168: Return

There was a silence in the room while Kathrine left, broken only by Crisplet, who threw another piece of coal at my cheek.

“I’m sorry, it looked incredibly comfortable. I won’t nap there again,” I said, holding my hands up.

“The issue isn’t napping there. Honestly, napping anywhere on your grounds is perfectly fine. The issue was no one knew where you were after you just had a confrontation in the markets, which led Crisplet here to panic somewhat,” Milo said calmly.

“If Crisplet is panicking, we’re going to expect the worst. Crisplet, thank you for asking for Lily’s assistance. It’s good to know she can find him,” Hari said.

“It makes sense, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but no matter where Trev is, or how long Lily is gone, she can find him,” Milo said.

Hari nodded before getting to his feet as well. “Alright, I’m going to train. Call me if you need anything.”

Milo looked at him hard for a moment. “I know you didn’t forget.”

Hari immediately looked guilty.

“Just visit him. You agreed after all. We won’t let him stop you from being an adventurer. I’ll get Trev here to drag you out himself if they lock you up,” Milo said with a laugh.

I didn’t know that Hari was catching up with family, but it was probably for the best. I hoped he could repair some of the damage done there, but I had my doubts it would fully restore decades of anger. Time will tell, though.

Hari let out a sigh, but said nothing as he left.

“Now you…” Milo began as he pulled out several books.

“You are going to be working on your mana control and not running off. Crisplet, I’ll watch him if you want to keep working on your statues. You can do it in the library fireplace if you like. You can keep an eye on the hallway from there, make sure he doesn’t sneak away,” Milo said.

But Crisplet didn’t seem convinced, instead choosing to move to the corner of the room where a small dome of ash appeared no higher than my waist, but obscuring everything inside. It didn’t hide everything, however, because with Crisplet inside, there was a clear silhouette.

Milo nodded, seemingly happy with that.

I was half hoping I could escape myself. My side was still sore from where Lily tapped me. I didn’t have any damage notifications, which surprised me honestly, because I remembered back when I burnt my finger I got damaged for one. Yet a tap from Lily that made me slide on the ground a little was not enough to cause damage?

Milo didn’t wait to hear my protests, however, and carried on with his explanation.

“Right, I’m going to bring out fairly mundane-looking cubes. They are a training device for novices. I used them myself when I was younger. Each is imbued with a type of elemental magic. I’m going to start easy, but your job initially is going to be to reach out and tell me what type of mana is contained in each cube,” he said, putting six cubes on the table in front of me.

Each one looked like a small, polished metal cube. Appearance-wise, they all looked exactly the same, but I did as I was instructed and reached out with my mana, spotting the fire one immediately. In fact, the fire one felt like it was larger than the rest. There was a cube that seemed familiar, but I didn’t know what it was. I couldn’t even really describe it like the others.

Next, I found air, which felt like it was moving around in a swirl, followed by water, which kept slipping away, and the only reason I could really see it was that it was contained in the cube.

Earth just felt solid, immovable.

And lastly, the final cube: I felt nothing. I honestly believed Milo had just put it in there to mess with me.

After opening my eyes, I pointed each cube out, getting to the last two.

“This one is familiar, but I don’t know it, and this one is nothing at all,” I said.

“I see. I know this is a task to strengthen your mana, so it’s not supposed to be super challenging, but the one you’re familiar with makes sense. It’s shadow mana. It’s likely what Lily is primarily made of at this point in her life, and it’s what most of Liane’s abilities use, but not being able to feel this cube is surprising. Most people spot it first,” he said, picking it up and turning it.

“This is the opposite to shadow mana, and it’s light mana, or the sun’s mana, depending on where in the world you go. These are the most basic ones. There are others, but it’s rare and far more specialised. I’m going to alter the strength of them and mix it up, then try again,” Milo said as he stored them all and pulled them back out.

This repeated for at least an hour before there was a knock on the door.

Archie appeared, bowing. “Sir, Prince Luis is here. He has gone out to the training yard and wanted me to pass on the message to thank you for the invitation. I also have four messages that were delivered today as well.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Milo sighed. “I’ll take the messages. I assume they’ll be thinly veiled threats from House Valrith.”

Archie just smiled as he bowed before leaving the room.

I went back to sensing the cubes. At this stage, Milo had the fire cube on its hardest setting, along with shadow and air. Those three I could still detect. The light was still on the easiest setting and unfortunately I still had not been able to sense anything.

“Yeah, this letter is from House Valrith, demanding we apologise, and pay money for the damages to their reputation…” Milo said, the letter going up in flames before me.

“And this one is not surprising. House Grey Rock has asked that you apologise to House Valrith, so we avoid them, as that implies they are working with them. That’s always good to know,” Milo chuckled.