Chapter 51: Special meanings, protection

“Soul Contract - Spirit Touch!”

Ciaran threw a glance at Ayrin's excited shout. Her left hand suddenly shot out and pointed between Ayrin's eyebrows.

The instant her sudden finger made contact with Ayrin's skin, a dazzling dot of arcane particles lit up, then turned into a bright dot of flame-colored dark red, penetrating between Ayrin's eyebrows.

A faint pain stabbed between Ayrin's eyebrows, but clear pictures seemed to suddenly appear inside Ayrin's mind, all of them pictures of Ciaran's motions earlier when she used her skills.

“What's this about?”

He suddenly made a fuss and shouted, “Teacher teacher, how did you make so many clear pictures appear in my mind?”

“The theory behind this arcane skill is to use arcane power to stimulate the neurons in your eyes and brain, to leave a particularly deep impression of the scenes you saw just now. The effect will probably last for a couple dozen days. This arcane skill can be used for learning, but it's originally used by elite arcane masters during missions, so they can remember some things better.” Ciaran looked at Ayrin, “There are many kinds of arcane skills. Some arcane skills only pursue pure destructive power, some arcane skills can affect someone's mind. Some special lights, smells, and some little stimulations from arcane power can influence someone's neurons and senses. That's why arcane masters at high-level or above have all sorts of varied ways to fight, many of them hard to imagine. No matter their level, no arcane master can guarantee they can safely escape with their lives during a mission.”

Ayrin nodded repeatedly. Merely judging from the opponents he'd seen so far, they all had their own different ways of battling, to say nothing about those high-level, elite arcane masters.

He understood a little at this moment why so many didn't go the battlemaster route and become an arcane battlemaster revered by the people. In comparison, these arcane masters didn't need to execute missions and didn't need to go to dangerous areas. They didn't receive much attention and couldn't obtain more respect, but at least their lives were safer.

After nodding nonstop, Ayrin actually showed his staunch loyalty, not forgetting Moss beside him. He immediately asked Ciaran, “Teacher, you might as well do it for Moss too?”

Only, the Moss who was a little jealous and envious of him didn't have much hope for himself as soon as he saw Ciaran's expression.

Ciaran shook her head, sure enough, explaining, “His giant bloodline doesn't suit my arcane skills. Inappropriate arcane skills will only distract your attention, they aren't beneficial for the development of an arcane master. A more suitable teacher will naturally guide him in due time.”

“Ok.” Ayrin continued excitedly with another question, looking full of vigor: “Then next I just have to follow the pictures teacher left behind, and exercise by myself?”

“That's right.” Ciaran copied Ayrin's style and brandished her fist. “Do your best, brave warrior. With your learning ability, twenty days will be enough for you to learn these two things. When the time comes, you'll know if you can truly condense arcane particles, or if some special reason produced the illusion you opened your first arcane gate.”

Watching Ciaran once again sit on the edge of the roof on this low building, Ayrin hesitated a little, but still couldn't resist asking, “Teacher Ciaran, can I ask you another question?”

“What question?”

“Why do you always wear this red scarf?” Ayrin looked at Ciaran. The reason why he asked this question was because this red scarf seemed particularly bright in these pictures inside his mind.

“Ah, this...” Ciaran cast her vision to the skies far away. She faintly said, “You could say it's something with a special meaning. In someone's life, you're bound to end up finding something with a special meaning for you, or something you need to protect.”

“I understand now.”

Moss thought at first Ayrin would definitely be curious enough to get to the bottom of the matter, because he could also hear from Ciaran's words there was definitely an uncommon story behind this red scarf. However, Ayrin merely nodded his head, then looked at the infirmary on the opposite side of Ciaran. “Teacher, you're always around this infirmary, do you also need to protect the people inside?”

“You could say that.” Ciaran smiled. “Our Holy Dawn Academy's medical department is very skilled even in the entire kingdom, so other places will often send powerful arcane masters here when they can't heal them. To say protection... In fact, all of us arcane masters of Eiche have one ultimate mission, that is to protect our kingdom. The arcane masters sent here all became like this because of battles during their missions. All of them are people most worthy of respect in our kingdom of Eiche, our most valuable assets. Staying here and protecting them also means I'm accomplishing my mission to protect this nation, probably.”

…

In a quiet sick ward, Chris was slowly doing sets of stretches.

She did them very slowly. After laying for a long time on the sickbed, her every muscle seemed to have turned completely stiff. Every movement she did now seem to be trying to stretch the muscles and knead the stiffness out of them. There was some pain in this process, and she also needed to be extremely cautious, else she could become injured again at the slightest carelessness, disrupting her recovery.

A knock sounded at the door. Her forehead already sweating, Chris halted her movements and yelled enter. Then she saw two faces with tinges of tender youth appear in her line of sight.

“You're Ayrin?”

She seemed to have a vague impression, but wasn't certain either. She stretched her hand out and pointed at Moss, then pointed at Ayrin, “And this one is?”

“Faint...” Ayrin said, “Chris, your facial blindness is really too severe. You forgot me again, Ayrin is me. He's Moss, remember, he's the one with red hair.”

“I remember your voice.” Chris smiled. “I knew as soon as you started talking. Why did you come see me again today? I'll be able to go out in just a couple days.”

“You're almost recovered, you can resume your training?” Ayrin was suddenly excited. He immediately said, “The main reason we came today is that Moss went to Iron Forest Academy and happened to see Iron Forest's Ferguillo duel against a freshman called Stingham from Golden Lion Academy. These two people are too strong. Moss says this Stingham's strength and arcane power are both especially strong, even Wilde was sent flying in a single hit inside the sevenfold gravity gym. He also says this Ferguillo seems to be able to see through his opponent's next steps. Stingham fought to a draw with him that time, but he was still beaten into a sorry state. Moss felt he absolutely had to tell you so you can be prepared in advance and plan your training accordingly.”

“He sent Wilde flying with a single move in Iron Forest's strength training gym, and even drew against Ferguillo?” Ayrin had spoken very fast, not giving many details, but Chris immediately grasped the crux of his speech. Her expression suddenly turned solemn. “His strength and arcane power are both especially strong, and he's still a freshman... don't tell me, dragon bloodline?”

Moss immediately felt as he found an intimate friend. He was so excited he was on the verge of tears. “I also think it's very possible this Stingham has dragon blood, but teacher Huston didn't believe me when I told him.”

“Ferguillo seems able to foresee his opponent's next moves?”

“Yes, he seems able to know which arcane skill his opponent is going to use before they even move, and even where they will appear.”

“Then maybe he learned Mind Reading.”

“Mind Reading?” Moss and Ayrin couldn't resist sharing a look with each other.

“A very rarely seen arcane skill from the legends. Only people with some unique bloodlines can learn it, it's one of the skills unique to special bloodlines.” Chris bunched her brows tightly together and said, “It can apparently read the inner thoughts of the opponent.”

“Even your next step will be read in advance, how can you still fight him?” Moss' face turned pale white at once.

“There are some counters, for example using consecutive motions with high momentum, continuously attacking him with hurricane-like speed. This way, even if he's aware of the movements in the next instant, he still won't have time to respond every single time.” Chris looked at Moss and nodded her head. “However, it's fortunate you told me. Otherwise, if I didn't know he had this type of ability when the match begins, and let him seize the initiative from the word go, then I'd be helpless.”

“Worthy of someone with exceptional fighting instincts! No wonder teacher Huston said that even if she had one less open arcane gate than her opponent, they still wouldn't be her match!” Moss suddenly opened his mouth, but no sound would come out. He felt admiration for Chris, to the point of adulation and worship.

“We also went to Divine Shield Academy, but we didn't see their team in training.” Ayrin interrupted and said, “We only saw a girl called Charlotte, I feel she's also very strong.”

“Charlotte? You guys saw her?” Chris looked in astonishment at Moss and Ayrin. “She's someone out of the ordinary from Divine Shield Academy. She mainly focuses on materialization skills just like Wilde, but she's so much stronger than him.”

“Then she's the most powerful one in Divine Shield Academy?” Ayrin couldn't resist asking.

“The most powerful one in Divine Shield Academy is their captain, Ivan Fadh.” Chris said, “Last year, Divine Shield Academy qualified together with Iron Forest Academy for the national tournament by relying on Charlotte's displays alone. But in their very first match in the national tournament, they happened to meet the Abel Academy that ultimately finished third. He must have seen that the gap in strength was too great, so he didn't appear at all. That's why we only know that he should be the most powerful one in team Divine Shield, but no one knows whether he has any special bloodline or not, or what sorts of secret skills he's mastered.”

“Divine Shield Academy is that strong?!” Moss was somewhat at a loss for words for a while.

“Every enemy is very powerful. There are so many formidable enemies that we have to beat, that's why we can't relax even for a second.” Chris glanced outside the windows. These words seemed to be meant for herself.

“Chris, if you're going out, let me train together with the academy's team?” Aryin seemed as if his hot blood were surging. “Since I'm going to join the team sooner or later anyway, and fight together with you! Plus, I can also participate in the training you're going to plan to counter Divine Shield Academy!”

“Brave warrior! You're full of fighting spirit aren't you!” Chris smiled. “Since that's the case, you have to do your best!”