Cal had decided what to reveal long before he had left the sinkhole. All he needed to do was make his experience similar to Tavia’s.
Overseer Marek stared at Cal with a puzzled expression after listening to what happened in the sinkhole. “The rift was expanding?”
Cal nodded. “I didn’t think so at first since it seemed stable, but something changed in there. The rift widened quickly before everything crumbled.”
He thought about adding the presence he felt beyond the rift in his story, but dismissed it since it could backfire on him. With how strong the presence felt, it wasn’t out of the question for it to have hidden followers and worshippers inside the Celestial Order. Revealing it could end terribly for him.
“That is… disappointing,” Overseer Marek sighed. “Extremely disappointing. Keeping the rift active could have been a way for our guild to elevate its standing in a decade or so.”
Cal stayed silent. The Overseer was speaking his thoughts out loud to himself, not for a discussion.
“This turned out to be a mission that should have left no survivors… but I’m glad you escaped. The guild owes you a favor, Apprentice Cal. I recommend you use it to take something from the treasure room. Go to the administrative building and ask for Ravel to gain access.” Overseer Marek looked finished with the talk before he paused. “If you want something that isn’t in the treasure room, I can help you with it. You know how to reach me.”
Cal’s obligatory ‘thanks’ was unheard as the Overseer left the room in a rush, without asking how he actually survived the implosion. He stared at the closed door with a blank expression, knowing he was in over his head; that much was clear.
He closed his eyes to gather his thoughts before shaking his head. Involving himself with the guild led to no good, as evidenced by the mission that almost killed both him and Tavia.
Cal wasn’t sure what path to take from here. His desire to find the materials to upgrade his [Rare Rake] brought him here, and he knew the guild would take his apparent willingness to take missions as a sign to thrust more responsibility on him.
Even so, he couldn’t say he regretted going to the sinkhole now that he knew Tavia was fine. He had realized his original intention to find the upgrade materials for [Rare Rake], and that could be the key to regaining the rapid growth he experienced at the start.
As for the Celestial Order, he had two weeks without mana, so he would be limited to mundane tasks. That should be enough time to figure out where to go from here.
… And here I thought I was done waffling about what to do about the guild.
Cal closed his eyes and took deep, steady breaths as he looked inward. He was curious to find out just how differently his body functioned without access to his mana reserves.
He opened his eyes after nearly an hour of investigating.
He stared at the wall before him with a confused expression. He thankfully still had the most basic of techniques—diagnostic of his own body—available, and at an equivalent of the [Apprentice] tier.
It allowed Cal to use the lessons from Master Arhan—detecting the tiny hairs on a magical crop’s roots—and repurpose that to work on himself.
The findings were strange. His body wasn’t starved of mana like he expected. When he used [Mist Walker], it was done with the acceptance of a slight deterioration of his physical abilities afterwards because of the loss of the constant mana flow.
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Cal was happy that wasn’t the case, but it was puzzling when he couldn’t detect his mana reserves. Not that it was hard to detect, but it simply didn’t exist.
He spent a not insubstantial amount of time calming himself when his mind jumped to the conclusion that he had turned into a mortal.
Cal’s mana reserves had been ‘taken away’ while still allowing enough to maintain the baseline body functions. He couldn’t try to break through something that wasn’t there—at least to his senses—and potentially negate the punishment.
That had been his plan. He intended to use the farm’s pool as a battery to power through any negative effects of using [Mist Walker], but that was based on the assumption that he could entirely contain the cost to use [Mist Walker] within his body. The involvement of higher powers obviously thwarted his not-so-clever plan.
Even if it had been technically possible, Cal wouldn’t dare try out of caution. His previous attempt—prying into the secrets of the link to [Mist Walker]—caused him enough issues.
Cal’s ears twitched at the sound of rapid footsteps approaching the room. He looked away from the wall in time to see Tavia burst into the room and jumped at him. His eyes widened in shock and prematurely winced, preparing for the collision with his sore body.
He blinked when he felt no weight pressed on him, Tavia having taken that into account and kept herself hovering above him slightly.
“You’re awake,” Tavia’s voice trembled, and with unexpected loudness. Cal scanned her expression, noting her tone didn’t match what he could see. He instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist when she leaned in to him and whispered, “I mentioned nothing about where you went and what you did.”
Cal’s arm tightened around Tavia when Elder Marsh walked into the room with an amused smile.
“You have my envy, Apprentice Cal. My lady used to look to me first. Now, it’s the little tyrants in my family that have her attention,” Elder Marsh said while chuckling.
Cal returned a weak smile at the Elder’s attempt to seem friendly. His only consolation was that Tavia seemed to be just as wary of the guild. He needed to get her opinion on what direction to take since they were of the same mind.
Tavia clambered off him and put on an embarrassed expression. “I’m sorry you had to see that, Elder Marsh. I lost myself for a moment.”
“Reprimanding you would be cruel,” Elder Marsh said, waving off the apology. “I’ll not overstay, seeing that we of the Elder Council are the reason you are a resident in this ward. If you would humor me, how did you walk away when a mountain of stone fell on your head?”
Cal thought he saw actual concern in Elder Marsh’s eyes, but he wasn’t of the mind to believe anything at face value. Especially not now, when it was safe to assume he was weakened in more ways than he could detect.
“I wish I could tell you, Elder. It’s all a fog. The ceiling gave, I panicked, and then nothing. Maybe it’ll come back as time passes.”
Elder Marsh hummed, thinking over something for a few seconds before shaking his head. “It’s rare but not uncommon for mana to react to heightened emotions. This is beyond what I would say is possible for an Apprentice, but then again, I wouldn’t say you are normal.”
Cal shrugged off the casual compliment. “And I’m thankful for it. I imagine Tavia and I wouldn’t be here if I was normal.”
“Too right,” Elder Marsh said as he chuckled. “Apprentice Tavia already informed us about what was in the sinkhole, so we can postpone questioning you until you are well.”
Cal had experienced multiple surprises in this conversation, and this was yet another. “Thank you, Elder.”
Elder Marsh inclined his head. “When you are able, present yourself at the Central Sanctum. Considering what you endured, the Elder Council will deliberate a proper reward; your pickings from the sinkhole are no longer enough.” He smiled when Cal’s eyes gleamed. “And Apprentice Tavia, while your entrance into the sinkhole was unplanned, you made the best of it. You will of course have all the privileges that come with your promotion. Now, I’ll leave you both to your reunion.”
They remained quiet until they could no longer hear the Elder’s footsteps.
“The Elder Council didn’t offer me a reward.”
Cal looked at Tavia with a raised brow. “The mission wasn’t given to—,” he paused, coming to see her point, “I’ll bring that up when I’m before the Elder Council.”
“Good,” Tavia leaned down to give him a peck. “There’s no need to be polite with them. Use everything they offer and then ask for more.”
He stared at her deeply, enough to make her shift on her feet.
“What?” Tavia asked. “Am I wrong?” Fresh chapters posted on n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
Cal shook his head. “No, but I have to speak to you about something when we get back to the farm.”
Tavia held his gaze for a few seconds before nodding. “I’ll check how fast you can be released.”
He watched her leave the room and felt more… comfortable. It felt good to have a partner in planning possibly treasonous actions.