Alforien Arlford [Sir Warford=Karelin; For those that might get confused]
After Sir Warford left I resumed my meditation. With my now higher intelligence, I was sure that I could get it done quicker this time around. And I did! I had a small but noticeable increase in the amount of mana I took in each time minute.
Given enough Intelligence I suppose I could fill my mana pool within seconds. Though I suppose that at that point I’d also have a large enough Wisdom that my mana pool would be significantly larger. Didn’t that mean that the mana taken per minute against the total mana was somewhat constant?
I suppose it could certainly be varied, one could keep the Wisdom stat low after all. But most would choose to instead keep the stats high. There was little to gain and much to lose by not doing so. The main variable in this would then become the level of [Meditation] It would allow for a greater intake of mana a minute while also not increasing the mana pool.
Anyways, I don’t know why I was so interested in how much mana was taken in against the total man pool. It was not like it mattered for anything. While I was considering all of this Sir Warford had returned.
“Your highness, I apologize for the tardiness...the count merely took time. Please allow me this mistake, I promise I shall not disappoint you again.” Sir Warford said. What in all the worlds was he babbling about? When did he do some great wrong that he was panicking so much? Did something happen that I did not realize?...Maybe I should confirm
“Perhaps you should vocalize your faults, Sir Warford” I said, trying to sound as uptight as I could
“I was slow in carrying out your highness’ orders, it is my fault and this mere one apologies” Sir Warford said
“You are forgiven, the count good sir?” What does one say to things like that? I did what I could. I never knew that people begging for forgiveness was so awkward
“The count comes to 237 with minor to no injuries, 31 injured and 8 heavily injured. The 8 and several of the 31 will die within the next few hours, so it is best that your highness not count them” Sir Warford said.
There were injured? Of course there were injured, they had just been in a bloody battle with real swords. If anything it was a wonder there weren’t more of them.
I now know my next plan! Treat the injured! If I was right and the current society was any indication, then the injured weren’t being treated too well. I could just get a little healing done on them...I didn’t have the healing elements though. No worries, I could just have Grandmist and Chaos take some slack.
“Where are the injured being kept?” I asked and watched Sir Wardof’s face suddenly turn pale
“Your highness please! I know that the injured may delay you, but I assure you that at least some will recover! The additional hands will be helpful I am sure!” Sir Wardof said. I had forgotten that the killing of ‘the weak’ was a usual tactic also. It did allow for a more war ready nation after all.
People that tried their best to remain healthy no matter what reason would end up fit. That helped in any war. But I wasn’t about to let this chance go. Healing those people could be my chance to increase morale by a large amount! I was sure I’d get some points for that.
“I am not going to kill them Sir Wardof, I am going to heal them. Now take me to them” I said, making my voice firm.
“Yes, your highness”Sir Wardof looked like he wanted to say no more but decided not to. Guess he didn’t believe me. I would have to change that, an army would have to have trust in their leader. It just wouldn’t work otherwise.
I followed Sir Wardof through what seemed to be a new encampment, while watching the men around. While I kept my ‘I am a noble prince that is better than you’ (It wasn’t hard, I was better than them) I also observed the men, according to Emperor Norton, an expert on warfare, knowing the morale of the army was one of the most important jobs of the commander.
‘It matters in every blow, every spell. Each could be greater, but it will only be so if your soldiers truly believe in your cause” was a common saying of his. If I went by the sullen and hopeless faces around, then each blow and every spell were lesser not greater. The soldiers seemed to hate their lives. I would need to change that.
After passing through many such encampments, they were largely disorganized, most had flaky, barely upright tents, and next to none seemed to be sanitary. It was a complete disaster. I needed a plan to change that.
The healer’s tent, or at least what I presumed to be the healer’s tent was the only one seemingly well done and maintained in a sanitary manner. Where the others were situated between tries and the like in a haphazard manner, the healer’s tent was put up in a large clearing, was largely upright and had no unsanitary products loitering about.
It was clear that whoever was running the tent at least knew something about what he was doing. When we neared the tent, Sir Warford took the lead and announced to the tent, “ All bow before his highness Prince Alforien!” The yell had me cringing, it was likely horribly inaccurate and painfully clichè.
If the faces of the injured and the medical staff were any indication, they agreed with me. Or maybe they were just angry at the noble that was not letting them die in peace?
As I stepped into the tent, I noticed that the medical staff had taken highly combative and protective stances around their patients. That was not a good sign, they had presumed that I was here to kill the patients and it would be hard to convince them otherwise.
I looked around the injured, looking for a person that was visibly injured but not to such a degree that I’d fail. Using Grandmist to heal things was iffy in the first place. The element’s natural inclination to allow for the formation of only one uniform substance would cause trouble.
There! A burnt off face… no, a burnt off skin if my mana sense was correct. The man had likely walked into some sort of fire geyser. The burns weren’t bad enough to be life threatening or anything, they just covered the top portion of the body. It ended up with the guy being disfigured horribly, and would likely still die.
Not from the burns though. The death would be either by suicide or hunger. The burns would hinder and cause pain in every movement he made, he could likely never be able to walk again, something that would kill him here in a military camp.
As I summoned my Mana, I idly wondered where the man had encountered a geyser, his burns were also very new, barely ten minutes old. Did the enemy leave behind a few traps? That seemed like a possibility. Leaving a few things that would cause deaths and chaos among your enemy after you fall is a valid battle tactic.
I layered my spell, making the inside Grandmist and the cover Chaos. The Chaos would remove the upper layer of burnt skin, the Grandmist would form the next layer.
“This will hurt like hell, but will be over in a flash” I said as I shot the bolt forward. The medical staff, who could clearly not see the mana gathering, were shocked by the statement. Immediately they rushed towards the man. They were too slow.
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“Ahhhhh” A scream rang out as suddenly the man had all of his skin removed at once and immediately replaced with a new one. It made for a suddenly naked man in public, with pink newborn skin. Knowing that the man would likely want modesty, I summoned a cloth to cover his privates. It had to be thin and extremely soft however or it would rash the new skin.
“I would suggest that you reduce movement to an absolute minimum. Any and all movements will cause a rash. Your skin is as sensitive as a newborns, perhaps even more sensitive since your body is a tad bit bigger and more mobile than a newborns”I said, hoping to earn a laugh. All I got was the disapproving glare of one of the medicinal staff. Tough crowd.
“Can I um...have some more clothes?” The man asked, embarrassed even now that his privates were covered. Silly man. One of the medicinal staff started walking towards one of the storage boxes, presumably to get it when I stopped them both by saying.
“No. You may not. Your skin is very very sensitive. It cannot handle the clothes and neither can you. The constant irritation will have you begging for me to remove the clothes. In fact you will be like that even with what you have now if you keep moving like that.” I said, causing the man to be very still.
“If I can’t move, then how will I eat? What if I move in my sleep? “ The man was moved to near tears at this slight trauma. This was likely his mind reacting to the restrictions. No one liked to be told to ‘not move’ for any period of time. It would immediately cause the mind to panic. There was only one method of action then. Sedation. I sent my mana sense out, looking for something I could use, finally landing on a small cabinet that held a few jars.
It had a jars of several substances that seemed to be something that could cause sleep if I was sensing correctly. Using mana to predict possible uses was always an inaccurate artform. I delved deep in, trying to recognise one of the constituents.
And to my shock, I did. It was Opium. An addictive, somewhat effective healing agent brought in the beginning of the first age by the First Emperor. With the illusory world featuring said Emperor, it made sense that it was here. Opium had been called a terrible weapon in the cards.
‘Its addictive nature had crippled the Nations of the Bygone ages, making them dependent on their enemy whilst they warred with them. How then would they have ever won?The use of the drug has been banned by order of the Algrean World Council. Any one found to be in possession of it will find themselves exiled from Algrea.’
Was the quote. Exile was the harshest of punishments the Algrean World Council allowed. It involved depositing the guilty on a barely habitable planet with little supplies. It wasn’t quite a death sentence, but it might as well be.
Of course the fact that all Opium was destroyed and it was ensured that none of it would ever be grown again made the possibility of this ruling ever happening minimal.
Deciding that I didn't want the Nation ending substance anywhere near my army I destroyed it. Or rather, rendered it useless. No need to publicly do it. It would likely have all the addicts go stir-crazy. I would have to brief the Medical Staff about it later though, hopefully there were no addicts among them.
As for the sedative, I found some Almiros root. It was a largely mild sedative that would not really put him in a deep sleep but hopefully it would calm him at least. If the amount of uncontrolled fidgeting he was doing was any indication, he was in severe need of calming.
Now for the other patients!
Name
Alforien
Gender
Male
Species
Banmeru
Age
7 months
Titles
Heir candidate to the Earl of Cristanfor, Noble of the Kingdom of Mistrane,Count of Launeior ,Transmigrator
Class
[The Known]
Skills
[Otherworldly mana manipulation] [ Force of Will] [Conversion] [Meditation]
Stats
Strength[The amount of brute force one can use]
112
Endurance[The amount of time one can work continuously]
161
Flexibility[The range of movement of the body]
102
Precision[The accuracy of one’s movements]
113
Perception[The ability to notice nuances and advanced concepts]
133
Intelligence[The ability to comprehend the advanced concepts]
138
Wisdom[The ability to effectively use the concepts]
134
Aura Force[The ability to force your will on your surroundings]
119
Combat[The speed of one’s reactions, ability to process situations and other general combat abilities]
124
Magic Affinities
Fire[One of the greatest sources of Light and Heat in the universe, you have Greater Affinity for Fire]
97.14%
Earth[Essential for life, earth is what renders things solid, you have a Greater affinity for Earth]
99.87%
Mind[The consciousness and its relation to reality, you have Lesser affinity for Mind]
17.35%
Chaos[Everything shall be anything but what it should be, no thing shall remain as it should, you have a Lesser affinity for Chaos]
19.76%
Grandmist[The base substance that all subatomic particles are made off, you have Lesser affinity for Grandmist]
27.39%
Space [The building block of dimensions, you have an Outrageous affinity for Space
199.998%
Time[A mysterious force, you have a Minor affinity for Time]
01.15%
Will [The force that propels you through life, you have Minor affinity for Will]
9.81%
Force[The building block of Kinetic interactions, you have Minor affinity for Force
9.81%