Chapter 18. [Birthday Drop (1/5)]
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Birthday drop schedule:

10.30 A.M, 1.30 P.M, 4.30 P.M, 7.30 P.M, 10.30 P.M (GMT+8).

Patreon: https://patreon.com/mihou

Discord: https://discord.gg/SWj44TB.

 

A Dream Foretold.

Prologue Arc (2). Letters to Me.

 

“To begin with, how much do you know about the Darkness attribute?” she stood up, dusting off her dress before turning to me as I responded, “Not much, from the books I’ve read, the Darkness attribute should be the attribute of contrast from the light attribute.”

 

“Correct; like how the Light Attribute users are superior in daylight, Dark Attribute users are werewolves on a full moon, their powers increase close to two hundred percent during nighttime making them even a dangerous enemy during the night.”

 

Taking out a coin from her pocket, she threw it up in the air before a dark shadow enveloped one side of the coin, turning the former golden color of the coin to a matte black which contrasted the other half of the coin which was still golden light in color.

 

“But that doesn’t mean Dark is far superior, rather, both Light and Dark are, in reality, the same base; think of it as a coin with two sides, one side is light whilst the other is dark, despite their color difference, both have the same base material and that is gold.”

 

Picking the coin back up, she held it between her thumb and index finger, showing it to us; the dark side had little dust whilst the light side had too much visible dust all over it… it was as if the lighter color was more attractive to dust.

 

“Though they are the same coin, there is still, discrimination between them as most people would prefer to have Light Attribute users on their team due to the single fact that they are stronger at daylight which is when most humans are active.”

 

After explaining, she soon wiped both coins and showed it once more; this time the darkness of the other side vanished, revealing a pristine looking side whilst the other side, the lighter side had many dents and dust despite being wiped.

 

“Now, why do you think the lighter side has more damages than the darker side?” she asked, placing the coin even closer to both Alice and me as if asking both of us, but no true conclusion could be made… after all, she just explained that both are of the same base material.

 

If both are of the same base material, then why would one side feel weaker than the other side; that wouldn’t make sense unless there are more impurities on one side but that couldn’t happen as the other side would also have impurities.

 

“Well, it seems like both of you don’t understand; it is because the Light Attribute is used more by the people and therefore exhaust their life-force, or otherwise called mana faster,” she answered before flicking the coin up in the air as it vanished.

 

“First since it seems like both of you don’t understand the real meaning of mana yet, let us go over what it really is and how we can efficiently use it without affecting our soul force and life force by a marginal amount…” she said whilst looking at Alice whose cheeks blushed pink.

 

“Well… I do understand how mana works… it’s just that theoretical statements are not for me…” Alice refuted before Achelois chuckled as she flicked her finger before a black ball appeared before us; the black ball was like water, yet it felt solid as well.

 

Soon after appearing, the black ball then split into half; one half was solid whilst the other half seemed to be a more liquid version of the other half… not only that but the solid half seems to be hollower than the liquid.

 

“Think of this as the core of both your soul force and your life force; the life force is the solid part and the soul force is the liquid,” she said whilst reaching out to the liquid ball and poking it with her finger as the liquid ball rippled.

 

“Now, what do you think would happen when you use a spell equal to the strength of a normal fireball?” she questioned before Alice rose her hand. “The spell would request mana equivalent to the strength of the fireball and use it to manifest the fireball.”

 

In response, Achelois placed her head between the space of her thumb and index finger before shaking her head in rejection. “In simple terms, that is correct but if we are to talk in-depth then that would be incorrect.”

 

“What would happen is, your life force which is the solid part covering your soul force would be depleted instead of your soul force; the life force acts as a first phase source of energy while the soul force acts as the last and most dangerous source of energy.”

 

Raising her right hand up in the air with her index finger up in the air, she flicked the air above her before a ball of darkness appeared as the other ball, the solid one used as an example grew smaller, compressing down as the ball of darkness grew.

 

“The more you use the mana, the thinner your life force will become until it becomes small enough that it explodes,” she said before a loud bang exploded from the area where the solid ball was floating, damaging parts of the liquid ball.

 

“And if you go even further than that, your soul force will be taken next since there is no more life force to take other than the tiny reserve left on your body to sustain itself, it will go after the next major source of energy and that is the soul force,” she explained as the liquid ball rippled as liquid dripped from it.

 

“Then, once all your soul force empties out; a phenomenon, we Spirits call the Ashes of the Soul would occur in which a pillar of their attribute would enclose the body of the caster; the pillar is unbreakable and will stay there for eternity unless requested by a higher rank spirit like us,” she said as the liquid ball exploded before darkness engulfed the entire scene for a second.

 

As soon as the darkness vanished, a large pillar that was as tall as a tree appeared from where the ball of darkness was on; it was an exceptionally large pillar filled with nothing but matte black… it was as if the void was looking at you.

 

“Now, do you understand the risks of excessive usage of mana?” she looked at us and asked as both Alice and I looked at each other with a pale face, nodding as Achelois smiled before patting my shoulders as she said.

 

“You don’t have to worry much about us Light and Dark attribute though unless we decide to self-destruct, our bodies will act as a limiter and will force you unconscious when you are reaching borderline.”

 

Upon hearing that, my heart felt relaxed; it felt reassuring knowing that there is a safety measure placed on our bodies that prevents us from exploding… otherwise, just imagining using mana recklessly makes me shiver.

 

“What does this have to do with Shadow Magic, by the way?” I inquired before Alice replied out of the blue, “It’s because to understand Shadow Magic, you have to first understand the fundamentals of both Light and Dark Attributes.”

 

“Correct; the part about mana isn’t really required but it’s good to know about it anyway,” she said. “To be exact, to learn Shadow Magic, you are required to have a fundamental understanding of both Light and Dark attribute; the reason for this is because the basic level of Shadow Magic isn’t actually blending into the shadows but bending the light to turn yourself into a shadow.”

 

“As the Princess said, Shadow Magic requires an understanding of both Light and Dark attribute; the reason for this is because the basic level of Shadow Magic isn’t actually blending into the shadows but bending the light to turn yourself into a shadow,” Achelois responded.

 

I was confused over the difference between blending and bending which are both two words of almost the same spelling except for the ‘l’ from the blending, wouldn’t bending light around you be the same as blending in as a shadow… that was the part where I was confused.

 

“It’s normal to be confused over blending and bending, all the former holders of mine were both confused over the two as well. To simplify everything for you, my lady… blending into the shadows means entering a shadow which is a more advanced, or complex usage of Shadow Magic whilst bending light to become a shadow means what it says, creating a shadow yourself.”

 

“The two may be similar but in reality, both aren’t, for example, the fact that I vanish and reappear beside you every time is blending into the shadows as I am both there and also not there, I take up no space beside you but can still see everything and move around everything around you,” she explained.

 

That sounds absurd, to be there but also not be there is a conflict in itself… almost like the legendary Spatial Magic that the ancient history books mention that was used a lot by the Twin Goddesses.

 

Suddenly, a hand touched my shoulder before a soft, melodic voice whispered to my ear. “Advanced Shadow Magic is a branch of spatial magic,” taking me by surprise as I turned my head around before Alice stood there with her head on my right shoulder, smiling.

 

… People reading thoughts seems to be the norm these days…

 

“As the Princess said once more, the higher level of Shadow Magic is simply a branch of Spatial Magic but the usage of it requires even more advanced knowledge which would most likely break your mind if you were to learn it now,” Achelois explained before pointing her finger at a tall grass over the distance.

 

“To start with learning the magic, first try imagining yourself covering the tall grass over there. It would be easier if I were to assist but as it would be bad for your growth, I won’t be assisting you like whenever you use your sword.”

 

I was confused, does she mean like imagining myself covering the tall grass as a literal or as an idiom for shadowing the tall grass with some kind of element… I heard many times from books that most magic theorem would use idioms instead of literals.

 

“What do you mean by covering the tall grass?” I inquired before she tilted her head, “I meant what I meant, simply imagine yourself standing before the tall grass over there, without closing your eyes.”

 

“Is that so… then,” I said before focusing my attention onto the tall grass over the distance, looking at the surrounding area around it before focusing even more on the tall grass as I attempted to imagine myself standing before the tall grass, gritting my teeth as my face unknowingly moved towards it.

 

“Iyaaaa!” I cried, gritting my teeth even more, digging my fingers onto my palm whilst closing my eyes as I shook my head, turning my attention back to Achelois with a wry smile as she tilted her head even more to the side as if it was going to break, “Do it fifty more times!”

 

My eyes widen upon hearing her instruction, to do such an embarrassing thing fifty more times doesn’t make me any happier right now. I felt reluctant to even do it once more but decided to do it a few more times as she was someone who has experience teaching people.

 

And so, time travel to the fortieth time, with the surfaces of my teeth almost sparkling flat, the palm of my hands bleeding from my fingers digging inside and my eyes that were as if about to fall out, a sudden vacuum pull sensation struck me.

 

It felt like the world around me was narrowing, my body wanted to move towards the tall grass, and as if a thunder strike, Achelois’s voice roared into my ears. “Go, fly away!” before everything around me narrowed even more before the tall grass vanished before me.

 

“Great, you did it perfectly!” Achelois’s voice whispered into my ear, “Now, try closing your eyes and imagining yourself being inside the now-gone tall grass,” taking me back as I turned my head towards her abruptly before a bright smile blossomed on her face.

 

It was a creepy smile, a demon hiding inside human skin was the best way to describe her smile… to be exact, both Alice and she have the same smile whenever they enter the state of teaching which creeps me out as I turned my head back to the tall grass, closing my eyes as I took a deep breath.

 

‘To imagine myself being inside the tall grass, it sounds way too weird!’ I wanted to complain inside but decided to shake off the thought as I thought of many other ways of imagining myself inside the tall grass, for example, standing on the position of the tall grass.

 

And like magic, everything around me felt light as a feather taking me by surprise as I opened my eyes before the sun’s brightness glared into me with everything around me warped into an orb. It felt like I had ten eyes looking in every direction around me.

 

Excited over the success, I looked behind me without turning my head before the sight of my body standing there with its eyes closed together with Achelois who was dressed beautifully, and Alice who was gleaming like a knight in shining armor appeared.

 

It felt weird to see my body standing there, my light hair fluttered around… it didn’t even look like my body was breathing at all, I couldn’t see any movements on my body… dead was the one word that came to my mind as my heartbeat rose in a panic.

 

‘Have I died?’, ‘How could I have died without doing anything’ was all I thought before a vacuum sensation struck me, thrusting all my attention towards my body before everything turned dark as everything felt heavy once more...

 

“Good job, you successfully did it!” Achelois’s voice blasted into my ear as I opened my eyes before the feeling of descent struck me as my entire world flipped, only to stop as Alice’s gleaming face with her beautiful pink, jade eyes looking down at me appeared on my sight like a star.

 

“You did well, Amelia~!” she whispered before the feeling of exhaustion thrust into me as I unconsciously tilted my head to the side, closing my eyes as the sounds of drums beating whispered into my ears.

 


 

[Alice’s Perspective]

 

“To think she would achieve middle-level Shadow Magic in a few moments after being taught, what a terrific owner,” the murky haired lady, the counterpart of my Spirit said with her eyes staring into the adorable koala sleeping on my lap.

 

“To think that you would teach her something dangerous despite knowing her mana is still undeveloped and at its weakest level…” I said to the murky haired lady, glaring at her before a wry smile appeared on her face… an annoying smile.

 

“I wasn’t really expecting her to reach middle-level Shadow Magic within a single teaching, not only that but to think she would think of herself as a dead person from seeing her body not move was beyond my expectations,” the murky haired lady refuted.

 

My hand caressed the soft cheeks of the koala on my lap, the sight of her falling once more almost made my heart stop… my body felt like dying, reminded once more of what happened eight years ago… my heart wouldn’t stop crying.

 

“I knew it was a bad idea to have her teach you… if only I understood Dark Attribute…” I mumbled before a silvery voice spoke from beside, “It’s not really your fault, it is forbidden to master an attribute other than the one you use after all… unless you don’t want to see the girl again.”

 

“If only this world was a little bit nicer,” I smiled wryly looking up at the sky with my other hand clenched before I turned to the murky-haired lady who was standing before me, requesting. “Do you mind finding the feather while Amelia is asleep?”

 

“I don’t mind, though I have no mana to use since my lady ran out of mana,” she refuted as I sighed, turning my head towards the lady sitting beside me before asking, “Elaina, can you assist her for now…?”

 

“I would, in normal cases, reject this order of yours…” the lady beside me said before she stood up and flicked her fingers as both hers and the murky-haired lady’s figure slowly vanished into the air as her silvery voice echoed throughout the field, “But, I will make an exception for today… since the lady you cherish is, after all, the Princess of my savior.”

 

After her voice vanished, I looked at the adorable koala sleeping on my lap with her eyes relaxed, resting peacefully as I rested my head on her chest, listening to the beat of her heart as I mumbled with a quivering voice, “I won’t let you be harmed again… after all, I am your knight… eight years ago till the end of my life…”

 

Birthday drop schedule:

10.30 A.M, 1.30 P.M, 4.30 P.M, 7.30 P.M, 10.30 P.M (GMT+8).

Patreon: https://patreon.com/mihou

Discord: https://discord.gg/SWj44TB.

                                                                         

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