Jay woke, blinking bleariness out of his eyes. He was just about to move an arm to rub them, but then a voice popped into his mind. I wouldn't recommend moving your arm. It looks pretty destroyed.

  Jay mentally nodded back. So this is how communication with you is going to work?

  Yep! Also, you may have been given painkillers, but you can't feel chunks of your arms and legs. You should know better than to move them.

  I really should.

  Jay sat in bed, waiting for something, anything to happen. Eventually, the door opened and a woman walked inside, a golden aura surrounding her. "So, this is the patient?," she asked, looking behind her.

  A very annoyed-sounding Diamond called out, "Yes. Heal him and get out, please."

  The woman snorted, her golden aura flowing towards Jay. It grabbed him and his body suddenly started healing, new flesh launching out of his wounds. His bandages unwrapped themselves as all his wounds disappeared. She turned away from him, walking out the door. Then she stopped, turning. Her eyes narrowed at Jay. The golden aura snapped into Jay, reaching around inside him. Before he could push it out, the aura found what it wanted.

  It grabbed Amon, attempting to pull her out. Amon grabbed ahold of Jay's soul, her metaphysical being trying to stay inside. Help!

  Jay mentally grabbed the tendril, breaking it apart with his mind. The woman's golden aura broke, dissipating. She sighed. "I'll need some invasive procedures to remove whatever that is, if you don't let me do it."

  Diamond rushed into the room. "What's happening here?"

  Jay pointed at the woman. "She's attempting to do something I don't want her to."

  "You don't want me to? There's a parasite on your soul, idiot. It'll consume you if I don't do something about it. It seems you're more of a fool than I was told-"

  Jay rose out of the bed, supported by silver tendrils. "Don't call Amon a parasite."

  Tell her not to call you an idiot!, Amon's voice rang out within him.

  "And Amon says not to call me an idiot."

  Rage appeared in the woman's eyes and she raised her arm, a golden spear appearing in it. "You have angered me. Die."

  Diamond swatted it out of the air, grabbing the woman in a chokehold. "Now, children, stop fighting."

  Jay sagged back into the bed, Amon letting him down slowly. "So, you can leave now," Diamond said to the woman, opening a portal in front of her and tossing her in.

  Diamond turned to Jay. "I have more headaches now. So, what's on your soul?"

  "The entity that helped me before-I made a deal with her and we're working together now. She shapes my soul for me."

  Diamond nodded. "So, you trust this entity completely. That's good. What's her name?"

  "Amon."

  Diamond turned. "You're healed now. Get to your dorms. There won't be any in-bed lessons for you, in fact, because the healer arrived early enough that it wasn't necessary. I'll see you tonight, and take you to level, for real this time."

  Jay flopped on the bed. Thanks, Amon said a small voice.

  Welcome.

  Jay entered the dorms, his thoughts turning to Millie as he climbed the stairs. They would go to retrieve her soon, hopefully. He grabbed a bowl, sitting to eat at their table, though he was alone this time. Some of the students came up to him, not seeming to have good intentions. "Where is the princess, and where is Alexander?," the one who seemed to be the leader asked.

  "Who's Alexander?," Jay asked, chowing down on a piece of bread.

  "He's the mage you killed!"

  Jay's eyes widened in surprise. "So, you think I killed someone?"

  The crew nodded. "You were the only one to interact with the princess, and Alexander disappeared on the same day. You must have kidnapped the princess and killed Alexander."

  Jay shrugged. "I can tell you I didn't do either of those things, though I can't tell you what happened that night. It may or may not be classified."

  They're preparing weapons.

  I see it.

  "So, if you won't tell us where they are, we'll torture you until you do!"

  Jay looked over at the barkeep, who shrugged. "Kids. No torture. Jay over there didn't do anything wrong-I can attest to that."

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  The group gave the barkeep death glares. "So, what happened on that night?"

  They received another shrug. Half of them turned back to Jay, while the other half menacingly went at the barkeep. "They must be accomplices!"

  The barkeep laughed. "Do you really think you can handle me? And that kid over there-do you think you'll actually win?"

  The leader raised a fist into the air. "With my level ten ability, I can't lose to a level one nobody! And if you can't get to the kid, you can't save him!"

  The barkeep raised a fist. "So, please step up and lose, then. I don't think the kid needs saving."

  Ready, Amon?

  You bet I am.

  Jay slid his chair back from the table, standing. A blunted sword formed in his hand. Taking that as a cue, the half that was after him charged. Jay deflected an arrow of some element, letting it skitter off his blade. The leader raised his sword, causing it to glow with a red hue. I would expect this attack to be slightly stronger than the rest. Just whack him before he uses it.

  Jay watched the abisymally slow blade come down, sidestepping. A water bullet launched at the leader, knocking him back and making him fall on his butt. He activated his domain, summoning a jellyfish with paralytic but not deadly poison. It latched on to another member of the group before they could attack, and they fell over, twitching. Jay slammed his sword into another one's head, stepping out of the way of a flaming arrow.

  Someone who seemed to be a berserker attacked, slamming their axe downwards in a massively telegraphed swing. Amon summoned a tiny tendril to push it aside, causing the axe to simply hit the floor. A red aura surrounded the berserker and he started swinging the axe in his had faster and harder. Jay launched a water bullet at him, stunning him for a brief moment before he fell into a entrapping flower in Jay's sudden release of his domain. A sudden pulse of his Hooks of Thought sent him skyrocketing, a hook in the ceiling pulling him straight up. Jay smiled down at the five remaining members, watching the leader get up and see him floating in midair. A quick Thoughtshield blocked an arrow before he used a blunted Thoughtcleave to take out the archer who had sent it.

  Jay dropped down in front of the leader, a quick swing taking out another member of the group. The leader screamed, looking over at the bartender who lazily served food to someone who had entered the room. The group that had gone after him lay on the floor, groaning. A dark orb shot at him from a mage behind him, but Jay simply summoned a leviathan in the mage's face, bottoming out his mana. He unsummoned it as the leader gaped at him. The mage behind him pooped his pants, falling over. Where's his so-called 'super powerful level ten ability'?

  Jay poked the leader with his sword and quickly recieved a response to Amon's question. "If-if you don't let me go, I'll use my level ten ability! Y-you won't like it!"

  Jay smiled at the leader. "Use it, then."

  The leader's eyes widened and he pulled out a ring of some kind.

  It's not an ability-he's using an item!

  Before Jay could do anything, the boy disappeared, leaving no trace of himself behind. I'm assuming that was a teleport.

  I think it was one, too.

  Jay and the barkeep called Diamond over, and when he arrived, he shouted at the group for a good ten minutes, giving them a piece of his mind. Jay sat, finishing his meal and watching smugly.

  Diamond looked over at Jay. "Couldn't you resolve this peacefully?," he asked.

  "Nope. They were going to attack, whatever I did, and I didn't know if I should have told them what happened."

  Diamond nodded. "You were right not to tell them."

  The group he was shouting at fell through a portal. Diamond waved at the barkeep. "Don't let them out of the dorms for a week or so."

  He elegantly opened a portal and walked through, disappearing. Jay sat back and waited for the instructors to appear to teach them.

  The lessons of this day were on the natures of the different types of magic. Nothing very interesting, given that Jay could feel their natures by looking closely at his pools. Bored, he waited for class to end before returning to his room. He found a set of clothes lying on his bed made from a completely black fabric. A note lay next to them, with the words 'The uniform you should be wearing on our outings' on them.

  Jay grabbed them, putting them on before waiting for nighttime.

  Mercury entered the Council room once again, this time sitting in a seat and not going to the center to give them a report. He watched a few attendants drag Millie's floating cage into the room, putting it in front of the Councilors, who were arranged in a crescent, with the seats in the back being higher than the front ones. Their researcher, Copper, stepped up. "I-I've h-had no progress with the girl," Copper said, shivering. He was always shivering. Mercury didn't know how he managed to create his gadgets like this.

  Copper pulled a cloak out of his spatial ring, wrapping it around himself. "I-I'm sorry, it's just a little cold around here."

  Gold waved. "Continue."

  "I can't extract her soul key. The king put a seal on it."

  Shadesilver stood up. "Kill the king, then."

  Gold waved at him and Shadesilver sat back down. "That works. You're in charge."

  Mercury stood up. "I would like to ask-who are we installing as king?"

  Gold looked him in the eyes for a brief moment. "Put Thunder Iron in charge."

  Mercury sat back down. He turned his eyes to Millie. Was that just him, or did her eyes just flutter? "Probably me," Mercury said to himself, dismissing the occurance.

  Millie sweated bullets. They were going to kill her father. God. Or gods. She had to stop this. The root cage was too hard to get out of, though. There was no way she could escape it. Maybe she could send a message, however.

  She felt the cage move out of the room. The only reason they still thought her asleep, after she had gone into a room with some of the strongest people in the world, was because most of them probably hadn't even looked at her. As the cage stopped, Millie took a risk, slightly opening her eyes. No one was in the room, which had a single door, a small crack underneath. Millie let a ball of water generate, pressing intent into it. Summon Guardian.

  The ball turned into a water elemental, pulsing in her hand. Millie sent it her message, giving it her orders immediately afterwards. The elemental dropped off her hand, flowing under the door. Millie sighed. Hopefully it would escape.

  The king stared at the message he had received. His daughter had been taken by the Metallic Council? No anger generated within him-he had a skill to stop that-and so he started acting immediately. "Find the Metallic Council's base of operations," he told one of the attendants next to him. He turned to another, starting to speak before someone entered the room.

  The king turned to the newcomer. "Speak."

  "A ball of water was found trying to get into the palace, sir."

  A woman carried a ball of water. "I grabbed it and it claimed it's from the princess."

  The king grabbed the ball and it quickly formed into words on his palm. He dropped the elemental, which quickly faded away, its job done. The king grabbed the attendant he had just given an order to. "Gather the troops. Send a message to Diamond about what we want. Go."

  The next attendant stepped up, and the king spoke once more. "Tell the knights I need a protection detail at all times."

  The next attendant stepped up and the king repeated the process, giving him more orders. The line continued to step forward for a long time, the king rarely ceasing his speech.