Belethor wasn’t kidding when he said I’d receive the Queen’s grace. For my first term, I requested him to clear all of Sett and Faira’s criminal records and pay them adequately so they won’t steal and work for the Thieve’s Guild. It was surprising as it was done in just a matter of a week. The two of them could walk freely without alerting the ‘Bounty Alert’ gems in every Almarian Guards’ equipment. They were also given a nice loft made from sandstone, bordering the Royal Circle and Olivares. It is a 2-story building with a private library in the basement where Sett could conduct his studies in silence. On the other hand, Faira could spend most of her days cooking with the grand array of ingredients kindly provided by Belethor’s funding. Although they have the monthly funds, Faira is planning to make a catering store near their home. She can’t spend most of her life cooking without anyone to eat them after all.
As for my second request, it aligns with what Belethor wants for me and that is to train my powers. Under his tutelage, I possessed bodies after bodies until I was comfortable enough to wear them. I possessed slaves, simple workers, children with sickness, old people with disabilities, and so much more. But when the training moved onto armored guards, I found out that I could not possess any of them. There is this sort of barrier preventing me from possessing them. Belethor and I thought it was the Steel Armor but when he asked the stout bearded knight to unequip his gear, the barrier persists on blocking my path.
As I tried once more to possess the naked Almarian guard, I remembered what God said to me. “I must be of the same rank as them,” I whispered.
I stopped mid-jump and asked Belethor to bring up Edward Creach, a pirate’s son turned slave when his father’s ship was apprehended by Almarian Legionnaires. The boy found himself working for a mining camp in Kyndar, south of Olivares. In his time there, he staged a revolt of slaves which was immediately pacified by Belethor’s coven of sorcerers. At that time, Belethor is on the hunt for young boys who could provide him seeds. And by seeds, he meant semen. It isn’t known well but boy’s semen is a foundation of many alchemical concoctions concerning potions that deal with life. Not many people know it, but potent Health Potions are made up of 1% boy’s semen.
I was here when Edward was sent to this place. Despite chained by weaves of hard-light, he’s still fighting to break free. His eyes blazed with fury and his arms are determined to break free. It only took my skills to pacify his wrangling. When I did so, I felt like it would burst with strength. Scars lined up my lean biceps and callouses made my fingers thick. I am brimming with power and it personifies itself in this body. For a time, I spent my days controlling the boy’s body. I trained with the sword, using the latent muscle memory this body has. First, I used the Almarian short sword but I found my fingers sitting uncomfortably on the hilt. I did good but most of my hits were a miss. I tried swords after swords provided by Belethor until I found the cutlass. I should have thought of it because of the Pirate’s use of cutlasses. But no matter. My feet are quick, I am a flurry of swords wrecking this dummy apart.
With Edward’s body, the guard stood no chance against my slashes and stance changes. When the guard stroked with his sword, I stepped behind him and kicked him to the ground. With his back on me, I pointed the sword at him and forced him to surrender. When he did, I threw the cutlass as far away as possible and possessed the man before me. The barrier was no more and when I opened my eyes, I saw Edward collapsing before me. I caught him with my thick beefy arms and brought him before Belethor, who instructed his cohorts to bring Edward to his locked quarters.
“Truly astounding Rashid. The datum crystal caught most of the mana you released.”
While I do my skills, there’s the datum crystal that takes all of the information happening in the room. With the mana I’m releasing, the datum crystal will compile all that data and from there, Belethor could reverse-engineer magic similar to mine. We’ve been doing this day after day for three months now. By his estimate, it would take another six months to finish the spell. He thought it would be faster if I possessed someone higher than my rank since the process releases more mana than possessing someone lower.
“By Almarian hierarchy, the one higher than guards are merchants or commanders. I’d like to pick for myself but who do you want boy?