“…”
Freia looked dazed, she got so much information in one go that she started to feel a little bit dizzy.
“Uh, umm…I think…?” → Freia
She was embarrassed, she was barely able to follow what Shen was talking just now.
“Sigh… It’s alright, I’ll write it down on a book anyway. You’ll be free to read it after I’m done, is that good enough?” → Shen
Shen said with a calm smile then he got out from the [One with the Universe: First Chapter] and felt a little bit sleepy.
“Yes! Thank you, your majesty!” → Freia
Freia was extremely gratified. Learning new magic was extremely hard inside the Demon Castle. Every information was classified, making it difficult to learn new forms of magic or information that might help you to grow as a mage. Being able to learn how to make high-magic with no incantation is something that even the Demon-King’s guards would desire.
“Ugh… I’ll be sure to make it clear about the ‘King’ part later… For now, I’m going to sleep, wake me up if there’s something urgent.” → Shen
Being called ‘King’ or ‘majesty’ made Shen feel itchy behind the back of his head. Even though he was prideful, he preferred freedom. Being chained by the title of ‘King’ was something he wished to evade for as much as possible. He might get power but with that power, new forms of responsibility would appear, pressing on his back.
Hell, I just saved the world, escaping of the biggest burden I ever had on my back, now getting a smaller one but with a longer period of time would make me go crazy! I just wish to travel around the world in freedom for goodness sake. → Shen
Shen then regained his vitality and asked with a smile.
“So~. Everyone understood?” → Shen
Nobody was sure if they fully grasped what Shen explained them just now about power-words. In the end, Ashura asked.
“So… what would be the difference if we use a power-word rather than a normal one?” → Ashura
“The mana cost would lessen and the power output would grow significantly, killing two birds with one stone.” → Shen
Shen answered with a smile when he felt like a vein would burst in his head.
“Sigh… It seems I’m still no good with teaching someone just through theory. Alright, look here.” → Shen
Shen then took a stance and chanted: [Fireball]. In his hand, the normal fireball appeared. He felt like he’ll drop at any second now because of the exhaustion. He turned around and explained.
“If I have to number my mana at the moment, then it would be around 60. This fireball just used up 25 from the mana I have, yes?” → Shen
Shen throw’s the fire-ball just like the others, making for the same explosion.
“Now let’s use power-words and the same amount of mana: [आतशबाज़ी] (Firework).
In Shen’s hands, a spark flickered, then it became bigger and bigger, reaching half a meter, needing to hold it above his hand.
“Ha!” → Shen
Shen then threw it in the water, this time further away from the ship. The huge flickering spark flew like a falling star inside the water the exploded like a huge firework. The water was sent more than 10 meters in the air, making the entire ship swing from the waves.
“Wow~!”
Theo and Melinda looked in awe at the mighty power of the explosion.
“So pretty! Why did it take that form? Weren’t you supposed to make a fireball?” → Melinda
Melinda asked confused.
“It’s because there is no word for ‘Fireball’ in Sanskrit of which I know. So I used fireworks which is pretty close.” → Shen
“B-but wait a second. You meant to say you used the same amount of mana for this huge firework as for the fireball just now? The difference is 5 times bigger!” → Freia
Freia was shocked, what if he used the mana needed for an asteroid? Wouldn’t that make for a gigantic asteroid, able to destroy an entire big city? That’s too terrifying.
“Indeed. Also, to fully use the power-words you first need to ‘feel’ them with the soul, just think about it. Yawn, I won’t be able to teach you lot the set of power-words I know. The reason, I don’t fully know them either. Sigh, now I only have 20 mana left. Got to sleep, see ya~.” → Shen
Half-asleep, Shen left the decks and entered his room.
“Shen’s body became so weak… will he remain like this forever?” → Ashura
Ashura asked with anxiety in his eyes.
“No. Shen told me he’ll recover sooner or later but he didn’t say when. I think he just said that so he won’t make us worry.” → Sylvia
Sylvia said while shaking her head. She felt bitter every time she saw him struggling so much.
“W-what do you mean? Is master sick?” → Melinda
Melinda asked with shocked eyes. Theo looked the same way.
“Eh?” → Sylvia
Sylvia was surprised.
Ah! Don’t tell me! They don’t know yet?! → Sylvia
“Shen was crippled after closing the seal. He can’t use chi or mana for too long. Making some fireballs was already his limit it seems.” → Ashura
Ashura blurted out without thinking.
“Hm? What is it?”→ Ashura
He felt some animosity from Sylvia and Freia then asked with some anxiety.
“You idiot! Why did you say that!? And so plainly at that!” → Freia
Freia erupted at Ashura.
“Eh? What?” → Ashura
Ashura was dumbfounded.
Have I said something wrong…? Ah → Ashura
He finally saw Theo and Melinda’s faces then understood immediately the foolishness he done.
“C-crippled? Master is…?” → Melinda
Melinda fell on her knees, unable to accept it.
“You mean master will remain like this forever…?” → Theo
Theo’s eyes contained despair. After that, a fire of rage ignited in him and shouted while his aura burst out uncontrollably.
“Everything is because of that stupid 3rd prince! I swear! I’ll grow stronger and avenge my master! I’ll even erase the entire Demon Castle with these two hands!” → Theo
Theo was fuming, tears were forming in his blood-shot eyes. He felt grievance for not being able to help his master at that time.
“Theo…” → Melinda
Melinda didn’t know what to do so she could calm Theo, she felt the same way as him. Suddenly a warm hand was placed on hers and Theo’s heads.
“You don’t have to worry about him. He’s able to use magic even though his meridians are broken, that in itself is already a miracle. He’ll get past this problem on his own, what we need to do is to support him with all we have, alright?” → Sylvia
Sylvia’s warm smile calmed the two children, making them nod with solemn faces.
“Alright. I believe in Shen, I bet he’ll find a way just as you said.” → Ashura
Ashura calmed down as well.
“Yes. I think so, too.” → Freia
Freia said with a calm smile.
While Shen was sleeping, everyone worked together to control the huge ship in going toward the Antara Kingdom. They had to enter through the pass between the Nostrung and Eihwaz continents inside the “Rising Sea” which is between the two continents. That sea is full of dangerous and gigantic aquatic monsters, also the home-base of pirates which are hunting on the Eastern parts of the oceans. It’s called ‘Rising Sea’ because, when the high tide comes two other huge rivers from around the continents will get swallowed by the Rising Sea, transforming into one huge Sea for around 6 hours every week.
The sun was up and Theo was on the highest point of the ship on the crow’s nest, looking around. He used some shadow magic to stop the rays of the sun to hit his head, making his place look as if it were covered by a shadow, even though there was nothing on top of him. Theo looked around and suddenly, he saw a black dot far in the ocean.
“Hmm…”
He had no binocular or something to help him see further away.
He looked more intently at that little dot. After 10 minutes he saw how the dot became bigger and bigger. After another 10 minutes, he was able to tell that dot was actually a huge ship which was going towards them. After some more time, he finally was able to see the flag, it was black with a white [天] on it. He didn’t know what that sign means but he knew what ‘black flag’ means.
“PIRATES!” → Theo
Theo started to shout and ring the bell from atop the ship.
“What is it, Theo?! Why are you making so much noise?!” → Ashura
Ashura was confused as to why Theo was so agitated. He got out from his room and shot out to the decks.
“There are pirated coming straight at us!” → Theo
Theo screamed from atop the mast.
Everyone else ran on the decks, looking in the distance. They saw a huge ship moving with the same speed as theirs, going straight at them.
“Hoo~? Shall we welcome our guests then?” → Ashura
Ashura was prepared to jump from the decks towards their ship at any moment now.
“Yes. Let’s leave Sir Shen to sleep, just us are enough for these little bandits.” → Freia
Freia said in a cold voice.
Everyone prepared for combat and when the ship was only 300 meters away, Ashura jumped from the decks, straight at the pirates.
“Is that alright?” → Oliver
Oliver, one of the twin-brother elves, asked with a shocked face, seeing Ashura go like an arrow shot from a bow.
“Yeah, it’s fine.” → Freia
Freia said with a calm face. She remembered when Ashura jumped head-first right into her asteroid, destroying it with one punch.
“ROARH!” → Ashura
He roared while flying straight at them, preparing for impact while circulating his chi.
“Hoh~? What a weird torpedo, let me send it right back at you.” → Pirate’s Captain
A pirate with a captain-like hat and nice noble, dark-purple clothes, smiled at the incoming Ashura. He opened his palm and around it, cold air started to spin.
[Frost Bazooka!]
The pirate shouted and right in his hands a huge ice-cannon appeared. Inside the mouth of the cannon, mana started to compress and gather more and more.
“Oh?” → Ashura
Ashura was surprised by the concentrated accumulation of energy, he looked towards the pirate with the huge cannon on his shoulder, locking him in as his target.
“-Eh?” → Ashura
He had a bad feeling about this.
“FIRE!” → Pirate’s Captain
-BOOM~!
The huge quantity of concentrated mana suddenly shot out like a blue energy-ball, leaving behind a blue line.
“Guh!” → Ashura
Ashura tried to block but the shock was so powerful, he sent him right back flying toward the ship.
“What?!”
Everyone on the deck was dumbfounded to see Ashura fly right back at them. Ashura crashed on the decks right where he first launched himself. The deck cracked and he looked at the sky with dumbfounded eyes.
“What kind of magic is that?!” → Ashura
He got up and shouted with an incredulous voice, he never saw such a weird cannon before. Even more, that weird concentration of mana was incredibly cold and powerful. If it weren’t him, even a Saint would’ve been injured by that one shot, making him take some time to recover.
“Woah! He’s still alive! Oy, what do you think about that?” → Pirate’s Captain
The pirate with the captain’s hat laughed and looked at another person beside him.
He had a white-blue sword at his hip shining beautifully, his clothes were just like those of a pirate with a white shirt, leather boots and brown pants. On his head, there was a dark-blue pirate-like bandana. His eyes were blue and his hair black, he looked with cold eyes at Shen’s ship and said:
“These ones might be a bigger pain than the others. Even so, we only steal then run.” →Unnamed Man
“But what if they resist?” → Pirate’s Captain
The captain asked with a big smile.
“Incapacitate. If worst comes to worst we run, if they chase, we kill.” → Unnamed Man
“Aye aye~.” → Pirate’s Captain
The captain said with a playful smile.
“You know~? For a fallen king, you’re still merciful, keke.” → Pirate’s Captain
“As for you, stop taking everything for a game. It’s really annoying.” → Unnamed Man
The man said while taking out his thin sword. He saw Ashura jumping at them again when he made his move.
“This one is mine. See what you can do with the others. Move fast!” → Unnamed Man
After that, young mang-man jumped from the decks on top of the water. He had no problem stepping on it like on Earth. He waited for Ashura to get closer when he jumped at him, cutting forward.
“Ha!” → Unnamed Man
His slash was strong enough to form a shockwave.
“Hmph!” → Ashura
Ashura blocked with his gauntlets and punched forward with one sun forming in his palm.
“[Nova Palm]” → Ashura
“Hm?” → Unnamed Man
The man was shocked and dodged in a hurry.
