Chapter 41: Thirty-six Sections: Night Talk (Part One)
Malin recounted the entire process of their arrival at the deserted stronghold to their eventual escape to Colin, leaving him utterly astounded. Colin sized Malin up and down: "You said you used several third-circle spells," he said. "Hasn’t your spiritual energy been depleted?"
"I feel like I could cast at least four more third-circle spells, if not more," Malin said, somewhat perplexed by his own spiritual energy pool—it seemed to be double the normal amount, and when casting Sacred Rites or Curse Formulas, the energy consumed was only about thirty percent of the usual, while Assistance Magic took up more, nearly fifty percent.
Only the Shaping Spell of his youngest brother used the normal seventy percent of spiritual energy.
"Your talent is unmatched, not just by me, but probably in this entire century," Colin, who had been overshadowed by Malin’s talent for some time, was now used to it.
Fifteen minutes later, Old Ferrero, riding his donkey, arrived at the city gate. He immediately checked on Malin, and once he confirmed that Malin was indeed safe and sound, proceeded to inspect the other young masters. When he got to Jon, Ferrero’s gaze nearly dissected him, causing the poor boy to nervously believe he couldn’t escape being burned after all.
But in the end, he passed the inspection, and with a terse "Approved," Old Ferrero rode his donkey back to the Church... reportedly to catch up on sleep.
Half-elves these days have learned the art of beauty sleep; the world is becoming a scarier place.
While making such complaints, Malin heard Colin’s voice: "In any case, everyone can get a good rest today. At dawn, we can take the route back to recover those bodies, if they are still there. After confirming the type of these different kinds, let’s start hunting them."
Since all the youngsters had escaped back on their own, Colin couldn’t possibly send the Punishers into the forest to fight the different kind in the middle of the night, so he disbanded the troops. The Punisher commanders from each church would be responsible for reporting the details of the incident to their superiors, and naturally, Malin was escorted back to the Church by Colin.
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