25.4“Bro… My head still hurts.”

  “Still?” John raised a brow while he and Ha Zun exited their csses. “It’s been three days. And you said your father—”

  “All he did was inject his own mana into me like always!” Ha Zun compined with a palm on his temple. “I keep telling him to stop, but he never listens!!!”

  “Mana injection? All for pollen allergy?”

  Young John raised his brow, vaguely remembered coming across mana injection on one of the magic tome’s entries, with plenty of warnings and cautions against such an act unless necessary.

  As of te, he had not had time to explore the other sections of Ms Elisabeth’s magic tome, he had been reading intently on the fundamentals of magic casting ever since Kahnira asked to learn magic with him.

  “The worst part is, I don’t even know if it was an allergy. It felt like hands grabbing at me when it happened, my skin just started to swell,” Ha Zun shook his head as the duo entered their magic theory b.

  “I wonder why I didn’t get it.”

  “Huh?”

  “After you left, I talked to the gardener for the orchard we went. The man said even someone experienced like him will still get rashes from that orchard. Then something about me being lucky.”

  “The funeral parlor we put old man Charles in doesn’t have a gardener. John, what are you talking about?”

  “He doesn’t?”

  John leaned backwards.

  “Are you sure? How else would is the garden maintained?”

  “Well…” Ha Zun looked upwards. “Maybe there was a gardener, but I remember my father said they haven’t had one in a long, long, long time.”

  “Maybe he is there occasionally? As a temporary hire type?”

  Ha Zun shrugged, “Could be, could be something else all together.”

  “Y-you mean…that gardener…doesn’t exist?”

  “He could be a ghost for all I know John. If you are that interested I’ll ask my father for you if you want.”

  The mere mention of Ha Lun Mein caused John to stiffen.

  “N-no. No need. It doesn’t matter if the gardener is a ghost…”

  “Then why do you ask— arghh…”

  Ha Zun rubbed his head with his palm.

  “All I know, is this headache better go away, or our pns will be ruined.”

  John fshed an all-knowing smile at his friend, “You scared of losing to me?”

  “Scared? Hell no! I’ll bet you that my aim is better.”

  “You want to bet with me? Ha Zun, you know better to challenge me at aiming. Even if we put up a bet, there’s nothing to wager on!”

  “Lucky for me, I know what we can bet on,” his friend puffed his chest out. “If I win, I’ll have your ass run around the school compound.”

  “It’s just the school compound,” running about the 2 kilometer school compound was difficult, but it was not out of the realm of possibility for him, “I can do that—”

  “Without your shirt on,” Ha Zun added with a haughty smile.

  “What!? No way! That’s ridiculous, I’ll be caught and reported.”

  “Not if we do it at night.”

  “Ugghhh…”

  “In return, I’ll let you in on something you want to know very badly.”

  “Something I want to know?”

  “It’s about the Perxins, John.” Ha Zun said. “About your favorite Perxins, I’ve overheard my father talking about it the other day, he mentioned something about his strategies and pns to ‘deal with’ them.”

  Deal with!? The one he discussed with my father!? How does Ha Zun know about this!?

  “It’s something I think you shouldn’t miss out, it’s very, very important,” Ha Zun lorded the piece of information over John like a carrot on a stick.

  “How did you—”

  “No need for questions. You’re my best friend, of course I will keep an eye out for things that you are interested in. Even if it’s that tigerkin family…”

  “…”

  “So? Is it a deal? If you win, I’ll tell you all I know. If you lose, you get to run around the school shirtless.”

  “Fine.”

  John headed straight for his room the moment he returned from school—after he greeted Kahnira.

  “Let’s see, mana injection…” retrieving the magic tome from his shelf, John flipped through the book furiously while he id on his bed. “I am pretty sure I read them somewhere…hmm…”

  His eyes focused on the various sections, including the more advanced magic section, but he could not, for the life of him—

  “Yes!!! There it is!!!” he shouted when the word ‘mana injection’ came to his view.

  Mana injection: The first noted use was a few hundred years ago, stemming from Eastern Continent origins.

  Initially used for medical purposes but had since then evolved and branched off to several unorthodox uses. Mana injection is simir to mana transfer, however, unlike mana transfer, mana injection purges the user’s own life force along with their mana for the sake of the receiver. Effects of this practice is unknown and is theorized to be hidden in nature.

  John’s fingers ran along the passage, squinting his eyes as he tried to make sense of the sparse information in the tome.

  “Oh wait, there’s a written note below…”

  John brought his face closer to the tiny handwriting with purple ink.

  “Note: From Elisabeth La’tu, whatever one does, do not attempt to undergo such a ritual, I have witnessed the atrocities that comes from it. I have not the knowledge nor wish to enact this ritual.”

  “What? Is it dangerous? Atrocities? What does she mean? She doesn’t even state the side effects that comes with it!” John argued at Miss Elisabeth’s note as though she was there in the flesh.

  Whether Ha Zun suffered from mana injection, John would never know, but if even Miss Elisabeth, a witch did not know what it fully does, he was better off leaving it alone.

  That said, researching mana injection was not the main goal for today.

  He began flipping to the earlier pages of the magic tome, browsing the index as a mischievous smile popped on his boyish face.

  “Telekinesis, translocation,…”

  He quickly flipped to page 30 where the common keywords were located.

  Basics of translocation.

  The first steps to cultivate one’s affinity for spatial magic involves honing the mind to the simplest alterations of falling bodies. Akin to a wind’s blow, translocation magic is a simplified understanding of space, involving creating momentary forces from the whims of mental strength.

  Start by dropping an item in a static room, watch the falling trajectory of the falling item multiple times, observe the way gravity acts on the object, once identified, output mana to nudge the falling object mid-fall.

  The furthering of this concept will be eborated in segments covering Telekenesis where upwards forces are applied in tandem with additional strength from the user. Understanding different types of levitation or flight may or may not aid in practicing this magic.

  “Huh…I’ll just have to practice this on something small first…” John pced the book on his bed, searched his desk for an eraser. “This magic will help when going against Ha Zun in a few days when they have their little ‘competition’.”

  It doesn’t count as cheating if its my ability. Besides…I don’t have to use this if I don’t want to, learning this is just as an insurance in case I fail.

  John brought the eraser to his face, released it as his watched fervently at the trajectory of the little rectangle fall.

  “Hmm…”

  He picked it up and repeated the process gaining more certainty as both the eraser’s weight and it’s falling movements began to make a mark on his cognition.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  Thud.

  He picked and dropped the eraser countless times, but not once had he succeeded.

  Thud, fell the eraser again before John picked it up once more.

  “Sigh…”

  To be fair, I don’t need to learn this translocation magic thing to beat Ha Zun. It’s just that…

  “T-these are the Perxins for crying out loud. I need to know what father has pnned for them. And the way Ha Zun put it… I don’t know…”

  He twirled the rubber piece between his fingers, getting bored at dropping the item over and over again, he took a deep breath, keeping a close eye on the eraser.

  With slight exhation, he released the eraser as well as his mana, converging them around the piece of rubber and…

  Thud.

  The eraser fell and bounced off the ground like it had countless times before.

  “Huh?” John raised a brow.

  He felt his mana enveloping the rubbery rectangle, though his mana bore no color, he was certain he had a firm grasp of the item a moment ago.

  “L-let’s try this again.”

  My mana is flowing like when I helped Serene back then, but…it doesn’t work?

  He picked it up and released it from his fingers once more.

  Thud.

  There was no change in the eraser’s straight trajectory.

  “…”

  John picked it up again, this time, inhaling instead of exhaling as he dropped the rubber.

  Thud.

  No change.

  “Arggh… What the heck!? This is basic magic!!! It should work!!!”

  He was certain his mana surged through the piece of eraser, he could even feel the tacky texture of the rubber in his mind as it fell downwards. He could feel the twisting and twirling of the item itself as it moved downwards, but he was incapable to controlling its falling trajectory.

  “M-maybe it’s because I didn’t specify the direction before executing the m-magic.”

  John repeated his attempts, specifying the direction the eraser would wall towards to instead of just straight down.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  But no matter how many more times and how complicated his thought process at executing the basic translocation magic,

  The more he tried, the more the thudding sounds of failure echoed in his mind.

  “ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!”

  In a fit of rage, he stormed back to his bed, leaving the fallen piece of eraser by his study chair.

  “What in the world!? This is basic stuff!” he reread the process of basic translocation magic once more on the tome. “That’s right, I did everything here, what gives!?”

  Furious, he smmed the book shut as he watched the fallen piece of chalky white rubber across him.

  I can help Serene tap into her mana pool without batting an eye! How is this not working for me when the mana thing requires plenty of precaution reading!?

  The magic that John used to help Serene tap into her mana pool was in fact an advanced magic technique that required heavy experience with mana manipution.

  “How can I not do this basic shit!?”

  John learned about it shortly after he returning to the Sarvod Estate. He had, in his ck of magic experience executed a complicated process with ease.

  But when it came to simple translocation magic, he could not do a thing.

  “I am tired…”

  Bam!!!

  “MASTER!!! WHAT’S THE MATTER!?” Kahnira exploded into John’s room, her beautiful face scrunched up into a horrified expression as she met John’s wide eyes. “ARE YOU…”

  “Kahnira, w-what’s gotten into you?! I am fine!”

  His response whisked away the flickering fmes of urgency in the maid who, upon realization of her mistake lowered her head, hiding the rampant flush that was on her face.

  “I-I heard m-master screaming, s-so this maid w-was worried that master was in trouble.”

  “Ah…” a small breath escaped John. “T-that’s because I couldn’t get a simple spell right, I may have s-screamed in anger.”

  “Practicing magic?” the maid tilted her head, pced a finger on her cheek. “But master was able to help Lady Serene…”

  “It’s exactly because I was able to do that, that I am frustrated for not doing something as simple as translocation magic!”

  John stood from his bed, shouted at the ceiling as though he was compining to the Gods above.

  “I mean seriously Kahnira, I can’t even move a teeny tiny piece of—”

  He halted his voice when at his study desk, only to realize that the eraser that he had left on the ground earlier was missing.

  “A piece of…?” Kahnira looked at where young John had pointed but could hardly discern anything that he was talking about.

  “Did you do something when you entered?”

  “What do you mean, master?”

  John dismissed the thought quickly, walked towards where he st saw the piece of stationery.

  “I could have sworn it was…”

  He moved the chair as he pced his ear on the ground, searched for the missing eraser.

  “There’s nothing? That’s weird, it should have been on the ground…”

  “Master, if this maid is disturbing then…”

  “Nonsense. Wait for a second, I’ll just need to look for…”

  Thonk!

  He clumsily banged his head against his study desk while standing up.

  “Ow, ow, ow…”

  “Master!”

  Kahnira was behind him, pced a hand on his head as she guided the awkward John before he hit his head again.

  “It’s alright, it’s not like this is the first time I hit my head— Kahnira, wait!” the maid halted in her tracks as John’s eyes widened at the trash bin he kept under his table. “No way…”

  Wrangling free from Kahnira’s grasp, John pulled the refuse basket to his eyes, reached inside it.

  “M-master, that’s unhygienic, I will have you wash your hands immediately.”

  “No Kahnira, that’s not it. Look!”

  John brought opened his palm, and sure enough, it was the piece of eraser that he had been using to practice his translocation magic.

  “I-I don’t know how I did it, but this thing was on the floor moments ago! It just— Flew into the rubbish bin when I didn’t notice! Do you know what this means!?”

  “Master now has to wash his hands for pying with garbage.”

  “I am going to wash my— Yes, no… Kahnira!!!” he compined as he shook his head, gaining back his senses. “It means I didn’t fail. So now, I can truly teach you magic!”

  Kahnira had a gentle expression on her face, but the maid still gave John a knowing look.

  “R-right after I wash my h-hands of course.”

  Both maid and master headed to the back garden after John cleaned his hands.

  John who had success with the translocation magic moments ago could now very vaguely shift a falling object’s trajectory with simple prodding.

  After the initial hurdle of learning said magic, he had no problems retaining the skill.

  In fact, he was able to move the piece of eraser horizontally across the air for 5 full seconds before it fell to the ground with a thud.

  “You said your father taught you to control mana?” young John asked at the maid who stood a distance away from him, ready to cast a spell.

  “Only to control the flow, but never the application or output, master. He said it helps with body strengthening.”

  “Hmmm…” he pced a hand on his chin while a finger traced the contents of the book. “Kahnira.”

  “Yes?”

  “Have you ever been wounded?” John raised a brow at her. “As in, have you ever bled from any kind of injury at all?”

  “Not at all master, this maid, like her papa are durable people. Although, my papa does have a few scars on him.”

  Flip, flip, flip.

  John burrowed himself deeper into the pages.

  “Mana is circuted within instead of outwards… External magic use requires consistent and vigorous training for most magic, users are defined by their mana triggers. Internal magic use is the intergration of mana into the physical form and maintaining mana circution within the medium.”

  Flip, flip, flip.

  “Mana Triggers: The lesser known but widely practiced aspect of one’s connection with their mana, sustained by specific factors, including but not limited to intense emotions, vague memories, body movements, physical and mental states. Most commonly practiced with the chanting of magic spells. By giving a name or form to the magic to be cast, spells instinctually activate upon command. Furthermore the habit of…”

  John slumped as he continued to read the preceding passages, unable to make much sense of the topic presented to him.

  “Master? Do you need my help?”

  “N-no… I was just—” John stopped before quickly admitting. “I don’t really understand all this mana trigger thing, it goes on about internal and external magic, then about things that doesn’t make sense to casting.”

  “May I have a look, master?”

  “Sure.”

  …

  …

  …

  Thump!

  “I see, now what papa said makes sense! I understand it, master!” the maid pced the magic tome before John.

  “What? E-everything!?”

  “Yes, papa taught internal magic to this maid. The tome said that it was mainly for use on the body, things like physical strength, defense or constitution. Things that are more subtle in most situations.”

  “Huh? Does that mean you can use magic?”

  “This maid can. But according to what I read, it would take more time to achieve something like master. Right now, I need to find out what my mana trigger is.”

  John’s eyes swirled around his eye sockets the moment ‘mana trigger’ was mentioned, his felt the vast void in his boyish mind, the incomprehensible concept that boggled him.

  “Is it like…chanting?”

  “No, my silly master.”

  Kahnira giggled at his expression.

  “It means I am able to use my mana to cast external magic if I focus on something that ties me to the physical world.”

  “Tying you to the physical world? You mean a rope? That’s a very weird way to use magic. I wouldn’t want a rope to be around me if I cast— !!!”

  His back immediately straightened when he felt a soft embrace from behind his head as Kahnira’s arms wrapped around his neck.

  “O-oi! Kahnira, this is not the time…”

  “[Barrier].”

  At the maid’s soft whisper, distinct crackling static surrounded John and Kahnira, a two-meter radius hemisphere of translucent red hue enveloped the two of them, separating master and maid from the outside world for a moment before it abated.

  “!!!”

  John, blushing furiously immediately stood up, wrangling himself free from Kahnira’s embrace.

  “K-Kahnira, I-I told you t-to not…”

  As he was about reprimand the maid for hugging him so suddenly, but his mind was filled with soft sensation of the maid’s bountiful bosoms that was on his back earlier.

  He knew he should not feel this way about his maid who had nothing but the upmost respect for him.

  But whenever he caught a glimpse of the maid’s beautiful appearance and reminded of the gentle nature, something funny stirred in his body.

  Young John sprinted back to his room with blood red cheeks, before he could finish telling the maid off. His mind was filled embarrassment and deep desire towards his maid.

  She was his dutiful maid, he cared for her more than anything else in the world.

  It was a different feeling that he held for Serene Perxin, but it was one that sung the chorus of pure affection towards Kahnira who so diligently stayed by his side.

  Yet, these funny feelings he had for his maid, was almost the opposite from the usual mellow warmth in his heart.

  John recognized them to be another part of him.

  They were his lust towards Kahnira.

  A feeling that compelled him to make her completely his, in mind, body, and spirit.

  His vision became blur.

  “John.”

  His mother, Fenley called to him in the distance, putting a halt to his fears.

  Without so much of a thought, he leapt to her with open arms as he often would as a wee d, diving into his mother to seek nurturing comfort that all children would.

  “I—”

  “Why are you dilly dallying before me!? Do you not have anything else better to do!?”

  A hand caught him by the shoulders as Fenley’s fingers dug into his tender skin, piercing his heart with grim realization.

  “I-I…was just trying to hug you—”

  “After you’ve disobeyed your father!? I may have given birth to you, but if you insist on rebelling your father, I will disown you and hand you off to the orphanage.”

  “W-what? Y-you can’t d-do that!” young John stammered, his eyes watered as he watched his mother’s unflinching gaze, searing everything in him. “W-why, you’re my mother, and I am your son. I l-love y-you…”

  To his words, his mother simply remained silent.

  “Mother, p-please…”

  His pleads were became dust to the silent whirlwind that robbed him of any desire to speak, or seek affection from his own mother. All he wanted, was for her to recognize him, not as John Sarvod, but Fenley’s own son, to acknowledge and reciprocate his love.

  “…”

  How many times had this scene pyed out throughout his life?

  Young John had long lost count.

  His mother never paid attention to him despite his achievements, though she never implicitly hit him like his father had, Feneley took a different approach when disciplining him.

  Between the furious beatings from his father, and the heartless treatment from his own mother, he can never tell which one was right. They all cimed that they were his family, that they did everything for John’s best interest.

  But was it?

  He saw Fenley turned as she began to leave, hurrying after her, young John held onto her dress.

  “Mother, wait, I p-promise I—”

  Shove.

  His mother’s slender arms pushed him away.

  “Don’t cling onto me, John. No one likes a clingy child, even if he is my own son.”

  …

  …

  …

  “!!!”

  His body jolted awake with a puddle of sweat surrounding him. He drew his eyes to his surroundings, focusing on the waning light beyond the curtains, indicating dusk’s arrival.

  He did not remember how he fell asleep. The memories that appeared to him in his dreams however…

  John got off his bed.

  Wasting no time, he went around the house in search of the maid who he dismissed hours ago.

  John found her by the kitchen, finishing up the preparations for dinner.

  Clink-cnk, went the bustling kitchen that Kahnira was in.

  A gentle smile was on the maid as she became engrossed with her duties, blissfully unaware of John’s arrival.

  For a moment, he opened his mouth, wanted to say something to her.

  Then, he saw his mother’s face from the depth of his mind. Causing young John to recoil before he could approach the maid.

  The reason, the real reason he ran from Kahnira earlier, and the reason why he had not dare to speak to the maid about her hugs, despite desperately craving for it…

  The image of Fenley’s disapproving frown, her emotionless scorn and her heartless voice, merging with Kahnira’s as soon as John asked for a comforting hug, haunted him.

  He was no stranger to intimacy.

  Back when Serene was his pymate, he could see doing silly things with her, knowing that it was a promise of sorts between two children.

  Kahnira was different.

  She was his maid, his servant that he treated as his family, a girl who was elder than him by five years.

  Kahnira had willingly taken up the nurturing role in his life, supported him without asking for anything more, taught him manner etiquette and developed his moral viewpoint in the world even if he barely understood it.

  She is someone he had no filial piety to, she did not bear the same blood in his veins like his parents or had the same genes as his sister Taelyn would with him.

  In his boyish heart, she was more than any of his family combined.

  John cared not for the reputation, riches, nor the connections the Sarvod family had.

  All he wished, all he needed was to be loved and understood by his own people, by his own blood family.

  Kahnira was why he could press forward after Serene had stopped talking to him, she was why, being ignored by his own family from the main house became tolerable.

  In all the sense in the world, this maid who somehow entered his life, was young John’s reason for living.

  That was why, he could not give in into his lust.

  At least, not until he becomes an adult and made sure his maid thought the same as him.

  “M-master? H-how long have you been here?” the maid came running his way the moment she caught a glimpse of John’s silent silhouette. ”Did this maid d-disturb master’s n-nap?”

  He face was filled with concerned, perhaps much more so today than usual considering what John did earlier.

  Pomfp!

  John tched onto Kahnira before she could react, hugging her tightly as one would with their beloved.

  “I’m sorry…”

  “M-master!? W-what is master apologizing for?”

  “…for running away j-just now,” John muttered. “I didn’t hate it when you hug me… I was…. I was a-afraid y-you would throw m-me away l-like my mother if I t-tried to hug you.”

  “Master…”

  Kahnira lowered herself to meet his gaze, grabbing young John’s hands as she looked at him with her scarlet eyes.

  “T-this maid had promised you a long time ago, remember? Back when master fought with your father over the Perxin family?”

  John shook his head, his memory of that time was fuzzy.

  “What shall I do with this naughty master who forgot this maid’s words?” Kahnira dropped her shoulders as she smiled, “If master has forgotten, this maid will repeat as many times as needed.”

  “O-okay…”

  “I have promised master that I will be master John’s family. That I, Kahnira will oversee and nurture master’s growth, undoing all the abuse that master had suffered under his family.

  “Whether master decides it or not, this maid will stay by his side forever, even when master gets married, this maid shall be there to watch over him and care for him like always. Nothing would dissuade this maid’s opinion of her beloved master.

  “This was the promise I had given to you. That is why, if master is sad, this maid will be there to comfort him, if master is angry, this maid shall soothe his rage, if master is lost, this maid will find him, if master is hungry, this maid will cook for him.”

  “…Kahnira.”

  “If master is unloved by his family, this maid shall be the one who loves him more than anything else in the world.”

  Unable to contain himself any longer, John leaned towards Kahnira, his eyes filled with tears as the maid soothed the back of his head gently like a doting mother.

  “That is why, master should be brave, for if everything in this world goes against you, know that I, Kahnira will be always proud of you.”