The Third Party - Chapter 29

3rd Person’s POV (12 yrs. and 3 months old)

Meanwhile earlier this day, while the disciples where preparing for the class, the head researcher and researchers positioned themselves where they can spectate at the side of the fields and gather information of how their magic suit works, reacts, and its overall result after the activity.

“Huh, an exercise early on, didn’t expect that.” commented Indur, as he and the other three masters sat together at the side.

“A necessary component in their training as mages and warriors.” replied Klein.

“You still use that name Klein? We’re magical beasts, why do we have to stoop so low as to use a human title?” rebutted Indur, looking offended and disgusted at the term.

“You can’t blame me, I’ve started using that term since fifteen years ago, when the parent of that child (points at Ken subtly) came to this forest, as you know, no human has ever ventured at these parts since we’re protected by a barrier.” said Klein, reminiscing of the past.

“True, how did they travel here anyway, and when they arrived here, we were supposed to kill them all since it was a breach of territory, why can’t we do it now?” replied Indur, a lace of information between his tongue.

“It’s both partially my fault and your King’s, remember fifteen years ago when a ship washed ashore at the southern borders, me and my wife were there with her still carrying Allen in her womb, but we lost contact of each other when a huge storm passed by at the beach.” said Klein, remembering the last days of his wife.

“I got knocked out, and the next thing I know, when I woke up was of a baby’s cries, and I saw two humans, carrying my son, with my wife on the sand, lifeless.” said Klein ending his story, he looked at his dear friend and smiled, but Indur just looked at him confused.

“Then why didn’t you tell me this? Why didn’t you kill them? Did they not cause the storm or for the death of your wife or-.“ then Indur realized. “The two humans, who are the parents of that child saved your son?” Klein nodded in confirmation and smiled.

“And so I owe a great debt to them, even though they weren’t able to save my wife, at least I have Allen with me, they told me that Reanah died of childbirth and probably due to the stress caused by the sudden storm.” said Klein and returned his gaze towards the young teens.

“Then what about the matter regarding the King?” asked Indur.

“As the information implies, the King was saved by Ken during one of the symphony rituals.” Indur’s eyes widened “Isn’t that-“

“Yes, the strengthening ritual on the barrier, seems like the King hasn’t told you of the assailant out to get his life.” said Klein, looking back at his friend, who’s still shocked of the news.

“But the King came back scot free, and that he had a little complications during the ceremony.” replied Indur.

“Probably to not make your people scared of the attempt on his life, luckily Ken was there when the King left right after we finished the ritual, first we didn’t notice what was wrong with the King and not until later when we felt a very strong magical pulse near the ritual grounds,

When we looked, a burst of light had descended upon the land, and when we arrived at the location, the King was lying on the ground and beside him was Ken kneeling and looking at the King.” said Klein, his thoughts still a jumbled mess of the mystery that was Ken.

“Have you found any evidence of the assassin?” asked Indur, his gaze turning sharp and his demeanor darkening.

“Unfortunately, just a patch of clothing.” Klein out a piece of red cloth, which was burnt making it unrecognizable, and just as Klein expected, Indur was disappointed at the lack of evidence.

“Ken also told us that he saw someone wearing a black cloak, whom he deemed dangerous, he said that he disintegrated the person, or more precisely he thought.” added Klein.

“Then that must mean that he saw how the person looked like.” said Indur abruptly, but Klein shook his head.

“He didn’t see the face of the assassin for they were about to take the life of the King.” replied Klein, Indur returned his gaze to the field, but his thoughts were in disarray. Indur slowly calmed himself down and slowly assessed the situation at the field and started to do work.

“Have you given them our support magic tools?” -Indur-

“Nope not yet, but I’ll give it to them later during lunch.” -Klein-

“Mind if I start asking questions?” -Indur-

“*nod* Go ahead.” -Klein-

“How proficient are these kids in magic?” -Indur-

“They know well the respective elements they are innate with say for example, my son Allen, is good in using water and ice magic so as Glen is good at earth magic, overall they’ve improved quite well, and consider that we’ll evaluate their power, I’d say their almost as half as good as we are, and they’re near the age of twelve to fourteen.” -Klein-

“How was this possible?” -Indur-

“I think this is the influence of Ken, he suggested we have this kind of training session and that he would be willing to teach his pears if ever they’re having difficulty understanding, he’s also very smart too in magic, and don’t you ever think about how strong he is in combat, he’s a nightmare to deal with.” said Klein in exasperation, but Indur shrugged off the idea.

“*nod* Then what are those contraptions used for.” said Indur now taking out a text book to write down what he deems important.

“They’re for strengthening and toning the body, many of our people use it from time to time, Ken made them by the way.” said Klein. Indur’s ears perked up at the mention, and he thought to himself how interesting this would be.

“So it’s a human contraption, can we try them out?” asked Indur.

“Sure.” replied Klein. Indur then gave the go signal to the twenty researchers to start testing out how those human contraptions work.

“Now back on the topic… huh? What’s this?” said Indur to the researcher who passed him a record of the magic suits they prepared, which was made by mana stones, it looks a lot like an ipad, but functions as a recorder.

Klein can’t help to think of how fast the Dragon Kingdom improved in regards to scientific discoveries, for in this world, primitive ways are still evident wherever you look or travel, even the humans are not highly advanced when it comes to technological breakthroughs.

“The suits on the humans are not reacting that much, just maintaining body temperature, and mana regulation, and on the others, there are certain fluctuations, the princess’s as expected had withstand the great mana turmoil within as depicted in the image of red color…” Indur went on and on about the results of the record.

The magical tool recorder is not able to portray the 3-d version of the magic suits, its drawn outline of the suit is depicted on the color of blue, and different types of intensity the suit can handle ranges from green as lowest, orange, as on the middle part, and red as the highest. The intensity also identifies as the mana strength of the user.

“The students sure have strong mana output.” remarked Indur, Klein looked at the record and wondered why Ken’s suit isn’t showing much of his mana capacity, it should be red right about now.

“Hmmm, I wonder why Ken’s mana is not red in intensity.” said Klein more to himself than to his companion.

“Probably because he has low mana output and strength.” remarked Indur, Klein looked at him in confusion with an eyebrow raised then sighed and turned his gaze to the field.

“If only you knew.” said Klein quietly.

“What? I couldn’t quite hear you, come again?” said Indur, but seeing that his friend won’t talk, he just shrugged and checked the record one last time before giving it back to the researcher and they walked away.

Indur then continued asking questions about the more technical stuff in regards to the student’s performance, his thoughts of that human long far flung in the back of his mind.

-After the students are finished exercising-

“Good they’re finished, I couldn’t continue more of watching them running and doing more of their, what was it called again? Sets and times, that’s the word, of how much they do their exercise.” remarked Indur, feeling annoyed at the waste of time at waiting for the students to finish.

“Don’t be like that my friend, as I’ve said, it’s important for them to undergo such session in order to prepare their body.” replied Klein, looking helpless at the shift of attitude of his friend.

“Yeah, Yeah.” said Indur, but with a frown evident on his forehead. A researcher walked towards Indur and spoke something to his ear.

“Wait, another type of exercise?! And they’re going to use the human contraptions?! You have got to be kidding me! I can’t take this any longer!” said Indur in anger, luckily for them the students are far away from their location, making them unable to hear Indur’s outburst.

“Excuse me sir, in regards of those contraptions, we weren’t able to decipher what they are used for.” said the researcher to his ear.

“What do you mean you didn’t.” replied Indur in anger.

“As you can see sir the human is using the contraptions in a different way compared to how we did earlier.” replied the researcher, Indur turned his gaze to the kids, and pondered as to what his researchers did earlier and to what the students are doing now. Now he was intrigued.

“Record everything on what they are doing, record how their body works reacts and improves during this exercise.” said Indur as he used a recorder made few modifications with the suit mirroring the actions the students are doing. “Here use this feature, and make sure to teach it to the others so they can gather intel.”

“Understood sir.” said the researcher and left.

-One hour Later-

“Finally, their using magic now.” said Indur.

“Yes they are, but we’d put another type of session wherein they train their magic by strengthening it through a means called meditation.” said Klein, Indur looked at him in confusion. “Meditation is a means of cultivating our mana by filling ourselves with this world’s mana, a type of cultivation.” Indur was silent for a moment before…

“I thought we dragons were able to do that, how come you and they know?” asked Indur in exasperation and annoyance. Thinking to himself how were they even able to do so. They are a proud race and to be able to draw in the mana of this world had always been a natural thing for them.

And no one besides them could do it, now, knowing that other beasts could do it as well, to top it all off, a human, was ridiculous in itself.

“Ken introduced this kind of method were you use your mana to reach out to the natural mana of the world and draw it in to yourself, us, their masters are also able to use it as well, and since then, we were able to benefit from it.” explained Klein, his friend is still unpleased of the revelation.

“Since when?” asked Indur.

“8 years ago, when they started becoming our disciples and students.” Indur looked extremely shocked to his core. He cannot find the words to say, and became a stuttering mess here and there.

“So that’s why you look and feel stronger than before.” said Indur, Klein nodded in confirmation.

“Look, Ken’s teaching the four his technique.” said Klein, and Indur followed, seeing for himself as Ken placed his hands behind the princess’s back and felt that some type of energy is being sucked into the princess in full force,

But slowly it settled down to a form of a stream slowly flowing towards the princess, he could vaguely see seven streams going towards the princess while the others had almost the same amount as her.

‘Hmmm, that’s a different type of method.’ Indur thought.

But as quickly as Indur assessed the situation to be a goldmine as the ten students showed capabilities of drawing the world’s energy into a timely manner, he was then more shocked as Ken joined the rest, and on him were no streams, but a bubble incasing him made out of pure natural energy, in a circumference of 2 meters around him.

Klein seeing the look of astonishment on his friend cannot help but feel proud of himself and his student. He then proceeded to explain the situation to Indur the reason behind Ken’s abnormal way of cultivating, and in his reason, was that due to Ken’s astounding imagination, he is able to influence things around him, further enhancing his capabilities, even in battle.

“Just wait and find out what this kid can do when he fights.” said Klein, already Indur could not help but feel a premonition about something going wrong in the future.

-Lunch time-

“Finally, it’s lunch time, I’m starving, everyone! Prepare our lunch!” said Indur.

“You guys brought your own lunch?” asked Klein.

“Yes.” replied Indur.

“Okay, we’ve prepared a table near the students for everyone, along with a couple of food for the rest of us, but it seems that you’ve prepared your own.” said Klein, wrapping his left arm to his body with his right arm holding his chin. Indur thought for a moment then said…

“We’ll gladly accept the offer, if that’s what you are implying.” Klein smiled and nodded at him then walked to one of the villagers to bring the food they prepared for lunch.

Everyone, the soldiers, researchers, masters and the head researcher had a hearty meal brought by the villagers. Chatter and laughter was evident on the disciples table, while it was silent and solemn on the other, except for the table of the soldiers and researchers which were filled with normal talks here and there.

“So, what will be the next class.” asked Indur, after finishing his meal and had drank some water.

“They’ll be undergoing combat class next.” said Lana, who sat opposite to him, Indur nodded and said.

“Is there any specific art or style you’re going to teach them?” the three masters looked up at him who were still not finished eating but getting there and looked at each other before the two settled their gaze on Klein.

Klein then directed his gaze to Ulysses, urging him to explain since he was still eating. Ulysses finished his meal then said…

“There is nothing much we can teach our first disciples on this class anymore.” Indur raised an eyebrow, clearly in disbelief.

“Then what’s the purpose of this class?” he asked.

“We kept this class in their schedule as another type of exercise where they’ll face actual combat. Every class, us their teachers battle with them on a daily basis to further hone their skills, abilities, and instincts in combat.” explained Lana, Indur nodded in confirmation.

“Then what about the other four?” He asked, Klein smirked a little at how his friend was ever so curious of every little details, he then finished his meal and said…

“We’ll be observing their combat style for now, assess their situation in regards of strengths and weaknesses, and then start from scratch, this only applies to those tactics, and combat styles that we will be teaching them, as for their own style,

We won’t erase them, instead, help hone them.” Indur nodded again for confirmation, but before he could utter another question, a strong magic pulse reverberated not far from them.

Everyone including the researchers, soldiers and even the masters, looked at the sudden explosion of magic, and when their eyes fell on a scythe floating on mid-air, they can’t help but feel a sudden pressure, that was both restricting them from moving forward but didn’t stop them from leaning backwards, a type of barrier.

They all watched as the scythe detached the support magic tool and disintegrated it before falling to the ground. Everyone from the dragon race even the princess, can’t help but feel dread from what happened, not just from their prized magic tool being disintegrated but also from the pressure the weapon exuded earlier.

They thought to themselves that they cannot afford to offend the wielder of this weapon, who was on the ground protected by two humans with protection spells as they turn their gaze on them. Everyone had stood up as they watch the phenomenon take place.

One particular person though had other thoughts, Indur who had long known of ancient artifacts, is not unfamiliar with this type, and from the power, he deduced that the scythe was some type of artifact, which greatly peeked his interest. Klein, who is familiar with the line of thought of his friend, acted at once.

He placed his hand on Indur’s shoulder, making Indur look at him, and with a serious look on his face, established a mind link to Indur.

‘I know what you are thinking, and as early as now, I must warn you not to try anything absurd with the scythe or the kid, I tell you, you will most regret it.’ said Klein on the mind link, his friend smirked at him.

‘Do you think that kid has the power to apprehend the dragon kingdom? No, he does not, and besides, he won’t be able to do anything once I’ve acquired that scythe.’ replied Indur, Klein’s face turned sour as he frowned at his friend.

‘No, I will not let you.’ he replied.

‘Try me.’ said Indur, Klein’s frown deepened. Thinking over the idea for awhile, Klein suddenly smiled, making Indur’s face falter.

‘What’s with that face?’ said Indur, Klein shook his head and said that it was a secret, Indur thought of how weird his friend acted but just shook his head dispersing the thought, and think to himself ways he could take the said artifact.

Klein pondered on his choices as of this moment whether he should warn his friend or not, but settled on not telling Indur, he retracted his hand and beckoned the other masters forward to prepare.

“Where are you going?” asked Indur.

“We’ll be preparing now too, since we’ll be sparring with our disciples.” explained Klein, Indur then nodded and instructed his men to reposition themselves and continue with the research and observation,

While his thoughts were still consumed with plans to take the scythe. Klein seeing this can’t help but shake his head and murmur to himself what surprise would be waiting for Indur.

Just as everyone had settled on the initial shock, another one had arrived in the form of reshaping the land, the triangular field of the length and width of four football fields got reshaped,

Unknowns to Ken, almost as half of the field was added to support the constructions he and the other two students had made, but later it was reformed of the original field without his notice, through the help of White.

Indur was again stunned but only for a moment as he slowly adjusted to the surprise this human seems to always do if he’s given the chance, so he went on and assessed the situation regarding mana manipulation and control the young human has.

He did notice that there were other two people who helped him deducing that with the influence of this other two young magical beasts, he’s able to reshape the land at will, but he wondered of the method they are using to be able to channel mana unto an individual without overwhelming them with the amount of mana being used at the moment.

And so, right after the preparations were complete along with the masters joining in on the fray, the battle started, as Indur was much more prouder at their princess, he hadn’t paid much attention to the human wielding the scythe,

But he kept tabs on the progress of that specific individual, returning back to the fight of their princess against’ some panther magical beast, he approved of the outcome of the battle as both were equal in combat prowess.

And as he assessed the human’s battle that finished earlier than the others, he deduced that the human was just average in fighting, he smirked to himself and thought how much of an easy target the human will be.

After the fight, one more class was held before the day was finished with the students returning the magical suits and changing back to their earlier attire, Indur still drowned on his thoughts of how to steal the scythe did not notice the slight tampering of the magic suit Ken wore as it shined slightly, then dimmed completely.

Indur concluded to himself that he’ll take away the scythe in broad daylight declaring it as a lost artifact of the Dragon Kingdom, he smirked at himself as he just needed to present an evidence to stake the claim.

Klein felt a cold shiver from out of nowhere, and thought to himself that something’s wrong, he shook his head and rid himself of such thought and focused on what he would do to respond to what crazy thing his friend would do.

-The next day-

“Wait, hold up, are you serious?!”

——-