Chương 156: Book 3 Chapter 34 - Five Hundred Ninety Nine

Dustin gave Kiara a knowing look, but Zoey looked at her in confusion. She apparently had never realized that Kiara was using her soul space. Dustin only knew because he'd met her before she owned a storage ring. Kiara was surprised that Victor had noticed, most people just automatically assumed she was using her storage rings.

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"My magic sense is very advanced," he explained.

"I can sense everything happening around me in great detail, especially now that I'm tier 6. Even at tier 5 though, I knew something was odd, but I always attributed it to an unknown ability that you had from being higher-tiered than me."

"Well, it is an ability that I have," she confessed, "just not from being high tier. I've actually had this ability since I was tier 0. It's like a storage ring, except the storage space is bound to my soul. I think it functions on the same principle, it just doesn't require a ring to use it." Zoey glanced back and forth from her to Victor, unsure how to react. Victor just stared at her, long enough that it eventually became uncomfortable. He finally leaned forward intently.

"Do it again, use this soul storage ability that you have." Kiara pulled the sword he had gifted her from her soul space. His eyes narrowed as the sword appeared.

"And now put it back?" She obliged. He leaned back with a thoughtful look.

"How did you learn an ability like that? Can it be taught?" She shook her head.

"I can't say where I learned it, and I don't think it can be taught." Victor breathed deeply and looked around at the three of them.

"As you know, I am an avid researcher of all things magical. I've studied quite deeply more topics on magic than most people ever even hear about in their lives.

"I don't have exact numbers, although I'm sure the royals have a pretty accurate ballpark guess, but I estimate that in the Central Kingdom there are probably around six hundred tier 5 mages." He let the statement hang in the air for a bit for it to sink in. Kiara couldn't help herself.

"Five hundred ninety nine, now…" Dustin and Zoey both chuckled, lightening the mood a bit. The comment took Victor by surprise, but after a second he let out a chuckle as well.

"Yes," he said, "I suppose so. I only share that estimate as a benchmark so you can compare how rare it is to advance to tier 6. In all of the Central Kingdom, I think there are less than twenty tier 6s. Probably closer to fifteen, including myself. I don't know of any tier 7s, here, or in any other kingdoms on Yonu.

"That being said, there have been tier 7s in the past. Not much is known about their powers and abilities, but I've read everything I can get my hands on, so I do have some idea, at least about what might be possible at that level. This form of soul storage is one such ability that was definitely mentioned in the texts I read." He paused as everyone considered the statement.

"Now you see why I believed you might be tier 7?" he asked Kiara.

"Because of that one ability?" she asked. He smiled wryly.

"Your invisibility is also more powerful than anything I've ever seen before. Speaking of which, I haven't seen you use that ability since I broke through to tier 6. Would you humor me for a bit?" She nodded, then activated [Invisibility 2]. Victor got that same far-off look in his eyes as he used his magic sense to analyze his surroundings.

"Incredible," he muttered to himself.

"Even my domain sense can't pick you up. I don't know if you realize how impressive that actually is. I can sense the very air around us with my domain sense." He cocked his head to the side as Kiara moved.

"Wait a minute. I think… I might've sensed the movement of the air as you moved just then." She waved her hand around, still invisible. He nodded.

"Only because I know where you are, and what to look for, but yes, I can sense the slight changes in the air currents as you move. Your person though, is quite invisible and undetectable to my senses." Kiara dropped the invisibility.

"Another ability that you can't talk about and isn't teachable?" he queried. She nodded.

"I'm afraid so." He scratched the side of his head.

"What other abilities do you have?" Zoey looked a bit uncomfortable with the question, it wasn't always polite to ask someone about their abilities and power. Kiara didn't mind though, she had promised Victor to answer as many questions as she could if he helped rescue her. He had delivered on his end of that deal, and she was happy to do her part in return.

"I can sense artifacts that are near me, and kind of tell what they do, but I'm not very good at the second part." Victor nodded.

"That seems appropriate for a tier 3. What else?"

"I can sense mental attacks and defend against them perfectly." Victor raised an eyebrow.

"Perfectly?" Kiara nodded.

"Would it make you uncomfortable if I…" he trailed off, unsure how to ask the question.

"Go for it!" Kiara responded, making a 'bring in on' gesture with her hand. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Victor smiled at her enthusiasm, then began gently probing around her mental defenses. She immediately felt his gentle touch as he poked and prodded the shell around her mind.

"I'm actually curious what you can do," she said.

"Try to break in. Just be warned, it might not be pleasant. For you." His eyebrows furrowed.

"Your mental defense is quite extraordinary. I've never seen anything like it at tier 3 before. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it anywhere before. I can already see plenty of areas where my own mental defenses could be shored up, seeing how yours is constructed." He looked at her.

"You're inviting me to try to break into your mind?" She nodded.

"Hmm. Okay." He squared his shoulders and focused. Unlike Elsa's mind spikes and anvil approach, Victor started off small and simple, like he was trying not to hurt her. Gentle tendrils leaked out of his own mind, trying to worm their way through her defenses. They were completely ineffectual, glancing harmlessly off the perfectly smooth surface of her mental shell. They also lacked enough momentum for her defenses to throw them back in his face.

She didn't want to egg him on, because she didn't want him to get hurt in the process, but she also wanted to see what he was really capable of, and how her upgraded defenses would hold up.

"Be careful, for your own sake," she warned, "but really get after it. Show me what you've got." He only hesitated for a moment, then he threw the full weight of his mind attack at her. The tendrils strengthened into sharper, more durable spikes, although he maintained control of them rather than launching them at her like Elsa had done. He jabbed them into her mind shell from all directions at once, trying to pierce it or pop it like a balloon.

The shell around her mind absorbed the impact without any issues, and this time the attacks were rebounded quite fiercely at his own mind. Since he maintained control of the tendrils the whole time, they never made it all the way to his mind, but the sudden reverberation did surprise him. He let out an indecipherable grunt. He changed tactics, wrapping the shell completely with a thin film, then compressing in from all sides at once.

She felt the pressure in her temples, but not even to the point of being uncomfortable, much less painful. Her shell held firm without even a crack. He grunted again, switching to a single mind blade, long and sharp. He thrust it directly toward her mind shell, putting his whole effort into it. The point of his mind blade hit her shell, leaving the tiniest knick in it, before the energy was completely rebounded, pushing the blade back at him.

The knick in her mind shell was healed the instant the blade left, and she watched as he hastily tried to shore up his own defenses to absorb the incoming mind blade. It struck hard, and he winced physically from the pain, grabbing his head with both hands. The shell around his mind held, but she watched spiderweb cracks form on it before he broke the mental connection. Interestingly, she was unable to form or maintain the mental connection herself, [Mind Fortress 7] only served as a defense.

Once he broke the connection, she lost sight of what was happening with his mind. He groaned from his chair, holding his head in both hands.

"Ow. What was that? How is that even possible?" Kiara smiled, proud of how well her defenses had held up. A lot of her mental defense was autonomous now, she barely had to do anything. Victor's assault had been more controlled and refined that Elsa's, and she still hadn't struggled to rebuff it in the slightest.

"It's safe to assume that I can't reveal where any of my abilities came from, and to also assume that they aren't teachable." He nodded, rubbing his temples gently.

"Fair enough. I have a few more questions, things that seem unexplainable if you're at tier 3."

"Go ahead." He locked eyes with her.

"When you fought Kane in Easton, you ignored the spells he threw at you like they weren't even there. At the time, I assumed you were using your personal domain to achieve that feat, but I've since learned that my own personal domain wouldn't be capable of that. At tier 3, how did you achieve such a thing? Also, your speed nearly matched his, were you able to ignore his aura somehow? Kane was quite powerful for a tier 4." Kiara pursed her lips.

No doubt when Kane showed back up in a couple of weeks, Victor wouldn't be the only one with questions. That was one topic that she knew the World Engine wouldn't let her discuss, though. She felt her throat tighten up slightly thinking about his upcoming resurrection. That was something she would have to keep silent on for the time being. In response to Victor's questions, she was only able to share half of the answer he was looking for.

Her ability to distribute Stats points during her level ups was apparently not something she could talk about in detail.

"I have an ability that protects me from mana-based magic," she explained.

"I'm still affected by auras though, and I assume by domains as well, although I've never had the chance to test that. Soul oaths affect me like normal, including the ones you've done for us with my house retainers. As for my speed during that duel, I can only say that I'm much faster than a normal tier 3." Victor ran his hand through his hair.

"Huh. Would you like to test your ability against my domain?" Kiara nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes!" The world suddenly froze for her and everything went black. She couldn't feel her body, couldn't see, hear, or smell anything. She panicked when she felt her heart stop beating momentarily, then everything came rushing back to normal. She gasped in shock.

"Sorry," Victor immediately apologized, looking to see if she was okay.

"I might have jumped in a little too strongly there. Are you okay?" She nodded, steadying herself on the arms of the chair.

"Whoa. That was… unexpected. Even worse than Elsa's aura, if I'm being honest. Please don't do that again." He smiled sheepishly.

"I won't."

"But um, thanks, I guess? I did ask for that, after all." Kiara didn't want him to feel too bad. She had wanted to test it, she just hadn't realized how completely out of her depth she was until it happened. Victor looked away in embarrassment.

"Well, I think that's probably enough questions for today. Thank you for humoring me, I've learned a lot about your situation, and have much to think about." Kiara nodded.

"Thanks again, Victor. You've helped us so much in the past, and today you helped us in ways that we can likely never repay. It means a lot." He looked back at her, then smiled gently, nodding once.

"Well, I'll take my leave. I'm sure you're exhausted from your ordeal, and have much to catch up on with the goings-on of your house during your absence." * Victor couldn't get the experience out of his mind as he made his way back to his shop. The feeling of Shian's body submitting to his domain without any resistance, her heart immediately obeying his command to stop beating. Holding her very life in his hands.

That had cemented in his mind that she was indeed only a tier 3, without any form of aura or domain to resist his own. Her mental defenses had been so strong. That, combined with the impossibly rare and priceless artifacts she had somehow gotten a hold of, had slipped him back into his old mindset of considering her to be much stronger than himself, and he had pressed much too hard with his domain right from the start. He had immediately realized it, and released the pressure, but he still felt a bit bad.

He had considered her a tier 7 for so long now that it had been easy to forget her claims otherwise. Even now, he was still reeling from the reveal. It all felt very surreal, and he kept replaying the last hour in his mind. One thing was certain, Shian Yountal was no sort of threat to the kingdom or even to the duchy. Victor's previous hesitance to report her existence to the powers-that-be now felt like providence.

Had he reported her, she would now be under even more scrutiny than she currently was, and he himself would have been thrust back into a political scene that he had tried very hard to abandon. Rather than being a tier 7, someone who could reshape the fate of an entire nation, she was simply someone who had somehow discovered new avenues of magic. New ways to advance that didn't follow the norm. That called for further study, something that Victor was perfectly suited for.

He did still wonder though, where she had learned her unique abilities from, as well as where she had obtained those priceless time artifacts she had referred to as talismans. Whoever or whatever she was interacting with could very likely be the tier 7 that Victor had once assumed Shian to be. He would have to keep a closer eye on her movements, to see if he could discover the source.