CHAPTER 103: THE ALBINO

The subject of the Exalted One’s restlessness, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to everything happening in the outside world, or that his existence was on the verge of being uncovered. Instead, he was presently focused on his ice spell. He’d applied the same processing principle as with the water spell, but this time, he could feel his mana node automatically layering another logic on top of the one used to create the water spell. This new one caused a secondary de-heating phase to kick in right after the water materialized, rapidly freezing it into ice.

"It’s very slow..." Zephyr shook his head as he materialized another ice spear above his hand.

4.98 seconds. Aegis had reported to him a while ago. It was like casting two spells instead of one. The process felt kind of disjointed. He had hoped for something faster to add to his arsenal, but it seemed like he had created yet another spell that would require him to buy time somehow in a fight before he could cast it.

"No. The process needs to be more fluid." Zephyr concluded. He needed to force a visualization where both steps happened at the same time.

Host. For the third time, I suggest you take a rest to relieve your mind. Your mental energy is dropping to dangerous levels.

Zephyr glanced at the small hovering status at the corner that he had been ignoring for the past few minutes despite Aegis’ repeated warnings, bringing it into full view.

CURRENT STATUS

Rank: Tier 1

Physical Condition: Recovering (51%)

Mental Condition: Deteriorating (11%)

’Okay, that actually is bad." Zephyr thought. ’But let me just try one more—’ He hadn’t even finished his train of thought when he felt something warm and tangy on his lips.

Blood.

Blood was leaking from his nose.

Zephyr immediately cancelled the spell, letting the solid, floating Ice Spear fall drop to the ground with a thud.

He squatted down, resting a palm on the ground to balance himself as his vision swam for a second.

’Urkhg!’ He grimaced, trying to shake off the rising bout of dizziness.

’You should’ve pressured me more, Aegis.’ Zephyr sent a sarcastic thought that earned him an unamused silence from Aegis.

’Alright. Set a hard cap at... fifteen percent for mental energy from now on. No matter what, I shouldn’t get near these dangerous levels,’ he decided.

Hard limit set, host. Warnings will begin at thirty five percent and increasingly get more urgent towards the twenty percent mark. Aegis replied.

Zephyr let the bout of dizziness subside as he wiped his nose and tried to stem the nose bleeding before he stood up and slowly walked out of the training room.

As he stepped through the door, he immediately felt the inverse of the feeling he had when stepping into the training room. He now felt larger... or more normal sized than before. Everything looked normal-scaled now. Though, that wasn’t actually an accurate description because the house itself was naturally large, but the difference between the training room and this was very clear.

"Now where am I to even go?" Zephyr muttered, staring down the corridor with a hand holding his nose tightly and the other resting on the wall for support.

He turned to look at the way he and Sage Maximus had come through the first time. He still remembered it very clearly, so for starters, he headed down that way.

A few minutes later, he got back to their entry point and spotted a few windows that actually had a view of the outside, rather than the others he’d seen on his way here that only had views that showed inside gardens and whatnot.

He briskly walked the last few steps and stood before one of the large glass panes, staring outside.

What met his eyes was a view of a wide, large estate, immaculately well-kept with sprawling lawns and rows of flowers carefully catered for. That was great and all, but it wasn’t what caught Zephyr’s attention. Instead it was the grey fog. Somewhat distorted and opaque but yet transparent enough for him to almost make out silhouettes of buildings far outside the estate.

"Huh? Where are we...?" Zephyr muttered.

"The sage’s small pocket space." Someone answered, but this time Zephyr wasn’t surprised. He’d heard this person’s movements and sensed their presence even before he entered this lobby. The person was trying to be discreet, but it was in no way enough to evade Zephyr’s sharp senses. Even while not at peak conditions.

His lip couldn’t help but tug up slightly at that. He’d been having trouble picking up traces of the Sage repeatedly that he had begun to doubt his enhanced senses for a bit now. He was glad he still had it.

He turned slightly to look at the speaker. It was a woman. ’Tall.’ That was Zephyr’s first thought. ’Very tall.’

She was at least 6ft and 4 inches tall. Slim, with a well toned body like a fighter. She was albino. And with her plentiful scales that she seemed to be very proud of based on her sleeveless vest that showed off her bare arms and her overall fit tailored to displaying her native features, she looked more unique and reptilian than anyone else Zephyr had met so far in Freehold. And that included the butler guy.

She assessed Zephyr like he was doing the same of her. But rather than an appraisal look, hers was more like she was assessing a prey, with a cold calculation behind those vibrant green vertical pupils of hers.

Zephyr’s danger signals flared at her. She was a very deadly individual, he could tell that much already. Everything about her was deliberate and conscious. Even her loosely hanging hands by her side, and her overall poise in general made Zephyr aware of the fact that she was ready to pounce at the slightest threat.

He grinned slightly, and she raised a brow in thought, "You sensed my presence already?"

Zephyr didn’t respond to that, instead asking his own question too. "We’re in a pocket space?"

The lady nodded, then asked her question again. "You sensed my presence?"

"... Yeah. Just a slight scruffing though. Maybe a stray footfall, that was what made me able to tell someone was there..." he gave a straight lie while she stared at the ground, actually pondering his words.

"Um, is there a place I can lie down? I’m about to fall here?" Zephyr interrupted her thoughts.

She nodded, then turned and beckoned Zephyr to follow her, leading him to a room after winding through various corridors and halls.

He immediately fell flat in the bed after entering the room, not even bothering to take in the surroundings of what would be his living space for the next two years.

The tall, serpentine woman said a few words about his schedule or something like that, but Zephyr couldn’t be bothered with that. He finally relaxed again and drifted off into sleep.

She kept silent and retreated from the room after talking for a while and not receiving any response from Zephyr, weaving her way through the large building’s many corridors and floors before ending up at a large door that she pushed open unhesitatingly.

"How’s the boy?" Sage Maximus asked while scribbling on one side of a wide board that covered the four walls of the room. It looked like a laboratory of some sort. And calculations filled almost every available space on the walls.

"He’s asleep." The woman replied.

"First impressions?" The sage asked, still scribbling away at his calculations.

"Very sharp senses. Not much else to be seen so far. I’ll wait to see him in action before forming a proper judgement."

"Heh." The sage chuckled. "Just don’t hold back too much on him. He’ll surprise you if you do."

The woman tilted her head slightly with her arms folded, "You really think so highly of him..."

Sage Maximus paused his scribbling slightly, then continued without expanding further, "You’ll see..."