Surprisingly, this time no one disturbed me, and it seemed I was temporarily forgotten. I woke up feeling well-rested.
My body ached relentlessly, and my overloaded core still throbbed slightly, but otherwise, I felt quite acceptable. I even managed to do some stretching, relying on fragments of Dima's memories. It made me feel significantly better. If not for the energy deficit, I might have seriously considered an immediate escape. At the very least, I could physically leave this place on my own two feet.
The seal continued to function properly, having already processed about a third of the necrotic energy into cursed energy, allowing me to move forward with my development. During my rest, the central magical pillar had sufficiently strengthened thanks to the constant mana circulation between the cores. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about the other mana channels.
The throughput capacity of this body left much to be desired. Until recently, mana had been confined exclusively to the cores, with none flowing outward. Usually, it takes a newly awakened mage at least a year to properly “warm up” their mana channels before they can use actual spells. These beginner mages are commonly referred to as Apprentices.
For me, this limitation needed urgent correction. Otherwise, I might accidentally use more cursed energy than necessary and end up burning out my channels. Organic tissue might survive, but restoring mana-conducting channels would cost me dearly. I wouldn’t die, of course, but I’d create so many problems for myself that I’d remember it for a long time.
So far, I had only used a couple of gifts, directly channeling mana from the corresponding cores without involving the conducting channels. Now, however, I needed access to at least some spells because relying solely on gifts wouldn’t get me far. At least not now, when my power was limited by the size of my cores. Cores wouldn’t grow unless they were used for their intended purpose!
With these thoughts, I meticulously and carefully expanded and strengthened the mana channels in my arms. I didn’t have the time or energy to cover my entire body right now, but most spells were connected to the hands anyway.
I spent several hours on this, sweating profusely and forcing myself to drink water from the faucet several times. Dying of dehydration would be difficult with even a small reserve of cursed energy, but wasting this scarce resource would be unforgivably wasteful.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Finally, my efforts bore visible results. With a snap of my fingers, I managed to create a small flame column. Well, “column” might be an overstatement—it was more like a flicker. Its power was barely stronger than a lighter, but it was a start!
At that moment, I felt a stir within myself, and I could have sworn I heard a faint yawn. It seemed that the original owner of this body had finally awakened. Took him long enough.
“Dima, are you there?” I addressed my roommate mentally. “Can you talk?”
“I can...” the boy replied weakly, clearly still recovering from the fusion. After all, his soul was much weaker than mine, even in my current state. “A little...”
“Alright, I won’t keep you long—you’ll need your strength,” I said, extinguishing the flame with another snap. “Tell me, where exactly are we, and how did you end up here? My memory is fragmentary and mostly objective, so I’m in the dark about the rest. I hope you haven’t forgotten?”
“I haven’t,” Dima answered sadly after a short pause. “How could I forget? Sorry...”
“Let’s skip the apologies, Dima,” I interrupted firmly. “Let’s keep it casual—we’re sharing a body, after all. I’m no overinflated deity. Call me Vulkan. Deal?”
“Alright,” the boy agreed easily, surprising me a little. It’s always nice to deal with reasonable people. “Deal. But... sorry, I have no idea where we are. When I was abducted, they didn’t exactly tell me where I was being taken. I can only guess at the timing... There might be a clinic upstairs. But I could be wrong...”
By the end, Dima’s voice was barely audible. He was clearly forcing the words out, so I hurried to cut him off.
“Alright, got it,” I said, snapping my fingers again to ignite a small flame. “It’s clear as mud. We’ll figure it out when we get out of here. Not like it matters much what gets burned.”
“Don’t... burn...” Dima whispered, but his tone was resolute. “There are... people... like me... Many... Need to tell someone...”
“Fine, as you wish,” I shrugged, recalling the laws of this era. “Authorities it is.”
“Thank you,” Dima replied, more through emotion than words, before falling silent.
An interesting host I ended up with. He practically died, summoned a real demon, yet still cared about others. Maybe we’d actually get along. I wasn’t a fan of unnecessary casualties either. Defending myself or answering a summons was one thing, but senseless slaughter? Never my style. Not like those gods and their constant wars for followers.
I was about to lie down and wait for my cursed energy reserves to replenish, but I didn’t get the chance. Heavy footsteps echoed in the corridor, and this time, it seemed more guards than usual were approaching. The question now was: where was this delegation headed—to me, or just passing by?
Just in case, I slumped against the wall, feigning extreme pain. And I was right to do so. As soon as I sat down, the door burst open, and a stocky man with a combat-ready demeanor entered. I could faintly sense magical energy emanating from him. Clearly, this wasn’t just another low-powered guard but something akin to a local sergeant. Not a significant mage, more like an Apprentice, but far more dangerous than an ordinary human.
“This is your half-dead one?” he asked, pointing a cracked, bloodied finger at me. “Yeah, the kid’s in bad shape. Didn’t feed him again, did you?!” He cast a stern glance over his shoulder at the subdued Valera and Vasya before spitting disdainfully. “Never mind, Markus will take him as is. Less vomiting to clean up. Take him!”