NOVEL NEXT 94 – The General is Sent on a Mission (Part 1)
Chapter 94 - The General is Sent on a Mission (Part 1)
A few days had passed since we discovered a strand of silver hair on my head, and Professor Adrihna had returned to the academy. My small silver streak wasn't something that would catch anyone's attention from afar, but up close, it stood out against my black hair. Silver hair was something exclusive to a single race, and you know which one I'm talking about—the High Elves. I had to cut those strands to avoid drawing too much attention. My hair was starting to grow longer, and they were becoming quite noticeable.
My mother, Aunt Margie, and Adrihna had to have a conversation about my situation, and I learned once again, but this time in more detail, that even common elves were not comparable to High Elves. Common elves were descendants of the latter, but from millennia ago, and their race had since mixed with humans. Later on, they mixed with other common elves when the kingdoms divided. That's why, even with their pointed ears and different elemental mana, they were considered a different race from the High Elves due to the millennia of interbreeding among themselves, while the High Elves remained within their own race. I had a High Elf as a close ancestor, which meant I had more High Elf blood than a common elf.
The color of my silver strand was lighter than Professor Adrihna's. Hers was a silver-gray, while mine was a bright, silver-white. When I asked her about it, she hesitated a bit before explaining and simply said it was something I inherited from a relative.
"I'll be twelve soon," I said as I looked at myself in the mirror, examining my hair. "Then I'll only have three years until I enter that magic academy."
That place was something that marked the lives of many mages due to the friendships formed there, and part of me remembered my time studying at Agoge, the academy in Sparta, though it was not something children should experience.
I looked at my bed, now monopolized by Cylla, and sighed.
Now she has this habit of sleeping with her wings spread...
"You're a real pain to sleep with, you know?" I complained, but her snoring indicated she had no intention of waking up to give me any attention.
Chloe is progressing a lot; I'm happy with the magical advancements she and Kinue have made. Our friend has only two more years with us, and then we won't see her until we enter the academy.
Theoretically, I already had magical knowledge, albeit different. In my previous world, I became a General of Aura and later became a God when I absorbed divine essence. Seeing the growth of the two makes me proud because they are just children, while I... am someone much more experienced with magical powers.
I left the room and closed the door. I was heading to train—or rather, to watch Chloe and Kinue train.
It's a pity I can't always train with the thunder element at the level I want... or I'd cause some serious damage.
Chloe Evenhart:
I was in my room, trying to pick out the best clothes to wear, but I just couldn’t decide on anything.
Nothing looks good on me...
I wanted to impress Nate, but it was hard to make that oblivious fool notice anything. My solution was to get really good at magic, and he would praise me when I showed him what I had learned. But then the idiot would go on and on about battle strategies related to what I had shown him, completely ignoring my intentions.
He's so dense... I wasn’t doing it to get better in battle. I wanted to impress him...
During this time, I was getting really good with swords, but my mom told me that my true talent was in magic and that I should focus on it since I’m a rare Fused Element Summoner. I trained making golems with Aunt Katie and practiced ice magic with Mom. We wanted to enter the academy with some advanced skills so we wouldn’t embarrass ourselves.
I believe we’re already quite advanced thanks to our assassin training, but even so, I want to get even better.
Magic has allowed me to spend a lot of time with Nate. We’re always together, spending hours training and developing spells and magic styles since we share the wind element. Over these years, since the professor introduced us to magic and taught us to better control mana, it’s opened our minds to understand our strengths and weaknesses.
With Kinue's help, it’s been much easier for me to ask questions whenever I wanted to secretly show off to Nathan. My friend has become better than me in combat, thanks to her race’s natural inclination toward being warriors, but I excel in my summoning abilities.
I sigh and, in the end, decide to go as I am to our lake room where we train.
Nathan Evenhart:
I was sitting on the grass, watching Chloe practicing her magic while Kinue was engrossed in a spell book she received as a birthday gift from Professor Adrihna. Mages could pass on their teachings by sealing the knowledge of a spell in a paper using a technique called a ‘Magic Rune.’ It was possible to learn the spell from this rune, but you first had to train your mana to understand it.
“This one is the ‘Great Water Arrow,’” Chloe said, concentrating as she conjured a massive arrow that floated beside her before shooting off at high speed.
“Very good. Can you turn it into an ice element?” I asked.
“Of course!” An enormous water arrow formed and then froze solid. She aimed it, and it flew into the wall, shattering into pieces upon impact.
Chloe is really good.
Naming the spell is almost mandatory because in the heat of battle, it's easier to remember how to manipulate your mana to cast it. The more named spells you have memorized, the better. There are elemental spells that are well-known, like ‘Fireball’ or even the ‘Wind Barrier’ that I’ve used. These are common spells that anyone can learn or develop on their own. We learn more spells, and the knowledge of a spell holds the way to manipulate mana.
Mana behaves almost like a language. When we speak a spell or use it, we’re actually shaping our mana as if we were writing something. Casting a spell isn’t something random; it requires true study and knowledge of your mana to execute it.
Chloe seemed to have gotten tired and sat down beside me.
“Nate… can I ask you something?”
I looked at her. “Sure, if I can answer it, I will.”
Chloe looked away, her face turning slightly.
“If… if… if that girl at the party asked you to dance, would you have?”
Girl at the party? Is she talking about Ryan’s daughter?
“What girl?!” Kinue asked, closing her book.
“A girl at the prince’s party invited Nathan to dance.”
I was surprised by that.
“That was two months ago… I didn’t even remember that.”
“Well, I remember!” Chloe said.
Both of them stared at me.
“Would you… would you have danced with a girl?” Kinue asked.
“He would have!” Chloe declared.
Suddenly, I became the bad guy… what did I do?
“No. Definitely not.”
Chloe turned to me with wide eyes, surprised.
“Really? I liked hearing that…” she said.
“Yeah, why would I dance? I wouldn’t dance with anyone if I could avoid it.”
She huffed and stood up.
“Holy shit, Icarus…” Athena muttered.
What? Did I mess up? I was just being honest, why would I dance?
“I don’t understand, Chloe. Did I do something wrong?”
“No… you didn’t,” she replied, a bit curtly, as she went back to practicing spells.
I noticed she seemed a little irritated, so I left her alone.
I think I messed up…
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked Kinue.
“Maybe, but I’m glad you confirmed you wouldn’t dance with anyone… for now.”
I decided to let it go and started practicing with my wind element. I was working on simple spells since I wanted to improve my control. Wind is a very underrated element, but it’s actually extremely useful for me. It has a lot of applications, and I can easily counter most elements just with wind alone.
On top of that, covering a lightning bolt with wind is key to the secret behind generating Zeus’s Spear or even that advanced spell that lets me create a giant lightning whip.
‘Slam!’
The wooden door suddenly burst open, and Sifu entered quickly.
Kinue and I jumped, and I immediately deactivated my magic. Even Chloe lost her concentration.
“Did something happen?” Chloe asked.
“Don’t worry. I’m just here to fetch Nathan.”
“Me?” I asked, surprised.
“Let’s go! We don’t have time,” the monk said, already heading out.
I looked at Chloe and Kinue; they were as clueless as I was, but Sifu was always calm and didn’t usually act like this. I quickly got up and ran after him, leaving them behind.
I caught up with Sifu. “What’s going on? Why are you in such a hurry?”
The monk kept walking briskly.
“Your aunt has summoned the Legacies, and you’re included as well. We don’t have time to waste. It seems there’s been an incident on our lands.”
“An incident? What kind of incident?”
“I don’t know, but we need to gather immediately.”