Point of View of Drake Helkhar
Damn it! This is all my fault…. I told myself in despair as I ran through the dark forest. I ran at full speed until the darkness completely surrounded me, making my vision shift to another familiar scene.
It's over for me…. Confused, I closed my eyes tightly before a loud noise from outside made me open them again.
"-ake! Hurry up, Dad's waiting for you!" I heard, still half asleep. Huh?
Confused, I looked around without finding anything strange. Ah… it was the same nightmare again.
"Drake! Did you hear me!?" My sister yelled from the other side of the door. "Yeah yeah, I heard you, I'm coming." I replied, yawning as I got out of bed.
"Alright, but hurry!" She said, walking away from my door quickly.
"Zoe's being such a pain, but I guess this is important to her… by the way, what time is it?" I wondered before noticing the sun struggling to set on the horizon.
Since it's just getting dark, I must've only slept for like two hours. Ahh… that's not good. I thought tiredly.
Without further delay, I quickly got ready and went downstairs to where the rest of my family was waiting for me.
"Are you ready, son?" My loving mother asked when she saw me coming down the stairs. "Yes, I'm ready." I replied, grabbing the trusty sword she had given me years ago.
What happened was that a week ago Kadian had told my sister he wanted to check my training, so they coordinated for tonight to show what I could do.
As expected, I'm a little nervous because in these 22 years I've been here, this will be the first time I'll wield the sword in front of Kadian and Irisha. I thought as we walked out into the yard.
"Drake Helkhar, let's see what you've learned over the years." My father said as he saw me approaching from afar. Ahh! Damn it! Those words only make me more nervous!
As I got closer to Kadian, I noticed that he didn't bother to hide his mana, making the air feel heavy as I approached him.
"As I mentioned a few days ago, I want to see what you're capable of in three specific situations." He said while looking me in the eyes. "I understand, Father. You'll see that I'll successfully overcome those trials." I said, unable to look him in the eyes because of the mana he was emitting.
"I'll be the judge of that, so for your first trial, I want to see what you do several kilometers in the air." He said with a smile, surprising me with his sudden words. What? What does he mean?
Before I could imagine anything in my mind, my mother touched my back, making my vision shift in the blink of an eye.
"Huh?" I said quietly, realizing I was now above the clouds. Wh-what just happened!? I wondered, confused, as my body began to fall toward the ground.
But just a moment ago I was on the ground. How the hell am I this high up now!? I thought, panicking, before remembering how Irisha had touched my back before I ended up in the sky. I'll ask her how she did it later because right now I need to deal with this.
Once I fully processed my situation, I was already passing through the clouds, leaving me with only a few seconds to think. The most obvious thing would be to use wind magic to reduce the force of my fall, but… if I do that, I'll use up a lot of mana, and that wouldn't be good considering I still have two trials left.
Feeling doubtful, I began thinking of several solutions, but uncertain, I remembered something from years ago, specifically the day I met Angelica.
Right, that time I was in such a hurry to deliver the money to Irisha that I jumped from the second floor without much thought. At first, I thought I'd get hurt, but by reinforcing my body with mana, I didn't get injured. So, following that logic, if I manage to slow down my fall, I should be able to handle it without any problems just by reinforcing my body with mana, right?
With some doubts, I decided to go with my plan, hoping my parents wouldn't let me die if my calculations were wrong.
Noticing I only had about 10 seconds left, I reduced my speed by launching several wind waves from my hands toward the ground, using a wide radius to increase their effectiveness.
That should be enough. I thought before reinforcing my entire body with a thick layer of mana and bracing myself for impact.
As expected, even though I had reduced my speed, my body still crashed into the ground at high velocity, creating a large cloud of dust.
I-I think it turned out well. I thought, feeling a bit sore as I stood up from the small crater I had made.
"I can't believe you actually preferred to fall like that." Zoe said, a bit annoyed as she watched me emerge from the dust. "Sorry, I couldn't think of an easier way." I replied with a smile that quickly faded as I once again felt Kadian's presence.
What's up with him? Did I do okay? I wondered, unable to read the expression on his face.
"Well done, Drake. Now let's move on to the second trial." Kadian said before repairing the crater behind me. "Your second trial will be a question, and I want you to justify your answer. What would you do if someone threatened the life of your family?" He asked coldly, his gaze fixed on the rest of my family.
What would I do? I asked myself, remembering once again that I was no longer in my previous world, where I could simply call the authorities for help. "I-if something like that happened… I would kill that person myself." I responded, locking eyes with Kadian, who to my surprise was smiling after hearing my answer.
Damn it, I can't even hold his gaze for three seconds. I thought, quickly averting my eyes due to the overwhelming presence Kadian continued to emit.
"I'm the one protecting your mother and all of you right now, and to protect you, I've had to kill hundreds of people." He said, making the hairs on my skin stand on end at such a statement. "That's why, when you grow older, you'll have people you'll love too, and if you're not willing to do anything for them, you'll know that you've dishonored your family."
Sometimes I can't fully understand my father, my family, or even the common sense of this world, but… I know what he says is true. I thought nostalgically, remembering what had happened with my previous family.
"Thank you for your words, Father. I know that's how it will be." I said, letting the layer of mana that was still covering my body dissipate. "Excellent. Then let's move on to the third and final trial."
Kadian and the rest of my family moved away from me, making me a bit nervous about what was coming.
"As you may have already guessed, for your third trial, you'll face me." He said, unsheathing the sword I had seen him wield all these years. He's right, I figured something like this would happen, but even so, I'm not sure if I'm ready for it.
"One more thing before we begin, I want you to come at me with the intent to kill." He said, adjusting his battle stance. "What? But that would be…" "Let's begin."
Still confused by Kadian's words, I clumsily drew my sword. In that brief moment, Kadian managed to land a strong blow to my face, sending me flying several meters into the forest outside our house.
What the hell was that? I thought as I tried to heal myself and get back on my feet. "Focus." Kadian's voice came from the shadows surrounding the dark forest. Damn it! I need to stop thinking this is a game. He won't show me any mercy, unlike Zoe.
Feeling his presence everywhere, I couldn't figure out where he would attack me from, so I decided to light up the area with fire magic, launching it into the sky to get a glimpse of him.
As I cast the spell upward, Kadian deflected it with his sword, causing a small explosion that burned part of my right hand.
Shit! I cursed, trying to reposition myself among the trees. But as I moved quickly, I caught a glimpse of several golden bolts of lightning forming a few meters away from me, illuminating Kadian and the vegetation around him with a bright glow. Is that…
Fearful of what was coming, I tried to dodge the three bolts he had thrown at me, but despite my efforts, I only managed to deflect one with my sword, allowing the other two to strike me directly in the shoulder and left leg.
The impact was so powerful that I crashed uncontrollably through the trees and hit the ground hard. As I tried to get up and reach for my sword, which had flown off to the side, a sharp sting at the impact site made me realize the situation I was in.
It's game over, right? I thought painfully as I collapsed to the ground again, the electric charge I had received taking its toll. Looking more closely at my injuries, my hopes of winning quickly faded.
Fuck… I couldn't even last two minutes. I thought, frustrated, as I watched my clothes slowly turn red from the blood seeping from my wounds.
Kadian, seeing that I couldn't even move, suppressed his mana, allowing me to relax a little. Actually, now that I think about it, I couldn't even land a direct attack on him… I guess this is my fault for not training or preparing myself properly for something like this.
"Can you heal yourself?" Kadian asked after approaching my position.
"I can stop the bleeding, but I don't know if I can fully heal." I said, looking at the open wound on my leg.
"I see, then I'll send your mother to help you, but before that, I want to tell you that you didn't do as badly as you think." He said, making me confused.
"Normally, my enemies can't even see what's hitting them, but at least you were able to react and defend yourself, that's good." Wow, what encouragement. I thought sarcastically.
"Since I'm not satisfied with this test, tomorrow I'll train you myself to help you not fail in the future, so make sure to recover by then." He said, walking away in an instant.
Sometimes Kadian seems like an asshole, but other times he acts like a good father. I thought as I tried to stop the bleeding.
Now that I think about it, as I grow older, the wounds my body suffers hurt less. I thought as I looked at the burnt flesh on my wounds.
I guess it's a trait of my race. I thought before Zoe and Irisha arrived to help me.
Zoe, after seeing me on the ground, the first thing she did was ask me what Kadian had told me, but before I could answer, my mother interrupted us both to focus on my injuries.
After several minutes, Irisha managed to heal me completely, making me once again amazed by magic. "Thank you so much, mom, you're the best."
Once I was okay, we went back home to change my clothes and get something to eat. After dinner, I talked to Zoe for the rest of the night about what had happened until the next morning when I got ready to meet Kadian again.
Since it's just training, I don't think it'll be as strict as yesterday, right? I thought after sighing and walking out of my house with my sword.
When I stepped into the yard, I found Kadian, who immediately indicated that we would be going somewhere else for this training. "Alright, father." I replied.
This path… Is this the one that leads to the cave where Mork and Ness are? I wondered, realizing we were heading to where the family's two dragons were.
Now that I think about it, I haven't been around here for several months, well, I guess it's normal considering Zoe is the one who takes care of Mork and Ness.
We kept walking quickly until, after several minutes, I could see the cave in the distance.
"We'll stop here." Kadian said when we arrived at the small lake that was in front of the cave.
"By the way, father, what kind of training are we doing?" I asked, noticing he hadn't brought any weapons. "This training will be about mana, so you can relax."
So I brought my sword for nothing? I complained in my head as Kadian sat down by the small lake.
"But before that, I want to talk. Do you know the ranks of mana cores?" He asked once I sat next to him. "The ranks…? They are Basic, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Legend, Semi-god, and Divine."
"Very good. And do you know the power difference between them?" Huh? What does he mean by that? I thought, a bit confused. "I'm not sure what you mean, but I know that as your understanding of mana grows, your core evolves to those ranks, making you stronger, right?"
"You're right, but to help you understand what I mean, it's best for you to now dive into your mana heart. Once inside, you should be able to feel all the mana flowing through your body." I don't know what he's trying to achieve, but for now, I'll follow his lead. After all, I know he'll teach me something amazing.
"I'm inside, and as you said, I can feel all the mana in my body." "Good. Now, let me ask you: if you had to measure your mana in intermediate-level spells, how many could you cast?" "Eh? It's a bit hard to calculate, but I think around ten." I answered, unsure.
"Good, now listen. With the current rank of my core, I can create around 8,000 intermediate-level spells." He said, making my jaw drop for a moment. "Now open your eyes and tell me: do you think I could defeat around 8000 intermediate-ranked people?"
Eight thousand… I thought softly before noticing Kadian was waiting for an answer. "I-I'm not sure, but I think if you really tried, you could do it." I said, not knowing how to respond to his strange questions and statements.
"You're wrong." He said, smiling slightly. "I could defeat at least twenty thousand of them without a problem." What!? That doesn't make any sense! If that were true, he would be the most powerful person in this world! I thought, shocked by his statement.
"I understand you're confused, but I want to show you that the difference in ranks is very important, because as you move up this power scale, you'll realize it's harder to reach the next ranks. For example, it took your sister about seven years to move from the Advanced rank to Expert."
T-that's true, I thought she wasn't making progress with her core because she was stuck, just like I was a few weeks ago, but… I never considered how difficult it must have been.
"But Drake, with what I'm about to tell you, I want you to understand that it will be different for you because you have something that will be a stumbling block on your path."
"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked, a bit scared.
"For several years, I've known you want to know more about our family's past, that you want to know why we fled the Clifland continent, so for you to understand my words, I'll explain what happened back then." He said, looking to the side.
At that moment, Kadian began telling me the dark story everyone had avoided all this time.
Kadian was royalty in the kingdom of Clifland, but after my grandfather became gravely ill, my uncle, Kadian's younger brother, took that opportunity to launch a massive rebellion in the country, managing to kill the rest of the family—my other uncles, grandparents, and anyone who supported them. Why did he do it? He didn't tell me.
They also wanted to kill my parents, but once Kadian learned what was happening, he managed to escape with our family. At the time, Irisha was pregnant with me, so they couldn't stay and fight; they simply fled with some servants my parents had.
After a couple of months of fleeing from the men my uncle, whose name is Boris, had sent, he eventually found them in the desert, resulting in a fierce battle that led to the death of my parents' servants. I guess the aftermath of that battle were the hundreds of bodies I found lying around the night I came into this world.
"In that battle, we lost many things, things that won't return…" He said sadly, looking away. "Also, because of the battle, we couldn't take care of you as we should have, nearly leading to your death." Nearly? It's true, I had planned to tell them one day that I'm not their biological son, but… with everything we've gone through over the years, I don't know if I'll ever have the courage to do it.
"So to save you, I had to sacrifice something that was mine, something that had helped me all that time. That night, I sacrificed the fragment of the divine spark I had in my core." What?
"To help you understand, that fragment is a portion of the Gods' power, of the sparks necessary to reach the Divine rank."
He's talking about Bernal's Fragment, right? I thought, confused, before memories of that night came flooding back. It's true, before I was reborn, Kadian gathered all the mana from the surroundings to put into this body, and at that moment, he passed me the fragment he had. But if that's the case, what did Bernal pass me after our conversation? Because I remember the marks of the dragon's divine spark appeared on my chest then. Confused, I decided to investigate this further later.
"I understand, father. Thank you for making that sacrifice to give me the chance to live." I said after a few seconds of silence.
"Don't worry, you're my son, my only legacy. If I had to do it again, I would." He said, making me wonder if this was the same Kadian I knew.
Just as I thought, Kadian is truly a good person, he just struggles to show affection to others, except for Irisha. I thought with a mental smile.
"But as I mentioned before, Drake, you have something that will be a stumbling block for your progress. That obstacle is the Fragment of the Divine Spark."
"What?" Wait, isn't Bernal's Fragment supposed to be an advantage?
"The fragment of the divine spark makes your understanding of mana incredibly slow. As a result, the evolution of your mana core will also slow down, hindering your progress."
"So, please tell me… How long do you think it'll take for me to go from Advanced rank to Expert?" I asked, fearing his response.
"I'm not sure, but considering you just reached the Advanced rank a few weeks ago, I'd say a couple of decades." WHAT THE HELL!? Why does having Bernal's Fragment hold me back so much!? Wasn't it supposed to be a good thing?
"B-but father, if what you're saying is true, how did you reach Semi-God rank at your age?" I asked, trying to hide my frustration.
"That's because I obtained the fragment when I reached the Semi-God rank, unlike you, who got it just minutes after being born."
Does that mean he didn't get it at birth? I thought it was passed down that way, since Bernal's records said it was a tradition to give the fragment to the firstborn in my family. But now I understand it doesn't necessarily happen when they're still babies, because that would ruin their progress… like with me.
Frustrated, an idea popped into my mind that calmed my fears. That's right! Unlike what my father believes, I have two cores! If Bernal's Fragment affects my draconic core, it shouldn't affect my demonic core as much, right?
Yes, that will help me initially not to fall behind in power, but even so, if I want to grow stronger, I have to find the other fragments of Bernal, because I know that if I absorb them, I'll be able to increase my power easily. After all, I'd have a complete divine spark in my possession.
"I understand. In that case, I have no choice but to work hard so I won't be a burden in the future." I said with more confidence.
"You took it better than I expected, that's good." He responded, more at ease.
"But looking ahead, I think it's best you know that I plan to return to the Clifland continent because I want to settle past affairs. But don't worry, that'll happen when you're capable of standing on your own, because I don't want to drag you into my problems." He said, looking me in the eyes.
"I understand, father. If that's what you wish, so be it." I replied, meeting his gaze before looking down, pretending to feel useless. I know it's wrong of me, but I think it's for the best for both of us because that way I'll have the freedom to fulfill what Bernal entrusted me with.
Putting conversations aside, Kadian that morning also taught me a few techniques to combine magic with swordsmanship, that turned out to be quite ingenious.
After our training, we went to visit Mork and Ness to check on how they were doing. Seeing them asleep made me feel a bit sorry for them, because they weren't allowed to move around too much in the surroundings, and most of the time they spent it inside the cave.
I still don't know exactly how the bond with animals works, but I think it's incredible that you can give more complex orders through mana. I thought while we were heading back home almost at night.
"Go rest, Drake, with what happened yesterday and today, you've earned it." Kadian said before he went to his room to prepare for a two-week trip he had as an adventurer.
He's right, despite not needing to sleep like I did in my previous life, these last two days were very tiring physically and mentally. I thought while I was looking for a change of clothes before going to take a bath.
In the coming years, I will prioritize my training with my demonic core, because it's still in the intermediate rank, and that's not good at all. Also, maybe I'll manage to learn some new techniques with that kind of mana. I reflected.
I also have to investigate what Bernal's fragment gives me, since I don't think everything about it is just bad stuff. I thought again as I got into the bathtub.
The water is perfect… I thought relaxed. With all this from the last few weeks I haven't had enough time to visit Angelica, before she leaves for her classes at Birton University, I think tomorrow I'll go wish her good luck.