Chương 77: 74 - Consequences?

To Jonny's complete and utter surprise, the incident did not cause trouble for him. Not immediately, at least. He ran into Emily, Igrette, Alden, and Haley almost immediately. Emily had been dragging them over to help, and of the bunch, only Igrette didn't look worried. Jonny told them that Michael just showed him the wand, then told him to keep his head down, then let him go. Obviously, that lie would be revealed eventually, but "eventually" apparently didn't mean that day.

Jonny and Emily stuck with the Smith parents for the rest of the market day, and encountered no more trouble. At one point, Igrette got pulled away to help heal an injury, and Jonny was certain he was going to get caught then, but still nothing happened. Igrette returned after dealing with the injury, the Smiths finished running their errands, and they all piled back into the wagon and headed back to the farm.

Jonny spent the rest of the day helping sort through the things they had bought and then preparing for dinner. At dinner, the Smiths told him about Michael and his father and the mayor, Mason Hoyer. Mr. Hoyer had apparently been a fairly successful businessman in a larger city before retiring and moving out here for reasons that no one knew. He had barely been 30 when he arrived with his pregnant wife, and quickly integrated into the community, becoming the mayor just a year prior.

He was perhaps the most mysterious man in the entire village. Everyone knew he was wealthy, since he did not work, and always had more money than everyone else, but despite countless rumors, no one knew what he had actually done before moving here. Apparently when he first arrived, all sorts of conspiracy theories went flying around, though by now, it had all died down. Now, he was just the mayor with the asshole son. Michael was a much clearer case.

Rich, talented, and just charismatic enough to stay on his parents' good side. According to the twins, no one actually liked him, but he had "friends" who hung around because everyone knew that hanging out with Michael Hoyer meant getting expensive gifts. And while his less pleasant side was not a secret, he had never crossed the line quite enough for anyone to raise a fuss. No one wanted to anger Mason Hoyer. And all of this meant very little to Jonny. He was now a bit curious about the mayor, but that was all.

Michael was more or less exactly who and what Jonny thought he was, and as much as he knew that pissing off the mayor wasn't a good idea, he didn't actually care that much. It was hard to really feel endangered by a small town's mayor when Igrette was there. Though he would feel bad if he caused too much trouble for the Smiths. Since Michael apparently hadn't reported what happened, and nobody had raised a fuss, Jonny was in a good mood when he got to his bedroom.

He taught the asshole kid a lesson without throwing a punch, and he hadn't even caused any trouble by doing so. And even better, he got to test out his new ability, and gotten some insights on how to improve it. Then, Igrette showed up.

"I healed a very interesting injury today," she said. Jonny tensed up.

"What kind of injury?"

"A boy with a fractured arm and a few broken fingers. He said he tripped, but it looked to me more like he punched something very hard. As hard as steel, even."

"Mm, very interesting," said Jonny, nodding.

"Why didn't you just leave?"

"You were watching?"

"You already know the answer to that."

"Well… Okay, maybe I should have run, but that kid was being a major asshole. Plus, up until he started swinging, I thought I had it under control, y'know? I'd get threatened a bit, I'd promise not to cause trouble, and then he'd let me go. But then he was just kind of being a major asshole, and he kept calling me and Emily Nulls, and I wanted to teach him at least a little lesson. I didn't realize it would hurt him so bad." Igrette sighed.

"I know that you're probably already aware, but I feel the need to reiterate that we are trying to keep a low profile here. Even if he deserved it, breaking the mayor's son's hand is not keeping a low profile."

"Yeah, but–""Next time, just make a commotion in the market square," she said.

"More public, but also less odd. People will talk, and then they'll forget. While if they hear that the mayor's son broke his hand and the boy he punched walked away without a scratch, that's much more likely to stick around."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

"I'm not scolding you," she said.

"Overall, you did fine. I was worried it would end worse. I just want to make sure we avoid any problems in the future. Understand?"

"Right. Yeah. Sorry. I'll be better next time. If there is a next time."

"If there is a next time," she repeated.

"Now, despite the fact that you probably shouldn't have done it, the use of the steel shift was overall excellent for a first attempt. However–""I need to use gravity too," Jonny finished.

"Exactly," she said with a smile.

"And we can work on that tomorrow." The next day, things were back to business as usual. Eating, training, and playing, with the addition of the new technique Jonny was trying to work. Combining two elemental shifts turned out to be more difficult than he anticipated, and it took him half a day of trying to even kind of get it, but progress was progress, so he wasn't too annoyed. That night, for the first time in three days, Oliver was present at dinner.

He did not look any less tired than he had the last time Jonny saw him, but he was less distracted. A few times, he actually made meaningful contributions to the conversation, rather than rambling on about whatever research he had been doing last. And at the end, before Jonny and Igrette could return to their rooms, he pulled them aside, leading them to his study, with Emily following close behind. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

His study had become an absolute mess in the days since Jonny had last entered, with books and papers strewn all about. Almost fifty books had been laid out on a blanket on the ground, all open with small rocks acting as paperweights to hold the pages correct. A cursory glance showed them all open to pages talking about herbs and such.

"Did you find something?" asked Igrette.

"No, but maybe," Oliver replied.

"I didn't find anything detailing at all how something like the lungs or heart could be enhanced—or unlocked —I suppose. As far as I can tell, the Tsukar were all born with them that way. They had no need to go through any kind of process to get their hearts and lungs working like that."

"Then why aren't they born that day in modern times?"

"It could be any number of reasons," said Oliver, sifting through the papers on his desk.

"Diluted bloodline, environmental conditions, a curse. My theory is it's the parentage. An ordinary Tsukar child would have been born to a Tsukar mother whose organs were fully developed, but Jonny and Emily were born to ordinary humans. Their mothers' wombs were not able to supply the children with the correct mana or something of the like. Mana inheritance is an understudied field, unfortunately.

"Whatever the case, the Tsukar had no need to do anything like this, and therefore left no records on how to do it." He finally found the paper he was looking for, pulling it out and scanning it over before turning around." However! I did find some interesting leads that might be able to help." He went over to the books on the ground, then back to his desk to grab a stack of paper slips that might have been makeshift bookmarks.

Jonny, Igrette, and Emily all watched in silence as he picked out five of the books, marked the pages they were open too, then flipped to other pages, consulting the page of notes as he did so.

When he was done, three of the books were open to pages of text only, but two had drawings of Tsukar art depicting warriors in a few… interesting poses. Jonny wasn't sure what to think of them.

"The Tsukar had no need to activate their unique organs, but I believe that they did do rituals to enhance them," said Oliver.

"There are multiple depictions of such things, and other scholars have theorized similarly in the past, even pointing to certain herbs or beast parts that might have been used. It seemed to be a combination of primitive enhancement potions and some specific meditation techniques that are unfortunately lost to time.

"That said, I believe we might be able to achieve some small results by partially recreating the rituals." He held up a hand to silence Igrette, who was about to speak.

"Yes, that man is eating a raw heart in the picture, but we will not be doing that. As I said, they appear to be using primitive enhancement potions, though not in potion form. Look at the ingredients. There is a raw heart, yes, but also the herbs. The detail is not too great, but there can be no doubt that is buckleaf, an herb commonly used to treat those with heart conditions.

"I have not used my alchemy license much, but I do know that it can be used in enhancement potions as well, and magic beast hearts are also considered an essential ingredient for such potions. Eaten raw like this, the effect would be lesser, but brewed properly, we might not need the meditation techniques at all."

"So you want to try enhancement potions?"

"Yes. Specifically enhancement potions made with ingredients recorded to be found in the former Tsukar territories, or depicted in their carvings. Many of these ingredients are considered inferior for such potions, but they are safe, at least to my knowledge, and some, like buckleaf, are used to treat specific areas of the body, like the heart, or lungs."

"Hmmm…" said Igrette.

"It's definitely worth trying, but where are you going to get these potions?"

"That's mainly what I wanted to talk to you about," said Oliver.

"I know a talented alchemist who will be able to make everything we need, but she lives near the capital. I would also prefer to be present for the brewing, if nothing else than to talk with her as she works. It will be a minimum of a two month journey, but could be as long as four. It's a necessary journey, but I don't want all that time to be wasted."

"I don't either," agreed Igrette.

"You have something in mind?"

"A few things." Oliver stood up and went back to his desk, grabbing a journal from where it lay half-hidden beneath a stack of papers.

"First, while I was looking for records of any kind of body enhancements, I found a mentions of the heart and lungs, but I also found mentions of other things. Skin, bones, specific limbs, mouths… In fact, many of the Tsukar tribes were actually named after such things.

"It's widely believed to be simply a cultural naming convention, but Jonny's lungs and heart got me thinking, what if it wasn't cultural? What if it was literal? What if the Fireheart tribe actually had something fiery going on with their hearts? Or the Ironfoot tribe with their feet?

"Jonny, you said that you felt something when you breathed mana, even before you awakened your lungs, right?"

"Yeah."

"Emily has felt the same. And with your heart as well?"

"Kinda?"

"Excellent. Yes, very good. Then over the next week, we'll be seeing if we can find any other areas that could potentially be enhanced. Or areas that should be enhanced that failed to develop properly. I also want to test some manual induction. Perhaps Jonny can take on the role of the womb, and induce the same mana flow in Emily's lungs." That sounds weird.

"We'll try to get to a point where you three can work on your own. I'll have to ask you to take charge of Emily's instruction while I'm gone, unfortunately."

"I do believe we've already been doing that," said Igrette.

"That's true… Well in that case, it shouldn't be a problem! We'll spend a week or two working, and once things are settled, I will leave to get my potions. Hopefully, we can accomplish something now, or you can get something done while I'm gone, but if not, we'll try the potions." He grinned and rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"It's been a long time since I've had a breakthrough this big. I can't wait to get to work." That little runt, thought Michael, clenching his healed fist. The Null boy had to have cheated. There was no other way around it. He was a Null, after all. And while Michael wasn't stupid enough to put his mana into his punch, his body was still honed from years of mana training. The fact that it was his hand that broke, and that the Null runt walked away unscathed made no sense.

There had to have been some kind of protection spell or something. An amulet or a bracelet. And Michael knew better than anyone else in this town how much something like that should have cost. Even his father could barely afford them. And the kid's attitude was arrogant as well. That kid is suspicious. And his grandma too. Two mysterious strangers rolling into town out of the blue had already been strange, even if they were Oliver's guests. But one of them being a healer and the other having a protection artifact?

That was just too far. Why would that boy even need something like that? Were they expecting to be attacked? It seemed to Michael like these two were caught up in something. Something that forced them to flee to a remote area like this and take shelter somewhere they thought they would never be found. They weren't just suspicious. They were dangerous. And Michael might be the only one who fully understood that. I'm gonna figure it out, he thought. I'm gonna figure out who they really are.