Before the academy - Part 1

<<Back to the present>>

POV Kahtlyn Glayder

"Why do we have to go to Xyrus City by carriage? This is so boring!" Curtis asked for the umpteenth time, collapsing into his seat with an exaggerated sigh.

I glanced at my brother, who had been complaining for quite a while about the type of trip we were taking, though I couldn't really blame him. The journey was long and monotonous, and we were both eager to reach our destination.

"You know that even though we're the king's children, we can't use the portals casually," I replied, looking at him for a moment before turning my gaze back to the window.

"I know, but it's still boring," he grumbled, staring out the window with a gloomy expression, then petting his bond, who was lying beside him. "I just want to get there already and play with Grawder."

Roar.

Grawder gave a small growl, as if agreeing with Curtis.

Suddenly, the carriage came to an abrupt stop, and the sound of horse hooves and shouting startled us. A shiver ran down my spine when I heard a ferocious roar echo through the air.

"What's going on?" Curtis asked, his voice tinged with nervousness. Grawder stood up, positioning himself protectively in front of us, ready to fight.

"Stay inside, your highness, don't come out for any reason!" ordered one of the guards from outside, his voice filled with urgency.

The carriage shook violently as if something massive had collided with it. We could hear the sounds of battle outside—the growls of mana beasts and the shouts of our guards, fighting with their lives to defend us.

"We have to hold out until reinforcements arrive!" one of the guards shouted.

I peeked through a crack in the window and saw several mana beasts—huge, terrifying creatures—engaged in combat with our guards. But there were too many of them. It was strange to see so many beasts gathered in one place.

"It's like they're running from something," I thought, feeling the desperation in the eyes of the beasts.

The guards were doing their best to hold them off, but they were clearly outnumbered. Anxiety started to creep into my body; the situation was turning grim.

"Please, just hold on a little longer," I whispered, hoping our hopes wouldn't be in vain.

Suddenly, a massive tiger killed one of our guards, breaking through and charging straight toward us. We were stunned for a moment—many of these guards were powerful mages and yellow core warriors, so something like this was highly unusual.

As I watched the enormous mana beast closing in on me, time seemed to slow down. I saw the look of desperation on my brother's face as he reached out toward me. For some reason, I wasn't scared; I didn't feel anything.

"So, this is what it feels like before you die?" I thought, closing my eyes.

But after a moment, I felt nothing. When I opened my eyes, a roar of pain reached my ears. My brother, frantic, was pulling me back.

In front of us stood a beautiful six-tailed blue fox, towering over the corpse of the massive tiger that had been charging at us moments before. Meanwhile, two shadows darted quickly between the mana beasts, killing them with the ease of drawing breath.

In less than a few minutes, all the mana beasts had been wiped out. The fox leapt from place to place, collecting the cores.

"Are you alright?" asked a firm voice. A masked figure was approaching us. I noticed he had long silver hair, and though he wore a mask, his voice hinted that he was around our age.

Curtis and I exchanged glances, still recovering from the shock. The fox returned to his side, while the other individual, clad in heavy black armor, remained at a respectful distance, watching with sharp eyes.

"Yes... thank you for saving us," I managed to say, trying to regain my composure.

"That's good," the young man replied, his gaze shifting to our guards, some of whom were injured and others visibly exhausted.

Noticing this, the young man suddenly appeared in front of them, startling the guards, who looked at him warily. Moments later, a soft green light glowed in his hands, spreading to several of the guards and healing their wounds before our eyes.

"Is he a healer?" I wondered, but quickly dismissed the thought. I had just seen him effortlessly slaughter those enormous mana beasts—beasts that could threaten even a seasoned yellow core warrior—cutting through them like butter with his sword.

"All done. You should all be recovered now," the young man murmured as he approached us again.

"Thank you very much. How should I address you so that I, Curtis Glayder, can express my sincerest gratitude?" my brother said, stepping closer to me. "I could even speak to my father about rewarding you."

When I heard my brother speak, I couldn't help but frown a little. His words seemed a bit rude, especially with that tone of superiority. But before I could remind him of that, the stranger's laughter caught us off guard.

"Hahaha, excuse me, great Prince Curtis, but there's really nothing your father could offer that would catch my interest," he said between laughs, as he climbed back onto his bond. "Even if there were, I don't think it would convince me to accept becoming your guard or something like that and give up my freedom."

I could sense the irony in his words, with a hint of mockery. This made my brother's face tighten in frustration, and once again, I felt disappointed. I disliked this overly entitled attitude my father had, which my brother seemed to have inherited. Being royalty seemed to have inflated his ego at times.

"But let me give you a piece of advice, great prince," the young man added. "In life, especially to those who are truly strong, your political status—whether as a prince or even a king—won't matter at all."

"I hope you learn to temper that pride of yours," he said softly, as his bond turned around. "You'd better continue on your way; a few more hours of travel, and you should reach the next town."

"Will we meet again?" was all I managed to ask at that moment. Maybe it was the impact of the situation, or perhaps I didn't know how to apologize for my brother, but there was something about this person that felt strangely familiar.

"Yes, very soon," the figure said before disappearing from sight.

Curtis remained silent, staring at the spot where the young man had vanished. Grawder, his bond, returned to his side, letting out a low growl as if sharing his master's discomfort.

"We should move on," I finally said, breaking the awkward silence. "We were lucky they found us in time."

The carriage began to move again, and as we continued toward our destination, I couldn't stop thinking about the silver-haired young man and his bond. Who was he, really? And why did his presence feel so familiar?

POV Alex Eralith

"Kumara, little one, you stored the mana cores, right?" I asked, glancing at my bond. Kumara nodded and handed me a large bag filled with mana cores.

"Wait, there are quite a few, but I'm sure there are still some missing," I said, counting the cores carefully.

Kumara lowered her head, her ears drooping as she started drawing circles in the dirt with her paw. It seemed she had eaten some of the mana cores. Noticing this, I couldn't help but smile wryly. It was really hard to keep up with her needs. Who in their right mind would spend so much money on B-rank beast cores just to feed their bond?

"Don't worry, the important thing is that you get stronger," I said, stroking her silky fur.

Kumara let out a soft purr, clearly pleased by the attention.

But as I continued to pet her, a sudden feeling of urgency washed over me. It surprised me, so I quickly probed the source and realized it was coming from the mark I had left on Arthur.

"Why am I feeling this all of a sudden?" I wondered for a moment. Then it hit me. "Wait... he should be on his final mission before returning... That means..."

As I thought about it, I began recalling important events that were supposed to take place around this time.

"Right, he should be fighting the forest guardian."

Remembering this, I quickly glanced in the direction of where my mark was located before turning to Diablo.

"Take everything we've gathered to the guild to complete our mission, then follow the instructions I gave you," I ordered, turning and heading as quickly as possible toward that place, with Kumara closely behind.

"Yes, my lord," Diablo replied, bowing before disappearing.

"If I remember correctly, Arthur should be able to awaken the second phase of Sylvie's Will during this fight, which would leave him severely injured. Jasmine should be with him, along with his new companion, though I don't recall his name," I thought, trying to piece together what I'd seen in the manhwa.

Meanwhile, I ran swiftly toward where my mark was located. After some time traveling, I finally arrived at the cave where I could sense Arthur's presence. Outside, there was a small warning sign that read, "Beware: Do not enter the 'Cave of Despair.'"

Following my orders, Kumara shrank down and leapt onto my shoulder. Without much hesitation, I entered the cave. Even though I didn't remember exactly what was inside, I was confident it wouldn't be anything I couldn't handle.

As I entered the cave, I sprinted down a relatively long hallway. Soon, I reached the first level of the dungeon, which opened into a large cavern where stalactites hung from the ceiling, while others jutted up from the ground.

"There's been a battle here," I noted, observing the strange behavior of the mana in the area. I also noticed some mana beasts resembling large bats, but instead of wings, they had four limbs. Their hollow bodies exposed visible ribs, and where their beast cores should have been, there were cracked stones.

BUM BUM

"The battle's still ongoing."

I quickly ran toward one of the holes in the ground. Along the way, I noticed that several of the bat-like creatures, despite being burned and charred, were still flying and attacking, as if they couldn't feel their injuries.

I had no intention of staying to deal with them, so I kept them at bay with a swift attack. With a flick of my hand, a large fire dragon materialized, swirling around me, and with a roar, it charged at the approaching bats.

Reaching one of the holes, I didn't think twice and jumped. Soon after, I landed on the second level of the dungeon, where there were still signs of battle, including a corpse reduced to bones.

"Things have been interesting around here," I thought, continuing to move quickly. Suddenly, I noticed the temperature drop drastically, and the ground was completely frozen. A loud roar echoed from the cave ahead.

Crossing through the tunnel, I came upon what would have been a beautiful landscape, now frozen and wrecked by battle. Without a second thought, I rushed toward the location where I could feel Arthur's presence.

Arriving at a dirt cave created by a spell, I concentrated air mana into my finger, spinning it at an extremely fast rate. Moments later, part of the wall crumbled.

As I stepped inside, several earth spikes shot toward me. A little surprised but unfazed, I drew a dagger from my waist and sliced through each of them, making my way in.

Inside, I noticed Jasmine to one side. She was clearly in bad shape, her groans and the beads of sweat running down her face, along with the severe burns on her body, showed that she had been attacked with fire magic.

On the other side was a boy about the same age as Arthur, with short, jet-black hair falling over his forehead and square-framed glasses, giving him a more mature look than his age suggested. He looked visibly exhausted, and although he was the least injured of the group, he seemed to have drained all his mana, his expression one of utter despair.

And finally, there was my brother, Arthur, who was the most wounded and currently unconscious. His body bore numerous scars and bruises, evidence of the painful toll using the second phase of Sylvie's Will had taken on him.

"Don't worry. I'm Alex, Arthur's older brother and an acquaintance of Jasmine. I came here because I felt something had happened to him," I said, using my regeneration ability to heal Elijah's wounds.

As Elijah's wounds began to heal, his tense body slowly relaxed, though he still eyed me with suspicion. I didn't pay much attention to it and turned my focus to Arthur. With a sigh, I started to heal him.

His body was badly injured, both internally and externally. Luckily, none of his vital parts were too damaged, so I was able to heal him without leaving scars, though it took some effort.

As I finished, I could feel Arthur starting to regain consciousness. His eyelids fluttered before he slowly opened his eyes.

"Alex?" Arthur mumbled, his voice weak and filled with confusion.

Arthur Leywin's POV

"How comfortable," I thought, as a warm sensation spread throughout my body. I could feel all the discomfort melting away. It was such a soothing, safe feeling that I didn't want to leave.

"Mmm," I couldn't help but stretch my body as I slowly opened my eyes, only to see a familiar face smiling down at me.

"Looks like Sleeping Beauty has finally woken up," Alex said, shaking his head. "Why do you always get yourself into so much trouble? How would Mom feel if she saw all these injuries on you?"

"Injuries?!" I thought in alarm, quickly looking down at my body. I felt no pain or discomfort, and the scars from training with Jasmine had completely disappeared, as if they had never existed.

"Did you really heal me? But how? How did you even find us?"

"Of course, I healed you. Who else would do it?" Alex replied, shaking his head. Then his eyes widened in mock panic as if he had realized something. "Wait, did using the second phase of the beast make you dumb? Oh no! How am I going to explain this to Mom?"

Hearing Alex's teasing words, I couldn't help but laugh. Even though he was annoying, he was still my dumb brother—someone I could always rely on.

"Rest and recover your mana for now. I'll go heal Jasmine," Alex said, walking to the other side of the cave.

"Jasmine!" I thought, alarmed, as I turned my gaze toward her. She was lying nearby, groaning in pain, her body covered in scars and burns. Instinctively, I rushed toward her, but my brother stopped me, smiling calmly.

"Don't worry. If I could heal you, the worst off of the three, I can obviously heal her too," Alex said as he sat down in front of Jasmine and began to heal her.

I watched as Alex used his healing ability. Jasmine's wounds started to close up, and her painful groans grew softer until they disappeared completely.

"I'm sorry, Jasmine," I thought, guilt weighing on me as I sat beside Elijah, watching her recovery.

"She took a hard hit from Lucas's spell, and her body wasn't imbued with mana like yours was. I managed to treat the external burn on her abdomen with some medical supplies, but I suspect the spell did some internal damage," Elijah explained, adjusting his glasses as he shook his head.

My face burned with anger as I thought about that traitorous scumbag, Lucas.

"I didn't expect the legendary masked swordsman, aka Note, to be someone my age," Elijah's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"My mask!" I suddenly realized, feeling a wave of panic as I noticed for the first time that I wasn't wearing the mask Vincent had given me.

"Sorry… It flew off when you fell. I couldn't help but see while I was saving you," Elijah said, scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

"What about my sword? Did you see the black staff I was carrying?" My eyes darted around in the dim light.

I spotted the outline of my sword just as Elijah pointed to a spot near where Alex was healing Jasmine.

"Yeah, it's over by Jasmine. I didn't know if it was valuable, so I kept it just in case."

"Phew… Thanks… for everything. For saving both Jasmine and me, and for recovering my sword when you could've just escaped yourself. Thank you," I let out a deep breath, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"Heh, you're welcome," Elijah said with a small smile. His face suddenly flushed as he looked in Alex's direction.

Curious, I followed his gaze and saw Alex embracing Jasmine tightly around the waist. She seemed visibly shaken, and he was whispering something in her ear that we couldn't hear.

After a few minutes, Jasmine calmed down, and her injuries were fully healed. Even her old scars had vanished. If it weren't for the bloodstained clothes and how beaten up we all looked, no one would have guessed we had been in any danger.

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Note: how are you beautiful people, I'm getting more handsome every day, I hope you like today's chapter.