Before Azzard fainted, he thought that the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent’s blood was not compatible with his body. He thought that his body was rejecting the beast’s blood; the reason for the excruciating pain he felt just moments after the beast’s blood entering his body. He thought that his body was deteriorating and that death was coming for him. But the truth was far from what Azzard initially presumed.
The pain that he felt was a signal that change was currently occurring in his body. The blood of the beast was changing his body’s composition and structure. His skin grew harder like the scales of the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent. His muscles tore apart and reformed, greatly enhancing its own strength and volume. His height also increased from 1.78 meters to 1.94 meters. Even his hair was affected, it grew longer. It was a total transformation of the body. All of this happened while Azzard was laying on the ground and oblivious to the change that was happening to his body.
Azzard remained asleep until he regained his consciousness two days after the battle with the beast. When he woke up, he noticed that the corpse of the magical beast was already dried up, only skin and bones remained.
“Why am I still alive?”
“The blood of the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent saved your life,” Gerard responded.
“Master. Not only did it saved your life, it even strengthened your body. Your body became stronger than it was before. Your skin is as hard as the scales of the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent. You also have its strength.”
After Gerard spoke telepathically, Azzard was now aware. He was aware that he had become taller and his muscles had become bigger. The clothes he was wearing had become too tight for him that it was ripped at some places. Gerard was only able to observe the physical changes of Azzard’s body. He was not able to discern the improvements to Azzard’s mana pool. What was already a pool of mana had become an ocean of mana.
Azzard was speechless.” How could such a thing happen?” He asked himself. It was the first time something like that occurred since the past attempts were failures. Azzard was also the only one to use the spell on a magical beast. What was originally the constitution of the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent had become his through the New Life Spell. He had become in essence a Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent.
A sudden realization came forth in Azzard’s mind. If he had the constitution of a Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent, he should know all of its abilities and be capable of using them. But he was a complete novice regarding the abilities of magical beasts. With no one else to turn to, he asked Gerard.
“What are the abilities of a Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent?”
“I’m afraid that I do not know much about that magical beast since I am only a sentient weapon that remained dormant for most of its life. But I do know that it is able to invoke Darkness type magic without incantation.”
Azzard started to cast the Conceal Spell without an incantation. He was successful as dark elements covered and enveloped his body. This was truly a blessing for Azzard. Magicians that knew how to cast spells without chanting were very few. But the problem was that Azzard only had two Darkness magic type spells in his arsenal. If he were to compete against another magician in terms of magical knowledge then he would lose without a doubt. Azzard could only sigh at the sudden development in his life. He now has the opportunity to become a Grand King Magister in Darkness magic because of the blood of the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent. But only if he gains knowledge in Darkness type magic. Azzard sighed once more at the thought.
The next few days passed by without a hitch to Azzard’s daily life. He continued with his physical training. It was pointless though now that his strength was comparable to a magical beast. The elite knights could only dream of achieving that kind of strength. Azzard’s strength was in fact already super human. He could easily defeat the elite knights of the Bradford Empire just with brute force. He could also easily fight against the other races of this world.
After his training, he didn’t bother to practice Darkness type magic. He went inside the cave and changed out of his dirty clothes. He sat on the ground and closed his eyes. Pure concentration was etched into his face as he was gathering mana from around him. The rate at which mana was flowing into Azzard’s mana pool was astounding. It was like water gushing out from a dam. Most of the mana that was collected were of the Darkness type. Large amount of mana remained unusable for Azzard.
“Master, you have improved.”
“Thank you Gerard but it was all due to luck. If only I could gain knowledge of all Darkness spells…”
“Do not fret, Master. There will be surely an opportunity for you to become a Grand King Magister. It’s only a matter of time.”
As he heard Gerard’s encouragement, Azzard’s troubled thoughts became non-existent.
“Right, if I already possess a large mana pool and strength that is unsurpassable by other humans and races, I can become a Grand King Magister in due time”, Azzard asserted his own thoughts.
Three days after.
Azzard removed himself from the Mountains of Skotadi and was currently on a journey back to Viashna and Darshee’s village. He never forgot about his promise with the sisters and that was to take revenge against those who opposed them of meeting with the Emperor of the Bradford Empire. Azzard was no saint but he wasn’t irrational as well. He didn’t take certain things such as oppression and abuse well. If you would treat Azzard and his friends badly, you would receive the same treatment from him. He didn’t want to become a pushover who would silently endure the disgusting treatment of others.
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When Azzard was near the village, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. It was already midday but he could not see any villagers moving about. It was particularly unusual since by that time every single one of the villagers should have woken up. He entered the village gates with vigilance. He scanned his surroundings and noticed that most of the belongings of the villagers were still inside their rundown homes. It was like they had been kidnapped because if everyone moved from the village in search of better places to live, they would still have to bring some of their belongings.
Azzard saw drag marks on the ground and followed it as all of the drag marks were heading for the village center. Like an investigator, Azzard looked for clues as to what happened there.
“It seems as if everyone from the village were forcefully gathered here. Why would that be?”
“Master, they could have all been abducted and killed by a group of bandits.”
Azzard refused to acknowledge this possibility because he still hoped that Viashna and Darshee were still alive. They were his only friends and to know that they were already dead would be heart breaking for Azzard. He didn’t want them to be dead because they were still young and had yet to enjoy life
“I’m sure they're still alive.”
Acknowledging that the village center was a dead end for clues, he decided to go to the house of the Biafyndar sisters to look for more clues. Just as he had expected it was empty, devoid of any life. Or so he thought. By the corner, a body was curled, arms holding tightly around their knees. One look at the person and you could easily see the fear in the person’s body. Azzard called out to the person in a soft and gentle voice.
“Viashna?”
The person stirred the moment she heard the voice of Azzard. She looked up and what you could see was a terrified face. Blood shot eyes were currently in trend for that person.
“Azzard?”
Azzard had called out to the wrong person. Apparently, it was Darshee. She was the person who looked so terrified and was curled into a ball by the corner of the house. It took her a couple of moments to recognize that the man in front him was Azzard. He had changed so much that he didn’t seem like he was the same person before. But Darshee knew his voice and that’s all it took for her to stand up and hug Azzard.
Azzard was taken by surprise but immediately recovered. He wrapped his big arms around her frail body. Once that happened, all the pent up feelings flowed like a river and she was crying once again.
“Viashna … she …. and … the villagers… were… taken…. by…. knights”
Darshee had to convey her message in between her sobs.
“We’ll talk later after you’ve calmed down a bit.”
Darshee nodded to that and they sat on the chairs by the kitchen. It took her awhile to calm down but Azzard remained patient. He knew what she needed the most right now and that was comfort. While she cried, Azzard patted her back to comfort her.
“What happened?”, Azzard asked.
“A platoon of knights visited our village yesterday. All of us thought that they were here to conduct military training like what they do during the course of the year. We even welcomed them and showed them our hospitality.”
“But what we didn’t know was that they were here to punish the village. So they grabbed every single one of the villagers: men, women, children and the elderly. They put the villagers in carriages and brought them away.”
“Who were these knights?”, Azzard inquired.
“They were the elite knights of the Bradford Empire. They were carrying with them the flag of the Empire.”
Hearing this, Azzard’s anger reached a whole new level. His hate for the Bradford Empire increased to the point where he sees the Bradford Empire as an enemy. While Azzard was feeling angry, Darshee was feeling sad and hopeless. Her sister, Viashna, was taken amongst the villagers and only she was left behind because she was able to hide herself well. Viashna also used herself as a distraction so that the knights would not notice Darshee hiding in their house. Darshee knew that they could do nothing to save them since they didn’t have any power/
“Come on.” Azzard suddenly said as he held out his right hand for Darshee to hold.
“What do you mean?”
“Just hold my hand. We’re going somewhere.”
“And where might that be?”
“We’re going to save Viashna and the villagers.”