“I can do that, even now.” He said, yet Yondra was unable to rejoice at those words. There was no warmth in them. “My price is steep, though.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve high treason or murder, I’m willing to pay. Be it in gold or artifacts, I don’t care. They would be part of my legacy anyway.” She replied.
Lith was actually more interested in her knowledge. Yondra was a Royal Forgemaster and a leading figure among historians. She could help him decipher the mysteries of Huryole.
‘If only I could trust her, I’d take both the runed sword and the booklet out of my pocket dimension right now. First, I’ll make her indebted to me, then I’ll find a way to put her to the test.
‘Maybe I could pretend to find a page of the booklet inside Kulah and study her reaction.’
Lith kept planning his next moves while rejuvenating Yondra’s body. Rejuvenating magic was Healing magic capable of detecting and fixing all the marks that the passage of time inflicted on the human body.
On paper, it was something simple, but officially there were only four mages capable of performing it in the entire Griffon Kingdom. Professors Manohar, Vastor, Marth, and of course, Lith.
He realigned Yondra’s spine and bones while also fixing her muscles. Healing magic was no miracle, it simply sped up the natural healing process. A broken bone would still present traces of being fractured after being healed, scar tissues would be formed after an internal injury.
Rejuvenating magic was the only thing that could rebuild rather than repair an injured body, even returning worn cartilages to their mint condition. Lith did all he could, but was forced to stop halfway through.
“The damage you’ve inflicted on your life force needs time to heal. If I proceed any further, it would do you more harm than good.” He said.
Yondra nodded. She felt terribly fatigued and even though she had just woken up, the only thing the old Professor wanted was to fall asleep again. Yet she could already feel different, as if a weight had been removed from her shoulders and another from her chest.
Breathing was much easier and none of her joints bothered her, no matter the position she took.
“It doesn’t matter, we can always resume later. I feel like I’m twenty years younger.” Yondra said before losing consciousness. Lith placed his hand over her shoulder, checking her life force.
That was the real source of a human’s life span. He had treated Nana countless times with rejuvenating magic, allowing her to spend her last years free from all the symptoms of old age, yet death had come for her anyway.
‘She got this close to shortening her lifespan just to help those useless brats and so did Quylla. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother saving these kinds of people over and over.’ Lith thought, yet the resemblance between the Professor and his old mentor led his hand to sweep her hair away from her face, to let her breathe better.
‘For the same reason you protected Carl from your father when he became his favorite target. Or when you chose to take care of Tista’s illness. You could have always taken the easy way out and only cared about yourself.’ Solus said.
‘Yet how would you feel if Quylla died? If any of those few people you let into your life disappeared and you didn’t do anything to prevent it?’
Lith knew the answer all too well. He remembered how he felt after his brother’s death. Lith/Derek was Carl’s only beneficiary, so between the inheritance and the money Derek had accumulated for his brother’s college and wedding, he had so much money he had no idea what to do with it.
Yet all he had been left with was an empty life, dragging his feet forward just waiting for death well before he discovered that he had lung cancer. It was how the void inside of him had been born and Yurial’s death had only made it bigger, just like Nana’s.
Still upset by Solus’s words, Lith returned in front of the tunnels.
To Rainer, Lith said: “Yondra is okay now, she just needs to rest. Send the other Professors to me the moment they wake up. They need to know what kind of monsters we are about to face.”
The youth thanked him many times, giving Lith such deep bows that his head almost touched the ground. Yet Lith didn’t care. His gaze was fixated onto the caves, praying for something to attack him and provide him the opportunity to vent his rage.
Thinking about all those he had lost during his lives, Lith had finally realized how close he had come to losing Quylla as well. His hatred for the Odi, for what they had done to the fungus creature, was beyond what words could express. With their actions, they had messed with what he could only think of as his turf.
The hours passed and nothing happened. The few creatures that stumbled into the vicinity of the camp ran away as soon as they perceived his murderous intent targeting them.
Phloria went to keep him company as soon as she was certain that Quylla was out of danger and that nothing had happened to the soldiers she had tasked with guarding Kulah’s gate.
“It seems I’ll have to learn Healing Magic as well. Now I understand why Dad says that a good mage must never stop learning and why my mother is so happy not being a mage.” She sighed.
“Tier five is really an edge case. Unless one wants to become a professional Healer, but yes, I agree. You should learn at least tier four. Regrowing limbs and sharing life force is much more important than one would think.” Lith offered her a few sweets from his pocket dimension along with a cup of hot tea.
“By the way, thanks for saving Quylla. I don’t know how you did it, since according to both Yondra and Morok she was on the brink of death.” She said with a casual tone, never stopping to look in his eyes.
“Thanks for the heads up.” Lith nodded, thinking about a plausible explanation for his feat.
“Yeah. It’s amazing how you managed to help her and the others even after an all out battle against such a powerful creature.” There was no curiosity in her voice, only worry.
Phloria had given up on Lith explaining to her how he performed his “miracles”, she just wanted him to be aware of what the rest of the expedition knew about the most recent events.
Sure, Yondra seemed like a nice woman and Morok seemed indifferent to anything that didn’t involve him directly, but she had learned how deceiving appearances could be. There were few people whom Phloria really trusted, and still fewer of whom she thought well.
Lith was one of them and she hoped that one day he would feel the same about her.
“It wasn’t as hard as you might think.” Lith lied with such grace that Phloria almost fell for it. Unfortunately, almost wasn’t enough, dealing another blow to her feelings.
Lith explained to her how the creature had been enslaved and that instead of defeating it, he had just set it free.
“The Odi really were shameless in their use of forbidden magic.” After what had happened to Yurial, Phloria had a bone to pick with anyone who used slave items almost as big as Lith’s.
