The Mahika Rental Stall

Merlin tried his best to console Alab by mentioning things like Alab has not yet started writing on paper or has not tried solving a mystery.

Alab stared at him in silence, sighed and said, "Okay, let's continue..."

'He moves on quickly' Merlin thought amazed.

Alab grabbed a book in the stall and browsed the list of magic that can be rented. They were categorized to low, medium and high-level Magic.

"It is quite troublesome to browse this one by one when I am actually in a rush. Can this book not be changed into a screen and have an instant search mechanism?" he jokingly suggested.

"Actually, improvements may actually be done in a certain Thesis. These are called Continuing Thesis Projects and again, require Information Points."

No confirmation was mentioned but it may be possible. Alab continued browsing the book. Apart from being categorized in level, they were also arranged in alphabetical order. Beside the Information Points are the days of how much the magic can be used. These were magic he chose.

Information Points: 700

Widen Vision 50 (1)

Spans the vision by 4 meters and gains an extra 15 degrees of peripheral view for each eye.

Speed Boost 50 (1)

Equips you with Boots of Travel, this lets you move faster

The war is nearing its end, approximately for 2 more days. Alab intended to use that magic during those 2 days to protect himself but added 1 more day just in case the war extends. Alab was an "always add an extra" kind of guy. As precaution to things, he sometimes does this but never forgot it when he started doing his surgeries. As a principle, he needed to cut an "extra" cm or mm around a certain cancer lesion which he will remove for it not to recur.

Information Points: 100

He continued to browse the magic book, found something that interested him and made a smile. He decided to consume all his Information Points.

Arm Power 50 (1)

Doubles your current bilateral arm strength

"I'm going to avail this for 2 days, Merlin."

Seeing he still has two minutes left he initiated a conversation with Merlin.

"Hey Merlin! I thought that librarians are only on the sidelines?! Why send me in the middle of the battlefield?"

"Mozza chose that as your first destination, I do not know anything of it."

"Anytime, I can be dead by putting me, one with a baby's knowledge in this world, in this war."

"You don't have to be alone. In any situation, as long as you find the right people, you will be able to tackle all obstacles.

Alab further inquired if there was a device to know how much IPs were earned for different information, fortunately there is one that can be obtained by accessing it through a librarian's door but the secrets of Mozza cannot be revealed by a previous librarian to the current one.

With few seconds left on the clock, he tried to ask another question,

"I obtained the memories of a dead person after touching him, what do you know about it?"

Flashes of light appeared accompanied by a hissing sound and Merlin's word were not heard. Alab woke up on his bed to again started his life as a bannerman. He woke up feeling so tired but then felt light as if his movements were faster than before. After breakfast, he tried arm wrestling with some of his platoon members and won. These were manifestations of his [Speed Boost] and [Arm Power]. Lastly, he can clearly see the surroundings at the side using his [Widen Vision]. He realized that Speed Boost and Arm Power were constantly activated but Widen Vision needed him to focus his eyes more and caused a little beat of strain on them.

Few more minutes before the battle, his thoughts were flowing.

'If I was not able to be someone I want on Earth, maybe it's a good thing I am here. So today, I am a soldier, more precisely, a bannerman. Thinking about it, I was never able to have a chance as a soldier because I only took safe jobs. But what assurance is there that I may find what I want if I die here? I need to stay smart and stay alive!'

The fourth day of the battle commenced. Alab joined the Dragoon Platoon. He stayed in the back on Atop Hill, slightly far from the actual battlefield along with other bannermen, some on horses and was on standby waiting to be ordered by a strategist.

"I think this strategy is not practical. Why not use horns or another kind of communication?" Alab murmured to himself.

A man also with a banner talked to him,

"This new method is actually proving to be effective."

The strategy was new and was proposed by the strategist Kuma, one of the 14 strategists that were currently in the field. The method was proposed for far areas that may have difficulty with communication from the headquarters.

The banners held different flags one can use. In Alab's team however, there are only two kinds which are based on colors. Red is for Charge and Blue is for Support but the more vital one is support which Alab has. When an area is losing, the bannerman ordered by his strategist rushes slightly at the back of that area and waves his flag and retreats to a safe point.

Bannermen were also trained spear users so that in case they were attacked, they can use the opposite of the pole to counter their enemies.

Several bannerman were dispatched before Alab was ordered to go on the left flank of the army. He was accompanied by a squad of the Dragoon Platoon around.

'I see, so it seems that yesterday I was only alone because the previous platoon was annihilated.'

After waving his flag, he was ordered to return to the safe point, Atop Hill, and on his way back, a bannerman also on his way retreating was stabbed at the back by an enemy solider. This time, he became really nervous. With his reflex, he horizontally swept the enemy with the body of his pole. Still surprised by the manifestation of [Arm Power], he saw the enemy knocked back but can't seem to kill him.

'I can't...'

Being raised in a peaceful community, he did not have the power to kill so he only tried to incapacitate his enemies by knocking them back.

He went near the bannerman which was the same man that talked to him,

"I waved my flag for quite a while, but no one came."

The new strategy has its flaws. With a late retreat, a bannerman can be instantly killed. Another is, if the nearby soldiers are preoccupied, only the soldiers from the back will respond. It is still the decision of the strategists and the commander to send reinforcements. Sometimes, there were no reinforcements sent.

That is why Alab needed to be fast in retreating. While on retreat, he was knocking back enemies using his pole and saw the Dragoon Platoon annihilated. With the current circumstances, he utilized [Widen Vision] and [Speed Boost].

On his way back, Alab got his foot stuck onto a body of a large man from his army and stumbled. He moved the man and then it happened again.

Alab started experiencing an extreme headache and images started to flow inside his mind. A military man who lost his wife and daughter. The headache was accompanied by a feeling of fainting. As more images were flowing into his mind, there was more pain being felt until he lost consciousness.

When Alab woke up, his vision was still blurry, but he can hear the voices of men fighting. When his vision got clear, he saw a sword piercing towards his face, but he immediately moved his head and got up. He saw 2 enemies approaching him and swung his pole towards them and were knocked back. He retreated and looked behind him to see if they were following but they seemed to be still recuperating. From that glimpse he also saw the corpse of the large man whose memories he obtained.

Surrounding the man in circular formation were several enemies' corpse amounting approximately to 30-40 bodies, some stacked together. Alab imagined that man fighting all those enemies but for now, those are insignificant things. There was still a bit of pain lingering in his head.

Upon reaching the safe point, he was ordered again to rally in a certain area and as he did, he was also able to quickly retreat. With his [Speed Boost], he simply cannot be caught by his enemies. After 5 successful rallies, Alab felt fatigue. While still racing for his breath, he can now only see 2 bannermen on foot back at the safe point from the original 15; the 13 were also killed. Only few soldiers were left on the safe point.

Gazing on the battlefield, Alab noticed that they were already able to push back their enemies but also saw enemies escaped the Heartwood soldiers that were supposed to block them off the hill and were quickly approaching them.

"Kill those men with flags!" shouted the enemy leader.

The two other bannermen, soldiers and strategists were already preparing their retreat but Alab waved his flag at Atop Hill. Normally, safe points were areas that when are not safe anymore are quickly abandoned. No bannerman, by protocol, waves his flag on it. He convinced the other soldiers that their path was already blocked and that there is no way around it anymore.

At the headquarters, Kuma the strategist can see Alab's banner. Although unusual, as he was the one who devised the strategy, he understood the message.

"That safe point has proven a vital area for us winning today's battle. From its message, it does not want to retreat, and I'd like to maintain it. I suggest commander Raphael that we send 3 platoons on that area."

The commander, Raphael agreed.

The Lion, Snow and Tulip Platoons that were finished pushing back their enemies served as reinforcements at the Atop Hill.