Chương 33: Visionary

Two weeks after his injury, Jonny held perfectly still as Helen's mana snaked its way through his body. It felt weird, and mildly uncomfortable to have someone else's mana poking and prodding around inside him, but he knew it was just to help him. After about a minute, the mana retracted, and he let himself relax as Helen pulled away. He looked at her unreadable expression, worried she would give him bad news, but when she finally spoke, it was only good.

"Fully recovered."

"Yes! And what about–?"

"Igrette will explain later," said Helen, cutting him off.

"Not here."

"Right. Sorry."

"I'll be going now. I have some duties that I have been neglecting as of late. And Igrette."

"Yes?"

"Be careful."

"Of course."

"I mean it." Helen gave Igrette a very serious look before turning and walking out of the infirmary, leaving the other two alone. Igrette watched her leave, then turned to Jonny, raising an eyebrow.

"Well?" she said.

"What are you waiting for? Get dressed."

"Okay!" Ten minutes later, the two of them were stomping through the snow outside the fence, heading back toward the stone circle.

"In light of your background, Helen and I talked, and we decided that we are indeed going to give you more freedom."

"Really?"

"Did you expect us not to?" asked Igrette.

"You are an adult. Even if you have… reckless tendencies, you can decide things for yourself. You don't need our permission. In fact, if you wanted to leave this orphanage on your own, we wouldn't stop you. However, I think you should stay."

"I wanna stay anyway," said Jonny.

"I can't really learn from you if I leave, can I?"

"No, you cannot," said Igrette with a small smile.

"But if you do stay, we think it would be best if you remain undercover. That means sleeping in the room with the other children, and continuing to play with them sometimes and things like that. We'll give you some more alone time, and one on one time with us, but as a whole, your lifestyle wouldn't change."

"Is that 'cause of me not being able to tell anyone else about my past life?"

"Yes."

"Why can't I? I mean, I know it's kinda weird, and maybe a little creepy, but you and Helen keep talking about it like it's a big deal."

"Do you remember learning about Visionaries?"

"Uh…" Jonny scratched his head.

"Maybe?"

"Visionaries are people who appear once every other century or so, and cause great change in the world. The founder of our nation was one, and there have been seven more since. They are usually taken in by the church at a young age, and raised with great care, and they are usually later venerated."

"Yeah, I think maybe I remember learning that once?" said Jonny.

"Well, now you've learned it twice. And those Visionaries were all people like you."

"They were?"

"Yes. That part is not quite public knowledge. It's not a well-kept secret, but it's not discussed openly. And, usually, the pope receives a divine message whenever a new Visionary appears, so they can take them in and make sure they are safe and properly educated." Jonny nodded slowly.

"But that didn't happen for me?"

"I don't know whether it happened for you," said Igrette.

"But regardless, you were not taken in by the church. Whether they know, and have chosen to do nothing, or they don't know, neither option is good. There are countless possibilities, the worst of which being that the church is compromised."

"Oh."

"You aren't strong enough to protect yourself yet, so for now, you must keep it a secret. As far as the world is concerned, you are just a strange child."

"Yeah, makes sense," said Jonny, nodding.

"What happens if the church is compromised?"

"We'll climb that mountain when we get there," said Igrette.

"But most likely, nothing. Not immediately, at least. It will eventually lead to a theological reformation, but that will take years. And you should have nothing to be worried about as long as you don't flaunt your Visionary status. The corrupted church may see you as a threat to their power." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Okay. So then we're good if I don't tell anyone else?"

"Hopefully."

"Awesome. Okay, now what are we gonna do out here?"

"We're going to look into your mana's odd state and run a few light tests." She shot him a stern look as she said the word 'light.'

"You were a fighter in your past life. That implies you had a teacher, yes?"

"Yes."

"Well, I am your teacher now. You may be a Visionary, but I am still older and more experienced, so for now, you will listen to me when it comes to internal mana techniques. No more dangerous experimenting without informing me first. No dangerous mana breathing, no overloading your body, and definitely no more internal mana surges. Understood?"

"Yes, Sister Igrette!" They soon arrived back at the stone circle. It was unoccupied, which surprised Jonny until Igrette explained that she had come out to clean up earlier so they would be uninterrupted.

"Now, you are going to show me everything you've learned," said Igrette, tapping the stone pedestal.

"Starting with your breathing techniques." Two hours passed as they went through test after test in what Jonny felt was the most tedious way possible. He understood the purpose, and he knew that it would be good for him, but it didn't make it any less boring. It felt like doing physical therapy, just doing the same, boring, lame exercises over and over again to rebuild strength and mobility. He was just functioning so far below what he was capable of that it was almost painful. They started with breathing.

Both Igrette and Helen wanted to know more about how it worked, and whether it would be different now that Jonny's internal mana had changed. At first, Jonny just breathed normally with Igrette putting a hand on his back so she could sense the mana inside him. The mana entered his lungs, just like before, and it got absorbed just like before.

The atmospheric mana was much lighter than the mana in his body, and it remained that way initially after entering his body, but it gradually condensed to match the rest of the mana in his body. Jonny had already known this, just from watching it while in the infirmary, but Igrette wanted a more thorough test. Next was his intentional breathing technique, condensing and accelerating his mana, then releasing it and letting it expand.

This was also no different, aside from it being slower than it had been, but once again, Igrette wanted to see it. Only after this did they finally get to more interesting things. It still started light, in order to avoid injuring him further, but it was something that Jonny had wanted to try anyway, so he was a little more invested. Igrette had him lay down on the stone pedestal, relaxing his body just like he had two weeks prior and letting the mana flow into his body before pulling it back.

Just like before, he was able to get his mana circulating faster with this method, but also like before, it put excess strain on his body, and after just five minutes, Igrette had him stop.

"It looks like your body isn't ready for your mana," said Igrette, rubbing her chin.

"Which is understandable, but not good. Your mana underwent a drastic change, and your body barely survived it. You'll need to strengthen your body to match the mana. I think that if you use this same breathing technique, it will accelerate the processes, but I will need to talk with Helen first." Jonny nodded.

"For now, let's try some movements. Start with no mana. Let's find your baseline." Jonny focused on keeping his mana contained to his mana channels as he ran through a set of exercises at Igrette's command. It was a fairly light workout, and she mostly tested his more explosive movements. She had him do a vertical jump, a broad jump, and some pushup and pullup variations and other things like that. Then, she had him do all the same things with basic body enhancement.

He infused his entire body with as little mana as possible, and did the exact same tests. The results were much better than he expected. With just a small amount of mana, he was able to enhance his body just as much as when he used his ultra compressed mana before. And even better, it didn't strain his body at that level. Once Igrette was certain that level was comfortable, she had him increase his output slowly, testing with each jump upward.

The final result was that his body could handle about twenty percent of his new, compressed mana, but that twenty percent was almost one and a half times as effective as his compressed mana before that. He had a long way to go to reach his full potential, but he had still experienced a significant boost in raw power. He was in a good mood when they finished up those tests and prepared to move on to his reverse breathing technique when Igrette suddenly stiffened and turned her head to the distance.

A moment later, a chilling breeze passed through the clearing, and even as bundled-up as he was, it sent a shiver down his spine.

"What's–?" he started.

"We need to leave."

"Raymond," said Archibald, his face stony.

"What are you doing here?"

"Can't a man visit his brother?" asked Raymond.

"A man can. A snake can't."

"I'm wounded," said Raymond.

"I just came to congratulate you."

"Congratulate me? For what?"

"I hear you have a new nephew of sorts. Thomas is his name, right? I would congratulate Harry directly, but he turned me away for some reason."

"How strange," said Archibald flatly.

"Well, thank you for your congratulations, but I'm busy, so–""It's so strange that such a talented boy could come from such a remote place."

"Raymond–""It makes you wonder what else might be out there, you know?" Archibald was silent.

"I hear the church has a sudden interest in that region too," continued Raymond.

"One of their best and brightest retired there recently, the One-Eyed Reaper. Have you heard of her? I've heard she's quite impressive. And there was apparently another war veteran already there, and both of them are working at that very same orphanage that Harry's boy came from. A very curious coincidence, isn't it?"

"What do you want, Raymond?"

"Oh, I'm just sharing some interesting news that I've heard. But it really makes you wonder, doesn't it? A shame the church has decided to take charge of things already. Everyone knows it's best not to get in their way."

"What are you trying to say?"

"What do you think I'm trying to say?" said Raymond.

"I already told you, I'm just sharing some rumors. Anyway, I know you're a busy man, brother, so I'll leave you to your work. Have a good day." Archibald watched Raymond leave, then immediately reached for the bell on the corner of his desk and summoned the butler. Less than thirty seconds later, the door opened again, and a tall, thin man with a twirling mustache entered.

"You rang, sir?"

"We have an emergency. Summon Tanner, and prepare the hippogriff."