Chapter 10: Ancient Magic: Unlimited Seal

It's been five days since we started our journey towards the lawless town of Levearûn and the incident with the knights. To reach the town, we must pass through a massive forest and several small mountains.

By hunting our food and drinking from the rivers we passed by, we easily got the things we needed to survive throughout the journey.

And yep, as much as possible, I don't want her to drink my Water magic because I can't explain why it felt so wrong.

According to Cherubim, for every new evolved skill I acquire, a large amount of mana will be used. When I asked him how to maximize my mana to avoid further side-effects when using a newly evolved skill, Cherubim suggested training myself and making my body used to skills like Hesphateus. The more one pushes their body to the limit, the more mana will increase. 

I have been training myself using Caspian's sword every day. On the first and second day, all my mana was drained, and I slept the whole day. The next two days, I improved a bit; although my mana was drained, I didn't fall asleep. I was tired, yes, but falling asleep was missing. 

"What's for dinner tonight, Mister Troy?" 

"Let me see what I will find," I said before sheathing back the sword before continuing our travel. 

Not too far from us, I heard a squalling of wild boar ahead. 

"I think we're having another wild boar for tonight's dinner," I told Rafaela before creeping to the bush. 

I raised my head from the bushes I was hiding in as I aimed my hand at the wild boar walking a few meters away.

I activated my electricity magic and blasted a lightning strike at the wild boar that immediately fell down to the ground without any struggle.

Rafaela, who was sitting next to me, clapped her hands. "That was cool, big bro Troy."

I clicked my tongue. "I know, right? We're eating pork tonight!"

"Yey!"

As the days passed, Rafaela started to open up to me, and she no longer acts scared when I'm talking to her and already showing her cheerful side.

I walked towards the lying boar and dragged it to the nearest river. While I was cleaning the meat, she was already preparing the campfire at the side of the river.

I'm not a good cook or even a knowledgeable one when it comes to cooking because mom was the one who always did the cooking back home, and with the lack of spices on hand or even a little bit of familiarity, the only thing I could make was a barbecue without a decent sauce.

Yep, I'm a terrible person.

But to my amazement, Misha always eats my so-so cooking with a smile on her face.

"Can I have a second?"

"Of course, there's a lot." 

I handed the cooked meat to her, and she immediately chewed it as if it was the most delicious food ever.

I hope she's not faking it because I will feel very bad if she does.

After eating, we decided to sleep. I gave Rafaela my robe as her carpet, and she used her robe as her blanket.

On the other hand, I slept under a tree a meter away from her, and unlike the last time, my Mana perception was always active for any signs of danger.

"Good night, big bro Troy," she said while covering herself with her robe.

"Good night."

Cherubim, any progression about the lock on Refaela's neck?

[Assessment was completed a few minutes ago. What I discovered was that the lock was created by a heavy magic called Unlimited Seal]

Unlimited skill? What the heck is that?

[An ancient powerful magic that once existed intended to seal a higher-class demon magic]

So, you're trying to say that Rafaela is some powerful demon?

[Yes, but her class is still unknown since the power of unlimited seal hinders my Assessment of her]

Is there any way to free her? I mean, to unlock the Unlimited Seal?

[Negative as of now. Ancient magic is too old, and information about it has been eradicated]

Oh. So does it mean Rafaela will…

[Yes]

I heaved a sigh, looked up at the starry sky, and gazed upon the countless stars with the moon shining the brightest tonight.

Now that I think about it, this is the first full moon since I arrived. The moon here looks similar to the moon we have back home.

And by seeing it, I felt at home.

Before I knew it, I had already fallen asleep.

However,

I woke up due to the intense pain all over my body, as if my entirety was burning. I could feel it, and it felt like I was breaking apart.

My head started to hurt so much that it made me release pained groans while brushing my face to the ground. I rubbed my hand to my head temple to at least ease the pain, but it never lessened. Rather, it intensified.

No matter how much I endured, it became more and more painful.

Am I dying? What is this pain? Why does its fucking hurt so much?

I tried my best to stop it, but the scream finally came out of my mouth, waking Rafaela up. The pain was ripping me inside as if something wanted to come out of my body.

"Free me!" 

I heard a voice. 

Even currently fighting with the pain currently attacking me, I sensed that she stood up and walked towards me.

"Big bro-"

I stared at her to say that everything was alright, but what greeted me was her stunned face while looking at me.

That's the last thing I saw before my vision turned red as blood, and I lost consciousness.

What is happening?

"Set me free…"

I heard a voice amidst the pain. It was a raspy, deep voice coming from a grave. 

W-who are you!? C-Cherubim?

"Mister Troy! Please wake up!" 

I felt a soft hand gently tapping my face, and I slowly opened my eyes and saw a worried face of Rafaela.

Just like that, the pain suddenly vanished, but I felt so tired. 

"W-what happened to me?"