Chương 56: 29 - Revelations

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Igrette, it's barely been a day since—""Yes, I know, and I think we should do it anyway."

"But—""I also plan on having a talk with him." Helen pursed her lips.

"I'm coming too, then."

"You are?"

"Yes, is that so surprising?"

"Yes."

"Well, you should know better. I'll have the Margarets take charge for the morning. I'll leave waking Jonny up to you."

"Alright, then. Also, one more thing. My acquaintance responded with some notes on his research into Null Syndrome."

"He did? What did he say?" Igrette reached into her robes and produced a dense stack of mismatched papers. She set them on the desk, spreading them out before grabbing a smaller one off the top.

"It was a military experiment," she said.

"Some researchers saw the way those with null syndrome responded to internal mana techniques, and hoped to find a way to artificially allow them to progress to turn them into weapons against the demon hordes. The theory was that a second layer null would be the equivalent of a third layer mage. A third layer null would be able to contend with early fifth layers. If they could raise even a few of them, they would save many lives on the battlefield."

"And these are the research notes?" asked Helen, fingering through some of the papers.

"There's quite a lot of it."

"He sent a summary," said Igrette.

"The initial tests were successful. Nulls take to physical enhancement much better than ordinary people, and even without forming a core layer, they were able to compete with first layer mages. But none of them were able to form a core layer, and it was concluded that doing so was impossible for them. Their manabiology is simply too different. The project was terminated not long after due to failure to produce results.

"The research he sent has more details. I only understood half of it. You might have more luck than me. He also gave me the contact information of another researcher who had some eccentric, but not illogical theories about null syndrome that we can reach out to."

"We should do that," said Helen as she skimmed through a physical diagram with notes in the margins.

"But you're saying it's impossible?"

"I'm not. He is. And he's much smarter than me."

"Then Jonny's attempts were doomed from the beginning?" Igrette glanced up at the ceiling in the direction where Jonny was sleeping.

"I'm not so sure about that. I think he's definitely figured something out. I don't know what, but I didn't see anything like what he was doing in these notes. They mention complete inability to absorb ambient mana, and breathing techniques to improve mana channels and circulation, but nothing about doing so in areas of high ambient mana. I think Jonny is doing something different."

"Well… I guess we'll find out in the morning."

"I guess so." Jonny woke up the next morning the same way he had not too long ago, with Igrette shaking his shoulder before the sun had even risen. He had not gotten confirmation before going to bed, but he was still half-expecting it, and when he saw her half mask staring down at him, he immediately knew what to do. She didn't even need to speak before he nodded and silently rolled out of bed and started getting ready.

He paused a moment at the door glancing over at the empty bed where Tommy used to sleep, then continued on his way downstairs. He was surprised to find Helen waiting for him alongside Igrette. He shot the old warrior a questioning glance, but Igrette ignored it, leading them outside and into the woods.

"Helen is here because she wants to observe," said Igrette as soon as they got behind the fence, and before Jonny could ask.

"And we both want to have a talk with you."

"A—a talk?"

"Yes," said Helen. This can't be good.

"I've been watching you since you arrived," continued Helen.

"You've always been an odd child, but we've had many odd children in the past, so I didn't pay it too much mind. But at this point, it's become clear that you are… very special. You have a special gift. And it is my personally belief that special gifts like yours should be nurtured whenever possible. Having said that…"

"Who taught you to fight?" asked Igrette. Helen shot her a glare, but then turned back to face Jonny. Jonny had actually thought about this exact situation before, because he figured he'd eventually have to tell someone, though he wasn't entirely expecting it right then. It took him a few moments to process, but when he did, he responded with a shrug. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"What did I tell you about shrugging?" asked Igrette. Damn, I knew that wasn't gonna work. He rubbed his chin as he thought about how best to respond. He was never a good liar, and he was especially bad when he didn't have a plausible explanation. How would he explain away being a five year old with fifteen years of fighting experience? By telling the truth, obviously.

He recognized that it was pretty far-fetched, and that they might not believe him, and that if they did, they might react badly, but he didn't really have any better ideas. He more or less trusted them, and even if being reborn was something crazy weird, he was sure they wouldn't react too poorly. Plus, if they knew he was an adult, they might treat him more like an adult. More privileges, less supervision, and things like that. Maybe they'd let him arrange his own diet.

The food at the orphanage was fine, but with his activity level, he needed more protein, and they simply didn't provide enough meat. He was even willing to go out hunting for the meat on his own, if needed.

"Well…" he said.

"I have memories from before I was born. I was a really good fighter." Helen and Igrette both looked at him in disbelief, then looked ahead. They walked in silence for a few minutes, then almost simultaneously looked back at him.

"Have you ever told anyone else about this?" asked Helen. Jonny shook his head.

"Good," said Igrette.

"Don't."

"Why? Is it bad?"

"No, it's not bad," said Helen soothingly.

"It's just… complicated."

"Why? Are there other people like me?"

"There have been," replied Helen.

"In the past."

"But not for a very long time," said Igrette.

"And whenever people like you appear, it is a sign from God that change is coming."

"Oh."

"So for now, it's best to keep it a secret," said Helen.

"At least, until Igrette and I can have a proper discussion."

"Without me?"

"Without you. We will take your opinion into account of course, but we have our own duties as well. For now, why don't you tell us what you remember about your past life?"

"Uh, okay. Well, basically, I was a fighter. I fought in the octagon—it was like a cage thing that they put us in—and then we basically slugged it out until one person fell unconscious. I was the undefeated champion of three different weight divisions. And then I died 'cause some idiots ambushed me in the bathroom and stabbed me. I think. I was kinda drunk, so I don't remember super clearly."

"You were an arena fighter?" asked Igrette with a hint of distaste in her voice.

"I wasn't just an arena fighter. I was the arena fighter. Best in the world, undefeated, undisputed. I was like the Michael Jordan of fighting. Uhhh… I mean, I was kinda like the Hero of fighting? Kinda?"

"What weapons did you use?"

"I am the weapon." Jonny flexed his biceps to prove his point.

"And you said you only fought until your opponent was unconscious. Does that mean you never went for killing blows?"

"I never killed anyone, but I broke a few bones."

"And you never fought any beasts?"

"I wanted to fight a gorilla, but my manager said no."

"What layer were you?"

"We didn't have magic where I come from."

"No magic?" asked Helen.

"I suppose that would explain your ignorance of it…"

"So you were entirely mundane?" asked Igrette.

"Not even body strengthening?"

"Yep," said Jonny, flexing again.

"Just me."

"How old were you?"

"Twenty-eight."

"You were twenty-eight?!" asked Helen incredulously.

"Yeah?"

"Hmmm…" she said.

"Well, you were very good at acting like a child." Acting…?

"Well, it sounds like he got hit in the head for a living…" muttered Igrette.

"No defense or healing magic either…"

"Yes, I guess that makes sense," said Helen, nodding.

"Hey!" said Jonny.

"Do you remember any voices after you died?" asked Helen.

"Perhaps something… divine?" Jonny racked his brains, trying to think back to his death and what happened after, but in the end, he just shook his head.

"I dunno," he said.

"I was pretty drunk. I don't remember much, so I guess something coulda happened?"

"What's the earliest thing you remember after dying?" asked Igrette.

"It was trippy as hell. I—""Language!" said Helen.

"Uh… Trippy as… It was trippy. It was like I was floating through space, and then I remember flying into some ca—" Wait, I don't think I should tell them about the castle.

"Into some house, and then some dude was shouting 'he's alive!' and everything felt weird and people were touching me, and it was just really weird." Jonny shivered, remembering his time as a helpless infant.

"And then shit— I mean stuff happened, and then I came here, and that's that." The two old ladies pressed him for a few more details, both about his past life, and his time in the present. It seemed like they were looking for something in particular. Jonny figured it had something to do with Helen's question about a divine voice, but he couldn't remember anything like that, and every failed question left them more disappointed.

Eventually, they ran out of questions and returned to silence only occasionally sharing glances with each other. Once it became clear that the interrogation had more or less ended, Jonny decided it was finally time to ask some questions of his own.

"So," he said.

"Since I'm basically an adult, can I come out into the woods alone now?"

"Absolutely not," said both of them.

"Why not?"

"Because the woods are dangerous, especially during the winter, and you are physically five, and you are unable to use magic," said Igrette.

"You can't even start a fire if you get lost."

"What about in the spring once it's not that cold anymore?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're not ready."

"What if I get ready?"

"Still—""We can discuss this later," said Helen.

"But we will have to think more. This isn't something we can fully decide right now." Better than nothing, thought Jonny with a shrug. Fewer restrictions was really all he hoped to get. He knew that talking about his past life would be weird, but it was gonna have to come out at some point, and he didn't see a good reason not to do it now. Overall, even if he hadn't fully gotten his restrictions lifted, it had gone pretty well. Igrette and Helen were taking it surprisingly well.

The thing about great change or whatever sounded a little concerning, but the two nuns didn't seem overly worried, so it'd probably be fine. The rest of the journey to the stone circle was subdued. None of them really wanted to get back into the serious stuff for some reason, and the only comments they made were about the occasional spotting of wildlife or things like that. When they reached the stone circle, it was, of course, occupied.

One of the same black cats from Tommy's layer formation had taken the place over, and was sitting in the center, breathing steadily as it absorbed mana. Igrette killed it before it could even notice they were there, which Jonny felt was a little unfair, but he supposed it made sense. If that thing formed its core, there was a solid chance it'd get braver and start hunting closer to the human lands. It might have even gone after the orphanage.

"So, what was it that you wanted to do?" asked Igrette.

"I wanna do the breathing thing again," said Jonny, leaping up onto the stone circle. He sat down in the center, shuffling around until he found a comfortable position, then took a deep breath. The mana was much denser here, when he breathed in, it almost seemed to enter faster than his lungs could absorb it. Perfect. He glanced at the two nuns, waiting to see if they would interrupt him, but they only watched. Igrette nodded to him, and he nodded back, and then he closed his eyes and got to work.