“Why was I summoned here?” Amon asked, barely suppressing his annoyance so that it wouldn’t show on his face.
“The Pries…” Othrien coughed, stopping himself. “We… we have decided to offer you a position on the council.”
“What? Me? On the council?” Amon asked, unable to hide his surprise this time as a hint of mockery slipped into his gaze. “I am not even one of you…”
The absurdity of the proposal, combined with his irritation at having his magic lessons interrupted, proved too much, and he failed to hide his annoyance completely.
“We understand that,” Othrien said calmly. “But the Priestess revealed to us that you are High Father’s son, and we believe there is no better choice. We would even offer you a higher position than a mere council member, but since you are still unfamiliar with our ways, we would prefer to guide you first and then…”
“Verde, are they serious?” Amon complained, his voice echoing in my mind. “How can they place the fate of their entire race in my hands… god… their judgment is clouded by faith far too much.”
He sighed, his annoyance fading into disappointment and a hint of pity.
“You could have stopped them. Why did you let them make such a ridiculous proposal?” he asked. “I know you don’t want me to accept… unless you changed your mind about sending me to the human kingdoms?”
“No. You must go,” I replied. “But that does not mean I should intervene in their decisions. If their god corrects every mistake born from their faith, how will they ever learn to balance devotion with reason?”
“Fine,” he grumbled, letting out another sigh as he prepared himself for an uncomfortable conversation.
“Priestess,” he said, cutting Othrien off. He had not been listening to the old velmoryn anyway. He knew very well who had truly proposed the idea. “I cannot stay in Eriavel.”
“Wh-why?” Tekla asked.
“Father has set a different path for me,” Amon replied solemnly, even though in reality he was excited to leave Eriavel and explore the outside world. Seeing Tekla about to ask another question, he quickly continued. “I was never meant to guide the velmoryns. That is not my destiny. But I will return when you need me. When the time comes, I will fight beside you.”
“Thank you, Divine Son,” Othrien took over when he noticed Tekla had fallen into thought.
“Although I cannot help you build Eriavel into the glorious nation Father hopes it will become, I can offer you one piece of advice.”
As he spoke, Amon leaned forward on the table and lowered his voice, as if revealing a secret.
“Father will always help His children, but you must carry your own responsibilities. Asking me to become your leader? That was simply your way of asking Father to guide you indirectly. That cannot be!”
The irritation he had felt earlier made his words harsher than he intended, and as a result, the velmoryns in front of him lowered their gazes.
To them, Amon truly represented me. Not even Tekla was as imposing as someone they believed to be my son.
“You must learn to lead your own lives and build your nation without expecting Father to make every decision for you,” Amon added after saying his farewells.
The council had many questions for him, mostly about when he would leave and whether he needed anything before departing, but none of them dared to speak.
Not even Tekla, whose eyes had begun to fill with tears.
Not even Nelya, whose faith was perhaps the most fragile in all of Eriavel.
“I honestly thought they would get angry,” Amon chuckled as he left the council hall and walked toward Karla’s house with quick steps. “I don’t know if it worked, but I did my best. Well, we were never good at speaking with people anyway… Verde, I want to stay in Eriavel for a few more days.”
“Why?”
“I want to test something. I believe the velmoryns use magic differently from Karla, and if my theory is correct, it should be possible to cast spells verbally, the same way skills are activated.”
I tried to look into his mind to understand what he was talking about, but his thoughts were far too chaotic for me to grasp the idea through them.
“I’ll explain it to you properly once I refine the concept a bit more, because it will probably be useful for your divinity as well,” Amon continued. “You have no idea how different mana control feels… You can’t even imagine how satisfying it is to take the energy inside your body, give it shape and meaning, and turn it into a spell.”
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Amon kept rambling, making no effort to hide his excitement as he spoke to me through his thoughts.
To the velmoryns passing by, the sight must have looked bizarre. He walked down the path swinging his hands, grinning and nodding to himself.
Still, he didn’t care.
But his enthusiastic speech was abruptly interrupted when his stomach growled loudly and forced him to stop.
“Shit,” he grumbled, quickly turning toward the temporary toilets the builders were using. He grimaced at the smell when he got close. “You really need to teach them about proper toilets and bathrooms.”
I had no intention of watching or listening to him while he was inside, so I shifted the Window and began checking random spots around Eriavel.
I needed to advance velmoryn civilization, that much I understood, but I had no idea where to begin. As a human I had never been interested in engineering or technology. My interests had always revolved around gaming, and when it came to the real world, medieval history.
None of that was useful to me now.
I should create another avatar in a few months. To improve my knowledge and imagination, I need to learn. I will dedicate that avatar entirely to reading and searching for useful information.
Making plans was easy, but I understood that before creating a bookworm version of myself, I would first need one dedicated entirely to combat. With the clash against the Night God approaching, I would need as many powerhouses on my side as possible.
For a moment I considered checking on the velmoryn vampire, but I knew that would take too much of my time and likely prevent me from splitting my focus across several places at once. So for now, I chose to continue observing Eriavel and see how it was developing.
The first place I moved the Window to was the arena.
Mirion oversaw it together with Dariel. That meant the velmoryns whose fighting styles relied on brute force benefited greatly from the training there. However, those who relied on speed, finesse, or ranged combat gained far less.
That was one of the problems I needed to address.
While Nia was helping the archers improve their skills, the other ranged combatants, who were very few to be honest, had to train on their own. However, it was the assassin-type warriors who were in the worst situation. They had no mentor at all.
I will order Lucas to help them.
Knowing Lucas’s personality, he would likely refuse anyone but me or Tekla.
Shifting the Window again, I stopped near the field where the mages tested their spells. It lay outside Eriavel, a wide open area surrounded by a short wooden fence.
Inside stood several charred and broken training dummies; they would soon be replaced when they completely shattered under repeated spellcasting. Their primary role was to help mages determine the power of their spells and refine their precision.
At the moment, only one mage occupied the field.
Ninali.
A circle of blazing fire formed beside her as she swiftly shaped an intricate diagram of red mana. The flames rose upward, their orange glow illuminating the field, and a creature leapt from within.
It was the same creature she had summoned during the battle with Kurraghal - Eshma.
This time, however, it was not short or round like a ball. Its form was slimmer and taller, its silhouette more refined. The fire surrounding its body had changed as well, streaks of black now mixed into the flames.
“Burn the left one,” Ninali ordered as she channeled more mana into the diagram, which responded by glowing brighter.
Eshma glanced at her and tilted its head, its hollow eyes a bit disturbing. The flames covering its body intensified as it turned toward the dummy and rose from the ground. It did not ascend very high, but it was clear that Eshma could now fly.
A torrent of fire burst from its outstretched hands and engulfed the wooden dummy, scorching it almost instantly.
But before Eshma could finish the task, its body twisted and vanished.
The diagram in front of Ninali collapsed, and she fell to the ground, shivering as spasms of pain ran through her body.
[Mana Depletion]
The current form of Eshma, although still incomplete, requires ten times the mana of its degraded version. Your target can only sustain it for less than ten seconds.