The Beginning After The End

kind of scared to hear the truth.

”That ’s just what I was about to do, brat. ” Virion rolled up his sleeves and imbued some mana into his palms.

”Wait! Art, turn around! ” Tess was obviously out of breath but she was also aware that something was different with her body.

”Sigh… I already saw everyth— ”

”NOW! ”

”—yes ma ’am. ”

”Psh…former king? More like whipped dog, ” I mumbled to myself as I turned my back to them.

”I-It can ’t be… Ha ha ha… W-What in the world? ” I heard Virion ’s trembling voice.

”What? What is it? What stage is her core at, Gramps? Dark yellow? Don ’t tell me… she ’s at solid yellow like me? ” I was itching to turn around.

”Half a step away from Initial Silver.
She almost broke through into the initial silver stage. ”

”What? ” I whipped my head back, causing Tess to wrap the robe covering her even more tightly.

Ignoring Tess ’ glare and protests, I put my hand on her abdomen…
over the robe.

He was right… Even when sensing directly, I couldn ’t recognize the extent of her mana core, which meant she was at a higher level than I was.

Both Gramps and I fell straight to our bums in utter disbelief.

She broke through out of Light Orange and into the Dark Yellow stage not too long ago.
That meant she skipped through all of Yellow and straight into Initial Silver?

This gravity-defying news was hard for me to swallow.
I took my body ’s composition for granted; because I was a quadra-elemental mage, it was a lot easier for me to break through, but it had become distinctively harder to get past bottlenecks once I reached the Dark Yellow stage.
Not to mention the fact that I broke through at age 3—much earlier than everyone else.

The ”gifted ” students in this academy have ten years to pass the final exam in order to graduate.
There was no set stage that a student ’s core had to reach in this time but on average, alumni tended to be around Light Orange stage by the time they graduated.
After reaching that stage, they would be given a seat among the upper echelons of practically anywhere they went.

For even the most talented dual-elemental mages, it should take exponentially longer for them to make breakthroughs if at all, but Tess had just been able to break that common sense and skip straight past the threshold just before breaking into the Initial Silver stage.
That was potentially a couple decades of cultivation condensed into a mere fortnight…

The absurdity of it all…

”What the hell did you give her, brat? ” Virion asked.
”I ’ve never heard of a beast will tempering a mana core.
Or did it perhaps have anything to do with that orb you threw at her? ”

”Grandpa, what did you mean by ’half a step away ’? What orb? ” Tess echoed, puzzled by our conversation.

”I-I thought it was just some kind of elixir… ” I was at a loss for words.

What the hell was that vanishing elixir shop?

”Arthur, if there ever was such an elixir that could do what that orb did just now, wars would break loose in hopes to win it, ” Grandpa Virion shook his head, still in shock as he imagined everything he ’d just told me.
”How did you get your hands on whatever orb that was anyway? ”

Oh, you know, I got it from a homeless-looking fellow that owned a disappearing Elixir shop…

”Ha ha ha haha…
I got it for a silver coin, Gramps. ”

Virion gawked at me incredulously.
By his expression, I bet he would ’ve been less surprised if I told him I stole if from a god.

”I don ’t exactly know myself.
I kinda got that orb from a peddler but that ’s as much as I know… ” I let out another small laugh in helplessness.

”Can you tell me what ’s going on? You guys weren ’t actually being serious right? ” Tess immediately began focusing on her mana core.
”No way… m-my mana core is light yellow now… and it already has so many cracks on it, ” she said as her voice trembled.

”H-Honey… you ’re actually a peak light yellow core mage now, ” Grandpa Virion mumbled, almost whispering.

Tess ’ eyes rolled back as she fainted, her body slumped against Sylvie ’s back as my bond moved just in time to catch her.

”This girl just can ’t stay awake… ” I grumbled as I positioned her more comfortably on the grass floor.

”She ’s sure to be exhausted after having gone through all of this; her body was under constant stress, and breaking through more than three stages at once took a toll on her mind as well.
I guess the realization was the tipping point. ” Virion let out a chuckle as he picked her up.

”I ’m going to take her back to Elenoir through the gate.
She needs some rest, and I ’m sure my son and daughter-in-law are still worried.
Kukuku, I ’m kind of looking forward to how they ’ll react to this.
Sigh~ Imagine… Princess Tessia, a silver core mage at the age of 13, ” he boasted with a wide grin on his face.
”Do you want to come with me? ”

”I ’ll pass on that.
I know Tess is safe, and she knows I ’m safe as well; that ’ll have to do for now.
We ’ll catch up when she returns to school, ” I replied.

”Mm.
I have a meeting with The Council that I ’ve been avoiding ’til now, so I won ’t get to see you for a while.
Get some rest, boy. ” Grandpa Virion threw me wink and walked out of the training room with Tess in tow.

She was at a higher level than me now…

My mind kept going back to the homeless man and his elixir shop.
Was the orb he gave me really the reason she was able to break through like that? There wasn ’t any other explanation otherwise.

”Kyuu~ ” ’Papa, I ’m hungry! ’ Sylvie hopped back onto the top of my head and kept thumping my forehead in complaint.

”Haha, me too, Sylv.
But before we go back, let ’s visit your Uncle Elijah, ” I replied, rubbing my bond ’s ears.

”Kuu… ” ’…But, food. ’

_______________________________________________________

”Arthur! ” Elijah roared as he nearly head-butted me.

I had an eerie sense of déjà vu, but this scene wasn ’t nearly as heartwarming.

”There there.
Yes, I ’m still alive.
You can ’t get rid of me that easily, ” I said in consolation, patting my best friend ’s head.

”I know… ” he sniffled.
”You ’re like a cockroach. ”

This brat…

I peeled him off of me; again, very similarly to how I ’d done just thirty minutes ago, but the person in front of me this time had a string of mucus hanging out his right nostril, the other end of the slippery secretion attaching itself to my shirt.

A friend… my best friend.
Elijah was an entity I had now in this life that I had so wanted in my previous one.
A person I could let loose and be a child with again, no matter how old or grand I was before.

”Haha! It ’s good to see your disgusting face again, pal, ” I grinned at him, patting him on the shoulder.