Visit to Ravenknight (1)

Chapter 34

"Huff…... Huff…... Not… Not so strong…. Please…." Laura pleaded as I pushed harder. I knew it was hurting her but pain is imminent in this kind of thing.

"Just a little more. It will be full in a short while and then you will get accustomed to it." I encouraged her as I pushed strongly. In one final stroke, I had pushed completely and she screamed as pain assaulted her body.

"No…. It's… too much…" She cried a little in pain but I couldn't show her any mercy, I had to keep on moving.

[Spell it right, you duffer]

'What?' I asked as I pulled and pushed once again, earning another cry from Laura and pleading to go slow.

[I'll give you a new title]

'But why? What have I done?' I was even more confused as my speed increased and as it did, so did Laura's cries. She was on the edge now but I was nowhere near done.

[That!]

[That way of spelling!]

[You're just exercising!]

'Of course we are.' What else could we be doing? I wonder if there is something wrong with her.

Anyway, the night in the Ravenknight kingdom was very peaceful. And the first thing in the morning, we were training. Max and Rose were following an advanced regime while I was helping Laura with her physical training.

She lacked greatly in physical aspects. Besides, in the novel, Laura wasn't known for her talent but for her cruelty and intelligence.

However, I could help her in that regard. Of course, it would be difficult but it needed to be done. Her physical stats were very low. Her agility was F+ while her strength was E-. her endurance was at an all-time low, F-.

I was currently increasing her flexibility so she could endure the month long training I had prepared for her. Yet, even this was proving to be very difficult for her.

"Why would I need to do this?" She asked as I let her go. Resentment was clear in her eyes but I wasn't having any of it.

She needed to raise her physical stats no matter what. "This is what you need to focus on first," I replied.

Darkness isn't like light. Light is smooth whereas darkness is barren. One needs a strong body to bear its adverse effects or else the darkness would eat up your body and leave a husk behind.

Besides, using the party system, even if she was very low in terms of talent, her growth rate would at least be twice as fast.

[Wouldn't it be better to purchase elixirs for her?]

It would be better but at this beginning in her progress, the effect wouldn't be much. We need a strong body to store more of the elixir's effects.

"But my blessing is magical." She argued but I still wasn't willing to listen. No matter how much she pouts or makes puppy eyes, this was crucial.

I threw a stamina potion at her and said, "Drink and let's continue. We don't have much time."

======

"You jerk! How can you do this to a girl's body?" Laura asked as she slumped on her throne, fully tired.

Even though I gave her ten stamina potions in just a training of three hours, she was still tired. That's how bad her stamina was.

"You need to get used to this. There is a limit to how much your body can handle dark mana. Strong spells would end up having adverse effects on your body." I explained as I sat beside her.

I was given an equally luxurious chair on which the queen's husband or vice versa is supposed to sit. Luckily there was no one in the throne room to object and for some reason, Stewart was treating me very carefully.

"And when will we practice it?" She asked referring to our training of darkness.

"At the academy," I replied. It wasn't far away now. Only two months left. I was planning to stay here for a month and then after a month's travel back to the capital, I will teleport from there to the Academy.

It would have been much easier if there was a teleportation array here but because of the reputation of the Cortum empire or more specifically, the Lux family, no one was willing to connect their kingdom to the empire in fear of an invasion.

"In what class are you again?" She asked after a while.

"Elite class, section A," I replied. She nodded but made a face of dissatisfaction, "I'm in section C."

Section C was reserved for those who are royalties or have special identities but whose talent is not so promising, such as Laura.

It's not that that was a dead end. One could always do better in tests and raise their ranks to get into higher classes. However, the same was true vice versa as well. If you don't do well, you will go down a section.

If you don't do well in section C as well, then you are kicked out of the elite class as well and thrown into the normal classes where you can consider your future as ended.

In the novel, Laura is kicked out of the class after her first test. Then her face was exposed which led to her becoming an outcast, an object of contempt, and a target for those in power.

It was orchestrated by Eric and his companions since in his first life, Laura had initiated a war after the academy and it ended up killing many.

So to prevent that from happening, Eric would arrange for Laura to become a public enemy after which, she would end up committing suicide after severe humiliation. She does cause some trouble before that but it wasn't much, Laura was, in the end, just a minor villain.

Anyway, that was none of my concern. I planned to bring Laura to section A after just the first test. The first test was greatly explained in the novel and I could use that to raise both of our rankings in the classes.

"What should I do about the families once I leave?" She asked after a while of contemplation.

"Your mother will take care of that," I replied. She was confused when I mentioned her mother as she couldn't understand what I meant.

"My mother is in eternal sleep." She replied with small hints of grief in her voice.

"I know that. And that is precisely why I am here." I replied as I stood up and pulled her along.

"Take me to your mother," I said and pushed her from behind towards the exit. She was immensely confused as to why I was asking but led me there after a lot of urging.

We entered a grand room that was no less grand than mine. In the middle of the room, there was a container. A glass container. A black-haired woman was lying in it with her eyes closed.

The resemblance between her and Laura was striking. This black-haired woman was the very woman who once came to know of her daughter's tragic end, found her husband, and attacked the Bellator Academy. It was a major incident during the second year, one Eric couldn't anticipate.

Although they were defeated, Bellator Academy was nothing more than a skeleton left after their battle.

The one to stop the father of Laura was none other than Bayern, another divine-ranking entity.

Anyway, it's a future that won't be coming so there is no point in going in detail about it. I won't let Laura die let alone suffer anything. On the contrary, those who were responsible for her misery in the novel will have to pay for their crimes.

[You can't do that to the main characters]

'I can't do that to the major characters.' I corrected Allison. Nothing was stopping me from taking it out on those who weren't so important.

The woman in the glass container was sleeping peacefully. Her name was Monica Ravenknight. The cruel witch. Forgetting her beauty for a while, she was a powerful thunder mage and SS+ rank.

That was the same rank as the second prince and in the imperial family, he was of the highest rank after the old men with divine rank.

Monica's breakthrough to the SSS rank was thwarted by none other than Eric who unlocked his sword's potential to the maximum.

My true motive for coming here was solely this. I wanted to see how to awaken her before time. In the novel, she just woke up but there was no detail about it.

If she can just wake up in the novel, then maybe I could also just wake her up. 'Diagnose her.' I asked Alisson.

There was no need to do this as Allison replied:

[There is nothing wrong with her]

[She just lacks inherent dark mana]

'Wait a minute! Are you saying that dark mana in her is inherent?' I asked in disbelief. I didn't know everything about his novel but if what Allison was saying was the truth, then my earlier warning to Laura was what had happened to Monica.

As I said, if Dark mana is used inside a weak vessel, then dark mana would start chipping away at the vessel. I couldn't think of the same since Monica seemed perfectly normal to me. Her figure wasn't husky at all.

[That's because it's inherent]

Exactly. Inherent means there won't be any danger to her physique but to her life. Once dark mana reached a point where the vessel couldn't hold it, the dark mana would begin to chip away at life.

Monica wasn't sleeping or in a coma, she was dying. Going to eternal sleep was the only way to slow down the process. After a decade or so, she would have recovered enough to live for five more years.

But this posed another problem to me right now. I could easily awaken her at the expense of sharing life energy with her right now. My life energy was more potent than the lives of billions of people so just one thread would be enough.

And that was precisely the problem. I only had one thread of life right now. I couldn't share it with her immediately and it would take at least a year for that thread to double.

[Why not give her your HP?]

[It's life force]

'It's not much. And any HP I give her goes permanently. It's not a gamble I'm willing to take.'

There is one other unethical method but that is only for the truly deserving. And considering Monica's rank, I would need a large amount.

'How much gold do I have?'

[200000673]

'That's more than enough. Is there an elixir with moon dew properties?'

[Better]

[Moon dew 100ml: Cost 200000000]

'Tell me honestly, you made up that price, didn't you?'

[No]

[It's the real price]

Although doubting, I was willing to trust her on this one since moon dew is very precious. Even a vial of moon dew takes tens of thousands of years to form.

Moon dew is mostly used to preserve the life of something. Purity in other words. It would have been alright if I had products with moon dew properties. Then I could have harvested life energy from criminals and given it to Monica to sustain her life.

Moon Dew itself was even better. Now I just needed to fill it with life. The good point is, it doesn't have to be human life.

"There wouldn't happen to be a dungeon nearby right?" I turned and asked Laura. She was confused by my question when I was the one who had brought her here.

"Why?" She asked.

"Laura, I'm going to awaken your mother. But for that, I need to harvest a large amount of life. Although corrupted, monsters are also alive so we can simply use their life to help your mother."

I explained my intentions to her and she went wide eyed. "Does that mean; you can cure my mother!?" She asked, grabbing my hands tightly.

"Well, I need to ask someone for your hand, right?" I replied as I pulled her closer and grasped her hands in return.