Edmund didn’t initially notice much of a difference from the nail he had applied to his arm; other than that, there was no pain, and he could feel the air flowing through his body; it made him more aware of his surroundings, a sensation he remembered from the memories of the hero, and even that he could handle his sword more effectively when practicing. Nothing particularly impressive, but he reasoned that it might only be a matter of time.

‘Could this be used in commoners?’ Edmund thought to himself.

If that were the case, he could use this on everyone; it would be very beneficial in the future, but how could he test it? He had to ask; it was too important for him to miss this opportunity. Ruppert was the only choice that crossed his mind. He stood up, grabbed a bag containing the alcohol, bandages, and nail, and ran to the blacksmith workshop. Arriving there, he was direct with the blacksmith.

‘I need to test something, old man; it is really important. Could you help me?’ Edmund closed the door behind him.

Ruppert then took off his gloves and came to meet Edmund while looking at the puzzling boy. He thought his eyes betrayed him, but some of the boy's hair was white now, but he paid no mind to that.

‘Let’s sit first; I already helped you a lot, no problem; besides, it needs to be important or a really dumb idea like that one in your arm.’ he pointed to the nail on Edmund's arm.

‘Well, let me put this in your arm. I need to know if this works on everyone or just on me.’ He looked at the nail on his arm.

‘There is no way in hell I am going to let you put this thing in my arm.’ Ruppert responded with anger.

The boy got closer to the blacksmith, and with the nail on his arm, there was no time for Ruppert to react. He slammed it on his arm with no hesitation, making him scream.

‘Ahhhh, you little.’ The blacksmith held his arm.

Ruppert looked at the boy and started to swing his arm, trying to hit the boy with anger in his eyes but with no success. When he thought his punches were going to hit Edmund, he moved only enough that Ruppert missed, making him feel like he was fighting a ghost.

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‘Old man, I am so sorry, but I have to know.’ He said this while dodging the blacksmith's strikes.

‘Know what? if it hurts to nail someones arm?’ Ruppert asked furiously.

‘So you are just feeling the pain from the nail? Interesting.’ Edmund looked at Ruppert's arm, confused.

‘Just pain? Are you crazy?’ The blacksmith screamed at the boy.

He attempted to pull the nail from Edmund's arms with no success, like it was part of him, just ironed to his skin. Edmund took this opportunity to pull out the nail from the blacksmith's arm and gave him his bag so Ruppert could treat himself.

‘doesn’t your arm hurt?’ Ruppert asked while treating his arm.

‘At the beginning, yes, but now i feel stronger and faster than before, that is why i needed to test it.’ Edmund passed a finger over the top of a nail on his arm.

‘I have no idea what in the name of God you are doing at home, kid, but please try not to kill yourself, you crazy bastard; this alcohol is mine now, for the trouble’ Ruppert sighed.

‘Ok,ok,ok.’ Edmund smiled.

The boy left the workshop thinking that he might be special or that it was simply because he was a noble without magic; he needed more information, someone like him, so that he could really know if it could be replicated or if he was special in some way.

‘I need someone like myself to test this.’ He scratched the back of his head.

A year passed quickly, and when Edmund was eleven years old, after waking up, he was surprised to see that his hair had some white patches while looking at a piece of mirror that he stole to conduct some experiments. This intriged him, so he decided to go to the library in hopes that he could figure out what was causing it, as he had no memory of this happening before.

He noticed that everyone was staring at him with surprise, and some even with pity, as he made his way towards the library. This only increased his concern for his condition. There, he was met by the surprised gaze of the librarian.

‘Impossible.’ The librarian looked at Edmund.

The librarian rose quickly and dragged Edmund to the second floor, where he grabbed a book and handed it to the boy without saying anything before returning to his desk and getting back to work.

‘Rare diseases. Am I sick?’ Edmund murmured to himself.

As he turned the pages and began reading, he came across a topic called white hair disease. which was as simple as the name suggests; it was a disease that caused people's hair to turn white, but what piqued his interest was that it was present in babies; as soon as the baby was born, all of his hair turned white. It only happened with noble families; they could not use magic and suffered extreme pain all over their bodies, but they possessed abnormal strength; painkillers are the only treatment, and most do not pass sixteen.

‘Well, I am not in pain; only that day; perhaps it is like being born with the ability to absorb magic like I do with the nail, but to the level of the bracelet.’ Edmund thought to himself as he turned the pages of the book.

After placing the book back where it belonged, he returned to the first floor. The librarian was both sympathetic to the boy and intrigued by him. Edmund grinned as he got out of the library.

‘Now i know what to search for.’ The boy tapped his lips with the point of his index finger.

At home, he believed that this was the end of his advancements in the experiments; from now on, he is going to perfect the prototypes, and anything new is speculation, just theory and drawings on his tablet. Training his body, but even that has limitations, as some moves can’t be done in the warehouse.

‘Yeah, I am kind of lost; there is only so much I can do from where I am right now; the only thing I can do is wait for an opportunity.’ Edmund took a deep breath and smiled.