Chapter 268: Party Training I

A few minutes later...

Regis had now calmed down as he observed Marzana’s state.

However, no matter how closely he observed, the elven girl seemed fine.

It was as if the scene of her blood vessels bursting when Regis was in control of her body a moment ago had been nothing but an illusion.

Marzana looked at him with a calm expression, though the excitement deep within her pitch-black eyes was very obvious.

"You said earlier that you get it now. What does that mean?"

The slight tremble in her voice betrayed her attempt to appear calm.

Still, Regis did not dwell on the fact as he fell into deep thought, only replying a moment later.

"Well, you see. When I possessed your body earlier, the strange black energy you have attacked my soul until I had no choice but to leave your body."

"Moreover, it was not limited to the attack that focused on the soul and mind. When I was possessing you earlier, that black energy of yours made it feel as if it was going to continue injuring your body had I stayed for longer."

Marzana’s long, pointed ears twitched lightly as she picked up something from his words, "Wait, you were telling me that you— or I— was injured earlier?"

She looked at her arms and fingers, and even checked her face from the nearby wall-mounted mirror.

"Strange, I don’t feel anything at all. This should not be possible unless I awakened a certain racial ability..."

Regis tilted his head, "Wait, I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Have you ever been injured in your whole life? It was better if you shed blood."

Faced with his strange question, Marzana did not think too much about it as she thought for a moment before replying.

"Eh? No... Why did you ask?"

Regis had a confused expression on his face as he followed up right after.

"But you told me you did everything to know more about that strange power?"

"Obviously, I tried meditating for mana and even physical training for aura... There were also times when my family tried to infuse energies to my body, but to no avail."

"Did you ever think about hurting yourself to see if that power of yours had healing abilities?"

"Not really... I never thought of hurting myself..."

Before Regis could react, Marzana added with a hint of a smile, "Besides, even with my family seeing me as an outsider, no one would dare hurt a royal like me."

’That’s a really strange thing to be proud about...’

Regis was at a loss for words.

He shook his head at the next second, choosing not to dwell on her strangeness, "So there are still some things to try, huh..."

"W-What do you mean by that..." Marzana used her arms to cover herself with a scared expression on her face.

Pak—-!

"Ow!"

Regis wordlessly flicked her forehead before falling into deep thought, not minding the elven girl who pouted as she rubbed her forehead.

"I didn’t think you’re one to make jokes... Well, let me finish what I was telling you earlier."

The elven girl looked at him and raised her brows, "What do you mean?"

"I told you earlier that your black energy attacked my soul, right?"

"Yes."

At her words, Regis revealed a smile, "When you awaken a racial gift, what happens?"

"Eh, why ask something you know the answer to?"

Although specific information regarding the humans’ gifts and the other races’ racial abilities was kept secret by each of their governing powers, general information could still be found.

Like the fact that both humanity’s gifts and other races’ racial abilities, at the time of awakening, would actually enable them to "unlock" memories regarding these abilities as if they were born with them.

Of course, the degree of "remembering" differed for both cases.

Still, Marzana decided to answer his question, albeit with a bit of confusion, "Like when you humans awaken gifts, we elves also gain memories regarding our abilities... Wait..."

Even with the moniker of the royal lineage’s "Cursed One", "Black Sheep", and other nicknames with negative connections, the elven girl was still, at the end of the day, a part of the royal lineage.

From a young age, she had already been swamped with various tutors that thought her various knowledge.

Moreover, the elven royal family had a grand library and access to various kinds of resources.

Thus, Marzana, no matter how different she looked from other elves, was actually quite outstanding in terms of other qualities.

Especially intelligence.

As such, it did not take long for her to know what Regis was implying.

"You mean to say..."

Regis nodded without even letting her finish speaking, "The black energy inside you revealed details about it the moment it made contact with my soul.

"Is that so..." Marzana’s eyes shone with anticipation.

Even with a race as old as hers, the field of souls could only be said to be barely scraped due to its innate complexity.

However, that was exactly why she was happy.

For something unexplainable like her black energy to be controlled, only another unexplainable thing would have a chance at doing so.

Regis smiled at her reaction before speaking, "As of now, the only thing I’m sure of is the fact that your black energy seemed to be on the level of the divine and demonic powers."

"Indeed, it is a higher form of energy..." Marzana nodded in understanding.

"Oh? It seemed like you had suspected this?"

"Yes, it makes sense, after all. My family, before they hated me, had done everything in their power... And considering that our matriarch is the Queen of Elves with a direct relation to the Mother Tree, the only thing that would make her so helpless was an energy of a higher form."

’The matriarch... to address her own mother with such distance...’

Her words made Regis fall into deep thought, though he shook his head in the next second, thinking, ’Well, I didn’t even know my mother, so I guess I’m not one to judge...’

However, a fleeting image seemed to have passed in his mind as his thoughts wandered, ’Though, I guess a mother would be like...’

Shaking his head once again, Regis focused on the matter at hand.

Marza tilted her head at the sight, "You kept shaking your head, are you alright?"

"Y-Yes, I am." Regis stammered at her sudden question, before adding a moment later.

"Anyways, the other thing that I discovered earlier was a hint of your black energy’s qualities."

"Qualities?" The elven girl asked, not bothering to hide her joy.

"The fact that your black energy seemed to deconstruct the energies themselves... like it sort of ’hates’ everything. I don’t really have an exact word for it; we’ll need a few more sessions for me to know everything I can."

"When would our next session be?"

"Right now."

"What? Don’t you need to rest?" Although Marzana spoke words of concern, she had already sat on the wooden stool and entered a meditative state.

Regis shook his head with a smile, "We need to hurry before I adapt."

"Before you what?"

"Nevermind, ready yourself."

As Regis prepared to use Soul Possession on her, he could not help but think, ’I really am shaking my head a lot today...’

***

In the main area of the underground training hall...

Killian looked at the adventurer party before him with a scrutinizing gaze.

He had his arms crossed as he muttered, "These wannabe knights..."

"Wannabe knights..."

Zild could not help but choke as he heard his mutters.

Well, Killian’s mutter was not exactly a "mutter" as even Pandora, who was training the mages on the other side, heard him clearly.

In front of her, the huge Lesfera asked with concern, "Ms. Pandora, would they really be okay?"

Hearing the word "Ms." added before her name, the corner of Pandora’s lips involuntarily curled up slightly.

She then replied without giving Killian and the others a single glance, "They’ll be fine."

Although she highly doubted that they would be fine, Lesfera chose to ignore them as well.

While Regis and Marzana were having their private training, the others were not slacking off.

Pandora gathered the mages and the others willing to learn a bit of magic, which were really just Lesfera, the only mage, and Vanta, which consisted of Vanessa, Brutt, and Perto.

Aside from Gotun’s party leader, who looked like she was having a good time, the Vanta party looked like they were already at death’s door.

Pandora glanced at them with her passive-but-strict gaze, "These are just the basics..."

Vanessa and the two others seemed to feel goosebumps all over their body as they hurriedly picked up the magic theory books in front of them, "Y-Yes, Ms. Pandora!"

Though deep in their minds, the three were thinking the same thing: "She’s scary!"

Once again hearing "Ms." before her name, Pandora had a satisfied expression on her face.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

’Should I just fight him again...?’

Zild felt frustrated at the thought that the blonde, pretty boy before them would be the one to facilitate their training.