I woke to Vito yelling. "What the hell were you thinking?! Those things kill people in mere hours!" I saw him crying at Laurence right next to me.
"Why are you so loud this early in the morning..?" I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Y-you're up?" Vito asked, getting down on his knees and looking at me. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
~Good afternoon! New skill unlocked!~
[Poison Immunity]
~Wow, that thing could have killed you! Good thing you did the idiotic thing of eating it! This makes you immune to all poisons~
[]
~Progression: 20%~
"Twenty percent!" I yelled. I lifted my hands and caressed my horns, which were now turning to my face. They were just starting to curve for the first time, and now they're there!
"You shouldn't have eaten that, who knows what could have happened to you!" Vito said, genuinely worried. "I knew he'd be fine. He's fulfilling the prophecy, after all." Laurence walked toward me and smiled. "You've been out for a day and a half. Your MP and HP have fluctuated a lot."
I pulled up my menu.
Power: 30 (16)
Stamina: 24 (11)
???: 26
HP: 370
MP: 440
Are you kidding me? That thing was busted! "If anything, it helped me a bunch! My MP shot up to 440, and my HP is now 370!" I laughed manically at this. The two looked at each other before sighing. "Still, we aren't sure if you should use mana or exert yourself extensively. Get some rest, and we'll have Ailuros not push you too hard. Good night." They left, closing the door and blowing out the candle.
I made sure they were completely gone before standing up. "My body feels so much lighter despite these..." The horns were smooth, and I could barely see that they were dark brown, like a marker on paper. I lit a flame at the tip of my finger, and my body ached like I was stretching a sore muscle.
I was staring at the moon out of my window when the door opened. "I heard you were awake," Rexana said before standing next to me. "Sure am." I smiled. "How do you feel? Sore?" I nodded. "That's natural. I did this too a year ago."
"Why didn't I notice?" She shrugged. "It was because you were busy training, I suppose. Anyway, you're going to feel a little sluggish for a few days, sore, and all that. After that, you'll be better than ever before."
She summoned a ball of pure mana, something not even I could do. "What magic can you even use?" She glanced over at me. "I don't have a set specialty, so I just use mana in its purest form. What about you? I know you can use free, but there has to be something different."
"I use every magic my little brain can think of. I imagine its particles and how they move, and that lets me use them in their special way." I twirled my finger, and a small tornado fluttered around the room before dissipating.
I suddenly turned to her. "Can you teach me how to use mana in its pure form?" She rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm not sure if I can teach it to you too well, but I can try. We start after you're fully healed. Good night, kiddo."
She exited the room, leaving me alone again. I rested my head down on my arms and stared up at the moon again. "Who was the Greek god for the moon again..? I think it was Selene."
My eyes felt heavy so I trudged back to my bed, and I didn't even get under the covers before falling asleep.
"Master Balere, it is time to wake up." I jumped up before realizing it was morning. "Oh, thank you, Servus." He nodded before walking out of the room. I got dressed before looking at my reflection. "This is going to cause some attention..."
I ran to the living room and saw a plate of food waiting for me. "I thought I'd make you some food, seeing as you've had a rough few days. Enjoy!" Rexana said sweetly. "Where's Father?"
"Off talking to some people. He told me it was royal business before running off. He does it so much..."
I quickly scarfed down all of my food before standing up and grabbing my bag. "Alright, I'm off!" I walked out of the castle and into the carriage waiting for me. I got in and two guards got in with me. The cart took off down the road.
"So, how long have you two been doing this?" I asked. They stayed silent, doing their job. "Are you guys doing anything besides riding with me?" Again, they didn't answer.
I asked them questions for the entire trip, but they never answered one. When the cart stopped in front of the school, I grabbed my bag. 'Well, it's been fun talking to you guys. We should get drinks sometime!"
I entered the school and all of the students' eyes were locked on me, this time, for a more apparent reason.
I walked into my class and set my bag down on the floor. "You've been gone to grow your horns?" Celesse asked. "Yeah, and then I also went to go to the moon," I said before rolling my eyes.
I heard Magister walk in and audibly notice my horns. "Very eccentric horns you have there. Are they... real?" He asked before putting his drink down. "As real as could be. They don't exactly fit a twelve-year-old's body, though, do they?" He shook his head before sitting down.
After everyone entered, Magister stood in front of them. "Alright class, today, I'm going to show you a spell. Please come with me."
We all followed him out to the field, where Ailuros was walking around and kicking a rock. "Mr. Ailuros! Care to join us for class?" He looked up and nodded. He looked over everyone before landing on me. Here we go...
He began dying of laughter, falling to the ground and rolling around and all. "You look so stupid!" I clenched my teeth and smiled even though I was angry.
"Please step over Mr. Ailuros and come over to the targets..." he was still laughing so we ignored him.
Magister pulled out his wand. "This spell is unique, as it goes with another spell: Bolt. Observe." He turned his body toward the dummy, and the mana began flowing through him. The color was a mix of yellow and green. "Guardians of the earth, sky, and sea: amicum meum smite! Fulgur catenam!"
His bolt shot out and hit the target, but it also spread out and hit the other targets. He seemed fatigued, but he appeared to be OK. "Did anyone see what was different?"
"It branched off?"
"Correct, Celesse. I had to visualize what path it should take, and it branched off. While this would usually be very effective, it also makes each Bolt weaker than the original. Who would like to go first?"
Celesse, the showoff she normally is, stood up first. She was handed a wooden wad and stood where the teacher had. "Guardians of the earth, sky, and sea: amicum meum smite! Fulgur catenam!" She tensed heavily as her bolt shot out and branched out, hitting all of the targets. "You alright?" He asked her. Her muscles relaxed and she nodded before sitting back down.
"Can I go next?" I asked. "Uh... sure." I stood up and he offered me a wand. "No need." I snapped, and a wand made from the ground shot up, and I caught it in my hand. Everyone clapped in amazement. And the best part is that the trick only took my MP down twenty points.
Instead of standing near the far right side, I stood in the middle. "Make sure you don't overdo it," I heard Ailuros whisper to me. "Let's see, what was the chant again? Guardians of the earth, sky, and sea: amicum meum smite! Fulgur catenam!" I imbued my mana and atmospheric mana into it as I imagined the correct pathways for it to take.
One large bolt shot out, breaking into five medium-sized bolts. They all almost destroyed their respective target, but they get to live today.
I nodded before dropping my wand into the hole it came from, the hole patching itself. "Do those horns hold your mana for you?" Celesse asked. "Wouldn't that be nice?"
No one went after me, which was understandable. "Balere, can you come here?" I nodded ad stood before Mr. Magister. He put his hand on my chest, and I felt him probing my mana with his own. "Very potent... How much training have you done?"
"Not enough, that's for sure."
"What, are you trying to become a one-man army?"
"Sure, let's go with that." Everyone laughed, but I wasn't. Rodrigo will crumble beneath me this time...
The bell rang and Magister, along with a few students, went back inside. "You sure do hit hard, don't you?" Ailuros rhetorically asked. "That's the point, isn't it? Do as much damage to your opponent in the least amount of time?" He went silent before nodding. He seemed to disagree, but I didn't care.
I realized I had been cycling mana throughout my mana so I topped and felt better almost immediately. That's not worrying at all...
The twins and two other students came out and stood with us. "Balere, before we begin, could you make us all a dummy, myself included?" I nodded, and the mana reacted to my will as soon as it could, forming around twenty-three earthen dummies.
"Thank you very much. Everyone commence with sets three through seven."
Everyone began doing the sets slowly. Maybe I should do it at their speed... "Do it at the fastest you can go, Balere. Use mana so that you can go faster." He must have seen that I was hesitating. Fine, let's do it like that, then.
Mana enveloped my body and I held my sword directly in front of me. Sets three through seven... alright, I remember those. My arm was faster than I thought a human could ever go. It felt out of control, but I knew it was. "Three... four... five... six... seven!" I counted to myself.
I felt sweat form above my brow, but I continued. Finally, when I almost ran out of mana, I stopped to take a breath. I swiped the sweat away and began absorbing mana. "Faster than hell... you are..." Celesse said in between grunts.
"Your... that's..." I sighed before approaching her. "You're doing that all wrong. Who taught you to use a sword, an old lady? It's like you have two left feet! Watch me..."
I showed her how to do it correctly, and she began to do it with me. "Wel, that's... better? Permission?" She raised an eyebrow. "To what?"
"Show you how to do it correctly. It requires getting physical, but I don't want you to get suspicious of me." She laughed. "Sure, but don't try anything funny."
I got behind her and grabbed her arms. "Move like this... Yeah, like that..." She slowly got it. "Alright, I think you got it now. I would practice without mana at first, and then as you slowly get used to it, you can start to use mana."
"Thanks, Balere! You're a great help!" She hugged me, and I felt my face flush. "I-It's nothing... We should get back to this..." She let go and started training without mana.
Fucking pedophile... I distracted myself by training, but I just couldn't stop thinking. I mean, it isn't my fault is it? Ah, what am I thinking? I shouldn't even think of it, whenever Eliza is... Oh.
I stopped and looked at the dummy. "Almost destroyed..." I barely moved my foot, and I saw the dummy begin to repair itself. I immediately went back to attacking the dummy.
Am I really still in love with her? It's been twelve years since I've seen her, plus, she isn't in this world with me. I kept swinging my sword, thinking about Eliza. I think the last time I saw her was when there was that cart crash. I smiled as I remembered the dream.
"Alright everyone, move on to eight through twelve!" I stopped and wiped away the sweat before repairing my dummy. "Hey, speed machine, mind repairing mine too?" Celesse asked. "Huh? Oh, sorry. I guess I got too into it." repaired everyone's dummy before turning back to my own.
"I think that's enough for today. Take the rest of the time to rest up before going home." I stopped and put down my sword. "Hey, catch!" I turned to see Ailuros throwing me a towel. "Thanks." I quickly patted myself down from all of my sweat. "You worked harder today than I think you ever have." I shrugged. "I was just thinking about some stuff."
The blonde girl came up to me. "You were good today! Do you think you could help me like you did Celesse tomorrow?" I nodded my head. "Yeah, I think that'll be fine. I'm realizing now that I don't even know your name, could I ask for it?"
"Oh, my name is Lucille, and the grumpy one over there is Adrian."
I mentally gasped as I realized that the two were my siblings. "It's nice to meet you, Lucille." I shook her hand before she ran off to her brother. My hair fell in front of my eyes, so I used it away. "I need to cut my hair..."
"I would talk to your dad about that..." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, sure. He's barely home nowadays. Anyway, I had a question for you, if you don't mind." He waves his hand. "You can ask me anything."
"Alright. Do you know anything about The Tower?"
He raised an eyebrow and peered closer at me. "Why do you ask?" I shrugged. "It just seemed like an interesting topic."
"We can talk about it later, because of that." I raised an eyebrow, and then the bell rang. "You're evil."
I got my bag and walked to the carriage, before turning to see Celesse walking with the siblings. I think I'd feel better if she fell for Adrian. I mean, he's closer to her age, after all.
I barely saw her wave at me before I hopped into the carriage.