Li Donggui's hope had briefly been rekindled, but after his excitement faded, he calmed down again.
Aside from being brushed by waves of magic whenever Leo practiced spells, nothing had changed from the previous fifteen years.
He was still a lonely prisoner, without joy or sorrow.
The scenes displayed beneath the vault of the heavens, however, showed that Leo's fate had undergone a tremendous change.
He had become a cadet officer at Cavendish Military Academy. At the very least, his family no longer had to worry about ending up outside the city.
Without land, a person cast out beyond the city could barely secure even the necessities of life. As a cadet officer, Leo would receive a monthly salary of three hundred copper pennies from the count, enough to provide food and shelter for his family of three.
Another two years passed. Li Donggui watched the viewpoint in the scenes beneath the vault of the heavens rise higher and higher as seventeen-year-old Leo grew noticeably more powerfully built.
In Year 50 of the Order Calendar, with each autumn rain bringing another drop in temperature, the cadets of Class 48 at Cavendish Military Academy were carrying out a thirty-kilometer field march.
Now and then, stubborn sunlight pierced the canopy formed by the leaves, creating three or five shafts of light in his field of vision. The beams kept the dense forest from becoming too dark and allowed Li Donggui to see the details in the scenes beneath the vault of the heavens.
The cadets carried supplies weighing ten kilograms in total, including weapons such as round shields and longswords, as well as necessities such as salt water and bread.
A mage's soul was far stronger than an ordinary person's. Whether in the nervous system or in muscle control, mages possessed an innate advantage. Thus, while ordinary people would find a thirty-kilometer march under a heavy load difficult to complete, mages could manage it.
Before every march, the instructors would terrorize the cadets with warnings that people died during the march every year. Either some hidden illness within their bodies was triggered by extreme exhaustion, or they lost their footing and fell from a cliff.
In the instructor's words, a cadet officer was still an officer. An officer could not fear death, neither the death of soldiers nor his own.
Every year, the military academy had a quota for cadets who died in accidents. As long as the number did not exceed it by too much, no one would hold the instructors responsible.
When they crossed a river, icy water filled their boots, making them extraordinarily heavy. In the lush forest, hot sweat poured from their pores, only to turn cold an instant later.
Sweat trickled across their skin, leaving behind a clammy stickiness and lingering chill. Dew from the leaves and sweat soaked their clothes together, making the forest feel even colder and more oppressive.
Beside Leo was a friend he had met at the academy, Kozmo Enwey. Leo was an E-grade Cipher Mage, while Kozmo was an E-grade Haste Mage.
Kozmo had nearly white hair, which made his skin appear even paler.
The two of them walked at the rear of the marching group. It was not that Leo could not run faster. Kozmo had been in very poor shape lately, and Leo was unwilling to leave him behind and continue alone.
At some point, Kozmo had suddenly lost his enthusiasm for training. He was often weighed down by worries, and his physical condition had declined considerably. His ribs and joints protruded starkly, without the slightest bit of muscle covering them.
Even so, Leo would not distance himself from Kozmo.
A poor boy like Leo found it difficult to make a close friend at the academy. Kozmo was one of Leo's friends, and he had helped Leo adapt quickly to life at the military academy.
The instructor had said that the more one dawdled, the more tired one would feel.
As Leo gradually began to tire, he started wondering whether he should cheat.
In principle, the purpose of the march was to improve their physical fitness.
The word principle was a very rigid description, with no room for maneuver. But once it became “in principle,” one could try to examine that “principle” a little more closely.
Once one began examining it, one would be delighted to discover that no principle was foolproof. Every principle had loopholes.
For example, he was clearly an E-grade Cipher Mage. Why should he be stupid enough to follow the “principle” to the letter?
The instructor was far ahead, and his best friend, Kozmo Enwey, was behind him.
Kozmo wouldn’t snitch, would he? Leo thought.
Li Donggui, watching everything from the Soul Sea, did not see it that way.
From his perspective as an observer over the past two years, Kozmo might not snitch, but there was definitely something abnormal about his words and actions.
Outside one's parents and family, no one treated another person well for no reason.
When someone was especially good to you, you had to be careful. They might be using small favors and petty benefits to obtain a much greater return.
Kozmo's attitude toward Leo was a little too good. It clearly went beyond the bounds of friendship.
At that very moment, for instance, a flickering, uncertain light appeared in Kozmo's eyes.
From Kozmo's perspective, the supplies on Leo's back suddenly began to bounce much more freely. The metal round shield and longsword no longer looked so heavy.
Greed flashed in Kozmo's eyes.
What an incredibly fortunate talent…
Awakening a superstring was fortunate in itself, and among Superstring Mages, there were still degrees of fortune: some were lucky, and some were luckier.
Leo was one of the luckier ones. He had awakened Cipher Magic, which gave him the ability to alter the density of matter.
Kozmo was a little less fortunate. He had awakened Haste Magic, which gave him the ability to alter the state of an object's motion.
Haste Magic could accelerate daggers and arrows, allowing one to kill someone from a hundred paces away. It was the only one of the five schools of magic with long-range offensive capabilities.
It sounded pretty good, didn't it?
But only Kozmo knew how rotten the knowledge taught at this military academy was. The importance of Haste Mages was about to decrease drastically.
His older brother had once secretly shown him a new secret weapon developed by the West Empire: a new type of weapon called a matchlock.
According to Kozmo's brother, the appearance of matchlocks would greatly reduce the usefulness of Haste Mages. A matchlock bullet was at least equivalent to a Grade D Haste spell.
Think about it: an ordinary person holding a matchlock was the equivalent of a Grade D Haste Mage… What were Haste Mages supposed to do in the future?
The prouder Kozmo had been before entering the military academy, the more dejected he became after seeing the matchlock.
Yet the people at this military academy were still immersed in their old assumptions, completely ignorant of matchlocks and the weapons of the other continents.
Kozmo concealed the complicated look in his eyes as he gazed at Leo. The two continued together, heading deeper into the mountains.
The pair at the back of the group continued forward at an unhurried pace. It had been two years, and they knew this field-march route extremely well.
As they passed through a swift river, Leo turned back and said to Kozmo, “Kozmo, be careful. It’s the rainy season, and the current is too strong. If you get swept away, who knows where you’ll end up.”
The sound of a waterfall came from downstream, proving that they were not far from one.
The river flowed extremely fast and offered tremendous resistance. When they took a step, the water rose to their thighs, and even the place where they planted their feet could shift more than ten centimeters.
The river rushed and splashed. Birds called overhead. Everything was so ordinary and normal.
“Leo! Help me! Pull me up!”
Kozmo's voice suddenly rang out. Leo turned around without a second thought. One hand held the heavy load on his back while he stretched the other toward Kozmo.
It was such an ordinary scene that Leo noticed nothing wrong.
Kozmo, however, suddenly stepped forward and charged directly into Leo's completely exposed chest.
Li Donggui wanted to shout from within the Soul Sea, but no sound came out.
There was only silence.
Leo was still confused when Kozmo shoved him into the water. He tried to shout, but a mouthful of icy river water choked his throat.
Kozmo thought to himself:
Haste Magic, which is about to be discarded by the times, lend me your power one last time…
Haste Magic had the ability to alter the state of matter's motion, making it perfect for changing the movement of the current at that moment.
Kozmo manipulated the current, causing it to form a vortex-like waterspout around the two of them. The waterspout swept them along faster than the river itself, driving them downstream.
Without a sound, the two-hundred-person marching group continued onward. No one noticed the splash at the rear of the line.
Several dozen seconds later, two people fell from the waterfall. Leo's cry was drowned out by its violent roar.
The two continued rushing downstream, swept along for a full ten minutes.
For those ten minutes, Leo survived entirely on the last breath in his lungs.
An E-grade Cipher Mage could reduce an object's density only to fifty percent of its original level. The metal longsword and round shield on his back were still a considerable burden.
Worse, Kozmo used one Haste spell after another to hold Leo firmly beneath the water.
Able to alter the current within a small area around himself, Kozmo was the absolute master here. With Haste Magic, he could occasionally change the flow enough to take a breath. Leo, however, remained underwater the entire time.
The air Leo had been holding was exhausted. River water began pouring into his nose and mouth.
Leo knew he was going to drown…
The river water was bitterly cold, yet it made Leo's chest and lungs burn with stabbing pain.
His chest and lungs quickly filled with water. His brain began to throb with the same agony from lack of oxygen. Gradually, the blood in his body stopped circulating.
After five minutes of drowning, brain death would occur.
In the water, Leo's limbs hung limp as the current tossed him about. He no longer resisted at all.
Once Kozmo confirmed that Leo had no vital signs, he struggled to drag him ashore. He then threw Leo down beside a large rock, leaving him half seated against it.
Leo's eyes were open, but there was no life left in them.
Kozmo pulled a parchment scroll from inside his clothing with one hand and pressed the other against the top of Leo's head. The spell script on the scroll glowed with jade-green light.
Li Donggui had seen an introduction to this kind of scroll in Leo's class!
Fallen Soul Mages were known as Disciples of Desire. Disciples of Desire could create a bloody magical item called an Intimidation Scroll.
Fifty years ago, fallen mages had been everywhere across the continent. Carrying Intimidation Scrolls, they hunted delicious souls wherever they went!
Boom!
The entire world of the Soul Sea suddenly shook as if struck by an earthquake!
Li Donggui gripped the railing of the attic and looked up. Cracks appeared across the vault of the heavens within the Soul Sea, and a tremendous force shattered it!
Li Donggui heard a weak voice.
It was Leo East whispering:
I know you exist. You’re in my Soul Sea…
I have no other choice. Please help me…
I want to know what happened…
I want to go back and take care of my mother and little sister…
I want to repay Uncle Steve Doug, who has been so good to us…
Please!
Be my Final Entrustee!