Shades of the New World

Parvan, on the other hand, was not faring well. It was the first time he was hit so hard on his body, so the pain of getting battered with a blunted steel sword was very unfamiliar to the boy. If not for the Inscription on his body that healed his bruised body and gave him some vitality, the fight would've been over then and there.

Using the precious few seconds he earned thanks to the Inscribed spell, Parvan used all the energy he could handle to create distance between his enemy.

It didn't work the first time, as Evin used some shadowy metal to block the array of pellets that came his way. Panicked and scared, Parvan immediately used another spell that required the same amount of energy before his mana-core could properly cool down. He had overworked his mana-core and his heart and body were aching like he just ran up the Third Cataract in one breath, as he painfully held his chest in his hands.

Not only that, his enemy that he gave his all to eliminate disappeared from his sight abruptly. It was like the boy dived into the ground. The fear of the sudden attack that put him in this state came back to haunt him as his eyes darted around the ground in search of the foe.

Evin, on the other hand, was shouting with excitement inside his shadow. He wanted to try to see if he could replenish his mana-core inside his shadow, and it turned out to be possible. His shadow was like a second home to him, and he could do anything he wanted here.

He released some of the Dark energy and healed his wounds with the World of Life. He then stocked up on the energies of other Worlds that he used frequently in a fight.

"I'm ready for round two!" he declared and glanced at the outside world from his shadow, to find a good opportunity to strike. But what he found was a gasping Parvan, madly looking around the ground in panic.

Evin saw the noble boy and realized that the latter overworked his core without waiting for the cooldown period to finish. The same thing had happened to himself when he was trying out the limits of his mana-core after all. Aside from the debilitating fatigue, the boy wouldn't be able to properly cast spells as well. With this, victory was all in Evin's hands.

Evin jumped out of his shadow and walked towards the noble boy in an threatening manner. Seeing Evin, Parvan tried to send pellets at Evin's way, but a sharp pain from his core disrupted his casting and he fumbled the spell.

"You've lost the duel, accept your defeat," Evin said imposingly. His vigilant nature all but gone with the taste of victory so close to his mouth.

What Evin did not expect was for Parvan to scream maniacally and pull out a scroll from his body. The scroll shone a brilliant white, hinting at the immense Luminous World spell that was about to be sent.

'Oh fuck, I need to get away!'

Evin instantly panicked since he had no idea what the scroll did. It could be a spell from a half-core mage, and Evin didn't want to try out the power of half-cores with his body yet. He remembered how easily Rith killed those mages with her portals, and from that point on, he gradually stopped arguing with the Feline that much.

He wanted to hide inside his shadow again, but the Luminous nature of the spell made Evin hesitant to consult the Dark World. He flew towards Rith at maximum speed and saw that the Feline had opened a portal for him to use already.

Evin entered the portal without hesitation and appeared on Rith's side. He looked back at Parvan, but saw the noble's guard grasping his hands tightly, forcing the boy to cancel his activation of the scroll.

"You've lost the fight and three treasures alongside it! Don't lose the fourth one!" the man shouted loudly.

"Brother! No!" Parvan bellowed, but the man did not give him the chance to retaliate and swiftly slapped the boy on the cheek.

'Brother? Didn't he say he was the eldest son from his father?' Evin pondered.

Receiving the slap from his brother, Parvan's eyes teared up, and he started crying without care. The servants went on to comfort the child, while Parvan's brother shook his head and took the wand and necklace from the boy's possession and walked towards Evin.

"Greetings to Cosmic Rith, I'm afraid I don't know your full title, so I hope you'll forgive my rudeness. My name is Hector Laymont, and I'm an adopted son of Marquess Olvar," the man introduced himself.

'Ah, he's adopted. That explains a lot of things,' Evin thought. Marquess Olmar was likely one who had difficulty conceiving a child. Hector was his back-up plan, but Parvan was born, taking all the attention on himself. As the sole heir of a Marquess, Parvan would receive all the attention he could receive, turning him into a prideful and arrogant young master.

Evin became interested in the story of these two and looked intently at Hector.

Getting a closer look at the man, Evin noticed that he was quite handsome. With a straight and broad back, plus a well-defined face with a sharp jawline, the man could be defined as a chad. His transparent single horn was leveled like a gazelle, protruding upwards stylishly. Definitely looked better than the ram-shaped one that Ssatsko and Purzo had.

"Greetings to young master Hector. My name is Solraheeth Rithlaven, but I don't mind you being more casual with me. I'd like to thank you for stopping your little brother from using that scroll," Rith expressed her thanks.

"I'm quite impressed with your student. Not many kids could fight like him at such an age," Hector praised Evin.

"I'm a Child of the Empress," Evin declared, so he could avoid the unnecessary attention.

"Ah"

An acknowledging sound came from the man. Learning that someone outstanding was actually a Child of the Empress was quite a betraying feeling. It felt like finding about how someone that you admired simply cheated his way to his current position.

Evin didn't mind the betrayed look that much, since he couldn't expect everyone to be sympathetic with him. Not to mention that Hector was a complete stranger to him as well.

"As my brother has promised, I will let you pick three items from his possession. But to save you the time from ransacking through them, I offer you this Channeling artifact and this Necklace of Knowing, which helps a mage learn that he is in an illusion. It doesn't show what the illusion is exactly, but it is quite useful nonetheless. As for the third item… I'm sure you were interested in the scroll that Parvan was about to use, but I'm afraid that it's a blood-bound spell only for the use of my brother. Instead, I offer you this scroll. It contains a World of Storms spell that I personally imbued. The effects are as follows," Hector went on to explain the complex spell.

It was basically Evin's floating spell, but with a bunch of complex buffs added on top of it. It made it so that the user's body would be much sturdier while he flew, allowing him to move much faster without even feeling the air resistance against his body.

It was one of the problems Evin faced with his current floating spell, but couldn't quite solve as of yet. Evin realized could consciously move the air away from himself, or use the World of Life to strengthen his skin and other surface organs. Since he was only a beginner level mage, he simply didn't have the capacity to do so.

The replacement gift was a bit underwhelming, since even Rith seemed to be afraid of the Luminous spell that was stored inside Parvan's scroll. But Evin reckoned that he could use it when he wanted to escape somewhere or needed to maneuver inside a tricky environment. Also, Evin could inspect the spell when he used it to get some hints on how to best recreate it.