[Luke calm down, you need to breathe.]
The pain the half-wolf felt was something indescribable to him. Even after so many life-or-death duels, so many scars, this agonizing sensation was something the young man had never felt before. It was as if the man's heart was being ripped apart, mixed with a gigantic pressure in his chest.
His breathing quickly became heavy, and his consciousness was completely white.
For the first time in his life, Luke literally started screaming in pain, which alerted Meredith, who was staying in the next room.
She opened Luke's door quickly and, in desperation, knelt down to place Luke's head on her thighs.
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Zhanid and the two chariot drivers.
The old wizard calmly walked up to Luke Lange, removed the staff he carried on his back, excused himself to Meredith and began silently reciting a spell.
The spell, which Zhanid was reciting, lit the entire room with an emerald green light. Gradually, flowers with blue petals appeared around Zhanid, all flying. They then formed a circle above the half-wolf, and slowly began to rotate, maintaining a single speed.
The boy's chest began to glow white, pulsing at the speed of his breath. Gradually the pain that the half-wolf was feeling was lessened, but from enduring so much pain he ended up unconscious.
Meredith had tears in her eyes when she saw Luke's face finally calm down. Her fear disappeared, and she was relieved.
Now she no longer had such a negative view of the flamboyant mage Zhanid, but rather a kind of respect, albeit fear, typical of the half-fox.
With a more serious face this time and without his characteristic laugh, the mage said,
"I think it should be fine for now. I figured something like that was happening to him after he showed so much interest, but, sheewwsh, That curse of his is really heavy."
"Thank you very much!" Meredith immediately thanked him, bowing to the old man as a gesture of her immense gratitude.
The old wizard glared at Luke as he put his staff back on his back and then walked out of the room after giving Meredith a friendly wink.
The two wagon guides then looked at each other, not sure how to react, and started talking about how amazing Zhanid's magic was.
The voices gradually faded from the room, as did the footsteps on the wooden floor.
"Luke, you're here again, my dear. It must have been so agonizing… I'm sorry to put you through this one more time."
The half-wolf was back in that stark white world where the Scale claimed to be the core of his soul. The Goddess was already waiting for him, so she approached with a smile and opened her arms to him.
Again, the man was confused by what had happened. The two sat down and started talking about it. For Luke, that pain brought him there, was what confused him even more. Even at the beginning of the curse, he didn't feel such pain.
"I died?" asked the half-wolf with a confused face, and an almost ironic smile, already expecting a negative answer.
Yala then gave a small laugh and covered her mouth with her right hand.
"Haha! Obviously not. Hazor's friendly mage managed to treat the Curse's effect. You just can't remember everything because you were passed out."
"This will still get a lot worse, won't it?" He asked.
For some reason, that question made the Scales look uncomfortable.
In the Goddess's mind, these effects were only getting worse because of her presence, and she blamed herself for that. Theoretically, the mana coming from the Cursed Items was trying to cure the mana Curse, but the Scales' presence was being recognized as part of that curse because it was taking advantage of Luke's soul fragmentation.
All this caused conflicting feelings in her. On the one hand, she wanted to help the young man, but on the other hand, she didn't want to see him suffer any more.
"Yes, it will get worse. That's why we need to create an artifact for you. The mana you now have may stabilize the curse for awhile, but as long as we don't have an artifact, these effects will continue to occur, because the mana is trying to cure the curse at all costs, even if you die in the process..." Ayla showed her insecurity.
Luke then sighed and lay on the floor, hands behind his head.
"In the end, there's not much that can be done, it's already a relief to know that I'm not in paradise right now."
The half-wolf's relaxed manner lightened the mood a little.
The two continued talking for a while longer, and the friendship between the Goddess and the ex-thief grew stronger every day.
After a while, Luke fell asleep as before, and Ayla watched him sleep.
Just like a few days ago, when the boy woke up, it was already the next day.
Meredith arrived in front of Luke's room and knocked twice on his door, but didn't wait for an answer and just went inside.
A huge smile appeared on her face as soon as she saw Luke's eyes open.
"You really are a tough guy..." She said.
Luke smiled. "Can you tell me what happened yesterday? You helped me, didn't you?"
The half-wolf knew that people had entered his room because of the residual smell that lingered in the room.
"You got me really worried, you know? If it wasn't for Zhanid here, I don't even want to imagine what could have happened. We need to find a way to deal with it."
This phrase created a certain discomfort in Luke. He had become so strong in recent years, but now he was unable to react to this curse. The feeling of being unable to find an agile and coherent solution was too stressful for Luke, which was making him more anxious to get to Melki's Academy of Magic.
After some time of talking, the two came down from the second floor of the inn and went to breakfast.
As a toast, the inn they were staying at prepared a small meal for each overnight guest.
On the table was bread, jam and butter, as well as some tea and hot milk.
The group ate, listened to Zhanid give more details about how magic was used in combat, non-stop as usual, and then left the house. The subject of what had happened the night before was not a topic that anyone wanted to touch on.
Luckily, the two brothers had already fed the horses in the morning, so it was only necessary to continue the journey.
To distract himself along the way, Luke continued reading a book called "Elemental Magic Techniques" which consisted of a series of basic elemental magic combinations with sword and bow combat. Through that book, he managed to get good ideas for using <Vind> and <Yggdrasil>, which were considerably stronger than any elemental magic mentioned in that book.
However, the idea of ??developing in the magical arts was something that couldn't get out of the half-wolf's head. Alchemy and mana heal minor and major problems, but they are not always infallible. As a former thief, Luke knew that the more different abilities he gained, the better his chances of victory against the First Servant and the other demons. Besides, Luke felt he was carrying a burden now, the burden of thousands of human souls.
The trip went on smoothly for most of the time, and before anyone in the group noticed, half the day had passed.
When the group arrived at the outskirts of Yukiat, Zhanid chose to stay at an inn far from the center of Yukiat. He was a famous figure in the region, so if he were recognized it could create quite a stir.
The group could head to the port the next morning, take an exclusive ship from Melki's Magic Academy to the island where the school was located.
Despite Zhanid's fame, the very existence of the academy was not something that was talked about in the region.
Typically, students at this place were recruited for feats, relevant skills, or special talents, making it a difficult place of study to infiltrate. The academy's own region, which was located on an island a little far from Yukiat, made it difficult for visitors to appear outside the school year.
As soon as the group arrived at the inn, Meredith went to her room to take a shower, because she was exhausted.
The two brothers who had accompanied them for the entire journey this time chose to complete the rest of the Yukiat path, as they had some unfinished business to resolve.
Thanks to all of them, Luke and Zhanid were left alone, and so the old man made an unusual proposal to the half-wolf:
"Help me collect some mushrooms, boy?"
Luke was curious about the reason for the invitation, but accepted without question. The two left the inn and entered the woods next door.
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