TF Chapter 24 Unconcerned Forger

"That sword isn't simple." Danny commented after a few seconds of silence. He must have caught my gaze lingering on the artifact.

"What do you mean?" I asked without averting my gaze. For some reason, I felt as if the sword was the most attractive thing to me in the world. It was strange.

"If you want to gauge how special it is, you will have to use your spirit instead of your eyes." That was all he said but it had successfully managed to pique my interest.

I wanted to know why he had spoken like that, but first, I had to get close to put it in the range of my spiritual domain. I stood up and moved towards it, which for some reason, had its silvery shine not dulled at all being a dim room. It was as if it was releasing its own light.

When I reached close enough, I manifested my spirit...well, tried to, but failed. I panicked at that and tried and tried only to fail.

"I can't manifest my spirit!" I spoke with panic evident within my voice.

"Really! Could it be that you exhausted it extensively?" Bora asked.

Her question caused a light bulb to go off within my brain...could it be that the entity that had taken control of my body been feeding off my spirit?

"A few hours have already passed...shouldn't he have recovered by now?" Danny asked with uncertainty.

"It looks like we are going to have to wait a bit longer. Though, if this condition of yours persists, we might have to alert the forgers."

Danny's words made sense but they still didn't calm me down enough. What if I had lost my chance at becoming a forger?!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

At first, I thought it was my heart pounding in my chest, only for Bora and Danny's reactions of standing up abruptly as if they were about to face a formidable enemy woke me up to the truth of the matter. The memory of the first forger I had met was recollected...this was the exact same way a forger announced their presence.

Someone was coming, and it appeared to be a forger. I was gripped with nervousness, half expecting Everett's grandfather to be the one paying us a visit.

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I still didn't calm down upon seeing a figure entering through the entrance, clad in an armor that appeared to have the texture of glass. It gave the impression that it was transparent, yet truly, it wasn't. I was mesmerised by its beauty and streamlined shape. This was my first time seeing an armor that didn't appear metallic, causing me to wonder if it really was glass the person was manipulating.

"Too many tasks and too little manpower to handle all made me fail to arrive in time...for that, I apologise." The words alone made me recognise that it was a man inside the armor, though that didn't stop the words from startling me. From what I knew about forgers, they mostly didn't particularly care for those of us normal mortals. Even Celeste, our teacher had that faint pride. When she had apologised to me, that faint pride was something that I could feel radiating from her, yet, from this man, I sensed genuine sincerity.

"Its okay." Subconsciously, I answered without even meaning to. The armor covered him from head to toe except for the eyes, whose pupils were as black as night...and no, this wasn't because we were in a dark place that they would normally be brown, no, they were truly dark!

"I get what happened here, there is no need for an explanation. You were attacked, but then you killed them in self defense...I would have normally been curious how you managed that...plus that artifact creating a wound in the floor, but all that would have to wait for later when your tutor and the other council forgers come back. You can also practice without worry as no one will once again attempt to murder you." At the last sentence, he turned on his heel heading out, leaving us flabbergasted at how lazy this person appeared to be.

"I thought we were going to be punished for killing." Bora spoke, her voice containing a hint of shock.

Though, she was most definitely right. I had also been prepared for the consequences because of the fact that we were just mortals, yet had murdered the grandson of a powerful forger.

"Maybe when the others come back, and he's replaced, we shall be punished harshly." I was worried about that. This was basically like delaying an execution. I didn't like it one bit. I would have liked to be punished and be done with it.

We were so dumbstruck that even after minutes had passed and the man had vanished, we were still frozen in place.

"I would have really liked to get this over with." And just like that, the frozen spell was broken with my words.

"That's probably a newly advanced forger. They are the only ones who like being in their armors as a way of showing off." Danny spoke, his tone implying an extensive knowledge of the forgers' world.

"Since he has assured us that no one will attack again, we can go back to our extraction attempts...though, we will probably have to wait until your spirit recovers..." Bora spoke with a grimace. She probably wanted to get back right to it but my condition prevented her.

"I am sorry." I apologised.

"Don't worry about it." She answered.

And just like that, multiple days passed as I waited for my spirit to recover. The good thing about the wait though, was the fact that I could tell it was recovering since I could feel it.

In the meantime though, I apprenticed myself under Bora, who taught me the intricacies of self defence and evasion. As I had anticipated, she was a slave driver through and through! It was maybe because of boredom, but I didn't get any resting time as she spent every minute of everyday guiding me rigorously while an amused Danny watched from the side, only occasionally interfering to provide some advice.