I stepped into the teleportation gate, the familiar nauseating sensation hit me. I could never get used to the teleportation gates, despite the number of times I went through it; the feeling of being stuck in a space where I had no control just didn't sit right with me.
As I was walking through the streets of Xyrus walking back to the manor I went over my deal with Kaspian, The deal was for me to train Claire to the best of my abilities in exchange that I would be compensated in the Ability to pick any AA-class dungeon and solo clear it without question, as well as any information the guild collects.
Kaspian is a reasonable man and after I shared details of how the Elderwood regenerated from its core alone and that my spell was able to essentially erase any trace of it that it hit he eagerly accepted the deal.
I had around 2 months left before this years classes at Xyrus started. As per arrangements with Kaspian I was to meet Claire at their estate in xyrus which was thankfully only a 15-minute walk from the Helstea manor, 3 days from now, Kaspian had also informed me that Claire's father and he were extremely close and that I had his permission to be a "little rough" when training Claire.
I have no intention of making this training a cakewalk but it was going to be nowhere near the insanely hard like Bahmut's hellish storm magic training; Which he had somehow managed to give me 10 years worth of skills and mana theory in that short time frame, party due to my inhuman learning speed and the rest being given a 14-hour verbal lecture with extremely in-depth questions and theory crafting of spells, while being expected to dodge attack spells, make counterspells, purifying my mana core, doing physical labor at the same time.
Having dealt with that when I was like 4 and had the fast learning brain of a toddler makes for some insane strength when your body can physically handle them later.
After another 5 or so minutes of walking, I was at the doors of the Helstea Manor It was around 10 at night judging by my internal clock, I took out the key that Vincent had given me, Unlocked the door, and walked straight into the kitchen grabbing some leftovers that were sitting in the icebox from dinner. I walked over to the stove lighting it up with some wood and heating up the leftover stew.
The stew was pretty good as expected of the chefs here, After finishing up my dinner I walked up to my room using sound magic as not to wake anyone, And judging by the fact that nobody had welcomed me back Arthur had told them id be back later because of a small issue of some kind although I'm not sure of what he said.
I set down my ragged and torn cloak and the rest of my clothes on the dresser and got into the shower, sound magic barriers had become natural to me as I used them often, I put another barrier up in the shower that kept it quiet while I took a long steamy shower to wash off the grime and fatigue.
I have to say that long hot showers have been a habit of mine since before I got reincarnated, So much so that my parents often yelled at me to get out of the shower to save money on the water bill. I mean can I really be blamed for relaxing? I mean I would have used a jacuzzi if I had one-
I froze suddenly as I had an epiphany "Wait A god Damm Second! I'M A WATER MAGE!!" I Hopped in the bathtub and redirected all the hot water into the bathtub, then used Cycled the water in the tub around me in high-pressure jets on sore spots.
"AHHH" I sighed aloud, the tension in my voice visibly eroding to match the feeling in my body. " "this Idea Is Singlehandedly better than any I'v ever had" I sat there being the most Relaxed I have ever been.
Zephyr sensing the pure bliss I was having jumped into the tub and Instantly the feeling of relief and warmth doubled as his enjoyment of it spilled over to me.
"Ahhhhh My wings feel so nice..."
"I can agree with that so much and I don't even have wings!" The soreness in my back was simply evaporating, I can feel Zephs true body throughout link perfectly, and the water jets on him even though he was shrunken down into his small bearded dragon form was simply sublime, And when Zeph had pulled out his wings in the water to wash them it felt like I had them on my own back and dear lord I nearly passed out from how warm I felt.
After staying in the tub for an hour I and Zeph hopped out feeling like new men, Zeph even got out without a fuss this time! We dried ourselves off with warm towels and hopped into bed passing the hell out the instant we touched the bed.
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I hadn't even left my room in the morning when my door flung open with a loud thud. A little girl flung herself at me faster than Kaspians wind blasts and bludgeoned me in the gut with the crown of her head.
I quickly raised my arms to get Zeph out of harm's way, but I couldn't save myself as the wind quickly escaped from my mouth and I was tackled back down onto my bed.
For a moment, we were both silent as I gently stroked Ellie's hair as her face remained buried in my chest.
"Welfom vack," she mumbled.
"Sorry?" I tried to pry my cousin off me, but her arms squeezed harder around my waist in refusal to let go.
Ellie looked up with red, tear-filled eyes as she clung onto me like a baby koala. "I said welcome back, Al."
"Thanks, Ellie. Good to be back," I replied with a smile. "Now how about you let me go?"
"That depends"-her almond-shaped eyes narrowed-"are you going to leave again?"
"Does training a friend in the afternoons count?"
"When will you be back?"
"At most maybe 3 hours if I drag on the lessons, but ill be back in time for dinner," I said honestly rubbing the back of my head.
"Then I'll let go." Releasing me from her grasp, she quickly wiped away her tears with her sleeve. She looked at me once more, this time, with a more lively expression. "Come on, let's go eat!"
She scurried down the stairs, motioning for me to follow. As I trailed behind her, I couldn't help but remember how much she'd grown from when I had first met her after coming back from the elven kingdom. Ellie should be about eight right now. Her birthday was a few months before Arthur's, so there was always a period where she'd be four years younger than me. For most people, that wouldn't matter, but for some odd reason, Ellie never failed to mention after her birthday that we were only four years apart, she did the same for Art but it was a three-year difference.
As my train of thought shifted to her age and maturity, a sudden realization struck me like Bahamut ice hammers. Ellie, with her puppy-like eyes that shined brightly in a light sand color, and perky little nose that had become more defined as she lost more of her baby fat, was blossoming into a cute young lady.
This meant that in a few years-if not sooner, boys would start gaining interest in her.
And when they started gaining interest in her, they'd begin making moves.
It'd start with little things like sharing lunches during snack-time at school, which was vaguely acceptable. Then it'd escalate into pre-marital hand holding, The most heretical thing I could possibly imagine happening to her.
Then, after getting comfortable, the little bastard might try to sneak a quick peck on my My little Cousins cheek!
After the cheek, it'd...
My eyes widened in horror as my mind zipped through the future years of Ellie's adolescence into full womanhood. I couldn't help but imagine my poor baby Cousin getting flocked by testosterone-filled boys that only knew how to think with their second head.
Vowing to myself that I would gladly carry out whatever torturous deed is necessary to any boy-with even a speck of filth in their degenerate minds-who dared to make a move on my dear Ellie, be it fatal to them, their entire Bloodline, or even country.
"Alexander!"
The sound of my Aunt's voice snapped me back to reality. She and my Uncle came running forward, both with relieved and joyful expressions lined in their faces.
My Uncle, whose body seemed to even be muscular despite his age, scooped me up with a bright grin.
"Al, you've grown a bit!"
"finally someone notices."
"Sorry for worrying you, guys," I said, knowing they were worried sick about Arthur, I Saw Alice's eyes drift behind me where I sensed Arthurs ambient mana signature.
Sniffing a sob back, she looked up and quickly wiped away a stray tear before smiling at him. "Arthur, you take just after your father, you know that? Always getting into trouble, always worrying me. W-When the ring activated..."
She stopped talking as tears rolled down her cheeks. Still, her smile never went away as she chided Art who she had dragged into her arms.
"Your mother couldn't sleep for days after the ring activated. We both knew you wouldn't have died that easily and Al was there with you as well, but it couldn't stop us from worrying."
"I'm sorry for worrying you," Art repeated.
"Thankfully, the status on the masked swordsmen, Note, and Felwinter, was updated at Guild Hall, saying that you and your party arrived at the branch near the Beast Glades," Reynolds continued, tousling our hair with his hands.
Ellie, who was hiding behind me for some reason, took a peek out from behind me.
"I seem to cause nothing but concerns for you guys," Art said with a wry smile before looking at his sister. "I'm sorry, Ellie, for being away so much and making Mom and Dad cry."
"I forgive you," Ellie sniffled, hiding behind me again.
"It's a parent's job to worry for her children," Alice soothed. "Although, you two seem to be fulfilling your end of the bargain a little too well."
My mother, taking a glance at Ellie, Then turned to me and whispered just loudly enough for everyone to hear, "And don't get me started with Ellie. She was waiting by the window the whole day since Art, Elijah, and Jasmine came back, I had to get Art to drag her to bed"
"Mom!" Ellie gasped. "That was supposed to be a secret!"
My little cousin clung hard onto Alice, making her submit as we all laughed.
"I guess that's my cue?" Elijah chimed in from the top of the stairs leading to the second floor. our newfound friend had been waiting for our little family reunion to end with Vincent and Tabitha.
"Took you long enough to get here. Did you decide to take a small tour before coming here?" Elijah joked as he hopped down the stairs.
"I wanted a break from your unsightly mug," I retorted, giving him a snide grin.
Looking at Elijah, it was hard for me to recall how inexpressive and cold he appeared to be when we had first seen him on the testing grounds.
"Arthur Leywin, Alexander Shard! The prodigal sons return!" Vincent clasped our back, locking his arms around me with a tight bear hug.
"We're glad you're back safe, both of you." Tabitha followed behind him, pulling me into a lavender-scented hug as well.
"Thank you," I smiled, dipping my head. "For everything, I mean."
"Ah," Vincent interrupted with a finger held up. "You're going to make this old man sad if you act so formal. Come now, I thought you had finally warmed up to us!"
"He's right, you know," Tabitha joined in. "Please, you two, your family is a part of our family. No need to distance yourself with formalities. Just think of us as your aunt and uncle."
"You're right," I smiled.
"If you're looking for Lily, she's not here." Vincent had a wicked smile on his face while Tabitha rolled her eyes at him.
"Lily got accepted into Xyrus Academy. She started attending last fall after she turned twelve," Tabitha filled me in.
"Good for her, me and Art should give her some training sometime." I said happy for her, Although they happily accepted Arthurs offer of tutelage, They politely declined mine with the reasoning of Lilia being too fragile for the hellish training I went through to make the director admit defeat.
Tabitha nodded at this. "Yes. She really wanted to be here when you came back to tell you herself but unfortunately, spring semester started, so she's stuck in the dorms until the break."
"But it's all thanks to you, Arthur! Never would've figured, after generations of nothing, that a mage would be born into the Helstea House! Now come-all of you-no need to stand around here when we have a perfectly good set of couches in the living room!"
After being herded into the next room over, we began discussing our time as an adventurer.
There were some details that I left out for my family's sake-I exchanged glances with Elijah and Art when I skipped the part where Lucas betrayed us-but other than that, I made sure to fill them in with the best of my ability, Excluding some of the "incident's" with some shall we say less than friendly adventurers.
Ellie, who was sitting cross-legged on the couch across from me with Sylvie sleeping in her lap, was wide-eyed the entire time as I recalled the dungeon experience with Elijah, and Arthur filling in with their point of view making our heroics seem like legends. Her eyes practically sparkled at the fantasy-like fable, but it wasn't just her that became enraptured by the story.
The audience couldn't believe it when Elijah continued the story for me and told them about how Me and Arthur had defeated the Elderwood guardian twice because it regenerated after Arthurs attack. They refused to believe us until I finally pulled out the beast core, or whatever the orb was. It was then that they were forced to swallow their doubts as they stared in awe at the dull slickly green and black orb that was smaller than my fist.
"Speaking of core. Dad, what stage are you at?" Art asked.
Giving an embarrassed chuckle, he answered, "I've been stuck at the bottleneck of the dark orange stage since you left. No matter how much I meditate and purify mana, I can't seem to breakthrough."
"I would give you the orb but I need to be sure it's safe so take these." Me and Arthur handed him a few A-class mana cores.
I was prepared to shove the orbs down my Uncle's throat when Alice chimed in. "Honey, I'm sure Alexander isn't giving these to you on a whim. If he wants you to have it, it's for a good reason."
"Listen to your wife, Rey. The boys struggled to get them. You're his Uncle, for God's sake. Get stronger, it'll help me as well!" Vincent laughed.
Tabitha just chuckled at this. "Alice, your nephew and Son brought quite the presents."
"For the amount of worrying they caused me, I'm still weighing whether it was worth it!" Alice joked, exchanging a laugh with her friend.
"You have to catch up to me, Dad. You can't let your son leave you in the dust, right?" Art smirked, attracting confused gazes.
My father looked up at me. "Don't tell me..."
"Yup"-Art leaned back on the couch-"Solid yellow stage."
Vincent's eyes practically bulged as his wife let out a sharp breath in awe.
"Sweet mother of-that's just ridiculous," Vincent breathed out, shaking his head.
Art's family took the news a lot better, indicating that they were used to their monster of a son.
Then they looked at me expecting even more monstrous results. "Light yellow with cracks," I said casually rising my hand as if I was admitting to being guilty of a crime.
Art's family yet again nodded in acceptance of their monstrous cousin, while I had to catch the Helsteas before they hit the ground when they fainted.
Reynolds held up the Artificial beast core with a renewed fervor in his eyes. "Don't cry when your old man beats you down the next time we duel, then."
"You're on," Me and Art grinned back.
We shifted topics after a few more awestruck comments by Vincent and Tabitha.
The next order of things had to do with Elijah. He had told everyone about his background before I had arrived but left it at that. I explained to them that he was both a close friend and a benefactor who saved both Arthurs, Jasmine's, and my life.
"How would you feel about sponsoring Elijah so he could attend Xyrus Academy with us?" I finally said.
'I'll have to talk it over with Director Cynthia, if I can make that old woman squeeze in some time for me, but I don't see why not!" Vincent answered with a grin. His eyes twinkled underneath his glasses as he studied the anxious Elijah. From the stories he'd heard today, there was no doubt that the inner businessman in him had flared in excitement.
Investing in future generations of mages was a large part of what rich folks did in order to maintain their power and status later on.
Vincent excused himself first, saying that he was going to write a letter to the Director of Xyrus Academy right now. Rey went out into the backyard, saying he was going to start training immediately, I excused myself saying I was going to train in the yard as well, so it was just Alice, Ellie, Elijah, Tabitha and Arthur left in the living room.
I walked out into the yard to see Reynolds meditating in the yard with the beast cores. We had saved for him, I walked a bit farther to sit under a tree hidden from view and sat down.
Pulling out the Elderwoods mana core, or whatever it became I carefully observed it. The orb was the size of a baseball, Its color had changed from when I first got it, the original reddish-black that it was when I absorbed a bit of its mana had been mixed with a sickly green.
After the fight with the Elderwood, I found out that I could locally activate my beast will in my body, meaning I could go to stage 2 in say my arm, and have the 10 times strength multiplier it gave to my raw physical power in my body wherever I wanted it.
Using this new skill I activated stage 2 of my beast will Storm Soul in my eyes only, this allowed me to see the mana I can perceive which had gained a few new colors, Mainly on top of being able to see wind and water, I was now able to see Aether which was nice although I couldn't influence it at all so far, trust me I tried; And I could see two new colors, the same Dark red, and Sickly green from the core.
The Sickly green mana acted like Storm magic mana when I mixed water and wind mana but this was more aggressive is the closest way I could describe it, but when I tried to augment my hand with it, it glowed green with a miasma then my hand bubbled in boils and In a searing pain like my had was being burned, I dispelled it then washed my hand off with pure water as fast as I could.
The boils were small and on the back of my hand but holy hell did it burn. But this pain led me to a realization, this wasn't some kind of storm magic or branch of it. This was the Corrosive poison that the Vritra and Nico used in the future!!
"But if that's the case then-" My voice trailed off looking at the Reddish black looking fire mana being drawn to my hand, As a smile crept up my face.
I drew all the Reddish black mana into my injured and burned hand, the boils and chemical burned skin flared up in black fire, the pain subsiding as the wounds closed but the burning parts pain intensified greatly, I resisted the urge to blackout or scream with bated breath as my hand finished healing and the black soul fire disappeared.
My eyes reverted from blue back to their normal red while a crazed smile rose up on my face. "Cadell, Jagrette... you are so fucked."
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A\N you guys have no idea how long I'v had that waiting to reveal Lmaoooo, also for those wondering how? stasis fuckery is how Al sees this but a real explanation will be when the asura training arc happens.
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