Chapter 130 Reason

Lucas was confronted by Elam's friend, and while his friend was very critical of Lucas, Elam didn't interrupt in the slightest. It felt strange to Lucas to not receive any kind of help from him, but perhaps there was something valuable that the guest had to say.

"Tell me, why do you think I wanted you to use Dark magic?"

"I don't know, as far as I know it wasn't necessary."

"You're making me want to sigh. The reason I wanted you to use Dark magic was purely so that it could be normalized. If a commoner won a school competition through the use of Dark magic it would incentivize so many others to look into it. The more attention, the more uses people will find, the more normalized it will become. The Holy Kingdom is already pressuring us to abandon Dark magic like it's the cause of all suffering. I just wanted you to show that it's just another element that we can use, that's all."

"Shouldn't you be happy that I have a few cards left over?"

"Who cares about what you hide, you've shown yourself as someone who would rather run from a fight than engage. So what's stopping your opponents to ambush you on your way to school? They all know they're stronger than you and your tricks would only get you so far.

If you bothered to focus on making spells you would force your opponents to think twice before fighting you. Now they just know they need to catch you off guard to kill you. Nobles don't like it when their underlings fight back."

Elam wasn't planning on interfering, but seeing the guest teacher and his student squabble he knew it was time for change.

"Look, he was just trying to tell you that he doesn't want you to die. He cares for you but didn't want to say it outright."

"Elam, I know we've been friends for quite some time, but please don't join a conversation halfway. You're ruining my point."

"No, I get it, you're saying that since I didn't create spells that could suppress them, they can easily assassinate me."

"Almost, you're the only commoner in that will proceed to the national championship, what do you think will happen? That all the nobles suddenly are going to let you be?

Sigh

Either way, you did accomplish what I asked of you. Your plan wasn't flawless, but it was somewhat structured, and it did lead to the desired outcome. In accordance with our deal I'll teach you the way to Rank 2. But, that's for another day. I think you have your hands full at the moment."

And with that he left the cabin to climb to the top once more. Now it was just Elam and Lucas who were left behind. Lucas wasn't exactly hurt by his words, but the sting was present.

"Don't mind him, he has trouble with speaking clearly, now tell me, what did you get?"

Elam didn't bother sitting upright or even opening his eyes, probably because it took too much effort. Removing his blanket was difficult, let alone leaving the couch.

"Hmm, some plants, probably for medicinal purposes and a necklace. The host said that the necklace could be activated to form a shield twice every day. How strong the shield is, is unknown, but I assume it would be pretty good."

"I guess, I don't know any of those plants, but if you're willing to give them up for a moment I can go check what they're used for."

Lucas was surprised for a moment, not because Elam said he wanted to do something for once bur because he almost immediately agreed. His trust in Elam had grown immensely which he wasn't expecting. Training with him on a daily basis made him slowly open his mind and heart to him. Lucas wasn't sure whether this was a terrible or a fantastic thing.

He knew allies were necessary for survival, and he really couldn't complain about Elam. He felt inclined to take another step towards a more trustworthy relationship.

"That would be great, although I already know what this one does.", Lucas grabbed a little disk, he didn't exactly know what it did, but it should help him with his headaches. Throughout the duels and fights, he always had a headache in the background. He had gotten used to the pain, so it didn't stop him from thinking, but if he needed to focus, the cracks in his Mental Sphere would come to haunt him.

"Ah yes, a salve for an unwavering mind, not the greatest thing, but it does help with mental instability. Wait, are you already having mental breakdowns at such a young age?"

What the salve did was calm the mind and bring peace. To Elam, who didn't know about the cracks in Lucas's dome, it seemed like he was already going through an existential crisis.

"What? No, of course not, I just have some ideas, that's all."

"Uh, sure, why not. I'll take the rest to see what they are then."

Since Lucas was just lectured on being ambushed by the nobles, it didn't seem like a good idea to go to school at the moment. All his lessons with Gilbert would have to be put on hold, Elam could still train him and his friend would probably be willing to help as well.

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Elam gathered the prizes Lucas didn't understand and left with a bag on his back. The moment he was alone he vanished from thin air only to arrive in the metal hallway filled with glass that contained lights.

He didn't even move a single step forward before seeing the contact in front of him.

"Elam, I know we're all playing a part, but you can't push my teachings aside. Even if you have your own philosophy, our teachings take priority." he said with a monotone voice.

"I know, it's just that you can't pressure him, there's no point. He won't grow if you push him into a corner, he'll just get hurt.", the normal lazy tone was replaced with a slightly angry one.

"And that's where we differ, he needs to be pressured in order for him to grow."

"Yes, and we can do that mostly harmless, he needs to be capable of handling Rank 2 pressure? Then we just need to get him used to it. We don't need to force him, we need gentle guidance suited for him to let him reach his full potential."

"Absolutely not, I've tried being kind and gentle, and all we've got is a brat who can't even think for himself and is afraid of confrontation."

"It's not that he's afraid of confrontation, he's using his schemes to lessen the burden on himself. If he has to fight, he would find a way to win."

"He has shown that in dire situations he finds a way to win, so shouldn't we continue that in order for him to grow even faster?"

"At the expense of his life? I don't think so."

Elam and the contact were starting to get angry at each other, although both kept their voices low and monotone. The contact flexed his hands a bit before continuing on.

"Either way, our Lord has decided to initiate the plan with Eleven, so if you need to say or give him anything you better do it soon. We won't have much time on our hands in a few weeks."

"Got it."

The contact went his separate way, Elam didn't like his teachings, even if they were the most effective. He had seen enough suffering to know that evil isn't born, it is taught. The more harsh they were on Lucas the more animosity he would have towards them. Elam wasn't always the emotional type, but he had sworn to not let Lucas down.

Walking down the corridor he found his way back to the reception. The man behind a strange box with his glasses was tapping away at the same strange board with buttons. Each button had a single letter on it, so Elam could assume some things, but he didn't understand it fully.

"Ah, who do we have here? You're already back? I thought you were done with your assignment?"

"Not fully, I'm still in charge of certain things. Anyway, I've come to identify the purpose of these herbs."

"Alrighty, please fill in this form, and we'll get back to you in about a few days."

"I need it to be done today, I don't have much time."

The man pushed his glassed back before stopping his sigh.

"Elam, there's a reason we work with procedures.", the man rubbed his chin for a second before remarking that if he did want to have them identified he would have to speak to the local head professor. Just when Elam was about to leave, the man wanted to notify him of something else.

"Oh, if you're still working with the new heir, the investigation has been completed. We know everything from his name to his situation. The only thing we're still working on are his parents, we would need some blood in order to hasten our progress."

"Then you'll have to ask him yourself, I'm not going to bother."

"C'mon Elam, we're just doing our job. If you're curious his file has been updated and can be accessed at one of the terminals."

Elam wasn't the best at following all the procedures and keeping up to date with what their organization had been doing. The confused look on Elam's face said enough for the man to realize that his words didn't reach him in the slightest.

"Sigh, Elam, for the love of the Lord, please join our weekly meetings. If you keep outside our loop you'll never be on the same page as us. Anyway, if you're curious, tell me, and I'll get you a physical copy."

"No thanks, I'd rather not pry into his past. If he isn't willing to say it, why should I know?"

"You have a strange way of thinking, everyone should be at least somewhat knowledgeable about the different heirs, right?"

"..."

"I've asked a stupid question. Do you at least want to know his name?

"..."

"Fine, stay in the dark. Please move on, so I can continue my work."

The man started to tap away again, leaving Elam in the cold metal hallway with the toggling noises in the background. He followed the signs until he reached the laboratory.

Elam was thinking what the contact would've done and knew his answer immediately. 'It seems I'll have to get him to talk.'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lucas was left alone in the cabin. The guest teacher was gone and Elam had gone to the school, leaving him with plenty of unanswered questions and frustrations. He really didn't like the criticism he got, but somewhere inside him, he knew it was justified.

'Sigh, what do we do now?'

'What else? Let's get to spell making, but first fix this mother of all headaches.'

'Yeah, alright, time for work.'

Lucas started to sit in the meditative pose he learned from Elam's friend not too long ago. He didn't have a chance to use it yet, so he wanted to try it out. There was an increase in the amount of magicules he could absorb, but with a full core, he could only do some circulations, which didn't do anything special. In practice, he was just shuffling the magic inside his body.

Even if he was meditating, he still couldn't help but get angry at the guest teacher.

'To say we're weak and inept just because we didn't fully go out, what an asshole.'

'I get what he's saying though, to others we might seem weak.'

'So? We still have the fire intensification technique that we barely used, that's an amazing card to have.'

'That would be correct if we figured out how to use it without overloading our body. First the pathways got burned, now our body is one big pathway, but it still can't handle the intensification.'

'Who cares? If we really wanted to we could sacrifice a leg or two to fully use it.'

'Why do you always think of such things?'

Lucas vented his frustrations a bit longer before reaching for the salve.