Chapter 58 - The Thunder Spear

  Nathan Evenhart:

  I ractig, tossing a bolt of lightning from one hand to the other. The energy flowed from my fio the ter of my palm, and I made it jump to my other hand. It might seem illogical, but I was trying to catch the energy with my hand and hold it.

  "Even if you keep doing that, it won’t work. You ’t grab energy with your hand; you only unch it," Adrihna said, reading her book.

  That damn Zeus knew how to do this. I o try to mimic him.

  "I think I’m getting close..."

  I kept tossing the lightning bad forth between my hands when an idea popped bato my mind.

  "Adrihna, that stone you showed me the other day. Where I get one like that?"

  "You won’t find a stone like that anywhere. You get an inferior version, but it turns to ashes after a while. Mine is special and will never fail."

  She pulled out two stones from her bracelet and tossed them to me.

  "pare their colors," she said.

  I caught the two stones ahem up to the crystal light globe on the ceiling, trying to spot the difference.

  "One’s a bit transparent, and the other isn’t," I said, tossing them back to her.

  "You summed it up well. The transparent one is a mineral found in the mines owned by my family called Akonium, which is also my st name. My full name is Adrihna Akonium. This mineral reacts with mana and is an excellent ductor, but it’s mostly for limited use. My family has been supplying the kingdoms with this mineral feions, and we even have some magical creatures—giant rank-S worms—that produce this stuff."

  I paused, thinking about what I was holding.

  "Wait… is this… poop?"

  Adrihna chuckled softly.

  "Don’t worry, that’s the inner part of what they excrete, and it’s submerged in a boilial solution, so the ‘dirt’ was ed off a long time ago. After the metallization process, it bees this stohat we sell to the kingdoms so they produce magical items. The level of purity determis usability, but my stone is special. This one es from a rank-SS worm, and they hibernate for 100 years, meaning they only excrete a few times because they wake up to eat and reproduce, then go back to sleep. The dark stone is the purest form there is."

  "So there’s no way I find one for sale?"

  She shook her head.

  "This stone is exclusive to my family, and we don’t sell it when it’s produced. We don’t even sell it to the royal family. There’s no way for you to get one of these."

  My pn to craft a on with this metal went down the drain, seeing as it’s so rare and likely tile to withstand blows. I’m back to square orying to figure out how to deal with the eleagism issue.

  "Even if you mao get o wouldn’t work as a on. They’re delicate and would probably shatter on impact with another bde. That’s why they’re used as pos fical items due to their fragility. There’s no way you could make a bde out of it," she said, returning to her book.

  "How did you know I was thinking about that?"

  "What else would you think of after seeing it float near you? You’re from a family of assassins—of course, a bunch of ideas must have crossed your mind," she replied.

  Indeed, I had pnned out a lot if I could have made a sword from it. I could have created a sword that floated around me, trolled by my magism si would store my mana.

  Unfortunately, my pns didn’t pan out. I’ll have to go back t to create a lightning spear.

  I foy hand, trying to gh the process as I create a small ball of light, shaping it carefully like a sculptor carving wood into a sculpture. As I applied pressure to the energy, my hand passed right through it.

  "I told you... you ’t grab energy with your hand," Adrihna said.

  "You're right..."

  I sighed.

  Wait... who said I only o grasp the lightning energy with my hand? What if I were to... add the Wind Element?

  Kinue:

  We've spent these past few months living with the Evenharts in their castle. It’s been so much fun pying with Chloe and Nathan. They seem to uand me, have patieh me, and respect my sleep periods. I’ve actally fallen asleep a few times while teag them a embarrassed when I dozed off in Nathan’s bed.

  Luckily, he didn’t mind at all and didn’t se.

  He was very respectful and even gave me some advice about the future. He told me not to dwell too mu the past and said that if my "sun" ever went out, he would help me not to bee a bad person or let me be alone.

  I don’t quite know what that means, and even though I’m older than him, it feels like he’s the one who’s older…

  Nathan also told me that I’m a special person who earned his "divine favor." He said that if I ever needed help, he would be there for me, even if the whole world was against me. He mentio had been a long time since he grahis "divine favor" to anyone, and that I was someone who had ear from him.

  I’m not sure what that means.

  After that, he acted normally, and I just figured it was some plicated words that I didn’t fully uand.

  Everyone in the castle has been so kind, and the maids are really niathan and Chloe told me to stay away from them if I ever saw them covered in blood and smiling.

  My teacher told me a bit about this family aioned how they helped her with a smuggling problem at her family’s mine in the past.

  The mine in her family produces a valuable mineral called Akonium, which is used to create magical items. It’s one of the pos melted down and used as wiring for equipment that runs on mana.

  Back when Professor Adrihna had to be initiated into her family’s business, she spent ten years overseeing the mines as part of her training. During that time, there were many attacks, and the Evenhart family was a friend to hers, as they se quantities of a particur fish to the elves’ nobility—a fish that only reprodu this region. The Evenharts were dealing with a gang of smugglers who were also cutting down arees in this area. Like the Evenharts, the elves detest the destru of nature and sider some territories sacred because their aors lived there.

  The Evenharts couldn’t do much because they were up against the jurisdi of the elven kingdom. But around that time, my teacher ersonally hunting down the smugglers who were causing her so much trouble. When their grandfather, Duke Evenhart, and my teacher met, they decided to "resolve" the situation together rather than take the criminals to justice, sidering the severe crimes itted in two different kingdoms, which would have led to a jurisdial dispute over who would try them.

  In the end, they went after the smugglers and killed them without anyone finding out. That was when my teacher and the Evenhart family became closer, sineither of them ratted out the other. Over the years, my teacher has often visited this pce because, despite being nobles, it doesn’t operate like typiobility here. Everyone seems to have the shared goal of maintaining harmony, and there’s no internal struggle for power or attention. It’s almost like some kind anized system where everyone knows their role and follows it naturally, without questioning it.

  It makes sense. Even the families of the servants live here, and there’s even a vilge within this fortress. Why would anyone fight for privilege when everyone lives in the same pce? The most that would ge is whether you live in a room in the castle or a house in the vilge. From what I’ve seen, everyone here eats the same food as well.

  I also noticed that they don’t really stay in the main part of the castle; instead, they reside in a more internal area called the mansion, where the rooms are more rustid a. It seems like that pce has been preserved as it was si was built.

  I’ve e to like living here. It’s more peaceful than the Academy, and I don’t have to worry about remembering proper forms of address with anyone. If I call someone by their ’s not sidered disrespectful.

  The only strahing is the demi-huma on Nate, but I suspect it might actually be from another animal that lives here. I’ve picked up on the st a few times in the mansion, but it’s very faint. I don’t want to iigate further because it would be disrespectful.

  The st markiory suggests that Nate is sidered valuable property, but what kind of animal would do that? It would have to be an intelligent one, but I’m not sure if they usually do things like that.

  I only noticed this because I’m a golden fox and have a bestial form. I think it might go unnoticed by other demi-humans.