Chapter Nineteen

Gloin was the one who led Arthur and me through the city, being in school this whole time had made me forget how congested the streets of Rivendell were that or the many blows to the head. Some vendors were busy shouting the prices of their goods to attract customers and customers trying to haggle with them.

Another strange thing was that people were staring at us I don't know if it was the Longhorn uniform that made us stand out or three different races were walking together or maybe it was Elfy's divine looks the three theories made sense.

The air was filled with different kinds of scents like the scent of chemicals from the potion shops and stalls, the smell of dyes that were used to color clothes, the scent of grilled or roasted or boiled street food, and my least favorite was the smell of smoke from factories that mixed with all of this.

Like every huge urban city, Rivendell was a magnet for many prospective businessmen an example was Roy Dragnane he was said to be the richest man in the entire continent, and he was the one who made most of the mana orbs that were used all over.

Apart from that he was the one who monopolized most of the items found in portals and dungeons, like the pelts of high-tier beasts, his factory would make this into armor or the other choice an expensive couch, he was also the one who provided most of the resources needed for alchemy and what was clever was that the dungeon raids and portal ascents were done by his team which meant that he effectively cut down on all of the cost not to mention that his raiding team comprised of at least a blue core stage and if the rumors were right they had a silver core stage as their leader. When I wasn't in the library or picking my ass off the floor I would hear most students in Longhorn dream of joining Dragnane guild.

"hey sunshine we are here," Gloin said as he snapped me out of my daze.

We were standing in front of a fairly large building, the front part of the building was made of stone that was painted white and glass but mostly glass in the middle, the stone part was the lower part, the upper part and the right part of the wall on my right arm, and on my left arm the stone was at the lower, upper and left side of the wall.

There was a brown mahogany double door in the middle of the two walls, the glass must have been a one-way mirror because I couldn't see inside the only thing I could see was my reflection well not only my reflection I could see elfy's and Gloin's reflection. Gloin led us in where my feet were met with a red carpet with some gray spots, the carpet was soft enough that I could feel it through my boots.

There was a reception desk with a man dressed in a golden half coat that had the name of the establishment stitched on it 'The Wells', a white shirt with a nice black tie that was the same as our Darkclaw house tie without the logo of course.

The room had a weird scent of lilies and coconuts, there was a waiting area or the lounge, and the wall, the ceiling was fitted with enough mana orbs for light.

"Welcome to The Wells how can I be of assistance?" the receptionist asked when we reached him.

"I'd like for my friend here," Gloin said as he grabbed me by my arm and pulled me forward, "to use one of the mana wells here for ten hours."

"wait ten hours you didn't tell me anything about ten hours," I said.

"I know right can you believe it," Gloin said in a fake shocked tone.

"hmm okay the mana wells are three gold coins per hour," The receptionist said in a really casual tone, three gold coins per hour THREE GOLD COINS PER HOUR are you kidding me that amount of money is enough to build a bungalow.

"No problem my friend here has the funds to pay," Gloin said and at that moment I did what any man would do when they were about to be bankrupt, I grabbed Gloin by his sweater and pulled him.

"Are you serious right now, why should I pay this was your fucking idea," I said.

"Hey, I am not spending money on a fellow guy also you are the one who needs it, not me," Gloin said with the biggest grin on his face. Those thirty coins were all I had left I thought they would last me at least two years.

"Oh come on don't do this, Arthur a little help," I said as I let go of his sweater, Gloin moved back a step and straightened his clothes. The elf just looked at me and shook his head no.

"you motherfuckers," I said as I begrudgingly dropped the coins. The receptionist took the coins, dropped them into a drawer he opened, and gave me a receipt that he conjured up.

"Well I must inform you that long exposure to a mana well leads to excruciating pain, burning akin to acid, and though low there is a possibility of death," the receptionist said. As soon as he was done I glared at him, really you couldn't tell me this before you took my money.

"yeah he understands the risks, also elfy let's go oh, and good luck," Gloin said as he began walking away Arthur was as clueless as me.

"not so fast why are you leaving?" I asked.

"Well I'm finally out of school and you want me to spend my day sitting here fuck no, me and elfy here are going to a mixer,"

"wait we are," now it was Arthur's turn to be dragged into Gloin's plans.

"yes, now Raiden remember the ten hours are from your pocket so make sure you get your money's worth," Gloin said as he reinforced his body with mana, pulled, and ran with Arthur as fast as he could not giving him a chance to resist leaving me and the receptionist.

"if you would follow me," the receptionist said as he led me to the deeper parts of the establishment.

He opened a door and inside was a pond but instead of water, the pond was filled with white light in liquid form kinda like how fire in molten form is lava.

"I'd suggest you hold this orb," the receptionist said as he pulled out a purple orb from his pocket, I didn't question and did as I was told and instantly all the mana in my core and body was drained. It felt like when I didn't have a core my body was weak really weak, it was normal.

"for the best experience, your core needs to be empty and also I'd suggest you strip,"

"Excuse me,"

"oh don't misunderstand sir, you don't have to but the well will incinerate your clothes," wait, and am supposed to submerge my body into that.

"Now I'll leave you to it," he said as he backed away and left closing the door behind him.

Well I didn't want my uniform to be incinerated so I got buck naked feeling every little breeze where I shouldn't, I quickly walked to the pond eager to jump in in case anyone opened the door but I stopped myself since it can incinerate clothes so maybe I should start with a finger, I dipped my finger into it and I could feel the purest mana I had ever felt in my life and the feeling was a strange mix of cool and warm.

Seeing that it wasn't dangerous I entered the pond feet first as a strange force held me up, it felt like I was standing on a surface but at the same time I wasn't I stopped trying to make sense as I sat down on literally nothing. As soon as I was comfortable enough I closed my eyes and started absorbing the mana into my core and cells.

It usually took hours to fill them but this time it only took a couple minutes, I did as Gloin and Arthur suggested I rotated the mana around my body till every mana in my body was finished, I then filled it and rotated it again and again and again. I did this for a while now and after some hours my body was sweating profusely even though my body was cold I didn't pay it any mind and continued what I was doing.

My body was sweating buckets but even with my eyes closed I could feel the sweat turn into vapor, suddenly I felt like my body was being stabbed by a million needles not constantly but it came in intervals and each interval was more painful than the last, till I felt a large searing pain on my body my eyes shot open and what I saw would be enough to make anyone throw up.

The skin on my body was peeling off but as I was about to jump off the pond my skin healed itself in seconds, it then peeled off again only for it to heal. I finally understood why Gloin suggested it my body would heal just as fast as it was damaged while I was in here if I ignored the pain then heck my core would reach a breakthrough soon.

The pain kept doubling and doubling as time went by, I was clenching my teeth so hard that I thought that they cracked but I bared with the pain and soon something clicked.

In the deepest parts of my consciousness I was floating and in front of me was a barrier comprising three colors, red, light blue, and green. I felt deep in my soul that I needed to get past that barrier wasn't sure why but it felt right. My corporeal form floated there as I touched the barrier instantly the barrier was getting absorbed into me, and my corporeal form which was once white in color was slowly getting polluted by the barrier from white it was now changing into equal parts of the barrier's color.

As the final piece of barrier flowed into me, I could feel my body rise not my corporeal body but my real physical body, I tried opening my eyes but I couldn't, a large amount of power welled in my core getting larger and larger making my entire body feel sore as if I just did an intense workout but the power wouldn't stop till finally when I managed to open my eyes.

"ARRGH!" a loud yell came out of my mouth as a large torrent of lightning, fire, and air exploded from my body. The elements did cause some damage as they touched the room's walls, the air left slash marks on the walls, and the fire and lightning left scorched marks but the elements.

The elements exploded from my body the final time before my body slowly descended down till I was back in the pond as I sat up, the door burst open as the receptionist, two women, and my two lovely friends entered, The receptionist and the two women's eyes surveyed the damage I had done while the elf and the dwarf's eyes were on me.

"what happened in here?" the receptionist asked though he knew the answer.

"oh I unlocked my elements," I said as I stood up and let my elements shroud my body. Though the reaction wasn't what I was expecting, Gloin smirked while Arthur raised both his eyebrows, the two women's faces flushed red and the receptionist turned his gaze down.

"so that's why you don't change in front of us, you're afraid we'd be jealous of your dragon?" Gloin said his smirk was getting bigger and bigger.

"huh," I said thinking of the dragon tattoo on my neck

"Raiden, look down," Arthur said and I did, I then understood why everyone's reaction was that way. My eyes went to the flow where my uniform as I dropped down into the pond.

"Everyone get out!" I yelled.