As the sun rose a boy knocked on the doors of the huge castle inside the heart kingdom
"State your name and reason of arrival!" A guard said from the top of the tall walls
"I'm Teras and I'm here to tutor the princess, could you please open the door?" Teras asked as he rubbed his eyes
A long silence followed before the door was finally opened to Teras
As soon as it was open Teras saw Lola and Enyo waiting for him
Lola wore a royal light armor suitable for fight and Enyo was wearing the same casual fit she had the day before, Lola appeared to be sleepy while Enyo was the complete opposite, she was full of energy
"Good morning to both of you!" Teras said as he walked up to them
"Did you sleep well on the streets?" Enyo asked with a smirk in her face
Teras ignored her and just walked with Enyo and Lola to the garden where he fought the king yesterday, it was kind of damaged but it was fine enough to start training
"I will leave you alone! After all, I'm not needed! Make sure you teach her with care" Enyo said as she winked at Teras before teleporting away
"So for starters! Can you tell me which cards you can use, if you can use any, and generally explain to me how much you know about mana" Teras said as he walked left and right
"I can use three cards, the electrical, the air, and the water mastery cards! And my mana pool isn't so big and my mastery is below average!" Lola said with a smile
"Why do you sound proud?" Teras asked with an annoyed look
"For princesses standards, I'm pretty advanced... kind of..." Lola looked sad saying that
"No worries! That's why I'm here! So why those cards? Do you have a preference or it was chosen by someone higher up?"
"Every princess is bound to become a queen when they mature so that means in the future they will have to learn how to use the queen card, the queen card allows the possessor to control and create light which has every property of the mentioned cards, it's fast like electricity, flexible like water and versatile like air, plus the queen can use the light for heal so I can also benefit from the water's healing properties" Lola explained to Teras
"Wait doesn't the high queen have the light card? How would you be able to use it if you already have learned three cards?" Teras asked confused
"Ah, I see! You are referring to the limit of three cards! But thankfully for us royalty, we are able to sacrifice the three cards that we contracted with to allow ourselves to learn one special card, that's what father and mother did, and that's what the winner of the tournament for my right hand will have to do in order to learn the Jack card!" Lola said
'I see, that makes sense in a way...' Teras thought
"Anyway, you have to show me your skill level! How about you attack me? Or more ideally we have a little spar?" Teras said as he prepared to engage
"Just like that? O-Okay! Just try not to f-fall so easily!"
Lola had a scared expression while saying that
She then created three different spheres of electricity, air, and water and then threw them at Teras
'It's so slow and predictable...' Teras thought as he easily dodged them while walking up to Lola
"One last chance before I actually start trying!" Teras said as he smiled
Lola then sent a big wave toward Teras which he easily destroyed with an explosion, Lola then followed up with a thunderstruck that was also blocked by Teras's dagger, and finally Lola created something that looked like an air slash, surprisingly Teras didn't block that, he simply tanked it without having sustained any damage
Teras then dashed at Lola slightly punching her in the stomach and making her fall down
"It's over! I won't spar with you again if you don't sharpen up your cards' power" Teras said as he started walking away
"What? No don't leave! I promise I can do better?" Lola said as she quickly got up
Due to her armor, she didn't take much damage
"How so? I literally ate your attack and didn't feel a thing! Do you even know the basics of your cards?" Teras asked with a cold voice
"Sheesh! You are way too harsh for a guy that can't use cards!" Enyo said as she stood on top of a tree near them
"Harsh? She is supposed to be a princess and she can't even create an air slash, what am I supposed to do with her?" Teras asked Enyo with a mad tone
"I asked the same thing when I saw a suicidal brat sitting silently in my house but I helped didn't I? I think you are giving up a bit too fast Teras, she clearly has more potential than you will ever have" Enyo said with an enraged look in her eyes
"I'm not good at these kinds of things Enyo! Why don't you teach her yourself?" Teras said as he sighed
"No you do it!" Enyo said as she teleported in front of Teras
After a bigger sigh, Teras walked back to Lola
"Visualize a blade!"
"What?" Lola asked confused
"Close your eyes and visualize a curving blade!" Teras said as he closed Lola's eyes with his hands
"Now what? I visualized it!" Lola said
"Throw an air slash again!" Teras demanded
Lola did just that and to her surprise, her air slash sliced a tree
"Amazing! Did I just do that?" Lola couldn't believe her eyes
"Now close your eyes and visualize a soup boiling!"
Lola closed her eyes and visualized it
"Now create a water sphere just like this water that is boiling inside your head!" Teras told her
And Lola did that and to her surprise, she did that once again
"Finally imagine a thunderstorm! And create that thunderstorm in your hands"
After his instructions, Lola was able to create more and stronger lighting
"This is amazing! Was it always that easy? Sorry, I mean that you are really great at teaching about the cards I use! How are you able to do that?" Lola asked Teras with her sparkling green eyes
"The air slash works like my dagger and as for the other cards I used to have squamates that used those cards so I had a basic idea of how they worked" Teras said unenthusiastically unlike Lola
"So what next?" Lola asked with a bright smile
"You practice those three techniques until I return!" Teras said as he started walking away
"Where are you going?"
"To pee..." Teras casually answered
…
"Such a rich land right? No wonder they call people from here golden-hearted, who wouldn't be golden-hearted if they had so much food?"
---
"What? Golden heart because they share? Not because they are rich?"
---
"Yeah I feel a bit bad for thinking like that after knowing that"
…
Teras instead of going to relieve himself he instead went to explore the castle
After Teras explored a bit the castle he managed to end up in the basement, some guards were there but he avoided them in order to explore more
Suddenly he felt a stream of mana pass through his body
"Familiar isn't it?" The dark figure whispered in Teras's ear
"I thought you ceased to exist" Teras said to the figure
"Of course, I'm not gone! Anyway, why not follow this stream of mana? What harm can it cause?" The dark figure asked Teras
Teras knew that it was very suspicious and strange but he couldn't help but feel that this familiar aura had to be investigated
The aura, the mana, it was not something he could ignore even though he knew he was doing the wrong thing, so he made up his mind to follow the stream of mana
Eventually, Teras ended up standing in a room that looked like the sewers, the stream continued to guide Teras deeper into the castle when he eventually saw a wall, this wall was blocking the stream
"Press on this brick" The dark figure said as it pointed to a brick in the wall
Teras pressed the brick and the wall suddenly opened like a door
Teras without a second thought followed the stream of mana, while walking he saw a circular staircase
When he started walking down he started feeling a chill that made even his bones cold
Once he reached the bottom of the stairs Teras was presented with a long dark corridor
After a big gulp, he started walking toward the dark
After each step Teras felt ill, it was a feeling he couldn't put into words but he could handle it
"Is that?" Teras mumbled as he saw a simple rusted metal door
He felt this familiar aura violently leaking out of this normal-looking metal door
"Open the door Teras" The dark figure said with a diabolical smile
Teras extended his arm and as soon as he touched the handle a beam hit the wall to the right of the door
"If you open that door you will be a dead man" Max said with an angry look on his face
"I'm sorry! I was lost and I thought this was an exit" Teras said as he laughed it off
"So you entered inside the basement of the castle, walked past the guards, found the secret wall I created, and walked down the stairs and through this dark corridor and you claim you got lost? Teras you know that nobody in the whole world except me and the high king knows of this right? How could a lost kid find this? Who are you Teras?" Max asked as he glared at Teras's eyes
Teras's whole body was petrified by the murderous aura the king set off
"What hides behind this door?" Teras asked without showing a single sign of fear but still unable to move his body
"Why don't you open to find out?" Max asked with a serious look on his face
"Famine awaits if you open the door!" The dark figure whispered in Teras's ear
When Teras heard that he was confused so he asked the king
"Is someone sick behind this door?"
"Something like that, but why do you seem so casual about all this? You know that normally I would have beheaded the first person I saw here on sight but you have connections with Enyo so I can't really do that"
"Really? So if Enyo or Tokkou opened the door would you behead them?" Teras asked with a smile on his face as his red eyes shined like a rising moon
"Forget what you saw today Teras and I will turn my eyes the other way" Max said as he made way for Teras to leave
"I was just lost" Teras said as he quickly left the door unopened
The rest of the day passed like it was nothing, even while training Lola he still couldn't get his mind off the door
"For some reason, I feel like I'm way too lucky sometimes" Teras said as he stared at the stars
"That's because you are! If you consider what you have survived and how your life has folded I have to say you are pretty lucky" Enyo said as she was also stargazing with Teras
"Enyo what's up with this tournament Lola mentioned?" Teras asked
"You don't know? It's a tournament that will decide who will be Lola's knight and the future agent of the heart kingdom, it's meant for below diamond adventurers so I guess you can take part too, why do you ask?" Enyo explained
"No reason! Just wanted to know" Teras said as he had something in mind
After that Enyo returned to her room and Teras shortly after went back into the town to find a place to sleep because he knew that it would be a long day tomorrow...