Chapter 118: A Difference of Time (4)

For the first time, he awoke quite happy to end his [Sleep Learning] session. Both Kara and Luna still slept. He slipped away, and as he put on his overcoat, Tiamat, who was at the end of the bed, entered her favorite spot on her own.

Kara suddenly shot up and grabbed Rainer by the coat, before her half-asleep self realized what she did. She stared at Rainer for a moment before laying back down, knowing full well what came over her but not wanting to acknowledge it.

“Kara…”

“It may have been a month for you but for me, it was just yesterday,” she whispered, “Don’t be so quiet about waking up next time?”

Rainer nodded, as Kara tried to go back to sleep. He suddenly understood how much he underestimated his disappearance. Much of the shock had dulled after his use of [Absolute Frost]. He had been so focused on studying a new Magic, and with the Familiar Bond quiet most of the time, that shock had almost completely faded.

It wasn’t just Luna he overlooked.

He smiled as Luna sought out warmth from Kara, and the Wolfkin tried to half-heartedly escape, only to end up a bit content in the fairy’s clutches.

Rainer left the room, the ritual to end anyone tracking his soul likely ready by now.

It left only a quick meet up with Amer to end any possible connections to his Soul. As Rainer exited the room and met with the Devil, Amer made his future plans known.

“Once we leave this…Fairy place, I’ll be heading elsewhere,” The Devil said.

Rainer shrugged. Amer had already given him more than enough material on Blood Magic and teachings to get started on them. If the Devil wished to go off on his own, Rainer had no reason to stop him.

“I’ll be seeing ya then,” Rainer said before adding another thing, “There are plenty of evil people in this world. I brought you here…I guess that makes it my fault if you do something worthy of being called a Devil. Make sure you thoroughly check someone before using blood magic, yeah?”

Rainer didn’t feel responsible for using his power to fight evil or anything of the sort. But he would not be comfortable with the Devil he brought here sacrificing a town for any sort of magic.

“Not an issue,” The Devil agreed. He had already planned on hunting bandits to help rebuild his Avatar. No reason to piss off the Mage Guilds the [Archon] had spoken of as the magical law of the land. He viewed this comfortable place as a sort of retirement prior to eventually joining the groups raiding the Tier 2 Dungeon, and seeing if he might have a chance at advancing to the 3rd tier before his lifespan ran out.

Rainer left the Devil moments later to get some work in before he’d head out later tonight with Luna.

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Back in their room, Rainer sat with Luna draped over his shoulders. She looked down at the paper she created as Rainer wrote on it, mumbling to himself. Lacking a skill with the [Faraan Runic Language], just as Kara, she could look at the complicated Runes with no issue. Someone like Gunthar with only the first level of the runic language would find even his undead mind reeling from just a glance at the Runes as Rainer tried to modify a healing spell.

Luna was supposed to tell Rainer about the Fae Assassin who had gotten away. About how shocked he appeared when he apprised her, but the Fairy still hadn’t gotten around to it. And waking up this morning, she finally got up the will to admit it. Unfortunately for her efforts, it was too late.

“I’ve thought a lot when I was gone,” Rainer said, having already told the whole party about the time dilation and his second 2nd Tier class.

“And I’ve realized I’ve done wrong by you,” He added before continuing as the Fairy tried to interrupt him, “You were her prisoner, in all but name. And you were my prisoner the whole time you’ve been with me and been in your home. I don’t care if someone recognizes your class for what it is. Whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go, it’s your choice. You are not my prisoner.”

Luna smiled, before hugging Rainer a bit tighter. Kara’s prediction for how Rainer would respond seemed not to be accommodating enough. She shifted to a smaller size, before nestling in the usual spot in his hair.

“Luna would like that. Also, one of the Fae assassins Appraised Luna and then ran away,” She spoke quietly, but no longer worried about his reaction.

The dark-haired young man raised an eyebrow before smiling, as it seemed that had been what weighed on Luna’s mind. And given his recent declaration, it didn’t really matter.

“Oh, how convenient,” Rainer joked, now with nothing stopping his outing plans with Luna. Before then he wondered how that set Gunthar and Kara nearby into uncontrollable laughter, no longer paying attention to Tiamat trying to fly nor continuing their discussion on Aura. He brushed it off as something Tiamat did and then returned to the page in front of him.

He felt close to an answer. It was only a matter of time. That, and a ceaseless and painful practice in [Sleep Learning]. Healing oneself as a target dummy for thousands of variations of a healing spell was not pleasant.

His thoughts shifted to the future as he erased his current formula for [Absolute…something] and started over. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

Rainer calmed down enough after the assassins attacked. With no actual harm done, he figured it best to simply leave the city. Making an enemy of all Fae wouldn’t do, at least not yet. Were he stronger he’d be more than happy to demand the Fae to interrogate their own until they found the ones responsible.

And he likely would one day. The trail couldn’t get much colder as it was, with all the assassins dead and their goal still mostly unclear. But like hell would Rainer let some politician or otherwise get away with setting assassins on Kara or anyone else he cared for.

With the books Mira snuck out for him on Body Enchanting and Maya’s mind magic, he only had the curing of the Fae disease, more so for Quera’s mother and Maya’s wife than anyone else, left before giving the Fae a goodbye. He had enough of dealing with politics and factions, though he knew his future would contain some of the same issues.

He had experts on Aura and Magic; maybe he needed one on politics? His idea of negotiating with any future kings or Mage Guilds about his academy boiled down to threatening them with a greater force, or in other words; leave us alone or I’ll kill you. Likely not the best idea to fight the entire world, no matter how strong he got.

Either way, he’d take the farthest Fairy Ring south and find a ship for the crossing to the Dragon Isles. Or buy one and then spend some weeks enchanting it to the brink for practice. He imagined it wouldn’t be hard finding a crew willing to sail with his presence on board after a few demonstrations.

The waters of the Dragon Isles were filled with pirates, ones even led by Rogue and Dark Mages. But having a man who could freeze the seas themselves…

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A day passed as Rainer spent his time between working on his healing spell and otherwise with Kara and Luna. They had decided for a final outing with the Fairy on full display as their last day here, not that they told anyone they were leaving soon. Luna had already begun talking with Kara and a surprised Prince Lanenth, at finally meeting the Fairy who granted Rainer his language skill, over what she wanted to do.

He had achieved [Arcane-Water’s Gentle Touch] and even added a magical language component, something much easier with two of his newer unlocked attributes. Which left him in a dilemma in what to use attribute points on.

[Language Transmission: Increases the amount of power, control, and range of all Magical Languages]

[Arcane Cohesion: Increases the ability for Arcane Magical Languages to merge and influence Magic.]

But it was nowhere near what he wanted, nowhere near what he needed to heal the disease that plagued the Fae. It was merely a better heal, but nothing comparable to his own [Arcane Invigoration] or Luna’s Faerie Fire.

A flame he learned had consumed a second-tier Fae in just moments, giving him some thoughts as to healing being only a secondary feature compared to magic consumption.

He had taken to visiting Maya’s wife at least once, using [Arcane Sight] in a full study in what made her be all but manaless. What made a once young and vibrant Fae wish for nothing more than a quick death.

But it was truly hard to tell if there was anything at all wrong with her apart from the obvious lack of Mana for a Fae.

Rainer was once more in the white void of [Sleep Learning] trying to find a way forward. But never did he question that there wouldn’t be one. He had always operated under such a belief even back on Earth when his biggest dream was flying in the sky and walking through walls.

The only question he had was whether he could finish the spell in a reasonable time. If his current knowledge of [Arcane Invigoration], his raw power, and anatomical skill was enough to do what he wanted.

Rainer found himself distracted for a moment as he tried to apply [Arcane Invigoration]’s power to [Arcane-Water’s Gentle Touch]. Any thought of bringing the ordered Arcane Energy as a natural part of the spell failed. It only served either to overload it or a minor increase in its power. No different if he had cast it with more Arcane Power at the start.

“Absolute touch…heal…cure…”

He cycled through words now, completely unsure of where to go. A name certainly wouldn’t grant him the spell itself. He still had much work to do to get to that point, but he felt that he needed to know what that point was.

At least until a brief flash of how he cured himself of the poison that nearly killed him entered his mind. [Arcane Invigoration] alone wasn’t enough. He first needed to regress [Arcane Awakening] to a state of [Arcane Rage]. To let the Arcane energies tear apart his body, and the poison with it, before he could heal.

His own blood magic that could produce a coma-like state, or even the Fae’s temporary Body Enchantment to incapacitate a target came to mind as well.

That and the various blood and soul rituals he learned from Amer atop of the books he had stored in his mind. Even the [Arch-Lich] necromancy ritual had some possible merit in this case.

Above it all, healing alone was not enough to be absolute. Sometimes an act of healing may even make a certain disease or ailment worse…

Then what is needed?

A bird of flames crossed his mind. A mythological creature common in the stories of his world. A legend of fire and ash that represented but a singular concept of immortality.

Rebirth.