by Colin Daumen
Favian took a whiff of the contents on the tray beside him, before using them to concoct some herbal tea. He rejoiced at the tranquility his mind experienced once he took a sip from it. A fresh taste of lemon and herbs cleansed his palette, which had been overwhelmed by a metallic taste when he woke up.
Favian noticed that there was a note left under the tray where he’d just made his tea. ‘It’s like I’m in a constant state of déjà vu.’ The note read out that he should go to the reception area of the infirmary once he woke up, and detailed that his body and health were not damaged in any critical way. He was fine to leave whenever he was ready.
‘System, bring up my stats!’ Favian slowly started to remember what had happened previously. He had been fighting in the Colosseum before everything faded to black. Right now he was worried that his cultivation had plummeted due to the fight, despite the note stating that he was fine.
For the first time since he had been reincarnated in this strange new world, Elon did not respond to Favian. He kept asking for Elon to reply, but nothing came of it. Favian suddenly felt a pain in his chest, as if he had lost a part of him. The loneliness he felt in this moment was the worst he’d ever felt. He was currently stuck on a foreign planet, with nobody who knew who he truly was or where he came from, and the only person that knew him for who he was, was now gone. Even if his game system had no emotions, he was attached to it as if it was his friend.
Favian slowly started to descend into madness, as he realized how vulnerable he would be for the foreseeable future. Not only could he not scan objects and people, but he couldn’t quantify how strong he was himself. He couldn’t instantly learn new spells, and he wouldn’t be able to have the system absorb world energy for his actual body. He could only absorb the energy into the second arcane core he was nurturing, which meant he wouldn’t have an increase in strength for who knows how long. He couldn’t even calculate how long it would take, as Elon always did this for him.
‘I’ve come to rely on you so much that I don’t know what to do now.’
Favian’s mind was a complete mess, he didn’t know how he would survive like this. However, the will to survive never left him for even a moment. It would be a lot harder, yet he would not give up. He had already gone through a whole year of pain being imprisoned in time, just because of a major setback, Favian would not let himself succumb to his demons.
'Somehow, the more time I spend on this weird planet, the more of a mess I become,' he thought. A variety of emotions was hitting him like a truck. He couldn't stop himself from crying out in pain, cursing at the heavens for making his life a misery.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
“Come in,” Favian replied dejectedly. His voice was hoarser than usual and he quickly wiped away the tears on his face.
Walking in through the door was the beautiful elf Favian had gotten to know was called Licht. She wore a dark blue blouse and had trousers on that fitted perfectly on her body, revealing her curvy physique. Favian knew that underneath the clothing, there was a toned and fit body, which was a result of countless hours of training. Favian wasn’t looking as suicidal as before when she entered the room. He tried his best to hide his emotions.
Licht hesitated to move forwards as she stood very close to the door, and after a couple of moments, she resolved herself to move closer to Favian, after which she gave a deep bow.
“What do you want?” Favian said quietly. He was frozen in thought, not knowing why the girl was here, or why she was being so courteous towards him. She was the whole reason why he'd lost his game system in the first place, so what more could she want from him. She was a princess of the Elven Kingdom after all; it wasn’t in the nature of royalty to lower themselves to the standards of those beneath them. This was information he learned from Dunkel after the copious amount of time they spent together talking.
"Are you here to gloat about my defeat? Well, have at it. I don't care anymore. I fucking hate it so much here and just want to go home," he said. He felt anger bubbling up from within him, but couldn't muster the strength to lash out as harshly as he wanted to. A part of himself had just been ripped away, and his emotions were too blurry.
The girl didn’t look up, not having the heart to be able to say the words she needed to say whilst looking at Favian. “I’m sorry about everything that happened. It was all my fault.” Tears were flowing down her face as she said this because she knew that Favian would not have been put in such danger had it not been because of her. She had dismissed Favian’s blunder about her when it had happened since she really didn’t care. However, she was not able to convince her friends to let it go. She could have used her authority as a princess to stop her friends from pursuing the matter, yet she didn’t. She was convinced by them that they meant no harm towards him.
“I feel terrible for the trouble I put you through, and when I saw you lying on the floor, covered in your own blood, I- I...” before she could finish her sentence she burst out into more tears, wailing like a little girl. At this point, she couldn’t control her emotions anymore and fell to the ground, hugging herself tightly.
Favian was startled to his core. He didn’t know what to do. He'd experienced many patients crying after losing a loved one, but he'd never experienced something like this.
"Wow, so you came here just to cry? You're completely right, if you had just done something I wouldn't have gotten hurt like this. It would have just taken some words from you, princess, but instead you just stood and watched," he said. Anger was still coursing through his body, and the only outlet he currently possessed were through his words. He wasn't thinking when he spoke, instead letting his emotions rule his speech.
"I-I shouldn't have come here. But I want you to know that I'm truly sorry for everything," she replied. Her tears had now stopped flowing, and she wiped them away. "If you hate me, that's fine, I deserve to be hated." With that, she left the room.
Favian hung his head, ashamed at allowing his anger to flare up like that. 'I could have dealt with that a lot more maturely.'
Chapter 20 - Bloom and Loss
Favian had left the infirmary the morning after, deciding to wallow in his emotions for the night, instead of leaving straight away. The nurse had removed the bandages from his torso, which revealed a red discoloration on his chest, an after effect of the electrical shockwave he had been attacked by. The scar wasn’t too big, only covering a third of his right pectoral. It wouldn’t heal right away unless he used some herbs to treat it, but he found no reason to try to remove it when it would cost him almost 50 contribution points to speed up the healing process.
After he had returned to his room, Favian received a call on his communication device. There were currently only three people that could contact him; Aria, Dunkel and the infirmary. The nurse at the infirmary strongly suggested that he leave his contact details, as she had already taken care of his comatose self before he arrived at the academy, and now she had taken care of him again.
“Hello?” Favian asked as he talked into the communications device which was hung on his neck.
“Favian! How are you doing? I heard you had injured yourself fighting at the Colosseum,” Aria said with a hint of unease in her voice. “Oh and sorry that I couldn’t come and see you at the infirmary, I’ve been preoccupied with some… important things.”
Favian was somehow happy at the worried voice Aria was presenting, it made him feel like he meant something to somebody in this world. He wasn’t as alone as he’d initially thought.
“Ahh, master Aria, I’m fine. There’s no need to worry. I’ve just gotten out of the infirmary, and everything’s in order. Thanks for worrying,” he replied as he moved towards his bed before lying down on it.
“Well Favian, I have some news for you. Why don’t you come down to my office?” she asked, her voice much more energetic than before.
‘But I wanted to relax for a bit, I just got back to my room,’ Favian wanted to say. Instead, he simply replied with “Sure thing master,” after
which he ended the call.
"Weird, she sounded different than usual," Favian muttered. 'Oh well, it's Aria. She's just peculiar like that isn't she.’
Favian threw some punches into the air in defiance before getting off his bed and making his way to Aria’s office. Favian now knew the geography of the academy like the back of his hand, at least all of the areas that students were allowed to go to. Certain areas were off-limits and were said to house some very nasty things according to Dunkel. Favian was certain by now that Dunkel was just the reincarnation of the god of rumors since he would always bring up some random piece of information about anything in the academy.
“Oh, yea the chefs that make our food are apparently these Kelhagi gnomes, who eat their babies as a sacrifice to their evil god.”
“Professor Gigla over there apparently always wears his hood up because he has a second mouth on his forehead.”
These were only a small portion of the rumors he would talk about day in and day out. By now, the two were inseparable, and would hang out pretty much whenever they had free time. Sometimes, they would also meditate and spar with each other – Favian lost every single sparring session without even the chance to retaliate. Despite Dunkel being bad at close range combat, Favian was simply even worse.
Favian soon reached Aria’s office. She was busily examining vials of unknown substances when Favian had entered. Her focused expression lightened once she noticed Favian had come, and with a clap of her hands, she motioned for him to come closer to her.
“Favian look at this.” She brought to his attention the vial she had been analyzing before he came in. Inside was a bluish liquid, which looked extremely similar to seawater. However, as she moved the vial around, the contents of it seemed more like a gloppy solid, almost gelatinous.
“This is something I concocted to help you break through your current bottleneck. The nurse examined you whilst you were out cold, and brought to my attention that the light energy particles which she tried to give to you weren’t being absorbed properly.” She looked at Favian and gave him a meaningful look. “Don’t worry, headmaster Anansi already made sure that she won’t talk about your little secret.”
‘Secret?’ Favian stood in front of Aria with a confused look on his face, before slowly a realization built up within him. Sweat started to profusely build on his forehead, and his calm demeanor turned into that of a frightened chicken.
“Egast, the headmaster and I have all read some of the contents of ‘Darkness and Shadows’. I already had my suspicions, but I needed somebody else to verify them for me, which was why I asked Egast to examine you.” Her voice was sweet and soft as she spoke. She revealed a smile and continued, “I’ve put a lot of energy in trying to perfect this potion for you, and it should help you with the creation of your second arcane core.”
She then handed him the potion and asked him to drink it. It felt warm to the touch when Favian grabbed the vial, and the next moment it felt cold. The temperature warped every other second, sometimes being lukewarm or ice cold.
Favian gave a skeptical look before chugging down the liquid. The moment the slimy substance came into contact with his throat, a burning sensation took over. His throat felt like it would burst open because of the heat. The liquid tasted like rotten eggs if they had been mixed with expired milk. After a few moments, Favian could feel a cooling sensation taking over his torso, and the energy moved to the void where his second arcane core was under construction. An uncomfortable sensation washed over the area his second arcane core was housed within his body, which was close to his lungs.
Pressure erupted within the void, and a great amount of pain entered Favian’s mind. His body felt like it was shriveling, his insides rumbled in defiance as they tried to protect themselves from the source of energy that was eating them up. His face contorted in pain, and he couldn’t help but scream. His muscle fibers and bones were fatiguing at a rapid pace, and seemed to be decomposing. A sizzling sound could even be heard from his body as it was going through a weird metamorphosis.
10 minutes filled with excruciating pain passed. Favian panted hard as he tried to get in as much air as possible into his weakened body, in fear that he would collapse without it. His body was a shell of itself, and it was unusual to try to move it around; it felt like he was trying to pilot somebody else’s body. His muscles were visibly smaller than before.
“Ma-Master.” he panted. “Why do I feel so weak?”
Aria looked at him with sympathy. “The potion I gave you was created by myself to help push you over the bottleneck you were experiencing. It may have taken years before you would have become a true mage based on my calculations, if I hadn't intervened.”
She continued with sadness in her eyes, her voice quieter than before, “Now I have some good news and some bad news for you. You should have already felt it. Your body must feel a lot weaker than before, and that’s because your arcane core took your body’s vitality to fuel its creation. The substance I gave you acted as a catalyst for this process.”
Favian inspected his body thoroughly and found that what she said was true. His body felt very weak, and it also looked like the change was currently permanent, at least until he was able to train it back to its former level. Favian was now holding on for dear life on Aria’s desk, fatigue having washed over him. He still mustered up the strength to ask, “What’s the good news then master?”
Aria started chuckling once she heard his question. She motioned for him to sit down on a chair near the desk. “Wouldn’t want you to faint now, would we? Boy, that was the good news.”
Favian’s heart sunk, ‘How could that be the good news?’ he thought. He could feel a storm of a headache was about to hit him where it hurt the most.
“The bad news for you is that everything you’ve learnt up to this point has been purged from your mind. All the spells you know are now gone. If you don’t believe me, try casting a spell.” Aria told Favian with a stern voice. "I would have told you before you drank it, but I was certain you would hesitate too much."
Chapter 21 - Announcement
Frantically, he tried to chant for the spell bend light, the easiest spell to use out of his arsenal, however, nothing happened. It was like an invisible wall had been put between himself and the arcana particles needed to cast this spell. Again and again he tried to cast any spell but to no avail, he couldn’t summon any energy from his body to cast them. Favian slumped down into the chair in defeat.
“Why can’t I use my magic?” Favian asked, looking at Aria, fear in his eyes. The pain and confusion in his voice were clear, and he was close to having a complete mental breakdown. ‘Why do these setbacks keep happening to me,’ and, ‘There must be something wrong with me, it’s all my fault,’ were a few of the thoughts running through his mind.
“The moment you went on the path to study shadow magic, you put yourself in a unique position. You won’t be able to learn any magic from basic or intermediate particles, at least that’s what I hypothesize, but you’ll learn shadow magic slowly again. I’m not completely sure why, but it has something to do with you having two arcane cores in your body. Don’t get it wrong, having two cores is a huge benefit, and should be impossible to have,” Aria replied to her dejected student.
She tried to console him as much as she could in the only way she knew how to. For the next hour, she brewed for him a variety of tea from medicinal herbs, and gave him lots of rare ingredients to nourish his husk of a body. The transformation had taken a toll on Favian, and he needed to regain as much of his power as soon as possible, lest he become too depressed.
“Don’t fret too much, with the training I’ll put you through, we’ll whip you back into shape in no time. It’ll just take a lot of determination from you. I know you might hate me for doing this to you right now, but in a couple of months you'll be thanking me for my foresight,” Aria said as she gave a devilish grin.
‘I made a deal with the devil didn’t I.’ Favian thought to
himself as he looked at his master, who was enjoying his plight, or that’s the way he believed to be the case. Favian was unable to feel the emotions he thought he should feel right now. Anger, pain, sadness, joy? The ground underneath him had been thrust away in the past day, and he couldn't muster the energy to care about these setbacks anymore. And even if he did, he knew that anger would solve nothing, only gaining power would be able to protect him.
'I just need more power,' he thought.
...
Favian spent the next weeks under solitary meditation as ordered by Aria. He had to regain as much of his former power as possible because once he had formed his second core, he became weaker than almost all other apprentices at the academy in terms of raw power. To consolidate two arcane cores meant that he had to strain his body twice as much, as his body had to compensate for two independent influxes of arcana..
Slowly, Favian was able to relearn the chants to the two shadow spells, Time Stop and Net of Shadows, however, the amount of effort it took to learn them left him baffled. He needed some way to increase the speed of his training.
Favian had not left Aria’s office for almost 2 months, as his meditation room was in the basement of it. The world energy seemed thicker inside here and made his meditation easier. The only things he did were to eat whenever she brought him food, meditate for as many consecutive days as possible, and sleep only when needed. Despite having been able to relearn the spells’ chants, it seemed he was still unable to cast them properly.
After the two months passed by, his hair had grown longer and thicker. There was barely any black color to be seen in his hair, instead, it was completely dark purple, with black hues visible at the roots of his hair. His eyes had now similarly turned purple, and the way his hair reached his shoulders gave him a completely new appearance. Favian no longer looked average, and you would be able to remember his face vividly in a crowd. The constant use of precious herbs and large quantities of food that Favian consumed had started to mend his body, and it wasn’t as weak as when he formed his second core. If Favian had to guess, his vital stats were probably all-around 1.1 or 1.2, and his intelligence and arcana should have been closer to their normal amount.
