Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

"Don’t you feel anything about it, young master?"

Upon hearing Erik’s indifferent response, Seraphina couldn’t help but ask, a bit concerned, as she attentively watched her young master, who casually replied while continuing to review his notes.

"Not really; I’ve never thought it was anything special. I also killed many animals on the island for food and leather; it’s more or less the same."

"I see..." Seraphina murmured softly, a meaningful look in her eyes. But at that moment, Erik turned to her and asked with a smile.

"Do you have another question?"

"A couple more, young master. But first, I’d like to know: for what reason would you kill another human being?" After nodding her head, Seraphina asked seriously, staring directly into Erik's eyes.

"You can only kill another human in self-defense. In any other way, it’s immoral and, in the long run, will harm your mind," Erik responded with a proud and slightly amused expression, almost like a child correctly repeating a lesson they’d learned.

"That’s a relief, young master."

Seraphina smiled a little at Erik’s answer, mentally noting that she would delve deeper into it at a later date. But first, she decided to ask one more thing. If it were as she imagined, she would need to take immediate action.

"One last thing, young master. How did you manage to avoid the knight’s final attack?"

"I was able to do it thanks to a trick I’ve been working on recently. I call it ‘overdrive,’" Erik responded with a smile, while Ebonique, who had been watching Seraphina closely from the start, closed her eyes and rested on the starry-haired contractor’s head.

"Overdrive?"

Upon hearing the explanation, Seraphina couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion as she asked, to which Erik responded with an amused smile at the adorable behavior of the curious maid, who now followed him everywhere.

“Yes, the idea comes from the fact that, in theory, communing with the Myst gives me an unlimited amount of mana, so I wanted to release all the mana in my body at once, either for a spell or to strengthen myself. The problem is that while that sounds good, in reality it puts an incredible strain on my body, so I can only do it for a couple of seconds before the pain becomes too much to handle.”

After hearing the explanation, Seraphina couldn’t help but look at her young master with evident surprise on her face. After all, that ‘overdrive’ he mentioned was something that, despite there being considerable information about it, was a rare occurrence that only happened in life-or-death situations with mana users who had an incredible mastery of their mana.

A mana user, under normal conditions, could never release all their mana at once. After all, the pressure it places on the body is so immense that it’s a suicidal act, and the body itself inhibits any possibility of doing so. In the same way that an ordinary human can lift tons in an extreme life-or-death situation at the cost of severe injuries, the same happens with the sudden release of all mana. So the fact that Erik could do something like that at will was absolute madness.

"That’s impressive, young master..." Seraphina exclaimed, genuinely astonished by the starry-haired young man in front of her, who could only laugh amused before commenting.

"Haha, well, yes, as you can see, it yields good results, though it’s quite painful. But luckily, I didn’t have to use it much."

Seraphina smiled a little and served a cup of tea as Erik returned to his notes, pulling out a plate of plain cookies and starting to eat while reviewing his agenda and making corrections.

... 

... 

...

"It was determined that the attack on the disciple Erik was orchestrated by the Blackthorn, Xuanling, and Leifs families, under the assumption that eliminating him would give them a window of opportunity to marry Sigrún to the youngest son of the Blackthorn family."

In the middle of the prestigious meeting room of the Arcane University, Adrian reported to the director at the head of the table in a serious and professional manner. Shortly afterward, the director, somewhat puzzled, asked.

"What gave them such a stupid idea? What were they trying to achieve?"

"We actually discovered something interesting. It appears that a few years ago, Oberon Solaris took Aurora Blackthorn, William Blackthorn’s eldest daughter, as his disciple, and she was the one who contacted Gareth to attack Erik, instigated by her younger brother.

Additionally, we were able to determine that Gareth is a loyal follower of Oberon Solaris because apparently, Solaris cured his daughter of a terminal illness several millennia ago, and ever since then, he has followed him unconditionally."

While reviewing a holographic screen in front of him, Adrian explained in a serious tone before showing the director the profile of the traitorous referee’s daughter. The director couldn’t help but ask, both confused and incredulous, as he casually browsed through the information.

"Don’t tell me those fools think they can form a new faction with Oberon’s ‘support’?"

"That’s exactly what they believe, Director," Adrian replied, a wry smile on his face, which caused the director to burst out laughing, entirely ruining his wise and elder image.

"Hahahaha!!!"

After calming down a bit, the director looked at Adrian, who had a forced smile on his face, and then commented, still clearly amused, in between laughs.

"I already knew that William was a bit stupid, but this? He’s outdone himself! It’s possibly the funniest thing I’ve heard in the last century, hahaha."

“Well, William Blackthorn is known for not having a good head on his shoulders and being more ambitious than is good for him, but it is certainly beyond comprehension how he could have thought of wanting to bring trouble to the man who hates it most in the galaxy.” Adrian nodded, feeling truly amazed that someone with such limited mental capabilities could reach the Master-level—a true mystery worthy of study.

"Hehe, truly foolish, but that old bastard took on a disciple. How strange. Oh well, I suppose it’s time to go steal some resources—I mean, to collect fair compensation for the damages caused by that relic’s disciple." The director commented playfully, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Adrian could only sigh tiredly before asking, returning to the original topic.

"How should we handle this matter with the Blackthorn, Xuanling, and Leifs families, Director?"

"As for the Blackthorn and Xuanling, make sure to take a good chunk from them and leave them to the court. If they dare refuse, eliminate them. We need to send a strong and clear message about what happens when you mess with the Arcane order. As for the Leifs, leave them to Sigrún. She’ll know how to handle the situation," the director quickly responded in a serious tone, to which Adrian swiftly nodded before asking with a concerned expression.

"Understood, Director. And how should we handle the disciple Erik?"

"Hmm, that’s a great question, but first, I want to speak with the boy personally before making a decision." After pondering for a moment, the director commented, which couldn’t help but surprise Adrian, who quickly asked.

"Are you sure, Director? Didn’t you commit to not interacting with him?"

"Hehe, this is an extraordinary situation. It’s necessary to talk to him to determine the emotional impact he suffered from the attack."

With a playful tone and a smile on his face, the director replied, to which Adrian could only sigh in defeat, imagining the massive scandal Eleonora and Sigrún would cause when they found out. Even worse, he dreaded the amount of resources they would extort from the faction’s coffers.

"Well, it’s best to get it over with quickly. See you!"

Suddenly, the director got up from his chair and commented cheerfully. Adrian wanted to stop him, but the director was quicker and disappeared from view in an instant.

(They really don’t pay me enough…)

A tired thought crossed Adrian’s mind as he stared at the now-empty meeting room. After a weary sigh, he left the room to carry out the instructions of his faction leader, who always loved creating problems that he had to solve.

 ...

Moments later, the director appeared in the sky, several kilometers from the garden of Sigrún’s mansion. From there, he could see Erik arranging various magical devices and equipment while seriously reviewing his notes. He was accompanied by his wolves, Ebonique and Seraphina, who were watching him attentively from a distance.

After observing curiously for a moment what Erik was doing, the director blinked again, this time reappearing about 100 meters from Erik in stealth mode. But something surprising happened.

The moment he appeared, he noticed that Ebonique had increased her size and was now surrounding Erik, while two silver machetes materialized in the boy’s hands. At the same time, a terrifying killing intent filled the air, making it almost thick and heavy.

Realizing he had been discovered so easily, the director could only smile bitterly. He dropped his stealth mode, now smiling cheerfully, and commented with interest as he looked at the curious, star-haired boy who, somehow, had a monster like that dragon as a personal bodyguard—a luxury no one should be able to enjoy.

"Haha, you’ve got sharp senses."

"Who are you?"

Erik asked cautiously, while Tiberius appeared as a shadow on one side and Kaiser as a lightning bolt on the other, both ready for battle. But at that moment, the man in front of him spoke with a relaxed smile and a casual tone, leaving Erik perplexed.

"Well, everyone calls me the director."

Doubting what he had just heard, Erik glanced at Seraphina, who nodded affirmatively while crossing her arms and glaring at the director, clearly offended by his sudden appearance.

"So, you're the leader of the faction. I apologize, but appearing in the sky and then next to me gave me a very bad feeling."

A bit more relaxed, Erik spoke in a formal tone as the machetes disappeared from his hands and the wolves returned to their normal forms, along with Ebonique, who shrank back down, resting on his head. Though, she didn’t forget to give the director a warning look, which sent a cold sweat down his spine. Quickly recovering, the director responded in a casual tone.

"Haha, don’t worry. I just wanted to talk to you a bit about the recent incident and ask what you’d like as compensation."

"You’re offering me compensation? What can I ask for?" Erik’s eyes lit up like flashlights at the director’s words, and he asked excitedly. The renowned faction leader smiled brightly in response.

"Hehe, just tell me what you want, and we’ll see if it’s possible."

"How about a couple of things from this list?" With a quick motion, Erik tore a page from his notebook and sent it over to the director with one of his ghostly hands. The director couldn’t help but ask, intrigued.

"Do those solidified Myst hands have a name?"

"Oh yeah, I call them ghostly hands. After seeing how useful telekinesis was, I wanted to create something similar and ended up with this," Erik replied as he made the ghost hands visible. The director, clearly interested, commented.

"You’re very creative."

"Haha, thanks."