From the bottom of my heart, thank you to my p4tr0ns: Morpheaus, and RTB <3 <3 <3
Become a p4tr0n too and read up to FOUR chapters ahead!:
h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / t r a s h w i t h g l a s s e s
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About a month had passed by since we last went out on an adventure to relieve my memories, and, technically, both ideas, from Ike and Spruce, had worked since I did remember forgotten things without breaking the chain links, and also broke many chain links. In total, I had broken seven of them already…
"Well, if you had one hundred links before, it means you only unlocked 7% of your powers and personality, so you're pretty much safe", Spruce said, now looking astonishingly different from a couple months ago: his hair had grown to the point that it covered his left eye, and he ditched his fancy but unmatching clothes for much simpler ones which actually suited him. "Even if you don't like my original plan, which I still support, I'd say you're pretty much safe to unlock, what, 30%, 40% of your old self and still be the you we know."
As we walked the corridors of the Bear Mountain, walking to our next class, Ike held his chin, pensive.
"No, wait, if what you said is right… Then doesn't it mean that Coyote can only safely unlock 50% of his powers?"
"What? Why?", we all stopped, as sweat sprouted from the awkward swordsman, and he turned to me with concern in his eyes.
"I mean, if each link contains 1% of your old self, and we assume that your old self wants to be awaken…"
"I believe it does. When I'm in a risky, or tense situation, I feel very tempted to break the seals, unnaturally so", I remembered when that Arapaima's goon cut my throat open, and I could feel the wish to break the seals agonizingly.
"Then, that means that Coyote only needs to unlock 51% of the seals to be more his other self, than our friend. And as soon as this happens, he will want to unlock more of his seals, than not!"
We were gaping.
"So, it's like I have already have burned through 14% of my safety seals…", I gulped. "I really can't keep going on like this. Whenever I come across a new challenge, I immediately resort to this cursed power of mine…"
"Hey", spruce punched me on the thigh, smiling. "That's why we're here in this place, right? To learn and grow stronger."
"Yes. Let's go!", I smiled back, and we resumed our journey to our class.
"Since teacher Gaillardia is teaching you how to fight against mages, I think it's appropriate for me to tell you how to examine a mage. How to measure its strength.
Very well, at this point, you already know that everyone has a maximum distance from their bodies from which they can conjure their spells. This is called range. And while it's usually simplified to be a sphere around the mage, it actually is a constant distance from the surface of every part of the body, so a bigger projection of the self. And that's why we point our limbs toward our objectives, so to increase the Range in which we can conjure our spells in the direction we want.
What you may not know yet, is that through training, the range of a person can increase, and so not only they can conjure objects and forces further away from the body, but also the size of their spells can increase. So, by observing the distance from which a mage can conjure something, and the size of the spell, you can tell the brute strength of the mage. One meter of Range is a novice's Range. Two to three meters is the average Range. Five meters onwards is expert territory.
Of course, this only shows how much brute magical strength one has, and not its skills per se, but it is still very helpful, and that's what we will be studying today."
Teacher Glance, as usual, matched his classes with teachers Gaillardia's. Still, the content was interesting, and once that then I had a friend, Spruce, to share my Principles of Magic classes with, they became even cooler. Even if I was missing Hyber's presence in the Bear Mountain since I helped him with the dragon horn.
At the end of the class, I stretched from staying crouched on the cushions on the ground for so long, and got back up. This time, instead of pocking fun of the seed in the sand desert, there was a new topic being discussed by my classmates: "Have you heard? There's a troublesome group causing lots of chaos to the west…"
"Yeah… Well, it's sad but it's none of our business. Incursions and skirmishes like that happen all the time. We're here to protect our homeland from them, right?"
"No, this time it's different! I heard… that this group has a connection with the Bear Mountain!"
"Dude, that's totally bullcrap. This place has been a neutral safe haven for everyone since its foundation."
The discussion proceeded inside the room, but Spruce and I pushed away the flaps that served as a door to the space, and walked away.
"What do you think about those rumors?", I asked while we walked back to our dorm room.
"Nothing different from what I think about all of the other bandit groups around: if there's something we can do about it, we deal with it quickly and efficiently. If not…", he concluded his sentence with a shrug.
"Even if there's nothing to do with us?", I teased.
"Sure. Other people may be hurt by such a group after all", he spoke naturally. As the silence perdured, however, and he turned to me and saw me smiling wide, he added: "It's not like I think we should get out of our way to pretend to be heroes either, though! Like, we should only help others if it's comfortable for us!"
"Can you believe this guy still says things like that?", Ike crossed his arms before us. "We should go after the troublemakers and deal with them, not wait around and do something only once it gets close enough!"
"Haha, what can I say… Some things never change hu?", I laughed as my friends discussed.
"Part ways, now! We need to pass!", a familiar voice ordered with hurry, and I was pushed aside by a man with a mohican hairstyle. He was followed by a green-haired girl with concern on her face, and her group of companions. "Mari? Did something happen?", I wondered with myself as I stared at the girl vanishing in the sea of students ahead.
Then, suddenly, the ground beneath my feet shook, and a gush of wind carried the ominous thundering noise: "BOOM!"
Something exploded at the entrance of the Bear Mountain.