Chapter 194 - Damn Empire

Adion slowly pulled his brush back from the painting before him as his consciousness returned to the present. 

In front of him, there was now a complete painting of a faelin man sitting by a campfire, telling stories with a light smile. 

Lomin. Right. Adion thought with a smile.

The painting of Lomin really gave a sense of curious satisfaction, and Adion couldn’t help but be quite pleased with it. He had begun with just trying to imagine a forest, but slowly, something inside him directed his brush strokes to make something different. 

I knew I had met a faelin before. Adion thought as he stretched his back and looked out over the desert landscape. He noticed that the sun had moved quite a bit. He had probably been painting for 3 hours or so. 

That makes it four days in a row that I’ve managed to remember something new through my paintings. 

Adion didn’t know if he had gotten better at it, or if it was mostly luck, but ever since the night he talked with Shindo and Teruro, accessing his memories through painting had become more smooth. 

I guess I am a little more relaxed. That surely helps.

Adion had been constantly worried about his hidden enemies, but now that he had gotten used to the people around him on the senba, he had been slowly letting his guard down around these people. 

He had also been feeling a lost sense of identity before, but knowing he was the disciple of the Headmaster and that his family was in Cyalis had given him something to ground his identity around, perhaps making it easier for him to remember again. 

Too bad it still exhausts my Will a great deal. It would have been nice if I could spend all day painting. 

Oh well, everything will work out in time. 

Adion wasn’t worried he would have to paint every single instant of his life before he remembered his past. He had noticed that he got more and more out of these flashes of inspiration. He still couldn’t get a clear image of what had happened before or after listening to Lomin’s story, but he somehow knew they were in the Outskirts, and he knew he was with a team of friends. No concrete information appeared in his head, but the feelings connected to the paintings he created got clearer and clearer. 

“You painted that?” 

Adion turned around to see Shindo behind him, staring at the painting with a shocked expression.

“I guess I’m pretty good,” Adion bragged with a smile.

“You actually are…Is this thing common on Shiora? I’ve never heard of any great painters around here. Do they teach this at the Academy?” Shindo rambled on with his questions.

“I don’t know about that. I was taught by an old elf,” Adion said.

“Which old elf?” Shindo asked.

“You wouldn’t know him,” Adion said.

“Whatever,” Shindo muttered, continuing to examine the painting.

As much as Adion had gotten used to Shindo’s questions, Shindo had gotten used to Adion ignoring most of them. 

Adion wasn’t sure what Shindo thought about him. He hadn’t told Shindo about his memory loss, so he surely appeared pretty strange at times. 

I wonder if he has figured out that something is wrong with my memory? I have been ignorant about quite a lot of things I should know well. But I guess that can be explained away by more believable theories.

“Is this from memory? Is this a faelin? You’ve met one?” Shindo asked, “You must have. The feeling the paintings give off is far too genuine. It almost feels like I’m there myself. How do you do it?”

“Practice, I guess,” Adion answered with a shrug.

“Tch, annoying,” Shindo snorted, “It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve been found out long ago by the people of the Academy, they just can’t be bothered to bring you back.”

“Alright, alright. No need to be mean just because you envy my talent,” Adion said with a laugh. 

“I’d rather be strong than paint well,” Shindo said.

“No reason you can’t do both,” Adion said, “Maybe you wouldn’t be scolded by the captain every day if you spent your time on anything else besides your advancement.”

“Control over my wind will come with time, no need to put so much effort into it,” Shindo said, “A Gold wind mage who hasn’t focused on much besides advancement would still beat a Silver wind mage no matter how well they drive a senba.”

“Maybe,” Adion said with a small smile.

I guess I’m a little different. Learning to make use of my Authority is the most important to me. Advancing is just a way to increase my Will and, in doing so, increase the power I can unleash with my Authority. 

Still, long-term, advancing my stage is the most important, so I can’t neglect it.

“Are you off your shift?” Adion asked.

“Yeah,” Shindo nodded, taking his eyes off the painting, “Want to grab something to eat?”

“I could eat,” Adion nodded and started putting away his painting materials.

“What are the faelin like?” Shindo asked.

“Like most people,” Adion answered non-committedly. He didn’t have that many details in his head about Lomin. “They like stories a little more than others do, I guess.”

“I’ve heard about that. The Primordial Story, right? Do you know it?” Shindo asked.

Seems vaguely familiar. I don’t remember too much, though.

“Sorry,” Adion said, shaking his head.

“I’ve heard it goes way back before the New Beginning,” Shindo said, “It’s incredible how something like that made it through the passage of time when so much else is lost.”

“It certainly is,” Adion agreed. Maybe I should spend some time trying to remember it. I seem to have heard it before, and it sounds quite interesting. 

“I thought faelin didn’t come to Shiora that often. Are there many at the Academy?” Shindo continued his questioning. 

Ganta. I need to recover my memories. It’s impossible to have a conversation like this.

“Maybe one or two. At times,” Adion made a guess.

“What are they doing there?” Shindo asked.

But before Adion could answer, he felt several powerful auras around. 

Have I been discovered?

Then, something crashed into the senba, making Adion and Shindo struggle to keep their balance. 

Yelling was heard all around, and the senba came to a halt. 

“Gold beasts,” Shindo muttered.

“Quite a few of them,” Adion said as he felt the auras below and behind. There were three Gold beasts that he could feel, along with a dozen Silvers. 

If I fight with everything I have, it shouldn’t be a problem to deal with. But I’m not sure that is a good idea…

Let’s see how the situation unfolds. Worst case, I can still teleport away and escape.

But I can’t hide my Silver stage aura anymore, or I’ll have to hide during the battle. I guess it doesn’t matter that much, Shindo and Teruro already know, and nothing stops them from telling others. 

Adion released the hold on his aura, now showing off middle Silver instead of middle Bronze. 

Shindo gave him a curious look but soon focused on the situation. He pulled out a knife from his belt while looking around cautiously. He put his hand in a small pouch he was carrying around and pulled out a ring cast in a dark metal.

Adion couldn’t help but take a closer look at the ring; he felt that something was strange about it. 

Have I seen it before? It’s vaguely familiar…but not quite. 

“My lucky ring,” Shindo said when he noticed Adion looking.

“You should get as far away as you can until this is handled,” Adion said. Shindo was a Bronze mage, and he wouldn’t be able to help much in a fight like this.

Shindo seemed to hesitate, but he eventually nodded, “Fine. Be careful.”

“You too,” Adion said and started running toward the action. 

He soon saw how the captain was fighting against the strongest Gold beast, while another Gold mage was struggling with the second one. The strongest Silver mages aboard were doing their best to handle the final one, but from the looks of it, they would be overwhelmed eventually. 

“What are these damn beasts doing here?” The captain yelled out in frustration, “They are Pelltian Apes! The damn Empire must have provoked something in the Outskirts, and let us deal with the consequences.”

The beasts in question looked like huge gorillas with brown fur. Adion felt that they were of the earth element, but they could still move around in the sand without issue. 

Just as he was thinking about where to help, he saw a man get his head blown off by a punch from one of the peak Silver beasts, and next in line was Teruro.

Not good!

The beast was too quick and too strong. He knew Teruro, who was just low-SIlver, would end up just like the headless man in a second. 

Whatever, everyone is too occupied to take note of me. 

Adion quickly grabbed his sword and teleported over. He arrived above the head of the beast just as it swung its fist toward Teruro. Adion froze the beast in space and pierced its neck with his sword. 

The beast let out a loud roar, not fully dead yet despite the injury. Adion teleported next to Teruro and conjured a flame. He didn’t bother acknowledging Teruro’s shocked expression and threw the fire in the face of the beast. 

Using his Authority, he fought against the beast’s will, urging the fire to burn its flesh.

Adion wasn’t completely fresh, as he had just used a lot of his Will when he was painting, but fortunately, the beast was already on its last legs, and the fire quickly burrowed into its brain, killing it.

“What the…What happened?” Teruro asked, shocked. 

Adion took a quick look around, and no one else seemed to have noticed his actions.

“Keep that a secret, will you?” Adion asked with a slight smile.

“Uh…sure,” Teruro said, still in shock from his close encounter with death. 

Even if people find out, it’s not the end of the world. Heavenly Light already knows about my powers, so it can’t get much worse. 

But still, I would prefer to keep a low profile if I can.

Adion looked around and found that the situation wasn’t looking very good. The captain seemed to have the upper hand against his opponent, but all other fights seemed to favor the beasts.

If the captain can defeat his opponent and help the others, it should resolve the situation pretty quickly.

I guess I’ll see what I can do against a Gold beast. 

Adion focused on the beast that the captain was fighting. When he saw the captain raise his arm to attack, and the beast was about to defend, Adion focused his entire mind on freezing the space around the beast.

Come on! Adion thought. He felt the struggle from the beast. It was countless times more powerful than the Silver beast he had just killed.

Fortunately, it was enough for the captain to land a lethal wound. 

Adion let go of the space immediately and breathed out in relief. 

That was intense. But…I held it for over a second, didn’t I? And that’s when I’m this tired?

Adion could barely believe it, he had assumed he could only hold it for a fraction of a second, but he felt that should he need to, he could hold it for two to three whole seconds. 

That was a huge difference. 

Am I so powerful? That was a high Gold beast! With this, wouldn’t I be able to fight against basically every Gold beast and mage out there? Even without sneak attacking them with my volatile space. 

I could just freeze them in space and cut their throats like I do with Silver beasts. 

Adion couldn’t help but smile widely when he realized how powerful his Will seemed to be.

“Hold on a little longer!” The captain yelled out. He had paused slightly when the beast didn’t defend itself and he landed an unexpected hit. But now, he had already finished the beast and turned to help his crew with the rest of the opponents.

That should solve it. 

“Let’s help out with the Silver beasts until the captain comes,” Adion said to Teruro. He would feel bad just standing there while people died around him.

“Right,” Teruro said, running with him to help the struggling mages. 

Adion didn’t show off his space magic anymore, fighting using fire instead. It got exhausting pretty quickly, but fortunately, the more powerful mages quickly resolved the Gold beasts and arrived to help finish off the remaining beasts.

“Haah,” Adion sighed and laid down on the hot sand to rest.

“Quickly attend to the wounded! Stay alert for any other beasts in the surroundings!” The captain immediately started yelling out instructions.

I guess I have the strength to help out a little. Adion thought and got up on his feet again. 

As he saw the injured people around him, as well as quite a few bodies with no more breath in them, Adion couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at enjoying himself in the previous fight. He had always been sure he could escape if things turned bad, so he had savoured the experience. He almost wished for the journey to keep going like this.

Well. At least I saved a few of them. Adion thought, trying to comfort himself.

He soon saw Shindo, safe and sound, as he returned to the senba to help out. 

Adion was a little worried that someone as curious as Shindo would stay and watch the fight, but seeing the look on his face, Adion guessed he didn’t notice his spatial abilities. 

If he did see it, I’m sure I’ll know about it tomorrow from all the questions he’ll ask me.

I really hope he didn’t see it.