"Don't you know? Unlike Uro, the dynasty has decided to open magic schools to teach the people how to manage their Aura better to survive and fight against dangerous beasts," Ana explained.
"Magic school and ranks were a thing in the past, but since the flame lord destroyed his Ashen capital and Snow lords died to Alsana, magic has lost its importance in the world, shining swords are given more importance today."
"Uro only teaches magic spells to Dragonsteel warriors to fight against the threats. Normal folk create too much chaos; they are good at being unknown in my knowledge. Easy to control and manage."
"Those Dragonsteel warriors work for like four years and then get drunk in bars for the rest of their lives. Your warriors are a burden more than work, leeches take less blood than them." River began calling out the warriors.
"..." Arya remained quite for first, "I believe those people stay inside rooms while dwarfs go out fight and die for them." but when River continued, he couldn't stop.
"You have a problem, River. You say a lot about others but refuse to see yourself, how big of a fool you are." River's eyes turned hostile on hearing that. Ana's expression wasn't cool either, but Arya needed to say it out.
"You talk high and mighty about our 'research,' but your energy potion you gave to Reva. How long did you tell her that they would work? Tell me?" Arya pointed his finger at River.
"They were still in the building process, unlike normal energy potions which are much higher in energy and power boosting—"
"I don't want your big self-obsessed word list. Tell me the time that you told her?"
"...Three minutes at their best, but the thing is still being up—"
"Guess what? They barely lasted one and a half minutes. And guess what they did to Reva when the effects ended? She was screaming from the pain, tearing her hair out from pain. The effects of the poison were accelerated by your so-called great energy potion." Arya spat the words like acid.
He got up from his seat and stared at River with a face of disgust.
"Arya, I think that is enough," Ana raised her voice.
"Don't stop me. He tried using Reva as a test subject for this research. A man who lived in the desert didn't even give his partner an antivenom for ground rats? Haven't seen a bigger fool." River was quiet and listening, but his fists were clenched.
"On what ground do you say that I was using her as a subject? It was her choice to take the potion, I didn't force it upon her."
Arya turned his face towards Ana the moment he heard that.
"Oh, that's right. Ana, next time you try to create a new deadly spell, go down and teach a kid who is interested in magic and teach him this spell."
"Keep my wife's name out of your mouth!" River got up from his seat, furious, ready to hit Arya in the face. "If you are not a son of a whore, then keep your words to me."
"If you weren't such a—"
"Stop! Right now." Ana put her hand between the two men, stopping them from attacking each other. "You two are nothing but idiots with pride struck in your minds and unable to control yourselves and see your own mistakes. You think you can fight, but remember we are in someone else's house and working for them. He can kick us out at any moment if he wants. Think about that before fighting." Ana didn't move her hand, and both of them sat down.
Arya began eating his stew and River his bread and butter, but they refused to meet each other's gaze and kept eating.
"Now, getting back to the point. We have no idea what Mercy can do. I have been trying to decipher his powers for the past two weeks we have been living here. Sera's body and eating habits might be snake-like, but she has no specialty to her," Ana spoke out.
"Sera has no special abilities? What are you talking about? That girl has the power to disable the abilities of warlords. I wouldn't count that as anything normal," Arya commented.
"?!" Ana and River's eyes dilated at the sound of the revelation. "Arya, how are you just telling us this now? You know what implications this can have?" River spoke out to him.
"I didn't get the right time to talk. The ability to jam other abilities is not that special. I have seen many magic jammers in my life. I thought Sera was a natural born in that."
"Arya, jamming the magic of a wizard and warlord has the same difference as trying to use fire to light a place instead of a magic prism." Ana lit a small flame in her hand and pointed her other finger toward the magic prism. "One is far more powerful, effective, and independent than the other. If she can block warlord power naturally, she can bring down the kingdom just by existing." Ana took a deep sigh, the slippery slope that was too much of an incline.
"No, Sera doesn't block power entirely, just makes it difficult to focus it. If you have more than a specific amount of orbs, you can easily overcome her effects." Arya didn't want to mention the effect of the energy potion; it gave enough of a power boost to use his warlord powers.
"This makes it so much harder to understand... Like nothing makes sense after this. All things are getting convoluted and mixed into one another," River added.
Arya and Ana both turned their sight towards him, trying to understand what he said.
"The ability to foster a good wizard has been hereditary in the past. Mercy told us how he was from the Forest of the Forsaken. I didn't believe it until now. But the tribal people were known for this skill."
"If Reva and Mercy are such good wizards, that can prove an actual link between them," River explained his thoughts, and the listeners lost their thinking ability.
"How is this thing working? What is Mercy doing? He is planning something, the part of him overthrowing the kingdom seems like the smallest part of the plan. Are we the bad guys in this whole ordeal?" The question struck them like a needle, and Arya realized he shouldn't have said it.
"I think we are done for now. I was planning on investigating the forest, but I think we have too much on our minds. Let's take a while off and sit in our rooms." Ana dispersed the situation and the plans.
River and Ana left the table immediately, while Arya stayed eating his now cold stew.
"The flavor and smell have gotten worse quickly. Ana wasn't the greatest cook in the house, after all." Arya tried to comprehend the discussion he had, trying to summarize the things he heard. Things were easier to understand when summarized.
"There is enough evidence to prove Sera is a snake, but also enough to prove she isn't. Mercy might be right about being a member of a tribe dead 500 years while also being the greatest illusion magician of all time. The bone bears and ground rats are now everywhere..."
Arya didn't know which god was messing with him, but he was really giving him a hard time with no breaks. He got up from his seat and began walking towards his room.
"All of this in a week, I don't understand anything. What time is going on? Why are there no clocks in this house?! And where has Mercy gone?"
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