Chereads / Only I Am Level 1 / Chapter 16 - Ruloy? Or Instant Death

Chapter 16 - Ruloy? Or Instant Death

JJulius stepped out, the sky had dimmed and the sun had sunk down. Now only an ethereal silver ball resided in the eternal night. A pulse rang out through his eyes as they were no longer restricted to the inside of the carriage decorum.

The driver was taking a small break to feed the horses whilst Julius was merely inhaling the fresh burning air of the night.

Julius' driver was a man of few words and the journey had been painfully boring.

With nothing to see but a fancy decorated carriage interior, Julius' freedom swiftly dissolved. Any attempt to fall to sleep peacefully would result in a painful wake-up as the carriage bumped up and down through tracks and trenches.

Julius found the stuffed cushions below him straining after no more than a few minutes and then his regrets started pouring back into him.

Thoughts of what Ruloy was and what he had gotten himself into.

"No."

He tousled his hair slowly.

"What's the point of reaching the highest mountain if you're in a shadow so dark that you cannot see even a flicker of the view."

He had to escape Lucius and his brilliance. Luckily, he had done so accordingly.

Julius steadily strolled back into the carriage, shutting the wooden door block as he did so.

He gathered his thoughts.

"I'm headed off to Ruloy, on the generosity of Eaglemat. Ruloy ought to be some sort of military academy I guess. From there I'll probably partake in a year or two of regular academic activities before being sent off to fight the Orks. That is if the ork scandal is even still active by the time I'm sent out."

Julius sighed in intolerance.

"It's whatever. At Least I can stall out for around 2 years with a purpose. Worst comes to worst I just run away when the time comes to charge into war."

Silence ensued.

Julius looked around the interior of the carriage blankly.

"Yeah, maybe I should stop talking to myself."

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Three bells tolled from the outside of the carriage. Julius found his door block being opened by his driver.

"Your stop has been reached."

A musty voice invaded his ears.

He thanked the driver briskly before exiting. The night sky had reached a time comparable to midnight and the scenery was that of a dark-green forest intertwined with hundreds of silken webs.

Julius turned around to ask for instructions but the carriage had disappeared without a moment's notice. No trace remained and now Julius found himself alone, in the middle of a scene that screamed disaster.

"I guess I just wait now..."

The forest area that had a small track running through it was dangerously silent. Julius felt as though every move he took was being recorded.

Julius almost jumped when a systematic voice entered his mind.

{A strange unidentified energy is interacting with your {Force}. It is far too strong for you to repel using your current mana {500/500}. If you do not accept it then you will most likely die under the strain of a huge energy supply entering your force.}

{Accept unidentified energy?}

{Yes/No.}

Julius cursed whilst slowly pushing his finger into the {Yes} clause. He muttered bitterly as he did so.

"Not exactly much to choose from. Death or possible death. Aren't I a lucky one?"

{The unidentified energy has been registered as an {Extension} of the {Vanoth Magic Tree} And has been attributed a basic name of {Vanoth's Halting: Elevated Status} }

Julius raised his eyebrows in boredom.

"That's crazy-."

Beep.

Julius felt his sense of direction go amiss. The world around him became nothing but blurs and light beams until he felt like he was spinning so fast that he would set ablaze.

Soon everything turned black.

His entire body ached as if it was undergoing huge pressure before Julius finally found a light. It was blinding and impalpable but he strode towards it.

It felt like he was wading through thick black slime. Over time, he finally managed to propel more than half of his body through the stubborn black slime substance, and from there, like a defensive reflex, he was popped out of an unknown wall of black.

"Argh."

{Your force has welcomed the external energy produced by the barrier and has now allowed you to bypass the barrier in accordance with your null intentions.}

Julius groaned as his body stung all over. Pangs of pain rang out in disgruntling harmonies.

Julius picked himself up, his hands were covered in scraped dirt.

As he glanced around a whole world engraved itself into his eyes.

He saw 4 towers, each dominating their own corner. On the top of each, Julius could see the silhouette of something different.

The first had the silhouette of a raring dragon. It was the biggest and most memorable of the 4 symbols.

The second was the silhouette of a sword. The sword was basic and far from special but it left an odd mark in Julius' mind.

The third had the silhouette of a staff. A shard could be interpreted and the staff itself was slightly bent.

The last had the silhouette of a tower.

Julius scoffed.

"A tower on a tower. Imaginative."

"Sneaking in through the barrier almost tracelessly. Basic but equally frightening."

A confident youthful voice had burst forth from behind him.

Julius' figure swerved around instantly. His eyes set ablaze with fear of the unknown.

He managed to grasp the figure of a young adult male draped in a studious black cloak. He saw pure grey hair that stretched down to the shoulders and a charming face.

Julius felt that he was being merely surprised but his opponent was spitting out enough killing intent to drown an ocean.

Julius put a hand out rapidly.

"I can explain-."

"Wind State."

Boom.

A magnificent aura of wind violently burst forth from the man. Julius' hair went flapping above his head.

A silver scene had engulfed the man.

The man began laughing deeply and unsettlingly.

"Come on. If you can break through the barrier that not even Vanoth himself could crack then you must be a worthy fighter."

Julius noticed a wand being pulled out as his eyes adjusted to the dark.

"I told you. It's not like-."

The wand was directly pointed at Julius.

Pneum.

A silver ball, no larger than a tennis ball that seemed to have been formulated by spinning wind shot at Julius without even a warning or sign of build-up.

Julius rolled to his right, fearing that the man before him was far above his level.

Boom.

The wind ball collided with a tree, imploding it with just the smallest bit of contact. The wind construct dissolved right after the tree was decimated into hundreds of wooden pieces.

The man sighed, his pure white eyes stagnating in the darkness.

"You're boring. Here I thought you'd be an actual challenge."

Julius breathed out a huge sigh of relief.

He thought to himself tediously.

'At least I'm safe now.'

He attempted to move from his place.

Nothing.

The air around him was being manipulated at such a high level that he couldn't even lift a finger.

He tested all his limbs and concluded that his entire body had been stuck in one awkward position.

Julius whined in his mind.

'This ass-.'

"Don't be so hasty, Professor Silver. He might be the bait. If you attack any further then you may just end up with a few irritating charges on your back."

Julius attempted to turn his head back to see who was speaking but then remembered he couldn't since his entire body was stuck in place by the air control that had been placed around him.

A middle-aged man, nearing or possibly already having passed his 40s circled Julius. He had dry brown hair that looked shaggy that matched his hazel eyes. He wore a brown suit with an odd green shirt.

"Just who are you?"

Julius attempted to open his mouth but then remembered that his entire body was being prevented from moving through the frustrating air control.

The professor looked back to Silver, the wind master.

"Release his constraints. Pushing through the barrier ought to have depleted his mana reserves heavily. If he used the method of wasting away a monstrous amount of pure mana to slip through the barrier that is."

Silver reluctantly released his spell.

Julius felt like he had been ignited with life again as his body finally escaped his restraints.

"I-. I-. I-."

Julius had no idea what to say. He felt his neck hanging by a thread.

"I was sent by Eaglemat."

The old professor shook his head numbly.

"That old crackhead must be going insane if he's sending people to break into Ruloy."

"Say."

The old professor met eyes with Julius.

"Why are you here? What group are you part of?"

Julius gulped.

"I got sent by Eaglemat. I'm here to enter Ruloy to train for the war against the Orcs in the south."

Before the professors could get any more suspicious Julius instantly added onto his reply.

"I don't know how I got through the barrier. All I know is that I have to save the lighthouse- house from its demise."

The professors chuckled in sync.

Silver smirked.

"Funny guy. The lighthouse house has been dry and droughted for too long. Though it shouldn't be time for us to humor ourselves. After all, the house of Magecraft is next at our current rate."

The old professor chirped in.

"I've decided what to do with you."

Julius nodded slowly.

"Since you're wearing the army recruit uniform then there is minimal substance to your claims. If you take the Millenia Serpenta then we'll let you go."

He looked down on Julius darkly.

"For now."

He dangled a small black crystal before Julius. It opened up mechanically.

Julius looked at it for 3 seconds before finding Silver glaring at him stoically.

His mind awakened.

'Fuck it.'

He took the liquid and gulped it all down.

The professor chuckled calmly.

"Now the fun begins."