"Well, first I need to get something before we start."
Leaving the wolves behind, Erik climbed to the first floor with Frank, where he created several spheres of light to illuminate the place using runes while commenting as he looked at Frank. The young man quickly nodded with a serious and focused expression.
"Understood."
With the elegant space fully illuminated, Erik walked with Frank toward the enormous bed on a raised platform while the young student looked around curiously. At the center of the platform, in front of the bed, Erik conjured different runes that arranged themselves in a circular pattern on the floor and began to glow in intermittent patterns.
After a few minutes, the runes carved into the platform started to shine, and soon a perfectly circular hole opened in the center of the platform. From the hole, a cylindrical medical capsule made of platinum-colored metal and crystal, completely covered in countless carved runes, began to emerge.
"That medical capsule doesn't seem to be an Illuminated-level artifact…" Upon seeing the capsule, Frank couldn't help but comment with a bit of surprise, to which Erik nodded casually and replied.
"Indeed, it isn't. Technically, it's a Sage-level artifact, though only due to its complexity. In reality, it's relatively fragile, and an Illuminated-level could destroy it without much difficulty since this is a special backup plan. The capsule that's supposed to heal me, a Master-level one, is in one of my storage rings…"
Under Frank's surprised and curious gaze, Erik walked to the back of the capsule, which had a sleek, metallic, and futuristic appearance. Once there, Erik placed his hand on it, then conjured a new set of runes that arranged themselves in a circular pattern around his hand. After a few minutes, a compartment just beneath Erik's hand opened, releasing a thick trail of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, Frank could see inside the compartment a metallic tank, completely covered in carved runes, connected to black hoses similarly filled with runes. With visible familiarity, Erik detached the hoses from the tank, then took it out and began descending the short stairs of the raised platform while commenting.
"This is what I needed. Now let's make the final preparations in the bathroom."
Frank quickly nodded and followed Erik, who walked with the tank in his hands to the area behind the bed. There, skillfully hidden, was a bathroom with a bathtub, shower, toilet, and everything else, decorated quite elegantly with white, black, and gold harmoniously blending together.
While Frank looked at the bathroom surrounded by a kind of circular wall of dark marble or a similar material, Erik reached the bathtub with the tank in his hands. Immediately after, Erik conjured runes that arranged themselves around the tank, activating the runes carved into it, and slowly a transparent, somewhat viscous liquid, similar to oil, began to pour into the bathtub.
"This is a stabilizer. It will act as a medium to facilitate the action of the smart potions, so I'll be almost fully submerged in it. Your job will be to operate the magic circle I'll draw under the bathtub and add the potions to the tub as I tell you." While using a Myst hand to hold the tank so it continued filling the bathtub, Erik looked at Frank and explained in a calm tone. The young man quickly nodded with seriousness.
"I'll do my best, boss."
"Perfect." Erik nodded, satisfied, and quickly took the chalk he had grabbed from his workshop, then began drawing a magic circle on the floor under the bathtub.
Once the circle was partially completed, Erik took some high-purity mana crystals he had retrieved from one of the rings he opened and placed them around the circle, then interconnected them with chalk. Once everything was ready, Erik reviewed the circle one last time, then activated it, confirming it was perfectly functional while starting to write at high speed in a notebook.
"It's ready. I've written down the instructions for operating the circle and the order of the potions. The first ones you need to add by time, but starting from the fourth, I'll tell you when to add them." Not long after, Erik finished writing and handed Frank the notebook and the potions, which the young man quickly took and replied with seriousness.
"I understand, boss. I'll take the time to read the instructions a couple of times to memorize them."
"Perfect. I'll start preparing as well." Erik nodded and began removing his armor, to which Frank nodded, then placed the potions in a safe spot and started reading with seriousness.
...
After a few minutes, Erik, dressed in nothing but a pair of short swim trunks, lifted his leg to enter the bathtub fully filled with the strange liquid. Meanwhile, Frank couldn't help but look at Erik's body with surprise and visible respect. But this wasn't due to how incredibly toned and defined Erik's body was but because of the enormous, terrifying purple bruises covering his chest, back, and limbs.
Just by the state of those horrifying and frankly unpleasant bruises, it was easy for Frank to get an idea of the true level of internal damage Erik was suffering. But what filled him with respect was that, despite the undoubtedly excruciating pain he must be feeling, Erik hadn't complained even once. He always maintained a calm and composed demeanor, something Frank doubted he, or any normal mana user, could do.
After all, all mana users had an enhanced healing factor; small wounds healed in mere moments, and something like a fracture took no more than a couple of days to heal. Additionally, there were potions capable of healing them instantly from mortal wounds. Therefore, extreme and prolonged pain wasn't something they were very accustomed to.
"Well, let's get started. The first 15 minutes are the most important since they'll address my most immediate injuries, so stay focused." Sitting in the bathtub, Erik looked at Frank and spoke in a serious tone, to which the young man quickly nodded, then placed his hands on the magic circle while responding in a solemn tone.
"Leave it to me, boss."
Erik nodded at Frank's response, then closed his eyes and began releasing all his mana at a speed that wouldn't further damage his already compromised mana circuit. At the same time, Frank operated the magic circle with seriousness, following Erik's instructions to the letter, and even Lirio seemed serious as it watched the magic circle intently, looking quite adorable.
After a full minute, Erik reached out and took a potion he had left on a nearby table, then drank it in one gulp and fully submerged himself in the strange liquid. Quickly, Erik felt the liquid seeping through his mouth and nose, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable and as if he were drowning. But controlling his thoughts, he forced himself to 'breathe,' still keeping his eyes closed.
Due to the peculiarities of the liquid, Erik could breathe without issues; he even felt as if he were breathing exceptionally pure and clean air, though it didn't cease to be uncomfortable. But that discomfort was quickly overshadowed by a worse one—an irritating tingling that occurred simultaneously over every inch of his body.
For his part, Frank, upon seeing Erik fully submerge, mentally counted to 100 while holding an uncorked potion in his right hand just above the bathtub. Upon reaching 100, Frank let the scarlet-colored liquid fall into the tub, which quickly spread through the strange transparent liquid, turning it entirely red. Frank then quickly placed his hands on the magic circle.
As he operated the magic circle, following the instructions to the letter, Frank could see the liquid slowly starting to glow, emitting a reddish light, while it began to bubble subtly. Seeing that what Erik had warned about in the instructions was happening, Frank let out a sigh of relief, then started slowly moving his hands away from the circle with caution until he fully let go.
"Phew, looks like everything worked correctly…"
Seeing that the liquid continued to glow and bubble, Frank let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the bathroom floor. At that moment, Lirio flew in front of him and started chirping adorably in congratulations, which brought a smile to the young man's face. He looked at the bathtub and commented with a smile full of respect and admiration.
"The truly impressive one is the boss… Now I can really understand why Master Eldurdóttir and Master Silverwood decided to take him as a disciple at the same time… If at just 30 years old he's this capable and has such a firm mentality, I don't dare to think what he'll be when he's my age, or worse, the age of his masters…"
"He'll truly be the greatest genius of all time, an eternal legend."
At that moment, Frank heard a male voice behind him, which made him turn his head, finding Chen, Zoe, and Christine looking from outside the bathroom with serious expressions.
"How did everything go?"
While Frank nodded to Chen in agreement, Zoe asked with a worried expression, which made the young student look at the bathtub and the magic circle, then comment in a serious tone.
"So far, everything has gone well. The boss left me instructions, and the next 15 minutes are the most crucial. I need to stay alert and focused."
"Then we won't bother you. We'll come back in a while." Chen commented seriously, to which the girls nodded with equal seriousness, then walked away, allowing Frank to refocus on the bathtub and take a new potion.
…
…
…
In the bathtub, Erik slowly began to adapt to the pain and the uncomfortable tingling coursing through his entire body, but instead of relaxing, with his eyes closed, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. In the dark solitude of his mind, the young man with starry hair couldn't help but get lost in thoughts he had managed to keep at bay until now.
In his mind, fragmented scenes of a playful and pampered black dragoness kept appearing. The dragoness demanding mana, throwing tantrums, joking with him, fighting with Ignis, or simply resting with her eyes closed beside him. Nearly 20 years of shared memories began to cross his mind one after another, while the absence of that long-standing mental connection felt heavier with each passing second.
(It was necessary…)
When the tide of memories and regrets almost seemed to consume Erik, he simply told himself as he let out a long sigh, causing a small movement in the bubbling oily liquid that surrounded him completely. At the same time, images of a beautiful and energetic woman with golden hair and playful blue eyes started to appear in Erik's mind. Along with those of an equally stunning woman with chestnut hair and piercing yet captivating golden eyes. Also, those of a mischievous maid with black hair and gray eyes.
In the end, no matter how much Ebonique weighed on his heart, that trio of beautiful women was his priority. He didn't just owe his life to Sigrún, but each of them had showered him with infinite and sincere love and care. Literally everything he had in this life, he owed to that trio, because without their resources and complete support, his own efforts wouldn't have been enough.
Without having the two most talented Master-level individuals in history constantly by his side, patiently and lovingly explaining everything he didn't understand, even staying up several days and nights studying with him. Without having a devoted maid who took care of him with dedication, getting him all kinds of materials, knowledge, and tools, even sharing her own knowledge with him. He would be nothing.
He definitely wasn't a good person, but one thing was certain: he, Erik Verne, could be anything but ungrateful. While he could give Ebonique his mana and somehow repay what she had done for him, from those beautiful women, he had only ever received. He didn't have the position, the resources, or the strength necessary to do anything significant for them.
So, for them, besides love, he felt infinite gratitude, and for no reason, not even for Ebonique or his own life, could he allow anything to happen to them, especially not because of him. And from what he now knew, his masters, who seemed like untouchable titans in his eyes, didn't seem like much in the eyes of someone like Ebonique or Ignis.
That pair of spirits were on a different level. He didn't know exactly how strong, but definitely beyond a legend level, or the 'mere low-quality imitation' of a skill from a being of their level—as Ebonique defined the chains—wouldn't be able to disable Master-level artifacts as if they were nothing. Something that, from what he knew, would take some effort for a legend-level to achieve.
Therefore, upon seeing Ebonique's murderous intentions, he immediately knew his masters and maid were in danger. That dragoness treated him like a rare treasure, one she wasn't willing to reveal to the world, and from the way she ordered the others, he knew she had no intention of letting them live. Thus, anyone who had contact with him or knew of his peculiarities was in danger, and there was no one in this world closer to him than his masters and maid.
So, in a burst of indignation over the way she literally tried to enslave the others and being cautious, he broke his contract with her. But he knew that wasn't the end; it was only the beginning. Outside, there was still a colossus named Ignis, a good friend of the dragoness, someone who might retaliate for his actions.
Therefore, Erik inevitably ended up reconsidering whether it was really such a good idea to leave those damned ruins alive. Though he was dying to return to his masters and maid, perhaps the best thing was to never leave. That way, maybe Ebonique wouldn't bother to retaliate, and Ignis, considering her long relationship with his master, might choose to leave her in peace and forget what happened.
But as these thoughts came to Erik's mind, and he even began to consider how to do it, suddenly in his mind echoed Ebonique's voice swearing that she didn't want to harm his loved ones. That memory inevitably made Erik halt his train of thought and reflect with a certain bitterness.
(Do I remember it so clearly because I'm looking for an excuse to live…? Sounds like something a coward like me would do, hahaha… But I'll try to believe you, Ebonique. Maybe just because I don't want to die, or because of all the years we shared and how 'sincere' your voice sounded, but this time, I choose to believe you… I'm going to live...)
***
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