Nour's Villa | Northern Sector | Port Blackwood
Immediately following his altercation with Lucy and Nox in the marketplace, Nour hurried home alone to his villa in the Northern Sector of Port Blackwood.
The whole way there he cursed obscenities under his breath as he kept his head covered with a hood and clutched his wrist gravely to his chest.
Once he'd arrived, he demanded that all his hired hands and maids leave immediately. Not even his most trusted advisors and bodyguards were allowed to stay.
Once he was completely alone the anger and rage upon his face dissipated a bit, only to be replaced by a look of barely restrained pain and agony.
At this moment Nour's skin was nothing like it's usual youthful each color, it had faded to ghastly pale pallor that shone with beads of sweat everywhere.
"What… did that… bastard… do to me" he managed to struggle out as he slowly walked to his quarters.
Nour's wrist had been causing him great pain ever since the earlier confrontation with Nox and Lucy, and he had no idea why.
It took everything he had in him to keep a calm face and countenance when he was in public previously. But right now, there was no one to keep up appearances for so why bother?
Focusing his consciousness to the innards of his body, Nour noticed an abnormality near his wrist,
'That bastard knight must have somehow injected some of his ki into my mana pathways when I wasn't paying attention. Urgh! If I don't expel it, I can say goodbye to becoming a Great Mage. If only I hadn't used so much mana in front of that minx earlier…'
After he made it to his personal chambers the first thing, he did was look for a remedy to his injury,
"Where is that Mana Rejuvenation pill? I know I left it in here" he complained as he looked all over the room.
Suddenly Nour remembered that he'd started carrying life saving pills such as the Mana Rejuvenation pill in his space ring for just such a moment like this.
As the head of the second most powerful mercenary company in Blackwood he had plenty of enemies that wanted him dead. This was especially true the closer he got to the Great Mage rank, as such Nour had prepared ahead for moments where he was in dire straits.
He quickly took the small blue oval Mana Rejuvenation pill from his space ring and swallowed it with haste.
Nour then sat in a meditative pose while he hurriedly tried to circulate the miraculous pill throughout this mana pathways as it was broken down.
'Yes, it's working! And it doesn't look like any permanent damage was done yet' thought Nour relieed as he sat closed eyed
The Mana Rejuvenation pill, just as it's name suggested, was one of the few pills that could provide mages a method to nourish their mana pathways and restore their mana supply quickly.
In cases of injury, it was also capable of healing damaged pathways as long as they weren't broken. These capabilities along with the difficulty in making one made it a notoriously miraculous pill that only the upper echelon of the mage world could afford.
The medicine passed through his pathways like a refreshing rushing river. As he continuously circulated the healing and miraculous properties of the pill throughout his damaged pathways Nour felt like his body was being dipped in a relaxing sauna.
Sitting in a meditative pose Nour focused intently on healing his damaged pathways as time flew by.
Often times injuries relating to a mage's pathways or mana pool takes a long time to recover. This was because they were the very things that allowed mage's to perform magic besides their elemental affinity. As such all mages knew to take great care in nursing and healing these areas.
Nour sat closed eyed for hours until his once horrid complexion refilled with vitality once more and the injury to his mana pathway had cleared up.
By the time his injury was all healed it was well into the night. Getting up off his floor with a huff Nour glanced at his bed before heading to his small balcony that overlooked the Northern sector.
Ordinarily he'd be sleep by now, Nour wasn't one to stay up late. But right now, sleep was the furthest thing from his mind
'That bitch and that knight have to pay!' he thought to himself as he gripped the balcony railing so tight his knuckles appeared white
"I have to be careful and bide my time a bit though, I don't know what power she had i-it wasn't like any affinity I've seen before… and that Nox bastard is a Great Knight now?!" said Nour anxiously.
As he thought back to the confrontation at the marketplace earlier, Nour felt a growing sense of apprehension in his gut.
He had released the full aura of a peak stage Intermediate mage and that little minx was still able to resist!
That strange crimson aura of hers sent chills down his spine. He could have sworn during their exchange that the strange red cloak was sapping his mana or something.
Nour was relieved he'd cut his losses when he did. Fighting a Great Knight and that strange witch Lucy would be like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
But no matter what he felt he had to have his revenge. The way Nour saw it, as long as he broke through to the Great Mage rank he could handle both of them.
'That injury has pushed back the date for my advancement by at least a week, but no matter....' thought Nour as he headed back inside from his balcony and towards his bed.
"Congratulations you two get to live for a week longer" said Nour in a cold voice that was laced with killing intent.