The Search for Knowledge - Chapter 10

"I'll start then, who are you?" Said Lee, taking the initiative. Kara looked disappointed, like a child who had a treat snatched from her hands. "If you really are the Rox I know, then I'd also like to know what happened to you. We were not close, Rox was merely someone that I knew of, however his leaving was a surprise for the entire city; seeing as he was the captain of the guard at the time."

"I am the Rox you knew, I was the captain of the guard in Fira for over one hundred years. When I reached the age of two hundred and fifty, I took leave of my position to take on the Nihil family ceremony in the Forest of Giants. However, when I had completed it and attempted to leave, there was some sort of barrier or other unseen force preventing me from leaving. Whenever I attempt to leave the forest, I would wind up heading deeper into the forest. I can only guess that it was a space magic barrier." Rox paused to allow Lee to absorb what he had said, continuing after a few moments in a solemn tone. "It did not feel like over a thousand years had passed, however when I returned, everyone that I knew had passed away. My entire family, except the main branch, had also passed away."

He had already told all of this to Kara when he signed on with her, frankly he was tired of repeating himself, but he figured he owed the man an explanation. It probably shed more light on his previous explanation, so his party more than likely had no qualms hearing this more detailed version.

Leyri was the next person to jump in with a question, speaking in a polite tone, causing Kara to start giving puppy eyes. "What sort of power was that at the end of your fight with Jeerae, the black sphere that annihilated everything around you, but caused no sound whatsoever?"

Rox hesitated for a moment, she had asked something which he did not particularly want to answer. In the end, however, he gave in. "It was a void, widespread annihilation attack. No sound, object, or creature can exist in the void except for the mediation god Nihil himself. What I did essentially summoned a small portion of the void to our world temporarily. Annihilation is too kind a word, to be honest. Anything that enters the void ceases to exist entirely, which is why magic involving it usually focuses on depriving mana, denial of ability, or basic destruction attacks."

Kara's puppy eyes ceased, not because it was finally her turn to ask a question, but because she suddenly felt something within herself change. One of her abilities had leveled up, which also caused her vision and eyes to glow golden momentarily. However, no one else seemed to notice. Given the timing, she could only guess her intelligence ability had just leveled up. That means the information about the void, or void magic, was information that no other half-elf had learned before. Looking around, she confirmed that idea by making sure there were no other half-elves nearby, which concerned her. It meant that Rox had knowledge of void magic that, at least, no other half-elf had ever learned before.

She was immensely curious about Rox's unusual knowledge of void magic, however despite her immense curiosity, she kept her eyes on her goal. "Rather than a question, I'd like to know about your seal. As well as why you never mentioned it, despite knowing that I'm researching them." Her voice sounded like she was forcing herself to keep calm and pronounce each word carefully, holding herself back.

In response, he averted his eyes and spoke timidly, "Well, I don't want to talk about all of it, but basically I didn't tell you because you can't do anything about it. Someone who is merely studying seals will not be able to decipher the runic writing of my seal. As for more about it, the simple answer is that it seals my abilities. It's why the Virrat reads them as level zero." He could not look her in the eyes even once as he spoke, the look she was giving him was too intense. It was a confusing mixture between her earlier puppy dog eyes, and staring daggers at him. He honestly did not know how to look at her with such a gaze directed at him.

"So, how strong are you-- really-- then?" Feera asked, casually dropping possibly the most loaded question so far. One that everyone wanted to know, but did not want to ask. "I didn't see what happened myself, but the entire underground of the city is doing backflips over your beating an undefeated champion as if he were a defenseless child." The old elf, Lee, flinched at her words. Feera did not pull any punches with her words, but she was not necessarily wrong, so he kept silent.

"Well, I think that's enough for today. Hey Kara, the barrier mage of this city offered to tell you some knowledge about seals that the library can't offer you. He's something of a specialist in that magic and an acquaintance of mine. Just show up and tell his secretary that Rox sent you to speak to Chiron." Rox said loudly, as if cutting off all of their thoughts. He never said how many he would answer, and he really would rather not get into talking about the strength that he couldn't even access, without nearly killing himself, at the moment. Unsealing himself for two minutes to beat the tar out of Jeerae in a space where reality was altered was too much for him already, at this time it was a moot point.

Feera puffed her cheeks out and looked as if she were pouting, having her question completely ignored. While Kara seemed to be torn between being angry at his not answering and curious about what she could learn from the barrier mage. The other two people seemed unmoved about the entire situation, however, Rox guessed that they both were somewhat disappointed. He was just glad they did not try to dispute it. He would not answer any more questions regardless of what they did, but he would rather avoid arguing about it since they had taken care of him after he had collapsed.

As Feera continued to pout, Kara seemed to have decided on being curious and spoke to Rox. "Since there is still plenty of time left today, I think I'll follow up on that lead right now. When I get back tonight the three of us will meet and discuss what Feera was able to find." She began to make her way towards the, still wide-open, door. Before she rounded the corner, she looked back and glared daggers at Rox. "You and I will also be having a discussion, student." She said coldly, putting an emphasis on the last word to remind him of their contract. To which he groaned in exasperation.

- - - -

They paid their respects to Lee, who tried to weasel out some more info from Rox to no avail, then left the mansion. On their way out they crossed paths with Jeerae, who hurriedly moved out of Rox's path and fell to the ground to prostrate himself. Rox could not help but feel that it was quite unsettling, however, Feera let out a suppressed fit of laughter. The young elf had clearly had quite the change in demeanor, at least towards Rox, who hoped that it would keep his arrogance in check. Despite his distaste for people that irritated him, the boy had real talent, and he hoped that he could harness it while staying humble. He had high chances of being the next barrier mage for the city, what good would it do if the city's final line of defense was always looking down on his enemies?

Upon returning to the inn, Rox left Feera to her own devices and returned to his room. Inside was the usual room of a bed, storage trunk with a magic lock, desk, wardrobe, and a full-body mirror; even in a high-class inn like theirs. Unlike his room in Kara's mansion, this one did not have a balcony. However, he supposed that would be asking for too much from an inn.

He removed his utility cloak and sword-belt to store them in the trunk. Then, approaching the mirror, he removed his shirt. The mirror displayed his perfectly toned upper-body, his muscles looking as if he had been chiseled from stone by a master craftsman. His skin was flawless, except that across the pale skin of his torso, runic writing could be seen spreading out from his heart. There was a pitch black circle over his heart that had a single letter of runic writing in the center of it in the color of his skin. The lines of text that spread outward spaced themselves in such a way that it looked like a spider's web, and every few seconds seemed to come to life and change positions quickly. When this happened, the runic letter over his heart would also change. He could already read it, it had been over a thousand years since he started trying to decipher it. Every word, every letter that appeared on his body, he could now read. By now, he could write a cipher to the seal from memory with his eyes closed in such detail that even a child could understand how to unlock it.

However, even with this knowledge, he could not do it. His seal, his curse, would not allow for him to be free without a sacrifice he was not willing to make. So he lived with it. The more powerful the seal, the more elements involved with sealing him, the more specific the directions that could be given to the seal. In his case it was a step further, it meant that they could impose more conditions to be unlocked aside from simply deciphering it. They had used ten elements from the highest order of casters to seal him, and thus had free reign over what they wanted to do with the seal. When those that sealed him had done so, they locked away three things and had three conditions for unlocking it. They sealed his abilities, nearly all of his power, and his physical biology. The conditions for unlocking them were not complicated but were arduous and time-consuming to do. The first was to decipher the writing, the same as any seal no matter how powerful. The second was to survive in the Forest of Giants for one thousand years. However, the trickiest one was the third.

As he was about to contemplate the final step to unlocking the seal, he heard a knock at the door. "Hello? Are you in there, Rox?" Came Feera's voice. Before he could answer, she opened his door. When she saw him, a red flush spread from her neck to the tips of her ears.

"Yes, Feera, one moment while I put a shirt on." He said as if she were still at the door, trying to lighten the mood by teasing her for walking in without waiting for an answer. He turned away from the mirror to face Feera, then put his shirt back on as his seal began to squirm again. "Did you need something?"

She had recovered from her embarrassment, the sight of Rox's seal having sobered her up a bit. She shook her head, as if removing thoughts from her head, then produced two bottles that she had been hiding behind her back. Holding them out to her sides, she had a wide grin on her face and proclaimed, "It's drinking time! I want to get to know you, partner!"

What she held was two gallons worth of rum. From the look of the bottle, she had gotten some good stuff with her advance payment from the contract. Rox looked at her beaming face, "I hope that I can keep my shirt on while you get to know me, this time." He replied flatly while taking one of the bottles from her. This time she seemed to be immune to his teasing though, as her smile only grew wider.

"Well, I think that depends what kind of drunk you are, because I'm going to drink you under the table!" She challenged proudly while sitting down at his desk after facing the chair towards his bed, signaling for him to have a seat by patting his blanket.

After sitting down on the bed, he removed the cork from the bottle and took a deep swig of the liquor. Warmth spread through his body as he responded, "Oh yeah? Whoever collapses first gets punished by Kara when she gets here to discuss the info you gathered. Deal?" He put out his free hand for her to shake, a sly smile on his face.

Fearless, she removed her own cork and took an even deeper drink while shaking his hand. "You're on, pretty boy."

"So, you think I'm pretty, then?" He said, without missing a beat.

"Yeah, a pretty weak drinker." She said before taking another drink, starting to leave him behind. They exchanged good conversation, talking about their past experiences, training methods that they used to use, as well as a variety of other topics. It was not long before they both had consumed their individual bottles and had to request more from the inn. After a few hours had passed, they had bottle upon bottle strewn around the room. They, too, were on the ground, when Kara arrived.