Chapter 77
Rebecca moved fast and her barrier floated around the room and moved on top of the both of them, protecting them from the flames.
As the flames kept on pouring down, she stacked her initial barrier with one more, giving them more breathing space.
Frowning, Seth used Flickering Step and landed right in front of them, being careful of only stepping where Tran and Sharan had before. He kept his distance away from the flames and opened up the bottles of the most ...
A/N: nodes changed to vaults! The chap took a bit of time. Still not sure on it. Happy reading.
Chapter 31
The transfer of mana wasn't a gentle trickle, but a forceful process. After Killian's agreement, he immediately started pushing mana through his palms.
Killian's body tensed, his muscles straining against the sudden influx.
Kai hadn’t gone through the pain personally, but he knew that it felt like a dam was about to burst within Killian, the pressure buil...
Chapter 76
“A hidden pathway?”
A collective look of surprise and curiosity passed through the party as they all stared at Seth and Rebecca.
“Yes, it's a pathway that was discovered recently and goes even deeper into the ruins. We have explored it a bit and the place is filled with traps and monsters, particularly golems and undead. There are gold coins in every room, but our goal is to retrieve an artifact. More specifically, The Weather Staff which is known to be...
Chapter 30
Kai’s eyes halted over Killian.
The latter’s curiosity was written all over his face. His eyes widened slightly, thinking about what just Kai said. His finger was tapping in his chin, thoughts written all over his face.
Kai gave a subtle smile.
“You must be wondering how it all happens.” He looked in between Killian and Francis. "Mana. Everyone has it. And everyone can absorb mana. I shouldn’t emphasise the factor that even normal people ca...
Chapter 29
Killian knocked on the door and walked in as soon as he heard a shout. He stopped as the scent of piped tobacco hit his nostrils.
"Killian! Good to see you," Francis's raspy voice boomed. He gestured towards a seat across from him, the worn wood groaning under Killian's weight as he settled in.
"Heard there's news from Malden?" Killian asked, his voice direct, cutting straight to the chase.
Francis straightened, a hint of pride flickering in his cloudy ...
Chapter 75
“Like I was saying— Agh! It's hot!” Seth hurriedly drank a glass of water as the Everwood Boar steak burned his tongue due to how hot it was.
Smoke rose out of the sizzling steak as he cooled down his tongue.
“You should take your time. It's not going anywhere,” Rebecca said, taking spoonfuls of a hot stew. They had ordered tons of food from stew, steak, bread and other dishes. “We can even call for more food if you want. Just eat slowly.”
...
Chapter 28
The girl they brought back from the cave was kept in the building where a few castle workers stayed. They all were in different rooms far from Amyra and were asked to not disturb her unless she needed something.
Kai knew the maids were curious about her due to her rare features and the reason he had kept her safe, but they followed his direct orders.
The room— it wasn’t anything luxurious, but was spacious and had enough walls to protect her privacy. A sm...
Chapter 74
If Seth had to make a count, it was the third time he was fighting these creatures in the past month and they were very much like a jealous ex he used to have during high school who used to make him sick whenever she would interfere in his matters because he broke her dream of having a perfect high school romance life.
At least, she was a stupid teenager then and her face didn't consist of a large floating eye with tendrils that looked heinous.
Seth ducked to...
Chapter 27
Kai’s eyes narrowed in concentration as he looked at the book in his hand. He cautiously flipped open the cover, and a faint scent of aged paper tickled his nose. The yellow papers had his sole attention.
He turned pages one after the other. He couldn’t help but be absorbed in the letters, lines and curves that were inside it.
It was written in Manakrit, a language often used for magical art. Kai had read books in it all his life and although the ones her...
Chapter 73
They moved with caution and scanned each room they came across. The unexplored area was massive, and with traps and monsters all around, it took a lot of time to deal with each of them.
Every ten steps, they would trigger some sort of a trap in the corridor.
Arrows would come flying around at them and sometimes, the ground would shift to reveal spikes, ready to pierce into their flesh. Once, flames shot up at them as soon as Seth stepped foot in a room and al...
Chapter 26
The pre-dawn air hung crisp and cool. The season was still at its peak as Kai stepped onto the worn training grounds, the chilly air hitting him on his face.
His eyes looked everywhere until they stopped at Killian.
He ran in front of the guards, being a few steps ahead of the rest of them.
The guards were running in lines, their faces drawn in a mixture of exhaustion as they struggled to match Killian's pace.
The latter was a whirlwind of ene...
Chapter 72
“Intruders Detected!”
Its grating voice sent shivers down Seth's spine as the golem took a step forward, breaking free from the constraints binding it. It creaked as his eyes turned red, filled with the energy powering it up.
Looking down at the both of them, it stumbled forward, walking like a drunkard as it took uneven steps and swung its axe in a wild swing.
Both of them lunged to the side to dodge it and made a run for it, but the door to the o...
Chapter 25
He landed on the ground with a big ‘thump’. The sound echoed through the dense forest, gaining the attention of the seven-foot monsters.
With a flick of his wrist, he conjured up a [Fireball] spell and urged them to come at him.
The dead wolf was thrown to the side in an instant as the trolls focused on him, their red eyes slinting.
Their roar reverberated through the forest as Kai took two steps forward and shifted the ball of fire from one hand ...
Chapter 24
As soon as he heard the news from Francis, he waited until the people in the crowd started to clatter.
In the end, when most of them had hit home, and the only ones who were left were families, their friends and the guards, Kai decided to head back.
He was curious about the girl.
She was a strange one, unlike the rest they had rescued. When Kai first saw her, there had been no signs of dead mana on her body.
Her skin wasn’t peeled or damaged...
Chapter 71
The Stormweavers ruins were deep into the mountainous terrains, down a ridge to the side of them. It was a few miles away from the city and fortunately, they found a carriage that took them to the base of it.
Travelling there took a few hours and in it, Seth checked his armour and weapons as well as the guide that Kalrus had given him.
Once they started climbing the ridge, Seth kept on a lookout for monsters. The closer they moved towards the ruins, the worse...
Gareth’s eyes loomed over his wife. She was hugging the rugs tightly to herself. She had been in much better shape since they received the Heat Stone.
Not a single day passed by, when the couple didn’t thank Lord Arzan for giving them the Heat stone. Although finding food had been difficult, having heat in the blizzarding weather made it easier for them to survive.
Now, they stood in the middle of a line that led to an almsgiving.
Similarly to Gareth and Cecilia, h...
The guards who were carrying the injured and corrupted villagers started to unload the weight off their arms and place the people on the floor as they arrived at the village.
They themselves had been tired from the battle and although they were able to walk, they still needed rest to recover. The same was for the prisoners who had limped the way back.
Kai saw Phillips untangling his arm off of Zanma’s shoulders and looked at his face. He looked too thin and he doubted the ne...
“Why will I spend my time inspecting this blade? I have no reason to do so,” Kalrus said, staring right into Seth's eyes.
Rebecca shifted next to him nervously. “Master, I brought him here with hope that you would be able to help us out in understanding the origins of the blade. We suspect that it was used by Seven Seals, and it's important to know—”
“Again, I have no reason to do so, Rebecca. My interests aren't cults, but weapons and artifacts,” he huffed in disa...
The caves yawned open before the group. There were only half of them left after all the battles they fought since coming from the city.
A few of them were left outside to rest and to tend to their wounds while three guards, including Feroy and the hunter Phillips, followed Kai and Killian.
Standing before the cave, Kai looked at the darkness that escaped from it. It seemed to swallow all the light from outside.
Giving a nod to the others, he took the lead and walked cau...
Killian moved forward and swung his sword to the left, hitting the skull of a skeleton and slamming it down on the ground.
His eyes shifted on to where the noise came from momentarily.
Kai, who was behind Killian shouted, “Watch out!”
The skeleton who emerged from the caves sprung itself to the front attacking Killian.
“Argh!” Killian’s sword came intact with the skeleton’s swords as he barely defended himself.
The skeleton's hollow voice came...
“Do you have any health potions?” Kai asked.
“No, we don't.”
Kai crouched on his knees. In front of him, the deeply wounded guard remained unconscious with his head dangling from the side as he kept it on his lap.
He tried to concentrate on the mana that swirled inside his body.
Healing a deeply wounded person was one of the hardest things for any Mages, especially a 1st circle one. Kai wasn't even proficient in a lot of healing spells, but he knew he ha...
Cyrla stuck next to Seth as they walked onto the towers.
Only people with permits were allowed in the towers even though most common people could tour around the academy grounds, and Cyrla helped them get access even though Rebecca had her permit in her hands.
It was an easy climb after that with the wide stairs and each floor was massive with countless rooms. It seemed like different areas were divided for classes and the staff quarters alongside places like library, observato...
As it lunged forward, Kai instinctively took a few steps behind. He could hear the guards gasping behind him.
The skeleton landed on its bony feet and looked in between the guards and Kai.
Its eye sockets glowed as fire erupted out of them. Kai’s eyes raked down to its body. It was nothing but bones, barely a low grade undead. With its jagged teeth, it grinned. A twisted smirk contorted its features.
“Stay back,” Kai ordered.
The skeleton seemed to analys...
Kai looked at the village chief. “Alden, how many people have disappeared?”
Alden’s mouth formed into a thin line as he fell into deep thought. Kai could tell that he was counting, as his fingers started bending one by one on his side.
“It's around four,” he said. “Though, we generally have disappearances, but most of the time, we find bodies as some people get killed trying to hunt monsters. This time, we didn't find bodies.”
“What about the strange act...
Kai’s eyes were immediately drawn to how gruesome the goblins were. Their ears were pointed upwards in attention and their green skin was dirty.
They wore rags and had small weapons in their hands, from short swords to clubs. He could also see a few with bows in the back.
“Ahhhhh!” One goblin yelled, revealing its sharp, pointy teeth and throwing a flaming arrow towards the gate.
The rest of them followed its motion as more flaming arrows hit the village gate and...
Actra walked forward, revealing himself to both Kai and Killian.
This was the first time Kai was seeing the man and he looked much older than what he had expected.
His eyes were framed with a network of fine lines, wrinkled with ages of experience. He was dressed in a long robe, which had different symbols stitched to it. They seem to resemble either a noble house or an organisation.
His guess was on the latter since it wasn't the emblem of the Duke household he had seen...
“An expedition?” Francis’s nose scrunched up in disapproval.
Kai could feel how he felt by his immediate reaction.
Francis looked between both Kai and Killian, questioning what was going on.
“Yes, Francis. We will head over to the Vasper forest as soon as we’re ready. Lord Arzan suspects mana fiends are there and I want to take a look at it too,” Killian said and looked at him.
Francis shook his head. “Lord Arzan, I don't think you should head to ...
“They can corrupt everything? How so?” Killian asked, his face scrunched up in a frown.
Kai had told him about the mana fiends and how he suspected that they were the root cause of corruption spreading in the forest.
After all, it won't come out of nowhere. Everything has a reason and the mana fiends were often responsible for corruption.
“The corruption can only happen when there’s an area of dead mana around, and mana fiends are basically corrupted beasts tha...
Kai woke up as the numbness in his hand grew beneath him. His posture had been rather odd throughout the night.
He sat straight on his bed and looked outside the window. From the gap, he could see brightness creeping in.
It was time to wake up.
He stretched his hands and circled his wrists to ease out the nerves. The pain continued to move through his muscles.
Kai sighed and inhaled deeply. Within a second, he cast a spell. In no time, he felt his arm heal and be...
Malden, a spice merchant, walked through a long corridor dimly lit by torches while his eyes looked around. It was his first time here in the estate of Lord Arzan and he couldn't help, but feel uneasy.
An imposing guard walked alongside him. He had introduced himself as Feroy.
Malden’s sharp, beady eyes glanced at him from time to time.
Why would Lord Arzan even want to see me?
He thought to himself as his eyes darted nervously.
From the light that came...