Chapter 24

The Boy Who Sees Souls

Elara remained in the council chamber, waiting alone. Garret had also left with the excuse of training after Seraphina, giving the red-haired woman a moment of peace. She let her cold facade collapse and relaxed on the couches beside the window, bathed in the warm golden sunlight.

I don't get many of these.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Elara felt her head lighten from the weight of last night's lack of sleep. Her tense muscles took a slight respite to ease them. Thus, Elara enjoyed fifteen minutes of peace. Despite the short time, it did wonders for her mood and inner thoughts.

At the edge of her awareness, Elara sensed Seraphina's usual presence and Noah's calm, strange presence standing a few steps behind the chamber double door. Behind Noah, the imperial knight stood by the wall, keeping his promise from the previous night. As the knights at the door extended their hands to open it, the woman stood up and resumed her professional composure.

After a few seconds, the two stood inside the room. Noah seemed uncomfortable with Seraphina's presence, but Elara saw through his pretense—he wanted to speak privately.

Now I am even more curious.

Elara gestured for Seraphina to leave, and the latter seemed unbothered. She exited without a word, but she gave Noah a curious look she couldn't blame her for.

As the door closed behind her, Noah bowed slightly and said in his usual calm manner, "Good morning, Lady Elara. You look tired. You shouldn't skip your sleep."

I agree!

"It wasn't an easy night, and I suspect more of them are coming," Elara replied honestly. She found no reason to hide the truth if he could detect her fatigue with just a glance.

Something else to be curious about.

The woman tilted her head to the side and expressed her curiosity this time. "And how could you pick up on that? I make sure to hide it."

Noah took a few steps closer to where the woman stood while saying, "I wasn't talking about the fatigue from lack of sleep. Someone of your strength wouldn't be bothered by that. But if your core is constantly tired, the effects of lack of sleep on you wouldn't differ from an ordinary human. This fatigue is heavy on the soul in the long run."

Elara fell silent. The boy wasn't wrong; Elara hadn't slept for more than five hours for over 18 years. And for longer than that, Elara hadn't skipped a single day of her training, built on her fear of losing everything again. To protect her family and what she owned, she had to grow stronger every day. She never allowed the routine accumulated work to take more time than it deserved compared to what was important—at least to her.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

But how could a boy whose awakening is still in doubt know about my strength? ... His soul he spoke of, perhaps?

Elara didn't ask about that, but her expression said more. Noah picked up on that and explained, "It's my soul sight. I can see your soul, and I can gauge its strength from that. But your primitive soul defense reduces what I can know. One thing I'm sure of is you shouldn't, under any circumstance, attempt to advance to the next stage with the current state of your soul. It's just... too exhausted."

What? He can determine all that... He said primitive defense, does he know what I went through to get this primitive defense.

"Tell me more," Elara ordered, gesturing for Noah to sit across from her on the couch.

Noah sat, meeting her gaze, and said, "I've said what I see. Your soul is very exhausted, and you shouldn't try to advance now. If you do, the least you should worry about is soul damage. And this type of damage is hard for the soul to handle. It's even worse than core damage. It might take over 10 years to heal even a minor wound, and spiritual potions... well, they've gone extinct."

Elara frowned at Noah's words. She wanted to say something, but the words didn't come. She just looked at him in disbelief.

This, certainly, changes a lot.

The woman adjusted her expression and asked with curiosity, "Use your …spiritual vision and tell me at what stage you think I am."

Noah clasped his hands together as he smiled at her. "Oh, a test! Also, my soul sight, I don't use it, it's just a sense like my other senses... maybe I should leave this topic out, I myself don't understand it very well... As for your rank, I think you're at the seventh rank, a Grand Wizard. I might be wrong, your soul defense gets in the way."

Not accurate, but not far from the truth.

Before the woman could respond, Noah spoke again. "Also, your soul defense, it's not what you think. I can see you're using it without any understanding of the principles of soul magic specialization. It's not even a defense, it's soul fogging."

The woman leaned forward and asked quickly, unbothered by the image she presented. "What do you mean by soul fogging? I did get the spell without much description. Its description didn't mainly say defense, but it hinted at it."

Noah laughed lightly as he explained, "Soul fogging can be used to obscure any spiritual damage or manipulation of the soul. The obscuring ability changes based on the density of the fog that circulates around the soul. It's not a common spell, even in its time, I'm surprised you have it."

Is this its only use?... Circulate?

"Is my use of it that bad?" Elara asked humbly.

Noah nodded seriously. "It's not bad, but it's …sad. Even your ability to use the spell and maintain it for extended periods without any understanding of the field's basics is frankly impressive. But soul fogging is a spell with a specific purpose. It will serve you well if you know its correct use."

And do you know that?

"Do you know its use?" Elara asked without shame.

Noah nodded and replied, "I can learn, I have an unnatural affinity with anything spiritual."

Elara smiled at the hidden meaning Noah placed in his words. She didn't say anything about it to him but thought about it. That was one of the things that occupied her thoughts last night.

This boy's value is very high and will only increase with time.

Elara adjusted her thoughts and returned to the reason for this meeting. "Your information is valuable, but let's not keep the imperial knight waiting any longer. I'll hear your request, but first, did you influence the healer's words last night? I've known him for a while, he was never that confident."

Noah nodded in agreement, his expression calm without any change.

Now I'm curious about what really happened inside the room with the girl, ... doesn't matter, it ended quietly, no need to poke that nest now. More importantly, what is the boy's very important request?

Elara nodded at Noah's honesty and gestured for him to make his request.

Noah wasted no time and asked in a clear, confident voice, "Lady Elara, do you have the capability or means to communicate across continental distances?"

Now, that's something I didn't expect.