19 - Butterfly Effect [1]

My time with Eris was done and I’d headed back to my hostel having made peace with her.

Wendy had also returned to her hostel and I was alone in my room now.

No better time than this to practice and see just how much Essence I could manipulate. After all, this is the freest I’ve been all day.

I sighed, looking outside and then at the time.

It was dark outside and time was racing fast towards midnight.

[11:39 pm]

Regardless, I continued. I needed to know before classes tomorrow.

’I wonder how the coming days would be if one day was this hectic.’

Following my complaints, I shut my eyes and performed some breathing exercises briefly.

[Heaven’s Touch]

One of my techniques, stemming primarily from Wendy’s Greater Heal, activated with a thought of mine.

Absolute Zero was too unruly.

Using it also meant a chance of it getting out of my control and causing damages that I couldn’t predict.

Heaven’s Touch was a high level healing technique, sitting at SS+ rank.

Nevertheless, it was still a healing technique.

Rarely, and almost impossibly, could a healing ability turn offensive. Thus, it was easier to control.

I focused inwardly, seeking out the core of my Essence and drawing upon it.

The plane was to guide the flow and circulate to where I wanted the healing to take place — my neck, where Eris’ weapon had left a small cut.

I didn’t use this skill in front of her for obvious reasons.

She is still barely able to register the extent of Absolute Zero, how much if she saw my wounds heal to normalcy in a matter of seconds.

I felt it.

The core of my Essence. It was within my reach.

I reached deeper, solely guided by profound concentration.

This part wasn’t tedious.

Truth to be told, I was surprised it wasn’t.

With the invisible hands of focus, I pulled on it.

The Essence was now similar to strings unwinding around a ball.

It wasn’t tedious still but I could feel deep down that my control needed more practice.

It was not unexpected however.

Link Remington had only trained in sword arts all his life.

He never imagined a time where he would have to re-train himself as a caster.

I was happy. At least this part was not hectic, considering that this body had no experience in manipulating Essence the way casters did.

—Thump! —Thump!

After a couple seconds, I realized that I spoke too soon.

My heart hammered against my chest, almost throwing me off.

My eyes flung open.

I gasped, deeply even.

Mouthfuls of air were necessary to keep me stable.

Such a reaction to what I was doing was unexpected.

I just knew it!

It was too good to be true. How could it be that easy?

I took more deep breaths, resolving to keep away from this practice for now.

It was heavy on me.

Without a way to meet the enormous mana requirement of such high level technique, it was useless activating it.

I needed to act fast.

I checked my neck and I could only feel my skin in its natural continuity.

There was no break.

No nick had gone and the wound completely healed.

Even with a failed attempt at channeling the full effect of Heaven’s Touch, I was still able to heal myself with the little I did.

That’s just... broken.

What would happen when I finally mastered it?

I thought back to my conversation with Bran Livingston.

"Three days, Link. Give me three days to work it out. By then I will have something for you," he said to me then.

I had no doubts whatsoever.

Bran would keep his word.

He was someone who believed in the honour of one’s word. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

How much more when he had the resources?

Personally, I believe he requested three days to sort out the best place among a list of craftsmen guild his family was in business with.

I exhaled deeply and laid with my back on the bed.

"If he could get it from her..." I muttered, remembering my request.

During our conversation, I had put in a suggestion to try the best craftsman guild in the country.

While it was a good idea, Bran frowned at it.

The guild master of that particular group was a difficult one to find.

Seeing her wouldn’t come without a cost but if I could... that would be a priceless opportunity.

My life in this world was starting to spread out like a spider’s web, becoming more complex with every hour I spent here.

All of this was to achieve my final goal—completing all the scenarios.

Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder what the effect of my interference with the plot would spiral into.

They may seem little and negligible now but who knows.

That’s exactly how the phenomenon of the butterfly effect worked.

****

The academy’s clinic.

Dr Grace stepped into the sanitation area, standing right in the middle of a circular pattern.

She was stark naked, not even the least jewelry was on her.

She remained still for a complete minute and then the pattern activated.

It first shone with bright light that was tolerable and then steam filled the sanitization chamber.

Every inch of the doctor’s body felt the steam permeating through to wash off whatever she might have carried from the clinic.

This was a precautionary measure that was put in place by her for the sake of everyone’s safety. Especially for the research unit, which she directly led.

With a click, the exit door of the chamber opened, allowing some steam escape as Dr Grace walked out.

Water dripped all over her body, trickling down from her shoulders to her breasts all the way to her navel.

She dried herself and put on a change of clothes as she prepared to leave the clinic.

—Ring!

She heard a ring and raised her wrist to see the runic markings that wrapped around it like a watch glowing.

This rune served as a channel for communication.

—Tap!

A single tap on the markings and a little light projected from it, revealing a face.

"Hello, Dr Carson," Dean Ambrose Wells greeted from the other end.

"A good evening to you, Dean Ambrose."

The dean smiled. "Always a pleasure to see you."

After a brief exchange of hearty pleasantries, Dean Ambrose decided to get right to it.

"Forgive me. I had some very important things to get out of the way first. What is the matter for which you called earlier?"

"I understand," Dr Grace replied.

She walked over to where her properties were, picking them one after the other as she explained the reason for reaching out earlier.

"Are you sure about this!"

Just a few minutes into the call and the dean’s emotions were already high.

Dr Grace nodded, confident in the certainty of the information she had just given.

"I have reasons to believe that one of our cadets has re-awakened."

"Who’s that?"

Dean Ambrose acted with impatience.

That was not out of order, since matters of awakenings and re-awakenings were serious topics, especially the latter.

Dr Grace paused, as if to catch her breath and then spoke, uttering just two words.

"Link Remington."