Shadows of the Darkened Veil

The next morning, Ravindra and Sigrid set out to a secret training area for elites, a place hidden underground. It was like an atomic shelter made of stone, this chamber having stood for over 200 years, reinforced by magic to strengthen its structure.

Many soldiers occupied the space—a mix of men and women, though not quite equally balanced, still, the ratio wasn't highly distorted. This diversity was attributed to magic, as women were generally said to have more mana, while men levelled up faster. Men are more attracted towards the ethereal element enchantments while women generally choose light magic, sound magic or even time magic. Sound and time ethereal elements are kind of new to the world and they became favourites of many in a very short time.

Most wore almost identical clothing. Ravindra, however, still needed to acquire some attire. Sigrid changed her mind, suggesting that Ravindra could wear the soldiers' clothing from the secret chamber, which would help him blend in and avoid drawing attention while exploring the large city.

They entered a room with the chamber's chief officer, the location simply called "the Chamber" —unassuming yet hidden in plain sight. An elderly lady in a green cloak with a pegasus symbol on the back, fixed her gaze on Ravindra.

"This is the brat you brought… an Akarvan…" she muttered. "So many questions… How… Anyway, I don't want to disturb your 'secret affairs'… Regarding your question… As far as I can remember, I only have two dark magic rings and a static armour—leather and enchanted, possibly a good piece. But those things might take time to unearth."

Sigrid sighed. "We don't have time. At least get something."

"I don't want to search myself," the old lady retorted. "Are you going to make an old lady look for something so ancient, covered in dust? Go into the Chamber's vault. Find it there." She threw a key, that looked like a normal key but was a magical key.

With reluctant expressions, they proceeded to the vault, knowing that as the chief officer, she was the sole keeper of its secrets. They would have to search independently.

A fake wall concealed the vault, with a magical key that appeared completely ordinary. Simply presenting the key before the wall caused a door to materialize and open.

Once inside, they sealed the entrance. The vault was dusty, crawling with spiders, yet the magical artefacts remained meticulously arranged on the walls. An open ledger sat in the centre, a pen stuck in its spine—presumably to record items being removed or examined.

The space resembled a library, but instead of books, the shelves were lined with rings, armour, boots, pants, and gloves. Weapons hung along the side walls, truly living up to its name as a vault.

Sigrid surveyed the dusty environment while Ravindra explored leisurely. Soon, she grew impatient and instructed Ravindra to search for the armour and ring himself.

"What exactly am I looking for?" he asked with a smile.

"The ring might be difficult," she replied. "Focus on finding the armour. It should be leather and enchanted. Use a tiny bit of mana on any leather armour you find—the one that glows, bring it to me, and after examining it, I will tell if it's the right one or not, you just have to keep doing this and surely after a while, we will find the right one. In the meantime, I'll examine the ledger and let you know if I discover anything."

"Got…it," Ravindra responded with a lazy sigh.

'There are over a hundred leather armours. How many do I have to check?' As he began his search, a solitary ring caught his eye near the library's entrance. 'What's this?' Carefully, he applied the least amount of mana possible, and what he saw nearly made him shout.

"Wow, elder sister! I think I've found a dark magic artefact."

Sigrid approached to examine the ring. "It's not what we're looking for… but use the mana again. I want to see what it does."

Gently touching the ring, Ravindra channelled mana through it. The ring vanished, engulfing its surrounding area in darkness, rendering it almost invisible. While recognizable in the current light, it would provide exceptional concealment at night—allowing Ravindra to lurk in the shadows.

"Good," Sigrid commented, "but that's not our primary objective. We still need the armour. Illusion magic requires magical beads that can only be coordinated through armour."

She explained that magical beads are like small magical rings containing precise arrangements to channel magical energy and produce specific results. While rings are more convenient, they can only execute a single spell. Armour, with its multiple beads, offers greater versatility—allowing spell overlapping and more complex magical applications.

Typically, one could use magic normally by understanding its mechanics. Instead of spending years learning a single spell, practitioners could utilize rings, gloves, boots, or the most complex yet most effective—armours.

Ravindra began searching for a leather armour that would glow when touched with a small amount of mana, indicating its enchanted nature. After examining over 28 leather armours, he finally discovered one specifically designed for dark magic users.

"So… what now?" Ravindra asked.

"We'll need to configure the armour with a specific spell sequence," Sigrid replied, carefully examining the garment. The metallic beads were strategically placed inside the armour, positioned to touch the user's skin for optimal magical conductivity. Leather was discovered to be the ideal material, as it never interferes with magical energy.

"How do we set up the armour with spells?" Ravindra inquired, studying the steel beads embedded within the leather. They were carefully crafted, each bead about twice the size of a regular pea. Most were concentrated on the arms and back, with rare placements on the chest or stomach. This deliberate positioning was due to the highest mana concentration in those areas, and placing beads there could speed up magical activation against will, which in turn could cause other spells to work alongside and also result in higher mana consumption.

"To do that, we need to consult experts," Sigrid explained. "They would integrate and modify the spells within the beads. Usually, it takes about three months and a lot of money to get what we request, just for the sake of the mission we will get in two days or even early. For now, we can only practice with what we have. This armour has been unused for nearly centuries… Now, wear it."

With a sigh, she instructed him to meet her in training room number 6.

Left alone, Ravindra momentarily considered taking something from the vault. 'Uh… I'm alone… I could snatch a thing or two… They'd never know…' But he quickly checked himself. 'No, I'm on a mission. That would be cheap. Besides, I don't even know what to take, and getting caught wouldn't be wise.'

Resisting the temptation, he changed into the armour, suppressing his urge to experiment immediately. 'I should listen to the tutorial before messing up,' he thought.

When Ravindra reached the room, he found the chief officer of the chamber conversing with Sigrid.

"Yes… That's the right one," the old lady commented. The armour was slightly oversized for Ravindra, but neither he nor the others seemed concerned—it was still a valuable asset.

"Let's begin," the Chief of the chamber said, standing from her chair and approaching Ravindra. "Do you have any questions before we start?"

"Yes," Ravindra replied. "If the 'experts' are going to replace the beads, why can't they just create a completely new armour?"

The old lady chuckled. "No, they can't. Dark magic was banned a century ago, and only ethereal magic can create its own armours and rings. You can change the beads, but not the entire armour, for rings they just become useless. You might not even find another armour suitable for a dark magic user unless you craft one yourself. Well, you can do one more thing and that is going after the criminals and rebellions who use the dark magic. For now, you have to deal with what you have."

Ravindra nodded, only partially understanding. Internally, he wondered, 'What's so special? Perhaps the rings and armours are fundamental to spells and require specific ethereal mana to be created.'

His eyes sparkling with excitement, he asked, "How do I use magic?"

"Well," she began, "you need to remember a few crucial rules. First, never use too much mana—depleting it entirely can have severe consequences. Second, focus your mana carefully; don't concentrate too much mana into a single bead, or it could be destroyed. Third, never underestimate your opponent—they might possess something entirely unexpected. Also, never go to dungeons alone till you are at least level 10 and have alternative ethereal magic, it might be difficult to get one at level 10 but not impossible, I could get it at level 22"

She pointed to several training dummies in the room. "Feel each bead in the armour and activate them one by one on those dummies. Be cautious and avoid using multiple spells simultaneously."

"Got it," Ravindra nodded, preparing to challenge the dummies.

He began by exploring the beads near his right hand, but found them unresponsive. No matter how much mana he channelled, they remained dead. Moving to nearby beads, he discovered the same issue—most were either empty or malfunctioning.

After testing over fifteen beads, frustration grew. 'This armour is useless… there should be at least one working bead.'

Two more attempts passed before he found a functioning bead just above his left hand. When his mana touched it, black smoke emerged.

"Magic… Magic… Magic…" a voice chanted from within the smoke.

The old lady turned to Sigrid. "He lost his memories, right?"

Sigrid nodded. "Sometimes he's like a child."

The elderly woman chuckled and, with a simple gesture, made the entire smoke vanish instantly.

"What happened to my smoke?" Ravindra demanded, clearly affronted by the smoke's disappearance.

"That one was useful," Sigrid commented, "but not what we're seeking right now."

"Continue until you can't," she instructed.

"Huh… Yeah, okay," Ravindra mumbled, slightly reluctant but complying.

After examining over twenty more beads, Ravindra discovered one on his back that proved difficult to activate. "It's not responding," he said, scratching his head. "Something seems wrong with this one, but I have a feeling it might work."

"Try using more mana," the chamber's chief instructed, her wrinkled face maintaining a gentle smile. "Apply as much as you can."

The result was extraordinary. When Ravindra channelled maximum mana into the bead, a blade materialized from his back, attempting to stab the dummy but falling short due to insufficient distance and mana. The black blade—or rather, dark-coloured blade—vanished as quickly as it had appeared, seeming like an extension of his own body.

"Woah… it was so fast…" Ravindra muttered, his mana now significantly depleted.

"Was that a copy of Ferromancy?" Sigrid wondered aloud. "The blade's movement was reminiscent of hydromancy."

"I believe so," the chief confirmed, stepping forward to examine the leather armour near the bead, positioned just below the neck, right at the spinal cord.

"His mana is running low," she observed.

Ravindra looked up, a determined glint in his eyes. "I can do this all day," he declared, his enthusiasm undiminished despite his exhaustion.

____

The unnamed dairy continued….

Entry no. three

After the academia, we had a party… I was invited by Ulfic and his friends. My bullies were watching when Ulfic invited me Their envious look gave me such pleasure, all because of Ulfic. I went to his party, they were all really friendly to me. There were so many drinks, everyone was drinking except for me… I was not feeling enough to drink just yet, they were forcing me a lot but Ulfic stood with me, he was dead drunk yet he helped me. I felt like for the first time I was part of a group. We played a game as well, with cards, Ulfic made the bets from my side, and I tried stopping him but he still did my bets. He placed a lot of money on my tab, and in the end I won… It was coincidental. Ulfic gave me all the money that I won and only took his capital. I won over 3000 crests. That is 10 times what I get from my uncle and aunt in a year. It was a fine night. When I reached home, they didn't even seem to care about me. I didn't tell them that I won a chrysos and 3000 crest in a single day.

The next day was surprising, Veronica came to walk me to academia, she asked about the party that happened yesterday, and I gave her a few vague answers. I honestly don't care about her, Ulfic is like a friend and not only him, Taniya, Suryra, or Joe. All of them are more of a friend of mine. They care about me. Unlike Venorica who always pops out when everything is over, she never stopped my bullies, she just asked me if I was ok. Well, she is not so bad, she might have her own problems as well… Anyway, she told me about a hiking plan outside the city, she also asked me to invite my new friends, Ulfic and the team. I simply told her I would try. She seemed a little down. She looked a little sad when she was talking to me. She didn't talk like she used to.

Today, I sat next to Ulfic and his friends rather than sitting alone. We were told the options about your ethereal magic, the academia would help us with ritual at the end of the year. After that I was thinking was joining the military academy, I heard the pay's good. Being a Cryomancer, I don't have to worry about the ritual, Mr. Ashok told me that anything except Black magic works fine with Cryomancer. I was thinking about being an enchantor or a Resonator… maybe a Spatial, the three of them are most compatible with my natural magic. Spatial ethereal magic might not be good enough as it is quite new. Resonance magic could be the best, enchantors are quite common, I don't think I can do good fencing or I am good with a spear. Resonance uses the power of sound to make things go faster and can create larger wounds(Penetration with the help of vibration) than normal ways. I met a Resonanator, he was someone Ulfic knew, after finishing the work at the cafe, I went to the castle directly. he said, "I am so envious that you are a cryomancer… hmm… With Cryomancy you can…shoot the ice really deep into the enemy, I guess. You can create cool traps. With cryomancy, you can do what you want… I will say, for cryomancy, being a Resonator is a great thing… If having such a rare talent as cryomancy, you should focus on cryomancy with Resonace magic. It would be a good pair in my opinion."

I feel like I should try asking more soldiers about Cryomancy since I have got a quarter of the year.