Chapter 19 - Soul Training Part Two

The next day, I was taken through a new series of hallways. The labyrinthine design of the castle only served to confuse me more and more. Eventually, we made it to a room. Elowyn stood in front of me, with Grace standing next to me.

“This training will concern both of you. Luckily for you, Grace, you’re sufficiently trained. However, I think it will suit you good to study up on some magic.” Elowyn explained, before, of course, pushing the door open.

What was shown was an elaborate library. As far as the eye could see were stacks of books left and right. However, in the middle stood a stack of ten books of considerable length.

“This book is for you, Grace. Study it well.” Elowyn picked up a book off the nearby stack and set it aside for Grace.

“This is the next part of my training? Book reading?” I asked, a bit baffled as to how I was going to get stronger by reading books. “Or is this a knowledge is power kind of situation?”

However, Elowyn nodded her head. “Of course, as you said. Knowledge is power; those ten books are yours to read.” I looked at them. How the hell was I going to read those in a couple of weeks?

She then walked up to me and tapped the button on my collar again. “This time, I’ll increase it to times two,” I swear I could see the grin on her face. “Your job is to read all ten of these books, and then answer a quiz based on the material. Ten questions, eight out of ten must be correct to pass.”

“Ten questions?! I already feel like I ran a marathon…” I protested.

“Oh, shush, physical strength is one thing, but a sharp mind and body is a good thing, and your concentration could use some work.” Elowyn crossed her arms. “I’ll check up on you in a few hours; you better not be slacking off when I get back.”

Grace then simply smiled. “Don’t worry, Elowyn, I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”

Suddenly, I felt as if both of them were plotting something.

I thought about it for a moment, ten questions with ten books. Then each book will likely have one question attached to it. In that case, I just needed to concentrate enough to skim the important details, then I could finish this much more quickly and efficiently.

Hours passed, and I wasn’t even halfway done the first book, in fact. This book was as big as some textbooks, and there were nine more of them of similar length. All of them were on magic.

The first book I was reading was a basic introductory magic book, likely designed for students based on the writing and visuals.

After a while, I skimmed enough to realize I already knew most of this and made my way to the next book. Suddenly, I felt a slap from behind.

“Don’t think I didn’t catch you slacking,” Elowyn warned. “I saw you put the first book down prematurely. Read it all the way, remember this isn’t a test of knowledge but of concentration and willpower.”

She was right, I could feel my awareness begin to slip from how much of the magic from me was draining. Realizing it could be difficult, I decided to at least ask.

“Can I get some paper at least? A pen as well?” I asked. “To take notes…you just said I had to read them, and well, it will be easier if I can jot my thoughts down.”

Elowyn simply sighed, recognizing the benefit such items would have on my training, and left to go get the required materials.

After ten minutes, she arrived with a thick notesheet that looked to consist of 100 pages total, with a quill and ink.

At the end of the day, I had only read about halfway through the first book. I felt like I was going to pass out; there was a lot of messy writing in my notes as I had to shake myself awake at multiple points. One time, I fell asleep, and even Grace had trouble waking me.

Finally, Elowyn stormed into the room. “Times up, library is closing.” Next to her came in Bud. “Hello there, I’m to escort the two of you back to your rooms.” With a salute, and a smile. That’s what he did.

I never slept as well in both of my lives, maybe not even in the many lives I led before this.

The next day, I was reading when Elowyn, even Martin. Wheeled in by a servant to monitor my progress. I had managed to finish the first book by the time they arrived, which would have been late noon. Sadly, I could not imagine myself finishing anytime soon.

This drove me to read further, to jot notes faster, even to skip unnecessary sentences or content that wasn’t important overall. By the end of the second day, I had finished roughly ⅔ of the second book. Which was about healing or supporting magic.

The third day would go by relatively fast, and then the fourth. By the end of the fifth day I managed to get through a grand total of six books. I felt a lot more motivated to know that I only had a few more days of this.

Grace meanwhile through these days, studied at her own pace, and even brought her book to her room. I could hear throughout the night, her shouting incantations and practicing new spells.

Some of which went well, some of which went out with a bang…literally. I spent half the night worrying she was going to get herself killed.

Luckily on the eighth day, I hit a lucky break. The ninth book was about a hundred or so pages short compared to the other books. I managed to get to the halfway point of the final book by the end of the day.

My notes were also beginning to look quite full, I would have to review these, and luckily I would have a lot of time to do so when I finish the final book tomorrow.

The door swung open right on cue to find Elowyn standing there.

“Almost done, tomorrow, I should be finished. I should be able to take your quiz then. Elowyn.”

Elowyn, however, didn’t seem so concerned; in fact, she looked somewhat distant. “Father’s condition has gotten worse; they say tomorrow will be his last.”

Me and Grace stopped in our tracks, not sure what to say. “Gee, I’m sorry to hear that. But we’re both here if you want to talk about it.” I showed her at least a little bit of courtesy.

However, Elowyn seemed to huff, and Bud appeared next to her, looking a bit disheartened. “Why can’t you just learn faster? Why couldn’t you? Then we could have…could have…” She didn’t continue her statement, just hung her head low and walked off.

Bud cleared his throat awkwardly before offering to escort us back to our rooms again.

“Please forgive Lady Elowyn, she’s going through a lot right now. She’s a sweet girl.” Bud apologized.

“It’s fine, it’s hard to lose someone.” I shook my head; there was no need to apologize. Though she did need to sort her feelings out, I wish she had at least decided to be honest with us.

Finally, we arrived at our rooms. I stood inside my room. Grace was invited to help ease the King’s suffering. I was not good at that kind of stuff, so I stayed behind.

The next day came and went without trouble. Finally, Elowyn came in about halfway through the day. Luckily, I had finished by then, but she seemed a little bit upset at me.

“Ready for your quiz?” Elowyn asked.

I nodded. I was ready.

“First question: name the nine fields of magic.” Elowyn ran off like she was reading from a script. Luckily, the question was easy.

“Fire, water, earth, air, weapon, support, body, light, and dark,” I answered.

Elowyn nodded. “Next question, what is fire magic? Give one example of it.”

I hesitated for a moment. “Fire magic is what it says, it controls fire. Pyrokinesis is the primary example.”

The rest of the questions were more or less of the same thing. Water magic, earth magic, and air magic were self-explanatory. Weapon magic would more or less be what my shield is, magic power channeled through weapons.

Body would consist of overall support, to well, the body itself, which, unsurprisingly, can even be used to regenerate and make fake limbs. Support is self-explanatory, with light and dark being more of a mystery to me.

But if I remembered correctly, light magic was associated with the Goddesses of life, while dark associated with death.

Then, Elowyn simply tapped the collar, and it shut down again. “All questions correct, a little vague when talking about light and dark magic. Light is to perform blessings of our Goddess, while Dark is similar in that it can ward and protect from death. It’s not all perfect.”

She didn’t need to say anything.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and Bud came in with a panicked expression. “What is it, Bud?” Grace asked.

“It’s your majesty, he’s almost gone!” With a panic, the four of us booked it through the halls, blowing past servants until we made it to the King's room.

However, when we got there, it was too late. A shroud had already been pulled over the King’s corpse.

King Martin Arclaneia is now deceased. The only sound in the room was a loud wail of despair from Elowyn.

Remaining participants: 36/100.

Game status: In progress.

Razan Hamada Status: Alive.