Chương 95: Chapter 94- A Mark of Favor

Elias woke to the feeling of a hard surface under his back, gentle fingers running through his hair, and twin knots of worry and unease that uncoiled slightly with a sense of relief as he opened his eyes with a groan. He tried to sit up as he winced against the bright light of the setting sun, but a firm hand against his chest held him down. A soft feminine voice filled his ears as his vision cleared and he looked up to find Astra wearing a worried face as his head rested in her lap."

No need to move so soon, we have time. Just rest a moment longer." The other hand returned to stroking through his hair once he settled back down, he could feel a familiar pat on his leg as he heard Tia in his mind, launching into questions as a worried tone filled her voice. Are you ok, brother? What happened? Healer-Astrid said you were cut a lot and you lost a lot of blood. Elias fumbled for a moment until his hand found her head and gently stroked her spine, as Eli tried to soothe her as best he could."

I'm ok Tia. It hurt a lot, but I am feeling better. As to what happened I have an idea but I'm not really sure." A quietly hummed, " Oh?" caused Eli to look up and catch the curious and worried expression on Astra's face. Eli grimaced as he reached up to grip Astra's other hand where it was pressed to his chest, " Some of it at least. Please, let me up, I swear I feel fine." Astra gave a small pout as she clicked her tongue in frustration, " If you must, but go slowly.

Ms Farrier informed me that you lost quite a bit of blood and may be very dizzy and thirsty for a while. You will also need a large portion to recover the nutrition spent on healing come the evening meal." He slowly sat up as she steadied him and handed him a large water bladder, after downing a few mouthfuls he set to slowly sipping as he spoke to rehydrate himself.

He glanced up at the sky, stiffening as he finally noticed that the sun was setting despite it having been early afternoon when his accident had occurred. Eli turned to look at Astra only to find her watching him with a faint concerned smile on her face." Oh god, I didn't notice the time, it must have been hours, I didn't cause you to miss anything right?"

Astra gave him a wry look, " If I can not trust my subordinates to take care of matters for a short time while I take care of my counterpoint, they would not be very good subordinates would they?" Eli gave an embarrassed grimace and shrugged, " I guess not. Thanks for being here, you didn't have to be and I want you to know I appreciate that you were." Astra smiled as she scoffed before reaching over and to give his hand a pat, " The important work is already done, Mr. Mason and Mr.

Cooper are more than capable of arranging the final pieces in my stead. I would be a rather poor partner if I could not find time to share in my soulbond's achievements." A note of anger and faint exasperation entered her tone as she gently scolded him, " Especially if my partner is so dense as to practice dangerous magic without a healer present, it seems you are rather lucky I was here. I know you are smarter than this Eli, this could have ended very poorly for you.

It is one thing to risk death in the defense of yourself or others, and an entirely different matter to take such risks in a practice yard." She gestured down at Tia as the little lizard looked up at him with before quickly feigning 'sad puppy eyes', but the faint sense of mischief down the bond gave away the game, " If you will not think of me, at least think of poor little Tia, however will she survive all alone."

The words may have been in jest but the weight of their meaning struck him in the heart, Eli had never really had anyone in his life other than his sister, and she was so self sufficient that Vivian never really factored into his decision to pursue dangerous thrills. A faint sense of dissonance entered his mind as Eli realized, he actually had things in his life to lose now, and that his life was not exactly his own anymore, to just throw away on a whim if it pleased him.

Warmth blossomed in his heart from the unexpected thought, and Eli gave Tia a scratch on the scales behind her head before he turned back up towards Astra to give her a small smile, " Ok, you're the boss, whatever you say goes." He sighed as the cool liquid soothed his parched throat, " I was warned that the Skill was dangerous, several times in fact, but all the warnings were about running out of mana, not just running low."

He filled the pair in on what he was told both by the system avatar and Vael while glancing about his surroundings. They were sitting on the bench in the practice arena as the guards were posted over by the entrance to give the trio some privacy. As Eli glanced over to the stump by the weapon rack, and he winced at the broad swath of disturbed wet dirt and the deep red stain splattered across the arming rack and the wall behind it. The scene told a tale of just how violent Elias's re-appearance had been.

Elias turned back to the pair as he finished his quick recounting of events, " I should have had plenty of mana, even my worst estimates gave me a margin of error that should have been sufficient." Astra had a grim look on her face as she silently contemplated his words for a moment before speaking, " Perhaps it is the amount of mana the Skill uses?

From your estimates it sounds like the spellform requires what was nearly your entire mana pool a short while ago, and you are instead more familiar with far smaller flows of energy. Either way I forbid you to use the skill when you are low again unless it is an emergency." She smacked his thigh as she gave him a sly grin, " I am the boss after all, aye?" Eli smiled and gave her a sloppy salute, " Yes Ma'am."

Astra scoffed as she sat back on the bench and studied him for a moment before gesturing at his arm, " Best you remember. The good news is the repair enchantment is working well, the sleeve was in tatters a few hours ago. If the magic continues at pace it should be functional if not seamless come morning."

Elias glanced down and although there were still several large rents in the leather, it was far less than he would have expected from the damage, and as he watched he could see a section of the exposed embedded armor on one forearm slowly shift. The gouge in the metal slumping at a glacial speed, just barely filling in at the rate of an especially swift slime mold. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

He chuckled as he rubbed a thumb over the seam, " Man that is something else, your world really has some of the coolest things." Astra grinned, " That we do. Did you miss anything or are you done with training for now?" Elias flicked through his notifications, " I don't think so, let me check."

Glancing through, he did not find anything prior to his evolution completion message, but when he scrolled forward through the level notifications he found something in between the notices triggered by the banked experience and the couple levels he gained while training today. Ding [Entity Elias Mercer has sworn a binding Oath with Admin V] That's right I never saw anything listed for my mark from Vael, he said I wouldn't see it until later.

Elias sat up, reaching forward to tap at the interface only he could see, " Yeah there is something, one sec." Elias attempted to display the contents of the Oath like the one he had entered into with Astra and Mira. Ding [Entity Elias Mercer accepted a mark for an augment.] Eli tapped it a few more times. Ding [Entity Elias Mercer accepted a mark for an augment.] Ding [Entity Elias Mercer accepted a mark for an augment.] Ding [Entity Elias Mercer accepted a mark for an augment.] He gave an exasperated sigh, " That's it?" He turned to Astra and explained what he found, " Ever heard of an augment?" She shook her head, " No, but you still owe both of us the tale of your evolution, so I may be missing some context. I would just ask directly, the System rarely fails to explain a topic you genuinely need to know, even if the explanations are frequently unsatisfactory and vague."

Eli winced as Tia gave him a pointed look as well and he held up a placating hand to both of them, " Over dinner, I promise." Willing an explanation for the term 'augment' did seem to shake something loose as he received a different message this time. Ding [New Interface Element Detected] Ding [Category Unlocked: Augments] Ding [WARNING: This interface layer is not intended for User access.] Ding [Displaying available Entries] Augments ============ Favored by the Winds of Change Universal Translation Origination Shroud Unidentified Elias muttered, " Interesting…" Astra extended a foot to play with the tip of Tiamat's tail, " What is interesting?"" Just a sec…" Elias triggered the four entries in a row. Ding [Favored by the Winds of Change Source: Vaelion, the Winds of Change Status: Active Description: You are lightly favored by the currents of change. In moments of turmoil or uncertainty, the winds may turn in your favor. Universal Translation Source: System Status: Active Description: An active translation effect will be provided by the System to facilitate interaction with the local populace. Will affect both spoken and written communication, but may not be bilateral in all situations. Origination Shroud Source: System Status: Active Description: Your origination point is masked by default and can only be resolved with the user's explicit permission. Sufficient power may pierce the shroud. Unidentified Source: Restricted Status: Active Description: Locked] Well that explains a few things, but also just gives me more questions. Eli sat back with a sigh, poking at a few of the locked and restricted entries to see if there was anything else he could trigger like focusing on the word augments had done prior with little success. Speaking to Astra as he worked, " Ok so long story short, it looks like augments are listed in some kind of hidden menu, here take a look."

He shared the various entries with her as he sat back and studied her expression. As she flicked through them, her face danced between light surprise, consternation, and eventually settled on an irked mask of frustration before shrugging and swiping the panes closed. Astra was lost deep in thought for several minutes before Eli nudged, " So what do you think?" Astra tapped her bottom lip for a moment in thought before sighing and giving a shrug, " There is not all that much to think about.

The System will not allow me to open the Augment pane for myself, so there must be some prerequisite to do so. The descriptions are frustratingly vague and brief so there is not too much to be gleaned from them." She gestured to where the invisible panes would have been located, " I suspect the shroud that was listed, as well as the translation effect, is probably standard amongst the Godstouched, although the first listing does cause me to wonder what being favored could mean.

Do all Godstouched receive such favors?" She arched a brow at Eli as she gave him a pointed look, " I imagine the context you promised to provide over dinner will elucidate much." Eli laughed, " Fair. I definitely owe you a story. Does the name Vaelion ring a bell, have you heard of him before?" Astra rolled her eyes, a ripple of mirth traveling down the tether in his chest, " Are you serious Eli? Are you jesting with me or just being especially dense today?

I would have expected you to pay better attention to your lessons, Mira did tell you the name of the Royal Imperial Family?" Elias thought back through the events of the last few weeks as he scoured his memory, " In my defense it has been a busy few weeks, some of this stuff can slip through the cracks." She shrugged, "Fair." Eli perked up, " Wait, Vaelorin right? So you mean Vaelorin as in 'Vael' -orin?"

Astra chuckled as she stood and guided him towards the waiting guards, " Aye, as in, if you believe the old stories, originally descended from Vaelion." Eli stumbled to a halt, " Wait, so you have heard of him before? He's not just some random entity from space? Why didn't you say something?" Astra gave him a startled look, " Did I not? I swore Mira or myself would have covered him in your lessons?

To be honest, no one has heard from the gods in millennia, the only hint that we even have that they may still exist is the occasional appearance of the Godstouched, and most of those end up disappeared, dead, or driven mad."" As far as most of us know they are just forgotten tales in ancient books, protectors of the realm who could very well be fictional or just especially powerful mages whose life stories were twisted with time.

Vaelion himself was considered fairly stern and capricious, but if the stories are supposed to be believed especially powerful." She tilted her head as she gave him a considering look, " His full title is Vaelion, the Winds of Change, the patron god of Air, Wind, and Change, and supposedly the guardian of this world, Caelwyn itself. For what it is worth, the royal family claims him to be the original sire of their line, but many old families claim such silly things."

Astra gazes to the sky in wonder for a moment, before turning back to give Eli an excited grin, " To think there may be some truth to those stories after all! I can not imagine the privilege of meeting such a distinguished and mysterious being, to be the first to speak with him in a millenia. You simply must share every detail about what he is like!" Elias chuckled with a wry grin as they left the practice yard, " Sure thing, distinguished is definitely one way to describe him."