Theodore was quite sick of being stuck within the workshop grounds. Though Fiana had tried to make things comfortable for him, for Theodore, someone who used to run all over town and into the hills by his humble hometown of Eastcliff, it was suffocating no matter what anybody did.
Of course, if it were just suffocating, Theodore could bear with it. However, for an entire month, Theodore lived in a constant state of dread, not knowing when the Circle of Mages will decide to do him away. So long as he remained in this city, he was at their mercy. Though he waited to see if the situation would change for the better, he decided that he had waited long enough. Unable to bear being cooped up and feeling helpless like a caged beast, Theodore decided to cast his caution to the wind and began working on a plan of escape.
Different from before when he was in Eastcliff, now he had arrived at the heartland of the empire, with easy to travel roads and cities and towns never too far away from one another. Even as a child, getting by ought to be significantly easier than if he were around the countryside.
Theodore wasn't sure how closely he was being watched, but if he feared every little thing, then nothing would get done. Perhaps there would be a time when being patient would be the right call, perhaps this is such a time, but Theodore, powerless in his current state, refused to have waiting around as his only option. He decided that rather than let his life be at the mercy of others, it was time to make his own move, even if he had to take a few risks.
And so, he stole a spoon from the kitchen and blamed a crow for the crime. No one but Fiana would have noticed, but though Fiana was kind to him, her loyalties ultimately lay with the Mage Tower. Theodore had to come up with a cover story and when he saw a crow circling the garden the other day, he knew who he could lay the blame upon.
With the spoon in hand, the plan could begin in earnest. Using the metal spoon, Theodore pried at the nails within the floorboards beneath his bed. When the spoon proved to be of insufficient durability, Theodore wrapped his thread-like Aether around it to reinforce it, granting it the strength of tempered steel.
Once the nails had been pried and the boards removed, Theodore began to dig at the soil beneath. He would dig a hole with which he shall use as a secret escape tunnel. For many nights, he dug with the Aether reinforced spoon, and at the same time, he weaved his Aether into the muscles of his arm, using Aether to bolster his muscle mass and to repair the muscles when damaged.
By digging this hole, he was also simultaneously increasing his proficiency with reinforcement and healing techniques, making it decent training for him as well. Digging by the night and practicing Aether condensation by the afternoon, even while the tunnel remained incomplete, Theodore found a measure of satisfaction in this closed-off life he was leading, at least for the moment.
The hole dug by Theodore was made larger than it needed to be as he had expected this to be an ongoing task he'll be working on for many days, months, and perhaps even years to come. Taking his own growth spurt into account, the decision was made to dig a hole large enough to accommodate him in the coming few years.
As for light, he had required none, opting to spread his Aether threads around him and feel his way around via their feedback. In a limited space such as this tunnel, he felt that it was working better than his sight.
Initially, the hole had been dug straight down, but eventually, Theodore dug diagonally instead as the hole got deeper and became more difficult for him to climb back up. As he dug, he made sure to reinforce the surrounding walls with his threads of Aether as well, pressing the dirt together and hardening them to form sturdy surfaces so that they do not collapse on him while he dug. It was a time-consuming process but he was progressing smoothly.
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Thirty and one days had passed since Theodore arrived in Lancea, and on the thirty-first night, the situation took a turn when. While digging his tunnel, Theodore had struck a solid obstacle, one that his reinforced spoon could not break through. At first, it seemed to be a bed of stone, but a moment later Theodore quickly realized that it was not just stone, but bricks. It was a man-made structure.
The discovery roused Theodore's curiosity and he began to dig at it with his reinforced spoon. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he struck at the bricks, he was unable to leave even a single scratch on its surface. These did not appear to be ordinary bricks. Most likely, the bricks were enchanted, reinforced with Aether not unlike how he reinforced his trusty spoon.
(Well, in that case, perhaps I'll give that 'trick' a go.)
Theodore began to wrap even more threads of Aether around his spoon, leaving only the threads used to sense his surroundings alone. Gradually, he filled the spoon with more and more kinetic energy. Soon, the spoon began to tremble violently, stirring even the air around it as it made a low humming sound.
All of a sudden, a thread snapped. Another followed, and then another. It was a cascading chain reaction from Theodore's weakening control over the spoon. Realizing this, panic began to set in and more control was lost, causing even more threads to snap, resulting in the vibrating spoon breaking free, flying off violently in a random direction.
This was a weakness in Aether that took on a thread-like form. Though the user would have a greater degree of precision and control over them due to their direct connection to the body, once that connection is broken, all control would be lost and the Aether would disperse. Due to this nature, it was a form that was risky to use in long-ranged and powerful techniques. If the threads were to be severed, the technique would immediately lose control, such as the case with Theodore here.
Reflexively, Theodore shielded his head with his arms as the spoon went flying. He had severely overestimated his current capabilities and immediately regretted his decision.
When he felt a dull sensation in his left thigh followed by a feeling of wetness, Theodore feared the worst and hastily channeled the Aether within his body towards his leg, trying to detect the damage before the pain begins to set in. Upon realizing what had happened, blood drained from his complexion.
The spoon had lodged itself into his left thigh, nearly reaching his bone after tearing through his skin and muscle. A major artery had been damaged as well and he was bleeding profusely.
(This can't be good.)
Struggling against his trembling fingers, Theodore took several deep breaths before wrapping a tight grip around the spoon's handle. The plan was to extract the spoon in one go and stop the bleeding with healing magic, all before the pain cripples his ability to focus his mind.
Once more, Theodore sucked in a mouthful of air, steeling his mind. He could feel the wound heating up, the pain was coming and he was running out of time.
With a swift and violent movement, Theodore tore the spoon from his thigh, spilling blood and filling the tunnel with a heavy metallic scent. A sharp pain ran through his body as the metal spoon broke free of his flesh, but he knew that the worst was yet to come.
Biting down on his arm as he fought against the desire to cry out, Theodore began to apply healing magic, closing up all of the damaged arteries and temporarily stopping the blood from surging forth.
He could feel the pain coming for him now and he bit down on his arm even harder. It was going to leave a nasty scar later but that was hardly the most urgent matter at the moment. As he suppressed one pain with another, Theodore gathered his focus and began to pull the severed flesh together with his threads of Aether, stitching the wound shut.
Only after he closed the wound did he let his arm loose from his jaws. His bite left a terrible wound, but it wasn't as fatal as it was painful.
Theodore's eyes were wide open in the darkness, his panting and pained whining mixed as he curled into a ball. His back was drenched in cold sweat, his eyes wet with tears and his nostrils stuffed with snot. The worst of it was over, but he had suffered quite a scare.
Eventually, he did calm down and began to drag himself out of his burrow. His wounds, both self-inflicted, ached terribly and he would be spending the rest of the night tending to them.
As he did so, he decided that he was going to have to develop a countermeasure towards crippling pain. After all, healing would be no good if one is in too much agony to use it. With the Demon Lord's memory, he knew just the technique and added one more subject to his training.
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End of Chapter 40
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