Chapter 96 Missing Link

The body had already started its decomposition, but after Eleven's treatment the old man only looked disgusting. The smell was gone, which was the biggest negative for Lucas. Closing in on the body, he started to inspect the arms and legs. Runes had been carved into the flesh, some looked very similar, while others were new.

Eleven made room so that Lucas could pour all his focus into one place. Even though his personality changed drastically out of nowhere. Eleven attributed it to being a prodigy at such a young age. The way Lucas inspected the body made Eleven make mental notes for future reference. There was so much he could learn from this man, he needed to be on his good side for the future.

Lucas himself was quite lucky that the subject was part of his interest. His core helped him understand certain things immediately, while his thinking process did the rest. There was something that was slowly unearthing itself, a small yet big breakthrough. He was on the cusp of grasping it, but there was something missing.

He understood the runes and even the process of the spell, yet he couldn't manifest it. Likewise, he was being held back by something he didn't understand. The runes fit, yet it wasn't enough, Lucas knew that if he tried to sound it out, the spell would implode on itself and cause an explosion. It wouldn't kill him, but he also wouldn't gain anything from trying it out, since it just wouldn't work.

'Logically speaking, we have everything. We have the runes necessary to perform the spell, but it's still not enough.'

'The hell are we missing? It doesn't make sense.'

'Perhaps we, no I'll ask Gilbert, he should be capable of helping us.'

"Argh, I can't figure it out. We have enough runes to form the spell, but there's something missing."

Eleven was flabbergasted that Lucas had already figured out how the spell worked, but a tiny bit disappointed that it wasn't finished.

"Can you show me what you have right now?"

"Hmm, hell no! This is valuable information for me, I'll help you with your nasty hobby. But don't expect me to share anything with you."

"I… I'm sorry sir, if there's anything I can do to help, I'll gladly do so. Perhaps we can ask Gilbert for help?"

"No, I'll do this myself, just give me some time and also. Where's my crystal?"

They, or rather Lucas, had been working for quite some time. He didn't notice the passage of time, but almost half a day had already gone by. Eleven forgot all about the crystal he promised Lucas after their fight, but part of Lucas would never forget about what was and should be his.

Rummaging through some papers, Eleven brought Lucas a small but radiant crystal. The blue light was mesmerizing to an extent, almost like looking at a campfire.

'With this, we can purchase a weapon from that blacksmith.'

'Are you kidding me? We just got our first magical crystal, and you already want to give it away?'

'We promised the blacksmith to buy one of his weapons and should fulfill it as soon as possible. Enough of this! Let me take it from here!'

A mere second had passed in reality, but Eleven noticed another drastic change in Lucas' behavior. His guard was broken when his other personality came out, but now, it was strengthened again. Eleven reaffirmed himself to always be on guard no matter who.

"Thank you, Eleven, I'm glad you followed our bet. Now, if you'll excuse me, I still have some things to do."

"Of course, you must be preparing for the school's ranking, right? I should also spend some time planning some things out."

"The school's ranking? What do you mean?"

"Didn't you know? The school prepares a few challenges for all the students and the top 100 get sent to the yearly competition.", Eleven was surprised at first, thinking that Lucas would already know about everything.

'It seems that even he has too many things to think about if he forgot about the school's most important events.'

Lucas quickly made his way out of Eleven's... tree house, for a lack of a better term. He wasn't really that hurried, but he did still have a lesson with Elam that he didn't want to miss. Besides that, he also wanted to visit Micheal again, though he didn't really know why.

Furthermore, there was also the thing about Gilbert's innocence and the blacksmith that he wanted to support. At least he was given a break when it came to Freya's situation. He had big plans for her, but didn't have the time nor strength to truly help her out.

Now he had even more work in the form of the school's contest and challenges. It was becoming too much for him, there was simply too much work and not enough time.

'One step at a time, for now, let's go back to Elam.'

'Urgh, did you have to take control so forcefully? You know I could've just given it to you, you know?'

'Like anyone would trust you.'

'Didn't that little kid trust me? It didn't matter what I said.'

'No, you were clearly in the wrong, that's not a way to talk to someone.'

'Do you truly think that Eleven was hurt or got any kind of animosity towards us now that I talked to him?'

'...Let's talk about this later, we need to focus now.'

Part of Lucas was angered by the way he was handling things, but decided to leave it be. There were no benefits of fighting further.

Climbing the mountain didn't take that much effort this time. He had done it so many times that it was starting to become the norm. Trotting through the snowstorm, he reached the cabin, which he quickly entered.

"Welcome back, my student.", a floppy hand waved at him from a couch. Elam was covered in blankets and was yawning right after he spoke. What was strange was that Elam sat upright for once. As Lucas was used to seeing Elam lying down and not caring all that much, he felt something important was about to happen.

"Dear pupil, I had decided to train you when you first came here as a joke. I didn't care all that much and was simply testing the waters and seeing how new students faired. But I have to say that after months of seeing your work that I'm impressed. So it's time for me to ask you to fulfill your payment, or rather, my request."

Elam sounded serious for once, Lucas was already drowning in work, and now there would be even more. Part of him was cursing Elam to hell, while the other part was listening intently to what Elam was about to say.

"Assuming you know about the school's contest, I have something to ask of you. I want you to be one of the 100 students qualified to enter the yearly national school contest and win that one as well. That is my request, if you can't fulfill this demand, then I'll strip you of your magic and destroy your core."

The warm cabin started to lose its warmth, replaced by a chilling cold as if the storm outside had seeped in somewhere. Elam was serious, he was smiling or apathetic, he was anything but joking around.

"How am I meant to do that? There are tons of students, and I've even heard that most students that have entered the school have reached Rank 1 already.", Lucas knew that he wasn't really speaking the truth. But he was seeing if he could get something out of Elam, since his request was unreasonable.