When Cornelius awoke he was in a straw bed with a white blind surrounding him, the first thing he felt was pain, half of his face had been bandaged along with most of his body. He could hardly move but he still tried to get up, but that was an exercise in futility, accepting the fact that he would not be moving anytime soon he decided to meditate. Looking within he pictured his core and all the adjacent mana channels as Captain Zagreus had taught him, and as he breathed in he pictured himself taking in the mana in his surroundings, the mana had been tainted somewhat by the deaths and suffering of all those who have been in the infirmary previously.
Mana had a way of being changed by the environment that was where most ghost stories originated from, if something terrible like a truly horrendous murder happened the mana in the area would change like a scar on the world itself. Here in the infirmary the mana was filled with hopelessness and misery, death and despair. Most would advise against using this type of mana to strengthen their manacore but Cornelius’s unique affinity was oddly suited for war and carnage it seemed like it fed of pain and suffering. He envisioned the mana flowing through his channels until they reached his white core, the mana felt different from the usual fire in his veins no this was more like icy water as it traveled through his veins. When the mana reached his core it was instantly absorbed making the core grow slightly larger.
For hours he meditated, this was the first time he was meditating in a suitable environment so his progress was doubled. When he finally finished his core had grown double its initial size, just as he stopped a nurse came in to replace his bandages and clean his wounds. She opened the blind carrying a bowl of water that she subsequently dropped when she noticed that he was awake, she was shocked because due to his wounds he should have been comatose for another week before waking so this was quite a surprise, though not many were aware of the benefits of his bloodline one of which was increased natural regeneration.
She quickly bowed and left seemingly forgetting about the dropped bowl, not long there after she returned with both Sergeant Myers and the Commander himself. The Commander turned to the nurse and said “You are excused, tell all the other personnel to vacate the area,”
“But, I still need to clean his wounds,” she protested. “I said you are excused,” the Commander said in a stern voice leaving no room for discussion.
“I must say I am impressed, young Cornelius for you are the only unit leader to keep all his wards alive, not only that you killed the white terror and even brought a Kalethi prisoner. When I said you had to make an impression this was not what I meant but I am impressed nonetheless,” the Commander said with a raised brow causing the few wrinkles on his face to be accentuated.
“This is merely the way of my house ‘Strength Beyond Measure’ is the words all Amydros live by,” Cornelius said trying to downplay his achievements for the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.
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“Nonsense boy, I worked with you’re father and not even he could boat such achievements,” Sergeant Myers said brushing of his attempt at being humble.
“As much as this is an interesting topic of conversation we have business to attend to,” the Commander stated as he handed Cornelius a letter with Prince Shtad's seal. Accepting the letter from the Commander he broke the seal and started reading out loud.
‘Cornelius all though I am happy to hear of your achievements there has been a shift within the court due too your capture of the Kalethi woman, the court has decided to reward you with the title of Captain so congratulations are in order.
But that comes at the cost of you leading a squad within the frozen plains as the court has decided that we have let those barbarians be for far too long and that it is time for them to either submit or die. Be warned my elder brother is aware of our affiliation and this is a ploy to try and remove you as a piece on the board, so be wary and yet again I wish you the best.
Commander Zoan has been given authority to organize his army and start the expeditions into the Frozen Plains, plus they have decided that the best one to lead said army would be Sergeant Myers also known as the bloody first of the dynasty. May the gods have mercy on your souls.
Best regards Prince Shtad.’
After Cornelius finished reading the letter there was only silence as they processed the information, “Shit, those pig-headed fools there is a fucking reason we have not attempted to conquer the Frozen Plains, the so called barbarians are born warriors and masters of guerilla warfare. Shit,” Sergeant Myers started ranting or should I say General now? Well these thoughts are irrelevant right now it seems the cogs of war are already spinning.
“Calm yourself General,” Commander Zoan said calmly he seemed the least perturbed by the news “we have an advantage now that we had not in the previous campaign of ten years prior.”
“And what would that be Commander,” General Myers said his voice dripping with sarcasm, Commander zone gave him a steely look that shut him up “My apologies Commander,” He said.
“Its quite simple really with our new prisoner we can finally have an understanding of their tactics and terrain, now we only need to learn the language so that we can actually interrogate her,” the Commander said. Cornelius cleared his throat, causing both the Commander and General to turn to him “That will not be a problem sir, for I already speak Kalethi,” Cornelius said simply.
“A man of many surprises I see,” the Commander said giving him an appraising look. “You see general things are already looking up for us. Now Cornelius your first focus should be on recovery after that you will begin with your interrogation,” he said before turning as he started making his exit motioning for General Myers to follow.
In the following weeks while Cornelius was recovering he spent most of his time meditating, nothing interesting happened until one day while he was meditating his body started feeling strange as he was in the process of compressing his core a very delicate procedure that if messed up could end in death. It seemed that his body had adapted enough to reach the next level of mana adaptation, in any other circumstance this would have been good news but not while he was compressing his core.
His body first started shaking violently as he started to excrete a stinky black liquid from his pores, his body felt like it was being ripped apart piece by piece all the while he had to keep his concentration on his core because one mistake would be fatal. He firmed his resolve and pushed the pain to the corner of his mind, needless to say the pain was unbearable but he kept on compressing his core. Just as he was about to lose consciousness he finally completed the compression his core turning from a white color to a light Violet color and finally he let the sweet release of sleep embrace him as he had made it to the next level as a champion.