78. Soldier IV (Patreon)

Have you ever wondered what it felt like to be blind? Most likely yes. Everyone would say they only see an infinite blackness if they lost their sight, yet to me, that infinite appeared as the shiniest white.

It was only when I decided to forgo my mortal senses that I understood what was happening.

In the spiritual plane I could see that my Astral Self had been utterly obliterated, only vestiges of soul mana flying around that barely hinted that the construct had existed in the first place. Only I and the force of nature were in the room.

My body faltered, yet it lived. It would seem that I was laying my back on the wall, after being thrown up in the air by whatever that shockwave was.

Only a few seconds had happened since I lost consciousness as the electromancer now started moving from the spot where he had spellcasted the destructive spell.

I couldn’t even hear the man’s footsteps as my ears were still ringing. With dominion-empowered Regenerations, I was able to stop the buzzing and restore my earlobes to acceptable levels.

“—dier!” Sounds of alert reached my ears. “Boy! You there?” Fynn asked.

“Yes…” I said, not before coughing a few times.

Well, there goes my newly healed lungs. I had fractured a few ribs and torn my left lung when I collided with the wall. I was thankful that I couldn’t feel pain anymore, or at least, my body had learned to ignore it.

“Give me a minute before I get up.” I told to the worried man.

If it wasn’t because the place was littered with my lavender, arcane-soul mana, I wouldn’t be able to heal this fast. But the mana in tandem with Mystic’s Dominion, allowed me to manipulate my body through my soul at extremes that shouldn’t be possible.

“You shouldn’t get up,” Fynn responded. “Your arm is twisted, wait for me to get a healer.”

Now that he said that, I noticed that my right arm was pointing in a way it shouldn’t be possible. Fortunately, my left arm was mostly unharmed. It would be a pain to heal that monstrosity.

“No need,” I told him.

With another pulse of Regeneration, my right arm popped back into place with a sickly and puke-inducing sound.

“I had way worse, trust me.” Now I was just showing off.

“You really don’t need a healer to look over you?” The electromancer reiterated. With the unholy amount of lavender mana, now I had a better hold of the man’s soul, and I was able to read that he was bolstered with shame in his soul.

“Unless you have a twelve-star healer at your service, I’ll be better off alone,” I said even if we both knew the only twelve-star mage in the world was the High Arcanist.

Fynn grunted. He also mumbled something to himself, but between the whispering voice and my broken ears, I didn’t hear what he said.

“Only a minute?” He asked.

“Only a minute.” I slowly nodded.

Regeneration was a powerful spell. It basically rewound time if you thought about it. The soul remembers the body’s prior, healthier state and tries to rebuild it according to such state. But it was severely restricted, or so I felt after casting the spell countless times in the last week.

I needed to look to expand my healing spell repertoire as soon as possible. As the disciple of an eleven-star healer, I had thoroughly failed on that field.

I floated around in the spiritual plane as my body was being healed. There I remembered my fractured soul, laying trapped in an orb in the imperial palace. I was beginning to have a headache thinking of how I would resolve that situation.

With a jump, I got up from the ground, my body finally in a passable state.

“See? A minute.” I told him.

“Hmm.” The man added deep in thought. “Now I can begin to understand how you fought two ten-star mages after being assaulted by a leyline.”

I cracked my neck, moving my head from side to side as the makeshift healing work still left a lot to be desired. A visit to Alatea looked rather inevitable.

“By the way, what was that spell?” I nonchalantly asked Fynn. “It was incredibly powerful. I almost died.”

“Umm…” The man avoided my gaze as he recoiled in shame even if that wasn’t my intention. I had become desensitized to death as of late. “It’s called Fulmination. It’s a spell of the tenth star.”

Now I was actually offended. “Did you use a ten-star spell on a spar?” I had recently become a mage of the tenth star and had no defensive alternatives. That could have truly killed me.

“I’m sorry,” Fynn admitted. “Your soul magic was more powerful than I had anticipated, and my old habits kicked in. It has been a while since I had been hurt in any significant manner, but I know that’s no excuse.”

“Alright, no problem,” I told.

Though I couldn’t deny I was astonished at how Fynn could cast a spell of the tenth star in just an instant. Casting Mystic’s Dominion took me minutes! Not that I had dispelled once since the first and only time that I casted it.

“Really? Are you not bothered or angry about my actions?” The soldier asked in amazement.

“Sure, I’m angry. That hurt.” I nodded. “But I can feel you are sorry, and that’s what matters.”

Fynn gave me a confused look, basically saying “You are weird.” That, and I also had read his soul. But the man himself didn’t voice his concerns anymore.

“I have another question, though.” I inquired.

“Shoot,” Fynn said. “I’m afraid I owe you after my slip-up.”

“What are the marks on your chest?” I asked the shirtless man. “They don’t look like scars at all.” That came out with a voice worthy of a healer.

Fynn Albeyr was a deep blue ellari, like most males. In that matter, I was just an exception with my violet-colored skin. But what called for my attention were the two V-shaped marks on his torso. They had a light-blue color and were stacked one on top of the other, like a double arrow pointing down. Because the marks were lighter-colored than his skin, one would think they were scars. But with my anatomical knowledge, I knew that wasn’t the case.

“These?” Fynn caressed the marks on his chest. “These marks appear on every ellari once they reach the eleventh star.”

I stood motionless as I processed his words. That meant…

“But those look like the birthmark of nobles?” I was unable to believe what I had before me.

“That they do.” Fynn nodded. “The founders of noble houses were mages of the eleventh star or higher. They pass on their own marks to their descendants as birthmarks.”

That made me remember what Saphar Nay had told me a few days ago, even if I had True Recall turned off. He had called me a noble.

I clenched my teeth in realization and defiance.

Suddenly the mighty attitude nobles had was justified. And I hated it.

“Hey, are you alright?” Fynn got close to me and put his hand on my shoulder.

“I’m fine,” I said as Mystic’s Dominion flared, empowering my words.

“Whatever your say.” The electromancer responded unaffected. “But if your questions are over, we must finally talk about your schedule.”

“My schedule?” My anger dissipated and got replaced by confusion.

“Of course, your schedule as a soldier.” He added with a smirk. “You have passed my test, proving far stronger than I thought, and validating your absurd claims. You are now part of my private order of knights.”

I had totally forgotten about the true reason why we were here after everything that had happened.

“Then how is this whole soldier situation going to work?”

“For starters,” Fynn began, “I want you to leave the academy.” I gave the military man a hateful frown. “You may or may not like it, but you are still guilty of murder and have sensible information regarding the draconids, I can’t allow you to remain unaccounted for at Sin’fal.”

“Then have someone to watch over me. The solution is quite obvious.” I stated as a matter of fact.

“Why waste resources when I can relocate my soldiers to my post.” Even when his visage maintained military disciple, I could sense him grinning on his soul.

“How long is this going to last this ‘relocation’?” I made air quotes with my fingers.

“Now, boy. It seems we have a misunderstanding here.” The electromancer’s voice hardened, his dominion intensifying. “You are a soldier, and soldiers do not ask questions, they obey.”

Really? That’s how he wanted to play?

I let the scowl on my face vanish and let out a sigh. I was in no condition to question the man; my best path of action was to follow his orders for the time being.

“Yes, sir.” I replied with an unenthusiastic military salute.

“Alright.” He nodded. “Starting next week, you’ll move out to the dormitories here in Lan’el as we wait for all the bureaucracy to officialize your change.”

Ellari bureaucracy was slow and tedious. One of the disadvantages of being a member of a longevous and rather lazy race. I was somewhat surprised that he was able to have all that paperwork ready for next week, but once again, he was the Command Sergeant Major of the army of Ferilyn.

“You are dismissed.” Albeyr added as he left the training room.

At the moment I could only think of how this ordeal was going to develop and the headache those same thoughts were giving me.

Apparently, I was now a soldier.