“Mmmhhhm…”
The bright ray of sunlight pierced through the loosely closed curtains at just the right angle, shining straight into my eye.
Tossing and turning for a few more seconds, I begrudgingly rubbed my eyes before opening them.
My body felt stiffer than usual, and that's considering the fact my ‘usual’ also included the month before I crossed the 1st Endurance threshold.
I slowly reached for the water sack, which was still fastened to my waist, and emptied nearly all its contents – a liter of water.
“Haaa…”
The dryness was gone from my throat, but my arms still felt heavier than they should have.
‘What time is it?..’
Judging by the light outside, the hour was already closer to noon than to the sunrise.
Indeed, as I opened my watch, the short arrowhead rested halfway between 9 and 10, with the minute hand pointing straight down.
‘Guess I slept through the bell.. two of them, actually– wait, breakfast!’
I quickly shot up, about to put on my boots…
‘Huh?’
The room was tidier than yesterday, with my footwear and sword carefully moved to the side. In addition, there was a bowl of watery oatmeal on top of the small drawer cabinet beside the bed, with a few dried berries sprinkled on top. Beside it was a wooden mug, filled with fresh water.
‘Ah. They probably clean those rooms. They’re also used by recovering patients, after all.’
The meal might not have been luxurious, but at my current state, I devoured it within less than a minute, feeling my hunger only partially sated.
‘Guess I really overdid it.’
Just as the morning sun chased away the darkness, so did the lengthy rest washed away some of yesterday's gloominess.
‘I recall that after donating blood, you need to drink lots of water and eat plenty of food.’
I probably ‘donated’ quite a bit of blood yesterday, although the floor of that office had little use for it.
‘Hmm… nah, I think it’d be best to skip sword training today.’
After doing a few warmups, I felt my body was less responsive than usual, and my balance felt slightly off. Training like this might just reinforce bad habits. It’s not like I only had physical training to do, anyway.
‘Come to think of it, my training yesterday might have done more harm than good.’
Perhaps the adrenaline from constantly being on high alert made me blind to my body's exhaustion, only exacerbating the situation.
However, what was done was done. As I put on my boots, I vowed to pay better attention to my body post-battle.
“Excuse me. Could you tell me something?”
After coming downstairs, I made my way to the hospital hall, and found one of the children (likely one of the orphans, perhaps even a priest-in-training) loitering amidst the waiting area of the lobby.
“Of course, sir.”
“I need a courier to fetch something from the Adventurer Guild’s smithy. Do you know where I can find one?”
The young boy’s eyes opened wide, his nervous voice radiating excitement.
“I-I can do it, sir! What do you need?”
I narrowed my eyes, remembering Amelia’s stories.
“Are you allowed to play outside at this hour?”
The boy hesitated for a second, but his subsequent answer held confidence.
“Yes! I mean, I’ve finished cleaning! The priestess said I can go after I finish cleaning.”
I threw a glance at the nearby stools, noticing the faint reflections of light, glittering off what little moisture still stuck to their surface. The floor seemed freshly wiped, too, and I did notice a bucket with a wet mop in one of the corners.
“...alright.”
After inquiring about the usual way he ran such errands for the clergy, I quickly went back to my room, returning with my Guild credentials - the paper, not the token - and a single paper sheet listing my items. Apart from them, my hand also held 3 silver coins.
“This should cover the carriage fee. Keep the change.”
“Thank you, sir!”
With that taken care of, I went back to my room. While the cramped space wouldn’t usually be my first choice, right now, there was no better place to stay, at least if I wanted peace and quiet. And those conditions were a prerequisite for what I’d be doing most of the day.
‘Alright, I think I can finally try…’
In truth, the results my basic arcane manipulation exercises were still far from perfect, especially with the more complex shapes, but according to the first book, my current level - being able to create and freely maintain an octagon, with the curvature of its lines remaining below a certain degree of deviation - was enough to start practicing the most basic cantrip.
Yes, cantrip. Ball Of Light, or Light Orb, was by far the easiest cantrip to learn, presumed to be the very first spell discovered by ‘natural’ Wizards.
‘Lets see…’
After closing the curtains, the sunlight illuminating the room diminished, its softer light giving way to darker shadows.
Turning my back to the window, I raised my hand, and concentrated on the Arcane Tides.
Focusing some energy in front of my fingers, and even more of it at their tips, I drew a circle on top of the shifting canvas.
‘So far, so good.’
Inside of the circle, I first drew two horizontal lines, starting a little bit farther off of its center, and nearly touching its outline. The tides continued to subtly shift, like the surface of a calm lake under a light summer breeze, but after yesterday’s exercise, maintaining them posed no challenge.
‘Almost there…’
Two similar lines, this time vertical, appeared inside my basic sigil.
Maintaining both the circle and the four lines was slightly harder than a square, but I still managed, albeit barely.
‘Just a little bit…’
Now, I drew a tiny square at the center, turned 45 degrees to the side, its edges nearly touching each of the lines.
For a few minutes, I didn’t do anything else, instead concentrating on maintaining the sigil, preventing each and every line and shape from bending under the slow, but relentless flow of arcane energy.
‘I can do it!..’
The shape was stable enough to proceed to the final stage!
With the last scraps of focus I could muster, I slowly injected arcane energy into the middle cube.
The cube slowly began to fill.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Squinting my right eye open, I could see a glowing orb begin to form in my palm..
whoom
..only to distort and vanish a moment later, its weak glow never even reaching the level of the humble oil lantern in my room.
‘Alright… that was close enough. Let's try this again!’
I quickly repeated the steps from earlier... Only to have the sigil bend out of shape and dissipate at the last stage, before I even injected a bit of energy.
Haaaa…
Taking a deep, slow breath, I carefully reassembled the sigil. This time, I got to the last stage slightly faster than during my first try, including the stabilization.
I also resolved to keep my focus on the arcane tides, disregarding the physical world. That’s when the true nature of this challenge dawned on me.
Once the cube filled up with energy, which then flowed into the rest of the sigil, the currents around the sigil became restless. The careful balance I managed to maintain until that point was shattered just moments after the sigil became active.
“...”
Trying to cast the ‘most basic cantrip’ was far more annoying than I thought.
‘Fine. I survived college – you think I can’t survive this? Let’s fucking go!’
I wasn’t gonna back down from this challenge.
***
Gonnnn
The midday bell, resounding through the Enclave, interrupted my concentration, just as I was at the cusp of successfully evoking this damn glowing orb.
Of course, it felt like success was at the tip of my fingertips for at least the last hour, only to evade my grasp at the very last moment every single time.
‘Ok… maybe I should take a breather. Wouldn't want to miss lunch because I lost track of time.’
With 30 minutes before mealtime, I decided to go out on a stroll.
After a quick glance at my city map, I decided to go up the street towards the outer northeastern gate, then turn to - and circle around - Kaom’s Voyage street, which, from what I remembered, was composed of shrines and churches dedicated to minor gods within the Eminent Pantheon.
As I exited the temple complex, once again phasing out the many voices of pious prayer, joyful laughter and casual conversation, I began sorting out my thoughts, all while my legs took me towards my arbitrary destination.
‘This is getting truly dangerous.’
On one hand, I was certain killing the Scarlet Shadows’ assassin did not deter them – if anything, this only added fuel to the fire.
On the other hand, I now had a couple of disgruntled minor nobles scheming against me. Of course, if they ordered an investigation, which they might have, they'd soon find out what I told the guards – the fact that I was currently staying at the temple.
While they wouldn't take direct action as long as I was physically inside, it wouldn't stop them from hiring an assassin for when I left.
Given my actions last evening, they would have to be delirious to think I was planning to convert to the Sunborn faith (which was also the ‘family name’ many of its members donned upon achieving a certain rank). Thus, they'd likely conclude that they only had to wait.
Another possibility was framing me for some crime – after all, when it came to nobles (or politicians) in various mangas or TV series, this trope was cliche for a reason.
All I could do in this regard was keep it in mind, acting with extreme caution every time I was outside the temple.
‘As for the Guild trainers? Probably not a problem, as long as I keep my involvement with the Guild itself to a minimum.’
I had to admit their schemes had the capacity to cause me serious harm, as evident by the latest addition to my list of potential threats, but they probably wouldn't go out of their way to get me, especially now that the elf's machinations bore fruit.
‘I really want to pay him back for that… but, I’ve had my fill of reckless retribution. Unless the opportunity presents- no, serves itself on a silver platter, I'd rather focus on my survival.’
As for the aforementioned survival, I had two main priorities. No, actually, if I reigned in my hubris, that number would be three.
‘First – I must strive to always remain somewhere safe until I leave the city.’’
Currently, I was staying in one of the safest places possible. As long as I remained within the Enclave, especially if I kept to the main streets and the temple itself, this was a non-issue, and even traveling to the Guild along the main road (which also passed through the Ministry HQ) could be considered safe.
‘Maybe I should reschedule training to the mornings, so that I can return before nightfall.’
One possible variable was the ritual – I had no idea whether I could stay in the temple past that.
‘I probably can, but just in case, I should search for alternative lodgings in this district.’
Of course, in theory, I could also reduce the risk by reducing my time spent in this city, leaving as soon as I could, after the ritual concluded (unless my subsequent treatment required me to stay).
However, I had something to do next week – Amelia's funeral.
It was a seemingly meaningless, purely sentimental reason. However, I felt that if I didn't stay to witness her final rest, I would lose a certain part of myself, forever looking back at this moment with regret.
‘The second thing I must do remains the same – get stronger.’
Of course, I held no delusions regarding my talent – even if I was pretty good at magic, I knew that learning this stuff would be a marathon, not a sprint. My current struggles were a bitter reminder of that.
As for my swordsmanship… Generally, the same could be said for it, although with the innate ability I inherited with Sebastian's body, perhaps I could at least refine my defensive stance, if I found someone to guide me-
‘Wait! Actually, that guy from the guild… the Slayer trainer. Jack?.. John. He seemed earnest enough, and he clearly knows his stuff. Perhaps, if I recover enough by tomorrow, I should pay him a visit.’
More than that, he would be able to tell me more about Path advancement, something I really haven't looked into yet.
Of course, I would also spare no effort in finishing this Light Orb cantrip. Once I did, I could send a message to Anne Silver. Hopefully, I’d pick up a few important things from her while I was still here in the city.
Between Anne and Jack, there was a good chance I'd find a proper way to advance my real Path, which was not actually Slayer, nor was it Wizard.
However, there was also a chance my advancement would suffer, at best becoming suboptimal, and at worst – getting completely butchered.
And this brought me to my third priority, reluctant as I was to admit it.
‘I might also have to ask for help… In fact, waiting for the next assassination attempt without doing so could be a fatal mistake.’
It would be great if the Temple went to war against the Crimson Shadows, but with what Pinpin told me, coupled with more stories of their exploits, which I heard from Melissa, I was fully certain they had to have had a backer somewhere high up the chain.
At worst, no action would be taken due to external pressure, and at best, their attempts at retribution would get sabotaged, stonewalled and delayed at every turn, which wouldn’t change much in my situation.
Asking Bern for help was out of the question – I already owed him a debt, one which I just admitted I might not be able to repay. Begging for help under those circumstances, considering the level of danger involved, was not even an option.
Of course, there
was
a single option which could help not only with my safety, but also with my Path – the Ministry of Internal Security.
It was a tempting choice – beyond the vice-leader's words, which indicated he saw me as a potential recruit even back then, Anne's words made it clear I would be welcomed with open arms, to say the least.
They could send me to a special academy which would help me advance my Path, and, befitting their name, I would be far beyond the reach of some gangsters, vicious as they were.
I didn't know the power dynamic between the Ministry and the nobility, but I would almost certainly be out of reach for a couple of minor nobles, as well.
All in all, it seemed like a match made in heaven.
And yet…
‘It’s not like I dislike those guys as individuals. If I were to judge them based on what I saw, and their disposition is similar to that of Thomas and the sheriff, they are probably earnest in their desire to act for the good of the kingdom. Maybe even for the good of its people, too.’
However, it was just…
I got the impression that acting for ‘the good of the collective’, even if it was truly justified, required shouldering many, many sins. Beyond the moral aspect, and the mortal dangers such organizations - and their members - usually face, it would also get me deeply entangled with this kingdom, which was something I would much rather avoid.
Additionally, if I got deeply involved with the Ministry itself, there was no guarantee my secrets wouldn't get exposed, and this could come with its own slew of risks and issues.
Sure, there was a chance they would decide to go all in, doing their utmost to help me resolve my current predicament, but if they did, the price they'd later demand would likely be immeasurable.
On the other hand, there was probably a bigger chance they'd decide to make the utmost use of my abilities before my ‘expiry’, dangling promises in front of my face only to pull the rug from under me once they realized I wasn't buying it.
Finally, perhaps my condition would be deemed a sufficient threat to eliminate me the moment it's discovered.
And, of course, if my sword's true nature was ever revealed, they could decide that simply robbing me of - or ‘confiscating’ - it would be a far more reliable return on their investment.
Haaaa…
‘Why can't things just be easy? Why can't I meet some “heaven-defying sword saint” that “sees my talent” and decides to make me the sole inheritor of his “ancient technique”? Or maybe I could just so happen to find a divine artifact that lets me max out my Path and Skills, and grants me some cheat ability, to boot. I'd even settle for getting randomly chosen by some god… Not an evil one like that undeath god, though. Fuck that one.’
Unfortunately, no matter how much I wanted to complain, there was no one to answer those cries.
sigh…
In truth, apart from the two soul conditions, the reason for my current mess wasn't some kind of evil god, nor was it fate – it was my own lacking judgement that ultimately led to those fully avoidable situations.
Now, it was up to me to face their consequences – and come out in one piece on the other side.
With those thoughts, I stepped onto Kaom's Voyage street.
I hastened my step.
The sooner I finished this walk, the sooner I could get back to practicing.
Still, I wouldn't just turn back, having come all the way here.
‘Might as well go sightseeing one last time. After this, until I leave this city, it's full-on grind.’