She tried to wrap her head around his words but it was just too complicated for her to make any sense of it.
"My head hurts."
"Haha, fret not, I won't bombard you with academic questions such as these." He kneeled to pull a drawer from the bottom of the shelf and remove a small glass vial from a locked box inside. "Now then, have you ever heard about syringes?"
"Huh? No. What is that?"
He stood up and went to the table and grabbed the aforementioned device.
"This is a syringe." He stabbed the top of the corked glass bottle with it and pulled a tiny amount of the transparent liquid from inside. "I'll apply this once we're done to see if there are any differences in the mana circulation inside your body."
"Apply…? How?"
"You'll understand soon." He left the tool on top of the table and stored the glass vial back in the box before pushing the drawer back in the shelf again. "Now, your left hand please." He approached her and opened his palm while kneeling beside her. She opened her left hand and rested it on top of his. "With your other hand, cast a basic lightning spell, target the ground or the ceiling, it won't matter since we don't have electricity cables going inside the tower."
"Elec- what?"
"Don't worry about that, just focus on the spell."
"O-okay…" She closed her eyes and focused her senses on the fingertips of her right hand. "Spirits of thunder, grant me thy strength, Spark!"
A small green colored volt of electricity arced dowards and hit the stone floor in front of her, ending as soon as it was cast. While it was the weakest spell she had at her disposal, it was the only one she was confident to use in an enclosed space such as that since lightning magic was awfully known to end up hitting unintended targets more often than not.
"Hmmm…" The elf muttered. "Interesting, very interesting." He opened his eyes and stood up. "You said you were from the far east, right?"
He went around the table and grabbed the syringe.
"Yes. Why?"
"I heard these angelic monsters come from there, do you have any idea as to why?"
He slowly made his way back to where he was, stopping right behind Minerva.
"No… not really."
"They feed on mana, more specifically, other living beings' mana. But how exactly do they know who or what has more mana? They can see it more clearly than us." He flicked his left index finger against the needle and tested to see if it was really working by pushing a bit of the transparent fluid out of the syringe. "I always wanted to know how and then I heard about a curious thing. Descendants of the platinum dragon have a keen eye for the fluctuation intensity of mana in the atmosphere as well as in other living beings."
A strange sense of dread was starting to build up inside Minerva's chest, as if something inside of her was screaming of danger.
"Sir Jakob, I'm not following."
Her eyes were darting left and right, expecting the scientist to come to her view but he didn't seem to be moving and instead just standing directly behind her.
"Oh I'm sure you don't know. Your kind is after all, one of the biggest mysteries on this planet, but rest assured I'll make the most out of you."
The moment he said so she turned around with a charged lightning spell but he was faster and jabbed the syringe in between her neck and shoulder, injecting whatever was loaded in the tool.
"Ngh!" She felt the sharp pain course through her neck as she held his right arm through the wrist, prompting him to drop the empty syringe. "Spirits of thunder, unleash heaven's wrath upon-" As she was about to finish her spell a sudden jolt paralyzed her entire body. "U-up- nnngh-!"
He knocked her on the ground and massaged his right wrist.
"That was supposed to send you instantly into a coma." He smirked. "Descendants of dragons are quite interesting, not only adept at magic, but highly resistant to poisons even if administered directly into the body."
She helplessly tried to move her body but her arms felt like they locked in place and refused to budge despite her commands.
"W-what h-h-have you- nngh, d-done?!"
"A mixture of death angel poison with paralyzing poison synthesized from a poisonous spider. Not that you would understand any of that." He pulled out something that seemed like a silver spoon. "Now… there are a few things the book didn't specify and I'm dying to know." As he approached, Minerva was trying to still cast the spell but neither words or her thoughts were in the right place to form anything coherent as she powerlessly thrashed around. "Do your eyes grant you power like dragons do?"
"Aah…! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"