I Try An Old Trick

I stared at Dorothy, dumbfounded.

"You sure about this?", I asked.

Felix's face lit up with a wide grin, "No way. Mordred! This is the ultra-rare Dorothy Discount!"

"Shut up Felix.", Dorothy glared at him. Her face softened when she looked at me.

"You are right. These Moonsilver daggers are very valuable. But they are weapons and weapons are meant to be used. Plus these have been here for a long time so their prices are kind of undetermined."

She smiled, "The seller determines the price. If these daggers make sure you remain alive in Blood Valley, then I can afford to get a slight loss. Also, I believe their previous owner would like you to have them."

I looked at her, amazed by her actions. The way she spoke about the previous owner, I'm sure she knows them but she won't tell me.

I wouldn't have to worry about that. I have plenty of time.

Well, as long as I don't die.

"Thank you, Miss Dorothy.", I said and bowed my head.

Dorothy laughed, "Never expected to see a High Prince thanking me with his head bowed. You are such a cutie."

"Raise your head, Your Highness. You may be a Deathwalker but you are still a High Prince."

She took the daggers from my hand and walked out of the storeroom, "I'll pack them in something that is not a dusty shoebox."

Felix patted me on the shoulder and followed Dorothy, "Hey Dorothy, I want to buy some Flare arrows. Any chance you can extend that discount to include me?"

"No."

"Oh come on!", he complained as we stood at the counter. Dorothy took a cloth and wiped the dust from the daggers.

"Your Highness.", she said as she cleaned the white blades.

"Things will be quite hellish here.", she looked me in the eyes.

"So be sure to survive."

*******

"This is your accommodation during your time as a newbie."

"It's not a room of the Dawn Palace but it's comfy", Felix said as he opened the door to my room.

It is a small room sparsely furnished with a single bed, a desk and chair, and a cupboard. My suitcase was already there, placed on the bed.

There is a window that thankfully shows the view on the other side of the Shield. The mountains of Les Anciennes seemingly stretched out forever. A blizzard has started outside.

Hard to believe that I am in the middle of a mountain range and I'm supposed to fight in these kinds of weather? That's crazy.

I looked at Felix, "Didn't we pass a huge dorm room with bunk beds and lockers? Are those for the newbies?"

He nodded, "Yep. That is the usual accommodation for newbies. They'll stay there until they survive seven battles."

"After that, they'll be assigned rooms and roommates. That applies to you as well."

"Survive six more battles and you'll get a better room and a roommate."

I raised an eyebrow, "Why not put me there? Am I getting special treatment because I am from the royal family?"

Felix gave an awkward smile, "Kind of. You see, many Deathwalkers are sentenced to the Shield by your father, the High King."

I just looked at him, "Oh."

"Yeah.", he slowly nodded, "Some of them are not the biggest fans of His Majesty. And when they hear the news of you, the weakest High Prince in the Shield. It will be the same as a rabbit in a wolf den." 

Suddenly I am feeling the urge to slam the door on his face and live the rest of my life in the small room.

"Will they kill me?", I asked in a small voice.

"Incarni! No! They will not.", Felix shook his head.

"The biggest single rule here is no killing in the Shield. We already have a staggering death count. No need to increase it." 

"But they'll make things miserable for you. They cannot kill you but they can break you.", he said with a grim expression.

"But I'm a kid."

"Doesn't matter to them. Like I told you, Deathwalkers are cracked."

"Well. That feels reassuring.", I grumbled

"Hey.", Felix placed a hand on my shoulder, "The commander put me in charge of you. If those guys want to get you, they must get through me first."

"Not to brag, but I am kind of a big name in Necropolis.", he said with pride.

"I hope you are. My life is already miserable. I don't want it to get worse.", I said and glanced at my bracelet.

"Will I be teleported for battle after a while?"

"I doubt there will be another attack today but those daemons are an unpredictable bunch. So be ready to be teleported any time.", Felix said.

I nodded, "Understood. Any chance you'll be teleported as well?"

He shook his head, "I doubt it. But if that happens I'll be sure to cover you."

"Take some rest until then.", with a smile he waved me bye and left.

I closed the door and looked around my new room. Felix was right. It may be small but it's cozy.

I took a step forward before freezing in my place as I noticed something.

Where is the bathroom?

Panic started to well up in me at the thought of entering a shared bathroom full of guys who wanted to make my life very hard.

I desperately scanned the room for a second door but couldn't find one.

Just as I was about to mentally prepare myself for the dreaded things I imagined would happen to me, I noticed something on the wall beside my bed.

It was at the corner of the wall having the window and the wall beside my bed.

I walked to that spot and sighed in relief. It was a doorknob. I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it.

That section of the wall slid open and revealed a small yet adequately equipped bathroom. Never had I ever been glad to see a toilet in my life, old and current alike.

With that concern out of my head, I went over to my bed and plopped on it. It was quite comfortable.

Alright then. It won't be long before I am teleported to the battlefield. 

I must prepare myself for it. I opened my suitcase and took out a small knife. First, let's further explore my strand.

I slit my finger and blood flowed from the cut. I watched it flow down my hand.

Not much change.

I then willed Haema to activate. Suddenly, the blood stopped flowing from my wound as if time had frozen.

I willed it to flow back into the wound and it did. The blood was sucked back into the wound until a single drop remained.

I stopped and the drop stayed on my finger like dew on a leaf. I healed my wound and looked at the single drop of blood.

Hm. I wonder.

I willed the single drop to expand and to my pleasant surprise, it did. The drop expanded into a considerable amount of blood and flowed in the air like a river.

I held out my hand and the blood circled it. I smiled.

I was worried using Haema would be the same as bleeding where the amount of blood in my body would decrease the more I use the strand.

It's a good thing that Haema can expand the blood outside my body. I don't have to worry about blood loss.

Yay.

I took out my new daggers and looked between them and the blood circling my arm.

Hm. I'm not sure about this but I need to see what happens. I placed the white daggers on the table and directed my blood at them.

My blood crept toward the daggers and wrapped around the grey handles until they turned crimson.

I concentrated and to my delight, the daggers floated in the air. I manipulated them to the extent of my control.

I held out my hand and tried to summon one of them. It worked out too well.

The dagger shot towards me and in my panic, I accidently turned it around.

With a yelp, I ducked as the dagger flew way too close over my head and embedded itself into the wall.

Okay. Maybe I concentrated too hard.

I deactivated Haema and the second dagger clattered on the desk and the blood enveloping the handle splattered on it.

I grabbed the handle of the dagger embedded into the wall 

It was slick with my blood but I ignored it and yanked the white blade out of the wall.

Well. At least I know I can control the daggers with my strand. It just needs a bit more tweaking.

Now then. Time to try out an old trick of mine.

I sat cross-legged on the floor, closed my eyes, and started breathing at certain intervals.

It was a breathing technique I mastered in my previous world and it saved my life countless times, even in this world where I temporarily used it in the battle against the daemons.

This enables me to enter a state of heightened senses, where my perception of the world is highly magnified. In this state of heightened senses and focus, time seems to slow down for me.

That was the case in my old world.

In this new world, where there is ardor in the very air I breathe. I wonder how things will go.

I can feel the ardor entering my lungs and spreading all over my body. I focused ardor on my senses while I maintained the breathing technique.

After about five cycles of specialized breathing, I can feel the changes. My hearing has enhanced so much that I can clearly hear the sound of snowflakes falling against my soundproof window and the roaring winds of the blizzard deafened me.

I can even make out the heartbeats and breathing of the people walking past my door.

Disturbingly I can also hear the screams of Deathwalkers and artilleries on the battlefield despite the soundproofing inside the Shield.

My sense of smell has also been enhanced to a greater degree.

I can detect every unique smell in this room, from the fresh smell of lavender from the air freshener to the sweet metallic smell of blood that lingered on my uniform despite it being thoroughly cleaned.

Ugh. Nasty.

Pushing that out of my mind, I slowly opened my eyes.

Whoa. It was better than I anticipated.

The blizzard raging outside the window had slowed down to a snail's pace.

In my past life whenever I used this technique, things would only slow down just enough for me to barely make a move.

Sometimes I even missed my chance.

I moved my hand and immediately noticed something wrong. My arm is moving slowly, it looks like it is moving through syrup.

Don't ask me how I know what moving through syrup looks like. Some things are better left in the dark.

But this slow movement of my arm is not what I need. It appears that even if I have an enhanced perception of the world, it would be meaningless if my body can't respond according to it.

My body is too weak to move in this transcended state. What a bloody inconvenience.

Hm. Transcendence. That is a good name.

I thought about the problem while the world moved at a snail's pace around me as my transcendence state continued.

The world around me would be slow but from the outside perspective, my actions and thinking would be very quick.

What probably took me ten minutes to figure out in my transcendent state would take only several seconds to the outside perspective.

Ah. I found a solution.

Modern knowledge sure is helpful.