Piker was at awe at what he saw. He knew Mikella had been improving herself daily ever since they left the tower, but he didn’t realize how much.
Or was it just her natural talent? The way she moved, reacted, and even predicted some of Basil’s attacks were borderline prodigy level.
He knew of her special status, her Acquired skills that would make any fighter bleed with envy, and the advantage of eating attribute fruits which gave her freedom for her stats–but there was something more to it than just the raw power and numbers.
Basil wasn’t some fool, even if he mostly acted like one. He was a battle-fanatic whose only goal was to improve himself in battle. True, the way he handles situations under duress can be crude at times, but he always made up for it with his own intuition. His warrior-archetype class ‘Whip Lancer’ allowed him to masterfully maneuver his custom-created whip sword with ease. His attunement based on the concept of discharging Fire and Air mana in a short blast, a rarity even among the elementally attuned mages, made everything about him almost inconsistent and dangerous.
But she managed to not only handle herself even on the first try, but to keep him on the back end. The moment Basil unleashed his trump card, she did the same, even if she succumbed to her nearly fatal electricity. He didn’t blame Zeke for wanting to heal her first.
To some, he would obviously heal his wife, but he only focused on the most devastated of the two, being Mikella. While Basil was shocked to the point of being charred, Mikella was worse off. Burns everywhere on her skin, and there were hints of cauterization among the wounds she received from Basil’s strikes. If not given proper care now, she could potentially receive lasting permanent damage. In return, one of his comrades took over healing Basil, figuring that Zeke was going to take a while to heal her up.
Right now, Zeke settled Mikella down on the ground, her body on his own with her eyes closed. Mikella’s face was painted with agony, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips.
He saw that she was mostly joyous over winning a battle, even at the cost of her own health. Piker shook his head in disbelief.
Just how powerful is she going to get? She was already reaching their level which took them years to practice with only a few months worth of fighting. But he must remember one thing:
Power comes at a cost. The more power you sought so soon, the more you have to pay. Considering their circumstances, Piker can’t really feel envious of their power. He could only feel concern.
Concern for their safety, and of course for the little girl that was taken along with them.
But at the same time, he can’t allow them to surpass him. It didn’t matter how much fate favored the two–he will not relent.
As he saw his father coming forward to speak, he stood at attention. No matter what will happen, he will get stronger. He will serve his duty.
…..
“Everyone, line up!”
Zacharia shouted to everyone, mostly the soldiers from his retinue. Meanwhile, Zeke focused heavily on Mikella’s channels, ignoring everything surrounding him.
He could feel Myra, Jackie, and Philip surrounding them in worry, but he couldn’t pay attention as he focused on the damage, which was pretty extensive.
Her electricity is nearly devouring her on top of the injuries from Basil’s explosions. While he managed to heal those up pretty quickly at the cost of spending more mana than usual, he tried to study her channels better. The Unbridled Fulmination was almost gnawing at her straight to the bone, trying to eat her whole. Her channels were charged with so much electricity that it was starting to seep into her life channels.
So Zeke forced his will into her channels, his Recovery skill on full blast. It was almost dizzying, but he focused on the task on hand as he forced the rampaging electricity to still. He used the combination of his mana, her kinetic and life energy, and finally the culmination of his constant use of Recovery;
He was finally able to use her own magical energy to fuel her recovery.
The attunement ceased in a matter of seconds. Even he was surprised at this. Last time this happened, it normally took a few minutes, but once the energy cooled down, his mana took care of the rest. It forced her attunement down to a manageable level as his mana spread across her channels, restoring them back to full health.
Once he felt her life energy recovered well enough, he stopped his skill and checked his mana reserves.
It barely took 20% of his total mana. Once again, he was baffled. He knew his practice was becoming consistent after all this time healing the other citizens, but this was on another level.
When he focused his vision again on her face, he was taken aback by how pretty she was. Since she passed her Expert stage, her face became more refined, more attractive. Being so close to that beautiful face got him to flush a little, but thankfully he returned to normal when he saw Mikella opening her eyes slowly, noticing his face.
“Hey,” Zeke greeted with a smirk. “You with us?”
Mikella groaned as she stood upright, the other soldiers giving her some room to breathe. She flexed her fingers and tested her muscles, finding herself nearly back to normal.
“Oh damn,” MIkella said, her voice unruffled despite nearly frying herself seconds earlier. “I feel like I just got resetted. Zeke, your healing got a lot better!”
“Well yeah, it’s pretty high level, remember?” Zeke said, but he frowned later. “But you still went too far. You could’ve easily killed yourself and Basil.”
“Yeah…” Mikella winced, looking over at Basil who was thankfully standing, even if he did look like he wanted to faint at any moment. But she quickly turned back to him with a shit-eating grin. “But I won!”
“That’s an understatement,” Myra said as she pulled Mikella up to her feet with Zeke following suit. “You annihilated him! Good job!”
The girls shared a strong fist–bump that felt like an actual punch smacking against each other. Zeke rolled his eyes at the battle fanatics as Philip stepped up.
“You really poured in a lot of mana. You okay?” Philip asked Mikella, his expertise on magic giving his words credit. “Normally that kind of magic output would have burned your channels.”
“Yeah, but I feel like I have better control over it now. It’s kinda like the more I use it, my body ends up getting used to the output, I guess?”
“Yeah, and all it took was turning you into KFC,” Zeke said flat-toned, getting Mikella to wince.
“Yeah… yeah, good point.”
“....Key-ef cii?” Philip asked, sounding out the strange word to Jackie who shrugged back.
It got to the point that no matter what strange terms Zeke and Mikella used, the others would just mark it as their strange village customs. Honestly, Zeke was glad for that, but he also knew that doing it too many times might make everyone think they were speaking in a different language.
Once the group saw that Mikella was miraculously fine, they turned to find the Zacharia group having their own conversation.
“Basil, you understand what went wrong, do you not?”
“...Yes, sir.”
Basil was well awake now, recovered thanks to their own Expert-stage healer. Though he looked like he wanted nothing more than to hide in a hole and never come out. The shame in his eyes while his shoulders slumped was clear to anyone around.
“Then speak it,” Zacharia cruelly said.
“...I severely underestimated my opponent.”
“Anyone with eyes can see that, boy!” Zacharia’s voice turned louder, enough to get everyone, including their own group, to flinch.
Basil had it the worst, being the target of that shout. His body shivered like a bomb of pressure went off right in his face.
“Details, Basil. I need details!” Zacharia repeated.
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Zeke wasn’t sure whether this was some strange punishment, or perhaps Zacharia truly wanted to hear his words. Though looking at the other soldiers peering at him, they don’t look like they were thankful not to be in Basil’s position.
They had their eyes sharpening on him, as though wanting to hear the details themselves. It was a strange sight–nobody there wanted to step away, even though it felt so tenseful.
Basil breathed calmly through his nose, his face relaxing as he spoke.
“My opponent caught on to my techniques too fast for me to change my tactics. I refused to change my tactics despite knowing the risks, and I only wanted to scare her away. I thought my attunement would finally get her down, but she just refused to back down. I panicked, and I kept pushing and pushing. I ended up letting her into my guard and I wasted my chance to get away. T-That’s how I lost, sir!”
Basil was speaking fast but orderly, only lasting until the end of the sentence before he stuttered out of fear of the general’s shout. Once he finished, he regretfully stared at the general straight in the eyes, as though it was pounded into him over and over so it became an instinct now.
The general stared hard at him, making Basil truly sweat as beads of perspiration streamed down his forehead. Even the other soldiers looked like they were ready to sweat as the general kept staring.
Eventually, Zacharia nodded. “Good. Learn your mistakes well, and I expect you to reflect on your actions today for the following days as you train. You’re lucky that this was a training bout rather than a fight to the death. While Mikella wasn’t able to get away scot-free, unlike you–she would survive. With a healer on hand, she is ready to strike again. What would happen if that was the enemy, and if they survived while you died?”
“Sir!” Basil responded quickly enough. “They would go after our town and raze everything to the ground. My foolishness will cause many deaths.”
“Precisely. Learn that well, Basil, and never forget today no matter how much you wish to. In the end, that will push you onwards to greater strength.”
“Yes, sir!”
Basil saluted, this time there was fire in his eyes compared to the shamed look as before. As everyone watched the scene, Zeke noticed Mikella showing some mixed expressions.
“I hate how that bastard is doing things… but it kinda works,” Mikella said, pressing her lips tighter. “Though if he starts talking like that to us, I’m gonna use a thunderbolt on him. It’ll definitely be super effective.”
”I’m pretty sure he has an earth attunement,” Zeke suggested. “So he’s immune to it.”
“Damn it!”
Mikella cursed and Zeke couldn’t help but smile at her.
Before Myra and the others would ask about that, their confusion taking over their expressions, Zacharia came over to their side, his boots stomping the ground even while he was just walking.
“Zeke, I would like a word with you. But first, has your mana been reduced too much from healing Mikella?”
Zeke tilted his head, checking Mikella’s confused expression before responding. “No, I’m fine. I’m actually nearing full. Is there anything you need from me?”
Rather than answering him, Zacharia pulled something out of the air, from his own storage pack actually. A large rolled-up parchment was held in his hands, large enough to reach around two feet. He opened it up wide for all to see, but mostly to Zeke.
Staring at it, Zeke widened his eyes.
“This is…”
“Can you read this properly?” Zacharia asked, getting Zeke to nod. “Good. I would like you to create your barriers in this fashion. I believe with your skill, you can create your barriers in any form you like, correct?”
Zeke nodded again, and as though being possessed, he took the parchment from Zacharia’s hands. The general let him be, allowing Zeke to study everything himself.
The parchment had drawn formations, with sharp angles and perfectly sized squares. A lot of thought and care was put into the design, and Zeke couldn’t help but admire the workings. This was basically an architect's design.
“Yeah, I can,” Zeke eventually answered. “You want me to… create this?”
“Precisely,” Zacharia looked up at the sky, mostly at the town’s barrier surrounding him. “If possible, keep it within the Eve Glade barrier. With mana regeneration, it should be possible. But don’t overwork yourself. Can you do this?”
Zeke took another moment, giving another look at the design. The gears in his head started rolling, and he answered before he could even think on it further.
“It might take a few hours… maybe three or four especially with what type of runes to make. Mikella, can you call over Cloud and get him to come here? I think I might need another guy with a Runecraft skill.”
“Huh? Uhh…” Mikella was taken aback by the sudden favor, but she answered quickly. “Yeah, sure…”
“Thanks. With him, I can probably make it with less time. How much time do I have with this?”
“Take as much time as you need,” Zacharia answered. “I don’t want you overworking yourself. We’re gonna need more work from you once this is finished.”
“Understood, then…”
Zeke turned to everyone, mostly to his own group.
“Get everyone out.”
…..
That was the first time she saw Zeke suddenly enter into his scholar-mode, a term she likes to use when Zeke gets taken in by his curiosity rather than the situation. It was also the first time he firmly kicked everyone out, including the general himself.
She would’ve enjoyed it if she hadn’t been kicked out herself. But apparently Zeke wanted her out to make it a surprise, for some reason. Doing what Zeke asked, she called forth Cloud who wasn’t entirely all that keen to get into Zacharia’s training sessions. The farther he was from him, the better.
However, once he found Zeke and he showed the designs to Cloud, he instantly changed his mind. After that, all the other soldiers were told to wait inside the town so that the two mages could be done.
About an hour in, Mikella was already grumbling while she waited near the entrance of the town, not really in the mood to train or talk to the other soldiers.
Zacharia’s retinue didn’t give them as much trouble, much to her surprise. Mikella figured that when Basil got close enough to get on speaking terms, she was gonna hear some excuse, or some insult or something.
But surprisingly, he only stared at her for a moment, and then nodded. After that, he didn't look at her the same way as before.
It wasn’t on the level of acceptance like from Piker, but more like… begrudging respect. She honestly felt the same for him, though she still thinks he has a shitty personality.
“I wonder what the general got Zeke making?” Myra commented, swinging her leg as she sat at a nearby bench along with Mikella. Jackie stood by the side, crossing his arms along with them in waiting.
Philip went ahead to talk to one of the mages in Zacharia’s retinue. Even if there was a gap between the two teams, mages work differently from the melee soldiers. If they have a chance to improve their spell work, they’ll take it.
“Knowing Zeke, it must be something super weird,” Mikella answered honestly. “I just hope he doesn’t make us chase after butterbirds or something.”
“Damn, don’t remind me of that,” Myra winced. “I still can’t believe I can’t catch those fuckers. Zeke was cheating with mine, I swear.”
“Nah, you just sucked,” Jackie answered with a lopsided grin, and that got Myra to pick up a pebble on the ground and pelt him with it. He winced like a wimp and stayed silent since then.
During the recovery, Mikella actually asked Zeke if they could try doing some practice chasing the butterbirds. It turned out to be a lot more physically demanding than she expected. Something about those birds was so fleeting that it made catching them with low Dexterity nearly impossible. Even Mikella struggled to catch, though Zeke had to emphasize its flight movements for her.
If anything, Zeke was cheating with her bird, but she still caught it, much to Zeke’s disappointment.
As she recalled his grumbling face with a smile on her lips, his voice suddenly caught her hearing.
“Hey!” Zeke shouted at them. His eyes actually had small bags under his eyes, probably from being in deep consternation and focus. “It’s done! Call everyone over!”
…..
When the group arrived at the site, she wasn’t sure what to expect. She knew it would be some sort of large dome or some sort to help their training. Or perhaps some small arena with barriers in place like a deathcage in those wrestling matches.
But this… was not something she expected at all.
Spanning at the size of a large gym, she saw a wide array of different shaped turquoise colored walls and flooring, but that wasn’t all. There were some parts acting autonomously, including what looked like a Wing Chun Dummy, those wooden dummies that had wooden limbs that spun when you strike them, forcing you to learn to block or else you get smacked by them.
There was another section, if she could call it that, where small logs (made entirely of magical barriers), seem to spin in the air, suddenly stopping mid-way, then completely spinning the opposite side. It reminded her of those competitions where the lumberjacks challenge each other by spinning the log opposite of their opponents. Of course, this looked way harder as the supposed ‘barrier logs’ were spinning faster than she surmised to be physically possible.
There were also several platforms that flew around in a perfect rotation around the entire field of similar other platforms, reminding Mikella of those platformer games where you have to time the jumps just right to move forward.
She wasn’t the only one gaping in surprise. The other soldiers marveled and whistled at the field, the mages nearly losing their minds at the complexity behind the construction. When she turned to find Zeke and Cloud, she saw them smiling at their design with such pride in their faces, it would’ve beaten a crafter’s ego on creating a masterpiece.
“Impressive. This is just what I expected of you mages,” Zacharia stepped up, also gazing at the design with the same stoic expression. But Mikella could tell there was a glint in his eyes, though not at the majesty of the training field, but what it represented.
“You just had to ruin it for me saying that,” Cloud eventually said, shaking his head. He then turned to Zeke with a warm smile he would’ve never given to Zacharia. “When you first asked me to do this, I thought it was just impossible, but I’m glad to see that you still stun me to this day.”
“I couldn’t do a thing without your help,” Zeke said, warding off the praise to Cloud. “When he asked me this, I knew I needed some complex rune work to make it really stand out. It reminds me of the training courses from my–umm, where me and Mikella came from. I could make the field, but to make it all work like this by itself was impossible by myself..”
Cloud chuckled. “You must let Val try this out. She would wring me out if you leave her out of this fun experience.”
As the mages spoke candidly of what Val would do to them if they didn’t, Zacharia faced the group with a rare smile plastered on his lips.
“This turned out better than I could’ve dreamed of, and better for all of you,” The general spoke with actual excitement that it actually sent shivers down Mikella’s spine. “For the next few days, you all will train in this field and master each training I will impart upon you. This will surely strain you, so rest and relax–because the next few days will be the most hellish days of your lives.”