Turning
chapter-312

"Alright, let's calm down now and assess how much your condition has improved."

Despite the significant passage of time, the members were reluctant to let Yuder go. Their pure joyous embrace had long since morphed into an enforced contact, a conduit through which pent-up anger was unleashed. As Yuder let out a small groan under the grip of their tight embraces, warning him not to even dream of engaging in the dangerous act of fighting monsters alone again, Kishiar, who had been leaning against the wall, intervened.

"But, Commander. Do you think Yuder would even tolerate this if not for the circumstances?"

"You're right. Let us scold him a bit more."

The members protested with a sense of regret, but Kishiar was a step ahead.

"Well, if you want to continue, I can't help it. I don't want to miss my turn to scold him either. Let me join in."

As Kishiar approached with open arms, the members quickly lost their will. Yuder sighed with relief, finally released from the intense pressure that nearly broke him. Lusan, who had been watching and laughing from a distance, approached to examine Yuder closely.

"The venom that had seeped into your skin is rapidly disappearing, and your body temperature is normal. Let's see if you can accept the divine power now."

Unwrapping the bandages around Yuder's limbs, Lusan scrutinized the remaining dark discoloration and infused them with divine power. Until recently, these spots would temporarily disappear when receiving divine power, only to increase again. However, this time was different. As Lusan noticed the spots gradually fading to a normal color without reappearing, a sense of relief and joy appeared on his face.

However, while his body was regaining strength relatively quickly, his eyes were not showing much improvement from their initial recovery. In particular, the left eye, where the black stains were most spread, was still unable to distinguish between light and dark.

Lusan posited that it was due to this area absorbing the most fluid from Pethuamet, and while slow, he believed that it would gradually improve over time. He then infused Yuder's body with divine power a few more times. In the brief respite as his comrades stepped back to guard the Magic Spring, Yuder quietly spoke to Lusan.

"Priest."

"So, because the depth perception might be different with one eye, it may be more comfortable to keep it covered until it gets better... Yes?"

Lusan, who had been mumbling, responded belatedly. Yuder, pointing to Kishiar with his eyes, who was not too far away giving instructions to the members, continued his words.

"I think I'm fine now. Could you perhaps also check on the Commander?"

"The Commander?"

"Yes. He looks tired, so please take a look when he returns to his room."

Upon hearing Yuder's request, Lusan glanced at Kishiar with a puzzled look. To him, Kishiar seemed no different than usual. But Yuder thought differently. He believed that Kishiar was merely maintaining his calm in front of the others, but was in fact very exhausted.

Lusan tilted his head at this but agreed to examine Kishiar discreetly as Yuder asked. Despite this reassuring answer, Yuder, who knew Kishiar's body was different from ordinary people, couldn't be entirely at ease.

Kishiar would undoubtedly come to find him tonight. Although they hadn't specifically discussed it, Yuder was certain Kishiar would sneakily come to check on his condition personally once again.

'I'll examine him then.'

For the first time since regaining his sight, Yuder walked into the bedroom where he had been staying. He hadn't realized it while he was blind, but the room was much more spacious than he'd thought. This couldn't be a typical mage's bedroom. It was clear he must have usurped Micalin's room or perhaps it was meant for Kishiar.

By the bed, which was positioned opposite the window, he could see a basin and a water towel, along with a nicely wrapped bag for room heating. Items that had now become useless. His gaze scanning the furniture – not luxurious, yet equipped with everything necessary – stopped at a table and chair not far away.

It was the very spot where Kishiar had moved him several times to feed him. Yuder approached and gently stroked the back of the chair. The fact that he and Kishiar had sat on this old wooden chair didn't feel real.

He carefully settled himself on the chair. The part that touched his back was extremely hard. As he closed his eyes and looked down at the empty table, his senses were subtly stimulated, evoking a curious familiarity different from moments ago.

The smell of dry dust. The deep scent of grass from the forest flowing in through the window gap. The slight creak of the table due to a slightly misaligned leg.

And the faint traces of a cool, stale body odor embedded in the chair.

“…”

Yuder opened his eyes again. The faint traces he thought he had sensed vanished in an instant.

'What am I doing?'

Later, he looked at himself in a mirror for the first time since recovering his sight. Even though some of the stains had faded, the remaining traces on his body were unsightly at best. He hadn't realized it when he couldn't see, but his forehead, the whites of his eyes, his neck, and the backs of his hands were all splotchy, like a person stricken with a plague. His colleagues and Kishiar, who hadn't shown any expression even after seeing him in worse condition, suddenly seemed formidable. Not to mention Kishiar hadn't said a word even when he impulsively kissed him...

The light violet spots originally on his right hand were now concealed among the black stains, but Yuder guessed they were probably not completely gone. It was due to the red light that had flowed from the back of his hand when he used the medium.

'Why didn’t the power simply amplify as it did when Alik used it, but red light flowed out instead?'

The medium he pulled out again was now a transparent and faint black, as opposed to the deep burgundy it had been before. He infused it with power again, hoping against hope, but there was no change.

Yuder put the medium on the table and lifted his hand again. When he tried to use a tiny bit of water power, a thin stream of water spiraled around his finger before abruptly breaking off and falling.

'Recovery...seems to be happening, but this is not much different from before using the medium.'

There was only one conclusion he could draw from his attempts.

'Just as the Red Stone's power from my body absorbed the energy in Kishiar's body, this time, I think I used the Red Stone's power enclosed in the medium.'

The medium was a tool made by utilizing the principle of magic tools, which could automatically cast a specified magic if fueled with magic power.

Thais took advantage of the fact that magic power could be inserted into a medium for magic tools, and created a new, sturdy medium to confine the power of the Red Stone. It was a medium where nothing would happen even if power was infused because there was no magic to output originally. However, due to the peculiarity of the Red Stone's energy, it showed a behavior of amplifying the power considerably and releasing it when infused with an Awakener’s power.

Yuder had once conjectured that his body might have become a living medium for the power of the Red Stone, given his unique characteristics.

'If that is the case, the event that transpired was an instance of two mediums simultaneously unleashing their power, hence the reaction differed from other times when others used their power. It might be an extension of the same phenomenon...'

The sensation that it wasn't the amplification of the infused power, but the pure energy within the medium itself being drawn out and connected to his hand, lingered faintly in his body. Yuder looked down at his empty hand, clenching and unclenching his fist. As he attempted to consciously summon the Red Stone power, it did not reappear. It seemed as though the power only manifested when Yuder was desperate or only half in his right mind.

'Nevertheless, seeing that the medium became transparent, it seems certain that the power contained within has disappeared.'

Fortunately, everything that had transpired that day occurred in the forest, under the cover of night. Even if the mages had seen what Yuder had done, they would not be able to accurately guess the truth. The identity of the medium and the power of the Red Stone were matters that must remain secret for the time being.

'But what happened with the Magic Spring Ruins?'

Yuder recalled the voice that had whispered to him to hold back his hand and not forcefully suppress the ground. As he followed those words and did not resist the movement of the earth but instead moved as though gently coaxing and soothing it, the earthquake soon subsided.

Kishiar had said it was due to the long-accumulated magic power disappearing. Yuder remembered Kishiar speaking as if he was expecting some sort of change to occur around the ruins and the Great Sarain Forest after the magic power was exhausted from casting a gigantic spell. However, he had not at all anticipated that this change would be an earthquake.

'If the exhaustion of the magic power accumulated in the Magic Spring caused the earthquake... perhaps the balance has been broken again.'

The talks about 'balance' that Lusan and Kishiar had speculated upon each for their own reasons simultaneously came to Yuder's mind. Lusan speculated that the imbalance of the massive power at the Magic Spring Ruins could have caused the appearance of the monsters, and Kishiar said the cause of the abnormal growth of the Great Sarain Forest, including the cracks, could be the same.

If that was true, he began to worry terribly at the thought that the earthquake that occurred today might lead to the appearance of more cracks or abnormal behaviors in the monsters.

Just as Yuder was beginning to consider whether or not to leave his place, a sound was heard, tapping against the window. Despite being on the second floor, Kishiar, with his calm face, was jokingly smiling outside the window.

"May I come in?"

"..."

He had expected a visit, but not through the window. With an indescribable feeling, Yuder opened the closed door.

"What are you doing? Why didn't you come in through the door..."

"I was curious about the feeling of having someone answer when I knock."

Yuder was speechless at the sly response. After closing the window and looking around, he let out a small sigh.

"So, did you find it amusing?"

The answer he received was an embrace.