Chapter 75: Champion Keiron
"You got rid of that rudintary thing clinging to your brain, why?" she asks
imdiately.
"It was too dangerous to leave it without oversight, and I'm not skilled enough yet to do that many things at once. Plus, I believe I learned all I could from it."
She stares at
for a second and then slowly nods.
"You walk a dangerous path."
As if I don't know that.
"Do you like mana that much?" she asks, a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Yes," I say without any hesitation.
There is sothing in her eyes I have a hard ti describing before she turns away, looking at the wildly spinning mana in her hand.
"You may ask a question."
"Can I use my mana in your presence?"
Her smile doesn't fit her age at all. It's barely noticeable, just a lifted corner of her lips, but even then, I can feel so cheekiness from it. Cheekiness and a warning.
"You can try."
I notice Ruby wildly gesturing at
to stop, but even through all of my senses warning , I open up my mana and reach out towards her with my [Mana Perception].
At first, I don't sense anything.
"Allow
to reveal the path you've chosen to tread."
I start feeling it in my bones, in my insides, on my skin. Impossibly powerful mana.
Its edges are expanding more and more. It feels like a never-ending ocean, like a tsunami. It feels like the heat of a star.
And it's beautiful.
I release my focus on handling my mana and use all of it to feed my perception and defenses. I want to see more. I need to see more.
Her mana is too massive for any human to have a right to, and my mana continues flickering in her presence, like a dying candle in a hurricane.
My ears start ringing, and it's harder and harder to breathe, and I am already down on my knees, unable to stand. I even feel blood running out of my eyes.
But I continue to look.
Like a fly dreaming of reaching the sun.
"Well, that was dumb. You're lucky my master only released so of her mana. I've seen her kill people for much nicer requests than yours." Ruby sighs, "She must find you quite interesting, doing all of this."
I am listening to her with only one ear and still going through what I saw.
"Haa, so annoying," she throws herself on the couch, acting more brazen now that her master has left. She stretches her legs, "I could never understand your type. All of you are goddamn crazy."
I slowly focus on her words and stand up, my body complaining as if soone danced on it all night. With a groan, I sit on the armchair opposite her.
"How strong is she?"
"Who knows? I hope to never find out." Ruby shrugs her shoulders.
"Stronger than Champion Keiron or Champion Tristan?" I ask, curious since I heard the nas of the two strongest people from Roland.
"I see that soone has been collecting information," she smirks and, still lying on the couch, continues to look at , "My master is… she's special, that's all you need to know. But don't even dream about reaching Champion Keiron. The man is ancient, and the last ti he fought, he sank an island, along with a million people who lived there. He is a monster capable of destroying an entire kingdom if he wills it."
She jumps to her feet, "Enough of that. Now invite
to dinner, and I'll show you sothing interesting."
Huh?
I end up leaving the restaurant with my pouch much lighter.
Sure, the food was amazing. So good. But what the heck!
What kind of dinner for two costs as much as a farr's yearly wage?!
Damn it.
"Look," I hear from Ruby, and I look where she's pointing.
The statue towers over the area, a depiction of a man tall and imposing and adorned in complete, ticulously crafted armor. You could spend hours studying the armor alone, each piece bearing intricate details of painstaking labor and skill. The armor's tallic sheen contrasts beautifully with the backdrop of the blue sky.
The sculpted face of the man exudes an aura of unwavering confidence and raw power. Etched with such realism, you could almost see the determination set in the statue's stone eyes. The man's grip on the sword is firm, with the blade stabbed into the ground in front of him.
"This is Champion Keiron," she says.
Ehm?
That makes
look at the statue once more, making sure I rember the face.
"It's nicely made," I start. Was this information really worth that much silver?
Ruby laughs. What's so funny?
"You don't understand. THIS is Champion Keiron."
"..."
What?
"No one rembers now how old he is, but everyone knows that every ten years, he creates another avatar of himself and places it sowhere in the kingdom."
No way.
"There are now tens of his avatars all over the kingdom and the world," she turns to , none of her normal cheekiness visible on her face now, "Champion Keiron can instantly transfer his mind into any of these avatars and then fight with all his power available."
I have a hard ti wrapping my head around it. How is sothing like that even possible?
How?
"So say that he can now awaken all the avatars at once and control them, with each of them containing most of his power," her eyes have the sa look I must have now.
I just don't know what to say.
"That is what Champion is capable of."
POV Lily Chen
"Novice Lily, please hurry up."
"Y-yes!" I quickly grab my bag with the things I'll be needing and glance around my room one last ti, feeling a mix of excitent and nervousness.
It's huge and predominantly white in color, filled with beautifully carved furniture with gold accents. The bed is massive, much bigger than I need. But the mattress is amazing, so I don't mind it that much. I still feel like I'm living in a dream, like any mont soone will pinch , and I'll wake up.
Everything is better than sleeping on the first floor's cold, hard ground. My thoughts drift back to those nights, and I try to shake off all those bad mories.
I don't want to think about that. I'm in a better place now, right?
"Sorry for keeping you waiting, I'm ready now!" I say as I exit the room, hoping my enthusiasm isn't too obvious.
Everyone here is so nice to , so I try to treat them with the sa kindness. I can't help but feel a little out of place, though. I an, I'm just a regular girl who happened to acquire healing powers.
My guide, ntor Lyra, smiles at , and I can't help but smile back, feeling my cheeks warm up a bit.
"It's okay, Novice Lily. Shall we go now?"
"Yes!"
I quickly follow her as we walk through the lavish hallway that I'm still not used to. It's too pristine, too fancy-looking. Every step I take feels like I'm walking on clouds, and I wonder if I'll ever get used to living like this.
We pass by a few more people, and everyone greets and smiles at . So even bow.
That's another thing I'm not used to. It makes
feel important, but also a little awkward.
In the community, Nat said that healers are super rare in this world and that I wouldn't have to worry about anything for a while. He told
to enjoy so rest and... I rember sothing and giggle a bit, suddenly feeling mischievous.
He also said to "yoink" so expensive things for him, ntioning that he might need so gold fairly soon. I can't believe he asked
to do that, but it's kind of exciting.
"ntor Lyra, I was thinking, could I ask you for so gold coins?"
Her eyebrows rise a bit, but contrary to my expectations, she just nods.
"That's sothing we can do for you. We can discuss it when we return from your training and talk about the amount you need."
Oh, that was easier than I thought it would be. I can't wait to tell Nat!
"T-thank you."
She nods with a smile, and we enter the massive dining room. Huge windows offer a view of the beautiful gardens, and we eat slowly, served by a few dedicated attendants just for us. The food is amazing, and I only regret that the others can't be here with , even silly Biscuit. I hope they're okay.
"Let's go and heal a few people, okay, Novice Lily?"
I agree and stand up, feeling determined. It's sothing I have to do to be allowed to live the way I live now.
And it will help
beco more useful in the future, not just for myself, but for the people I care about.
I will not allow the events from the end of the first floor to repeat.
"I fed him to the pigs. I cut his body into small pieces and threw them inside the pen, making sure they eat it all," I say quietly to Ruby, who is sitting opposite .
She doesn't smile, only nodding and pulling a card from the ga we're playing. She flips it around and shows it to
again.
"I won again. Now tell
how you did it."
I stay silent for a mont, already yearning to forget the situation.
"I kept an eye on him since he started showing hostility towards . Then I began to observe his movents and his sensitivity to my mana usage. I was careful, never showing any aggression," mories flash through my mind. "I created a small orb of mana inside my mouth. I've learned that everyone's body has a kind of barrier that partially conceals the mana within, and even though you can sense it if you try hard enough, or if the other person isn't good at controlling it, I noticed that Eric wasn't proficient at it."
Ruby nods likely understanding where I'm heading with this.
"He continued to taunt
in the hallway to my room, out of earshot of everyone else.
He did it every day.
So one day, I simply waited for him to lean closer, and then I opened my mouth as if to say sothing, and shot the mana orb through his eye into his brain," I look at her, "he died almost instantly."
I leave out the part where I had to drag him to my room. I omit the part where I had to go out and imdiately clean up the blood.
I don't tell her how I had to cut his entire body into pieces while using [Oscillation] and feeling like I was on the verge of passing out several tis, able to continue only thanks to [Focus].
I don't regret it, I did it all to survive.
But damn, it feels disgusting.
Reviews
All reviews (0)