Mana Tendrils (2)

Sebastian looked at the bleeding adventurer in front of him. To be precise, he was looking at the ethereal tendrils coming out of both him and Fred. His tendrils were long and golden in colour, while Fred's tendrils looked like it was swaying weakly and ashen in colour. With his accelerated thinking, he quickly assumed that the tendrils had something to do with their life force. He could only think of one other situation where he started seeing the elegant tendrils. It was when he tried to over saturate his body with all of his mana. When he desperately tried everything he could to save Becky.

Even while he was lost in his thoughts, his body was still moving as if his muscle memory had taken over. He was deftly applying pressure to the bleeding areas without moving Fred's exposed innards. With a start, he quickly remembered what he was trying to do. He looked at the tendrils coming out of his right hand and moved it over Fred's stomach. He then willed for his lively tendrils to intertwine with Fred's weak, pale ones. Immediately he could see that Fred's tendrils were slowly absorbing his life force, which he assumed to be mana at this point.

While Fred's mana tendrils were slowly absorbing Sebastian's life force, he started to regain his colour and he started to move around, wincing in pain. Sebastian found this reassuring as he continued to transfuse his mana onto the slowly dying adventurer. Thankfully with all his nightly training, he had a huge mana reservoir compared to when he started in Kalonia.

Hearing a rustling noise behind them, Sebastian looked up as he was still transfusing his mana. Aima and Zes came running over with their weapons drawn. Aima couldn't hide her shock as she drew close to the morbid scene in front of her. From her point of view, Sebastian was applying pressure while his other hand hovered around the heavily injured Fred.

"By the gods -" Aima couldn't finish her sentence as she stood with mouth agape.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Zes found herself beside her master who appeared to be continuously using his mana. "Are you okay master? What can I do?" Although she appeared calm outside, Zes was still flustered when she heard that Sebastian took a hit from the wolfbear. It was apparent when she reverted to calling Sebastian as 'master'.

"Zes? Are the others fighting with the wolfbear then? Take Fulgur and wield it for this battle. I've shown you how to use it before. They will need your support. Aima and I can handle this here." Sebastian directed with his gaze to his two swords on the ground near them. With a single nod, Zes immediately took the sword in the black sheath and started running back to the sounds of combat.

"Aima! Focus. I need your help. Cast [Heal] continuously on Fred. I'm only keeping his fatal injuries at bay with my makeshift treatment. I can't use [Heal], you'll have to do it yourself."

"Eh? Ah right. [Heal]!" Aima snapped back to her senses after Sebastian's pleading. With her shaking hand, she directed her mana towards the fallen adventurer, who looked better than when she arrived for some reason.

After a few rounds of [Heal], Fred's bleeding finally settled down and his breathing relaxed as if he was sleeping. Both Aima and Sebastian also plopped down beside him to catch their breaths.

pant "What did you do? That was effective." Aima looked at Sebastian who looked more tired than her even though she was the only one casting the healing spell.

"I can't explain it now. Not here, not now. First, let's stabilise him enough so we can bring him back to the carriage when the fight has settled down."

"Sebastian. I know that you're keen to do that with your otherworldly background, but we don't even know if the fight is in which favour. We could well be walking back into the wolfbear's arms."

As if in response, Sebastian's eyes flashed golden before they returned to their brown hue. With a gentle smile and a sigh of relief, he then looked back at Aima.

"They've finished. Jin has dealt the final blow. Just a few scratches here and there, but they'll be okay. I'll carry him now." Sebastian was about to stand up and pick up Fred when Aima stopped him.

"Um, Sebastian? What do we do about that?" She pointed towards Fred's exposed intestines which were haphazardly wrapped in his cloak.

"Ah. It should be fine for now. As long as he doesn't get shaken up pretty bad, he won't spill the rest out." Sebastian nonchalantly replied while he picked up Fred in an awkward princess carry. He felt like he was stretching his limits with his [Augment] skills today as he continuously used mana for transfusion and now to physically reinforce him.

Upon seeing Fred's condition and with the near-fatal fight breaking out that day, the coachmen agreed that they should make haste for Klance City, cutting down their travel time from 5 days to 2 days. Of course, the spellcasters and anyone that could cast [Heal] had to take turns using it on the horses and the still unconscious Fred.

***

After 2 days blurred by, the carriages slowed down to a walk in front of a city gate. It was more massive compared to Wildecross City and was manned by more guards as well. The first carriage which now carried Sebastian, Elora and the coachman was first approached by 3 guards.

"What business do you have here in Klance City?"

The coachman ruffled around his huge winter coat before pulling out a piece of paper. He handed it carefully to the guard. "We are carrying goods for Yokkun Orebasher. This is his permit and wax seal attesting to this. Also, we have a gravely-injured adventurer with us."

After studying the paper for a few minutes, the guard returned it to the coachman. "You may pass. There are a total of 3 carriages right?"

"Yes. Thank you." The coachman immediately urged the fatigued horse to trudge on.

Even with multiple reinforcement spells and healing spells, the horses were already on their limit. It almost seemed that they were running only on mana now.

When they were outside of earshot from the guards, Sebastian turned to Elora beside him. "Didn't they need to inspect the carriages before they could let us in?"

With a smirk, she didn't even turn to face him while answering him. "Looks like you're new to Klance City." She turned to the coachman to remind him. "Head to the monastery first. We'll have Fred treated there. This should already be safe territory for you. We don't need to escort you to the doorstep."

Sebastian could only glance at her blankly before looking around the city streets. He kept mulling over her nonchalant reply as he took in the city views. The first few blocks from the city gates were all lined with various shops. Being a commercial city, he found shops that sold the usual items for adventuring, and some speciality shops that catered to clients from all walks of life. There were even some slave shops blatantly mixed in the commercial district. These streets were full of carriages and people that had businesses to do in the commercial area. If it wasn't for the designated streetway for carriages, he wasn't sure if they would be able to pass.

During the briefing, Sebastian knew that it was built like a circle similar to Wildecross City. However, the difference was the size and how the spaces were divided within. It was bigger than Wildecross, and the districts were set up in rings. The outer rings were the shops, the middle ring was comprised of the living areas, while the inner ring was for the nobles. The hierarchy was also clearly displayed here as with Wildecross, though Sebastian was never interested in politics as he made clear when Leo and Rivie asked him what he wanted to do in Kalonia.

The carriage finally stopped in front of a large building. The monastery appeared business-like, but Sebastian wasn't sure if that was because they were still in the commerce district. The adventurers got off the carriage and gathered around the second one. Where Fred had been sleeping for the past 2 days.

"Can we move him?" Gomauss looked to Sebastian with urgency in his voice. After Sebastian managed to singlehandedly staunch the bleeding from his gaping abdominal wound, they regarded him as a medical specialist adventurer. Of course, this story was altered after Aima's suggestion.

"Do they have a mobile bed or something similar? We can place him on that and carry him into the monastery. His innards are still exposed so we can't move him unnecessarily. I lifted him before, but that was extremely dangerous." Sebastian thought that a stretcher or a gurney at this time would be handy.

Surprisingly Zes raised her hand. A habit she picked up from Sebastian. "Sebastian, they might have stretchers inside that they use to carry the - seriously injured." She was able to pause before she said 'dead'.

After hearing this information, Gomauss ran inside in a breath's time. Sebastian thought he might have used a skill given how fast he ran. After a few moments, he came back out with a stretcher and a healer behind.

With a concentrated effort, the group was able to lay Fred on the stretcher and bring him into the monastery. The healer then told them to wait outside since the room became crowded with the two parties.

As soon as they were outside the room, Gomauss offered his handshake to Sebastian. "Thank you for saving Fred. I know that being split open like that would have been fatal in other circumstances. However, you were there to mitigate his death. He knew that this was a risky job, but he took it for his family. We thank you."

Sebastian shook his hand while saying, "You also have to thank the monastery in Wildecross City, that's where I received training. We'll leave you two to stay here with him then. We will attend to our matters now."

After parting with the two adventurers, Sebastian's party went outside the monastery. Scratching the back of his neck, Sebastian turned around sheepishly before asking the rest of his party. "Um, it's my first time here in Klance City as you know. So if someone else can take the lead for directions. We need to go to find lodging first before anything else. I am just about ready to collapse."

Mel and Aima both laughed before stepping forward. Mel looked around their surroundings before pointing somewhere. "If we head deeper, we should be able to find accommodation. It should be between the commercial district and the residential areas. You boys follow me and Aima. Zes, make sure your master doesn't get lost." With a giggle, they turned around and walked in front of the group.

Sebastian and Jin both looked at each other since it was both their first time in Klance City. With a sigh, they followed the two girls.

With a start, Sebastian remembered something while they were walking. "If we do any haggling for the inn prices, it will be done by us, not you Aima."

Aima pouted and pretended to cry onto Mel's shoulder, earning the glances from the passersby.

***

A day later, in a room in The Anchor Inn. Sebastian was seated in front of Zes, who sat at an arm's distance away from him. Sebastian's hand was outstretched, giving off a perverted scenario if Mel, Jin, and Aima weren't watching him with serious eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Sebastian reminded Zes one more time. "I'll try to replicate what I did with Fred before. Zes, if you feel anything strange please let me know. If it becomes too painful for you we can stop."

"Yes Sebastian, please go ahead."

Sebastian started to move the entire mana pool in his body as if he was preparing to cast multiple instances of [Augment]. While the mana was flowing within him, he opened his eyes and saw the mana tendrils again. He saw that his mana tendrils were the same quality and length as with the rest of his party. Maintaining the state he was in, he then proceeded to grab a tendril protruding from Zes' right arm. Infusing his mana into it, he noticed it glow brighter and longer.

"Um, Sebastian?" Zes broke the silence which made Jin and Aima jump. "I can feel that my right arm is tensing up, but I can also feel that it is becoming lighter. It sort of feels like a reinforcement spell."

This time it was Mel who responded. "Zes, are you able to continue? We can stop now if you want."

Zes shook her hand slightly while remaining still in her chair. "I don't mind. It's not painful or anything at the moment. Also, I volunteered for this simple test. If it can help Sebastian then I don't mind."

The whole morning passed with this simple activity. Sebastian was exploring the mana tendrils that he saw when he was in what he called his 'mana saturated' state. He found out that if he transfused his mana to another person's tendrils, he can affect that person's specific body part. Aside from reinforcing its function and movement, he could also weaken it. With much effort, he was even able to affect the target's body organs. However, he needed to be within an arm's reach for it to be effective, and he needed to mobilise all of his mana while he was doing it.

Needless to say, he felt exhausted the rest of the day and spent the day sleeping in the room, along with Zes. The rest of the party went out to sightsee and shop, although Aima kept teasing Mel that Sebastian and Zes were only pretending to be tired for them to have some private time.

While the girls were enjoying their time out in the city, Jin couldn't help but voice out his thoughts.

"Did anyone notice that when Sebastian was in his mana saturated state, his eyes maintained their golden hue like before?"